Nathan Ake admitted to a sense of relief that Manchester City finally broke their Tottenham Hotspur Stadium curse to stay on track to defend their FA Cup crown.

The holders squandered a number of chances in Friday’s fourth-round tie at Spurs before Ake poked home from close range with two minutes left.

It represented City’s first goal at Tottenham’s new home at the sixth time of asking and the centre-back conceded it felt like being another night to forget until his timely intervention.

“So happy. It was tough but we played really well over the whole game. We just had to score and it didn’t happen again for a long time. I was thinking is it going to happen but luckily we got it,” Ake said.

“I think trusting the way we played (was key). We played really well, created numerous chances and just the belief to keep going. Even though we didn’t score, just to keep going, keep trying and in the end we got it.

“I thought it is never going to come but finally we’ve done it.”

The introduction of Kevin De Bruyne proved crucial and it was his corner which created Ake’s 88th-minute winner.

De Bruyne had been left red-faced six minutes earlier when he curled wide with only Guglielmo Vicario to beat, but made amends with an exceptional set-piece delivery.

The 1-0 win made it seven victories in a row for City, who remain in the hunt for another treble after claiming Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League success last season.

Ake told ITV: “I think it was important to go through, we want to fight for every competition and this was a big step forward.”

Following a lacklustre first half, all eyes were on when De Bruyne and fit-again Spurs playmaker James Maddison would get the nod to come on.

Maddison made his first appearance since he sustained ankle ligament damage on November 6, but only touched the ball six times as Tottenham struggled to gain a foothold in the contest.

Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou hoped Maddison would be better for his 17-minute cameo with games to come against Brentford and Everton next week.

“Knowing the nature of the game, he’s trained well this week-and-a-half but he’s missed a lot of football,” Postecoglou explained.

“We were hoping to get him some minutes, which he did and he should be right to go from now on, but there’s another two games next week and we need him and others to pitch in.

“So, yeah it wasn’t really much of a dilemma about whether to start him or not. I just felt that coming off the bench was going to be better for us as a team more than anything else.”

England were fighting to keep the first Test alive after a double strike from Jasprit Bumrah tightened India’s hold on day three in Hyderabad.

Faced with the unenviable task of overturning a 190-run first-innings deficit, the tourists reached 172 for five at tea, with Ollie Pope unbeaten on 67.

Bumrah took the lead with a magical spell of pace bowling on a pitch that has largely rendered the seamers as an afterthought, removing the fluent Ben Duckett and key man Joe Root.

Pairing speed through the air with devilish reverse swing he sent Duckett’s off-stump flying for 47 and then trapped Root lbw for just two to reassert India’s strong position.

England had enjoyed a positive start to the day, taking three quick wickets in the morning session to bowl India out before reaching a promising 113 for one at a lively scoring rate.

Bumrah’s classy intervention knocked the stuffing from their burgeoning counter-attack and when captain Ben Stokes was beautifully bowled by Ravichandran Ashwin late in the afternoon session the net closed further still.

Play began with India on 421 for seven, adding another 15 before losing their remaining wickets without scoring.

Root snapped up two in two balls, Ravindra Jadeja lbw for 87 and Bumrah castled for a golden duck. Rehan Ahmed provided the finishing touch, zipping one low through Axar Patel and ushering the game along to its decisive moment.

Zak Crawley and Duckett made a typically positive start, zoning out the precarious match situation to clear 45 from the deficit despite considerable scoreboard pressure.

After a couple of polite new-ball overs from Bumrah it was spin at both ends and the initial signs were good.

Crawley sent a couple of reverse sweeps to the boundary boards before trying something even more expansive, moving his feet to the pitch and lifting Patel for six down the ground.

He hurried along to 31 in 33 balls but his fun was shut down in the 10th over, Ashwin clipping the outside edge with a precise delivery that nestled in Rohit Sharma’s hands.

