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Carlo Ancelotti praises ‘improved fitness’ of Santos playerVinícius Júnior, Rayan and Igor Thiago also selectedNeymar will make his fourth World Cup appearance after Brazil named him to their 26-man squad on Monday. The decision was not guaranteed as questions surrounded Neymar’s fitness since his anterior cruciate ligament tear more than two years ago.The Brazil coach, Carlo Ancelotti, said that Neymar “has improved his fitness” after the squad announcement at a gala in Rio de Janeiro. “He will be an important player in this World Cup.” Continue reading...

Professional Footballers’ Association ‘let players down’ under finance director Darren Wilson, says watchdogFormer footballer and professional players union executive Darren Wilson has been given a regulatory ban after a watchdog inquiry uncovered serious financial mismanagement at a charity for ex-players.The Charity Commission said conflicts of interest, poor financial controls and inadequate management oversight at the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) charity had “let down the players they were supposed to be helping”.Failure to report in the charity’s accounts the transfer of £1.9m paid to the charity by the Football Association in 2017. The charity later said it had “mistakenly” transferred the money to the “accident fund” of the union, which subsequently repaid it.Several properties owned by the charity were let rent-free to the PFA for several years. The Charity Commission found this had cost the charity £627,000 in unpaid rent, which the PFA subsequently repaid after the commission intervened. Continue reading...

Spurs need a draw at Chelsea to effectively secure safety‘It’s good to imagine celebrating the win in their stadium’Roberto De Zerbi says the idea that “everyone wants Tottenham relegated” ought to motivate his players as they look to set aside the club’s dismal record against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge to get the result they need to stay up.Spurs have won once at Stamford Bridge since 1990 but they need only a draw on Tuesday night to all but ensure they survive in the Premier League and West Ham go down. Continue reading...

Guardiola has been manager of club for 10 yearsHe is set to go with one year left on his contractPep Guardiola is expected to leave Manchester City after 10 trophy-filled years as manager.The club did not confirm reports on Monday night that Guardiola’s last game as City manager will be at home to Aston Villa on Sunday, the final day of the Premier League season. But increasingly figures around the club expect an announcement before the end of the season. Guardiola’s camp has been approached for comment. Continue reading...

It was a night when fervour and hope ran into yet more Arsenal anxiety. This was supposed to be straightforward, wasn’t it? Burnley’s relegation from the Premier League was confirmed on 22 April. They sacked their manager, Scott Parker, shortly afterwards and came here under the caretaker, Michael Jackson. They had avoided defeat only three times in their previous 10 league matches, drawing all three.It was not straightforward. Arsenal laboured under the spectre of the mother and father of all calamities. It nagged away during a traumatic second half. Everybody knew that with the margins so tight it might take only one flash from Burnley; a bolt from the sky blue. If Arsenal do stagger over the line and win their first title since 2004, they will have done it in nerve-shredding fashion. Continue reading...

Matheus Cunha scored after teammate had handledRefereeing chief admits goal should not have stoodHoward Webb, the Professional Game Match Officials (PGMO) chief refereeing officer, has admitted to Nottingham Forest that Michael Salisbury was wrong not to disallow Matheus Cunha’s goal owing to Bryan Mbeumo’s handball in Manchester United’s 3-2 win on Sunday at Old Trafford.Salisbury’s decision was judged by Webb as being too lenient with regard to the Premier League’s approach to the handball laws. The competition does allow leeway in terms of players’ natural movements. But in Mbeumo’s case Webb felt Salisbury misjudged the incident as an unintentional handball so when Matt Donohue, the video assistant referee, asked Salisbury to review the 55th-minute incident on the pitchside monitor the decision should have been overturned. Continue reading...

Yorkshire finished off their thrashing of Surrey but Nottinghamshire were unable to break down Jake Lehmann’s defences​Good morning from Edgbaston, where the players and match officials lined up before play to pay their respects to Warwickshire great MJK Smith, who sadly passed away yesterday at the age of 92. Smith captained England in 25 of his 50 Tests between 1958 and 1972, and scored just shy of 40,000 first-class runs.A promising start, cricketers marching out everywhere except Bristol and Southport. Continue reading...

Club reported £104.2m loss in last set of accountsBowen, Fernandes and Summerville would have suitorsWest Ham will be under pressure to raise more than £100m through player sales if they are relegated. The club reported a loss of £104.2m in their last set of accounts and their financial problems will deepen if they are no longer in the Premier League.They are on the brink of going down after losing 3-1 at Newcastle on Sunday. Their fate will in effect be confirmed if Tottenham draw at ­Chelsea on Tuesday night and sealed if Spurs win. West Ham are realistic enough to know they will probably be in the Championship next season. Continue reading...

Gambling Commission set to rubber-stamp new regulations that could inflict irreparable damage on the racing industryJames Noyes, one of the initial proponents of affordability checks for gamblers, has issued an urgent call for a pause in their implementation. Stuart Andrew MP, the gambling minister in the last government and also a former supporter of checks, agrees with him. The British Horseracing Authority has suggested that implementation could cost the industry £250m annually in revenue as punters refuse to supply personal financial information to gambling operators and shift to the unregulated black market instead.At a board meeting scheduled for Thursday, the Gambling Commission is expected to ignore the rising tide of concern and rubber-stamp the formal introduction financial risk assessments, as the Commission calls them. Tens of thousands, conceivably hundreds of thousands, of punters with licensed UK firms could soon be required to provide documentation on salary or assets before they can continue to gamble, despite initial promises – from Andrew, among others – that the process would be frictionless for all but a minority. Continue reading...

One of the greats of Scottish rugby who went on to have a successful broadcasting careerScott Hastings, the most capped centre in the history of Scotland’s rugby union side, played a key role in his country’s epic 1990 grand slam victory over England at Murrayfield. Scott, whose name will be forever linked with his elder brother Gavin, was a defensive bulwark of the Scottish team and his astonishing tackle from behind that day on Rory Underwood helped secure his country’s finest ever victory.In many ways Scott, who has died aged 61 of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and Gavin were chalk and cheese. The full-back Gavin was affable enough but quiet and earnest while Scott always had a smile on his face. He was a practical joker in his playing days, the dying era of amateurism. “In the end,” he once said, “I recognise that rugby is still all about fun.” Continue reading...