Liverpool and Arsenal face tricky away ties today as they bid to join Europe's top 16 clubs in the group phase of the Champions League.
Arsenal travel to Sparta Prague in the third qualifying round first leg in far from confident mood following their patchy 2-1 win over Fulham on Sunday.
And Liverpool face the task of traveling to a sweltering Toulouse to tackle a side that is on a high after beating French champions Lyon 1-0 on Saturday.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was relieved to win his first match of the season after complaining that his team was at a disadvantage in the title race because of Champions League commitments.
While they and Liverpool are in European action, Chelsea, who travel to Reading, and Manchester United, hosted by Portsmouth, will both be looking to pick up three Premiership points.
But even if both win, Arsenal cannot find themselves more than a single point behind the reigning champions on Thursday following United's draw against Reading at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Of more concern to Wenger is his goalkeeper's concentration after German Jens Lehmann gifted Fulham the lead in the first minute on Sunday, before late goals from Robin van Perise and Alexander Hleb saved his blushes.
Meanwhile, Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez said that he was delighted with the start Spanish forward Fernando Torres has made at Anfield and he could again partner his £26 million (US$52 million) signing with Dirk Kuyt in attack.
"I was happy with what Fernando did [in Sunday's 2-1 win over Aston Villa]. He worked very hard. Him and Kuyt were a problem for their defenders. That was the idea," Benitez said.
"The movement and understanding was good and he showed the touches and class that I would expect from him," he said.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB