Vincent Kompany fumed over the decision to allow Luton’s controversial stoppage-time equaliser as Burnley were denied a crucial three points in a 1-1 draw against their relegation rivals at Turf Moor.

Carlton Morris headed into an empty net after Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford was blocked by Elijah Adebayo as he tried to claim Alfie Doughty’s cross, but referee Tony Harrington was unmoved and VAR Peter Bankes upheld the goal following a lengthy check.

After Zeki Amdouni’s 36th-minute goal, Burnley had been moments away from celebrating a win that would have put them a point behind Luton and within touching distance of safety, but instead it was the Hatters who moved level on points with 17th-placed Everton.

“It’s a joke, a joke,” the Burnley boss said. “I will start by saying 100 per cent respect and credit to Luton, they’re a terrific outfit, what they do as a club, the players, managers, they deserve whatever is coming to them, a really good club.

“In that phase I’ve just got to defend my team, my club. I don’t understand how we can go through this phase and those events and not come to the conclusion it’s a foul.

“The striker, good luck to him, his first look is at the goalkeeper, he has a look and takes a couple of steps back and backs into him, clears a way for his colleague, then has a look at the referee to see if he gets away with it. The ball goes in, none of the Luton players celebrate, nobody.”

Kompany pointed to a series of controversial decisions that have gone against his side this season.

“For those that where there for Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Forest, how many times is it going to keep happening? A couple of lines in the newspaper and on we go. Consequences? Zero,” he said.

“Maybe we get a bit on one of the specialist things where they explain the referee decision but we won’t spend too much time on it because we need to talk about Manchester United and Liverpool. And we move on…

“It’s against my nature because I would like to congratulate Luton and tell my players what we have to do to improve. I’m shocked.

“I’m disappointed but if you know me tomorrow the only people I will blame is ourselves, what can we do better? But hopefully it will balance out and then we’ll get a lot of angry managers from the opposition when it does.”

Luton boss Rob Edwards admitted he would have been disappointed to have been on Burnley’s end of the decision, but did his best to argue there had been no foul.

“Obviously I’m really pleased to get a point,” he said. “In the end that’s nothing less than we deserved. We were excellent. We dominated large spells of the game. In the first half we dominated and looked a threat. In the second half we blocked things up a bit more made it difficult to get behind…

“We showed a lot of control without hurting them but we kept going, the team doesn’t give in and we found a way, whatever way it was.

“It’s difficult. VAR is there to show if a decision is blatantly wrong and I don’t think it is blatantly wrong. But I can understand their frustration. There is contact there with James Trafford but if it hadn’t have been given I would have been frustrated because it was pretty minimal.”

Burnley boss Vincent Kompany expressed his frustration after his side were held 1-1 at home by a controversial late goal from Carlton Morris.

Morris headed into the net in stoppage time following a collision between his fellow Hatters forward Elijah Adebayo and Clarets goalkeeper James Trafford, with referee Tony Harrington unmoved and the effort standing after a lengthy check from VAR.

Kompany told TNT Sports: “I don’t get it anymore. If we get a foul against us that is given as a penalty that is as soft as it is against Aston Villa (the 3-2 loss on December 30), then what is this here?

“There’s a clear attempt to stop the goalkeeper getting up. It doesn’t take anything away from the performance by Luton, I thought they were incredible today. But it’s just a moment there where the referee has to get it right.

“I think any ex-pro will say they understand what the striker has been doing in this case, clearing the room for the other striker.”

Kompany, whose men had led against their relegation rivals through Zeki Amdouni’s 36th-minute strike, added: “First I expect the referee to see it, it was that obvious.

“None of the Luton players have celebrated. The striker (looks) to the referee, to see if he got away with it.

“Luckily we have VAR, we think that is going to sort it out, and then it rolls, it rolls, lack of decision and that’s it, 1-1.

“I’m absolutely fine if we concede this goal and it’s consistent and this is allowed – if everyone can do it, I’ll tell my players to do it.

“But we dropped points at Villa after the softest red card and softest penalty against us, and it just keeps happening.

