Matthijs de Ligt salvaged a 2-2 draw for Manchester United at Tottenham in a frantic finale as both sides missed the chance to go second in the Premier League on Saturday.
Spurs looked to have secured a dramatic victory, having trailed with six minutes to go, as Mathys Tel equalised before Richarlison headed home in the 91st minute.
However, De Ligt powered in a 96th-minute header to extend United’s unbeaten run to five games.
Both sides move onto 18 points from 11 games, but goal difference separates Spurs in third from United in seventh.
The Red Devils have now failed to beat Spurs in their previous eight meetings, but it was the most recent of which that will live long in the memory of the Tottenham support.
Spurs ended their 17-year trophy drought thanks to a scrappy 1-0 win in the Europa League final in May, which also took them into the Champions League, while United missed out on European football altogether.
Despite the huge blow to United’s finances and prestige, Ruben Amorim is making the most of having more time on the training field to finally build some momentum after a tough first year at Old Trafford.
Unlike most of United’s big money signings in recent years, Bryan Mbeumo has proved his worth since a £65 million ($86 million) move from Brentford in July.
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The Cameroonian was named Premier League player of the month for October and took his tally to four goals in as many games when he headed in from Amad Diallo’s cross on 32 minutes.
Spurs were booed off after a woeful attacking display in losing a London derby 1-0 to Chelsea last weekend.
After another dreary first 45 minutes, the hosts came to life early in the second period.
Senne Lammens produced a brilliant stop to turn Cristian Romero’s flick behind.
The Belgian goalkeeper was quickly called into action again to parry Joao Palhinha’s effort.
Brennan Johnston, who scored the winner when the sides last met in Bilbao, was then denied an equaliser by the offside flag.
Tottenham’s burst of attacking threat quickly fizzled out, though, and discontent among the home fans with manager Thomas Frank showed when his decision to replace Xavi Simons was roundly booed.
However, the Spurs boss can claim his changes turned the game around.
Destiny Udogie crossed for fellow substitute Tel to turn and fire into the top corner via a deflection off De Ligt.
Wilson Odobert, introduced off the bench at half-time, then curled a shot towards the far corner that Richarlison flicked in to leave Lammens helpless.
The Brazilian tore off his shirt and was reduced to tears in his celebration.
Yet, it still was not enough to earn Tottenham a first home league win since the opening weekend of the season.
De Ligt was offered too much space at the back post from Bruno Fernandes’ corner, and his header was too powerful for Guglielmo Vicario.
McLaren’s Lando Norris extended his championship lead to nine points as he won the Sao Paulo Grand Prix sprint race while team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri crashed out.
Piastri lost control through Turn Three on lap six of the race and spun into the barriers, the latest in a series of blows to the Australian’s title chances.
The race was stopped after both Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto crashed in the same place, fortunately neither hitting Piastri’s car or each other.
The race ended just after Gabriel Bortoleto had a high-speed crash in his Sauber at the end of the pit straight.
Bortoleto was trying to pass Williams’ Alex Albon but appeared to hit a wet patch on the track as he braked. He smashed into the inside wall and then spun wildly across the track into the barriers on the outside. He said over team radio that he was unhurt.
Behind Verstappen, who is now 39 points behind Norris in the championship, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finally managed to pass Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso with two laps to go after stalwart defence from the veteran Spaniard.
But Alonso managed to hold off Leclerc’s team-mate Lewis Hamilton to take sixth, as Hamilton and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly took the final points.
Piastri left to rue another mistake
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Despite overnight rain, the track, though damp, was dry enough for slick tyres at the start and Norris led Antonelli and Piastri away in grid order, while Verstappen moved up to fifth ahead of Alonso and behind Russell.
Piastri’s crash came as he hooked his inside wheel over the kerb at Turn Three, which immediately pitched his car into a spin and into the barriers.
He sat in the car with his fingers inside his visor as he rued the likely damage to his title hopes.
“Just trying to put this behind (me),” Piastri said. “There is a lot more points on offer tomorrow, so the better job I can do to get myself a good starting spot, the better it will be.”
It was his fifth major mistake in as many races after a crash-strewn outing in Baku in September, and a collision at the start of the sprint race in Austin three weeks ago.
Since Piastri won the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August, Norris has made up 43 points on his team-mate in five weekends and a sprint race and has strong momentum in the championship.
Although there were yellow flags waving, both Hulkenberg and Colapinto made the same mistake, each hitting the barrier a little earlier than the car before had done.
For the restart, Norris and Alonso switched to soft tyres while the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers and Verstappen went for mediums.
The mediums were the better choice – Norris came under pressure from Antonelli in the closing laps but was able to fend him off.
