Everton’s appeal against a 10-point penalty imposed for breaches of Premier League financial rules is being heard this week, the PA news agency understands.

The club were sanctioned by an independent commission in November after being found to have exceeded permitted losses under the league’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) in the three seasons up to 2021-22, but immediately indicated they would appeal.

It is understood the appeal hearing before an independent commission will run until the end of the week, with the expectation that the outcome of the appeal is known before the end of February.

The outcome of the appeal could also have a direct impact on a second PSR complaint the club are facing which was laid on January 15. That complaint covers an assessment period that ends with the 2022-23 season.

Under a new expedited process to deal with PSR breaches which was agreed by top-flight clubs last summer, an independent commission hearing into the second PSR complaint must conclude no later than 12 weeks after the complaint was laid, which would be early April.

Everton described the initial 10-point penalty as “wholly disproportionate”.

The independent commission’s written reasons stated the club’s overspend “was the result of Everton irresponsibly taking a chance that things would turn out positively”. The PSR breach was described as “serious” and warranting “a significant penalty”.

Nottingham Forest were also referred to an independent commission over a PSR breach on January 15.

Owner Robert Waley-Cohen has hailed the genius of Emmet Mullins after his Grand National hero Noble Yeats forced his way into the Stayers’ Hurdle mix when claiming a thrilling Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Making just his third appearance over the smaller obstacles, the nine-year-old was the recipient of significant support in the week leading up to the Grade Two event and was sent off the 3-1 second-favourite behind the evergreen market leader Paisley Park.

It was the two main betting protagonists that would ultimately fight out a brilliant conclusion to a contest that saw six of the seven involved in with a shout jumping the last, before Noble Yeats and Paisley Park’s staying power saw them come to the fore with the post approaching.

Only a head separated the two warriors at the finish, as Mullins pulled off another successful raid on one of the calendar’s big races.

“Emmet, as we all know, is unorthodox, but with brilliance, and what could be more thrilling than Saturday,” said Waley-Cohen.

“It was an unbelievable race and it was literally down to the last stride. You could have taken quite a big bet turning into the home straight that the three in front wouldn’t finish in the first three. I was sorry we spoiled Paisley Park’s party, but not very.

“It was only his third ever hurdle race and he wouldn’t be as quick and slick as some of those pros. However, he ran vigorously up the hill and I don’t think he quickened as much as Paisley Park, but interestingly, if you look at after the finish, he goes right away from Paisley Park.

“I don’t think he saw Paisley Park on the far side of the course. I think he thought he had the horses near him beaten and didn’t see the others because as soon as he crossed the line and they came close together he went on again.”

He went on: “He was getting 6lb on the day from Paisley Park and that perhaps made all the difference, but that’s where Emmet’s genius lies because traditionally you would go hurdles, regulation steeplechase fences and then occasionally the best go to the Grand National.

“No one does it the other way round. He’s won a Grand National, so then going for a Grade Two hurdle is not normal.”

Noble Yeats was campaigned aggressively following his Grand National triumph in 2022, treading a path that saw his Aintree defence sandwiched by tilts at both the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris last season.

Connections have plumped for a more considered route to Merseyside this time around and having been kept under wraps until running at Limerick over the Christmas period, he will continue to ply his trade over timber with a crack at the Stayers’ Hurdle set to tee-up this year’s Grand National bid.

“It was a great thrill (to win the Cleeve) and he had a very hard season last year,” continued Waley-Cohen.

“He won a Listed race at Wexford, won the Many Clouds Chase, came third in the Cotswold Chase, fourth in the Gold Cup, fourth in the Grand National and picked up money in the Grand Steeple. That is one hell of a year and he needed a properly good break afterwards.

“He came back to my place in Warwickshire and had a proper break and lots of TLC and we decided we needed a much more conservative plan this year and not run him at all until after Christmas.

“The race at Limerick didn’t suit him at all and he didn’t like the ground or the course, but Saturday just played into his hands.

“He’s entitled to take his chance (in the Stayers’), but whatever the outcome it will be great step to the National. It’s a better step for him than anything else and it sounds a bit bizarre to say a Grade One race is a prep, but it looks the suitable race.”

Noble Yeats is as short as 8-1 for the Stayers’ Hurdle and although he produced a performance that warrants his place in the Festival’s day three main event, Waley-Cohen has considerable respect for the Gordon Elliott-trained duo that are currently heading the ante-post betting.

He added: “I suspect when we are back at level weights there will be a few young horses from Ireland coming over and you don’t have to be a genius to fathom out that Teahupoo and Irish Point are really nice horses on the upgrade.

“One great thing Harry (Cobden) did riding him on Saturday, was ride him into hurdles with absolute confidence and the horse absolutely revelled in coming up that hill, so who knows, we dream, we always do.

