Jack Grealish does not expect any more favours from Liverpool, as he called on Manchester City to win their remaining games to defend their Premier League crown.

City seized the initiative in an absorbing title battle on Sunday, thrashing Newcastle United 5-0 after Jurgen Klopp's Reds had been held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by Tottenham on Saturday. 

Having embarked on a nine-match unbeaten run in the league, winning seven of those, City hold a three-point advantage heading into the final three games of the season, and will travel to Wolves for their next outing on Wednesday after watching Liverpool face Aston Villa on Tuesday.

Grealish, however, says City must simply focus on winning their remaining games to be crowned champions, and thinks another error from quadruple-chasing Liverpool is unlikely.

"Liverpool are a great team and I don't think they will be slipping up again if I am honest," he said. "We have to stay on the ball and go and pick up maximum points.

"For me, the Premier League is the best league in the world. Anything can happen in these remaining games, so we have to stay strong and keep our foot on the pedal.

"We cannot take our foot off it, and they are going to be three very tough games and we have to get maximum points if we want to lift the title."

City travel to Molineux looking to extend a 16-match unbeaten run away from home in the Premier League, the longest such streak in their league history, and have kept five consecutive clean sheets on the road in the top flight.

Having arrived at the Etihad Stadium as the most expensive British player in history last year, Grealish has not enjoyed a standout individual season, recording just five goals and four assists in 37 appearances in all competitions.

However, the England star has created 73 chances, with only Kevin De Bruyne (119) laying on more opportunities for City this term.

The 26-year-old was criticised after missing two great chances in City's stunning Champions League capitulation against Real Madrid last week, and admitted prior to the Newcastle win that he "could have done better" since his move.

But Grealish says he has enjoyed his debut campaign with Guardiola's team, which he is hopeful will end with the first major trophy of his career.

"I am loving it. This is what I have come here for, to play in these big games and that is what I want to do," he added. "I want to win medals, win titles, so I am really enjoying it.

"I have got the lads, the staff and the manager to thank for that for making me feel so welcome. Hopefully we can all win something."

Former NBA player and Michigan State star Adreian Payne has died at the age of 31 after being shot in Orlando. 

The Orange County Sheriff's Office confirmed on Monday that Payne was transported to hospital following reports of a shooting at 01:34 local time and was later pronounced dead. 

Payne was a first-round pick in the 2014 draft and played 107 NBA games, averaging 4.0 points and 2.9 rebounds across spells with the Atlanta Hawks, Minnesota Timberwolves and Orlando Magic. 

He played professionally with Lithuanian side Juventus Utena earlier this year and has also previously represented sides in Turkey, France, Greece and China. 

A male has been arrested for the shooting on a first-degree murder warrant. 

Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams has won NBA Coach of the Year, beating fellow finalists Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat and the Memphis Grizzlies' Taylor Jenkins.

Williams narrowly missed out on 2020-21 award, with the New York Knicks' Tom Thibodeau edging the final tally by 11 votes, but he was the clear choice this season after leading the Suns to a league-best 64-18 record.

As well as winning eight more games than any other team, it also set a new franchise record for wins in a season, and legitimised last year's run to the NBA Finals as more than a fluke.

The news was first broken by Suns star Devin Booker, who tweeted: "Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams has been voted the NBA's COY, book tells sources. A formal announcement is expected later today."

Williams, a former first-round pick in his own right, spent 10 years in the league as a player, and became the youngest head coach in the NBA in 2010 when he earned the head coaching role of the New Orleans Hornets at 38 years old.

After his departure from New Orleans and five years as an assistant, Williams was hired by the Suns in 2019, guiding his team to a memorable 8-0 run in the 'bubble' during his first season.

He has followed that season with two consecutive National Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year awards, and his first official NBA Coach of the Year.

The Suns are a combined 115-39 over the past two regular seasons.

Jurgen Klopp is overseeing "the best Liverpool team there has been", according to club legend Steven Gerrard. 

Liverpool remain in the hunt for an unprecedented quadruple this season, though a 1-1 draw with Tottenham at the weekend saw them slip three points adrift of Premier League leaders Manchester City. 

Despite the Reds winning the European Cup and Champions League six times in their history, Gerrard believes the current crop is the best they have ever had. 

