Steph Houghton, an ex-england captain, examines how West Ham United’s manager, Graham Potter, had lost mentality, which led to Brighton scoring two late goals to defeat them with a dramatic 3-2 victory.
Brighton 3-2 West Ham MATCH REPORT
On BBC iPlayer, watch MOTD.
Following a feasibility study that determined that the competition could boost the economy by £400 million, London will submit an application to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships.
In 2026, Birmingham will host the European Championships, while London hosted the World Championships in 2017.
In September, World Athletics will be able to submit a formal expression of interest, with the delivery bid reliant on obtaining £45 million in government funding.
London 2017 demonstrated the potential of this city and this country, according to UK Athletics President and Olympic gold medalist Dame Denise Lewis.
“It was a fantastic illustration of how we can unite around visions of full stadiums, global energy, and lasting effects.” I’m confident that we can bring that experience to life in 2029, and I’m proud of it.
It serves as a powerful reminder of the potential of this city and this nation.
“Global sporting events go beyond just medals; they invigorate communities, shine a light on everything that our country has to offer,” says one journalist.
Joe Hart, an ex-England goalkeeper, considers Chelsea keeper Robert Sanchez’ brilliant athleticism to halt Everton and advance to Champions League play-off.
Everton 1-0 Chelsea MATCH REPORT
On BBC iPlayer, watch MOTD.
Third-round leaderboard for the Chevron Championship
-9 H Ryu (Kor), M Saigo (Jpn), -8 L Duncan (US), -7 S Schmelzel (US), Y Liu (Chn), -6 A Jutanugarn (Tha), C Ciganda (Spa), R Yin (Chn), L Thompson (USA), H-J Choi (Kor)
Selected others: -1 G Hall (Eng), Level N Korda (US), + 4 L Ko (NZ), + 5 L Maguire (Ire)
As they both aim for their first major title, South Korean competitors Haeran Ryu and Mao Saigo of Japan will share the lead in Sunday’s final round of the Chevron Championship.
With a 68 to move to nine under, Ryu made it four straight birdies from the sixth hole at The Club at Carlton Woods to win the tournament.
“I was just attempting to make some birdies while attempting to find the good spots and easy putts.” The 24-year-old, who had a shot lead going into last year’s final round but shot a 74 to finish fifth, said it was good for him.
“Last year, I didn’t do well in the final round. However, I started to slow down and become more composed. I want to enjoy the course more this year.
After making a birdie in the 13th, Saigo parried her way home to match Ryu’s total of 69.
“The course environment was pretty challenging. I kind of struggled because it was very challenging to make birdies,” she said. I was fortunate that I managed to get two chip-in birdies outside.
With her compatriot Sarah Schmelzel and China’s Yan Liu, who was halfway up, a further stroke back, American Lindy Duncan was one shot back on eight under.
At the par-three 17th hole, Yan found a bunker and then chipped into the rough, where she had an early lead of nine under.
One of Britain’s most notorious and long-running boxing rivalries, performed at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, to the tune of bitter rival Conor Benn, only to have to defeat Chris Eubank Jr.
In a 12-round edge-of-your-seat firefight, both fighters took control of the ring and allowed their hands to go in a wild aggression display.
Although neither boxer was able to land the decisive blow, Eubank, 35, had the advantage as all three judges scored it 116-1112.
He asserts that he is the only one in a family dispute that started 35 years ago when their legendary fathers first fought.
According to Eubank, “I knew I could do that; I just needed someone to bring that out of me,” adding, “I didn’t believe he would be the guy to do that.”
In a remarkable plot twist, Eubank and his father, Chris Eubank Sr., arrived at the venue. According to reports, Eubank Sr had allegedly been separated for years and had criticized the match-up.
“I’m happy to have Eubank Sr. back with me. From the beginning to the end, we upheld the family name,” Eubank continued.
Eubank’s record-breaking 35 victories in 38 fights was apparently helped by the heartwarming reconciliation.
Benn, 28, loses for the first time in his 24 professional fights, which could have easily gone wrong.
“It was a close fight,” I thought. I have to watch it back, not just say, “yes, I should have won that.” He claimed it was close.
He received a villain’s welcome because there was no transparency about the reasons for his doping offence.
Jeers echoed around the stadium as he strolled with his father, Nigel Benn, and a Fugees choir sang “Ready or Not.”
Benn waited for about 10 minutes while Eubank took his time during his ring walk. His father also performed the song “Simply the Best,” which the legend Eubank Sr walked out of in his prime, to the tune of Tina Turner.
When Nigel Benn and Eubank Sr embraced the 65, 000-person crowd just before the first bell, a roared.
The already ear-splitting pandemonium was amplified by the “wall of sound” South Stand, and the spectacle was accompanied further by a sea of camera lights.
Benn threw every punch at Eubank with a left hook in the third inning, loading up with every punch since the bell ring.
Eubank appeared to be having trouble with the pace despite being infamously a slow starter.
As a trademark Eubank uppercut squeezed through Benn’s low guard in the fourth quarter, actor Idris Elba, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, and England footballers Marcus Rashford and Declan Rice sprinkled some celebrity stardust.
