Your Guardian sport weekend: Premier League returns, F1 in the US and World Cup cricket
Here’s how to follow along with our coverage – the finest writing and up-to-the-minute reportsThe opening Ashes Test in Perth on 21 November is drawing ever closer, but first England touch down across the Tasman for a limited-overs tour of New Zealand, beginning in Christchurch on Saturday with the first of three T20s,White-ball cricket as a warm-up for the greatest Test series of them all might seem curious but the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka follows hot on the heels of the Ashes,England’s last visit to Asia this year saw them lose 10 out of 11 matches, including seven from eight in India, but Harry Brook’s side are targeting the trophy he helped them win in Australia in 2022,Brook is back to lead the side after being rested last month in Ireland, where Jacob Bethell became England’s youngest men’s captain, aged 21, and guided them to a 2-0 T20 series win,When they last had a full complement, England became the first Test nation to score 300 in a men’s T20, with Phil Salt and Jos Buttler flaying South Africa’s bowlers to all parts at Emirates Old Trafford.
Up early to helm our over-by-over coverage is James Wallace, with Simon Burton reporting from at Hagley Oval,Emillia Hawkins is at the controls of our essential gateway to the day’s football action,She will be looking ahead to Saturday’s seven Premier League fixtures, with the lunchtime kick-off at the City Ground where Nottingham Forest face Chelsea at 12,30pm in a lively start to proceedings,There’ll be team news and breaking stories as well as any wash-up from Friday night’s Championship game between Middlesbrough and Ipswich.
There are four lunchtime fixtures in the second tier, including the London derby between QPR and Millwall,Julien Stéphan’s hosts are on a six-match unbeaten streak that includes wins over Bristol City, Stoke and Charlton,Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund’s undefeated run has filled Niko Kovac’s team with confidence for Der Klassiker at Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich despite the hosts’ impressive 10-match winning streak in all competitions,The latest instalment of the Ombudsman v Delacroix rivalry takes place at Ascot in a mouthwatering Champion Stakes,The former will be returning to the scene of his dazzling Prince of Wales’s Stakes triumph and has since struck gold in the Juddmonte International, where he levelled the score with Delacroix after Aidan O’Brien’s star son of Dubawi flew home late to deny John and Thady Gosden’s four-year-old in the Coral-Eclipse.
Delacroix has since produced a spellbinding display to add to his own Group One haul on home soil in the Irish Champion Stakes and will now bid to become only the seventh horse to complete the Anglo-Irish Champion Stakes double,Tony Paley has all the unfolding action on a day of compelling racing, with Greg Wood at Ascot,Ange Postecoglou’s last stand? Forest host Chelsea as the noise builds around the Australian’s future at the City Ground,Zero wins from his seven games in charge is hardly grounds for confidence, mate,There is plenty of speculation pointing to ex-Forest player Sean Dyche replacing him in the dugout.
It won’t help that Chelsea are something of a bogey team: Postecoglou lost all four of his Premier League games against the Blues during his two-year spell as Tottenham manager.That said, Enzo Maresca’s side – reeling from the news that Cole Palmer will be out for six weeks – have been shaky on the road with just three wins from their past 14 away league fixtures.Rob Smyth helms our live blog while Ben Fisher reports from the City Ground.Barry Glendenning’s clockwatch steers you through the pick of the 3pm kick-offs.At the Etihad, Pep Guardiola’s City are aiming for three wins on the trot, their brio boosted by Erling Haaland’s hot streak.
The Norwegian striker has scored in 10 successive appearances for club and country.Everton will be no pushovers, however.David Moyes is again working wonders in his second stint at the club, although they have been beaten in three of their four away games in all competitions this season.Two sides on nine points meet at the Amex, where Brighton have never been beaten against Newcastle in eight Premier League games.Eddie Howe’s visitors have been dully predictable on their travels, meanwhile, with all three away games ending in goalless draws.