"Because of the way the game has changed – it's gone quicker, it's gone faster – I think you're probably watching the best Liverpool team there has been. That's due to the speed, mentality and intensity of this current group," said Gerrard. 

"But I say that without disrespecting previous Liverpool teams because I grew up watching them. The European Cup winners, serial league title winners – I grew up on all of that. I'm well aware they've previously had world-class players, managers and teams." 

Liverpool will have the chance to win the Champions League again when they take on Real Madrid in the final in Paris on May 28. 

But Gerrard's Aston Villa will hope to put another dent in Liverpool's lofty ambitions for the campaign when they meet in the Premier League on Tuesday. 

Villa won the corresponding fixture last season 7-2, but they have not won consecutive home league matches against the Reds since February 1998.

"We've got to make sure we're brave enough and show enough quality to hurt Liverpool," he said. 

"I'm never going to set a team up to just suffer for 90 minutes, but I don't want that to be gung-ho or careless. It has to be calculated. 

"At times we'll have to suffer but if we do that together and get through those situations, we believe with the form we're in, we'll have some interesting moments in the game. 

"That's what Tottenham did. They were organised, they were patient, and when their moments came, they did cause Liverpool some problems." 

West Indian left-hander Shimron Hetmyer has left the Rajasthan Royals in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) to return home to Guyana for the birth of his first child.

"My stuff is still left in the room," the 25-year-old said in an interview, indicating that he will be returning to India to see out the rest of the IPL.

Royals are in third place and are looking like one of the better placed teams to make the playoffs which are set to begin on May 24.

However, the player has not made himself available for the West Indies white-ball tours of the Netherlands and Pakistan starting later this month.

Hetmyer left Mumbai on Sunday morning on the back of another high-impact cameo - 31 not out off 16 balls against Punjab Kings that helped seal a chase of 190.

 

Jose Mourinho fumed at the officials after Roma suffered a 2-0 defeat to Fiorentina in Serie A, demanding an explanation for multiple decisions he claims have gone against the Giallorossi.

Nicolas Gonzalez's penalty and a strike from Giacomo Bonaventura condemned Roma to a second defeat in their past three league games – as many as Mourinho's team had suffered in their previous 17 – as Fiorentina drew level with the Giallorossi in the race for a European spot.

Although Roma sealed a place in the Europa Conference League final by beating Leicester City last Thursday, their hopes of a top-six league finish are under threat after going four league games without a win for the first time under Mourinho.

However, while the former Chelsea boss admitted his side had been second best after a draining few days, he was angered by the decision to award Fiorentina their early spot-kick.

 

Mourinho used his post-match interview to lay into VAR Luca Banti, recounting a series of officiating decisions he believes to have gone against Roma.

"Today there is a double explanation for the defeat. One is that after Thursday's match we had less physical and mental energy, and we knew it, against a team that had been preparing all week," he told DAZN.

"Then another explanation I wanted to hear from Banti of Livorno, which is not a city far from here. There is a touch, it is not a foul. Banti intervenes. Let's talk about today's three points and let's finish like this. Beyond Banti, Fiorentina was stronger and deserved [to win].

"But the problem is that we are not just talking about today, we are talking about Venice, Bologna, many episodes that have no explanation. 

"Where is Banti now? Why did he call [referee Marco] Guida, who was ten metres away and saw that it wasn't a penalty? This is the explanation I would like but do not have. 

"We have a Conference League final, which absorbs emotions and energies. It is not easy in Rome to forget. But we have a championship to play and what happened to this team is really too much.

"I would like the respect of those like Banti, who, sitting in their chairs, have taken away many points."

Gonzalez's fifth-minute spot-kick represented the first time Roma have conceded from a penalty in the first five minutes of a league match since May 2006, when Milan legend Kaka converted against them after four minutes 30 seconds.

Meanwhile, Mourinho said the physical toll of his team's European campaign had left them at a disadvantage on their trip to Florence.

"The difference lies in the fourteen more games played [compared to] Fiorentina, who played one game a week throughout the season," he added.

"Count fourteen games with more than 10 kilometres per game [per player], and there are many. The difference is all here."

Roma sit sixth in Serie A, three points behind fifth-placed Lazio and ahead of both Fiorentina and Atalanta by virtue of their head-to-head records with just two games remaining.

Mourinho was at least afforded one bit of positive news in Florence, as he was able to hand Italy full-back Leonardo Spinazzola a four-minute cameo from the bench.

That marked Spinazzola's first Serie A appearance for 379 days, having last featured against Cagliari on April 25 last year, prior to suffering an Achilles tendon injury when representing his country at Euro 2020.

Jurgen Klopp has apologised for his outburst on Antonio Conte's tactics following the draw between Liverpool and Tottenham on Saturday, suggesting it was a "backhanded" compliment.

Liverpool dropped ground in the Premier League title race as they were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw at Anfield, Luis Diaz's deflected second-half strike salvaging a point for the Reds.

Spurs managed just 35 per cent of possession against the Reds, who outshot their opponents 22 to three – though the visitors registered as many shots on target (three each).

Having defended deep and relied on the counter-attacking prowess of scorer Son Heung-min and Harry Kane, Tottenham became the first team to stop Liverpool from winning at Anfield in the Premier League since Brighton and Hove Albion last October.

Klopp took aim at Spurs' approach after the game, stating he "could not coach" Conte's defensive style as he implored Tottenham to do more with their talented "world-class players".

However, the German manager has since retracted his remarks as he hailed the work that Conte and Atletico Madrid's Diego Simeone do in setting their teams up to defend. 

"No. It's what I think, it's just not what I should say because it's not appropriate," Klopp told reporters when asked if he would contact Conte to apologise. "We didn't lose and it felt like a loss.

"One of you guys asked how they defended and that was the moment it clicked. I mean it when I say I couldn't coach it – it was a backhanded compliment.

"I couldn't. What they do is incredible and so difficult for the opponent – they make it hard to score.

"When you don't score and then Harry Kane gets on the ball, it's not a brain f***, but what can you do in these moments? My main message is I can't coach it.

"Diego Simeone and Atletico Madrid, I can't wait to face them again. That’s what I mean, it's unnecessary I say these kinds of things. It came out before I was thinking."

Liverpool also attempted 46 crosses to Tottenham's 17, but Klopp refuted suggestions his side should not have relied on sending the ball in from the flanks, even if he bemoaned the Reds' build-up play.

"The crosses you can read easily are not right with the way they defend," he added. "They need to go back in the centre, get to the touchline and square it.

"It's just that the main challenge of a game like this is that you are in a creative mood, but every missed pass is a massive problem, it is hard to stay calm.

"If we chip the ball in behind the wing-back that’s great football, but we didn't anticipate it. If we had won 3-1 you wouldn't have asked me about all these crosses and that's the problem, not a perfect game but great things.

"The counter-press was amazing. I don't forget but we keep going. If we win 1-0 and there's no counter-press, we have only a few games left and I have to say 'Boys, what happened?'.

"Nothing is broken, that's how I see it so let's keep going from there. It doesn't always work out and that's the nature of it.

"We had the situations where we could have scored. Virgil [van Dijk's late header], he could have scored and it would have been perfect."

Liverpool will look to cut Manchester City's three-point lead at the Premier League summit when the Reds visit Aston Villa on Tuesday.

Former world number ones Simona Halep and Victoria Azarenka advanced to the second round of the Internazionali d'Italia on Monday, while Coco Gauff scored an impressive win over Angelique Kerber. 

Halep was a 6-4 6-4 winner against Alize Cornet, who defeated her in the fourth round of the Australian Open in January, and will face seventh seed Danielle Collins next. 

It was only the Romanian's second win in her six matches against Cornet, though she needed two chances to serve out both sets. 

Azarenka needed just 68 minutes to see of Viktorija Golubic, dropping just five points behind her first serve and winning 12 out of 14 from the final three games to complete a 6-3 6-0 triumph. 

It only took Gauff two minutes more to see off the challenge of Kerber, who has now won just two of her eight matches on the WTA Tour this year.

Leylah Fernandez came from behind to claim an impressive 1-6 6-2 6-2 victory over 16th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, while Madison Keys went down 6-4 6-4 to Anhelina Kalinina. 

Aliaksandra Sasnovich's 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 win over Veronika Kudermetova secured her a second-round match against second seed Paula Badosa. 

Belinda Bencic overcame Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-4 6-2, Shuai Zhang set up a match with Aryna Sabalenka by beating Martina Trevisan 6-4 6-2, and Petra Martic will face Anett Kontaveit after besting Karolina Muchova 6-2 3-6 6-1. 