“Here I’m like ‘what do I go and tell (my players)?’. I don’t understand what’s happened to them a couple of weeks ago, what’s happened to them now. The frustration at this moment is very difficult to hide, it’s very difficult to digest it.”

Mauricio Pochettino admitted he is concerned by Christopher Nkunku’s ongoing injury absence with Chelsea’s attacking options looking stretched ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Fulham.

The France international returned from a five-month lay-off following knee surgery only in December but has missed the team’s last two fixtures with a hip issue.

He has been unable to train since before Chelsea’s FA Cup win over Preston on January 6 and the manager said he is unsure when Nkunku, who was the Bundesliga’s top scorer last season with 16 goals for RB Leipzig before moving to west London for £52million, will be available again.

With fellow summer-signing Nicolas Jackson away representing Senegal at the Africa Cup of Nations for what is likely to be at least the rest of the month, and Armando Broja still looking to find form after being sidelined for nine months with an ACL injury, Pochettino has few options in Nkunku’s absence.

Chelsea’s goalscoring form has improved significantly on last season, when their return of 38 was the club’s lowest in the league for almost a century.

They currently have 34 at the halfway stage of the Premier League campaign, but despite this they have repeatedly found it difficult to break teams down, and have failed to convert high possession figures into   clear chances.

They enjoyed 72 per cent of the ball and had 18 shots on goal during Tuesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg away to Middlesbrough, yet still slumped to a 1-0 defeat at the Riverside.

“I’m a little bit worried because I don’t have the whole information (on Nkunku’s injury),” said Pochettino. “If he’s going to be ready or not, or available (after) a short period.

“We need to be very clinical and, if it’s possible, to take some decision. If not, we need to think about how we can fix the problem.”

The 26-year-old shone during the team’s pre-season tour of the United States before injuring his knee in a game against Borussia Dortmund in Chicago.

That sent early plans for Pochettino, who had hoped to use Nkunku as the focal point of his side’s new-look attack, into disarray, and heaped pressure on Jackson and Broja – both only 22 – to take up the goalscoring mantel.

The club have been linked with possible moves for Brentford’s Ivan Toney and Brighton’s Evan Ferguson in January to help bolster their attack.

“(Nkunku) was the only player that was performing, of course in a different league, in Germany,” said Pochettino. “But consistently scoring goals. That was the situation before the start of the season.

“When (the injury) happened, we needed to see about Broja after one year (out injured), and Jackson moving from Villarreal, where he wasn’t top scorer.

“The age of the players, (they are) young guys that need to adapt. That was why we felt a little bit more the hit of (losing) Nkunku.

“He was consistently scoring goals. When you miss a player like this, you hope that players that maybe came here and need time to grow and score goals, it (became) a necessity, compulsory for Jackson to score in every single touch.

“Or Broja, after one year out, needs now to play three games in a row. It’s difficult for him.

“It makes our job more difficult. It’s exciting this project, but situations like this make it more difficult. You have to grow at a different pace.”

Ange Postecoglou has insisted Tottenham are in the Premier League title race.

Spurs have endured a tricky winter period with a litany of injuries and suspensions, but they remain within touching distance of leaders Liverpool.

Tottenham are also only a point behind Arsenal and Manchester City ahead of Sunday’s clash at Manchester United.

“By definition, we are aren’t we? So, yes we are,” Postecoglou claimed.

“I’ve said all along that until the point where you’re not, why would you discount the possibility?

“We’ve gone through a really tough period and we’re hanging in there. We had four games when results went against us, but we’ve clawed our way back. We’re still in there.

“Our performances for the most part have been pretty consistent, but all that is meaningless if we don’t finish the season stronger than the first half of the season and that’s what we’ve got to do.”

A season of transition was expected for Spurs after they finished eighth last term and sold record scorer Harry Kane on the eve of the campaign.

Postecoglou enjoyed a flying start instead with Tottenham at the summit in November, but a costly 4-1 loss to Chelsea sparked a run of four defeats in five.

