Fortunebets

Rafael Nadal will address reports he is set to pull out of the French Open at a press conference on Thursday.

Nadal pulled out of the Italian Open in Rome as he continues to manage the hip injury he suffered at the Australian Open.

The Spaniard had hoped to be fit by the start of the clay-court season, but last month revealed the treatment he had been having had not worked.

Nadal has never gone into the French Open, which he has won 14 times, without at least one warm-up event on clay.

There will be a press conference at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Manacor, Mallorca at 1500BST on Thursday, where an announcement is expected on the 36-year-old’s plans for Roland Garros.

“If he plays [the French Open] or not and the reasons either way will only be communicated tomorrow,” a statement from the player’s representatives read.

Speaking on Twitter about his decision to pull out of the Rome Open, Nadal said: “Despite having noticed an improvement in recent days, there have been many months without having been able to train at a high level and the re-adaptation process has its time, and I have no choice but to accept it and continue working.”

Callum Wilson and Bruno Guimaraes served up a grandstand finish to take Newcastle to the brink of Champions League football with a resounding victory over Brighton.

Having seen Deniz Undav drag the Seagulls back into the game after his own goal and Dan Burn’s towering header had given the Magpies a 2-0 half-time lead, Wilson scored his 18th of the season and then set up Guimaraes to wrap up a 4-1 win at the death in front of a delirious crowd of 52,122 at St James’ Park.

Eddie Howe’s men will be assured of a top-four finish if Liverpool lose to Aston Villa on Saturday – even a draw might ultimately prove enough as a result of their superior goal difference – but can complete the job themselves in any case if they beat struggling Leicester on Tyneside on Monday evening.

For much of the game, this was not the Brighton which effectively ended Arsenal’s title challenge on Sunday, partly because of the absence of Levi Colwill, Alexis Mac Allister, Julio Enciso and Evan Ferguson from the starting line-up, but largely as a result of the relentless pressure exerted by their opponents.

Joe Willock saw an early cross hacked away to Miguel Almiron, whose shot was blocked at source as the Magpies found their rhythm, and Fabian Schar drilled a ninth-minute free-kick straight at the grateful Jason Steele.

Willock fired just wide from Almiron’s pull-back seconds later, and the Paraguay international cleared the target by some distance from a tight angle after the former Arsenal midfielder had returned the favour.

Such was the Magpies’ early intensity that the Seagulls were struggling to play their way out of their own half, much to manager Roberto De Zerbi’s agitation, although keeper Nick Pope was tested for the first time by Danny Welbeck’s 16th-minute attempt after Kaoru Mitoma had picked him out.

But the pressure finally told with 23 minutes gone when Trippier drilled the latest of a series of corners to the near post and in his attempt to clear it, Undav could only glance the ball into his own net.

Burn saw a sharply-executed 34th-minute shot on the turn deflected wide after the visitors failed to deal with another Trippier corner and although Mitoma chanced his arm with an ambitious 37th-minute strike which failed to engage Pope, Newcastle extended their lead deep into added time.

With Joelinton still seething at a Moises Caicedo challenge which went unpunished by referee Robert Jones, Tripper took full advantage of a decision which did go his side’s way seconds later, curling a free-kick on to the head of Burn, who powered it past the helpless Steele.

Almiron passed up a chance to put the game beyond the visitors within five minutes of the restart when he shot straight at Steele from Willock’s knock-down, and the miss proved costly within seconds when Undav ran on to Billy Gilmour’s through-ball and beat Pope to make amends for his earlier contribution.

Mac Allister, Enciso and Ferguson were swiftly thrown into the mix and just as quickly, Willock departed clutching his hamstring and Elliot Anderson joined the fray.

But there was no let-up as the home side saw penalty appeals waved away after Burn appeared to have his shirt tugged and Steele made a superb save to keep out Alexander Isak’s header.

Enciso glanced Caicedo’s cross wide of Pope’s far post as the game became increasingly open, but the Magpies launched a devastating late assault to wrap up the win.

Wilson added a third when he rounded off an 89th-minute counter-attack sparked by Almiron before setting up Guimaraes to make it 4-1 in injury-time.

Jurgen Klopp’s poor disciplinary record and his failure to heed previous conduct warnings were aggravating factors which led to the Liverpool manager receiving a two-match touchline ban for implying bias by referee Paul Tierney.

