Arsenal's Premier League title prospects were enhanced without them even kicking a ball on Wednesday as their closest challengers Manchester City and Aston Villa both dropped points.
Arsenal closed out 2025 in emphatic fashion, smashing third-placed Aston Villa 4-1 on Tuesday to surge five points clear at the top of the Premier League.
Australia finished marginally on top at the end of a chaotic opening day of the fourth Ashes Test after an extraordinary 20 wickets fell in front of a record crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.
IMAGES from Day 1 of the 1st Ashes Test played in Perth on Friday.
Jacob Bethell scored his maiden Test century to lead an England rearguard action on the fourth day of the fifth Test on Wednesday but Australia still looked firmly set for victory.
England's Joe Root conquered his final frontier with a first Ashes century in Australia as the tourists pushed past 300 on day one of the second Test in Brisbane on Thursday despite a six-wicket haul from pace spearhead Mitchell Starc.
It was a wild ride while it lasted but the 'Bazball' revolution that enlivened English cricket for three years collapsed in 11 days on Australian soil in an Ashes defeat as harrowing as any in the modern era.
'The tailenders should have looked to bat with Jamie Smith. Really poor from the batters towards the end. The plan should have been to give him the strike and let him do the heavy lifting.'
Chasing a world record 435 runs to win, England were reduced to 207 for six at stumps on Day 4 of the third Test, still 228 runs short of victory
'We know we're behind the game again, in the situation we currently stand.'
Having hit Western Australia's golf links before being beaten by eight wickets in Perth, England's enthusiasts will have access to a selection of championship courses to play a round before a refreshing dip in the Pacific Ocean.
IMAGES from Day 5 of the 3rd Ashes Test in Adelaide on Sunday.
After Saturday's 2-1 win at Chelsea - their 12th in 13 league matches - Aston Villa have claimed 18 points from losing positions so far this season, more than any other team.
Robinson dismissed Virat Kohli thrice in England and he is again looking forward to challenging the Indian great's 'ego'.
Ollie Pope frequently played the sweep shots -- both traditional and reverse -- to negate spin and mess with India's fielding strategy.
'The moment was right': Head floors England with match-winning hundred
Mitchell Starc made a late-career bid for all-rounder status when he scored a half-century and grabbed two wickets under the Gabba floodlights to push Australia to the brink of victory at the close of day three of the second Ashes Test.
Arsenal re-established their five-point lead at the top of the Premier League with a 2-0 home win against Brentford on Wednesday and for the second evening running the goals flowed as Aston Villa won 4-3 in a thriller at Brighton and Hove Albion.
'Sometimes vice-captains aren't brilliant captains.'
Four-Test-old all-rounder Jacob Bethell was awarded his maiden central contract by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) which offered two-year deals to 14 multi-format cricketers, including Test captain Ben Stokes and injury-plagued pacer Jofra Archer.
Joe Root looks on course not only to break Sachin Tendulkar's century record in Tests but could also overtake his record run-scoring tally.
The contest between England's dialled-down "Bazball" approach and Australia's more methodical batting could determine who prevails in the Ashes series beginning in Perth on Friday.
England's Stokes praises Australia's Head, supports his own errant batters
Harry Brook could be in contention to replace Ollie Pope as Ben Stokes' deputy when England travel to Australia this winter.
Mitchell Starc and Ben Stokes set the scene for a dramatic Ashes series.
Head coach Brendon McCullum revealed that pacer Ollie Robinson suffered an injury while batting during the visitors' first inning.
The two McLaren drivers were ruled out for excessive skid plank wear hours after the race had ended and the podium champagne been sprayed.
England batter Harry Brook has cautioned against underestimating Australia in the Ashes series, even as doubts linger over the availability of their captain and fast bowler, Pat Cummins, for the opener in Perth.
Shubman Gill deservedly was the Player of the Match in the Edgbaston Test, but many Indian cricket fans will agree that Akash Deep deserved to be joint POM for his incredible 10 wickets that gave India a triumph for the ages.
Mohammed Siraj added another milestone to his growing Test resum by becoming only the second Indian bowler to take 20 or more wickets in a Test series in England
The most wickets by an Indian in international cricket are by spinner Anil Kumble, with 953 scalps at an average of 30.06, with best figures of 10/74, with 37 five-wicket hauls and eight ten-fers.
In Lille, substitute Olivier Giroud turned the game on its head in the 80th minute.
Since going missing from red-ball action in 2021, the 30-year-old endured a period during which injuries constantly plagued him, especially a recurring stress fracture in his right elbow.
'I'm worried. We're going to wander in and have a little game with the 'A' team. (It will be) 'Alright mate, how are you? Good on ya' and we're going to go and perform?'
All-rounder Jamie Overton, who played the only Test match of his career back in 2022, has been recalled to the 15-member England squad
A superb unbeaten century from Ollie Pope helped drag England back into the first Test against India at Headingley on Saturday, with the home side closing Day 2 on 209/3.
England on Wednesday announced their playing XI for the opening Test of the five-match series against India, which will kickstart at Headingley on Friday.
England racked up an eighth successive victory against Wales with a 3-0 cruise in an international friendly at Wembley on Thursday.
England have not won an Ashes Test match in Australia for nearly 15 years but their batting firepower could prove decisive in the series starting in Perth next month, according to former captain Alastair Cook.
Former England skipper Alastair Cook backed Ollie Pope to retain the No. 3 spot in the batting line-up ahead of Jacob Bethell during the upcoming five-match Test series against India.