John Brewin reports from Brighton, with Jamie Jackson our man at Manchester City,Mikel Arteta’s pacesetters return from the international hiatus eager to maintain their momentum against a Fulham side who have lost their last two Premier League games, shipping three goals in both matches,Arsenal have an ominous record in London derbies, having only lost one of their last 18 in the league – that sole defeat coming in a 2-1 loss at Fulham in December 2023,Scott Murray helms our live blog, with Jacob Steinberg and Barney Ronay at Craven Cottage,Days after retaining their constructors’ title, McLaren’s duelling duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris sweep into Texas looking warily in their rear-view mirrors for Max Verstappen.
With six rounds of the world championship remaining, the title contenders are separated by just 22 points with the four-times champion adrift by 63 points, but revelling in his recent form after beating both McLarens in the past three races.In that time, the Dutchman has reduced a 104-point deficit to Piastri at the start of September by 41 points to turn a seemingly lost cause into a thrilling late, if unexpected, charge for a fifth title.If he succeeds, it will be a record for overturning a deficit.So the Circuit of the Americas is likely to be the scene of much drama as the two McLaren hot shots, in a car that has not been updated in recent weeks, strive to fend off the much-revised and hard-charging Red Bull.That there is a sprint race too on Saturday, the first of three remaining this year, only adds to the potential for shredded nerves in qualifying.
Beau Dure steers our live lap-by-lap coverage with Giles Richards reporting.John Brewin and Michael Butler sift through the fallout from Saturday’s programme before our unmissable live football countdown blog looks forward to a Sunday fixture list that features Tottenham v Aston Villa and Liverpool v Manchester United in the Premier League as well as eight Women’s League Cup fixtures.In the Scottish Premiership, Celtic travel to Dundee for a midday kick-off while in La Liga Real Madrid are at Getafe in the pick of the European fixtures.Rain saved England from a likely defeat against winless Pakistan on Wednesday.England slumped to 79 for seven before a first rain break of almost four hours led to the match being reduced to 31 overs per side.
Charlie Dean (33) and Em Arlott (18) led a rally to 133 for nine but the target was revised downwards and looked well within Pakistan’s reach before another deluge.The no-result meant their unbeaten record in the competition was preserved.Next up are co-hosts India in Indore and there is concern over the form of a number of players in what will be a decisive test of England’s championship ambitions.Daniel Harris and James Wallace are at the controls of our OBO live coverage, with Raf Nicholson reporting.Before the weekend fixtures, Spurs were sitting in a heady third place in the Premier League table after seven games, and a win against Villa could see them go top if Arsenal and Liverpool drop points against Fulham and Manchester United.
Thomas Frank has certainly made an impressive start as Tottenham manager but has struggled against Aston Villa.At Brentford, his side only won once in eight league games against them.Also Unai Emery’s side’s record against Spurs is impressive: four wins from their last six Premier League games.Michael Butler steers our live blog and Matt Hughes reports from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.Graham Searles tracks all the American football action, with the clash of Los Angeles and Jacksonville at Wembley Stadium among the highlights of week seven.
The Rams claimed a 17-3 victory against the Ravens last time out, but could be without their key receiver Puka Nacua in London, though quarterback Matthew Stafford is forging a potent connection with wide receiver Davante Adams,The Jaguars, meanwhile, lost 20-12 at home to Seattle last week and will look to Trevor Lawrence for inspiration,Rob Smyth helms our minute-by-minute coverage of one of English football’s fiercest rivalries,The first doubts are beginning to emerge about Liverpool’s Premier League title defence on the back of three straight losses while Manchester United teeter from one crisis to another,Liverpool stumbled to late defeats against Crystal Palace and Chelsea before the international break, and another loss came in the Champions League.
It is the club’s worst run under coach Arne Slot, who was near-faultless in his title-winning first season,Ruben Amorim, meanwhile, enjoyed some relative calm during the international break after backing from United’s co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe but finds himself back in the Premier League maelstrom once again,Victory against the out-of-sorts reigning champions would mean back-to-back league wins for the first time since Amorim took over nearly a year ago,David Hytner and Andy Hunter are our reporting team at Anfield,Max Verstappen has reeled off four consecutive podium finishes and has won three of the last four Austin races, only missing out last year when Ferrari claimed a one-two, contenting himself instead with a sprint race win.