Pope started sketchily, busy but uncertain in his movements, while Duckett was poised. Trusting his arsenal of sweeps and reverses he guided the score to 89 for one at lunch, with the hosts’ lead just into three figures.

England continued chipping away until Bumrah returned to the fray early in the afternoon. He should have had Duckett lbw for 39 but saw his appeal shrugged away by the on-field umpire and his captain, who declined to call for DRS.

Undeterred he came again, shaping the ball through the air, through the gap that Duckett’s lavish drive left and violently into the off stump.

Root was next to succumb, beaten on the crease after just six balls and trapped in front. He sent the decision upstairs but found no reprieve.

Pope was still making the odd mistake but he rode his luck and continued scoring briskly as he brought up his first half-century in India at nearly a run-a-ball.

England still needed a big partnership and were unable to find one as the spinners found their rhythm.

Jonny Bairstow was bowled for 10 offering no stroke to Jadeja, mis-reading one that skidded on with the arm, and Stokes saw Ashwin clip the top of off with a ball that snaked past his outside edge.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp does not expect the attitude of his players to change with the shock news he is to leave the club at the end of the season.

The news the 56-year-old will not see out his contract until 2026 was a seismic event in football and the inevitable questions immediately followed about how it would affect a campaign which, with a bit of luck, has the potential to be the greatest in the club’s history.

Liverpool are five points clear at the top of the Premier League, into the last 16 of the Europa League, the Carabao Cup final next month and home advantage against Championship side Norwich on Sunday for a place in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Klopp notified owners Fenway Sports Group of his decision in November but his squad only found out an hour or so before the news went public.

“The players didn’t have a lot of questions. I spoke to them all together and then a few after that,” said Klopp.

“We have a really strong bond. We are professionals. The agreement you have on both sides is you agree for one year, after that the manager can get the sack or a player can want a new contract.

“We are completely in that year and the boys see it exactly like that.

“You can see the boys are in a really good mood. They weren’t having a party when I told them but it was just an announcement.

“I told them it is different to other situations; usually when a manager is in a dressing room and talks like that he got sacked. It isn’t like that because of the things we achieved with each other.

“I think a lot of people from the outside who are not with us will be happy. The distraction comes from outside but to get distracted you need two parts and we will not let it happen.

“If you want we can grow even more together and squeeze everything out of the season.

“There was before no guarantee we would win anything from this season and there is now no guarantee.

“We will fight 100 per cent. I cannot do the job in the future but I can do it very well right now.”

A visibly physically and emotionally drained Klopp could have left in the summer after a season of struggles and a failure to qualify for the Champions League or win a trophy.

However, the German saw it as his duty to rectify the problems within the squad and with clever recruitment he has done that, laying the foundations for his successor.

“We had last year’s situation and I think a lot of managers would have got the sack but there was never any intention (by FSG) to do that,” he added.

“This team is set up for the future. When I said Liverpool 2.0, that didn’t include me for the next 10 years but the team is there, the basis is there.

“Whoever comes in has the chance to play really good football. What we all did in the last years, changing from doubters to believers. It is a wonderful future ahead and that is all I want.”

Luka Doncic became the fourth player to score 73 points or more in NBA history as Dallas Mavericks beat Atlanta Hawks 148-143.

The 24-year-old’s haul also set a franchise record for the Mavericks, easily surpassing his personal best of 60 points, scoring 41 in the first half.

Doncic now joins an elite list of players, moving level with Wilt Chamberlain and David Thomson with 73 points, while Chamberlain holds the NBA record scoring with 100 points and also had a 78-point game, with Kobe Bryant racking up 81 points.

The Slovenian’s impressive tally comes only four days after Joel Embiid set a new Philadelphia 76ers scoring record after bagging 70 points in a 133-123 victory over San Antonio Spurs.

Doncic’s 73 points helped the Mavericks earn an important win having come into the match on a three-game losing streak.

