Brendan Rodgers has called on his Celtic players to maintain cool heads when they run out at Ibrox for Sunday’s showdown with cinch Premiership title rivals Rangers.

The Hoops are a point above Gers, who have a game in hand, so the outcome of this weekend’s derby is likely to have a significant bearing on the outcome of what is shaping up as the tightest championship race since the Light Blues’ financial implosion more than a decade ago.

However, Rodgers has told his players to focus fully on playing football and not the potential ramifications of victory or defeat.

“It starts with the whole build-up,” said the Hoops boss. “I think it’s important not to get entrenched in the whole storyline because at times the storyline can be that ‘it could a disaster’.

“But for me the storyline is that there is always opportunity. You arrive, you stay calm and you just look to focus on your performance.

“This is one of the greatest, most iconic games in world football but you’ve got to perform and you can only do that by staying calm and looking to play your football.”

Rodgers – who has lost just one of his 16 matches against Rangers in his two stints as Celtic boss – insisted he has not given too much consideration to how any particular result at Ibrox might leave the title race.

“I haven’t over-thought it,” he said. “I always prepare the team to win, I never think of drawing or losing a game. I always prepare the team to go and win the game and it’s served me well especially in these types of games.

“You can’t win them all, of course, but the mindset is to impose ourselves on the game and then let’s see where we are at at the end of it.

“I always feel really comfortable coming into these (Old Firm) games but that’s only on the back of preparation and the clarity we want to give to the players.

“And also because of how we play. I have always been confident in that and we have come in to a lot of these big games and performed very well.

“It’s not always perfect but we have performed well in them.”

After struggling for form at various points this term, Rodgers feels the return of key players from injury has helped Celtic regain their “authority” recently.

The Hoops could be at full strength for the trip to Ibrox if captain Callum McGregor and winger Luis Palma are declared fit.

“It’s just having the authority back on the pitch, and you saw that at Livingston last weekend,” said Rodgers.

“When we are at our best, we are not giving much away whilst creating that great platform.

“No matter how good you are attacking wise, it’s about consistency in how you defend.

“We are at our best when we are super organised and tight – and then everything is connected with and without the ball.

“That will be the same on Sunday. We will be attack-minded and front foot, but attack-minded when we defend too. When we do that, we can play very well.”

Ange Postecoglou feels there is more to come from in-form Tottenham attacker Brennan Johnson.

Wales international Johnson scored in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at West Ham to make it five goal involvements in his last five Premier League matches.

After a slow start to life at Spurs following his £47.5million move from Nottingham Forest in September, the 22-year-old is beginning to hit top form now and faces his old club on Sunday.

Postecoglou has been impressed with how Johnson has handled his big-money move, especially in the wake of Harry Kane’s departure weeks before his arrival and amid recent discourse over the part his transfer played in Forest’s points deduction for breaching league profit and sustainability rules.

“We had a minimum of 30 goals walk out the building,” Postecoglou said.

“People are going to be looking at how we’re going to replace that and it can weigh heavily on a young guy’s shoulders.

“Not that we can expect Brennan to replace Harry, but we needed goals and assists and I like the way he’s handled it.

“We’ve tried to tread carefully with him because I can see the potential in him. I can see how much he can improve and the attributes he has, I’ve got no doubt will fit really well with this team, but I’m not going to put a ceiling on it because that would be unfair on him.

“We like the way he’s progressing but we certainly believe there is more to come, for sure.

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“I think now he’s found a bit of confidence, consistency and understanding of how we play, he’s getting the rewards, which is great.

“But he’s still a young guy and we bought him with very much an eye that whatever he does this year, there’s definitely a lot more in him.

“And when you see improvement that encourages us even more because it makes you think that if we invest the time in him even more, he’s going to be a super player for us.”

Johnson’s midweek effort was not enough to fire Tottenham to victory at West Ham, with the hosts able to claim a point after Kurt Zouma scored from a corner.

Spurs have conceded 10 goals from set-pieces in the Premier League this season, but Postecoglou rejected suggestions it has become an Achilles’ heel for his team.

He added: “I think we’ve been pretty good at set-pieces.

“Every goal you concede is down to something. It was a decent delivery the other night, they’ve got some big guys and the rest of the set-pieces I thought we handled quite well.