The referee instructed the pair to sway at their ideas as they began conversing with one another in the middle of the match.
After being hampered by a rehydration clause that prevented him from gaining weight during fight week, Eubank appeared weight-drained. At the conclusion of round five, he was having a loud breathing.
Benn had the more eye-catching shots in the opening half of the fight when he moved up two divisions from welterweight.
After being cut above the right eye in a head-to-head argument, Eubank Sr. took his son’s corner and jumped out of the seat.
His nod of approval came in the eleventh punches.
Before the final round, there was a touch of glove. There was a small amount of respect after everything these two had gone through.
The classic all-British competition was ended by a vicious, relentless attack by Eubank in the 12th, a memory that will stick in everyone’s memories forever.
Benn demonstrated his ability to mix it well, while Eubank demonstrated that he is not yet finished.
Former Liverpool goalkeeper Sander Westerveld says, “Most people would have said no if you had asked the fans back in August if their team had won the Premier League.”
Jurgen Klopp was always going to be the hardest of acts to follow as manager.
When the charismatic German announced in January 2024 that he would leave at the end of that season, Liverpool fans were understandably concerned about the future.
Who would undertake the seemingly impossible task of replacing Klopp? As his successor settled into the position, would Liverpool tread water or even go backward for a season or two?
“Klopp was a sort of god who changed the club – not just on the pitch but the whole atmosphere”, says Westerveld.
Before declaring he would stay in Germany, former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso had been heavily linked with an Anfield return, which opened the door for Arne Slot’s appointment.
“At that moment I didn’t even think about Arne”, adds fellow Dutchman Westerveld, who has remained friends with Slot since their playing days together at Sparta Rotterdam in 2007-08.
“Noone in England was very knowledgeable about him.” Everybody who knows football said it was going to be a huge task and that this was an unknown coach who comes from the Netherlands”.
However, Klopp and Slot’s transition was seamless, with Liverpool only needing one more point to win the championship for a 20th consecutive year.
With 24 wins in 33 games and just two defeats, Slot’s Liverpool have made top spot their own after looking down on the rest of the Premier League since 2 November.
And now, with only four games left, they will be the reigning English champions for the second time since 1989-90 if they do not lose to Tottenham on Sunday.
Slot, who ruled himself out of the running to become the next Spurs boss while at Feyenoord in May 2023, would join an elite band of bosses in the Premier League era to have delivered the title in their first season in charge.
Before Manuel Pellegrini’s (2013-14) successful completion at Manchester City, Jose Mourinho managed it at Chelsea while Carlo Ancelotti managed it at Chelsea. The last boss to do so before Slot was Antonio Conte – also at Chelsea – in 2016-17.
The chief Liverpool correspondent for the Liverpool Echo, Ian Doyle, states, “Nobody expected this.” “In terms of an achievement for a manager in his first season at Liverpool, it has to be right up there”.
The Anfield Wrap, the presenter and CEO of Liverpool fans’ podcast and website, adds: “I don’t think anyone wanted the new manager to try to be a Jurgen Klopp tribute act.”
In many ways, Slot’s main job has been to build on and improve the outstanding squad left behind by his predecessor, who averaged 80.33 points in his last three seasons at Anfield.
After Slot tightened the defense and gave the midfield more control, Liverpool would break the 90-point plateau with four more victories.
” They’ve amassed these points by winning when it’s hard, winning when it’s ugly, winning when the opposition have put up a fight, “adds Atkinson.
No one of Liverpool’s rivals have been able to accomplish that.
While Federico Chiesa has been the only addition to Slot’s squad for this season, the Dutch coach has improved players, including Ryan Gravenberch, who has grasped his opportunity at the base of Liverpool’s midfield after the club missed out on signing Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad.
Mohamed Salah’s stats under Slot have been seriously impressive, with 27 Premier League goals and 18 assists in 33 appearances, up from 18 goals and 10 assists in 32 appearances in Klopp’s final season.
Gravenberch’s Netherlands team-mate Cody Gakpo has also provided 16 goals in all competitions in 2024-25, matching his tally from last season.
“In his first meeting with the players, Arne had all the information from the season they won in 2019-20 and all the information from Klopp’s final season,” says Westerveld.
” Last season, compared to the title season, there were less sprints, the team was less effective. He was telling the players exactly what they needed to do and what they needed to know by showing them all the data rather than saying, “Come on, work hard.”
There have been tweaks off the field too, with Slot implementing a new routine to how his players build up to games.
The day would start later under Klopp, but this year’s players had breakfast at 9.15 am at the Kirkby training facility, which is about six and a half miles from Anfield.
Slot and his backroom team have introduced a process known as ‘ body wake-up ‘ which involves breathing exercises before both training and matches.
The Liverpool squad would stay together in a hotel before home games, according to Klopp. That is no longer the case, with players allowed to remain at their own homes.
With fitness issues having hampered several campaigns in recent years, training sessions have been longer than before but less intense to prevent injuries.
In addition, Slot has made key hires behind the scenes.
