Tottenham attacker Ivan Perisic is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines after suffering a serious knee injury in training.

Spurs confirmed on Tuesday that Perisic had sustained a “complex anterior cruciate ligament injury” to his right knee in non-contact training.

Perisic played a key role off the bench in Tottenham’s dramatic 2-1 win over Sheffield United last weekend with an assist on his 50th appearance, but the severity of his injury could mean it is his final appearance for the club.

Croatian attacker Perisic is out of contract next summer and could be looking at a nine-month timeline before he can return to action.

“The experienced Croatia international sustained the injury in non-contact training and will undergo surgery. Wishing you well in your recovery, Ivan,” a club statement read.

Rodrigo Bentancur is currently out with an ACL injury sustained in February and he is not expected to be available for Ange Postecoglou until November.

Wales assistant coach Jonathan Thomas has described Australia as “a wounded animal” ahead of Sunday’s Rugby World Cup clash that could see the Wallabies make unwanted history.

Eddie Jones’ team are teetering on the edge of a World Cup pool stage exit for the first time.

If Wales beat them in Lyon, then their quarter-final hopes will be over and head coach Eddie Jones left to face the music.

“It is a cliche, and I apologise, but you just have to focus on yourselves,” Thomas said.

“When you start thinking about permutations or selection of the opposition, you go down a rabbit hole, in my opinion.

“Confidence, for me, comes from the work you do during the week. That is where we get our focus from.

“We respect Australia as a rugby nation. They are a wounded animal, they can be dangerous.”

Australia hold a 5-2 lead across the countries’ seven previous World Cup meetings, but Wales will start as favourites this time around.

They have collected a maximum 10 points from their first two Pool C games – a record that only Ireland of any other team in the competition can match.

Wales’ pool stage win against Australia in Japan four years ago set them on a course to the semi-finals, where they were knocked out by South Africa in Yokohama.

Wales centre George North added: “I’ve been to quite a few World Cups now, and to get early results is good.

“I think if you had said to us we would have 10 points after the first two games, I think everyone would have bitten your hand off. It is a massive game that we have to go and win on Sunday.

“The quality we have got now is really showing. Each day everyone is trying to get better to fight for that jersey and that’s what drives you on.

“It (qualifying on Sunday) would certainly be a little weight off the shoulders, wouldn’t it? What has stood us in good stead is just focusing on every game as it comes.

“We will have had an eight-day turnaround, which helps, from the Portugal game. We’ve had that rotation and allowed everyone to have a game.

“The families have been out and we’ve seen them. Every week, we have a day off, and that ability to switch off is key. I think it has really showed.

“This week, boys are really chomping at the bit. Yesterday was what we would call a recovery day, but it was far from recovery. It was very much on full gas.

“I think if we can keep pushing that today and the rest of the week, it will put us in a great position come Sunday.”

Wales head coach Warren Gatland’s team selection looks unlikely to deviate far, if it all, from the one that defeated Fiji in Bordeaux 10 days ago.

He could, though, decide on naming two specialist openside flankers in the back row, with Jac Morgan and Tommy Reffell starting alongside number eight Taulupe Faletau.

Reffell was due to feature against Portugal, but a tight calf muscle saw him withdrawn from the starting line-up just before kick-off.

Thomas said: “It was a prudent move not to play him. He is being assessed every day. He is the only one we will weigh up – everyone else is fit.

“The good thing we’ve got with our back-rowers is that they are versatile. All of them can play in different positions, pretty much, so those options are always there. We will see.”

One final foray on home soil this season remains a possibility for Shaquille with connections leaving the door open for a tilt at the Qipco British Champions Sprint at Ascot next month.

Julie Camacho’s three-year-old was brilliant in winning his first four starts of the season, including back-to-back Group One victories in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot and Newmarket’s July Cup.

He was a hot favourite to make it a top-level hat-trick in the Sprint Cup at Haydock on his latest outing, but while there was no repeat of the slow starts he suffered in his previous two races, he faded out of contention after making the running to finish last of 16 runners.