Klopp was fined £75,000 (€86,000) and will not be in the technical area for their final Premier League home game of the campaign against Aston Villa on Saturday but the second match of his punishment has been suspended until the end of next season.

The German admitted a charge of improper conduct in that his comments about Tierney implied bias, questioned the integrity of the referee and brought the game into disrepute.

Klopp, who was booked for celebrating in the face of fourth official John Brooks after Diogo Jota’s added-time goal in the 4-3 win over Tottenham last month, suggested in post-match interviews what Tierney had said to him in issuing the caution was “not OK” and went on to add “we have our story, history, with Mr Tierney. I really don’t know what this man has with us”.

The independent disciplinary commission, in its written reasons, said the Professional Game Match Officials Limited viewed Klopp’s comments as an “unwarranted attack on Mr Tierney’s integrity” and so immediately issued a statement in defence of the official.

Klopp later apologised, clarifying his words and denying he had questioned Tierney’s integrity and while that, and his letter to the commission, were deemed “considerable mitigation” it was his history which counted against him.

“Mr Klopp has a poor record for disciplinary offences, having appeared before commissions on three occasions in the past five years,” said the commission in its written reasons.

“In November 2022 in an appeal in which two members of the present commission sat, Mr Klopp received a touchline ban, a fine and a warning.

“Those sanctions plainly failed to deter Mr Klopp from committing nine similar breaches of the rules. Mr Klopp is a high-profile individual in the football world. He must have known that what he said would attract widespread publicity.

“He should have realised that it was incumbent on him to restrain himself and to behave properly.

“The statements that Mr Klopp made/adopted were not limited to comments on the immediate match, but extended to allegations of persistent bias against a blameless referee.

“The intense media interest that followed Mr Klopp’s remarks was highly damaging.”

Klopp created a problem for himself when he charged down the touchline following Jota’s goal after Tottenham’s 90th-minute equaliser had cancelled out Liverpool’s earlier 3-0 lead.

From evidence obtained from the officials’ audio, Brooks told Tierney “Jurgen Klopp has just run and celebrated in my face. I think it’s a yellow card mate, minimum”.

VAR backed up Brooks’ opinion and in booking Klopp, Tierney said: “I have to show you yellow… it could be red, but I am going to show you yellow. We will give you the benefit of the doubt, don’t do anything more.”

Those were the comments Klopp deemed “not OK” but it was not his behaviour on the pitch which produced the disciplinary charge but the aspersions he cast at Tierney, which he subsequently withdrew in a press conference a couple of days later and in a letter of apology to the commission.

Liverpool, in their own letter, stressed Klopp may have misunderstood Tierney and “they do not believe that Mr Tierney purposely gives decisions against LFC and that any suggestion that Mr Tierney was biased or not wholly impartial was totally unintended.

“Mr Klopp did not wish to suggest that Mr Tierney was dishonest, just that there were a long list of key decisions which he felt aggrieved by that have involved Mr Tierney.

“Both LFC and Jurgen Klopp regret that his comments have become a story in themselves and that there has been any question mark cast over Mr Tierney’s impartiality – that was not intended.”

Klopp spelled out his regret in his own letter, saying: “Although it was not my intention I accept now it appears that I was questioning Mr Tierney’s integrity. I take ownership of this. On reflection, the words I used were inappropriate.

“To be absolutely clear, I know that Mr Tierney, along with all other officials, do their work without any pre-conceived bias or prejudice.

“Although not an excuse, I believe we have made up a high percentage of Mr Tierney’s matches this season? Something in the region of 20 per cent of the matches he has officiated have involved my team.

“I do not offer this as a defence, rather it is an observation and could be a reason for both the build-up of frustration governed by an inadvertent accumulation of incidents over an extended period.”

Curtis Jones’ double pushed Leicester to the brink of relegation as Liverpool cruised to a 3-0 win – two years to the day since the Foxes’ FA Cup triumph.

The midfielder’s first-half brace and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s stunner eased the visitors to victory as the hosts capitulated to leave them staring at the drop.

That it came on the anniversary of their first ever FA Cup win underlined the 2016 Premier League champions’ fall from grace.

Harvey Barnes called it one of the biggest games in the club’s history, but Leicester folded to remain two points from safety with two games left.