“But in terms of getting to the National in first-class order, it’s a very good option and the National is really the target.

“Many would just go to something like the Bobbyjo (Chase) which is a recognised route to the National, but being the man he is, Emmet thinks this is the better route – he is definitely unorthodox.”

The United States will finally be awarded the team figure-skating Olympic gold for 2022 after the disqualification of Russian athlete Kamila Valieva for a doping offence.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) disqualified all Valieva’s results on Monday and handed her a four-year suspension after she tested positive for a banned substance in December 2021.

That ruling has led the International Skating Union, the sport’s global federation, to re-rank the teams who took part in the Games in Beijing two years ago.

The ISU confirmed the USA were now in top spot, with Japan in silver medal position and the Russian Olympic Committee ranked third.

“The ISU welcomes the decision of CAS and firmly maintains its position that the protection of clean athletes and the fight against doping are of the highest priority and will persist in the ongoing effort to uphold the integrity of fair competition and the well-being of athletes,” an ISU statement said.

“The ISU is in close contact with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the relevant ISU member federations in regard to the implementation of this decision.”

The IOC had earlier said it could now award medals “in accordance with the ranking” and that it was ready to hold a “dignified” medal ceremony once the results had been officially ratified by the ISU.

“We have great sympathy with the athletes who have had to wait for two years to get the final results of their competition,” an IOC spokesperson said.

Valieva’s ban, backdated to the time of the original failed test, will run until Christmas Day 2025.

CAS found she had been unable to establish that the doping violation had not been committed intentionally. Valieva had been 15 at the time of the positive test, but CAS found her age made no difference to the burden on her to prove the violation was unintentional.

“This case, and its circumstances, are further proof of the need to address the part played by the athletes’ entourage in doping cases,” the IOC spokesperson added.

“This is even more important if the athletes are minors, who are even more reliant on their entourage.”

The IOC only learned of Valieva’s doping violation after the team event in 2022 and immediately sought to appeal the decision of the Russian anti-doping agency (RUSADA) to lift her suspension.

The appeal was joined by the ISU and the World Anti-Doping Agency but an ad-hoc CAS panel cleared her to keep competing.

She entered the individual figure-skating event in Beijing but ultimately finished in fourth place.

Tom Hartley’s headline role in England’s famous victory in India has left members of his hometown club “basking in the reflected glory” of a rags-to-riches Test debut.

After Hartley’s second-innings seven for 62 sealed a famous 28-run win in Hyderabad on Sunday, Ormskirk CC offered a free drink to their patrons as they celebrated one of their own’s remarkable success.

Hartley progressed through the juniors at Ormskirk, a market town in Lancashire 13 miles north of Liverpool, and was even playing the odd game for them up until a couple of years ago.

He still has close ties to the club as his father’s flower business supplies their hanging baskets, so it is little wonder there was unconfined joy at Hartley’s accomplishments on the subcontinent.

“It’s a massive, massive achievement for him,” club chair Bill Rankin told the PA news agency. “We’re all basking in the reflected glory, just to have been part of his cricket career.

“We’d have been watching it anyway as cricket fans and that was a fantastic result but to have a fantastic result where you know someone who’s been a significant part of that, it adds a new element.

“It was a great game, full stop, but it was an even greater game when you know someone who was making it happen. It’s like a dream what happened to him on Sunday.

“This is the first time we’ve had someone who’s come through juniors who played at the highest level. That’s why it’s such a special moment as a club because he really is one of our own.”

Hartley endured a turbulent start to his Test career as his maiden delivery was dispatched for six by Yashasvi Jaiswal, with the slow left-armer’s opening nine-over burst leaking an eye-watering 63 runs.

But from humble beginnings, Hartley showed his redoubtable character when the game was in the balance after India were set 231, snaring their top three then taking the final wicket as England went 1-0 up.

The unwavering support of captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum echoes how Hartley was treated at Ormskirk after stepping up to adult level in his early teens.

“The way he’s been captained and looked after at Ormskirk, he’s been backed,” Rankin added. “It’s a healthy way to bring people on.

“He’s been given the ball even when he was fairly young at a time when it could make the difference to a game, told not to worry about the outcome and he’s won games that could have gone the other way.

“It’s nice to think that at the highest level he can play at, he seems to be getting that same sort of backing where you can play in an environment where you’re not afraid to fail.”

Ormskirk’s X feed on Sunday garnered plenty of attention, while a video posted by their first-team captain showing a younger Hartley standing on a table and singing ‘I wanna dance with Tom Hartley’ to Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody’ has been viewed nearly a quarter of a million times.

Held in the highest regard by his old club, Rankin hopes this is just the start of the 24-year-old’s journey.

“It was always obvious he was a talented cricketer but I think his progress has been a steady one,” Rankin added. “He’s been steady, steady and improving all the time.