While no immediate excuse came to light, aside from poor stable form, Camacho’s husband and assistant Steve Brown reports the three-year-old to be in good shape after returning to work and a Champions Day appearance remains on the table.

“I wouldn’t say there’s been anything obvious, there’s been one or two small things we’re still investigating but at home he seems well in himself,” he said.

“We were only ever going to Ascot anyway after Haydock, certainly domestically. He’s just returned to cantering and we’ll see how he is in the next fortnight.

“I hope we can (get to Ascot), I think that’s what Martin (Hughes, part-owner) would like, but it’s one we’ll have to sit down with Martin about and just see how the horse is nearer the time.”

The Camacho team managed only one winner from 43 runners in August and September so far has yielded a solitary success.

However, there were shoots of recovery last weekend, with Significantly beaten a short head in the valuable Portland Handicap at Doncaster, while Raatea and Winged Messenger were also placed, on Town Moor and at Chester respectively.

Brown, who confirmed Significantly could make a quick reappearance in the Ayr Gold Cup on Saturday, added: “They seem to be turning a corner slowly.

“It’s been a frustrating time, but we’ve seen it before and unfortunately we’ll see it again. It’s the nature of the game we’re in, so we’re quite calm about it.

“On the whole last weekend we were quite happy with how they ran, one or two got stuck in the ground but we felt that was more of a reason than anything else.

“We’ve taken all the advice we’ve been given and hopefully the flood will come!”

Maya Le Tissier has emphasised her determination to keep improving after returning to the England squad following the “bittersweet” experience of her summer.

The 21-year-old Manchester United defender was part of the Lionesses’ preparations for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, but not their subsequent run to the final, having been named as one of two standby players that flew home as the tournament began.

Two-cap Le Tissier, who says it was “devastating” to not make Sarina Wiegman’s World Cup 23, is now back as a member of the first squad selected since, for matches in the inaugural Women’s Nations League against Scotland on Friday and the Netherlands four days later.

She said of her summer: “It was bittersweet. I loved Australia, loved being with the girls. I really enjoyed my experience out there, it’s such a cool country.

“Just being a small part of the preparation going into the tournament has definitely made me more hungry to be selected for the next tournaments to come.

“Obviously it was devastating when I got the call that I wasn’t selected in the 23, but there was nothing else I could really do apart from be as good as I could for the team and try to put myself in the best place I could, helping them prepare for the World Cup.”

Asked how desperate she was to make the cut for Euro 2025 – England players also have the target of next summer’s Olympics with Great Britain, qualification for which can be secured via the Nations League – Le Tissier said: “(I’m) extremely desperate, but it’s in two years – there’s a lot that can happen in two years.

“I just need to focus on playing football and getting better. I’m still young so I’ve got a lot of things to learn and improve on, so if I can do that, that’ll put me in the best place to be selected.

“I’m just focusing on the present, doing well in these next two games with England and starting the Women’s Super League season (on October 1).

“(I need to) just keep playing well and doing well for United, doing well when I’m here, and hopefully be a big part of the team in years to come.

“I think I can look at the players and take a lot from them, and see how I can develop.

“They’re European champions and they just got to a World Cup final. I’m very inspired by the rest of the team and I just have to perform, day in, day out, as well as I can and consistently.

“I’ve still got a long way to go, so it’s exciting to see what happens in the future.”

England kick off their Nations League Group A1 fixtures by playing the Scots at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light.

Le Tissier said: “I think Scotland-England is a game everyone wants to be a part of.

“They want to beat us, we want to beat them, and it’s going to be an exciting game, especially up north. They’re massive football fans up there.

“I watched the men’s game the other day (a 3-1 win for England at Hampden Park) and it was a crazy atmosphere as well, so we’re really looking forward to the game.

“They’ve got some good players but we’ll be focusing on ourselves and seeing what we can do to beat them.”

After that contest, England then head to Utrecht for the Netherlands match.

