Kings blow another third-period lead in overtime loss to Wild   5%

It was déjà vu for the Kings, who led the Wild 3-1 heading into the third period — just like they did in their season opener — before losing in overtime.

Liverpool vs Manchester United prediction: How will Premier League fixture play out tonight?  

The Premier League leaders travel to Anfield to take on the champions 

BCCI to discuss bigger IPL window in next FTP  

With the Indian Premier League (IPL) set to have two new teams from the 2022 season, BCCI is working on ways to get a bigger window in the international calendar to accommodate a longer IPL.

'A special instinct': Guardiola praises Phil Foden after Man City victory video  

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola had only words of praise for midfielder Phil Foden, whose first-half goal secured his side's win against Brighton. During the post-match press conference, Guardiola also addressed Covid-19 restrictions on goal celebrations: 'the moment you score a goal and one guy runs and the other one, doesn''t go to celebrate with him, it is weird, it is uncomfortable'

• Phil Foden's moment of class sets up Manchester City victory over Brighton

Pogba takes Man Utd top with win at Burnley   25%

Paul Pogba took Manchester United top of the Premier League for the first time in three years as his deflected winner saw off a dogged Burnley 1-0 at Turf Moor Tuesday.

Jeff Petry, Tomas Tatar each score a pair as Canadiens dominate Oilers  

Jeff Petry and Tomas Tatar each scored twice Saturday to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 5-1 victory over the Oilers in Edmonton.

Sheffield United vs Tottenham LIVE: Team news, line-ups and more ahead of Premier League fixture today   -7%

Chris Wilder’s Blades have picked up some confidence ahead of today’s game after securing their first Premier League victory this week

Claws, tail and reptilian eyes: holiday tales from the bush  

Holidays are all fun and games - until an uninvited guest arrives.

How good can Bruno Fernandes make Manchester United? Anfield may tell | Barney Ronay   6%

Midfield risk-taker has been a transformative signing but needs to nail it in the big games – starting at Liverpool on Sunday

This is not the beginning of the title run-in. This is not the start of the middle, or the beginning of the end. Let’s face it, nobody really knows what’s going on up there in this jetlagged oddity of a Premier League season, when points have been scattered with luxurious abandon, and none of these teams seem ready to find a sustained higher gear.

Not that it makes much difference. There will, as ever, be an urge to portray Manchester United’s trip to Liverpool on Sunday as something more decisive, a make-or-breaker, a full-on Super Sunday Judgment Day-style Showdown.

Senators kick into overdrive to storm past Maple Leafs in season opener   -7%

Brady Tkachuk had a goal and two assists, Matt Murray made 20 saves in his Ottawa debut, and the Senators defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 on Friday in their first game in more than 10 months.

Hopes for Tokyo's Summer Olympic Games Darken Due to Virus   3%

Organizers postponed the Olympic Games for one year last March. Nearly a year later, prospects are getting bleaker.

Casey Stoney credits Chelsea's Emma Hayes for leading the way   -5%

Manchester United manager full of praise for her counterpart before their table-topping WSL clash

During the days when Casey Stoney played for Chelsea, little luxuries were not so much thin on the ground as nonexistent. “You couldn’t get anything, not even a tracksuit from the club back then,” says Manchester United’s manager. “But everything’s changed and that’s thanks to Emma Hayes.”

Stoney left Chelsea in 2011, the year before Hayes took transformative charge. At that time considerable scepticism still surrounded female coaches, yet nine years on her enviable trophy haul has helped reshape the topography of the now professional elite women’s game. Not to mention serving as a rebuke to its once almost default misogyny. This season, an unprecedented eight of the 12 Women’s Super League managers are female.

Top but capable of more: Manchester United upbeat for trip to Liverpool   27%

Ole Gunnar Solskjær admits United have not dazzled this term yet they lead the table and have the talents to stay there

When Ole Gunnar Solskjær says Manchester United have “not really set the world alight” this season, the manager’s true sense might be read as: “You ain’t seen nothing yet – just wait until we do catch fire.”

United arrive at Anfield on Sunday to play Liverpool as Premier League leaders, three points ahead of the champions while not at their best. That is a rosy place to be for United because they possess the quality to perform far better.

Sheffield United vs Tottenham predicted line-ups: Team news ahead of Premier League fixture today?   -40%

Here’s everything you need to know about the game at Bramall Lane

Sir Alex Ferguson warns Wayne Rooney over results industry after move into management with Derby   -3%

The former England international lost his first game in charge permanently at Derby against Rotherham

NFL Playoffs: What We Learned From the Wild Card Weekend  

Lamar Jackson finally won a playoff game, the Browns demolished the Steelers and Nickelodeon’s broadcast of a game for children offered a welcome distraction.

