Gabriel Magalhaes has emerged as a pivotal part of Arsenal’s Premier League title bid after difficult conversations with boss Mikel Arteta at the start of the season.

The Brazil defender moved to the Emirates Stadium in 2020 and, for the large part, has been a major player in Arteta’s side.

That changed in August when Gabriel found himself on the bench as Ben White moved to centre-back and Thomas Partey was installed at right-back.

He returned to the backline alongside William Saliba after the opening three games of the campaign, has not looked back since and is set to make his 150th appearance for the club in Sunday’s crucial London derby at West Ham.

He has played a large part in Arsenal boasting the joint-best defensive record in the Premier League this season – although he did score an own goal in the 3-1 win over Liverpool last weekend that saw the Gunners close to within two points of the summit.

“It was tough, obviously at the start. I wanted to play and it was very difficult for me but I understood what the coach had to do,” Gabriel told the PA news agency.

“It is difficult for any player to not be in the team but now I’m back in I want to keep on working hard to prove my worth.

“He (Arteta) spoke to me and obviously explained the reasons behind the decision. Why I should stay – but the most important thing was to remain focused and concentrate – he knew how important I was to the team, so I’m happy to be back and to be able to help the team in every game.

“I’m happy to be back in the team and hopefully I can help them moving forward.”

Gabriel’s form in January, in which he supplemented his defensive work with two goals in a crucial win over Crystal Palace, has seen him shortlisted alongside Kevin De Bruyne, Richarlison, Diogo Jota, Conor Bradley and Elijah Adebayo for the Premier League player of the month.

Asked if he feels it finally shows he is being appreciated by those outside of Arsenal after years of largely being overlooked for his team-mates, Gabriel added: “I’m very happy to be up for player of the month.

“Of course I always work hard every day to try to do my best on the pitch and realise my potential.

“The most important thing is the people around me who know my potential, and in terms of those outside – and if people devalue me, I’m happy for them if I change their mind.”

Arteta said Gabriel’s duties within his set-up have developed recently and believes the player took the right decision to stay put when he had been linked with a move away in previous windows.

“A lot of things have happened to him,” said the Spaniard.

“His role in the team has grown. His personal life is also very different to the one he had before with his family and his language.

“He also changed a lot of things in his life and improved his mentality. He can decide what he wants to be and I think he made the right call to take the direction he took.”

The 26-year-old was linked with a move to Juventus but has stayed put and is keen to continue to impress the people that matter to him.

“I think the most important people are those that are close to me; the team, the coaching staff, my family, my friends,” he added.

“I think that’s what’s most important. They’ve helped me a lot and continue to help me to grow every day, those who are close to me.

“So I’m very happy – those internal people and to keep impressing them and doing the best I can.”

Andy Farrell hopes Ireland can fire up a sold-out Dublin crowd and prevent a zombie-like atmosphere during their homecoming against Italy.

The reigning Guinness Six Nations champions are poised to play at the Aviva Stadium for the first time since an agonising World Cup quarter-final exit to New Zealand in October.

Tens of thousands of travelling fans celebrated each of Ireland’s pool-stage wins in France with rousing renditions of the team’s tournament anthem – Zombie by the Cranberries.

Head coach Farrell wants to continue the special connection with supporters on Sunday afternoon when his side take on opposition narrowly beaten by England on the opening weekend of the championship.

“Well I hope they’re not patient in just being quiet and waiting to get going,” he said of the fans.

“I hope we can excite them in our intent and the way that we can go and play the game.

“Everyone who watched Italy’s game last week knows that they’re going to be a threat and I think our fans will certainly get behind our side.

“The first time (at home) since the World Cup warm-up games and it is something that the players have talked about and are excited about.”

Ireland launched their title defence with a statement 38-17 success over pre-tournament favourites France in Marseille.

Italy, who were defeated 27-24 by Steve Borthwick’s side in Rome the following day, have lost each of their previous 12 Six Nations fixtures on Irish soil.