Kyle Walker will continue wearing the Manchester City captain’s armband for now – but has refused to reveal who the long-term skipper will be.

The England right-back has led City so far this term after previous incumbent Ilkay Gundogan left the club following last season’s treble success.

As in previous campaigns, the squad have held a vote to determine the make-up of the players’ leadership group, from which a senior figure usually emerges as captain.

Walker has revealed that this season the group comprises of himself, Kevin De Bruyne, Ruben Dias, Rodri and Bernardo Silva but has given no further information.

That could suggest De Bruyne, who is currently sidelined through injury, is the player who will ultimately take up the mantle but Walker insists it does not matter who it is.

“There is a captain but I just feel out of respect to everyone that’s involved in it, there’s no numbers,” said the England international.

“We’re a team and we (the leadership group) are a team inside a team, and whoever wears the armband or has the armband on the day, is going to wear the armband until the time is right, until certain members in that captaincy group feel it’s right to announce the number or the order.

“That’s what we’ll do but, until then, I’m wearing the armband because I was the third captain last season and I’ll continue to wear it for the rest of the season until the time’s right.

“I don’t even think it’s really necessary. We’re a team inside a team.”

City, after winning their opening five Premier League games, continued their strong start to the season with a comfortable 3-1 win over Red Star Belgrade in their Champions League opener on Tuesday.

Walker feels City are constantly evolving as manager Pep Guardiola bids to keep his side ahead of their rivals.

He said: “I think that’s Pep being Pep. I think teams work us out, teams find the strategy of how they feel that they’re going to play or defend against us.

“When we can build up in different ways, I think that puts another tool in our toolbox where we can change it mid-game and it seems to be working for us.

“He’s got the key ingredient. He knows when’s right to let certain players go, bring players in, freshen things up here, give people challenges here and there.

“He’s got a fine balance and how to do it and it seems to work, not just here but at the number of teams that he’s been at because he’s been very successful.”

David Ribbans accepts that his decision to join Toulon means he could be making his final appearances for England at this World Cup.

Former Northampton second-row Ribbans switches to the Top 14 club at the end of the tournament after signing a three-year contract that sees him join the exodus of English players heading across the Channel.

While there are greater riches available in the French league, they come a cost because Rugby Football Union eligibility rules state only those competing in the Gallagher Premiership are available for selection by Steve Borthwick.

It means that Saturday’s clash with Chile in Lille has the potential to become Ribbans’ ninth and final cap for England – a prospect with which he has made peace given the RFU will not soften its stance.

“When I signed for Toulon, the rules were in place and the rules will remain in place. So it was a decision I had to make,” Ribbans said.

“Unfortunately England will no longer be available so this will be the end of the road for now.

“I’m really looking forward to that challenge at Toulon, but for now I’m fully focused on England and being part of this World Cup and seeing how far we can go as a team.”

Of Borthwick’s 33-man World Cup squad, Jack Willis, Joe Marchant and Henry Arundell will also be playing for French clubs next season.

Ribbans knows that their availability for the Six Nations lies in hands of the RFU, which wants to keep England’s stars in the Premiership.

“That’s up to the RFU,” the 28-year-old said. “There would have to be some conversations had, but for now the rules are the way they are.”

Ribbans is set to start in the second row for England’s third Pool D encounter as Borthwick takes the opportunity to rest his front-line stars in the wake of emphatic victories over Argentina and Japan.

It will be Ribbans’ World Cup debut as he takes the next step on a professional career that began at Western Province in 2015.

“I never expected this a couple of years ago, so to come out of a small town called West Somerset in South Africa and to be playing for England has been amazing,” said Ribbans, who qualifies on ancestry grounds.

“My journey to the World Cup has been full of ups and downs but it’s exciting to be here. To be part of this England set-up is really special and I’ve loved every moment of it.”

While eager to make his first appearance in the tournament, Ribbans also appreciates the break from the arduous training sessions for non-playing squad members that are overseen by head of strength and conditioning Aled Walters.

“It’s been a tough two weeks on the sidelines for the fitness sessions! Aled puts us through our paces because we’ve got to keep up with the team,” he said.

