The Guardian

It has been a testing few months for the man who scored the winner for Crystal Palace in last season’s FA Cup final. But after being hooked at half-time during the disappointing draw with Brentford on Thursday when Mikel Arteta said he is still adapting to life in north London, perhaps this competition could help breathe new life into Eberechi Eze’s Arsenal career. As well as providing assists fo…

This proved the game of Scotland’s top-flight season. The seriousness given to it by Rangers, plus their scale of full-time celebration, said much about the progress of their opposition. Hearts’ lead at the summit has been cut to two after the Edinburgh side lost out by two goals. As the scoreline suggests, this was pulsating stuff. Youssef Chermiti was once ridiculed in these parts. His £8m arri…

Dutch star’s years of dominance culminates in gold Jutta Leerdam wins silver in Dutch one-two USA’s Erin Jackson misses out on retaining title Speed skater Femke Kok had admitted that anything but gold in her signature 500m race would be a disappointment after opening her Olympic account last Monday with silver in a Dutch one-two alongside Jutta Leerdam in the 1000m. On Sunday evening, she perfor…

Head coach must make changes for Ireland’s visit after his error-strewn side lacked the nous to fight back after the hosts’ fast start England arrived at Murrayfield announcing their intentions to be “bulletproof”. Truth be told this was Scotland shooting fish in a barrel. Punishing mistakes, of which there were a litany, Gregor Townsend’s team exposed the glaring limitations of Steve Borthwick’s…

Group A: India, 175-7, bt Pakistan, 114, by 61 runs Opener’s 77 proves decisive on tricky pitch A day of no handshakes, and for Pakistan many head shakes. India coasted to victory in what became global cricket’s most lucrative mismatch after a superlative innings from the opener Ishan Kishan skewed it definitively in their favour. In its second half a game that was dramatically off and then on ag…

Azu adds 200m gold to 60m title in Birmingham Issy Boffey wins 800m after Hodgkinson withdrawal Amid a raft of high-profile absentees from Birmingham this weekend it was quite the surprise to see Jeremiah Azu’s name on the 200m start list for the UK Athletics Indoor Championships on Sunday. The 200m is not contested internationally during the indoor season so elite athletes almost never race it, …

Wales 12-54 France Wales slump to 13th consecutive Six Nations defeat We are running out of ways to describe this. Another match in what used to be rugby’s most passionate cauldron, another dismantling, another humiliation. France are good, really good, but we might as well have been in Paris, so loud was the travelling support, so gaping the rows of empty seats. The official attendance was just …

Chelsea continued to steady the ship as they secured a crucial victory against Liverpool in the Women’s Super League. Lauren James inspired Sonia Bompastor’s side to victory at Kingsmeadow, setting up Sjoeke Nüsken’s opener before making sure of the result with a goal in the second half. It has been a turbulent month for the Blues, both on and off the pitch. Back-to-back defeats against Arsenal a…

American fractured tibia in downhill last week Vonn reiterates she has no regrets over crash Lindsey Vonn is preparing to fly back to America after she fractured her tibia in the Olympic downhill last week , according to the CEO of the US Ski and Snowboard Association. Sophie Goldschmidt says her team’s medical staff has been coordinating Vonn’s recovery and hopes to accompany her back home to th…

Precipitation not perspiration was the order of the day here, as the rain hammered down on the banks of a bloated River Thames and Sunderland made it to the FA Cup fifth round without having to break a sweat. Habib Diarra’s first-half penalty secured victory for Régis Le Bris’s visitors but the margin flattered Oxford who put up the meekest of fights. Continue reading...

Santiago Bueno’s second-half winner ensured a safe passage into the FA Cup fifth round for Wolves as the League Two side Grimsby bowed out with pride intact. The Premier League visitors had not won away in any competition since last April and look certain to be relegated to the Championship this season. But Rob Edwards’s side showed impressive resilience to avoid the kind of ignominy which led to…

Lucy and Pippa Tallant have opened the Crossbar, in Brighton, to create a place for women to feel comfortable watching all sport You can’t miss it, the giant “Crossbar” flanked by two stylised crosses in black on the whitewashed outside walls glares down the street, a stone’s throw from Brighton’s Churchill Square. Outside is the narrow shelf that the co-owner Lucy Tallant, the DIY enthusiast of …

Italian wins her second gold medal on Cortina slopes Sara Hector and Thea Louise Stjernesund share silver Federica Brignone, the racing queen of Cortina, has won her second gold medal in the space of three days at the Winter Olympics. After her victory in the women’s Super-G on Friday, she won the giant slalom by just over six-tenths of a second. As small as that gap sounds, it was an enormous ma…

Leeds United advanced to the fifth roundof the FA Cup, with sights set on a possible first quarter-final place since 2002-03. But after scoring a last-gasp equaliser to take the tie to a penalty shootout, Birmingham City could draw some consolation from pushing their top-flight opponents. Sean Longstaff scored the clinching penalty, after Patrick Roberts, who had scored in the 89th minute to earn…

Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale win a thriller First time GB have won two golds at a Winter Games After 102 years at the Winter Olympics, Great Britain has finally won its first gold medal on snow after Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale took a thrilling victory in the mixed team snowboard cross. Few had pinned down Bankes and Nightingale as one of the favourites after poor performances in…