Football
Highs and lows aplenty on a Saturday when the season hits its tight spot. Four Premier League games to shape the title and relegation tussles, but surely the most compelling action arrives at lunchtime in the Championship with a clutch of collisions that will shape the promotion and playoff picture. Expect fireworks at Ipswich v QPR, Millwall v Oxford and Wrexham v Middlesbrough – and we will be reporting from all three games. David Tindall hosts our rolling football blog, offering breaking news and updates from around the grounds, plus readers’ thoughts and queries. Why not join the conversation? Email matchday.live@theguardian.com.
Cricket
Tanya Aldred keeps the updates flowing from around seven county grounds with day two of her blog, with Surrey, Leicestershire, Glamorgan, Yorkshire, Northamptonshire and Derbyshire searching for their first wins. With all four Division One matches ending in a draw last week – and none coming close to a positive result – perhaps the eight-point reward for a drawn game needs revisiting. Twenty points for a win instead of 16? Email Tanya with your observations and comments.
Horse racing
Greg Wood saddles up for an exciting day of racing at Newmarket as the 2000 Guineas (3.35pm) offers punters plenty of options. Bow Echo and Gstaad head the 15 runners. Charlie Appleby has won three of the last four renewals of the race and this year relies on Distant Storm, third in the Dewhurst, and the unbeaten King’s Trail. Oxagon was an impressive winner of the Craven for John and Thady Gosden and will have the assistance of Oisin Murphy while Avicenna, another who runs in the blue of Godolphin trained by Roger Varian, will aim to give Ray Dawson a first Classic. Karl Burke’s Alparslan was a surprise winner of the Greenham and takes his chance, while Needle Match can be expected to improve on his fourth there given that was just his second run. Thesecretadversary, Into The Sky, Padraig Dawn, Power Blue, Venetian Prince, Billecart and Lord Britain complete the list.
Football
John Brewin keeps track of all the ebb and flow of the Championship promotion race with an early start for clockwatch. He then switches focus to two of the three mid-afternoon kick-offs, with plenty riding on both featured matches. Nottingham Forest and Leeds have put some daylight between themselves and the bottom three, leaving West Ham and their London rivals Tottenham either side of the safety line. The Hammers are two points ahead of 18th-placed Spurs, three adrift of Forest and four shy of Leeds before Daniel Farke’s side’s Friday meeting with the relegated Burnley. West Ham’s last four matches of the campaign start with Saturday’s trip to Brentford and culminate in a final-day visit from Leeds, which could yet prove decisive. Newcastle, meanwhile, have struggled this season and sit 14th in the standings after four straight defeats, leading to questions over Eddie Howe’s future at the club. Their Saudi Arabian owners say they remain as committed as ever to the club’s success, even as their Public Investment Fund prepares to sever ties with the LIV Golf series. They host Brighton, in sixth place on 50 points and closing in on a European slot.
Women’s Champions League
A strong second-half display saw Arsenal come from behind to beat Lyon 2-1 and take a slender lead from the first leg of their Women’s Champions League semi-final. The French club – beaten by the Gunners at the same stage of last season’s competition – took the lead in the 18th minute through a fine breakaway goal from Jule Brand. Arsenal, though, regrouped for the second half and equalised through an own goal from Ingrid Engen after a mistake by the Lyon goalkeeper, Christiane Endler – who was then caught out again when Olivia Smith slotted in with seven minutes left. It was an impressive turnaround as Renée Slegers’s defending champions achieved a first home win over Lyon. Now they travel to the Parc Olympique Lyonnais with the Oslo final in their sights. Taha Hashim hosts the blog with Tom Garry reporting from Lyon.
Formula One
Formula One returns at the Miami Grand Prix after an unexpected five-week break when a pair of races in the Middle East were called off because of the war in Iran. The time off gave the FIA, the sport’s governing body, time to make changes to the regulations that drivers heavily criticised after the first three races of the year because of how the electrical battery power has changed the cars and competition. Will it help? Max Verstappen, who has been so vocal about his dislike of the current cars that he is openly considering leaving F1, called the changes “a tickle”. Philip Cornwall has lap-by-lap coverage of the sprint race and qualifying, with Giles Richards reporting from the Miami International Autodrome.