“The players bring the hard yards on the Saturday so we’re busy chasing them and want to get our opportunity.

“We’re training hard and training has been good, but there’s always time for some downtime afterwards. But it will be good to get a run-out this weekend.”

Emily Campbell’s rapidly-expanding medal collection bears testament to the realisation of the “crazy and bonkers” dream she once shared only with her family and a few market traders in her home town of Bulwell, who fuelled her Olympic ambitions with a regular supply of free fruit and veg.

Handsomely repaid for their faith when Campbell returned from Tokyo with an historic silver medal and copious bottles of bubbly, the 29-year-old’s staunchest supporters are now accustomed to news of her trailblazing success in weightlifting competitions across the globe.

Campbell was the first British woman to win an Olympic medal in the sport, an achievement that almost single-handedly shifted its perception, leading to packed stands and back-page headlines when she went on to win Commonwealth Games gold in a raucous National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham last year.

“I always believed that I could do amazing things in the sport, even though people kept telling me that it wasn’t possible,” Campbell, whose hopes of adding another World Championship medal to her collection in Saudi Arabia last week were scuppered by a back injury, told the PA news agency.

“The Olympic medal was me proving that I wasn’t crazy and bonkers, that I could back up the things I’d been saying, that I believed in myself and my team, and it hadn’t been just some sort of pipe dream that we’d been throwing in the air.

“The Olympics was about saying to the world, ‘This is me and this is what I do’. The Commonwealths were about cementing it, proving it wasn’t a fluke that I’d got an Olympic medal, that I won it because I went out there and was good enough to win it.”

Competing in the +87kg super-heavyweight category, Campbell has never sought to disguise the significance of her success in the context of ongoing body image issues among young girls, stressing its importance even before she had her silver medal wrapped around her neck in Tokyo.

She admits she is still moved close to tears by frequent reminders from young girls and their mothers of the impact she has had on shifting those perceptions, and highlighting the opportunities for those who wish to follow less conventional paths to fitness and potential sporting glory.

“My message has always been about changing that narrative that says as women it’s all about our appearance, and that sport and lifting can empower you and help you make decisions in life that are more important than how we look and what we wear and how our hair is and what weight we are,” added Campbell.

“I appreciate that I can do some good in terms of using my position to inspire people to do whatever makes them happy. I am a private person and I sometimes find the whole celebrity thing a little overwhelming, but I know it is a privilege to be in the position I am in, and I feel like I am helping to make a change.”

Campbell won a silver medal at last year’s World Championships in Colombia and, despite having made a return from planned knee surgery in January, a minor back injury prompted her decision to withdraw from Riyadh and focus on what she calls the “bigger picture” of Paris 2024.

An upgrade to gold will almost certainly prove a lift too far for Campbell, given the dominance in the category of China’s remarkable Li Wenwen, a softly-spoken 23-year-old who routinely totals over 30kg more than her super-heavyweight rivals and is acknowledged, even by the likes of the defiant Campbell, as a class apart.

“She (Li) has a very good aura and energy about her and we are all in awe of her because of what she has managed to achieve at her age,” admitted Campbell. “But it has always been about me and not everybody else.

“I’ve always had a tick-list of things I wanted to do in the sport and my long-term plan was always to get a medal in Paris. I’d only been in the sport for five years when I went to Tokyo, so it did seem unrealistic to plan to win a medal at the first attempt.

“Obviously a few things have changed. I’m accustomed to bringing home some bling now, and I’ve got a bit of a target on my back because the other girls want to beat me.

“But when I come home I still pop down to the market to keep them updated because they were there when I really needed help and support and people to believe in me.

“I still take my boots to the same guy to get mended, and they still look after me with the fruit and veg. (In May) I cut the ribbon to open the new bus station, where I used to get my buses to school or athletics practice. I’m just happy that I’ve helped bring something positive to the place I’m from.”

