Sports & Casinos UK

Action from around the County Championship grounds Mail Tanya, post BTL | Sign up to get The Spin newsletterLeicestershire take their first Notts wicket, Ben Slater (15) tinkering behind at Ian Holland. Notts 54-1.Luke Hollman bends his knees deeply in anticipation of Jimmy Anderson, but he’d struggle to get them deep enough to deal with the ball that drops, rolls, and picks out off stump. Gone for 54. Ben Geddes follows three overs later, to Balderson. Middx 151-5 and need a apartnership. Continue reading...

Could the vain pursuit of ‘dream’ signings such as Vinícius Júnior at the expense of all-round strengthening come to haunt the champions?When Mikel Arteta revealed before Arsenal’s win at Aston Villa that he had pleaded with the Premier League to introduce bigger matchday squads, the final 24 hours of the transfer window was not quite what he would have had in mind. A deadline day on which Manchester City matched the British record to sign Enzo Fernández from Chelsea for £125m came and went as Arsenal allowed Gabriel Jesus and Ethan Nwaneri to leave without bringing in replacements.With Gabriel Martinelli expected to join Al-Hilal before Sunday’s deadline in Saudi Arabia for a fee that could rise to £60m, there are question marks about the depth of the champions’ squad, despite Arteta still having at least two options for each position. Eberechi Eze will provide competition on the left for the new boy Christos Tzolis, and the manager has a plethora of central midfielders at his disposal after the arrival of Bruno Guimarães from Newcastle, but there is not much room for manoeuvre should Arsenal experience injuries in attack like they have for the past two seasons. Continue reading...

The founder of The Ringer and Grantland was famous for discovering and developing writers. Now he is promoting a technology eroding the creative industriesBill Simmons may have stopped writing with any regularity in the mid-2010s – he claims his fingers don’t work – but that won’t stop him from reminding you of his greatest hits. On a recent podcast about Russell Westbrook’s retirement, he couldn’t stop quoting his old columns. He first referenced an article from the 2012 NBA finals, and wasn’t finished until 11 minutes into the podcast. His guest, The Ringer contributor Kirk Goldsberry, deserved an award for patience. But the biggest blight on the episode came later, in the form of a bizarre ad read.“This episode,” Simmons announced, “is brought to you by ChatGPT, the Bill Simmons Podcast AI sponsor.” (Emphasis mine; his overenthusiastic delivery mandates the italics.) Simmons said that he had asked ChatGPT what Westbrook’s defining game was. “That was a pretty good answer,” he said of ChatGPT’s offerings, as if it were a precocious, loveable nephew, before encouraging his listeners to try the platform. Continue reading...

At this week’s world championship, the women’s record holder who once feared a 5K will try to top her own 144-hour distance – and beat the US men’s markWhile many teachers head back to school this week, middle-school math teacher Megan Eckert will be 5,000 miles from her classroom in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has a good reason to miss a few classes: she’ll be competing at the Global Organization of Multi-Day Ultramarathoners World Championship.On Thursday, more than 100 runners will gather on a start line in Balatonfüred, Hungary, and attempt to run as many miles as they can in six days. Continue reading...

PSG reluctant to let Echegini join Manchester CityNew United coach Olid promises ‘attacking’ styleArsenal are expected to finalise the signing of the France defender Élisa De Almeida before the 11pm BST Women’s Super League transfer deadline. The club are understood to have agreed a fee of just over £500,000 with Paris Saint-Germain for the 28-year-old.PSG, for whom De Almeida has played since 2021, are less willing to let their Nigeria midfielder Jennifer Echegini go. The 25-year-old is understood to be the subject of interest from Manchester City but PSG were fighting hard to keep her on Thursday morning. Continue reading...

Forecast of unfavourable weather cited as reasonAircraft passed less than ‌50 feet above stadiumSouth African airline Airlink has cancelled a planned flypast before Saturday’s Springboks-All ⁠Blacks rugby Test as the country’s aviation regulator reviews a similar display conducted by the airline last ⁠week.Airlink said on ⁠Wednesday ​it had withdrawn its application for a formation flyby ahead of the Rugby Championship clash at Johannesburg’s ⁠FNB Stadium, citing forecasts of unfavourable weather. The South African civil aviation authority (SACAA) is conducting a compliance verification of ⁠the airline’s 29 August flypast over Cape Town’s DHL Stadium. Continue reading...

An 18-year-old who has played at two major international tournaments and the division’s top clearance maker from last season also featureA tricky, exciting, quick and versatile midfielder, Azeez has proven himself in the Championship with Millwall over the past two seasons and now deserves a chance to test himself in the top flight. Continue reading...

Irish fight legend can cap a special career by retiring as the undisputed super-lightweight champion with victory against Flora Pili on Saturday“I won’t be like Tyson Fury, coming back again and again,” Katie Taylor told me with a little smile a few years ago as she explained how, when she finally retired, she would leave boxing for good. The moment is almost here because, on Saturday night, in front of 80,000 fans at a fevered Croke Park, Taylor will fight for the very last time. She will depart as a quietly defiant pioneer and an overwhelming force for good – both in Ireland and women’s boxing.The fight game is full of heartbreak and broken promises, corruption and damage, but it also produces singular characters who elevate the world. Joe Louis in the 1930s, and Muhammad Ali in the 1960s, had a profound impact on American society. In a very different world today, Oleksandr Usyk is also more than a boxer. He remains an inspiration and a source of undimmed hope in wartime Ukraine. Continue reading...

Enzo Fernández and Sandro Tonali had big-money summer moves, but can they hold a candle to past greats?Perhaps the only thing you really need to know about the modern midfield role is that Enzo Maresca reckons that Marc Guéhi can play it better than Mateo Kovacic. Guéhi, in reality a centre-back, started the season in midfield for Manchester City, ahead of Kovacic, the now-departed Nico González, and Matheus Nunes. In this context City’s purchase of Enzo Fernández for a club record £125m can be seen in one of two ways: either an enormous statement of intent, or a hell of a lot of money to pay for Guéhi’s understudy.We jest, of course. Fernández is in fact a very different kind of midfielder to Guéhi, largely on the basis that he actually is a midfielder. Versatile, able to receive deep from the goalkeeper or the centre-halves; capable of recycling or progressing the ball in tight spots, driving into final-third positions as a No 8, ghosting into the penalty area and offering an advanced goal threat. Like Elliot Anderson, signed from Nottingham Forest for £116m but so long ago that in transfer window time it no longer counts, Fernández is one of the new breed of Premier League central midfielders who seems to offer everything; albeit in modest qualities, and whose primary attribute appears to be the absence of exposed risk he represents. Continue reading...

After a record equalling finish under Martin Ho last season and a summer recruitment strategy that has turned heads can Spurs push into the top four?Guardian writers’ predicted position: 5th (NB: this is not necessarily Suzanne Wracks’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)Last season’s position: 5th Continue reading...