The Foxes have sleepwalked into this position. Stricter finances dictated last summer’s quiet transfer window, but the club stood still and have paid the price.

An air of acceptance had begun to descend on the King Power Stadium and, even before the Reds marched in to claim three easy points, the writing appeared on the wall.

For Liverpool, they moved to within a point of Manchester United as their late charge for the top four continued.

A seventh straight win – the most painless by far – kept them on United’s coattails, although they will need to maintain their form and hope their rivals slip up.

There was never any suggestion of a surprise on Monday, though, as Leicester surrendered.

Even prior to kick-off the Foxes had lost Danny Ward, Caglar Soyuncu and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to injury.

That forced Dean Smith to give Jonny Evans a first Premier League start since October, showing the desperation in a dire situation.

Leicester needed a strong start and were bright enough. James Maddison’s arrowed pass and Youri Tielemans’ dummy sent Barnes away, only for Alisson Becker to smother the danger when Jamie Vardy broke through.

Yet their early gusto waned as Liverpool bossed possession before turning on the afterburners as the hosts fell apart.

Alisson’s long clearance found Luis Diaz to nod down for Jordan Henderson. He teed up Mohamed Salah to cross for Jones to steal in ahead of the dawdling Boubakary Soumare and find the far corner for a 33rd-minute opener.

Just three minutes later the England Under-21 international doubled the lead, following a lengthy VAR check, when he collected Salah’s pass and was given the freedom to turn and rifle past Daniel Iversen.

It was the midfielder’s third goals in four games, having ended an 18-month drought against Tottenham last month.

It was mayhem and Leicester, with just one win in their previous 13 games, collapsed as Iversen needed to deny Cody Gakpo a quickfire third.

Desperate for a response, the Foxes at least came out for the second half swinging and Alisson tipped Barnes’ effort wide.

That was as good as it got, though, as Liverpool slipped back into their controlled rhythm, with Iversen beating Salah’s shot away.

It was then curtains with 19 minutes left when, after Evans fouled Henderson, Salah tapped a free-kick to Alexander-Arnold to blast into the top corner from 25 yards.

Salah shot wide when clean through but, by then, the King Power had begun to empty as quickly as the hope drained from Leicester, who look doomed.

Alejandro Garnacho inspired Manchester United to a late comeback win against West Ham as Erik ten Hag’s men sealed progress to the FA Cup quarter-finals three days on from their Carabao Cup triumph.

Sunday’s 2-0 victory against Newcastle secured the Old Trafford giants’ first silverware since 2017 but the manager’s immediate message to his players was “get back to work”.

United looked set to be brought back down to earth with a bump after Said Benrahma put David Moyes’ West Ham into a deserved lead at Old Trafford.

But Nayef Aguerd’s 77th-minute own goal sparked an impressive turnaround, with teenager Garnacho’s superb 90th-minute effort followed by a stoppage-time strike by Fred in a 3-1 triumph.

There was sense of relief among the delighted celebrations as Ten Hag’s men progressed from the fifth-round tie despite a shaky performance, keeping their hopes of a quadruple alive.

Tottenham were dumped out of the FA Cup by Championship opposition for the second year in a row after Iliman Ndiaye fired Sheffield United to a 1-0 fifth-round win at Bramall Lane.

Exactly one year ago to the day since they were beaten by the same scoreline at Middlesbrough, Spurs again succumbed to a team in the division below them after a limp display in South Yorkshire.

After starting Harry Kane on the bench, they fell behind to Ndiaye’s 79th-minute opener and could not find a way back into the game.

Defeat means another chance of ending their 15-year trophy drought goes up in smoke and they exit the premier domestic cup competition at this stage for the fourth successive year.

With Antonio Conte still out of the country as he recovers from gall bladder surgery, the manager will evade some of the flak for this defeat but, with his future still up in the air, the pressure is mounting on him ahead of a crunch period in the Premier League and Champions League.

It was a glorious night for the Blades, who reached the last eight for the third time in four years and they are now one win away from Wembley, which is supplementing their promotion campaign in the Championship.

This fixture had all the hallmarks of that night on Teeside for Spurs, but they still opted to leave Kane on the bench.

Spurs have been notoriously slow starters this season and were so again in a largely forgettable opening 20 minutes.

Lucas Moura, making his first start since November, wasted a good opening as a stray Sheffield United pass played him in but after driving into the penalty area he dallied and could not find a man.

