Football
Leicester City may not be setting
the Premier League alight this time around, but their European fairytale
continued when a 2-1 win over Club Brugge ensured they would qualify for the
last 16 of the UEFA Champions League as winners of their group.
It appears Leicester will be
the only English side to top their group. Manchester City drew 1-1 with
Borussia Dortmund and will now definitely finish second behind Barcelona.
Arsenal drew 2-2 with Paris Saint-Germain and will qualify in second spot in
their group unless they can better PSG’s result in the final round of matches
and this knock them off pole position.
The perceived wisdom is it is
best to qualify in top spot so a team can secure an easier round of 16 match
against a second place finisher. However, with both Real Madrid and Bayern
Munich set to be among the second placed teams, the advantages of winning your
group may not be quite as significant this year.
Tottenham will not be
featuring in the knockout stages of the competition. Their last match will now
be nothing more than a play-off to decide whether they finish third and this go
into the Europa League. Spurs produced a disappointing performance away to
Monaco and lost 2-1.
Celtic lost 2-0 to Barcelona
and are now sure to finish bottom of the group containing Barca and City.
Lionel Messi scored twice, and the Argentinian ace has now netted nine times in
his four Champions League appearances this season.
One team currently on course
to qualify in first position are Germany’s Borussia Dortmund. They enjoyed an
extraordinary 8-4 win over Legia Warsaw in a match that saw a record number of
goals for a Champions League match. Seven goals were scored between the 10th
and 32nd minutes alone.
Two of England’s Champions
League entrants are facing the prospect of being without players for a few
weeks, for different reasons. Leicester’s Danny Drinkwater faces a violent
conduct charge, after being alleged to have elbowed Watford’s Valon Behrami
last weekend. Manchester City’s Vincent Kompany is injured again – he collided
with his goalkeeper Claudio Bravo during their match with Crystal Palace, and
while the issue was initially thought to be a head injury, it now transpires he
also picked up a knee injury in the process.
Sunderland defender Paddy
McNair will miss the rest of the season with a serious knee injury.
Cricket
England start the Third Test against India in Mohali on
Saturday, seeking to bounce back from their Second Test defeat, and there could
be several changes to the team. Pace bowler Stuart Broad is likely to miss out
with a foot injury, paving the way for Chris Woakes to return. Ben Duckett is
expected to be dropped, with Jos Buttler coming in as a specialist batsman.
Finally, Zafar Ansari may be omitted in favour of Steven Finn or Jake Ball if
England opt to play the extra spinner.
Rugby Union
After making several changes
for their comfortable win over Fiji, England are set to revert to their
first-choice line up for Saturday’s match with Argentina, where they are
expected to face a stiffer test. Most controversially, Semesa Rokoduguni misses
out after his man-of-the-match display against Fiji, with Jonny May coming back
in to the team. Mike Brown is recalled at full back in place of Alex Goode.
Wales play South Africa, and
should have prop Gethin Jenkins back after he missed the win over Japan with
injury. South Africa suffered a shock defeat to Italy last weekend.
Ireland possibly have the
toughest autumn international programme of all the home nations, and after two
matches against New Zealand they now conclude their series against Australia. CJ Stander, Rob Kearney and Simon Zebo all
remain doubtful for the match with various injuries.
Tipster Street
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