Spurs have regrouped admirably since and after securing the additions of Timo Werner and Radu Dragusin this week, the Aussie coach is not prepared to put a limit on his squad’s potential.

“No, I don’t think that would be right for the players and for the club,” Postecoglou added.

“We have scratched and clawed our way into a decent position in the league, we’re into the next round of the cup, those possibilities are always there.

“And we certainly want to tackle them as robustly as possible without any fear or fear of not achieving anything.

“We’ve done it from day one, we’ve had a vision of the sort of football we want to play and some parts are really, really good and have surprised me with the progress and other parts we’re still in the early stages of development.

“We’ve got a platform here to kick on and try on from here.

“It does excite me. Look, that has to be the objective and the aim and we’ve got to take every opportunity we have to get stronger.

“Part of that process is just a trust thing, they have obviously invested in me, you can only gain that trust over a period of time and after doing certain things.

“The club itself probably took a lot of comfort from our summer window knowing they got their business right there and going into this window, saying you want to work quickly, there’s a leap of faith there which the club has to have in me and what I’m doing.

“I think the first part of the season has helped that and hopefully that keeps accelerating because hopefully it can accelerate our work and where we want to get to.”

The prognosis for James Maddison is encouraging with the England international set to return to training next week with the intention of being fit to face Man City in the FA Cup on January 26.

Postecoglou said: “He’s getting closer. He hasn’t trained with the group yet. Obviously after Man United we’ve got two weeks.

“I’ll be hoping between the two Manchester game he’s back training with the first team as long as there’s no setbacks in that two-week window.

“I think we’ve got three games in that week after the Man City game so, him and Manor Solomon are the next two that should be fairly close after that provided there’s no setbacks.”

Erling Haaland is expected to be sidelined until the end of January, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has said.

The prolific Norwegian striker has missed City’s last eight games, including their Club World Cup triumph in Saudi Arabia, with a foot injury.

City had hoped to welcome the 23-year-old back early in the new year but the problem is proving more troublesome than expected and the player is not yet back in full training.

The expectation now is that he will be able to resume work as the club, without a game next weekend, travel to Abu Dhabi for a warm-weather training camp after Saturday’s game at Newcastle.

Guardiola said: “Yes, (he’s had) a little bit of disturbing problems in his feet. It’s fine but the doctors decided to stop for one week and maybe restart in Abu Dhabi.

“Hopefully at the end of this month he’ll be ready. It was a little bit more than we expected in the beginning.

“It’s the bone. It needs time. With every injury you can do whatever you want but it’s a question of time.”

Haaland scored 52 goals last season during an outstanding first campaign with City and had already netted 19 this term.

Guardiola feels his firepower has been sorely missed.

“We miss Erling a lot,” the Spaniard said. “We need him. Hopefully he can come back and play the last four or five months without a problem.

“When you are injured at end of November, you miss a lot of games. It’s the toughest period.”

In a further blow for City, defender Manuel Akanji is facing a spell on the sidelines.

The Switzerland international was forced off early in last weekend’s FA Cup victory over Huddersfield following a heavy challenge.

He joins centre-back John Stones on the casualty list.

Guardiola said: “He will be some weeks out. It’s not a big problem but until the end of the month.

“Now we’re lucky that we don’t have games in the next 10 days after Newcastle. We’ll see how they feel in the good weather in Abu Dhabi.”

Chauncey Billups lamented a "perfect storm" as the Portland Trail Blazers fell to a 139-77 defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday.

The 62-point margin of defeat was the joint-fifth largest in NBA history and marked a record victory for the Thunder in franchise history.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander registered 31 points at Paycom Center and Jalen Williams 21, while Josh Giddey had a triple-double.

"It was almost like a perfect storm, to be honest with you," Billups told reporters after the game. "Nothing really worked for us.

"I mean, this was, sheesh – not much really good to say about this one for us. 

"I thought that we generated some pretty good looks in the first half. The fact that we couldn't make pretty much anything deflated us."