There were also wins for Daria Kasatkina and Yulia Putintseva before rain interrupted Ajla Tomljanovic's match against Camila Giorgi when the Australian was 6-3 4-2 up.

Mercedes principal Toto Wolff has refused to rule out the team reverting to an older car concept as they continue to trail Red Bull and Ferrari after enduring a poor start to the season.

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished fifth and sixth respectively at the inaugural Miami Grand Prix on Sunday as the team's difficult start to the 2022 campaign continued, leading Wolff to declare Mercedes were "in no man's land" as the third-fastest outfit on the grid.

Both drivers have criticised the feel of the team's W13 car after managing just one podium finish apiece this term, with seven-time drivers' champion Hamilton asserting the team were yet to take a "step forward" after a troubled start to the season.

Mercedes' eight-year run of constructors' championships now looks destined to come to an end, with Ferrari possessing a slender lead over Red Bull in the team standings after five races.

Speaking after reigning world champion Max Verstappen claimed victory in Florida, Wolff said a return to the car concept used during pre-season testing at Barcelona could not be ruled out, despite it being "clearly much slower on paper".

However, Wolff said the team's focus had to be on making the current iteration of the car work.

"We need to find out how we can make the current car work predictably for the drivers," he said.

"I wouldn't discount anything. But we need to give all of our people that have produced great race cars in the past the benefit of the doubt and we believe this is the route to go.

"We are faithful to the current concept. We're not looking at the lady next door [to see] if we like it more or not, because it's still good. 

"We need to understand, before we make a decision on another concept – where did this one go wrong? And what is the goodness of the concept and what is the badness of the concept?"

Carlos Alcaraz is the best player on the ATP Tour at the moment, according to world number one Novak Djokovic. 

Spanish 19-year-old Alcaraz claimed his fourth title of the season at the Madrid Open on Sunday, defeating world number three Alexander Zverev in the final after overcoming Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in his two previous matches. 

The teenager has surged up to a career-high sixth in the world rankings as a result, though he opted against competing at this week's Internazionali d'Italia with the French Open rapidly approaching. 

"He definitely is special," said Djokovic, who will begin his campaign in Rome against Aslan Karatsev on Tuesday. 

"Already he's breaking a lot of records as a teenager, winning two Masters events this year, a couple of 500s. So far, he's the best player in the world, no question, this year with the results that he's been doing. 

"The way he was dealing with the pressure... In our match few days ago, how calm he was all the way until the [end] was impressive. 

"He deserved to win the trophy. Everything about his game is really impressive. He's a really complete player, can play equally well offensively and defensively. He's the talk of the sport."

Djokovic is yet to win any silverware this season and possesses a 7-4 record, but feels as though he has turned a corner ahead of Roland Garros, where he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas to win his second French Open title last year.

"I think it's closer to [my] desired level every week," he explained. "Madrid, even though I lost in the semi-finals, I still think I played really good tennis, felt physically 100 per cent, even after an almost three-and-a-half-hour battle against Alcaraz. 

"I recovered well the next day, was ready to go. That's a positive and encouraging factor prior to Rome and also, of course, the big goal, which is Paris.

"I think I'm [going] in the right direction. I know I can always play better, and I know that I'm very self-critical on the court. At the same time, realistically looking, I think the tennis, quality of tennis, level of tennis, is really high now. 

"Hopefully I can maintain that level throughout this week and build, go deep in this tournament hopefully — that's the goal — and come to Paris well-prepared."

Tiger Woods has been included in the final field for the US PGA Championship next week, with Phil Mickelson returning from his self-enforced break to defend his title. 

After contesting his first event in 17 months at the Masters in April, 15-time major winner Woods will take part in the tournament at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa. 

The 46-year-old finished 47th at Augusta, an impressive feat having almost lost his leg following a car accident Los Angeles in February 2021. 

Woods two weeks ago played a practise round at Southern Hills, which was the site of his 2007 US PGA Championship success. 

Reigning champion Mickelson will also be in the field when the second major of the year gets under way on May 19. 

Mickelson has not played since February after opting to take a break from the sport following the backlash to his controversial comments over the Saudi Arabia-backed Super Golf League – now officially called the LIV Golf Invitational Series. 

