Brentford boss Thomas Frank told Nathan Collins he will never have a worse match after his horror show in the 4-1 defeat against the defender’s former club Wolves.

Collins arguably had his best game for Wolves – but unfortunately the centre-half left Molineux to join Brentford in June.

The Bees’ record signing endured a nightmare evening, handing Wanderers two goals with terrible passes, as Brentford slipped to a fourth straight defeat.

“I told him it will never be worse than this, with a smile on my face,” said Frank.

“He’s been a very positive player for us this season, he’s performed very well for us. It happens.

“Tonight he will be down but tomorrow it’s a fact that the sun will rise again. I expect him to walk into training with his head held high.”

Having already let Mario Lemina score with a free header, Brentford contrived to gift Wolves a second from their own kick-off.

They played the ball back towards goalkeeper Mark Flekken but Collins left his backpass short and, barely 10 seconds after the restart, Hwang Hee-chan had rounded the Dutchman and tapped into an empty net.

Brentford pulled one back immediately through Yoane Wissa but when Collins and Mads Roerslev allowed Toti’s clearing header to float through to Hwang, the South Korean flicked the ball over Ethan Pinnock and finished past Flekken.

Wolves lost Hwang to a back spasm moments before the interval, but his replacement Jean-Ricner Bellegarde wrapped up their victory with 11 minutes left.

Collins was again the fall guy when his lazy pass across the face of goal was intercepted by Matheus Cunha, who played in Bellegarde for a simple finish.

Brentford could soon be looking nervously over their shoulders at the relegation battle after a sixth defeat in seven matches left them just four points above Luton in 18th.

“This is a good club, a good team and we have character in abundance and we’ll go again,” added Frank.

“A big thing is to stay calm and believe in the work we do and the processes. That’s what we’ve done in the past and that will get us out of this minor run of poor results.”

Victory completed a festive double for Wolves following their Christmas Eve home win over Chelsea, and was their first success in London in 15 attempts.

“I’m really pleased,” said boss Gary O’Neil. “Although we didn’t have loads of control of the ball we were able to punish them.”

The raucous travelling support sung O’Neil’s name throughout the second half.

He added: “The fans have been incredible for me and I have unbelievable respect for the fans. I understand how underwhelming it might have been when Gary O’Neil was announced as their manager but the connection with them has probably been my biggest positive so far.

“I’m sure if we keep winning 4-1 they’ll keep singing my name. We’ve had two fantastic results for them to enjoy over the festive period.”

Ange Postecoglou believes Tottenham will do their January transfer business earlier than usual after the club were hit by another injury blow.

Spurs travel to Brighton on Thursday night and will be without centre-back Cristian Romero, who has been ruled out for four to five weeks with a hamstring strain.

Romero joins a growing injury list that includes Micky van de Ven, Rodrigo Bentancur and James Maddison, while next month Yves Bissouma, Pape Sarr and captain Son Heung-min will also be unavailable due to international commitments at the Africa Cup of Nations and Asian Cup.

Tottenham have notoriously been active on transfer deadline-day in the winter window, signing Pedro Porro earlier this year and making a double swoop for Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski in 2022.

However, Postecoglou said: “Obviously if we can do business early, it’s great for us. Not just because of losing Romero but there’s a whole month there – why waste it?

“If you can bring them in early, even if they don’t play you can bed them into training and our style of football because it’s not like we’re going to sign somebody and they’ll hit the ground running.

“Whereas if you leave it towards the end of January, it’s potentially not until mid to end of February when they get up to speed, depending where they’re coming from, the league they’re coming from, so there’s a whole lot of moving parts.

“So, yes, I’d love to do something early in the window but even me saying that puts a challenge on us, because other clubs know we want to do something early.

“You’ve got to play the game, we’ll see what happens but I’m hopeful it will be much earlier than the end of the window before we bring someone in.”

Spurs hold an interest in Nice defender Jean-Clair Todibo, but also have a long list of other targets in the centre-back area.

Romero’s injury continues Tottenham’s theme of having one player back before another joins the treatment table with Destiny Udogie available for the trip to Brighton after suspension.

Postecoglou’s team also face Bournemouth at home on Sunday, but the Australian has been impressed by the resilience shown amid the ongoing injury crisis.

He said: “Someone was saying before, ‘when all these players come back,’ and I was saying, ‘it never works that way’.

“I’m not the only one, you can see other clubs going through it as well. We’ve been going through it for quite a while to be fair but I really like the attitude everyone’s taking internally – the coaches and players.

“We’ve still been disappointed with our losses, still been disappointed if we’re not playing our football, that’s the most important thing.

“I’m sure they’ll come a point when we will be much healthier in terms of our playing stocks, but I like the fact we’re winning games and playing decent football without some of those players.

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Son is expected to link up with the South Korea squad after Bournemouth’s New Year’s Eve visit but Postecoglou, who won the Asian Cup as Australia manager in 2015, has no qualms with his captain missing key January club fixtures.

“I rank it pretty highly,” Postecoglou said.

“A lot of European fans see the Euros as important so it is the same as that for the Asian Cup or the Africa Cup of Nations.

“I hope Sonny goes on to finish runner-up to Australia again. I’d be really happy about that.”

Manchester City survived a testing encounter at Goodison Park as they came from behind to beat Everton 3-1 and climb back into the top four.

The newly-crowned Club World Cup winners recovered from going behind to former winger Jack Harrison’s first-half goal to score twice after the break through a beauty from Phil Foden and a Julian Alvarez penalty.

Late on, Bernardo Silva curled home into an empty net after the otherwise excellent Jordan Pickford had his kick charged down to leave Everton a point above the relegation zone.

It was only City’s second win in seven league matches, but was enough to bring second-placed Arsenal within their sights and Liverpool not much further away.

However, the loss of John Stones, making only his fifth Premier League start this season due to injury, and an eighth successive Premier League game without a clean sheet were less welcome.

With Liverpool and Arsenal drawing just before Christmas, City returned victorious from Saudi Arabia knowing winning their two games in hand would leave them just a couple of points behind Jurgen Klopp’s side at the summit.

Had it not been for some wayward shooting and, more significantly, Jordan Pickford, they would probably have been coasting towards the first of those wins before half-time.

The England number one’s most important intervention came in the 14th minute when he saved Matheus Nunes’ shot and then stuck out a foot to narrowly divert wide Alvarez’s rebound. He also later denied Jack Grealish.

And without Erling Haaland for a sixth successive game – the Norway international’s foot injury is also expected to keep him out of the weekend’s visit of Sheffield United – Pep Guardiola’s side started to look a bit toothless.

That has been a longer-term problem for Everton but scoring from your first shot on target always helps and when Rodri was pressured into an uncharacteristic loss of possession on the edge of his own area by Beto the home side pounced.

Dwight McNeil laid on his third assist in five games as Harrison sidefooted home from close range, with the former City winger almost scoring a spectacular second with Ederson at full stretch to tip over his swerving outside-of-the-left-foot effort.

City were more than happy to leave Beto, making his first start in six games but with two goals in his last five appearances, one-on-one at the back and that almost backfired when Pickford picked him out only for the striker’s clumsiness allowing Stones to recover and clear, injuring himself in the process.

Guardiola was furious with the assistant referee for not flagging for offside and his mood was not helped by the defender’s enforced departure just before half-time.

City needed just 19 minutes after the break to turn things around with Foden given too much space on the edge of the area from a corner to beat Pickford down by his left-hand post.

Silva extended the goalkeeper with a free-kick before Alvarez put them ahead when Nathan Ake’s shot hit Amadou Onana’s arm as he slid in to block.

Referee John Brooks awarded a corner before changing his mind and pointing to the spot, with Alvarez’s blast down the middle proving too powerful as it went underneath the diving Pickford’s legs.

When substitute Dominic Calvert-Lewin failed to turn home Harrison’s low cross from six yards, defeat was confirmed with Silva’s 20-yard effort into an unguarded net after collecting Alvarez’s block on the goalkeeper.

Lethal Lawrence Shankland popped up with a stoppage-time winner as in-form Hearts defeated Hibernian 1-0 in a tense Edinburgh derby at Easter Road to tighten their grip on third place in the cinch Premiership.

The game looked on course to end goalless after both Shankland and Hibs forward Martin Boyle missed early penalties.

But the talismanic Jambos skipper sparked jubilation among the visiting support in the third minute of stoppage time when he notched his 16th goal of the season to secure a third consecutive clean-sheet victory for the Tynecastle side.

Hibs manager Nick Montgomery made three changes to the side that lost 1-0 at St Johnstone as Paul Hanlon, Jimmy Jeggo, Elie Youan dropped out to make way for Rocky Bushiri, Joe Newell and Josh Campbell.

There were also three alterations to the Hearts team that started Saturday’s 2-0 win over St Mirren as Craig Halkett, Yutaro Oda and Barrie McKay were replaced by Stephen Kingsley, Calem Nieuwenhof and Alan Forrest.

The Jambos were handed the chance to open the scoring in the fifth minute when they were awarded a penalty following a VAR review after Bushiri was deemed to have handled the ball, while trying to head clear Cochrane’s long throw into the box. Shankland saw his low penalty strike the outside of David Marshall’s right-hand post.

Hibs then had the opportunity to punish Hearts’ top scorer for his profligacy from the spot when they won a spot-kick in the 14th minute after Dylan Vente’s goalbound shot was blocked by the flailing hand of Kye Rowles on the edge of the six-yard box. However, Zander Clark did superbly to get down to his right and push Boyle’s effort on to the post.

The hosts enjoyed the bulk of the pressure for the remainder of the first half, but Rowles made a couple of crucial blocks to stop a Vente header and then a Campbell shot, before Jair Tavares saw a ferocious effort deflected over by Aidan Denholm.

Hibs suffered a blow seven minutes after the break when Josh Campbell was carried off the pitch on a stretcher after injuring himself while trying to tackle Beni Baningime. Youan came on in his place.

Hearts substitute Kenneth Vargas was presented with a decent chance in the 68th minute following a loose pass by Lewis Miller, but the Costa Rican fired just over from 20 yards out.

At the other end, Clark had to produce another couple of impressive saves to deny Vente and Tavares.

Hibs keeper Marshall then thwarted Shankland after the Jambos captain got himself away from Bushiri, but the Hearts forward was not to be denied and he kept his cool to curl home a clinical, match-winning finish in stoppage time after finding himself space in the box following a long ball from Clark.

Livingston and St Johnstone battled to a goalless stalemate and a share of the spoils.

It was just a second point from a possible 33 for the home side, who have now failed to win in 11 games and are four points adrift at the foot of the cinch Premiership table.

With just two goals from their last 10 games, it was perhaps no surprise Livi failed to find a breakthrough during a poor 90 minutes.

For St Johnstone, the draw arrested back-to-back defeats and gives them eight points from a possible 18.

Livingston manager David Martindale named an attacking side as the home team attempted to improve their record of only one goal in their last nine games.

In a change of tactics, Bruce Anderson partnered Kurtis Guthrie in up front, while Joel Nouble was deployed as a right wing-back.

Saints boss Craig Levein was forced into four changes as his team looked to bounce back from successive league losses.

Fran Franczak and Ryan McGowan missed out through illness, while Chris Kane and Graham Carey were named on the bench following a demanding run of games.

Saints created the first chance after seven minutes although it was later called back for a foul.

Stevie May took the ball off Ayo Obileye and squared for Nicky Clark, but the striker was on the stretch and fired wide. Clark’s blushes, however, were spared by referee Kevin Clancy deciding May’s challenge on Obileye was illegal.

Livingston goalkeeper Shamal George, reinstated in the team after being dropped for the weekend’s defeat at Celtic, then spilled a simple ball along the deck, but both Clark and May failed to take advantage before the linesman’s flag was raised.

As the worst scorers in the Premiership, it should have come as no surprise that there was a shortage of chances at both ends.

Lions midfielder Scott Pittman at least had a shot from outside the box saved by Saints keeper Dimitar Mitov two minutes before the break.

Visiting manager Levein, who had earlier lost Max Kucheriavyi to injury, reshuffled his defence at the break, with the experienced Andy Considine being introduced in place of Tony Gallacher.

The game was desperately in need of a goal, but Mikey Devlin’s shot at the start of the second half was too straight to trouble Mitov.

Livi were on the attack again shortly after, but once more there was a lack of quality in the finish as Pittman blazed well wide after running onto a lofted pass.

On the hour mark, it was St Johnstone’s turn to pass up an opportunity.

The ball was deflected into the path of Clark 12 yards out, but he directed his half-volley straight at George.

With 18 minutes remaining, Saints thought they had finally broken the deadlock when Luke Robinson netted with a first-time shot from a low Clark cross.

But the assistant referee’s flag went up for offside and, after a delay, VAR agreed with the decision.

With time running out, Bruce Anderson fired wide for Livi before a shot from Saints substitute Sven Sprangler was blocked by Pittman.

Kilmarnock strengthened their grip on fourth place in the cinch Premiership as Marley Watkins’ goal sealed a 1-0 win away to St Mirren.

The first-half strike helped extend Derek McInnes’ side’s recent good run of form to four wins and a draw from their last five games.

In contrast, St Mirren are in the midst of a slump that has seen them win just once in seven games, Stephen Robinson’s men a shadow of the side that started the season in sparkling form.

Robinson made two changes from Saints’ weekend defeat to Hearts. In came James Bolton and Toyosi Olusunya, replacing Thierry Small and Alex Greive.

For Kilmarnock there was just once change following their win over St Johnstone, with Matty Kennedy replacing Liam Polworth.

The hosts had the first real chance of the game as Richard Taylor fizzed in a long-range effort that Will Dennis did well to hold onto.

St Mirren had the ball in the net after 14 minutes when Jonah Ayunga bundled it in after Dennis had saved Olusunya’s effort only for it to be chalked out for offside.

Killie took a while to get going and from one promising attack, Danny Armstrong swept his shot well off target.

It was the visitors, though, who went in front after 25 minutes. Kennedy played in Watkins and he finished well past Zach Hemming.

The home side responded with a low driven effort from Ayunga but it lacked the pace to trouble Dennis.

Kilmarnock were awarded a free-kick in a dangerous position when Taylor brought down Armstrong and was booked. But Kennedy’s effort struck the defensive wall and trickled out for a corner.

At the other end, Dennis did well to repel Scott Tanser’s volley from just outside the box as St Mirren tried to get back into the contest.

After all the heavy rain earlier in the day, the surface was unsurprisingly slippery and Alex Gogic picked up a booking after losing his footing and inadvertently brought down Brad Lyons.

Greg Kiltie had the first chance of note in the second half but his looped effort was easily gathered by Dennis.

Robinson turned to his bench to try to gain some fresh impetus, sending on Mika Mandron and Conor McMenamin.

The Northern Ireland international nearly made an instant impact but his flashing effort flew across the face of goal with no takers in the middle.

Dennis then pulled off a brilliant save to tip Bolton’s header over the crossbar as St Mirren belatedly began to exert some pressure.

That was matched at the other end by a stunning Zach Hemming save to push away Rory McKenzie’s goal-bound volley as Killie racked up a precious away win.

A teary Luke Littler is daring to dream after he became the youngest player to reach the fourth round of the World Championship.

The 16-year-old has taken the Alexandra Palace tournament by storm and wowed an adoring crowd with a sensational performance to destroy Matt Campbell 4-1 in the last 32.

Littler, who won the World Youth Championship in November, will pocket a guaranteed £35,000 but will have his sights on lifting the Sid Waddell Trophy in what would be one of the greatest ever sporting stories.

He was emotional when hugging his mum after the game having kept his dream alive.

He said: “I started crying when I saw my mum in the crowd. She was nervous. I said to her, ‘The dream continues’. She said the same thing.”

Littler could meet his hero Raymond van Barneveld in the last 16 if the Dutchman can beat Jim Williams on Friday, but for now the teenager will treat himself to a shopping spree on Thursday.

“I will stay in the hotel, chill out tomorrow, treat myself to more shoes and pants, chill out and see who I play in the next round,” he said.

“It’s an overall good performance, it’s not like the first round. I’ve said I could win with the lowest average of the tournament, I’m just happy to get through.

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“I’ve got nothing to lose for myself, I’ve over-achieved again. Now I can just settle.

“My game is there (to win it) but I can settle even more, Jim or Raymond next, I’m just happy.

“If Raymond does beat Jim it would be unbelievable to play him and then win or lose against either of them I’m still happy to come out of the Worlds at the last 16, but I would love to go a few more games in.”

It is going to take something special to stop Littler as he is producing form which defies his tender age.

He averaged 97.19, threw eight 180s and produced three 100-plus checkouts, including a majestic 164 in the fifth set.

After disposing of Christian Kist and UK Open champion Andrew Gilding, the teenager returned home for Christmas where he sacrificed time on his Xbox after dinner for a practice session on the board.

And that paid dividends as he made an electric start, winning the first six legs to roar into a 2-0 lead.

Campbell, who returned home to Canada over the festive period before arriving back in the UK on Boxing Day, looked to have a foothold in the third set as he took the first two legs, but a relentless Littler reeled off the next three to move 3-0 up.

He had a match dart to seal a 4-0 whitewash but suffered a rare bout of inaccuracy, which allowed Campbell to get on the board.

Littler hit back in the fifth set, though, hitting two 100-plus checkouts on his way to sealing a famous win.

Chelsea needed an 89th-minute penalty from substitute Noni Madueke to edge past Crystal Palace 2-1 at Stamford Bridge and climb back into the top half of the Premier League table.

It had looked like being another frustrating home outing for Mauricio Pochettino’s side for most of the second half, after Michael Olise had cancelled out Mykhailo Mudryk’s early goal with a brilliant finish on the half-volley on the stroke of half-time.

Nicolas Jackson missed a superb chance to win it, slotting the ball wide after being set up by Conor Gallagher.

But with the game drifting towards what would have been a deserved point for Palace, there was a final twist, Eberechi Eze tripped Madueke as he sought to control the ball on the edge of the box, and the England Under-21 international won the match from the spot with his first league goal of the season.

Chelsea opened the scoring after 13 minutes, and it began with Malo Gusto slipping his man in midfield with a smart shimmy and turn.

Driving over halfway, his pass forward was wayward, but interest in Chelsea’s attack was revived by a critical slip by Nathaniel Clyne whose stumble let the ball run on. That allowed it to reach Christopher Nkunku, who fed the galloping Malo Gusto on the overlap and his centre was gratefully turned home first time by Mudryk.

The Ukraine international had made an electric start and would have made it two shortly afterwards but for a smothering block by Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson, closing the angle well after Mudryk had been slipped in by a deft Jackson back heel.

There was a fluency about Chelsea that has rarely been seen in recent weeks. Nkunku on his long-awaited first start was at the heart of things. Fresh from his role in the opening goal, he played a wonderful ball in for Jackson, whose low drive was aimed fractionally wide of Henderson’s far post.

The France international might then have had his first Stamford Bridge goal after 25 minutes had he not kicked the turf when clean through on goal, under pressure from defender Chris Richards.

Chelsea were industrious with the ball, racking up 323 passes during the first half and recording 63 per cent possession and – unlike so often this campaign – they had created gilt-edged chances to go with it.

And yet, in the final seconds of the half, a familiar sinking feeling for home supporters. Richards went in strong on Levi Colwill to win the ball in midfield and it broke out wide to Jordan Ayew.

Palace had men in the box and the one picked out by Ayew’s laser-like aim was Olise, who brought it down confidently on his chest, took a momentary glance at Djordje Petrovic and lashed it inside the Chelsea goalkeeper’s near post to make it 1-1.

Palace were without a win in seven games but the goal, though against the run of play, brought belief.

Eze whistled a free–kick past the post as the visitors registered the first chance of the second half, as Roy Hodgson’s side went toe-to-toe with their hosts.

Pochettino left Thiago Silva on the bench for only the second time in the league this season, but called on the 39-year-old just before the hour mark, alongside Romeo Lavia, who finally made his Chelsea debut.

Armando Broja was also sent on as the spectre of another disappointing home result loomed.

Minutes later, their moment looked to have arrived. Moises Caicedo scooped a pass forward to Gallagher who had found space centrally and the captain showed a keen awareness of space to find Jackson running through, but – with only Anderson to beat – he clipped the ball agonisingly wide.

That was followed by a fine, prodded finish from Axel Disasi’s pass that VAR rightly ruled out for offside.

Broja took one down and well drilled into the side netting, after Olise had drawn a smart near-post stop from Petrovic at the other end.

Chelsea thought two more points had slipped away at home. Then with two minutes to go, Madueke went over Eze’s leg, a VAR review yielded a penalty and the substitute picked himself up knock home the winning goal.

Hwang Hee-chan scored twice as Brentford forgot how to defend and Wolves took full advantage with a 4-1 win in west London.

Hwang took his tally for the season to 11 as Wanderers followed up their Christmas Eve win over Chelsea by collecting another festive three points.

It was a first victory in the capital in 15 attempts for Wolves, their last coming in a 2-0 win at Tottenham in February last year.

But it was gifted to them by a Brentford side who could soon be looking nervously over their shoulders at the relegation battle after a fourth straight defeat and a sixth in seven matches.

The Bees are riddled with injuries and suspensions – they had 10 players unavailable here – but there was still no excuse for some alarming defensive errors.

Nathan Collins arguably had his best game for Wolves; unfortunately the centre-half left Molineux to join Brentford in June.

The Bees’ record signing endured a nightmare against his former club, handing them two goals with terrible passes on an evening to forget.

Wolves were inches from taking the lead when Joao Gomes played Hwang in behind and his low cross was sliced narrowly over his own crossbar by Vitaly Janelt.

But from the corner, in the 13th minute, they did find the net after the ball was cleared as far as Pablo Sarabia, whose cross was met by a header from the totally unmarked Mario Lemina.

What came next was an utter farce from the hosts as they played the ball back from their own kick-off towards goalkeeper Mark Flekken.

Collins’ backpass to the Dutchman was woefully underhit and, barely 10 seconds after the restart, Hwang had rounded him and tapped into an empty net.

The crowd at the Gtech Stadium had barely caught their breath again when the Bees pulled one back, Yoane Wissa latching on to Neal Maupay’s clever flick and firing home.

Unbelievably, it could have gone from goalless to 2-2 in the space of five minutes but Jose Sa kept out a close-range header from Janelt.

Instead Wolves doubled their lead again when Toti’s powerful, clearing header was allowed to float between Collins and Mads Roerslev and straight to Hwang.

The South Korean turned, lifted the ball over the covering Ethan Pinnock and fired the ball past the exposed Flekken into the bottom corner.

Brentford could have pulled another back before half-time but Collins headed a Saman Ghoddos corner over and Maupay fired wide after being fed by Wissa in stoppage time.

Wolves lost Hwang to a back injury moments before the interval, but his replacement Jean-Ricner Bellegarde wrapped up their victory with 11 minutes left.

Collins was again the fall guy when his lazy pass across the face of goal was intercepted by Matheus Cunha, who played in Bellegarde for a simple finish.

Teenage sensation Luke Littler’s incredible rise continues after he became the youngest player to reach the fourth round of the World Championship.

The 16-year-old has taken the Alexandra Palace tournament by storm and wowed an adoring crowd with a sensational performance to destroy Matt Campbell 4-1.

Littler, who won the World Youth Championship in November, will pocket a guaranteed £35,000 but will have his sights on lifting the Sid Waddell Trophy in what would be one of the greatest ever sporting stories.

It is going to take something special to stop him as he is producing form which defies his tender age.

He averaged 97.19, threw eight 180s and produced three 100-plus checkouts, including a majestic 164 in the fifth set.

A dream last-16 tie with his hero Raymond van Barneveld could be waiting for him on Saturday, if the Dutchman can beat Jim Williams on Friday night.