“We gave away too many corners. That was an issue for us. When you do it against a team like West Ham, who are such a big team physically. They’ve got such great deliveries with (Jarrod) Bowen and (James) Ward-Prowse — you’re asking for trouble.

“I thought that was part of the game we could have handled a bit better, not to give away so many, but I think those kind of things people just kind of look at in snapshots.

“Our winning goal against Luton came from a defensive corner. With all these things, I tend to take a longer-term view on them and for the most part I think we’ve been pretty decent.”

Spurs will be without Richarlison (knee) for this weekend’s visit of Forest.

Lewis Hamilton may have only managed to qualify seventh for the Japanese Grand Prix but he insists his Mercedes has not felt better in three years.

The seven-time world champion will start from the fourth row at Suzuka, with team-mate George Russell in ninth.

While from the outside that would suggest Mercedes once again struggled with an underperforming car – like much of the past two years – Hamilton was in good spirits following Saturday’s qualifying.

Having lamented the gap to pole-sitter Max Verstappen over the team radio during the session, he had a more positive outlook in the aftermath.

“The car has been much nicer to drive this weekend… this is the nicest it has felt in three years,” he said.

“I think we did a really good job over the last week, just the analysis we’ve done at the factory to get the car into a sweet spot.

“This weekend it’s much more in the sweet spot and so I hope that continues in the following races. Then we’ve just got to add performance.

“I think we’ve got the car into a much nicer working window and so it’s been really enjoyable driving, it’s just the guys are just a little bit faster.”

Hamilton has amassed just eight points from the opening three races of the 2024 campaign and retired last time out in Australia.

The early signs are Mercedes face another year of chasing the fastest cars rather than challenging for victories – but the Briont, who will race for Ferrari from next year – feels things are starting to look up.

Asked if he believes Mercedes are now heading in the right direction, Hamilton replied: “I personally believe so.

“We were a second or just over a second off last year to the Red Bull and seven tenths is now better,” he added.

“I think what it’s giving us is I know exactly where the car is not strong enough, I can feel it in the car, and I know now to be tell them to ‘push in this particular area’. But I’m hoping the race will be stronger tomorrow.”

Mercedes were hit with a Euros5,000 (£4,290) fine for an unsafe pit lane release of Russell at the start of qualifying.

Russell will start the race from his lowest grid slot this season but he believes it will be a close battle with the cars in and around him.

“I think it’s just so tight out there between ourselves McLaren, Ferrari and Aston Martin,” he said.

“If you nail your lap you are up at the front of that pack, and if you don’t you will be at the back of that pack, we knew that this circuit was going to be a slight challenge for us. We know our limitation in the high-speed corners.”

Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo believes their strength in depth is bolstering the club’s Premier League title bid.

The Netherlands international came off the bench for the 19th time in 44 appearances to score his 14th goal in Thursday’s victory over Sheffield United.

This season Jurgen Klopp’s substitutes have been involved in 24 Premier League goals (12 goals, 12 assists) which equals Manchester City’s record from 2011-12, with Gakpo combining with fellow substitute Andy Robertson for the third goal against the Blades.

It has also contributed to Liverpool winning 26 points from losing positions and Gakpo, the team’s third-highest scorer this season, attributes that to the attitude within the squad.

“That’s what this team is all about. We have so much quality, and the manager can only start 11,” he told the club’s website.

“Everybody is eager to perform well for himself, for the team and for the fans when they are coming on.

“At the beginning of the season everyone had the belief that, ‘OK, I’m not starting today but when I come on, you never know what is going to happen, and if I put all of my energy out there then beautiful things can happen’.”

With just eight league matches remaining the focus is getting sharper with every week but Gakpo said no-one was thinking ahead as that leads to scrambled thinking.

“Obviously we are aware of the situation but we just try to approach every game and stay calm,” he added.

“Obviously your mind can go all over the place if you are thinking about the end of the season, but we just have to take it game by game.

“We are doing it pretty well at the moment and we just need to stay calm and stay focused.”

The team return to Old Trafford on Sunday, where only three weeks ago they lost a pulsating FA Cup quarter-final 4-3 after Manchester United scored a winner in the final minute of extra time.

It was only the third domestic defeat of the campaign but losing to their arch-rivals, ending the hope of an unprecedented quadruple, was painful.

