Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is not willing to be drawn into mind games with Tottenham counterpart Antonio Conte and is instead focused on getting the most out of his players.

Conte last week stated that Spurs would require "a miracle" to finish fourth place in the Premier League.

Tottenham increased the pressure on Arsenal by hammering Newcastle United 5-1 on Sunday to leapfrog their north London rivals into the final Champions League qualification spot.

However, the Gunners are only behind Tottenham on goal difference and have two games in hand, the first of those coming away at Crystal Palace on Monday.

Conte's comments were perceived as being psychological tactics ahead of a potentially tense run-in that will see the fierce rivals do battle in a rescheduled game.

But Arteta, who was named Manager of the Month for March, is only interested in deploying such tactics internally.

"I don't know if we are favourites [for the top four]," Arteta said. "That is a question for [Conte]. 

"But what we want to do is very clear and the perception of what people think is not going to change it."

When asked if he is a manager who wants to engage in mind games, Arteta replied: "I do it more with my players, I think.

"I do it more with the players, if I have to, to get what I want from them. I can't tell you how I do it because they will know what they are doing and that is the whole point!"

Arsenal have won six of their past seven games ahead of their trip to Palace, who are managed by Gunners midfield legend Patrick Vieira.

Arteta's side have won each of their past five away top-flight matches, which is their best run since a streak of eight in a row between March and September 2013.

That is a remarkable turnaround following their worst start to a Premier League campaign when losing their first three games, and Arteta is confident his young squad can maintain their form.

"There is nothing different; they have already been dealing with [the pressure] for weeks," he said. 

"This is a conversation we have had now for over six to eight weeks, so they have already been through that and have responded really, really well.

"There is nothing new because they have already been doing it and capable of doing it."

Arsenal have lost just one of their past 16 away league games against Palace (W8 D7), though that defeat did come in a Monday game back in April 2017 (3-0).

Following his stunning pole position and race win double in Argentina this weekend, Aleix Espargaro believes this year's Aprilia is the "best bike" he has had in his career.

The Spaniard took Aprilia's first ever MotoGP era pole on Saturday at Termas, going five thousandths of a second within Marc Marquez's all-time lap record set in 2014.

He backed it up by winning on Sunday and fighting his way past Pramac Ducati's Jorge Martin, who took the lead after the first corner.

After claiming his first win in over 200 MotoGP races as well as the fastest lap at Termas, the 32-year-old was on cloud nine.

"I'm extremely happy because since Qatar I felt, even in the pre-season, I felt like I had the best bike I've ever had in my career," Espargaro said.

"Also, in Qatar I felt strong and we have step-by-step shown a lot of potential. Yesterday we proved we were the fastest, and also today in the race it was not lucky or a wet race and now we are leading."

Iga Swiatek has revealed she was "crying for 40 minutes" when she discovered Ash Barty had retired and the Polish sensation has felt "a range of emotions" after becoming world number one.

Barty sensationally called time on her career at the age of 25 last month.

The Australian quit while she was at the top of the rankings and on the back of winning her home grand slam for the first time at Melbourne Park in January.

Swiatek on Monday became Poland's first world number one and the 20-year-old could be hard to dislodge, as she is on a 17-match winning run.

The 2020 French Open champion became the youngest woman to win the Sunshine Double on Saturday when she beat Naomi Osaka in the Miami Open final after being crowned champion at Indian Wells.

Swiatek was in tears after finding out that Barty had ended her playing days and it soon sunk in that she would officially become the best player in the world.

She told BBC Sport: "I was crying for 40 minutes. Mainly, it was because of Ash's retirement. I didn't know it was going to happen and it really surprised me.

"I always had this vision that we would all play until we are 35 or something, until our bodies are so tired that we can't anymore.

"I needed time to actually understand what she must have thought. Her decision was really brave and I felt a lot of emotions because of that."

She added: "I also felt emotional because of my own position.

"I realised after two hours of being really emotional that 'hey, you don't know what is going to happen yet and you still have to win some matches'.

"So I told myself 'let's wait with the emotions and with being excited because I have work to do'."