“We’ve been struggling lately. Mindset was to get a win,” Doncic told the NBA website.

“(The performance) probably (ranks) at the top, one of the top. But I’m glad we got a win.”

In the Western Conference, leaders Oklahoma City Thunder won their fifth game in a row by beating New Orleans Pelicans 107-83, while LA Clippers earned a 127-107 win against Toronto Raptors.

Memphis Grizzlies edged to a 107-106 victory over Orlando Magic, Indiana Pacers also bagged a narrow 133-131 win against Phoenix, despite Devin Booker’s 62-point haul for the Suns.

Houston Rockets beat Charlotte Hornets 138-104 and San Antonio Spurs earned an important 116-100 victory over fellow strugglers Portland Trail Blazers.

In the Eastern Conference, Milwaukee fell to a 112-100 defeat against Cleveland Cavaliers, with the Bucks announcing Doc Rivers as their new head coach after the game.

Marathon man Daniil Medvedev hopes experience can be his trump card against Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open final.

Sinner is through to his first grand-slam showpiece after stunning Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals while this will be a sixth shot at a major trophy for Medvedev.

The Russian won his only title at the US Open in 2021, losing twice more in New York and twice here, in 2021 and 2022, with all his finals so far pitting him against either Djokovic or Rafael Nadal.

In Melbourne two years ago, Medvedev led Nadal by two sets to love only to lose in five, but that has been his trick this year, with the third seed coming from two sets down to beat Emil Ruusuvuori in the second round and Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals.

He also played a five-setter against Hubert Hurkacz in the last eight and has spent more than 20 hours on court in his six matches, nearly six hours longer than Sinner, whose only dropped set came against Djokovic.

The Italian has carried his superb form from the end of last season into 2024 but a first slam final always presents its own challenges, and Medvedev said: “I hope it gives (me an advantage), because I hope to have some advantage.

“Physical advantage I probably don’t have. Tennis advantage, let’s see. But three last times he got me. So I hope that this experience can help me.

“First final, I think it’s always different for everyone. I’m sure some guys went out in the first final and felt so good they just managed to win it. Some would go and it would be tough mentally and they would lose.

“I have no idea how Jannik is going to be, but I have this experience. I will try my best. I will fight for my life, and let’s see who wins.”

Medvedev is one of the quirkiest characters on tour and he has had a love-hate relationship with crowds around the world, but a personal vow to behave better on court seems to be paying dividends.

“Mentally 100 per cent I’m stronger than I was before this tournament because now I know that I’m capable of some things maybe I thought I’m not, because before I didn’t do anything like this to get to the final,” said the 27-year-old.

His long-time coach Gilles Cervara, who has been known to walk out of matches over his charge’s behaviour, has seen it all.

“I know that, no matter what, he’s searching for a solution all the time,” said Cervara. “Also he wants to win so much. So both of these parts makes me feel that he still has a chance in any situation.

“Sometimes when I ask him some questions about his game on court, about what he put his concentration into or, when he misses, what he could do, and the answer he gives me makes me feel like, ‘Wow, I’m talking to the number three in the world, he was number one, he won a grand slam, and I have the feeling that I’m talking to a teenager’.”

This will be a 10th meeting between Medvedev and Sinner, with the Russian winning the first six but then losing three times in a row late last season, when Sinner won titles in Beijing and Vienna, reached the final of the ATP Finals and led Italy to the Davis Cup.

Hailing from the north of the country, the 22-year-old was a champion skier as a child before committing to tennis.

His huge groundstrokes marked him out as a special talent but it is since switching to the coaching team of Simone Vagnozzi and renowned Australian Darren Cahill in 2022 that he has climbed to the top of the game.

Cahill, who has previously worked with the likes of Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi and Simona Halep, said of Sinner: “He’s got the qualities I believe that a lot of the great champions in the game have, but you’ve got to start winning to let that come to fruition.