“You’ve got to work really hard to get yourself in the situation where you have the opportunity to do what he’s done. He has done that.

“Hopefully he’ll keep on doing that, we believe he’s capable of doing it, obviously others do now so fingers crossed.”

A tilt at the JCB Triumph Hurdle remains on Burdett Road’s agenda despite his defeat at Cheltenham on Saturday.

A winner at Royal Ascot in the summer for Michael Bell and the Gredley family, the four-year-old confirmed himself a top-class jumping recruit in winning his first two starts over hurdles at Huntingdon.

The son of Muhaarar was a marginal favourite to complete his hat-trick in Saturday’s Grade Two Triumph Hurdle Trial, but on the day he proved no match for Nicky Henderson’s Sir Gino, who rocketed 10 lengths clear and is now as short as evens for the juvenile championship at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

Trainer James Owen acknowledges Burdett Road will have his work cut out in his bid to turn the tables on Sir Gino, but he is nevertheless happy to roll the dice.

“We bumped into a very good horse and the positive we can take from it is that we jumped better and he’s come out of it fine,” said the Newmarket handler.

“I think drier ground will help us. We’ve got to improve to bridge that gap, but he’ll have an easy week and he’ll be trained for the Triumph Hurdle – all systems go, basically.”

Owen is optimistic his charge can make more of a race of it in March, adding: “We were pleased in quite a few ways on Saturday as he jumped better and settled better, albeit he got keen at the top of the hill when they seemed to slow the race down.

“He was there at the right time to win the race and we were outclassed on the day, but he’s been beaten before on the Flat, he’s a hardy horse and he would have learnt more again.

“Drier ground, a bit of spring weather, I’m hoping a few things will help us bridge the gap. There were no excuses on our behalf though, we were beaten by a very good horse.

“I’m happy with my horse and not disappointed. There was a lot of hype and press about him before Saturday, which was great, but the pressure is off me a bit now and hopefully we can get a trouble-free run and get to Cheltenham in good health and hopefully he’ll run very well.”

The United States appear set to be awarded team figure-skating gold from the 2022 Winter Games after the results achieved by Russian skater Kamila Valieva were officially disqualified.

Valieva, who tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine at the Russian national championships in December 2021, was handed a four-year ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday.

Valieva, who was 15 at the time, was cleared to compete at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing by the Russian anti-doping agency and the failed test only came to light after she had helped her country to team gold.

The International Olympic Committee has said it can now award team figure-skating medals from the 2022 Games “in accordance with the ranking”.

That means the USA, who originally won silver, would be awarded gold, with the original bronze medallists Japan being upgraded to silver. Canada, who missed out on a medal, look set to get the bronze.

The IOC said it was ready to hold a “dignified” medal ceremony once the results had been officially ratified by the sport’s international federation, the International Skating Union.

“The IOC welcomes the fact that the CAS ruling provides clarity in this case, and the athletes from the team figure skating competition at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 can finally get their medals, for which they have been waiting so long,” an IOC spokesperson said.

“The IOC is now in a position to award the medals in accordance with the ranking, which has to be established by the International Skating Union. We have great sympathy with the athletes who have had to wait for two years to get the final results of their competition.

“The IOC will contact the respective NOCs (national Olympic committees) in order to organise a dignified Olympic medal ceremony.”

Valieva’s ban, backdated to the time of the original failed test, will run until Christmas Day 2025.

CAS found she had been unable to establish that the doping violation had not been committed intentionally, and found her age made no difference in the necessity to prove that the violation was not intentional.

“This case, and its circumstances, are further proof of the need to address the part played by the athletes’ entourage in doping cases,” the IOC spokesperson added.

“This is even more important if the athletes are minors, who are even more reliant on their entourage.”

The IOC only learned of Valieva’s doping violation after the team event in 2022 and immediately sought to appeal the decision of RUSADA to lift her suspension. The appeal was joined by the ISU and the World Anti-Doping Agency but an ad-hoc CAS panel cleared her to keep competing.

She entered the individual figure-skating event but ultimately finished in fourth place.

What the papers say

Conor Gallagher could make a move across London as the end of the January transfer window looms. According to The Times, Tottenham are weighing up a potential bid for Chelsea’s England midfielder, 23.

Manchester United winger Facundo Pellistri, 22, could be heading for a spell away from Old Trafford. Spanish club Granada have revived plans for a loan move for the Uruguay international, reports the Manchester Evening News.

West Ham have turned their attention to Portuguese winger Jota, 24, from Al-Ittihad, according to the Evening Standard. Hammers talks with FC Nordsjaelland over Ghanaian forward Ibrahim Osman, 19, have stalled.

Leeds have made an offer to Everton for Ben Godfrey, reports The Sun. The Championship club are looking to take the England international defender, 26, on loan.

