MIDWEEK SPORTS ROUNDUP: October 27th

Football

United got the better of rivals City

Manchester United received a timely boost as they put aside their poor league form to beat Manchester City 1-0 in a derby match in the round of 16 of the EFL Cup. Both sides made changes but United’s starting line-up always looked stronger on paper, and after an error-strewn first half, United took charge in the second and bagged the winner with a Juan Mata strike.

Despite more crowd trouble at the Olympic Stadium, West Ham had another excellent win to celebrate as they progressed to the last eight with a 2-1 win over Chelsea.

Southampton’s record signing Sofiane Boufal scored a superb goal as the Saints beat Sunderland 1-0.

A Daniel Sturridge double saw Liverpool to a 2-1 win over Tottenham.

Championship leaders Newcastle continued their superb season by thrashing Preston 6-0. Aleksandar Mitrovic and Mohammed Diame both scored twice, with five of the goals coming after Preston had been reduced to ten men. Preston must face the challenge of another match against Newcastle in the league this Saturday.

Another player scoring twice was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, as Arsenal beat Reading 2-0.

Hull were no doubt grateful to be able to forget about their Premier League difficulties for one night, and they duly progressed to the last eight with a 2-1 win over Championship side Bristol City. No top flight team lost to lower division opposition in this round of matches.

The quarter-final line up is completed by Leeds, who won 3-2 in the only penalty shoot-out of the round, after finishing 2-2 with Norwich after extra time.

The quarter-final draw is: Liverpool v Leeds, Manchester United v West Ham, Hull v Newcastle, Arsenal v Southampton. Matches to be played on November 29 and 30.

Away from the EFL Cup, Celtic produced three late goals as they beat Ross County 4-0, and now stand seven points clear of second placed Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership, and also have a game in hand on the chasing pack.

After a creditable 0-0 draw with France, England Women beat Spain 2-1 in their latest friendly international. Mark Sampson’s side are now unbeaten in nine matches and must be among the favourites to win Euro 2017.

Cricket

After winning the first Test, England could make changes for the second encounter with Bangladesh, which starts in Dhaka on Friday. Pace bowlers Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes could be rested, with Steve Finn and Jake Ball in line to replace them, while Zafar Ansari could make his debut as the third spin bowling option in place of Gareth Batty. Despite losing early wickets in both innings of the first match, England are set to stick with the same top four batsmen.

England have confirmed that the same squad of 16 will be on duty for the forthcoming series in India, meaning there is no recall for Alex Hales, who opted out of touring Bangladesh due to security concerns. James Anderson is reported to have only an outside chance of being fit to return by the time of the third match of the India series.

Rugby Union

England coach Eddie Jones has suggested that Northampton’s Teimana Harrison and Tom Wood are both likely to play in the back row in the autumn internationals, which start with a match against South Africa on November 12. England have been beset by injuries, especially involving back row forwards.

Ireland start their campaign against New Zealand in Chicago on November 5, and have selected six uncapped players in their squad: Leinster’s Joey Carbery, Luke McGrath, Garry Ringrose and James Tracy; and Munster's Billy Holland and John Ryan. Keith Earls has been suspended from the first match, while Ian Madigan has not been selected as he now plays club rugby in France.

Chris Ashton, capped 39 times by England, has confirmed he will leave Saracens at the end of the season and join French side Toulon.

Leicester are another club to have received bad news this week, when they learned that Australian centre Matt Toomua will be sidelined for six months with a knee injury. Toomua only made his debut for the Tigers earlier this month.

Rugby League

England will host the 2021 Rugby League World Cup. 12 venues in London, the north of England and the Midlands have been lined up to stage the 31 matches in the 16-team tournament.

England start their Four Nations campaign against New Zealand this Saturday.

Tennis

Andy Murray beat Slovakia’s Martin Klizan and now faces a third-round tie against John Isner at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna. With world number one Novak Djokovic not competing this week, Murray has an excellent opportunity to move closer to top spot in the rankings by winning this tournament.

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