“So he’s making little steps. He had a good finish to the year last year. He gained a lot of belief from what he was able to do.”

Zak Crawley was an early casualty as England set about the mammoth task of overturning India’s 190-run lead on day three of the first Test in Hyderabad.

Crawley hurried along to 31 from 33 balls but was first man down when he nicked Ravichandran Ashwin to first slip in the 10th over of England’s second innings.

The tourists took lunch on 89 for one, still 101 behind, with Ben Duckett settling well on 38no.

They started the day by taking the last three Indian wickets for 15 runs as they finished 436 all out in the morning session, Joe Root dismissing Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah with successive deliveries to collect four for 79.

Rehan Ahmed closed the innings when he spun one low through Axar Patel, ushering the game along to a crucial phase as England returned to the crease.

Having been bowled out for 246 inside 65 overs on day one, they knew they would need to do considerably more on a wearing pitch to have a chance of an unlikely success.

Crawley and Duckett made a typically positive start, clearing 45 from the deficit in the face of considerable scoreboard pressure. After two polite overs from Bumrah, it was spin at both ends and the initial signs were good.

Crawley sent a couple of reverse sweeps to the boundary boards before trying something even more expansive, moving his feet to the pitch and lifting Patel for six down the ground. It was a bold beginning but it ended all too quickly, Ashwin clipping the outside edge with a precise delivery that nestled in Rohit Sharma’s hands.

Ollie Pope started sketchily, busy but uncertain in his movements, but Duckett was poised. Trusting his arsenal of sweeps he hit five boundaries as he smothered the turning ball with some style.

Logan O’Connor scored twice and Nathan MacKinnon extended his home point streak to a franchise-record 25 games as the Colorado Avalanche rolled to a 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Friday.

Cale Makar and Josh Manson also scored for the Avalanche, who won for the 11th time in 14 games.

MacKinnon had a goal and an assist to move past Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov for the NHL scoring lead with 84 points. He has points in 12 consecutive games overall and his 25-game home streak ties him with Bobby Orr in 1974-75 for the second-longest home streak to open an NHL season.

Kevin Fiala scored the lone goal for the Kings, who have lost 13 of 15 after starting the season 20-7-4.

Marchessault scores 3 in Knights’ win

Jonathan Marchessault registered his second hat trick of the season and Adin Hill stopped 36 shots to lead the surging Vegas Golden Knights to a 5-2 win over the New York Rangers.

Keegan Kolesar and Sheldon Rempal also scored, and Ivan Barbashev had three assists as Vegas improved to 5-0-1 in its last six games.

Blake Wheeler and Kaapo Kaako had goals for the Rangers, who have lost nine of 13 this month (4-7-2).

Hill has stopped 76 of 80 shots in two starts since returning from an injury that sidelined him over a month.

Red-hot Reinhart lifts Panthers in shootout

Sam Reinhart scored the deciding goal in the shootout after scoring his 36th goal of the season in regulation as the Florida Panthers defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2.

Reinhart continued his career-best 12-game point streak with his 13th goal during that span. He ranks second in the NHL in goals behind only Toronto’s Auston Matthews (39).

Reinhart’s goal was his league-best 19th on the power play, matching a franchise record, shared by Scott Mellanby and Pavel Bure. Reinhart also has goals in a franchise-record eight straight road contests.

Evgeni Malkin scored the tying goal for Pittsburgh with 41.5 seconds left in regulation. The Penguins have one win in their last six games (1-2-3).

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp admits he is relieved to have finally made the decision to leave the club at the end of the season.

The German’s standing at Anfield meant it was unlikely he would have ever been sacked and, having already extended his contract two years beyond the seven he served at both Mainz and Borussia Dortmund, there would probably have been an expectation on him to go beyond 2026.

Klopp could have gone last summer after being physically and emotionally drained by a difficult season which saw Liverpool finish fifth, but he chose to stay on in order to put things right.