Swiatek won the Qatar Open before claiming another two prestigious titles in the United States and the Warsaw native says the manner in which she has dominated has taken her by surprise.

"Emotionally it has been really intense and I have felt a range of emotions – from being proud and having satisfaction, to confusion and surprise," she said.

"These last weeks showed me I can trust in myself a little bit more and trust my skills and my tennis. Before I didn't really know it was possible for me to have a streak like that. So it also kind of surprised me.

"After Doha and after Indian Wells I didn't have time to digest what I've achieved. Right now I am going to take some time to analyse what happened from a 'work' point of view."

Kyle Lowry was overwhelmed by the reception he received upon his return to Toronto, as the Miami Heat beat the Raptors 114-109 on Sunday.

The Heat guard spent nine seasons in Toronto, averaging 17.5 points and 7.1 assists over that span, as well as being such a key player in the Raptors' sole NBA championship in 2019.

It was the first time Lowry had played in Toronto since February 2020, weeks before the Covid-19 pandemic forced a stoppage to the season and a move to a bubble.

After Miami's other starters were introduced, the lights at the Scotiabank Arena dimmed and a video tribute to Lowry's time in Toronto played on the scoreboard. The sell-out crowd gave the 36-year-old a standing ovation as he was introduced with the words "From North Philly to your city…"

Lowry graciously acknowledged the crowd with his two sons by his side, before putting up a double-double of 16 points and 10 assists, as well as six rebounds in the win.

"It meant the world to me for the fans to show their appreciation, give me an ovation like that," Lowry said post-match. "The first time is always special and you don't forget that.

"It's something I'm going to cherish for a long time.

"I got the win, so that made it better. Even if I didn't win, it would have been a great night, a special night."

Heat assistant coach Chris Quinn, who handled coaching duties with Erik Spoelstra sidelined due to the NBA's health and safety protocols, praised Lowry's ability to handle the emotional return on the Toronto court.

"I'm surprised he was able to reel it back in and play so well," Quinn said. "Obviously we needed him tonight as the quarterback of our team. What a cool night."

With the win, despite the injured Jimmy Butler's absence, the Heat moved closer to claiming the Eastern Conference's first seed.

Joel Embiid declared "I don't know what I have to do" to be named NBA MVP after his latest masterclass against the Cleveland Cavaliers clinched the Philadelphia 76ers' playoff spot.

Embiid scored 44 points, claimed 17 rebounds and made five blocks in a 112-108 victory for Philadelphia on Sunday.

The 28-year-old is a strong contender to win the MVP award, but Denver Nuggets Nikola Jokic is the favourite to be selected as the best player in the league.

Sixers coach Doc Rivers believes Embiid, who is averaging 30.2 points and 11.6 rebounds per game as well as 4.2 assists a game, deserves to land the prestigious gong

The Cameroonian does not believe he can do any more to take the MVP award.

He said after dismantling the Cavs: "If it happens, great. If it doesn't, I don't know what I have to do.

"I'll feel like they hate me. I feel like the standard for guys in Philly or for me is different than everyone else."

James Harden, the 2018 MVP, doffed his cap to his team-mate Embiid after another inspirational display.

"I get to witness his greatness every night," Harden said. "Obviously, his offensive numbers tonight are self-explanatory.

"Defensively, he was very active blocking shots, changing shots and clogging the paint up was key."

The Sixers are fourth in the Eastern Conference at 48-30 and bound for the playoffs after back-to-back wins.

Ross Taylor was given a guard of honour by Netherlands players but there was no dream final New Zealand innings for the legendary batter at Seddon Park on Monday.

There was a standing ovation for Taylor as he walked out to the crease in Hamilton and the tourists lined up to show their appreciation for his brilliant career during the third and final ODI of the series.

The 38-year-old was caught and bowled by Logan van Beek for only 14 before departing to another standing ovation.

Taylor later led New Zealand out onto the field before Netherlands started their pursuit of a huge target of 334 for a consolation victory.