Former Masters champion Danny Willett is set to be sidelined for six months by the shoulder injury which ruined his bid for a second BMW PGA Championship title.

The PA news agency understands that Willett will undergo surgery next week and hopes to be back in action in time for the first major of 2024 at Augusta National, where he won a Green Jacket in 2016.

Willett looked set to challenge for the the lead on day one at Wentworth when he covered his first 12 holes in six under par, only to aggravate a shoulder tear after hitting his tee shot on the 15th.

That led to a double bogey and the 2019 winner dropped three more shots on the last two holes and had to settle for a one-under-par 71.

“I hit balls for half an hour on Tuesday, half an hour yesterday and then the warm-up today and actually in fairness I felt pretty strong,” Willett said at the time. “But when it goes it goes.”

Willett went on to add rounds of 71, 70 and 76 to finish in a tie for 64th.

The eight-time DP World Tour winner, who pulled out of the Irish Open after an opening 76, visited a surgeon in Manchester on Monday to determine the best course of action.

Julian Alvarez is revelling in his partnership with Erling Haaland in Manchester City’s attack.

The Argentinian World Cup winner continued his strong start to the season with two goals as the holders began their Champions League title defence with a comfortable 3-1 win over Red Star Belgrade on Tuesday.

An injury for Kevin De Bruyne has seen Alvarez handed a run of games in support of prolific centre forward Haaland and it is a role he is relishing.

“I am very happy with the goals, to help the team,” the 23-year-old said. “We are doing well, we are winning – which is the most important thing – and playing good games.

“I am trying to adapt and I continue growing in this position, where I am moving freely, to give the team another option and add to the attack.”

Alavarez was the dominant figure in City’s forward line as they threatened to overwhelm Red Star in their opening Group G game at the Etihad Stadium.

Yet despite creating a plethora of chances – with Haaland hitting the bar and goalkeeper Omri Glazer making several saves – City fell behind to an Osman Bukari strike just before half-time.

Alvarez began the fightback with a fine dinked finish after the restart and then put Pep Guardiola’s side ahead when his free-kick was inadvertently punched into the goal by Glazer.

Rodri wrapped up a thoroughly deserved victory with a typically composed finish 17 minutes from time but, again, City could have had several more. Haaland went the closest when he hit the goal frame for a second time.

“We played a good game,” said Alvarez. “It was important to start with a win and three points at home in this difficult competition. We are very happy.

“We had many chances we could not convert but Pep told us to keep doing what we were doing and the goals would come.

“It was the same in the previous game where we were losing and came back, so it was fine. We always try to stay calm, play well in the second half and win.”

Alvarez was not a regular starter last season, despite his starring role in his country’s World Cup triumph, but Guardiola believes he can do an important job in easing the goalscoring burden on Haaland.

Guardiola said: “It’s the same player as last season but being a World Cup winner doesn’t mean you have to play all the time.

“Last season we had Kevin and (Ilkay) Gundogan in that position. Kevin was in top form and Gundo was incredible.

“In that moment sometimes it was difficult to find spaces but I never had a doubt.

“Now Gundo has gone and Kevin unfortunately is injured. We need players to be close to Erling, don’t put all the responsibilities just on the shoulders of Erling to score all the goals.

“That’s why when Phil (Foden) has played there, when Julian plays there, we have the feeling that we create a lot of chances.”

Military March, fourth to Kameko in the 2000 Guineas three years ago but only seen once since, is on the comeback trail.

Trainer Saeed bin Suroor is hoping to get the six-year-old back on track next month, with a view to bigger targets if all goes well.

While he could head out to Dubai, the scene of his last run in January 2021, Bin Suroor also mentioned the Bahrain International Trophy, run in November, as a possible option.

He said: “He worked on Monday and he worked well. He still needs time but he’s getting there now.

“We will find a race for him in early October I think, before we start thinking big. Maybe we could take him out to Bahrain, if he’s good enough.

“It’s been a shame he hasn’t been able to run that much but he’s a nice horse.

“We could have run some nice races with him but he’s coming back and I’m happy with him.”