With the club top of the Premier League and fighting on four fronts he has done that in remarkably quick time but even by November, the 56-year-old knew he had to get out.

“The relief was there when I made the decision for myself. I didn’t know that would be the case,” he said.

“Today it (the feeling) is mixed. I am not as emotional as I will be.

“I have to make the decision at one point, because nobody else will, because of the trust and respect we have for each other, and the owners knew I would take the decision.

“I don’t want to hang around and do the job somehow. I thought it through properly.

“I want (to win) everything this season, but it wouldn’t change my mind – and if we don’t win anything it wouldn’t change my mind.

“It’s a decision I made independent of any kind of results.”

In his first press conference as Liverpool boss in 2015 Klopp declared himself the ‘normal one’ and he maintains that is who he is despite his high profile.

He insists he has no regrets about any decisions he has taken at Liverpool, with whom he has won the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup among a host of titles, but admits he has missed out on life away from football.

“I arrived here like a normal guy and I never lived that,” he added.

“It is three or four weeks in a summer which somehow is fine. Whatever will happen in the future, I don’t know now.

“I don’t know how normal life is so I have to find out.”

Klopp plans to take a year off and then see how he feels but has ruled out a return to management in England.

“Whatever will happen in the future I don’t know now, but no club, no country, for the next year, and no other English club ever,” he said.

“I can promise that, even if I have nothing to eat that will not happen.”

Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso has emerged as the early favourite to succeed Klopp.

The former Liverpool midfielder insists his focus was solely on his current role and that he was in “the right place”.

Head coach Rigobert Song admitted Cameroon must tighten up at the back if they are to progress to the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals.

Cameroon were just minutes away from a group-stage elimination after trailing Gambia but a James Gomez own goal and injury-time strike from Christopher Wooh sealed a 3-2 victory and a last-16 place.

They take on Nigeria in Abidjan on Saturday but Song warned his backline to be more vigilant ahead of them lining up against African Footballer of the Year Victor Osimhen.

“We have already conceded six goals and we will (have to) find the formula to not concede,” former Liverpool and West Ham defender Song told a press conference.

“We will try to put Nigeria in difficulty and fight to continue.

“I know what needs to be done and we will do everything possible to obtain a positive result.”

Cameroon are expected to be boosted by the return of captain Vincent Aboubakar, who missed the entire group stage with a thigh injury.

Nigeria had a more straightforward passage into the knockout stages, following up a draw against Equatorial Guinea with wins over tournament hosts Ivory Coast and minnows Guinea-Bissau.

They have only scored three goals in the campaign but boss Jose Peseiro is satisfied with their approach.

“I saw some statistics that said our team until now has created more clear opportunities than the other opponents,” Peseiro told a press conference.

“Sometimes the ketchup doesn’t come, but the next time all the ketchup (comes out). In the next match or another match, we can score more goals with less opportunities.”

Coventry boss Mark Robins described Sheffield Wednesday fans who booed Kasey Palmer during his side’s FA Cup tie at Hillsborough as “idiots” and “absolute clowns”.

Djeidi Gassama’s late equaliser salvaged Wednesday a fourth-round replay after Danish midfielder Victor Torp had marked his Coventry debut with a stunning first-half opener.

Gassama denied the Sky Blues a second win at Hillsborough inside a week after their 2-1 Championship success on Saturday, which was marred by allegations of racist abuse towards their striker Palmer during the match.

Both clubs condemned the alleged abuse earlier this week and a man was arrested on Thursday, but Palmer was booed on several occasions by a section of home fans and Robins was furious after the tie.

Robins said: “The reaction was a disgrace. People need to have a look at themselves.

“What are they doing? It’s ridiculous. It’s a joke – an absolute joke.”

Palmer, jeered after blazing a first-half chance over the crossbar, was loudly booed after being booked for his challenge on Momo Diaby in the second period and again when substituted in the 63rd minute.