Farrell has made six personnel changes to his starting XV and selected Caelan Doris as captain for the first time but dismissed any notion of over-confidence.

“You know me, I’m not disrespectful to anyone,” said the Englishman.

“It’s not the way that I am but, honestly, it is about us.

“It’s about us improving on last week and the expectation that we’ve got within our own four walls, of an understanding of how we kick on in all parts of our game.

“It’s genuine, it’s there, it’s obvious to see for us the levels that we need to get to, not just on the field but off the field as well.

“The players are very honest and it’d be wrong for us to waste a week and not progress.”

Back-rower Doris leads his country from openside flanker having only captained Leinster for the first time in a 22-21 United Rugby Championship loss to Ulster on New Year’s Day.

The 25-year-old revealed he “annoyed” referee Frank Murphy that day by questioning decisions which turned out to be correct, an experience he and Farrell have discussed.

“We obviously speak about it,” said Farrell.

“Caelan is a humble type of guy and would always be his biggest critic, that’s what you would expect of someone who wants to learn and get better.

“I know that I made many a call and I probably wasn’t as humble as that on my first outing as a captain when I was playing.

“I’ve no doubt he would have learnt from that massively. He’s a thinker.”

India batter Virat Kohli has been ruled out the remainder of the Test series against England due to personal reasons.

The 35-year-old previously withdrew from the first two matches.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India said on Saturday his absence will extend into the final three Tests in Rajkot, Ranchi and Dharamsala.

Domantas Sabonis notched his league-leading 16th triple-double of the season and Malik Monk scored 23 points to lead the Sacramento Kings to a 135-106 win over the Denver Nuggets on Friday.

Sabonis had 17 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists for his third triple-double in four games to break a tie with Denver’s Nikola Jokić for the NBA triple-doubles lead.

Sabonis is attempting to become the second Kings player in the Sacramento era to lead the league in triple-doubles. Chris Webber shared the league lead of five with Jason Kidd during the 1999-2000 season.

Nikola Jokić scored 23 points and Aaron Gordon added 14 for the Nuggets, who had a three-game winning streak stopped and missed a chance to jump Minnesota for the top spot in the Western Conference.

Tatum, Brown power Celtics

Jayson Tatum had 35 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists and Kristaps Porzingis added 34 points and 11 boards to lead the Boston Celtics to their league-leading 40th win of the season, 133-129 over the Washington Wizards.

Jrue Holiday had 20 points and Jaylen Brown was right behind with 18 as the Celtics reached 40 wins the fastest in a season since the 2008-09 team did it in 49 games.

Deni Avdija tallied 24 points and 11 rebounds and Corey Kispert also scored 24 for the Wizards, who have lost five straight and 11 of 13 games.

Lakers start fast in win over Pelicans

D’Angelo Russell scored 30 points and the Los Angeles Lakers put up 87 first-half points in a 139-122 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

Austin Reaves had 27 points and LeBron James added 21 with 14 assists for the Lakers, who tied a franchise record with 51 points in the second quarter. Russell scored 21 in the first half and all five starters had at least 12 while the Lakers hit 11 3-pointers and 67.4 percent of their overall shots.

Zion Williamson had 30 points and Brandon Ingram contributed 22 as the Pelicans saw their four-game winning streak snapped.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 32 saves after he was honoured for a milestone victory and Kirill Kaprizov scored the tiebreaking goal to lift the Minnesota Wild to a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday.

Fleury, who earned his 553rd career win, was honoured in a pregame ceremony nearly a month after passing Patrick Roy (551) for second place in NHL history.

Fleury beat his former team in his return after missing five games due to an upper-body injury.

Matt Boldy and Jonas Brodin scored for Minnesota before Kaprizov banged home a rebound at 9:34 of the third period to put the Wild ahead 3-2.

Reilly Smith and Sidney Crosby scored for the Penguins, who dropped to 0-3-1 in their last four road games.