“Of course, we were very disappointed. Losing is never good. Especially the way we lost that day, it hurt for 24 hours after the game,” said Gakpo’s international captain Virgil van Dijk.

“We have to do better against them. They started the game well, had the crowd behind them and that gave them a push. Conceding the goals was disappointing.

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“We controlled the game but kept them alive. They made use of it in the best way possible. That’s credit to them but we are going there on Sunday to turn it around and make sure we get the three points.

“We want to win every game and that’s the focus anyway at Liverpool. We know how much this match means and how big it is for the outside world but we are in a phase where we can’t drop points and lose points.

“It never matters what happened the game before results-wise. It is on its own. We have one goal: go there and try to win the game, we will give everything.”

Philippe Clement is excited rather than nervous about Sunday’s keenly-awaited Old Firm game at Ibrox.

Rangers are one point behind reigning cinch Premiership champions Celtic with a game in hand as title race tensions increase by the week.

It is the first of eight remaining league fixtures for the Govan side, who are desperate to wrest the title back from Parkhead and it is the first home Glasgow derby for the Belgian boss.

Asked if there were any nerves from within heading into the game, Clement said: “No, I love it. I’m not nervous, I’m excited about it, I’m looking forward to it.

“This is something you need to embrace, not be nervous about. These are great afternoons.

“I have a lot of confidence in my squad and I have a lot of confidence in our fans so those are the challenging moments because you play against a good team who will do their best to beat you and there will be a lot of quality from both sides.

“It’s the only way also to grow as a player, to have challenges, to have tough games, to play against good opponents.

“If you make the next steps into that you go to another level and that’s what I want to do with this club and with the squad next season – to become better and to raise the level time after time with a lot of success and maybe some disappointments along the way because that’s also the way to success. To learn lessons out of that.

“I prefer to have success on Sunday, let’s be clear about that.”

Clement admits Rangers will need to keep an eye on Celtic captain Callum McGregor, who is expected to return from injury to the Hoops midfield where he was instrumental in guiding his side to a 1-0 win at Ibrox in September – when Michael Beale was Gers boss – and a 2-1 victory at Parkhead in December.

He said: “I don’t totally agree that he dominated the play at Celtic Park. There were moments that he was good on the ball but there were also moments where he wasn’t dominating the game.

“I think my midfielders also dominated the game in moments. I saw the first game and it’s true he was dominating but I don’t need to say too much about that.

“He’s a very good player and he’s somebody with a lot of quality.

“He’s really good on the ball and he’s very important for their team so it’s important to take that strength out of their team and that’s one part you need to do but it’s not only about one player. They have a lot of good players.”

This afternoon’s National Hunt meeting at Uttoxeter will go ahead as scheduled after the track passed a morning inspection, but racing at the Curragh has been abandoned.

Hopes of any turf racing taking place in Britain on Saturday hinged a second precautionary check at Uttoxeter at 7.30am. An initial inspection was staged at 2pm on Friday and while there was standing water in some areas, the track was described as raceable.

Officials announced a further precautionary inspection for raceday morning and were able to give the fixture the go-ahead.

The news was not so good in Ireland, with a Curragh card due to feature the Group Three Tote.ie Alleged Stakes abandoned due to a waterlogged track.

Brendan Sheridan, the IHRB clerk of the course at the Curragh, said: “Following a further four millimetres of rain in the last 24 hours, unfortunately we have to cancel the fixture scheduled at the Curragh today as parts of the track are just not fit for racing.”

The disruption could continue on Sunday, with meetings at Carlisle and Downpatrick subject to morning inspections at 7am and 7.30am respectively.

Tuesday’s Flat meeting at Navan has already been cancelled, while Hexham’s jumps card on the same day also looks in serious doubt, with officials calling an inspection for 7.30am on Sunday.

Looking even further ahead, officials at Leicester have announced an inspection for 8am on Tuesday ahead of the track’s scheduled fixture on Friday, with the course currently waterlogged and unraceable.

Max Verstappen stormed to pole position at the Japanese Grand Prix as his dominance in qualifying continued.

The world champion has locked out the first spot on the grid this season and there was no answer to his pace at Suzuka.

His time of one minute 28.197 beat Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez into second place by just 0.066 seconds, while McLaren’s Lando Norris was the best of the rest.