After disposing of Christian Kist and UK Open champion Andrew Gilding, the teenager returned home for Christmas where he sacrificed time on his Xbox after dinner for a practice session on the board.

And that paid dividends as he made an electric start, winning the first six legs to roar into a 2-0 lead.

Campbell, who returned home to Canada over the festive period before arriving back in the UK on Boxing Day, looked to have a foothold in the third set as he took the first two legs, but a relentless Littler reeled off the next three to move 3-0 up.

He had a match dart to seal a 4-0 whitewash but suffered a rare bout of inaccuracy, which allowed Campbell to get on the board.

Littler hit back in the fifth set, though, hitting two 100-plus checkouts on his way to sealing a famous win.

Speaking on stage after the match, Littler said: “It’s unbelievable. I only wanted to win one game and I have won three and I have battled through it. I am so happy.

“I just let my darts do the talking, everyone on social media saying, ‘He’s this age’, but I let my darts do the talking.

“As soon as I won that first game I have just settled.”

Russell Wilson won't play again this season for the Denver Broncos.

The stunning news that Wilson will be benched was reported by NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport on Wednesday.

Jarrett Stidham will start at quarterback for Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Chargers.

The Broncos paid a hefty price to acquire Wilson last offseason, and the decision to bench the nine-time Pro Bowler is largely a financial one.

If Wilson were to suffer a significant long-term injury in the final two weeks of this season, he potentially could be owed $37million fully guaranteed if he doesn't pass a physical in early March.

In March of 2022, the Broncos sent multiple players and draft picks to the Seahawks in a trade for Wilson, who led Seattle to a Super Bowl championship following the 2013 season. The Broncos then signed him to a five-year extension worth more than $242million.

That deal is looking like one of the worst contracts in NFL history as Denver finished last in the AFC West last season with a 5-12 record and is on the verge of missing the play-offs for an eighth straight season.

The Broncos are coming off a devastating 26-23 loss to the lowly New England Patriots on Christmas Eve, and have now dropped three of four following a five-game winning streak. They are 7-8 and sit in 12th place in the AFC, and NFL.com gives them just a 7 per cent chance of making the play-offs.

Wilson, however, isn't responsible for all of the team's struggles this season, and has rebounded nicely after a disappointing first season in Denver.

After throwing 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions and compiling a career-worst 84.4 QB rating in 2022, Wilson has 26 TDs and eight picks this year for a 98.0 rating - seventh best in the NFL.

His future with the Broncos is murky, however, as the offence has been largely mediocre, ranking 16th in scoring (21.8) and 25th in total yards (298.2).

Stidham has taken just four offensive snaps this season and has yet to attempt a pass. In 14 career games, he's thrown for 926 yards with six touchdowns and seven interceptions for a 73.5 rating.

Scott Williams courted controversy after joking about England winning “two World Wars and one World Cup” following his World Championship third-round win over German Martin Schindler.

Williams won a final-set decider to advance 4-3 before making the heavy-handed remark in his post-match interview on Sky Sports.

The match was played in a raucous atmosphere at Alexandra Palace where Williams had most of the support from a partisan crowd, though there was also a German contingent.

Speaking to Sky Sports after his win, Williams said: “What a game! I’m so happy to get to the other side as the winner as well. Martin brought the fight and I wasn’t expecting to go all the way to sudden death as well. I’m knackered, I’m absolutely knackered.

“I’ve never had the crowd on my side like that. I know we won two World Wars and one World Cup. The German fans here were huge as well.”

He added on Twitter after the match: “Thanks for the messages everyone! A few nasty ones from some German fans, but I understand why! Absolutely nothing personal, just a bit of jeering and jesting with the crowd!

“I’m British and Proud!!!!”

Meanwhile, Rob Cross showed he can be a contender for a second crown after battling into the last 16.

Cross has struggled to hit the heights since his memorable title win on debut in 2018, but has enjoyed his best season in 2023 coming into the Alexandra Palace tournament.

He was made to work hard for a 4-2 victory over Jeffrey de Graaf, with the former electrician sparking into life in the final set with an average of 116.

Dave Chisnall’s victory over Gabriel Clemens was more straightforward, winning 4-1.