Spurs’ dominance began to grow and Richarlison, starting as a number nine, had a good chance after being played in by Davinson Sanchez, but fired over while Moura saw an mis-hit cross skim off the crossbar.

For all of their control, the Premier League should have gone in at half-time behind.

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg got his header back to goalkeeper Fraser Forster all wrong and Ismaila Coulibaly stole in but, with Billy Sharp screaming for a square pass, he skewed a shot into the side-netting.

Spurs started the second half with some purpose and Ivan Perisic glanced a corner over while Son Heung-min could not find the target after creating room for himself on the edge of the area.

But they could not keep up their momentum and the hosts began to come into the game more.

Even the introduction of Kane did not help Spurs regain their verve as Pedro Porro curled wide after Hojbjerg’s long ball sent him clear.

As the second half wore on it seemed more and more obvious what was going to happen and it did 11 minutes from time.

Some sloppy defending from Sanchez and Porro allowed Ndiaye to wriggle free in the box and he fired a low shot in at the near post, which did not cover Forster in much glory.

Tottenham had to wait until deep into injury time to muster a chance at sending the tie to extra-time but Kane inexplicably headed Perisic’s cross over and United saw it through.

Burnley boss Vincent Kompany is set to make an emotional return to Manchester City after the clubs were paired together in the FA Cup quarter-final draw.

Former City skipper Kompany, who won four Premier League titles and two FA Cups among his haul of trophies during his 11-year-stay with the club, will take the Clarets to the Etihad Stadium later this month.

The Sky Bet Championship leaders booked their showdown with the reigning English champions minutes before the draw courtesy of a 1-0 win over League One Fleetwood thanks to Connor Roberts’ 90th-minute strike.

League Two Grimsby’s reward for their shock 2-1 win at top-flight Southampton is a trip to Brighton.

Gavan Holohan’s penalty double either side of half-time produced a huge upset at St Mary’s and left them one win away from a trip to Wembley.

The Mariners, who have reached the quarter-finals for the first time since the Second World War, sit in 16th place in the fourth tier, while the Seagulls lie eighth in the Premier League.

Carabao Cup winners Manchester United will entertain top-flight rivals Fulham with a place in the semi-finals at stake.

They had to come from behind to beat West Ham 3-1 at Old Trafford on Wednesday evening three days after their Wembley victory over Newcastle.

United, who have lifted the trophy on 12 occasions but not since 2016, won 2-1 when the sides met in the league at Craven Cottage in November with substitute Alejandro Garnacho’s last-gasp strike securing the points.

The final tie will see Championship promotion hopefuls Sheffield United host second-tier counterparts Blackburn.

The Blades dumped top-flight Tottenham out of the competition with a 1-0 win at Bramall Lane on Wednesday evening with Iliman Ndiaye scoring the winner.

Second-placed United are nine points better off than Rovers in fourth having played a game more and won 3-0 in August’s league fixture in South Yorkshire.

The fixtures will take place over the weekend of March 18 and 19.

Novak Djokovic continued his unbeaten start to the year by defeating Hubert Hurkacz in the quarter-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

The world number one has shaken off the early rust he showed in his first tournament since winning the Australian Open and impressed in a 6-3 7-5 win over fifth seed Hurkacz.

One break in each set proved the difference, with Djokovic dropping just 11 points on serve in the match and not facing a break point throughout his 20th straight victory, 15 of which have come in 2023.

The only moment of real concern came when he slipped to 0-30 at 4-5 in the second set, but he responded well, and Djokovic said in an on-court interview broadcast by Amazon Prime Video: “It was a challenging match, as it always is against Hubert, one of the best guys on the tour.

“He’s got one of the best serves in the game so in the second set, until that 11th game, I didn’t really have too many chances. Fortunately for me I also found the rhythm on my serve.

“One or two points can always decide the winner of matches like this. I’m really, really glad with the way I played under pressure.”

Alexander Zverev is enjoying his best week since the serious ankle injury he suffered at the French Open last spring and he made it through to the last four with a 7-5 6-4 victory over Italian Lorenzo Sonego.

“I’m starting to play decent tennis, which is nice after nine months,” said the German. “I’m happy about that. I’m happy with how the match went. I’m also happy how I handled the pressure situations.”