John Higgins rolled back the years in a 9-2 victory over fellow Scot Stephen Maguire to reach the final of the International Championship in China.
The 50-year-old put in a vintage performance to set up a meeting with home hope Wu Yize in Sunday’s showpiece.
Higgins won the first six frames of the day before sealing victory with the first three of the evening session.
Four-time world champion Higgins is now hoping to use all his experience against 22-year-old Wu as he bids to claim a third ranking title of the year.
“Wu is going to be on the crest of a wave, but I’m hoping he finds the nerves tomorrow because it is his first final in China,” said Higgins about his fellow finalist, who beat world champion Zhao Xintong in the first semi-final in Nanjing.
Higgins ended a four-year wait for a ranking title with victory in the World Open in March, and followed that up in April by winning the Tour Championship.
“It was pivotal to win the World Open,” Higgins told World Snooker. “It gave me that bit of self-belief in my game. It doesn’t matter who you are, when you start losing that self-belief the game becomes so difficult.”
The world number six showed all that belief as he raced into a 6-0 lead over Maguire, firing in century breaks of 101 and 137.
And after losing the final two frames of the opening session, he bounced back to reel off the three he needed to close out victory, including runs of 93 and 64.
Football pundit Eni Aluko said she was “glad justice has been served” after former England player Joey Barton was found guilty of sending “grossly offensive” social media posts aimed at her and other broadcasters.
In early 2024, Barton compared Aluko and commentator Lucy Ward to serial killers Fred and Rose West, and called Jeremy Vine a “bike nonce”.
Prosecutors told Liverpool Crown Court Barton had “crossed the line between free speech and a crime”.
She added: “This is a reminder that actions online do not come without consequences.
“The messages directed at me, Lucy Ward and Jeremy Vine by Joey Barton were deeply distressing and had a real damaging impact on my life and career.
“I am glad that justice has been served.”
Jurors convicted former Manchester City, Newcastle and QPR midfielder Barton, 43, of six counts of sending grossly offensive social media posts and cleared him of six others.
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After the guilty verdicts, Ward – who told the trial that Barton’s posts felt like “continuous harassment” – issued an Instagram post in which she wrote: “Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences.
“It’s been an extremely difficult and sometimes harrowing last two years.”
The pundits had been working on ITV’s coverage of an FA Cup tie in January 2024 when Barton suggested they were the “Fred and Rose West of football commentary”.
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Barton also posted that Aluko was in the “Joseph Stalin/Pol Pot category”, saying she had “murdered hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of football fans’ ears”.
Jurors found him not guilty on the comparison to the 20th Century dictators and the Wests, but ruled the superimposed image was grossly offensive.
Barton, originally from Huyton in Merseyside, was also convicted over a post in which he claimed Aluko was “only there to tick boxes” as he criticised diversity schemes.
His post said her input was “all off the back of the BLM [Black Lives Matter]/George Floyd nonsense”, referring to the 2020 killing of a black man by US police.
Barton, who has 2.6 million followers on X, claimed his posts about Vine were merely “crude banter” and that in using the phrase “bike nonce” he had never intended to imply the radio presenter was a paedophile.
Strictly’s Vicky Pattison and Kai Widdrington have had quite the journey already. Here they open up about their special bond, Kai’s bromance’ with Vicky’s hubby and her big plans for next year
We’ve watched Vicky Pattison go from a self-confessed nervous wreck to offering up some fabulously assured dance routines on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing. And her pro partner Kai Widdrington – the caring, perfectly measured match to Vicky’s sparky energy – tells us he truly believes she “has the tools to go all the way”.
He clearly feels like he’s won already as he calls warm, straight-talking Vicky “the beating heart of the celeb group this year” during their glamorous OK! shoot.
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It’s already been quite a journey. Vicky, 37, who married businessman Ercan Ramadan last August, has battled severe anxiety since stepping out onto the fabled dance floor. But she happily tells us she’s “turning a corner” – and she hopes she’ll inspire others to be a bit braver.
She admits with a giggle that she could have been doing something very different with her Saturday nights this year (clue: it involves nappy changes). “At the start of this year, I said to Ercan, I’m either gonna do Strictly , a second series of Honesty Box or we’re going to have a baby. When I got the call for Strictly he was over the moon,” she laughs.
While readily admitting they’ve had less quality time together since she joined the Strictly juggernaut, seeing how caring he’s been while she juggles it all, has convinced Vicky he’ll make an amazing dad.
“So yes, kids are definitely on the cards next year. I think he’s looking forward to it now. He probably thinks I’ll be at home a bit more, which he’s thrilled about,” she says.
She recently admitted that Sundays at home with hubby are “sacred” to her right now. So how is she coping being away from Ercan and their two beloved pooches? “Going home to Ercan and the dogs, I’m so grateful for that,” she says. “I can snap out of whatever steps are flying around in my head and be with my family. I need that moment.”