Oilers rally for 17th win in 18 games

Evander Kane had a hat trick and Connor McDavid set up three third-period goals as the Edmonton Oilers rallied for their 17th win in 18 games, 5-3 over the Anaheim Ducks.

Leon Draisaitl added a goal and an assist and Zach Hyman also scored as the Oilers rebounded after their 16-game winning streak – tied for the second-longest in NHL history – was snapped Tuesday at Vegas.

The Ducks had a four-game point streak halted despite getting two goals from Ryan Strome.

Rangers win in overtime after blowing lead

Mika Zibanejad scored at 2:36 of overtime and the New York Rangers topped the league-worst Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 after squandering a two-goal lead.

Chris Kreider, Alexis Lafreniere and Jonny Brodzinski had the other goals for the Rangers, who have won four straight.

Zibanejad’s goal was his franchise-record eighth in OT, breaking a tie with Brian Leetch, Cecil Dillon and Butch Keeling.

Alex Vlasic scored in the first period and Nick Foligno and Jason Dickinson had third-period goals as Chicago’s winless streak reached six games (0-5-1).

John Barnes was sacked as Celtic manager on this day in 2000.

The club’s decision to part company with the former Liverpool and England winger came two days after a humiliating Scottish Cup loss to second-tier Inverness.

Barnes had been in charge for just eight months and oversaw only 29 games.

Pressure had been building since a run of five defeats in eight games in the autumn, including a 4-2 reverse at Rangers in Barnes’ first Old Firm derby.

Form did not markedly improve and the cup shock – which prompted the memorable newspaper headline ‘Super Caley Go Ballistic Celtic Are Atrocious’ – proved the final straw.

Despite beginning his reign with 12 wins in his first 13 games, Barnes had struggled to win over fans and the 3-1 defeat by Caley was widely viewed as the club’s worst result in 30 years.

Director of football Kenny Dalglish said: “John Barnes is an admirable fellow and someone I think will go on in later years to establish himself as very successful in managing a football club. Unfortunately it won’t be at Celtic.”

Dalglish, who had brought his former Liverpool star Barnes to Parkhead, took over in a caretaker capacity for the remainder of the season.

He guided the Hoops to League Cup success before Martin O’Neill was appointed as Barnes’ full-time successor in the summer.

Barnes’ managerial career never took off as Dalglish predicted. He struggled to get back into the game after his ill-fated spell at Celtic and it was not until 2008, as manager of the Jamaica national side, he returned to management.

He was appointed Tranmere boss the following summer but he was sacked after winning just two of 11 league games at the start of the 2009-10 season.

Canada’s Nick Taylor has matched the TPC Scottsdale Stadium course record at the Phoenix Open to head into the weekend tied for the lead with America’s Andrew Novak.

Taylor finished his first round with an 11-under 60 on Friday, thanks to weather delays that saw the first round spill over into the tournament’s second day.

Returning to the course later on Friday to start his second round, Taylor began on shaky ground before pulling it together with two birdies on the back nine to card a one-under 70.

That puts him equal with Novak at the top of the leaderboard on 12-under.

Due to inclement weather, more than half of the field still needs to finish the second round on Saturday, although more rain is forecast.

Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl said his side won a “first cup final” as they gave their Championship survival chances a shot in the arm with a 2-0 win against Birmingham.

Ike Ugbo scored his first two goals for the Owls as they gave their disgruntled fans something to cheer about at Hillsborough.

Thousands of home supporters brandished posters protesting against owner Dejphon Chansiri before kick-off but they were soon celebrating their first league win since New Year’s Day.

The victory repairs some of the damage of last week’s 4-0 defeat at Huddersfield and second-bottom Wednesday are now five points behind the Terriers and safety.

“It was a big, big fight from both teams,” Rohl said. “We fought for every inch today, we had some really good moments with the ball.

“It was a performance from the whole team, all in all it was a close game but we took the win.

“It was important, in our situation, it is just one game with three points and there are 15 games. We have to go.