The former Black Caps captain's children joined him on the pitch for the pre-match national anthems prior to his international swansong.

Taylor retires as New Zealand's highest ODI run-scorer with 8,593 at an average of 47.73, while he has also scored the most hundreds (21) and half-centuries (51) for his country in the 50-over format.

The Blacks Caps great racked up 7,683 runs in 112 Tests and 1,909 in 102 T20 Internationals.

James Maddison's importance to Leicester City is of little debate, but the Foxes are considering selling the playmaker.

Though the 25-year-old's sole senior England cap came in 2019, he has provided 13 goals and eight assists in 41 appearances across all competitions this season.

However, Maddison's sale might be required to facilitate the Foxes strengthening in other areas.

TOP STORY – MADDISON SALE TO FUND LEICESTER REVAMP

Leicester are weighing up the prospect of Maddison's sale in order to make new signings, the Daily Mail has reported.

Manager Brendan Rodgers wants three new additions to propel the Foxes up the Premier League following a season in which they have plateaued.

Leicester will reportedly back Rodgers, but the impact of coronavirus on their finances would likely mean outgoing as well as incoming transfers, and Maddison holds one of the higher market values at the club.

The 25-year-old's £50million price tag would provide serious flexibility in the transfer market, while the club also has to make decisions on Caglar Soyuncu and Youri Tielemans.

ROUND-UP

–  Barcelona want to confirm a contract extension for Ronald Araujo , who has received an offer from Manchester United, according to Sport, but the 23-year-old has viewed this club's pursuit of Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen with caution.

–  Arsenal and Tottenham are keen to sign Lautaro Martinez , but Inter will only sell if they meet a transfer demand in excess of €80million (£67.3m), per Calciomercato.

– The Sun is reporting Newcastle are preparing a £20million offer for Brighton and Hove Albion goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, while also showing interest in Watford's Ismaila Sarr.

–  Manchester United target Manuel Akanji wants to leave Borussia Dortmund at the end of the season and is considering a move to the Premier League, according to Sport1.

The Miami Heat moved a step closer to claiming the Eastern Conference's first seed with a 114-109 win on the road against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.

Kyle Lowry put up 16 points and 10 assists in an emotional return to the Air Canada Centre against his old team, while Victor Oladipo scored a season-high 21 points.

Lowry had not played in Toronto since February 2020, when he was still a member of the Raptors, weeks before that season was shut down and moved to a bubble due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Heat had a healthy spread of scorers as Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo scored 18 and 16 points respectively, on the way to winning their fourth consecutive game.

Miami remain two games clear of the Boston Celtics atop the standings in the East, while both teams have only three games remaining in the regular season.

Toronto now hold an equal record with the fifth-placed Chicago Bulls, but the Bulls hold the tiebreaker. However, they remain 2.5 games clear of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the play-in spots.

Bucks no match for Luka magic 

Luka Doncic was unstoppable as his Dallas Mavericks defeated the reigning champion Milwaukee Bucks 118-112.

Doncic had 32 points on nine-of-22 shooting, as well as 15 assists, eight rebounds and three steals in a game that saw both coaches cut their rotation down to nine players and extend the minutes of their stars.

Giannis Antetokounmpo top-scored for the Bucks with 28 points on 12-of-22 shooting, but was a costly 50 per cent from the free throw line, going four-of-eight.

Clippers clinch play-in double chance 

The Los Angeles Clippers secured eighth spot in the Western Conference on Sunday, defeating the New Orleans Pelicans 119-100.

Marcus Morris made four three-pointers on the way to 22 points, while the Clippers went 21-of-44 from total beyond the arc and connected on all eight attempts in the first quarter.

The Clips guaranteed the double chance in the play-in with the win, meaning if they lose to the seventh seed, they would face the winner between the ninth and 10th seed for an eventual play-off spot.

Carlos Alcaraz said he never expected to have such a meteoric rise so early in his career after winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title at the Miami Open.

Alcaraz defeated Casper Ruud 7-5 6-4 in the final, making the 18-year-old the youngest ever winner in Miami, beating Novak Djokovic's previous record when he won it aged 19.

