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Manchester City bolstered their bid to qualify for the Champions League with a dramatic 2-0 win at Everton, while Southampton’s last-gasp equaliser at West Ham ensured they will not have sole possession of the lowest points total in Premier League history.

City were heading towards a damaging draw before Nico O’Reilly’s 84th minute strike put them on course for a vital victory that was sealed by Mateo Kovacic’s goal in the final seconds.

Pep Guardiola’s side climb to fourth place, four points ahead of sixth-placed Chelsea, who face Fulham on Sunday in their game in hand.

Fifth-placed Nottingham Forest, who travel to Tottenham on Monday, are one point adrift of City.

At a stage of the season when they are usually embroiled in a battle to win the title, City — champions in six of the previous seven campaigns — have been reduced to scrapping for a Champions League berth after a dismal season.

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They remain on course to achieve their bare minimum target after a hard-fought success on Merseyside.

In the 84th minute, Matheus Nunes’s low cross into the six-yard box was met by the 20-year-old O’Reilly, who got in front of Michael Keane to poke home from close range.

O’Reilly has emerged as an unlikely hero for City after the Manchester-born midfielder scored last week in the win against Crystal Palace and netted twice against Plymouth in the FA Cup.

Kovacic wrapped up City’s victory on their last visit to Goodison Park before Everton move to a new stadium next season.

The Croatian guided Ilkay Gundogan’s pass into the bottom corner to give City a third win from their last four league games.

“To win here at Goodison Park, where Liverpool and Arsenal couldn’t, is massively important,” Guardiola said.

“Now it is in our hands. Three games at home, two away and hopefully we can achieve this big success to qualify for the Champions League. ”

– Saints Consolation –

Relegated Southampton rescued a 1-1 draw at West Ham to guarantee they won’t have the indignity of being the lone club with the Premier League’s worst ever points tally.

Jarrod Bowen struck for the Hammers in the 47th minute, holding off Ryan Manning before lashing a fierce finish past Aaron Ramsdale.

But Lesley Ugochukwu equalised three minutes into second half stoppage-time as he lashed past Alphonse Areola.

Bottom of the table Southampton are now on 11 points — the same number Derby managed in 2007-08 — and have five games left to leave the Rams with the lowest total ever recorded in the Premier League.

Brentford beat 10-man Brighton 4-2 to damage the Seagulls’ prospects of qualifying for Europe with their first home win since December.

Thomas Frank’s side took a ninth minute lead when Lewis Keane-Potter’s precise pass through the heart of the Brighton defence picked out Bryan Mbeumo and he confidently slotted home

Danny Welbeck hauled Brighton level in first half stoppage-time with a powerful header from Mats Wieffer’s cross.

Mbeumo restored Brentford’s advantage three minutes after half-time, his strike taking a hefty deflection off Brighton defender Lewis Dunk on its way past Bart Verbruggen.

Yoane Wissa bagged Brentford’s third in the 58th minute, running onto Mbeumo’s pass and finishing with the help of a deflection off Jan Paul van Hecke.

Brighton striker Joao Pedro was sent off in the 61st minute for a needless kick at Nathan Collins.

Japan forward Kaoru Mitoma reduced the deficit in the 81st minute, but Christian Norgaard headed home in stoppage-time to end Brighton’s hopes of a late escape.

Crystal Palace held on for a 0-0 draw against Bournemouth despite playing half the match with 10 men.

Palace were reduced to 10 men just before half-time at Selhurst Park when Chris Richards was sent off for a second booking after the defender fouled Justin Kluivert.

Third-placed Newcastle will look to step up their Champions League qualification surge when they travel to Aston Villa in Saturday’s late game.

Step by mechanical step, dozens of humanoid robots took to the streets of Beijing early on Saturday, joining thousands of their flesh-and-blood counterparts in a world-first half marathon showcasing China’s drive to lead the global race in cutting-edge technology.

The 21-kilometre (13-mile) event held in the Chinese capital’s E-Town — a state-backed high-tech manufacturing hub — was billed as a groundbreaking effort to test the limits of bipedal robots in real-world conditions.

At the crack of the starter’s gun, the robots began taking their first tentative steps as the Chinese pop song “I Believe” blared out from loudspeakers.