For McLaren, Lando Norris took pole last year and finished fourth and is under pressure to beat his 24-year-old Australian teammate Oscar Piastri, and Verstappen if possible,The pressure is also on Piastri: the Australian has gone three races without a podium,Piastri’s best result in Austin was fifth last year after retiring following a crash in 2023,The tension at McLaren is likely to be matched at Ferrari after a fraught few days of reports suggesting that the team is in disarray and are lining up the former Red Bull controller Christian Horner as a possible successor to under-pressure team chief Fred Vasseur,Without a win this year, Ferrari and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, in particular, badly need a result in Texas.
The Briton has now gone 18 races without a top-three finish as he returns to a favourite circuit where he has won five times,Mercedes will also be hunting success after George Russell’s triumph in Singapore and the belated confirmation that they are retaining an unchanged lineup, with the Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli alongside Russell, next year,Beau Dure helms our lap-by-lap coverage and Giles Richards reports on the race,
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Nearly £11bn has been wiped off the value of the largest banks listed in London today.Banks were among the big fallers in today’s sell-off, with Barclays down 5.66%, NatWest losing 2.88%, HSBC down 2.5%, Standard Chartered losing 3
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AI chatbots are hurting children, Australian education minister warns as anti-bullying plan announced
A disturbing new trend of AI chatbots bullying children and even encouraging them to take their own lives has the Australian government very concerned.Speaking to media on Saturday, the federal education minister, Jason Clare, said artificial intelligence was “supercharging” bullying.“AI chatbots are now bullying kids. It’s not kids bullying kids, it’s AI bullying kids, humiliating them, hurting them, telling them they’re losers … telling them to kill themselves. I can’t think of anything more terrifying than that,” Clare said
UK MPs warn of repeat of 2024 riots unless online misinformation is tackled
Failures to properly tackle online misinformation mean it is “only a matter of time” before viral content triggers a repeat of the 2024 summer riots, MPs have warned.Chi Onwurah, the chair of the Commons science and technology select committee, said ministers seemed complacent about the threat and this was putting the public at risk.The committee said it was disappointed in the government’s response to its recent report warning social media companies’ business models contributed to disturbances after the Southport murders.Replying to the committee’s findings, the government rejected a call for legislation tackling generative artificial intelligence platforms and said it would not intervene directly in the online advertising market, which MPs claimed helped incentivise the creation of harmful material after the attack.Onwurah said the government agreed with most of its conclusions but had stopped short of backing its recommendations for action
Risk of wheel bashing and strategy sets up complicated US Grand Prix
At the mid-point of this season it might have been considered that the title fight between McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri would simply be decided by which driver had the edge to take the flag at each remaining meeting. Going into this weekend’s US Grand Prix, however, the contest has become far more complicated and far more interesting.While only 22 points separate the pair neither has now won for three races, the team’s longest drought of the season. Moreover, they have been beaten on merit across a variety of tracks. At the fast, low downforce challenge of Monza and Baku, where Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took the flag, and the slow, high downforce of Singapore, where Mercedes’ George Russell more than had their measure
Taunts add spice as big three vie for Champion Stakes in thrilling Ascot finale
If you were to sit down with a blank piece of paper to design an ideal finale for the 2025 Flat season, the result would probably be a race with a striking resemblance to Saturday’s Champion Stakes at Ascot.It will be run over a mile-and-a-quarter, an ideal test for speed and stamina, and on good ground, with three of the world’s top-10 racehorses on ratings going head-to-head. The double-figure field also includes some very live “dark” horses that could spring a surprise, and a runner apiece for Ireland, Britain and France, European racing’s leading nations, among the three main contenders. The strength and depth of the competition is so high that punters who successfully unravel the puzzle can expect at least a 180% return on their stake, in the space of a couple of minutes.There is even a little needle to add further spice, after Aidan O’Brien, the trainer of Delacroix, suggested to a media briefing on Thursday that John Gosden, who trains Ombudsman, the favourite, “can whinge a little bit after races, whether he wins or he loses”
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