Only once before have the Trail Blazers been on the end of a worse defeat – a 65-point loss to Indiana Pacers in 1998.

The victory for Oklahoma City was their third in a row, having also defeated the Miami Heat and the Washington Wizards this week.

Coach Mark Daigneault was particularly pleased with how his side adapted after returning home in the early hours of the same day.

"I thought we cleared a couple hurdles tonight," Daigneault said. 

"The first one was the start of the game, how ready we were to play and the energy we were able to generate with a tough schedule.

"It's mind over matter. And then the other hurdle was playing with a lead. I thought we played pretty well with a lead, both ends of the floor."

Oklahoma City's previous record margin of victory was 45 points, which they registered twice in the 2012-13 season.

The 26-11 Thunder are level with the Minnesota Timberwolves for the best record in the Western Conference. Portland are 10-27 and are in 14th.

Carlton Morris’ controversial stoppage-time equaliser denied Burnley what would have been a crucial victory over relegation rivals Luton as it finished 1-1 at Turf Moor.

Zeki Amdouni’s 36th-minute strike looked like seeing Burnley complete the double over Rob Edwards’ side, but Morris headed home Alfie Doughty’s cross in the second minute of stoppage time.

Celebrations were muted as Burnley appealed for what looked like a foul – goalkeeper James Trafford having been barged out of the way by Elijah Adebayo as he tried to come for the cross.

But referee Tony Harrington was unmoved and after a lengthy check from VAR Peter Bankes the goal stood, to the fury of the home fans.

Up until that moment, Burnley had been good value for a win that would have left them one point behind the Hatters and two behind 17th-placed Everton, who host Aston Villa on Sunday, but their failure to hang on could be hugely costly come the end of the season.

Amdouni’s strike may have taken a deflection off Johann Berg Gudmundsson as it beat Thomas Kaminski on the line, but few inside Turf Moor would have cared about that had it delivered victory in a fixture which had taken on huge importance for both sides.

Luton had more of the ball but it was Burnley who had looked more threatening, with Wilson Odobert in particular showing why Vincent Kompany had said the 19-year-old was among a group of players whose emergence persuaded him to pull a contract offer to Andros Townsend, who instead started for Luton.

Burnley had a huge chance seven minutes in when Amdouni’s pass put Gudmundsson through on goal, but former Blackburn goalkeeper Kaminski got down to make a vital save.

And that looked like it might be costly for Burnley as Luton seized control of the game for the next 25 minutes, with Ross Barkley dictating play and going close himself with a curling shot touched over by Trafford.

Chiedozie Ogbene tested Trafford from a tight angle before playing a low ball in for Albert Sambi Lokonga, who was guilty of scuffing a very presentable chance.

Burnley were struggling to get over the halfway line but Odobert always looked their most likely outlet down the left-hand side.

The teenager cut in from the left and watched a curling shot drift just over in the 35th minute, but then set up the opening goal moments later.

Odobert got past Teden Mengi inside the box and pulled the ball back, with his cross taking a slight deflection to fall for Amdouni to fire at goal, beating Kaminski as Gudmundsson applied pressure.

Burnley made a bright start to the second half and Lyle Foster should have played Amdouni in, instead over-hitting his pass inside the box. Next, Josh Cullen’s pass found Vitinho, who easily turned away from Doughty but sent his left-footed shot over the crossbar.

Odobert was unlucky just after the hour, cutting inside to get away from Ogbene before his shot took a wicked deflection off Mengi, forcing Kaminski to scramble over and push the ball to safety.

Odobert went close again 10 minutes from time. Substitute Connor Roberts, strongly linked with a January move to Leeds, took a free-kick quickly to set Odobert away down the right and he darted towards goal before stinging the palms of Kaminski.

But just as Burnley fans prepared to celebrate, the mood changed in stoppage time. Trafford had comfortably collected everything Luton had thrown at him late in the game and should have had Doughty’s cross under control.

But Adebayo blocked his path and that left an open goal for Morris to score his fourth of the season.

