Football drama awaits, F1 returns and it’s the World Snooker final – follow with us
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,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.
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.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.
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 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.
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.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.
Tanya Aldred is back at her post to provide updates on day three of the latest round of County Championship fixtures.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,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,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,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.
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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Exxon Mobil and Chevron reported drops in profit in their first quarter despite surging oil prices, a result of stalled deliveries and supply disruptions in the Middle East.Exxon’s quarterly earnings fell to $4.2bn from about $7.7bn the same quarter last year, a decline of about 46%, while Chevron’s profits fell to $2.2bn from about $3
Firm bookings, fast refunds: easyJet and On The Beach aim to reassure jittery travellers with holiday pledges
Forget the best infinity pool or alluring sea view: travel firms are now competing for the summer holidaymakers’ pound with pledges of the least likely cancellation – or the fastest refund.Airlines and travel companies have been vying to announce fresh commitments to reassure jittery consumers who are booking flights ever later since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran.The hostilities have been driving up oil prices, with jet fuel costs rising even more sharply. More worrying for many thinking of a summer trip, as the standoff and blockades around the strait of Hormuz continue, is the prospect of scarcity leading to flights being axed.Some European airlines such as Lufthansa have already cancelled thousands of flights owing to rising fuel costs, while Virgin Atlantic has introduced a fuel surcharge on long-haul flights
Parents already have controls over smartphones – they should use them | Letters
A crucial facility seems to be missing from the coverage of smartphones in schools – and outside (I was wrong about the danger of smartphones in schools. It’s far, far worse than I thought, 22 April). Parental controls, which both Apple and Android have, enable downtimes to be set to ensure phones don’t work in school. They can also set downtimes for outside school and block inappropriate apps.We use these for our 14-year-old daughter to keep her safe and manage the addictive effects of phone use
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Nearly half (47%) of UK job seekers have had an AI interview, research from the hiring platform Greenhouse has found.In its survey of 2,950 active job seekers, including 1,132 UK-based workers, with additional respondents from the US, Germany, Australia and Ireland, it found that 30% of UK candidates had walked away from a hiring process because it included an AI interview.We asked people about their experiences of AI interviews. The responses included those who found it “awkward” and “humiliating”. Others spoke of wanting a human element in the interviews, and said they were not sure if their interview had even been reviewed
Lando Norris takes Miami GP sprint pole as lightning fears loom over F1 return
With Formula One returning after its early season enforced break, the Miami Grand Prix is proving an enticing prospect given most of the teams used the time to work furiously on upgrades to their cars. Many of which are being deployed here. Intriguing enough were it not also for the updated regulations being given their debut outing and the threat of lightning storms on Sunday potentially causing a schedule change.Five weeks have passed since the last round in Japan on 29 March after the Saudi Arabian and Bahrain GPs were cancelled because of the war in the Middle East, a break welcomed by many as an unexpected opportunity to assess their cars, which are still very much a work in progress after the rule changes this season.Mercedes held the whip hand in the opening races, and are still unbeaten, with Kimi Antonelli leading his teammate George Russell at the top of the world championship by nine points
Sivo hat-trick keeps Leeds on top as they hold off Wakefield fightback
Leeds Rhinos underlined their position at the top of Super League with this bruising win over Wakefield Trinity, with half-back Jake Connor further emphasising why he should be England’s starting scrum-half for this autumn’s Rugby League World Cup.Brad Arthur’s side were eye-catching once again as they survived having three players sent to the sin-bin to defeat a Wakefield side who could have drawn level with the Rhinos had they won here after their own impressive start to 2026.However, this contest proved a step too far for Trinity, who were outclassed by Leeds, and Connor in particular, when it mattered most.Super League’s reigning Man of Steel was near faultless, providing four try assists and having a wider hand in almost everything Leeds did well. Having been bizarrely omitted for last year’s Ashes by Shaun Wane, the odds on an England call-up under the new coach, Brian McDermott, will be shortening by the day with performances like these
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