Robins added: “We’re in a game where the players work really hard, they hone their talent and come out to entertain people. It shouldn’t happen.

“Kasey’s a football player with family and wants to play and enjoy his football like everyone else. Then you’ve got these idiots, absolute clowns.”

Wednesday’s Ike Ugbo hit a post and fired narrowly over soon after as his side rallied to level the tie in the second period.

But the home side were indebted to teenage goalkeeper Pierce Charles, who earned his side a replay on his senior debut with a brilliant block to deny Coventry substitute Jamie Allen in the closing stages.

Robins added: “If you can’t win, don’t lose and we will have a right go (in the replay).”

Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl was pleased his side had halted their slide after back-to-back league defeats and insisted the club had sent out a clear message regarding last week’s racism incident.

When asked if the booing undermined the Owls’ zero-tolerance stance, he said: “It was more important we showed last week, a clear direction from everybody, my team, from the fans, from the club side and I think the statement showed what we think about such situations.

“We cannot accept this, we will not accept this. If we see something or hear something, I think then we have to take responsibility of course. Everybody is involved and has to do something.

“But today for me it was a normal emotional football game, some hard duels about the ball, some reactions and this is football, hopefully the normal football we want.”

Mauricio Pochettino praised Emiliano Martinez after the Aston Villa goalkeeper produced a string of saves to deny his Chelsea side in their goalless FA Cup fourth-round meeting at Stamford Bridge.

Villa are five places and 12 points ahead of Chelsea in the Premier League table but there was little to separate them here, although the hosts will reflect on chances missed in the first half by Noni Madueke and Cole Palmer as a shot at settling the tie slipped away.

Martinez was the decisive actor on both occasions, spreading himself well and blocking in one-on-one situations.

John McGinn had Villa’s best opportunities, first when his clipped effort sailed inches over the bar on the stroke of half-time, then again when he stole in at the near post to meet Nicolo Zaniolo’s cross late on but guided it wide under pressure from Thiago Silva.

It is now three consecutive home games against Villa in which Chelsea have failed to score, as they struggled to capitalise on the momentum of Tuesday’s 6-1 Carabao Cup win over Middlesbrough that set up a final showdown against Liverpool at Wembley next month.

“This type of games are very even,” said Pochettino. “When you face a team like Aston Villa, always it’s difficult. We didn’t score but we created chances. I trust and believe in my players playing this way, we are going to score.

“We came from Tuesday, we scored six so today should be good. But their keeper is an amazing keeper, he’s really good. Sometimes you need some luck to score.”

Chelsea lost defender Levi Colwill to injury during the warm-up, with 20-year-old academy graduate Alfie Gilchrist drafted into the starting XI.

Pochettino confirmed Colwill’s injury is not serious and emphasised his belief in Gilchrist as a capable stand-in.

“It’s not so bad, it’s some small issue that maybe he didn’t feel comfortable,” he said. “We knew before we might not start with him. We hope he will train tomorrow.

“The most difficult thing (for young players) is to manage the stress. (Gilchrist) thought he wasn’t going to play. Sometimes with the young guys, you give the starting XI and they think too much, maybe they can’t sleep. The stress can affect them. But he got half an hour (to prepare), no time to think too much.

“The young players need time to be calm and relaxed, not to spend too much energy thinking on the game. But he was really good. He’s going to grow and be more mature in future.

“He’s showing, and we are giving the opportunity for him to build his career. It’s important for all of the academy players have ability to show they can cope with the pressure of playing for Chelsea. We’ll see if he can reach the level we expect.”

Villa boss Unai Emery reflected on a game in which side impressed with their competitive approach despite the stalemate.

“I have to accept this draw and that we will now play at home and be motivated with our supporters,” he said.

“We are going to be at Villa Park trying to enjoy this, because we showed tonight that we are competitive and we can be contenders as well for this competition.”