Sheffield United vs Tottenham prediction: How will Premier League fixture play out tonight?   -40%

Here’s everything you need to know about the game at Bramall Lane

Soccer: Inter Aliyah finished first half with draw against Bnei Yehud   -4%

In final game of the season’s first half, Inter failed to convert its many chances and was left to rue leaving the field with just a point

Donald Trumps American Carnage Comes to Washington   -16%

The New Yorker’s reporters and writers reflect on the convulsive end to the Trump years. And a game designer explains why the fiction of QAnon has been so appealing and so dangerous.

Zimbabwe: Chikwende Perfect for Simba   50%

[Zimbabwe Standard] FC Platinum striker Perfect Chikwende is ineligible to play for his new side Simba SC in the CAF Champions League group stages after joining the club from the Zimbabwean champions on Friday.

Is Sheffield United vs Tottenham on TV today? Kick-off time, channel and how to watch fixture   -40%

Here’s everything you need to know about the game at Bramall Lane

Liverpool v Manchester United, cracking catches and desert rallying | Classic YouTube   40%

This week’s round-up also features a maverick assist, Aimee Fuller’s snowboard days and much more

1) The Premier League leaders once again play at Anfield on Sunday, but on this occasion Manchester United are the team top of the pile, rather than Liverpool. The clash has brought many famous moments. There was the 3-3 draw in 1988, the 3-3 draw in 1994, Jerzy Dudek forgetting what his job was, a John O’Shea winner, and, not to mention, a brief compilation of other things. There was a less savoury incident in 1986 when the United players were sprayed with CS gas as they arrived at the ground. It was less dramatic last season when Mohamed Salah sealed the win as Liverpool sauntered to the title.

2) Mathieu Valbuena gets knocked down, but sets them up again: a remarkable sprawling assist for Olympiakos against Panetolikos. The consolation goal from Panetolikos was decent too, assisted by former Nottingham Forest winger Gboly Ariyibi and scored by ex-Sheffield United midfielder Aymen Tahar.

'Batwoman' gets a new lead, but Season 2 looks like the same flawed show   37%

After a first season that never quite got off the ground creatively, "Batwoman" announced that original star Ruby Rose would be leaving but that the series would hang around without her. The contortions necessary to arrange that baton (or Batarang) pass mostly fizzle in the opening episodes, fueling a sense that this CW drama might be flying on fumes.

Antonio Conte's ambition questioned after Inter are pegged back by Roma | Nicky Bandini   16%

Another slip in the Serie A title race, another game in which the adventure of Inter’s opposition caused real problems

Ambition. The word ran through the pre-game press conferences of Paulo Fonseca and Antonio Conte like mozzarella in Roman supplì: the mouth-watering core ingredient that elevates all the rest. Both managers wanted their audiences to know this was a weekend that mattered, an occasion for which the recipe had to be just right.

Fonseca’s Roma were seeking validation for their rise to third in the table. They won only a single game against Serie A’s top four last season, his first at the club, and that against a Juventus side who had already sewn up the title. The Giallorossi were yet to demonstrate they had learned how to handle the big occasions in this campaign, collecting only two points, and conceding 13 times, in fixtures against Milan, Juventus, Atalanta and Napoli.

Israeli soccer: Inter Aliyah tops Shikma Chen   -17%

While Shikma Chen controlled the game early on, Inter raised the game in the second half to defeat league-leading Shikma Chen 2-0

Aryna Sabalenka strives to underline her potential on the big stage   26%

The most in-form player in the world bids to improve on a woeful record in grand slam events at the Australian Open

Winning grand slam tournaments was not always the sole objective of being a professional tennis player. Chris Evert, the greatest women’s clay court player of all time, once skipped the French Open for three consecutive years during her peak to play in World Team Tennis. Many frequently demurred on travelling halfway around the world to compete in Australia after a long season. Others decided, simply, that grass is for cows. From the pursuit of money to helping to build up their tours by competing hard across the whole season, tennis players had different priorities and they all acted accordingly.

Sadly for Aryna Sabalenka, tennis has moved on. On Wednesday, she defeated Veronika Kudermetova to win the WTA 500 title in Abu Dhabi, the first notable tournament of the tennis season on either tour. Sabalenka may be the least known top 10 player, but she is the most in-form tennis player in the world.