With the win, Alcaraz jumped all the way up number 11 in the world.

Speaking to Tennis Channel after his triumph, Alcaraz said he has already exceeded his goals for this season.

"Of course, I did not expect this," he said.

"My goal was to end this year in the top-15, and now I'm at 11, close to the top-10. I'm going up so fast, and I think it's [because of] all the hard work I'm putting in every day.

"Of course my experience from last year has helped me a lot – playing Rafa (Nadal) in Madrid, against (Alexander) Zverev in Acapulco – you have to live that experience to learn.

"When I started playing tennis when I was five or six, I wanted to be number one in the world, and this year I've realised I can beat the top players in the world."

Alcaraz was buoyed by the presence of his coach, former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero, who surprised him the day before the final after being absent throughout the tournament, mourning the death of his father back in Spain.

"Juan Carlos [Ferrero] played everything that I'm playing, he has experienced all that I am experiencing right now, so he has helped me a lot," he said.

"It's amazing to have Juan Carlos here with me – I talk with him every day, but it was a surprise when he arrived, I didn't know anything.

"It was a big surprise and I was really happy [to see him] – I'm really happy to win my first Masters 1000 title with him here."

With the young Spaniard now drawing comparisons to Spanish superstar Rafael Nadal, Alcaraz said it can only be a good thing.

"If people are comparing you with Rafa, that means you are doing great things, and you are doing it the right way," he said.

"I'm trying to not think about that – Rafa is Rafa, and I am Carlos Alcaraz – Rafa is one of the best players in the history of tennis, and I am a young man living his dream.

"I looked up to Rafa when I was young, he inspired me a lot, watching his big matches, so to be around him in the tour, and to be able to play against him, is pretty special."

Anthony Davis pondered "what could have been" this season after Sunday's 129-118 loss to the Denver Nuggets, and admitted he feels like "the whole world wants to see" the Los Angeles Lakers lose.

The Lakers' loss means they are now two games behind the San Antonio Spurs in the race for the last Western Conference Play-In Tournament spot, with just four games to play.

Favourite to win his second consecutive MVP award, Nikola Jokic starred once again for the Nuggets, scoring 38 points on 15-of-22 shooting, with 18 rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks.

Davis also played well, with 28 points (11-of-25 shooting), nine rebounds, eight assists, two steals and three blocks, but when speaking to post-game media he wondered what his team could have accomplished if healthier.

"We never [got a chance to get continuity] all year," he said.

"I think us three – being me, LeBron [James] and Russ [Westbrook] – have played… 21 games together?

"We didn't expect to only have 21 games together, but it's just kind of been that year. Either I'm in, or [James is] in, and the times we do play together we look really good – and then somebody's out of the line-up.

"It's been tough not being able to fully reach our potential, as far as us three being on the floor and seeing what we really could be.

"But that being said, we also have enough to win basketball games, either when [James] doesn't play or when I don't play. 

"You saw tonight, we fought extremely hard, and we were there, there were just some costly plays in the last four or five minutes that cost us the game."

That thought about what the Lakers could have been was not a passing one for Davis, who admitted it weighs on his mind.

 "I think the biggest thing that I think about is 'what could have been'," he said.

"If we stayed healthy all year, what could we have been? 

"Of course you have to figure out the kinks early on, but after that 10, 15, 20 games to figure it out, and you get close to All-Star [Weekend], or after All-Star, and you're rolling, you feel like 'what could we have been' if I was healthy all year, or LeBron was healthy all year, if [Kendrick] Nunn was healthy.

"You think about those things. When we put this team together, it really looked good on paper, but we haven't had a chance to reach our potential."

While there is plenty of reflection happening, Davis insisted his side is not going to roll over in the last few games of the season, but admitted he feels like people enjoy watching the Lakers struggling.

"We know with the situation we're in, especially with losing today, it's another must-win – a must-must-win – in Phoenix [against the Suns on Tuesday]," he said.

"[Phoenix] is playing well, but also can be beat. But [our] spirits are high, we're not a team that's going to fold until it's all the way over.