He next faces defending champion Andrey Rublev, who saw off Botic Van De Zandschulp 6-3 7-6 (3).

In Thursday’s late match, Daniil Medvedev beat Croatian number eight seed Borna Coric in straight sets, 6-3 6-2.

The Russian world number seven will go on to play Djokovic for a place in the final.

Paris St Germain have condemned the actions of supporters who are understood to have gathered outside the home of Neymar and chanted for him to leave the club.

It has been a tumultuous week for the Ligue 1 outfit, who suspended Lionel Messi for two weeks following an unauthorised trip to Saudi Arabia and saw their title hopes hit after a home defeat to Lorient on Sunday.

Fans were filmed on Wednesday chanting for the board to resign outside club headquarters before further clips showed a group of supporters visit the home of Neymar and called for him to move on.

Messi was also believed to be the target of frustration with fans chanting for the World Cup winner to leave, having recently jeered the Argentine in home matches.

“Paris Saint-Germain most strongly condemns the intolerable and insulting actions of a small group of individuals that took place on Wednesday,” a club statement read.

“Whatever the differences of opinion, nothing justifies such actions.

“The club gives its full support to its players, its staff and all those targeted by such shameful behaviour.”

Reports suggest Messi will leave Parc des Princes at the end of the campaign following two seasons in Paris.

Liverpool turned up the pressure on Manchester United with a 1-0 victory over Fulham moving them four points off fourth place as Mohamed Salah’s winner edged him even closer to a Steven Gerrard record.

There was none of the drama or histrionics of Sunday’s 4-3 win over Tottenham in bringing up a fifth successive Premier League victory for the first time since April last year.

Salah’s 39th-minute penalty, his second in successive games after back-to-back misses, took him to 185 goals for the club, one behind Gerrard, while also going fifth on the club’s list of all-time league scorers with 136.

Manager Jurgen Klopp’s behaviour in the technical area was the very model of exemplary following a Football Association misconduct charge for comments about Sunday’s referee Paul Tierney.

He was perhaps making the most of his time on the touchline as he has until Friday to respond to the charges and, having already served a one-match ban this season, the punishment could be much more severe.

Klopp had written in his programme notes that going 3-0 up inside the opening 15 minutes against Tottenham – a match they eventually went on to win with an added-time goal – had given them some problems.

And although they set off looking like they might replicate that with Trent Alexander-Arnold alone having three attempts on goal in the first 10 minutes, they lacked some of the sharpness they had shown at the weekend.

Also, Fulham were also more organised than their fellow Londoners and that kept opportunities down to half-chances at best.

Alexander-Arnold’s advanced position stepping into midfield allowed him to get closer to his opponents’ goal but, unusually for him, he was off target with two attempts with another hit tamely at goalkeeper Bernd Leno.

Salah, whose cross just evaded Darwin Nunez eight yards out, weaved his way past a couple of defenders close to the byline but could not find the target from a narrow angle, while Luis Diaz also had a shot deflected wide.

Liverpool’s mastery of control in the opposition half was almost absolute, regularly winning back possession before Fulham had time to begin the semblance of an attack, but in their own final third it was much less so.

Virgil Van Dijk had to slide in to turn Harry Wilson’s cross behind after the former Liverpool winger had broken into the space behind Kostas Tsimikas, with Carlos Vinicius exploiting Ibrahima Konate’s hesitation to force a good save out of Alisson Becker.

When the breakthrough arrived it was no surprise it came from a counter-press after Nunez had initially lost possession 15 yards outside Fulham’s penalty area.

Tosin Adarabioyo squared a short pass to Issa Diop but the centre-half, back in the team due to Tim Ream’s season-ending injury, dawdled in making his clearance and Nunez was on him like a shot to nick the ball off his toes with the Frenchman’s swing at fresh air catching the forward’s back leg as he went past him.

Referee Stuart Attwell pointed to the spot and Salah scored an identical penalty to the one against Spurs, blasted straight down the middle.

The second half was much of the same, with Liverpool exerting most of the pressure without really pressing home their advantage.

That made their slender lead vulnerable and Alisson had to save well from Vinicius to prevent the equaliser with 13 minutes remaining to keep their slim Champions League qualification hopes alive.

They are, however, still relying on United to drop points as their arch-rivals have two matches in hand, starting at Brighton on Thursday.