Yaya Tour: 'I would love to find a role that combines coaching with playing'   20%

When one of my managers said I could become a coach, I wasn’t so sure. But I’m now looking forward to that stage of my career

By The Coaches’ Voice for the Guardian Sport Network

“Yaya, you know you could be a coach,” a manager once told me. “What?” I replied. I was confused. I’d never considered coaching before. “I just want to play,” I said. At the time, I was sure of it. I wanted to finish my playing career properly. But those words sparked something in me, when it had never previously crossed my mind. I wasn’t ready at the time because I wanted to carry on playing, but also because I knew then – and know now – that I couldn’t have coached at that age. I was so shocked! I still had so much to learn.

At Manchester City, Pep Guardiola and I used to talk after training about specific things, parts of the game that he loved to analyse. He saw that I understood the game. Sometimes I would also speak with the chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, too. He agreed I should consider becoming a coach. Up until then, I just thought I was thinking about how I was playing in a deeper way. I didn’t really realise I was thinking like a coach. I’d always thought in that way. It came naturally to me.

Column One: Beneath the bling Lakers championship rings feature many special surprises   37%

The Lakers' 2020 NBA championship rings may have cost more than $20,000 each and feature nods to Kobe Bryant and the unique challenges the season presented.

Todd Cantwell seals victory for leaders Norwich over 10-man Cardiff   25%

No wonder Daniel Farke is loth to lose Emi Buendía or Todd Cantwell anytime soon. Cantwell capped a magical performance with a goal as Norwich City racked up a seventh victory in nine league games to open up an eight-point buffer to third-placed Bournemouth, who slipped up at home to Luton. Cardiff were outclassed but never gave up, pulling a goal back through Joe Ralls before Marlon Pack, who was walking a tightrope, was sent off.

Related: Championship at halfway: miracles at Swansea and a Rooney-led revival

Alabama rolls over Ohio State to win college football national championship   17%

DeVonta Smith was uncoverable, Najee Harris unstoppable and Mac Jones impeccable. With a performance that was both surgical and explosive, No. 1 Alabama won the College Football Playoff national championship game 52-24 against No. 3 Ohio State on Monday night.

Newcastle Jets fans show some spirited tribalism is just what the A-League needs | Emma Kemp   32%

Carl Robinson and Bernie Ibini had a fiery return to McDonald Jones Stadium. Can a Covid-era crowd light up the first Sydney derby of the season?

Three years ago Sydney FC fans endured what was, in their eyes, an unforgivable betrayal. Vedran Janjetovic, having lost his spot in goal to Danny Vukovic, defected to Western Sydney. The move, completed in December after much speculation, was sacrilege, a contravention of the golden rule: do not cross town.

Janjetovic was seen as the ultimate deserter, a turncoat of the highest order, and supporters made their dissatisfaction known in his first Sydney derby as a Wanderer.

Premier League: Leicester go second with 2-0 win over Southampton   33%

Leicester City showed they could have a big say in the Premier League title race with an impressive 2-0 win over Southampton to move above champions Liverpool into second spot on Saturday.

Inauguration Day has a cold but seldom snowy history in Washington   -60%

The 2021 presidential inauguration is predicted to be dry and seasonably chilly.

Manchester United v Liverpool: match preview   20%

Five days after reaching the Premier League summit comes the truest test of Manchester United’s ability to stay there. Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side are unbeaten in 15 away league games since losing at Liverpool almost exactly one year ago and will go six points clear of them should they inflict a first home league defeat on the champions since April 2017. Liverpool have dipped in recent weeks but will have no better incentive to rediscover their verve than puncturing the optimism of their great rivals in Klopp’s 200th league game in charge of Liverpool. Andy Hunter

Sunday 4.30pm Sky Sports Premier League

Steam to enter China officially in 2021, raising concerns about censorship as content purge continues  

Steam, the world’s most popular online video game platform developed by US firm Valve Corp, will launch a China-only version this year with a local partner amid China’s continued crackdown on foreign games and game platforms.Without disclosing a specific launch date, Valve’s Chinese partner Perfect World said on Thursday it will launch an official version of Steam in mainland China early this year. The company also said that it will trial the service of the new platform as part of its esports…

Returning Neymar helps PSG to Champions Trophy triumph over Marseille   10%

Neymar scored on his return to action for Paris Saint-Germain as they beat arch rivals Marseille 2-1 to win this season's Champions Trophy.