Ercan recently flew to see his family in Cyprus for a week – the only time he’s missed seeing her perform live – and his absence hit her hard. “I told him to go. I said, ‘All I’m doing is coming home and whining that I’m tired, then I go to bed.’ But the minute he left, I realised how much I missed him and needed him. He’s my anchor and he spoils me rotten.
“He wakes me up every morning with my electrolytes, my collagen, ready to go to Strictly school. He texts about what I want for dinner and he’s being the best dog dad. There’s a real sense of role reversal, in the traditional sense, right now. It’s progressive and it takes a special man to do that.”
Southampton-born Kai, who started dancing at the age of nine, the same year Strictly first aired on telly, has struck up a lovely bond with Vicky’s other half, too. Apparently they spend most of their time talking about football, alongside Ercan’s lookalike brother. “Kai and Ercan have a little bromance going,” Vicky tells us. “He’s gone down a storm with my family and friends and I love his gorgeous girlfriend Chloe.”
They even talked about going on a double date – before realising it would be nigh on impossible with a brand new dance to learn every week. “We were so full of it at the start of this process,” Vicky admits. “A double-date, what?! Nobody’s got time for that!”
Kai admits he had zero preconceptions about former Heart Radio presenter Vicky before they met, other than knowing she was a total novice at dancing. He is visibly delighted by how much she’s progressed. “If I’d shown her what she’s achieved in our most recent dances, she wouldn’t have believed it. But why stop now? We might as well go the whole way,” he says confidently.
Vicky agrees, saying it’s “mindblowing” when she recalls how she struggled to even clap on time during the first group dance. Since then, she’s performed a beautiful American Smooth, the Couple’s Choice dance to Cheryl Cole’s Fight For This Love and even the notoriously tricky samba.
“Oh man, the samba. If you’d told me seven weeks ago I’d love that dance, I’d have called you a liar. Yet here I am. A big, samba-loving Geordie,” she laughs.
The fact that Cheryl – who she’s idolised since she was a teenager – sent her a personal message of support is something she’s still coming to terms with. “That was one of the best moments of my life. I might only top it when I have my first kid,” she says.
Vicky remembers Cheryl once walking into the clothes shop where she used to work on Saturdays in Newcastle. “She came in with a little black top and a baseball cap on, the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen and dead polite. She said, ‘Have you got this in an extra small?’ and we ran away looking for it. But the minute she left, we lost our minds! I met her after I did the jungle too – she’s so sweet and humble.”
Throughout our chat, it’s clear what a lovely synergy Vicky and Kai have. “He sussed out early doors how to get the best out of me,” she says. “I’ll work hard, but I need my little breaks, a bit of craic. Outside of this incredible experience I’m just a human being, trying my best.”
She hopes the two of them will be friends for life. “Kai’s got really good previous, to be fair. He just went to Angela Rippon ’s 81st birthday. Maybe he’ll be at my 81st birthday party too. I don’t feel like it’s far off, the way my body’s feeling at the minute,” she jokes.
And Kai, who’s been a pro on the show for five years, explains that after two months of dancing together he knows what makes Vicky tick. “I know what to say, what not to say, when to give her space. And unlike her, I’m never worried. She always pulls it out of the bag.”
She’s certainly come a long way since the start of her Strictly journey. Despite being a mega-fan whose dream for years was to do the show one day, even she was shocked by how crippling her anxiety was ahead of her first performance.
“It was such a huge step out of my comfort zone. That’s a very scary place to be,” she admits. “I’m an open book, so I don’t regret being so transparent about how tough it was. But I was really shocked at how all-consuming it was at first. I’d be visibly shaking and… yeah, there were a lot of tears.”
She admits to being a “nervous girlie” and says her anxiety is getting worse the older she gets. “When you’re younger, you’re completely fearless. I’m definitely not any more. I’m afraid of almost everything.”
But she’s ready to change the narrative, she says. “Maybe watching me do this, though I’m really scared, will give people faith that they can do amazing things if they go outside their comfort zone, you know?
“And Kai does this lovely thing – he turns to me before we go out on the dance floor and says, ‘We’re just dancing. Just me and you – just dance with me.’ It’s so powerful and so lovely. The outside noise just drifts away.”
Kai has never seen anyone quite like Vicky when it comes to sharing the other celebs’ triumphs.
He says, “Sometimes, watching the others, you’re aware it’s a competition and seeing a couple smash a dance, you’re happy but there might be mixed feelings. I’ve never seen someone as genuinely happy for others doing well as Vicky. Every other celeb this year would say that, I think. But she’s so good at making other people feel better, she sometimes forgets about herself.”