Verstappen’s run of pole positions now stretches back to the last race of last season and he is now toasting a third pole in Japan.

The Dutchman never looked like being beaten and was quickest across all three qualifying sessions – as well as Saturday morning’s final practice.

He is aiming to get back on track after retiring in Melbourne and the rest of the field will be concerned that he could drive off into the distance from the start.

“It was quite close at the end,” Verstappen said of his latest pole lap.

“Overall this track is sensitive with the tyres and when you want to go to the limit it doesn’t always work out but what is important is being on pole. Overall, a very good day, a good starting position tomorrow and of course tomorrow is what counts.

“It is great as a team to be P1 and P2, hopefully we can keep that going tomorrow.”

Carlos Sainz won in Australia last time out and will start Sunday’s race fourth for Ferrari, with the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso fifth.

Oscar Piastri was sixth-fastest in the second McLaren, with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell down in seventh and ninth, respectively.

Charles Leclerc is sandwiched between the pair, with home favourite Yuki Tsunoda rounding out the top 10.

Tsunoda scraped into the final session, eliminating RB team-mate Daniel Ricciardo at the end of Q2 to the roar of the Suzuka crowd.

Nico Hulkenberg, Valtteri Bottas, Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon also failed to make it through and will start 12-15th, respectively.

Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly, Kevin Magnussen, Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu were knocked out in Q1.

Seiya Suzuki drove in three runs and the Chicago Cubs scored five times in the second inning before holding on for a 9-7 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Friday's opener of a three-game series.

Michael Busch, acquired from the Dodgers in the offseason, had a solo homer against his former team to help Chicago to its fifth consecutive win. Dansby Swanson also homered for the Cubs and Ian Happ contributed a two-run triple.

The Dodgers had a four-game winning streak snapped despite Shohei Ohtani connecting for his second homer of the season, a two-run shot in the fifth inning. Teoscar Hernandez went 3 for 4 with four RBIs for Los Angeles.

After Hernandez's two-run single in the first inning gave the Dodgers an early lead, the Cubs answered and then some against Los Angeles starter Bobby Miller in the second.

Swanson got Chicago on the board with a one-out solo homer and Miller walked Busch before yielding back-to-back singles to Nico Hoerner and Nick Madrigal, the last of which plated Busch. Happ later walked to load the bases and Hoerner scored on Miller's wild pitch for a 3-2 Cubs lead.

Suzuki then doubled to right to knock in two more runs and extend the margin and chase Miller, who was tagged for five runs in just 1 2/3 innings.

Busch homered in the third to put Chicago up 6-2, but Ohtani followed Mookie Betts' single in the fifth with a blast into the right-field seats off Cubs' starter Kyle Hendricks to close the gap. Hendricks then walked Freddie Freeman before giving up a double to Will Smith that cut Los Angeles' deficit to 6-5.

Hendricks was charged with five runs on eight hits over four-plus innings.

Happ brought in Hoerner and Yan Gomes with a triple in the sixth to give Chicago some breathing room, then scored on Suzuki's sacrifice fly for a 9-5 lead.

Hernandez plated Freeman and Smith with a single in the seventh to get the Dodgers closer, but relievers Julian Merryweather and Adbert Alzolay shut Los Angeles out over the final two innings to protect the lead.

Rangers roll past Astros in ALCS rematch

Adolis Garcia and Marcus Semien each belted three-run homers as the Texas Rangers cruised to a 10-2 rout over the Houston Astros in the American League West rivals' first meeting since last season's League Championship Series.

Garcia also had an RBI single to back 7 2/3 outstanding innings from Cory Bradford as the Rangers took the opener of this four-game Lone Star series. 

Bradford yielded just one run and two hits with no walks to help Texas end a run of eight consecutive Houston wins at the Rangers' Globe Life Park, including three during the 2023 ALCS that Texas won in seven games before later capturing the franchise's first World Series title.

The Rangers went up big early in the rematch, scoring five two-out runs off Houston starter Hunter Brown in the second inning.

Singles by Josh Smith and Semien put two runners on before Corey Seager drove in Texas' first run with a double. Semien then scored on Wyatt Langford's infield single before Garcia launched a three-run homer for a 5-0 advantage.