Curious human runners lined the roadside, phones in hand ready to photograph each machine as it began the race.

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One smaller-sized android fell over and lay on the ground for several minutes, before getting up by itself to loud cheers.

Another, powered by propellers, veered across the starting line before crashing into a barrier  and knocking over an engineer.

Crossing the finish line first despite a mid-race fall was the tallest droid and one of the heaviest in the competition. At 180 centimetres (5. 9 feet) tall and weighing 52 kilograms (114. 6 pounds), the metallic black “Tiangong Ultra” finished in two hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds.

The men’s and women’s winners, both from Ethiopia, finished in one hour, two minutes and 36 seconds, and in one hour, 11 minutes and seven seconds respectively, according to state media.

Tang Jian, chief technology officer of the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center which developed “Tiangong”, told reporters the company was “very happy with the results”.

“We had set three goals for ourselves: first, to win the championship; second, to complete the entire half marathon with a single robot — a very important goal for us; and third, to finish the race in under three hours,” he said.

“We collected real-world running data from professional athletes and trained the robot so that its gait, cadence, stride length, and various postures could match those of professional runners as closely as possible. ”

The Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, first established by the government, is now owned by Chinese tech firms Xiaomi Robotics and UBTech Robotics as well as two state-owned companies, according to business data provider  Tianyancha.

Enthusiastic onlookers cheered the robots on from the sidelines.

“My daughter… got up really early and asked to come watch the robot marathon,” spectator Huang Xiaoyu told AFP, holding her child.

“It was quite a breathtaking experience — we were able to see some of the most cutting-edge robots in our country. ”

Tech race

Around 20 teams from across China participated in the competition, with robots ranging from 75 to 180 centimetres tall and weighing up to 88 kilograms.

Some jogged autonomously, while others were guided remotely by their engineers. Robots and human participants ran on separate tracks.

“Getting onto the race track might seem like a small step for humans, but it’s a giant leap for humanoid robots,” Liang Liang, Beijing E-Town’s management committee deputy director, told AFP.

Engineers said the goal was to test the performance and reliability of the androids — emphasising that finishing the race, not winning it, was the main objective.

“There are very few opportunities for the whole industry to run at full speed over such a long distance or duration,” Cui Wenhao, a 28-year-old engineer at Noetix Robotics, told AFP.

“It’s a serious test for the battery, the motors, the structure — even the algorithms. ”

Kong Yichang, a 25-year-old engineer from DroidUp, said the race would help to “lay a foundation for a whole series of future activities involving humanoid robots”.

China, the world’s second-largest economy, has sought to assert its dominance in the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics, positioning itself as a direct challenger to the United States.

In January, Chinese start-up DeepSeek drew attention with a chatbot it claimed was developed more cost-effectively than its US counterparts.

Dancing humanoid robots also captivated audiences during a televised Chinese New Year gala.

Carlo Ancelotti will discuss his future with Real Madrid at the end of the season, the coach said Saturday, following the Champions League holders’ elimination by Arsenal.

After the record 15-time winners lost on Wednesday in the quarter-finals, thrashed 5-1 on aggregate, speculation grew that Madrid would dismiss the Italian coach in the coming weeks.

“At the end of the season we will speak about (my future) with the club,” Ancelotti told a news conference, batting away various questions on a similar theme.

Ancelotti’s contract is due to end in 2026.

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“I have spoken with the players and the club, we all agree, we have to fight for the titles there are on the line,” continued the 65-year-old, ahead of Sunday’s clash with Athletic Bilbao in La Liga.

Spanish champions Real Madrid trail leaders Barcelona by four points and will also face the Catalans in the Copa del Rey final on April 26.

“Obviously we are all hurt, and the fans, after going out of maybe the most important competition, or at least the one Madrid has had the most success in, in recent years,” said Ancelotti.

“We are all in the same boat, in the good and the bad times… the president (Florentino Perez) has always shown me the most affection in these moments than in the moments when we have won. ”

Ancelotti has been linked with coaching the Brazilian national team after Dorival Junior was sacked following a heavy defeat by Argentina.

“I don’t have to say anything at all, as I said already, at the end of the season we will speak about this,” said Ancelotti.

The coach said he did not know whether the “end of the season” came before or after the Club World Cup, which Madrid are participating in from June 14 in the United States.