The Guardian

After their record-breaking feats last year in the Champions League, Arsenal are at it again. But having been delayed along with hundreds of travelling supporters by travel chaos on Tuesday, Mikel Arteta’s side had to bide their time against Napoli until Martin Ødegaard continued his rich vein of goalscoring to start the new campaign with the crucial strike. Perhaps it was the fact they were forc…

Where’s the fun in doing it the easy way? Chelsea remain chaotic and this almost went down as Xabi Alonso’s first misjudgment since taking over. The Carabao Cup matters for Chelsea given their lack of European football, but Alonso rotated too much and escaped it after a quadruple half-time substitution got his team out of a bind. Leeds appeared to be going through after going 2-0 up thanks to goa…

Young British rider squeezes out Meeus and Cort Nielsen Mas moves step closer to landing first Grand Tour victory Matthew Brennan claimed a fifth Vuelta a España stage victory on Wednesday as the young British rider edged a bunch sprint in Seville to win the 17th stage. The 21-year-old Grand Tour debutant crossed the finish line ahead of Jordi Meeus and Magnus Cort Nielsen. The general classifica…

Rangers beat St Mirren 1-0 at Ibrox Celtic also narrow winners at St Johnstone A dramatic last-gasp strike from substitute Bojan Miovski gave Rangers a 1-0 Premiership win over St Mirren at Ibrox. Back in the technical area after a two-game touchline suspension, Derek McInnes watched St Mirren’s Australian goalkeeper Jacob Chapman keep the home side at bay in the first half with a string of saves…

It was the time and place for Alexis Mac Allister to do his talking on the pitch and the disgruntled Liverpool midfielder did not disappoint. “Very sad” over Liverpool’s refusal to offer him a contract extension, while Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch were getting theirs, Mac Allister made Anfield very happy with a match-winning display against Atlético Madrid. The Argentina international,…

Fast bowler learned wobble seam from Ollie Robinson Pakistan’s Saud Shakeel knew little about debutant England’s four-man seam attack once again demonstrated its collective threat in bundling Pakistan out for 133 at Edgbaston. Josh Tongue highlighted the work the quartet have done together beyond ­matchdays by experimenting with a wobble seam delivery that he has honed with assistance from Ollie …

Distance tops US men’s mark by more than 30 miles Eckert also beat women’s world record she set last year While some teachers spent the second week of September easing into their school routines, Megan Eckert was making more ultrarunning history. The New Mexico middle school math teacher shattered the six-day women’s world record and the American men’s record by running 636.482 miles, completing …

Brazilian scores twice in 5-1 victory at the Camp Nou Demirovic scores hat-trick as Stuttgart beat Viking Raphinha let his goals do the talking after being omitted from the Ballon d’Or shortlist, striking twice as Barcelona eased to a 5-1 win over Feyenoord in the Champions League. The Brazilian was a surprise omission from this week’s 30-strong list of candidates for the prestigious award but br…

Forward says incident was ‘a little interesting’ Heading practice with Alf Inge helped with opener Erling Haaland has claimed Pablo Rosario “grabbed my bottom” during Manchester City’s 2-0 win at Porto on Tuesday. The incident occurred in the 92nd minute, with Haaland having scored City’s goals. The forward and midfielder grappled, went to ground and were booked after being separated. “I was real…

The former player’s credentials speak for themselves but the ECB has also taken a risk in employing him until the end of next year For most of the time since his retirement as a player Kevin Pietersen has worked as a pundit and commentator, encouraged to be outspoken, hold strong opinions and state them powerfully. After his surprise appointment as a specialist mentor to the England men’s white-b…

From home-run celebrations to tilted caps, players embracing joy continue to collide with an old guard devoted to Dust Bowl grimness Over the last several years, simultaneously lauded and paralyzed by its ironclad traditions, baseball has undergone various forays into reinvention, trying to free itself from its unwritten rules of retaliation , its seeming aversion to joy, its demand that every ge…

The world No 10 on getting recognised in New York, coping with hostility and why he’s never changing his walk-on song “Definitely,” Stephen Bunting says as he considers whether working so hard as a darts player on social media is like making a deal with the devil. After Luke Littler, the prodigiously gifted teenage world champion , Bunting is the most heavily marketed player in darts. But, over t…

After the captain underscored his team’s new reality, a fast bowler he didn’t even know was coming gave fans a little of the old dream It was still morning when Babar Azam came in to bat at Edgbaston. The Test was only 45 minutes old but you could already see which direction it was heading in. Pakistan were three wickets down. The floodlights were on, a thick smear of black cloud was moving slowl…

One of the batting stalwarts of the team that reached Test No 1 a decade ago says the current side’s woes go far deeper than this tour of England As a pillar of the Pakistan team that climbed from the nadir of the Lord’s spot-fixing scandal in 2010 to the top of the Test rankings six years later, all while playing overseas for security reasons, Azhar Ali knows a bit about overcoming a crisis. But…

New Zealand great made his name at 1995 Rugby World Cup but rapid rise to fame took a toll as his health worsened Making a film about Jonah Lomu’s life was never going to thrill everyone. The big man’s widow, Nadene, took legal action in an unsuccessful attempt to block the project and declined to be involved. You can’t imagine Mike Catt being overly delighted either. Even 31 years later, the bru…