Smith's RBI double in the fourth and Garcia's run-scoring single in the fifth increased the margin further, and Semien made it a 10-0 lead when he homered off Brandon Bielak with two aboard in the sixth.

Bradford was removed after giving up a two-out single to Jeremy Pena in the eighth. Jake Meyers then greeted reliever Yerry Rodriguez with a two-run homer to end Texas' shutout bid.

Brown lasted just three innings and was tagged for five runs and eight hits while walking four.

Clement's homer helps Blue Jays spoil Yankees' home opener

Ernie Clement broke a scoreless tie with a pinch-hit home run in the seventh inning, and five Toronto Blue Jays pitchers combined on a six-hitter to spoil the New York Yankees' home opener with a 3-0 victory.

Clement sent a pitch from Yankees reliever Caleb Ferguson into the left-field seats to help Toronto take the opener of this three-game series.

The Blue Jays tacked on two more runs in the top of the ninth before ex-Yankee Chad Green worked around a pair of hits in the bottom of the inning to finish off the shutout and earn his first save of the season.

New York was dealt just its second loss in eight games this season despite an outstanding start from former Blue Jay Marcus Stroman, who yielded just three hits and struck out six in six scoreless innings.

Yusei Kikuchi was just as good for Toronto, as the left-hander permitted just four hits and struck out seven in 5 1/3 innings.

Alejandro Kirk had three hits for the Blue Jays, including a single in the ninth that was followed by a base hit from Daulton Varsho. Isiah Kiner-Falefa then drew a walk to load the bases before New York reliever Nick Burdi threw a wild pitch that allowed pinch-runner Brian Serven to score for a 2-0 lead.

Burdi uncorked another wild pitch later in the inning that enabled Varsho to score Toronto's final run. 

Gary Trent Jr.'s 31 points and Immanuel Quickley's near triple-double sparked Toronto to a 117-111 win over Milwaukee on Friday, which ended the Raptors' 15-game losing streak and extended the Bucks' late-season slump.

Quickley compiled 25 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, while Trent went 7 of 15 from 3-point range to help the Raptors hand Milwaukee a fifth loss in six games. RJ Barrett contributed 26 points to Toronto's first win since March 3.

The Bucks' woes continued despite Damian Lillard returning from a three-game absence to record 36 points. Milwaukee was without its other superstar, however, as Giannis Antetokounmpo was held out with a sore hamstring.

Toronto seemed on the way towards another defeat after trailing 40-30 five minutes into the second quarter, but Trent led a 16-3 run later in the period that gave the Raptors a 56-51 advantage with a minute to go before half-time.

The Raptors eventually pushed the margin to 14 points when a Trent 3-pointer created a 77-63 lead midway through the third quarter, but the Bucks closed the gap later in the period. Lillard capped a 10-2 spurt with a 3-pointer that cut Milwaukee's deficit to 87-84 in the final minute of the third.

Milwaukee had a chance to pull ahead in the late stages, but Khris Middleton missed a potential go-ahead 3-point attempt with the Raptors up 113-111 with 20.4 seconds left. Quickley then made a pair of free throws and the Bucks were held scoreless the rest of the way.

Middleton finished with 21 points and Bobby Portis tallied 19 points with 10 rebounds off the bench for the Bucks.

Washington stars as Mavericks end Warriors' winning streak

P.J. Washington capped a 32-point night with a tie-breaking layup with 4.5 seconds left that lifted the Dallas Mavericks to a 108-106 victory over Golden State which halted the Warriors' season-high six-game winning streak.

After Golden State erased a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit on Stephen Curry's jumper with 13 seconds remaining that tied the game at 106-106, Dallas' Tim Hardaway Jr. found a cutting Washington for an inside basket that put the Mavericks back in front.

Klay Thompson then missed a 3-point shot just before the final buzzer as Dallas held on for its 13th win in its last 15 games.

Washington finished 12 of 18 from the field while stepping up with the Mavericks holding out star guard Luka Dončić in the second of a back-to-back, and Dallas also received a 26-point, eight-rebound, seven-assist effort out of Kyrie Irving.

Curry ended with 28 points, 14 of which came in the fourth quarter as the Warriors battled back from being down 98-88 with under six minutes left.

Golden State also rallied from a slow start, as Dallas built a 29–13 lead less than eight minutes into the game. The Warriors closed out the first quarter on a 19-2 run, however, to take a 32-31 edge into the second.