The 51-year-old said Saudi Arabia has "a horrible record on human rights", but added he was willing to commit to the league as it was "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates". Mickelson later apologised for his "reckless" comments. 

Stan Wawrinka said he was "feeling great" after securing his first win in 15 months by downing 14th seed Reilly Opelka at the Internazionali d'Italia.

The three-time grand slam winner made his tour return last month after requiring two surgeries on a left foot injury, but rallied after losing his first set against Opelka to secure a memorable 3-6 7-5 6-2 first-round victory.

Speaking after booking a second-round meeting with Laslo Djere, who beat Borna Coric 6-2 6-7 (3-7) 6-2, Wawrinka said his desire to play at the top level never left him, despite his injury woes.

"I think in general I was feeling good on the court, physically I was feeling great," he said. "For sure, when you don't win a match in more than a year, you start to think about it more than you should and not focus on the right things. 

"In general, I think it was a great match, a great battle. I stayed positive. I started to feel much better with my tennis by the end of the second set, and in the third set. I'm really happy with this victory.

"After two surgeries, at my age I could easily have stopped playing because my career is way better than what I expected when I was young.

"But I still have this fire in me. I still believe that I can play great tennis. I still believe that I make some big results, maybe not now, but in a few months."

Fellow former grand slam champion Dominic Thiem, who also returned from a long injury-enforced absence last month, fared less well, going down in straight sets to Fabio Fognini.

Having lost to Andy Murray at the Madrid Open last time out, 2020 US Open winner Thiem is still chasing his first victory of the year after losing 6-4 7-6 (7-5) to the 34-year-old Italian.

Elsewhere, 13th seed Denis Shapovalov edged an epic three-hour contest against Italy's Lorenzo Sonego 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-3, responding after being handed a game penalty for shouting expletives at a partisan crowd in Rome during the second set.

The frustrated Canadian was heard to tell spectators: "Shut the f*** up" when being booed after complaining about a second serve being called out by the umpire, but eventually regained his composure to claim a three-set win.

Shapovalov will face Georgia's world number 25 Nikoloz Basilashvili in the second round after he overcame Daniel Evans 7-6 (7-2) 6-2, while the only other seed to play on Monday, Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta, cruised to a 6-3 6-2 victory over Federico Delbonis.

London will host MLB regular-season games in three of the next four years, it was announced on Monday. 

The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox contested the first two MLB games played in Europe at the London Stadium in June 2019 as part of a two-year agreement, though the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

However, baseball will return to the capital of the United Kingdom next year, with further matches planned to take place in 2024 and 2026.  

"All aspects of the inaugural MLB games in London were an overwhelming success," said league commissioner Rob Manfred. 

"It was clear that sports fans in London had a great appetite for baseball and that passion was shared by mayor [Sadiq] Khan as well as the business and media community. 

"We are confident in making a long-term commitment to London and are looking forward to returning to the city with more MLB games, special fan events, and other opportunities to play and watch the game." 

Khan added: "Today is an historic day for London and baseball. I want to continue attracting world-class sport to our city as part of my mission to make London the sporting capital of the world.

"This long-term partnership with Major League Baseball is ambitious and includes regular-season games as well as a legacy programme, designed to grow the number of Londoners watching and playing baseball at a grassroots level.

"These games will be a fantastic opportunity to once again showcase the London Stadium as a multi-use venue and a fantastic asset for the capital."

The New York Giants have released cornerback James Bradberry.

Bradberry's departure has long been viewed as an inevitability, with the Giants unable to afford to keep his contract, which would have seen him paid just shy of $22million in 2022, on the books.

New York had been attempting to trade Bradberry, who was named to the Pro Bowl in 2020, with the Kansas City Chiefs reported to be the primary team involved in such discussions.

Bradberry is now free to sign with the Chiefs or any other team in the NFL after the Giants cut ties with the former Carolina Panther, having failed to come to terms on a trade.

The 28-year-old should have no shortage of suitors given his consistent on-ball production.

 

His 2020 season with the Giants saw him record 18 pass breakups and three interceptions, and he followed that up with 17 breakups and four picks in 2021, despite the Giants finishing bottom of the NFC East with a 4-13 record.

Only J.C. Jackson (37) and Xavien Howard (36) have registered more breakups than Bradberry's tally of 35 over the past two seasons.

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