"We've got four games left, and it's our job to try and compete and go out and win every one of those.

"There's no moral victories in this league. Especially with us – the whole world wants to see us lose, to be honest."

JJ Spaun landed the Valero Texas Open title after coming back from a double-bogey on the first hole to shoot 69 in the final round, clinching a place at the Masters in the process.

Spaun finished two strokes clear of the field on 13 under par, with Australian Matt Jones and American Matt Kuchar sharing second place at 11 under.

With his win, the Californian became the first player since Tiger Woods in 2008 to win a PGA Tour event after double-bogeying the opening hole of the final round.

The 31-year-old went bogey-free the rest of the way, collecting birdies on the sixth, eighth, ninth, 11th and 14th holes – giving him a birdie on the par-five 14th hole in all four rounds.

It is the first PGA Tour win of Spaun's career, and with it, he punched his ticket to Augusta National in just a few days.

Spaun said the scale of his achievement was hard to believe.

"I think a year ago to even be on tour I would have been telling you I'd have to do a lot of work to get there," he said.

"But to be here, and to overcome a lot of things and finally get a win, that's everything you dream of. It's incredible. I'm speechless."

On his early double-bogey and how he recovered, he said the moment actually calmed him down.

"It didn't bother me as much as you would think – if anything, it kind of calmed me down," he said.

"I knew there was still a lot of golf, and I would rather double the first hole than the last hole, so I just knew if I stayed patient and kept plugging away and put myself in contention with nine holes to play, that's all I could ask for."

The best performances from the fourth round were a pair of 66s posted by Jones, who finished second, and Keegan Bradley, who jumped up into a tie for eighth.

Among those one stroke worse on the day with 67s were Canadian Adam Hadwin, who finished in a tie for fourth, and Jordan Spieth, who was at even par coming into the round and flew up the leaderboard into a tie for 35th at five under.

Of the three joint-leaders with Spaun coming into Sunday's play, Beau Hossler finished the highest, tied for fourth at 10 under after shooting even par; South African Dylan Frittelli dropped one stroke and tied for eighth; and Brandt Snedeker ended with a whimper, finishing three over for the round to fall to a tie for 18th.

After a scorching start to the week saw Russell Knox as the outright leader with a first-round 65, he followed it with rounds of 76, 71 and 76 again to finish the weekend where the cut-line was at even par.

Inter boss Simone Inzaghi insists his team will continue to chase Milan and Napoli for the Serie A title after an important 1-0 win at Juventus on Sunday.

A first-half Hakan Calhanoglu penalty was enough for victory in the Derby d'Italia as Inter moved within three points of the top two in the race for the Scudetto.

Massimiliano Allegri's Juventus side will consider themselves unfortunate to have lost, having had 22 shots to the Nerazzurri's five, while the winning goal was the only effort Inter managed on target all game.

Speaking to DAZN after the win, Inzaghi said: "We can chase Milan and Napoli. We have lost some points that we will try to earn in the last eight games from now to the end. It is still very long, [Milan and Napoli] are the favourites, but some will say that it is us."

The former Lazio head coach also insisted there was no controversy about the winning penalty when Calhanoglu's first effort had been saved but the rebound bundled into the net.

The referee initially disallowed the goal and awarded Juve a free-kick, only to then ask for the penalty to be retaken after it emerged Matthijs de Ligt encroached into the box before the first was taken, and Calhanoglu made no mistake at the second time of asking.

"The penalty kick was there, it was already a goal on the rebound and it shouldn't have been repeated," Inzaghi said.

Inzaghi also revealed Inter have offered him an extension on his contract, despite rumours he was under pressure after recent results, but added that he will not engage in discussions until the end of the current campaign.

"I have a two-year contract that the club asked me to extend," he said. "I asked to wait until the end [of the season] because contracts are worth what they are worth.

"I feel the trust of the club, of the fans. I'm very happy with what has been done. We had so much fun for seven months and then some criticisms came out. We have been in football for 30 years and we know which criticisms are constructive and which are artfully created."