Premier League
Arsenal have a chance to crank up the pressure on Manchester City as they seek to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League. The Gunners can go six points clear of their in-form rivals if they beat Fulham, two days before City face a tricky trip to Everton, but they must rediscover their scoring touch in a season that could be decided by the tightest of margins. Before the Gunners’ win against Newcastle last weekend, the top two were level on points and goal difference. Arsenal know even if they win their four remaining games it may not be enough – they have failed to score more than one goal in any game since mid-March. City, with a game in hand, have clicked into gear and are scoring much more freely than their rivals. Rob Smyth hosts the live blog, with David Hytner reporting.
Football
Emillia Hawkins, Xaymaca Awoyungbo and Tom Bassam are our top blog team for a breathless day of football. They will be offering news, previews and reader comments as well as keeping tabs on three Premier League fixtures: Bournemouth v Crystal Palace, Manchester United v Liverpool and Aston Villa v Tottenham. Plus the best of the action in Europe and Scotland as well as the Women’s Super League. They’ve got it covered.
Cricket
Tanya Aldred is back at her post to provide updates on day three of the latest round of County Championship fixtures.
Women’s Super League
Manchester City’s title party plans suffered a setback as the WSL leaders lost 3-2 at mid-table Brighton last Saturday, delaying their likely coronation. Sunday’s meeting with Liverpool is their last home game of the season and Andree Jeglertz’s side seek three vital points against a side led by their former manager. A win against the Reds could then be enough for their first WSL title since 2016, if Arsenal fail to win at Brighton on Wednesday. Gareth Taylor’s side will not be rolling over anytime soon, though, despite a 1-0 defeat by West Ham last time out. Emillia Hawkins helms the MBM.
Snooker
John Higgins or Shaun Murphy; Wu Yize or Mark Allen – whoever emerges victorious from Saturday’s best of 33-frame semi-finals collide on Sunday in the Crucible climax. Daniel Harris has frame-by-frame commentary while Aaron Bower reports from Sheffield.
Premier League
What was once the most-anticipated clash in English football is a more of a sideshow these days, but there are still plenty of plot lines to follow. Liverpool are buzzing again after three successive Premier League wins and Sunday’s result could prove crucial in the battle for Champions League qualification. Mohamed Salah misses out with a muscle injury but is expected to return before the end of the season. United have improved considerably under caretaker Michael Carrick. They sit third, three points ahead of Liverpool, and need two more points to secure a top-five finish and a spot among Europe’s elite next season. Rob Smyth hosts the blog, with Jamie Jackson and Andy Hunter reporting from Old Trafford.
Premier League
It seems like one step forward, one step back for Spurs these days. Tottenham claimed a desperately needed first Premier League win in 16 matches last weekend with a 1-0 victory at Wolves only for their precarious survival hopes to suffer crushing injury blows to Xavi Simons and Dominic Solanke. An already crowded treatment room means Roberto De Zerbi’s options are narrowing fast as a fall through the top-tier trapdoor edges closer for the first time since 1977. Spurs remain two points from safety before the weekend, a gap that could stretch to five by kick-off on Sunday, depending on West Ham’s result against Brentford. They meet Unai Emery’s Villa, who are hoping to get their Champions League bid back on track after losing to Fulham last time out in the league and went down 1-0 to Nottingham Forest on Thursday in the Europa League. Luke McLaughlin buckles up with minute-by-minute updates and Ben Fisher reports from Villa Park.
Formula One
Kimi Antonelli holds the top spot in the Formula One drivers’ standings, but the youngster faces a close battle when the rubber hits the road on Sunday. Antonelli swept the F1’s two-race stay in Asia, winning the Chinese and Japanese grands prix after earning pole position both times. That came after Mercedes teammate George Russell opened the season by capturing the Australian GP. Antonelli and Russell are first and second in the drivers’ standings, with Russell only nine points off the pace. Ferrari are proving Mercedes’ closest rival so far. Mercedes leads Ferrari 135 points to 90 in the manufacturers’ standings, and the men in scarlet, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, occupy the third and fourth spots in the drivers’ standings. The start time of the race could be moved up because of the risk of severe thunderstorms. Watch this space as Tom Lutz steers the lap-by-lap race blog.
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