Before the German waved his final match in charge, Klopp urged supporters to “Sing with him,” “Arne Slot, na na na na na na na na na na na na na,” to the tune of Opus’ Live Is Life, a chant that has grown more and more popular at the stadium as the season has progressed.
” Before his first home game in front of 60, 000 I asked Arne if he was nervous, “says Westerveld, who won the FA Cup, League Cup and Uefa Cup at Liverpool in 2000-01 under Gerard Houllier.
He responded, “Oh well, you know, I was manager of Feyenoord and we had a stadium of 50, 000, so I’m used to that.”
“I said, ‘ No, Arnie. No, this is not Anfield; it is a unique situation. He was downplaying everything.
Liverpool is ideal for him, I thought about it afterward. He’s just a normal guy, down to earth, feet on the floor, very calm. He maintains the same standards and doesn’t alter.
“He didn’t get carried away when Liverpool won 11 of the first 12 games, and he didn’t panic when they lost the League Cup final five days after going out of the Champions League”.
Arne’s Slot Machine, a nod to his popularity with both young and old fans, is a regular feature on The Kop this season.
He has befriended Isaac Kearney, a Liverpool-obsessed seven-year-old, who was born with a rare condition known as Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, meaning he develops at a slower rate than other children his age.
Isaac’s mother, Melissa and Alan, his older sister Florence, and their parents were invited to the training facility to meet the players when the club learned of his story.
They were told they might not see Slot as he was busy planning for a game.
Melissa recalls that Isaac was yelling “Arne” through the window as he passed the manager’s office along with Mo [Salah] and Virgil [van Dijk] and that Isaac was also yelling “Asiac.”
“Arne was in a meeting but came out to chat with Isaac. He was so upbeat and sincere. We sat down for lunch and Arne came over and was fist-bumping Isaac.
Arne questioned whether he was having a good day, and Isaac responded that he was still awaiting a visit from [Alexander-Arnold]. Arne said, ‘ I’m going to take you to meet him right now’. “
In his pre-game press conference, Slot also name-checked Isaac before Liverpool’s home game against Southampton in March.
Slot comes across as likeable, approachable and intelligent in interviews, although there were occasions in his early days when he struggled to grasp the local dialect.
A local reporter inquired before Liverpool’s Champions League clash with Bologna in October as to whether the preparations for a major European game were any different from domestic matches.
” That was a bit of Scouse, “said Slot, struggling to understand the local accent before turning to Tony Barrett, director of first team communications, for help.
He “is relaxed into the job,” Doyle exclaims. Anyone who has seen his press conferences, he doesn’t mind a laugh and a joke. His father has previously mentioned that he reads the newspapers.
Arend Slot hit the headlines in January when Arne revealed his dad was not impressed with the way the Reds performed in the 2-1 Champions League win over Lille.
When I called him after the game, he said, “Ah, it wasn’t as exciting as other Liverpool games,” Arne said at the time.
Doyle adds:” I haven’t seen him snap in press conferences but if he doesn’t believe a question is fair he’ll make a point of addressing that fact.
“This season, we’ve basically got what we deserved,” he says, “whether it’s after winning against Real Madrid in the Champions League or being defeated by Newcastle in the League Cup final.”
Westerveld was at Goodison Park in February when Slot was shown a red card after a dramatic Merseyside derby ended 2-2, with Everton equalising in the 98th minute.
He continued, “He looked really angry when he walked off the pitch, and then he saw me and smiled right away.”
“It’s like I said before… he doesn’t get too down. He retains the same characteristics as he did when he first took over as a coach at Cambuur.
Away from football in the Netherlands, Slot used to relax by playing golf with Westerveld, but since moving to Liverpool he keeps fit playing racquet sport padel with his backroom staff at the training ground.
When asked what he does after training, Slot, whose family has remained in the Netherlands, said, “Go home, eat, take the computer out, watch the training session back, prepare for the next meeting.”
“He’s clearly a brilliant coach… and a serious minded person”, adds Atkinson.
“His reaction to Paris St-Germain’s exit from the Champions League wasn’t to bemoan the referee or put injuries on his mind.
Liverpool haven’t won back-to-back league titles since they were champions in the early 1980s.
Assuming they do go on to complete the job, will they build on this season’s incredible success?
In 2024 and beyond, Slot is anticipated to be active in the transfer market to help Liverpool stay in a strong position next season despite the fact that there is no need for a reconstruction.
Although Salah has signed a new two-year contract and captain Virgil van Dijk has also committed his future, England international Alexander-Arnold is expected to move to Real Madrid.
Alexander Isak, a left-back from Newcastle, and Milos Kerkez, a left-back from Bournemouth, are reported Liverpool targets.
” I refuse to believe Slot will allow standards to slip next season, “adds Atkinson”. I believe they’ll get 80 points once more, and if you do, you stand a chance of being in the title debate.
Westerveld will be at Anfield on 25 May, when Liverpool host Crystal Palace on the final day of the season, in the hope of seeing his friend and former team-mate show off the Premier League trophy.
“To join the Premier League from the Netherlands coaching… I didn’t expect it to be so easy for him to adapt, “he admits.
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