Football
After three matches, England are top of their World Cup
qualifying group with an unbeaten record, and have also not conceded a goal in
their three matches. Whilst their position in the group looks good, none of
their performances to date have been entirely convincing, and they only escaped
from their trip to Slovenia with a 0-0 draw thanks to an outstanding display
from goalkeeper Joe Hart. Jordan Henderson wore the captain’s armband after
Wayne Rooney was left out. Caretaker England boss Gareth Southgate now has at
least two more games in charge to stake his claim for the job on a permanent
basis – next month’s qualifier at home to Scotland before a friendly away to
Spain four days later.
Scotland slipped to fourth in Group F after they slumped to
a 3-0 defeat in Slovakia. Manager Gordon Strachan insisted he wouldn’t resign
in his post-match comments, but speculation about his future continues, so will
he be in the Wembley dugout on November 11 when his country face England?
Northern Ireland lost 2-0 in Germany, but losing away to
such a formidable side is no disgrace, and could be back in the top two if they
beat Azerbaijan at home in their next match.
England’s under 21 team have already qualified for next summer’s
finals in Poland, but finished their qualifying campaign in style by thumping
Bosnia 5-0. Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham, currently on loan at Bristol City, scored
twice to take his goalscoring record for club and country to 13 in 16 matches.
Steve Bruce, who resigned as Hull City manager in the
summer, has returned to football management with Aston Villa. After being
relegated last season, Villa are struggling in 19th place in the
Championship.
Another Championship side to have appointed a new manager are
Derby County. The Rams have re-appointed former England supremo Steve McClaren,
17 months after his previous spell at the club ended.
Manchester City will be cheered by the news that Kevin De
Bruyne’s recovery from a hamstring injury is going well. The Belgian
midfielder, who has been in superb form so far this season, could return for
Saturday’s Premier League match against Everton; failing that City are hopeful
he will take his place in the side for next week’s Champions League showdown
away to Barcelona.
City’s women’s team are through to the last 16 of the
Champions League. They beat Zvezda 2005 4-0 in
Russia to complete a 6-0 aggregate victory. Chelsea drew 1-1 with Wolfsburg in
Germany, but the damage had been done in their 3-0 first leg defeat.
Tennis
Andy Murray lost only five games as he strolled to victory
over Steve Johnson in the second round of the Shanghai Masters. Fellow Briton
Kyle Edmund was outgunned by Stanislas Wawrinka in the second round of the same
tournament.
Cricket
England won the third one-day international against
Bangladesh in Chittagong, and with it took the series 2-1. No longer are
Bangladesh considered as minnows, indeed this was their first ODI series defeat
in the last seven. Furthermore, England have achieved their victory without
captain Eoin Morgan, Alex Hales or Joe Root. The highest scorers in the latest
win were two players who may not have got their chance had everyone been
available – Ben Duckett made 63 and Sam Billings 62. 47 not out from Ben Stokes
and 27 not out from Chris Woakes completed a four wicket win as England
successfully chased 278. Adil Rashid earlier took 4-43 in the Bangladesh
innings.
England shortly face the challenge of a five-match Test
series in India, and after India completed a 3-0 series whitewash against New
Zealand, Virat Kohli’s side will start that series as the world’s number 1
ranked Test team.
England Women lost their second ODI in the West Indies after
a horrendous collapse. Chasing 149, England crumbled from 107-4 to 110 all out
and the series is now level at 1-1. The remaining matches in the five-match
series all count towards the ICC Women’s Championship.
Rugby Union
Leicester’s Mike Williams had been hotly tipped to make his
England debut in the autumn internationals, but he has become the latest player
to fall victim to England’s back row injury curse. Williams was not one of the
players to suffer serious injury during the recent, rather dramatic, training
camp, but he then broke his arm in the warm-up prior to Leicester’s last match.
Back row forwards James Haskell, Jack Clifford and Sam Jones have all been
ruled out.
Golf
Tiger Woods has abandoned plans to return to competitive
action this week, saying his game remains “vulnerable”. The winner of 14 majors
last played tournament golf in August 2015.
Tipster Street.
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