“I am not speaking about momentum, I am speaking about three points, for me it was a first cup final.

“We know exactly our situation, we know everyone has to be in one direction and if we do this we can be strong and have a chance. But we have to be fighting for 15 games.”

Birmingham missed the chance to pull clear of the bottom three and they are now just six points above Wednesday and looking over their shoulder.

Things would have been different had they been more clinical and boss Tony Mowbray accepts they cannot afford many more games like this.

“We had 25 shots tonight and no goals,” he said. “We had 15 at West Brom last week and no goals.

“We have to be more clinical, we have to take more care. We have got quality at the top end of the pitch but we have to take more care. There is plenty right with the team. The goals are disappointing.

“We have to keep going and believing, there is a long way to go. We have to turn dominant performances into wins.

“I am trying to be positive, they have to shake themselves out of games like this, we have to get in front and win games comfortably.

“I am alright with it, I am not alright to lose football matches, but there is plenty right with the team. We have to take more care.”

Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou has warned any proposal to introduce blue cards and sin bins will destroy football.

It was revealed on Thursday that a trial could commence soon where a blue card would be shown for dissent and professional fouls where the offenders would be sin binned for 10 minutes.

FIFA has since clarified the trial will not occur in elite football, while football’s lawmakers, the International Football Association Board, will not publish plans for the sin bin trial until next month.

However, Postecoglou was unequivocal in his belief it would be a wrong move.

“One team being down to 10 men for 10 minutes, you know what it’s going to do to our game? It’s going to destroy it, mate,” Postecoglou insisted.

“You’re going to have one team just sitting there trying to waste time for 10 minutes waiting for a guy to come on.

“Every other sport is trying to declutter. All we’re trying to do is go the other way for some bizarre reason.”

Postecoglou talked at length about the laws of the game ahead of Saturday’s visit of Brighton.

The Spurs boss defended goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, who conceded from another corner during last weekend’s 2-2 draw at Everton.

Vicario failed to deal with Dwight McNeil’s delivery into his six-yard area while under pressure from Jack Harrison, which was also the case in the 1-0 loss to Manchester City last month.

Ruben Dias crowded round Vicario on that occasion from a Kevin De Bruyne corner and the Tottenham goalkeeper’s flap resulted in Nathan Ake scoring.

Spurs have written to Professional Game Match Officials Limited this week to get clarification over why both goals have not fallen under the bracket of encroachment.

“We have sent some stuff to get some clarification,” Postecoglou revealed.

“I’m going to get called out for this, but there was a thing that was quite evident in the game that the goalkeeper was a protected species. I don’t think that’s just me making that up.

“The reason people used to say that was that if you really impeded a goalkeeper in any way in the six-yard box, you are going to get a foul. I knew that as a player, I knew that as a manager.

“I think there’s been a shift there where now to me, it’s obstruction.

“If you’re standing in front of a goalkeeper stopping him before a ball has even arrived, in layman’s terms that’s obstruction.

“With the goalkeepers, what’s that going to do now? Well, it’s pretty much opened it up that you can surround the goalkeeper and crowd him and put balls on top of him and just wait for the scramble to finish and see what happens.

“I was really proud of Vic the other day. I think they had nine corners after we conceded and I think he dealt with just about every other one by coming out and actually having a crack at it

“I can’t praise him highly enough over the way he handled it.

“And the whole thing where people say, ‘you’ve got to be stronger’, well, what does that mean?

“If he pushes or does anything to a player, with VAR, you’ve got no chance. You’re going to get a penalty against you.”

Tottenham have captain Son Heung-min back for the visit of Brighton and Postecoglou will hope his presence can boost their unlikely title bid.

Opta Analyst this week claimed Spurs have a 0.1 per cent chance of winning the Premier League this season.

“What did it say, 0.1 per cent? So we (have) got a chance then. Let’s go for it. No problems, no issues with that. We’ve got a chance,” Postecoglou smiled.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has dismissed talk of a repeat treble by saying he is “99.99” per cent certain it will not happen.