The game remained tight until the Mavericks scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to open up an 84-76 lead with under 11 minutes left to play.

Fast start propels Suns past Timberwolves

The Phoenix Suns used a quick start and a strong game from Grayson Allen to continue their late-season surge with a 97-87 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Allen gave Phoenix a lift on a night in which All-Star Devin Booker was held to 13 points on 3-of-12 shooting, as the former Duke star recorded 23 points along with eight rebounds.

Kevin Durant added 22 points in the Suns' third consecutive win, while Jusuf Nurkic compiled 11 points, 15 rebounds and six assists.

Booker did have 13 assists and scored the first five points of a 15-0 Phoenix run to open the game. The Suns never trailed at any point, as they shot 55 per cent in the first quarter to build a 32-20 lead and carried a 57-41 advantage into half-time.

Minnesota, on the other hand, struggled to score throughout the evening and fell behind by as many as 23 points in the fourth quarter.

The Timberwolves shot just 38.8 per cent for the game while being dealt just their second defeat in their past eight outings. All-Star Anthony Edwards was 6 of 19 while being limited to 17 points, while starting forward Naz Reid managed just eight points on 3-of-13 shooting.

Monday's loss dropped Minnesota into a tie with the Denver Nuggets for first place in the Western Conference.

Scotland’s Katie Archibald added Commonwealth champion to her long list of accolades on this day in 2018.

Archibald, an Olympic, world and European champion in various disciplines, took gold in the women’s individual pursuit in Brisbane, having broken the Games record in a blistering qualifying session.

Her only previous Commonwealth medal was the bronze she won on home soil in the points race in Glasgow four years earlier.

Archibald, then aged 24, said before racing began gold was the only colour she wanted and swiftly delivered, covering the 3,000m distance in three minutes 26.088 seconds to beat Australian Rebecca Wiasak.

She had set the record at 3:24.119 in a qualifying session which saw three riders go under the previous record set by England’s Joanna Rowsell Shand in Glasgow.

“It means a lot, especially in the individual pursuit because it’s not an Olympic event,” said Archibald. “2014 always stands out as a big year for Joanna Rowsell to kind of echo, because she had the title and the Games record.

“You look at the success she carried from that point in her career. I’d be very proud.”

Fired up by his sister’s performance, Archibald’s brother John then added another medal to Scotland’s tally with silver in the men’s 4,000m individual pursuit as England’s Charlie Tanfield clinched gold.

“I watched her heat run and the pressure was on her,” said John Archibald.

“The Commonwealth Games record went and they all went better than her personal best so she had her back against the wall but she pulled out and delivered on the day and that got me going.”

Max Verstappen set the pace in final practice ahead of qualifying at the Japanese Grand Prix.

The reigning world champion retired last time out in Australia but he was once again top of the timesheets at Suzuka.

His time of one minute 29.563 was unmatched, with Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez getting closest to the championship leader but still having to settle for a gap of 0.269 seconds.

Mercedes lost both cars at the previous race but looked in good shape here as George Russell went third fastest with Lewis Hamilton next in line.

There was plenty of running in the hour-long session after both of Friday’s practices were affected – one by a red flag and the other by rain.

Fernando Alonso was fifth fastest with Lando Norris’ McLaren sixth and Australia’s race winner Carlos Sainz seventh for Ferrari.

His team-mate Charles Leclerc was down in 10th and was left fuming with his garage after the mistimed his final run on the track, cutting short his chances of improving.

Both Williams drivers were able to run after Logan Sargeant’s car was fixed following a big shunt on Friday – although the American was down in 19th place.

England boss Sarina Wiegman conceded she was “disappointed” after her defending champions could only manage a 1-1 draw with Sweden to kick off their Euro 2025 qualifying campaign at Wembley.

Alessia Russo nodded home Lauren James’ delivery to open the scoring in the 24th minute, but it was the visitors who looked likelier to score as half-time approached.

The Lionesses preserved their lead until the 64th minute, when England’s concentration switched off and allowed Fridolina Rolfo to drift in and nod substitute Rosa Kafaji’s delivery past Mary Earps.

Wiegman said: “I think this group is really tough. Of course I’m disappointed, because we always want to win.

“I think we scored a great goal, there was momentum in the game, we played well and we kept the ball a little longer.

