Murray ready to tame Wild Thing and home crowd January 26, 2015 BRITAIN’S Andy Murray is well versed in shouldering the hopes of a nation starved of tennis success – something his opponent in today’s Australian Open quarter-final, Nick Kyrgios, is learning all about. Kyrgios, 19, is the cocky, fluoro-clad next big thing Down Under who shot to fame by knocking Rafael Nadal out of Wimbledon and [...]
Draw sees Pardew primed for reminiscences January 26, 2015 CRYSTAL Palace boss Alan Pardew faces a potential quirk of fate in the FA Cup fifth round, should Liverpool keep their end of the bargain and navigate a potentially treacherous replay at Championship side Bolton Wanderers. Pardew’s Selhurst Park coronation earlier this month was greeted with recollections of his most famous moment in a Palace [...]
Farrell to discover Six Nations fate as woes mount for Lancaster January 26, 2015 ENGLAND fly-half Owen Farrell’s Six Nations prospects remained in the balance last night as head coach Stuart Lancaster continues to endure deepening injury woes. The knee injury picked up by No10 Farrell during Saracens’ European Champions Cup defeat against Clermont Auvergne on Sunday has been scanned and the 23-year-old was set to be assessed by [...]
Golf Comment: Grace impresses with assured win in Qatar January 26, 2015 TO HAVE won six European Tour titles at the age of 26 is impressive enough, but to have done so in the convincing manner that Branden Grace has is something else. The South African claimed his second win of the season on Sunday at the Qatar Masters, following up last month’s seven-stroke victory at the [...]
Arsenal strikeforce is my best ever, says Arsene Wenger January 25, 2015 Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes his current repertoire of attacking players is his deadliest yet after the FA Cup holders swaggered into round five and assumed the status of favourites. Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil both scored their first goals since lengthy injury absences, while evergreen playmaker Tomas Rosicky crowned a man-of-the-match display with a [...]
Football Comment: Blues stars unprofessional and City disrespected cup January 25, 2015 I DON’T blame Jose Mourinho or Manuel Pellegrini for their teams’ shock FA Cup defeats to lower-league opponents on Saturday; I believe the fault is with the Chelsea and Manchester City players, who have let their managers down. Mourinho’s pre-match remarks about the disgrace of losing to inferior sides show that he would have prepared [...]
Farrell and Eastmond join England injury list January 25, 2015 SARACENS fly-half Owen Farrell and Bath centre Kyle Eastmond joined England’s lengthening list of Six Nations injury worries as their clubs progressed to the European Rugby Champions Cup quarter-finals yesterday. Farrell was withdrawn with a knee injury during Sarries’ 18-6 defeat at Clermont Auvergne, while Eastmond damaged his shoulder in a decisive 20-15 victory over [...]
Diafra Sakho returns to save below-par West Ham January 25, 2015 WEST Ham manager Sam Allardyce hailed top scorer Diafra Sakho after the striker returned from injury to head the Hammers into the FA Cup fifth round for the first time in four years. Sakho showed few signs of the back problem that controversially precluded him from joining Senegal’s squad for the Africa Cup of Nations [...]
Murray stays up late to maintain grand slam run January 25, 2015 RELIEVED Andy Murray admitted he had been lucky after beating 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov at the Australian Open to reach a 16th consecutive grand slam quarter-finals. Murray finally saw off Dimitrov 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 7-5 in a fluctuating match that lasted three and a half hours and finished after midnight in Melbourne yesterday. The [...]
Jose Mourinho defends Chelsea preparations and downplays knock-on effect January 25, 2015 CHELSEA manager Jose Mourinho has issued a robust defence of his approach to the FA Cup after his decision to field a much-changed team against Bradford backfired spectacularly on Saturday. The Blues suffered one of the biggest shocks in the competition’s storied history when they crashed out 4-2 at home to the League One side, [...]