The champions are favourites to win a fourth Premier League title in succession and are also in strong contention to retain the Champions League and FA Cup.

Winning those trophies in back-to-back seasons would be unprecedented and therefore Guardiola, whose silverware haul in the past year also includes the European Super Cup and Club World Cup, feels it is unlikely.

The Spaniard said at a press conference: “Sextuple, ‘seventuple’? It’s a fairytale. It’s more complicated than that.

“We have 99.99 per cent possibility that we are not going to win the treble because it has never ever ever been done. The chances to do it again are like this (shows tiny gap between thumb and index finger) – minimal.

“If it was easy, another team – (Manchester) United in that time – would have done it again. It’s not easy.

“Everything is so difficult in this business. What we have done in the past is absolutely no guarantee of anything.

“What I like is that we are still there. We are close to the top of the league, we are in the other competitions.

“Hopefully we will arrive in March and April with the same feeling and if we have the same feeling, we will fight for the titles in May. This is the target.”

City have won their last nine games in all competitions and appear to be gathering familiar momentum at the right time.

Yet while the likes of Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez have earned praise for their form, and Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne have returned from injury, Jack Grealish’s levels have dipped.

The England international was one of the key players in last season’s treble success but has not hit the same heights this term and has not started City’s last four games.

His most recent subdued form comes after an unsettling incident in December when his home was burgled, while his fiancee and members of his family were in the property, as he played in a game at Everton.

Guardiola accepts that could have affected him.

He said: “I’m pretty sure (it did affect him). After a few days hopefully he forgot it but I’m pretty sure. I was affected too and I would have been affected too.

“It is not easy what happened with him, his girlfriend and family, so I’m pretty sure (it affected him).

“But he handled it really well. He is an incredible person with incredible humanity.

“Here, with security and people at his disposal, we have tried to help him but it happened. We haven’t spoken lately about that subject so hopefully it is fine.”

Guardiola pointed out Grealish’s lack of action was largely due to the form of other players.

He said: “It’s not a big, big problem – completely the opposite. He is competing with players at a high level. He is making steps to get his best (form). We need everyone and we need Jack.”

Sheffield Wednesday gave their disgruntled fans something to cheer about as Ike Ugbo’s double earned a 2-0 Championship win over Birmingham at Hillsborough.

Thousands of home supporters held up posters protesting against owner Dejphon Chansiri before kick-off but their angst was soon forgotten after Ugbo’s first two goals for the club gave the Owls a first league win since New Year’s Day.

Ugbo, a former Chelsea youngster who joined on loan from French club Troyes in the January transfer window, opened his account in the 15th minute and then added a crucial second after the break.

The victory goes some way to repairing the damage of last week’s 4-0 hammering at Huddersfield, cutting second-bottom Wednesday’s gap to safety to five points ahead of the weekend fixtures.

Birmingham bossed large parts of the game but failed to take their chances and – now just six points better off – will be one of the teams the Owls are eyeing to catch.

“Out of touch, out of time, Dejphon Chansiri, sell up and just go” was Wednesday fans’ message at the start and they had to watch their side weather some early pressure as the visitors forged two good chances.

In the seventh minute, Juninho Bacuna blazed an effort over after good work from Jordan James on the left and soon after, Lee Buchanan forced Owls goalkeeper James Beadle into a good stretching save.

And less than a minute later, Wednesday took the lead as they went straight up the other end and scored.

They worked the ball out to the right where Ian Poveda danced into the area and cut it back to Ugbo, who fired home from six yards out to open his Wednesday account.

That goal did not alter the flow of the game as Birmingham continued to dominate and Beadle had to be alert to get down to Andre Dozell’s low shot.

Wednesday had their moments and missed a great chance to double their lead in the 43rd minute but Ugbo shot wide when being slipped through by Ian Poveda.