“Second half I thought the goal was really unnecessary. They scored because we gave away a throw-in and from that throw-in we weren’t able to take out the cross and they scored from that. That was disappointing.

“As we see Sweden is a very tough opponent. I do think we could have done a couple of things better, but also showed Sweden gave us a hard time at the moment.

“We just want to learn from these games, we want to do better every game as other countries want to do too. I think it just shows how close and how tight our competition is.”

England were perhaps lucky that Arsenal’s Stina Blackstenius, who provided the winning strike in the Gunners’ League Cup final victory on Sunday, did not decide another contest this week.

She came achingly close when she found herself one-on-one with Earps shortly after the equaliser, instead directing her effort just wide of the England goalkeeper’s right post.

Wiegman made four second-half changes and staged a late rally, but were unable to find the finishing touch before the whistle blew on three minutes of added time.

Leah Williamson, who captained the Lionesses to their European triumph at Wembley in 2022, watched the entirety of the contest from the bench, almost a year out from her last England appearance.

The Arsenal defender, who was ruled out of last summer’s World Cup after rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament, has experienced a number of setbacks since returning to the Gunners in January.

Wiegman, however, was quick to confirm her decision to bench the 27-year-old had nothing to do with fitness concerns that plagued Williamson in the build-up to these qualifiers, after she was substituted in the second half of the League Cup final.

She firmly stated: “She is not injured otherwise she would not have been in the squad, and I would have told you that she was injured.”

The England boss also disagreed with speculation by some pundits that she had prematurely substituted her goalscorer, who was swapped for Chloe Kelly in the 79th minute, explaining: “Alessia played well but tactically we wanted to change a couple of things. We brought Lauren Hemp inside. We just wanted something a little bit different.”

The last time these two sides faced each other was in the semi-finals of Euro 2022, when Russo memorably scored an audacious backheel in the 4-0 victory to earn a nomination for FIFA’s goal of the year.

Friday’s meeting was a much closer affair, with Sweden boss Peter Gerhardsson later revealing he was pleased by the way his side’s plan to shut down England midfielder Keira Walsh – who wore the captain’s armband – had worked.

He said: “It’s one point each now, and it’s five more games. We don’t know what is going to happen.”

Plymouth caretaker boss Kevin Nancekivell has called for his side to keep up the good work for the final five games of the season after they picked up a valuable 1-0 Championship victory at Rotherham.

The defeat rubberstamped Rotherham’s return to League One after two seasons in the second tier, while Argyle had been heading towards the trapdoor themselves following a hapless run under former boss Ian Foster.

Nancekivell and Neil Dewsnip replaced him in the hotseat this week and got a much-needed win with Bali Mumba’s first-half strike seeing them move four points above the drop zone.

He said: “I am relieved – it’s been a traumatic week and to come and get three points is massive for us.

“We are really, really pleased. It’s only three points and there is a lot of work to do but we look forward to Tuesday against QPR.

“They are all huge games now. We know what we have got to do, recover and prepare properly and hopefully get a repeat performance. We are all in it together.

“There was a lot on the game. It was a high-pressurised game and when it is, you lose that little bit of quality.

“It’s always nervous at 1-0 and the longer it goes on you get a bit fearful but you can’t be too greedy.”

Mumba’s strike just after the half-hour mark proved decisive. He was picked out by Argyle’s star man Morgan Whittaker at the back post and managed to squeeze his shot beyond Viktor Johansson.

Rotherham then went out with a whimper and never really threatened to get back in the game.

It was the visitors pushing for a goal late in the game and they missed a host of chances with substitute Ben Waine striking the post and then being denied when clean through by Johansson.

Rotherham head coach Leam Richardson, who has only won twice since replacing Matt Taylor in December, said: “That doesn’t represent me. I am not hiding away from anything, I am at the front of it and I take the full blame.

“I also take responsibility for making Rotherham United a better football club. The biggest positive is that we know about it and we know the areas where we need to get better. I have never shied away from a challenge.

“We are in a competitive league and we can’t hide away from that.

“It was a poor game. They deserved to win. I thought we would be a better version of ourselves tonight.

“There’s a couple who can still hold their head up to a level.

“It’s not one game, it’s not the Plymouth game. It’s been 40 games.”