Social media round-upPlayers to watch

Jacob Ramsey: Newcastle, Tottenham and Bayern Munich are interested in the 22-year-old midfielder, with Aston Villa considering a sale to comply with financial regulations, reports The Athletic.

Chuba Akpom: Everton and Luton are keen on signing the English forward, 28, on loan from Ajax, says Teamtalk.

Liverpool announced the signing of Brazilian forward Philippe Coutinho from Inter Milan on this day in 2013.

The 20-year-old became manager Brendan Rodgers’ second signing of the January transfer window after finalising the details of his medical and work permit.

Coutinho was on his fourth club – all in different countries – in three years, but having spoken at length with compatriot and new team-mate Lucas Leiva, he was confident he would adapt to life on Merseyside.

“I’ve been talking to him for some time and he said good things about Liverpool,” said the midfielder, who began his career with Vasco da Gama before moving to Inter, who loaned him to Espanyol.

“He believes this might be a nice club for me and now it’s happening. I’m very confident and excited to come and start to train with the team and be available to the manager.

“I’ve been playing in Italy for two and a half years and I believe I will adapt with ease here.

“I’m feeling very happy, it’s a very important step in my career and I’m expecting to come here and play good football to give my contribution on the pitch.

“Liverpool is a great club with great players. We’ve always heard about Liverpool’s history in Brazil.

“They are the club that have been interested in me and that have showed this interest so I know they believe in me and my football.”

Coutinho went on to make 201 appearances for the Reds, scoring 54 goals, before he was sold to Barcelona for £130million in 2018.

Now 31, he currently plays for Qatari club Al Duhail, on loan from Aston Villa.

Claude Giroux's goal with 1:24 remaining in overtime completed a furious rally as the Ottawa Senators overcame a three-goal deficit to earn a 4-3 win over the Nashville Predators in Monday's lone game of the NHL schedule.

Ottawa trailed 3-0 after one period before goals from Drake Batherson, Tim Stuetzle and Brady Tkachuk in the second tied the game, and the Senators received a superb relief effort from goaltender Joonas Korpisalo to help spur the comeback.

Korpisalo stopped all 17 shots he faced after taking over for Mads Sogaard, who was pulled after one period after allowing three goals on 11 shots.

After the Predators failed on a 2-on-1 attempt late in overtime, the Senators countered with an odd-man rush of their own. Stuetzle worked a give-and-go with Giroux, who blasted his teammate's pass over Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros for the game-winner.

Ottawa, tied for last in the Eastern Conference with 40 points, had lost two in a row coming in but improved to 4-1-2 over its last seven games.

The Predators lost for the fourth time in five games despite a solid performance from Saros, who made 14 saves in the third period to force overtime and finished with 31.

Michael McCarron staked Nashville to an early lead when he rocketed a loose puck past Sogaard 8:26 in. Philip Tomasino and Yakov Trenin then scored 2:30 apart before the end of the first period to give the Predators a seemingly comfortable 3-0 advantage. 

Franck Kessie stepped up from the penalty spot to send defending champions Senegal tumbling out of the Africa Cup of Nations and spark wild celebrations in Yamoussoukro.

Kessie had given hosts Ivory Coast hope when he coolly dispatched an 86th-minute spot-kick past Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy to send the tie into extra-time.

And the 27-year-old delivered once again with the crucial kick to seal a 5-4 win in the shoot-out after Moussa Niakhate had missed his earlier effort for the favourites.

The Ivory Coast’s win continued a remarkable revival for the hosts who had looked down and out in the group stage after a 4-0 humiliation at the hands of Equatorial Guinea.

Senegal had looked set to end the curse that had seen no defending champions reach the last eight since 2010 when Habib Diallo rifled home with just four minutes on the clock.

The hosts responded well as they pinned Senegal back in their own half, but the holders’ defence held firm and Ivory Coast were restricted to a succession of half-chances.

Seko Fofana’s run into a dangerous area was superbly snuffed out by Niakhate and Senegal almost extended their advantage on the stroke of half-time when Ismaila Sarr stumbled over a shooting chance.

Sarr came close again early in the second half but Ivory Coast continued to press through Oumar Diakite, who almost served up a leveller for Jean Philippe Krasso just before the hour mark.

The holders missed an even better opportunity in the 74th minute when Kessie’s free-kick was parried by Mendy, who somehow got in the way of the same player’s follow-up from a tight angle.

Substitute Nicolas Pepe missed another huge chance when he lashed a curling effort straight at Mendy, but earned his side their crucial penalty four minutes from time when he was tripped by Mendy in the box.

Kessie kept his cool to force the additional half-hour and after neither side could break the deadlock, it came down to the shoot-out where the hosts scored all five to seal a famous triumph.