Blues then had two chances to level before the break as Scott Hogan flashed just wide, while Beadle made another fine save to claw away Siriki Dembele’s deflected effort.

The hosts started the second half well and Ugbo might have doubled the lead as he was not penalised for coming back from an offside position but saw his shot blocked by Neil Etheridge.

The 25-year-old could not miss his next chance though as Marvin Johnson stood up a teasing cross to the far post which Ugbo nodded in.

Birmingham huffed and puffed in search of a response, with Jay Stansfield whistling an effort past the post and Paik Seung-Ho denied by another Beadle save as the hosts held on for maximum points and the clean sheet.

Five-time Commonwealth Games champion Claudia Fragapane has announced her retirement from gymnastics at the age of 26.

Fragapane, who also won two World Championship medals including being part of the team that claimed an historic bronze in 2015, said it was “the right time” to leave the sport.

The Bristol athlete shot to fame when she won four golds at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014, and later found a whole new fanbase when she competed in the 2016 edition of BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.

Fragapane told British Gymnastics: “It feels like the right time. I’m really happy with my career, gymnastics has been my whole life for as long as I remember, but now I’m ready to flick over a new chapter.

“I started gymnastics at six years old, and from my first session at Bristol Hawks I said ‘I want to go to the Olympics’. I don’t think I knew how hard that would be at the time.

“But I absolutely loved the competitive side of gymnastics, I loved working hard to achieve what I wanted to. Once I started to get selected for squads, I just had this hunger to achieve more and more, and be the best I could be.”

Fragapane realised her Olympic dream when she competed at the 2016 Games in Rio. After recovering from a series of serious injuries, she won her fifth Commonwealth Games gold medal as part of the Great Britain women’s team in Birmingham in 2022.

Real Madrid’s top-of-the-table clash with Girona this weekend will not be a title decider, insists Los Blancos boss Carlo Ancelotti.

LaLiga leaders Real are two points ahead of second-placed Girona, who have defied the odds to emerge as genuine contenders in just their fourth-ever season in the top flight.

Michel’s side would leapfrog Madrid back into pole position with victory at the Bernabeu Stadium, but Ancelotti said Saturday’s showdown will not be decisive.

The Italian told a press conference: “Whoever wins will gain the advantage, but there is still a long way to go in the league.

“Both teams are very well positioned and the game won’t decide the league, but (the winners) will have an advantage over the others.

“I don’t think the league will be decided no matter what happens. Both teams have high points and the sooner we get to 80 points, the sooner we can win the league.

“You don’t win the league with 80 points, but if you get close as soon as possible, you’re very close.”

Girona finished 10th in LaLiga last season after winning promotion via the play-offs under head coach Michel in 2022 and have beaten both Barcelona and Atletico Madrid in this campaign.

Ancelotti said: “It will be a demanding match against a team that has done better than everyone else, including Real Madrid.

“It’s going to be tough, they’re doing very well. We have a lot of respect for them, while we are confident of winning again after drawing.”

Girona boss Michel will be absent from the Bernabeu dugout as he starts a two-match touchline ban after his red card in the closing stages of last week’s 0-0 home draw against Real Sociedad.

The Catalan club will also be without defender Daley Blind and midfielder Yangel Herrera through suspension.

On Michel’s absence, Ancelotti added: “Football is about the players, but the coach’s presence gives confidence to the team.

“However, it’s not a determining factor. It’s not decisive because football is about the players.

“Sometimes we coaches get carried away a bit in protest, but we need a bit more understanding because of the circumstances we’re in.

“A little more understanding could allow him to be at the Bernabeu on Saturday.”

Madrid defender Antonio Rudiger faces a late fitness test after missing last week’s 1-1 derby draw against city rivals Atletico due to a thigh injury.

Vinicius Junior (neck/shoulder) was an unused substitute against Atletico but will be in contention and Ancelotti confirmed defender Nacho (thigh) is hoping to be back for Tuesday’s Champions League last-16 clash in Leipzig.