Vicky admits the other celebrities already feel like family, and says each elimination is “a heartache”. “We’ve all got a special bond, but my favourite people are George [Clarke], Bavinder [Sopal] and La Voix. I really miss Chris Robshaw, he was like my big brother. Lewis [Cope] is a lovely lad, and I love his girlfriend. And Caz [Karen Carney] is always checking in.”
Vicky also credits her bestie Pete Wicks for being her rock. Pete reached the semi-final of Strictly last year with Jowita Przystal. “He’s been my biggest cheerleader,” Vicky says. “He’s been to see us twice and he calls me every show day to check in.”
Vicky and Kai’s series is already proving to be a historic one, as Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman made the bombshell announcement that this will be their last outing as hosts. How do they feel about it?
“The pair of them have done so much for women in television,” Vicky says. “ Strictly will continue to be this sparkly piece of TV that brings joy to millions, but it is the end of an era. They deserve a chance to enjoy their Saturday nights though.”
Her own stint on Strictly is far from over, but taking part makes Vicky feel like the sky’s the limit. “Every time I do something, whether it’s eating kangaroo balls in the jungle or being thrown out of a helicopter on Celeb SAS , I’m scared,” she says. “But coming out the other side, you feel incredible. If I can dance on Strictly , there’s nothing I can’t do.”
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Strictly Come Dancing continues on ITV on Saturday at 6.25pm
Matthijs de Ligt equalised in the sixth minute of a dramatic period of stoppage time to earn Manchester United a 2-2 draw at Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.
Tottenham looked like claiming all three points on Sunday when Richarlison glanced in a header in the first minute of added-on time, completing a Spurs comeback from a goal down.
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There was still time for De Ligt to find space at the back post at a corner to direct a header goalwards and over the line before Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario clawed the ball away.
Trailing to Bryan Mbeumo’s 32nd-minute header, Tottenham dominated the second half and grabbed an equaliser in the 84th through substitute Mathys Tel’s shot that deflected in off De Ligt.
De Ligt said United deserved more from the game than a point.
“I’m proud of the team for how we fought back and got a point in a really difficult stadium,” he said.
“You can see that we still have the fire in our belly to get a goal, to get a point – even with 10 men,” he added, as United played the last few minutes a man down as Benjamin Sesko was forced off injured after United had made all their five substitutions.
However, Tel said he felt Spurs merited all three points.
“We are feeling 50-50, we conceded a goal, but our reaction in the second half was top,” Tel said.
“We changed the game, but we are mad because we have to win today. The subs brought energy to change the game, and we showed great mentality; we deserved to win.”
United extended their unbeaten run in the league to five games – three wins followed by two draws – while Tottenham have only won one of its six homes games so far.
However, the Red Devils have now failed to beat Spurs in their previous eight meetings, but it was the most recent of which that will live long in the memory of the Tottenham support.
Spurs ended their 17-year trophy drought thanks to a scrappy 1-0 win in the Europa League final in May, which also took them into the Champions League while United missed out on European football altogether.
Despite the huge blow to the United’s finances and prestige, Ruben Amorim is making the most of having more time on the training field to finally build some momentum after a tough first year at Old Trafford.
Unlike most of United’s big money signings in recent years, Bryan Mbeumo has proved his worth since a £65 million ($86m) move from Brentford in July.
The Cameroonian was named Premier League player of the month for October and took his tally to four goals in as many games when he headed in from Amad Diallo’s cross on 32 minutes.
Spurs were booed off after a woeful attacking display in losing a London derby 1-0 to Chelsea last weekend.
After another dreary first 45 minutes, the hosts came to life early in the second period.
Senne Lammens produced a brilliant stop to turn Cristian Romero’s flick behind.
The Belgian goalkeeper was quickly called into action again to parry Joao Palhinha’s effort.
Brennan Johnston, who scored the winner when the sides last met in Bilbao, was then denied an equaliser by the offside flag.
Tottenham’s burst of attacking threat quickly fizzled out, though, and discontent among the home fans with manager Thomas Frank showed when his decision to replace Xavi Simons was roundly booed.
However, the Spurs boss can claim his changes turned the game around.
Destiny Udogie crossed for fellow substitute Tel to turn and fire into the top corner via a deflection off De Ligt.
Tel equalises for Spurs [Toby Melville/Reuters]
Wilson Odobert, introduced off the bench at half-time, then curled a shot towards the far corner that Richarlison flicked in to leave Lammens helpless.
The Brazilian tore off his shirt and was reduced to tears in his celebration.
Yet, it still was not enough to earn Tottenham a first home league win since the opening weekend of the season.
De Ligt was offered too much space at the back post from Bruno Fernandes’ corner and his header was too powerful for Vicario.