Harry Kane equalled Robert Lewandowski’s half-season Bundesliga goalscoring record with a late strike but it was Jamal Musiala who provided the real cutting edge in Bayern Munich’s 3-0 victory over 10-man Hoffenheim.

The England striker clipped home left-footed from 12 yards in added time for his 22nd goal in 16 games to match the man whose number nine shirt he inherited following his summer move from Tottenham. Kane now has next week’s home match against Werder Bremen to surpass Lewandowski’s tally by the halfway stage of the campaign.

But on a night when the death of Bayern great Franz Beckenbauer was marked with a number of tributes – the outside of the stadium emblazoned with the words ‘Danke Franz’ – it was the mercurial talents of the 20-year-old Germany international Musiala which lit up the Allianz Arena and moved his side within a point of leaders Bayer Leverkusen.

The first of his two goals secured a new record for the German champions, who have now scored in 65 successive home league fixtures to beat their own Bundesliga record set between 1970 and 1974.

Musiala opened the scoring in the first half with a shot from a narrow angle which goalkeeper Oliver Baumann could have dealt with better before converting a simpler 70th-minute effort to secure the result on a night of half-chances and missed opportunities.

Grischa Promel’s 74th-minute dismissal for a second yellow card ended the visitors’ hopes of staging a late comeback, although that appeared unlikely after failing to capitalise on their only good spell of the game midway through the second half when Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer marked his 500th club appearance with two good saves.

Bayern’s players all wore Beckenbauer’s number five during the warm-up, their match shirts also carried the words ‘Danke Franz’ and there was a period of silence before kick-off.

Once the game began, the hosts failed to create anything before they took the lead with their first shot in the 18th minute.

Hoffenheim were guilty of switching off as Bayern took a quick corner and that allowed Leroy Sane to picked out Musiala in space and he beat Baumann from the narrowest of angles via the far post.

It was Bayern’s 50th league goal in their 16th game and Hoffenheim’s 12th fixture without a clean sheet.

The only surprise was the home side’s failure to press home their dominance, the winter break appearing to have dulled their invention as all they could muster was a Raphael Guerreiro effort, teed up by Kane, which was comfortably turned around the post.

Hoffenheim’s best of limited opportunities saw Andrej Kramaric’s shot easily caught by Neuer.

Kane thought he had teed up Sane for Bayern’s second 10 minutes after half-time but it was ruled out for offside against the England captain, who continued to look one of Bayern’s biggest threats with a shot narrowly deflected wide.

Musiala then hit the post from distance with Thomas Muller unable to turn home the rebound and Konrad Laimer and Alphonso Davies were both denied by Baumann as Bayern began to ramp up the pressure.

But they were almost made to pay for not taking their chances as Neuer was forced into two great saves, first from Maximilian Beier’s close-range header and then Kramaric as he raced through on goal.

Even when Neuer was beaten by Beier’s volley, the ball crashed against the crossbar and that was to prove even more costly.

Musiala doubled his tally by converting Sane’s return pass and Kane grabbed his customary goal late on.

The New England Patriots have named inside linebackers coach and former player Jerod Mayo as their new head coach following the departure of long-serving Bill Belichick.

The Patriots on Thursday announced they and Belichick, 71, had mutually agreed to part ways following a 24-year tenure featuring six Super Bowl titles.

Belichick’s successor Mayo played for the Patriots from 2008 to 2015 before returning when he joined Belichick’s coaching staff in 2019. At 37, Mayo becomes the youngest current head coach in the NFL.

Captain for seven seasons and a Super Bowl champion in 2014, Mayo is the first former Patriots player to become head coach of the team.

He is to be formally introduced in his new role at a press conference next Wednesday.

Belichick took charge at the Patriots in 2000 and oversaw an unprecedented run of success, including three Super Bowl titles in the space of four seasons, as well as 17 AFC East division titles and 18 play-off appearances.

The Patriots ended the 2023 season with a 4-13 record, the worst of Belichick’s coaching career.

Manchester United left-back Alvaro Fernandez is set to return from a loan spell at Granada and join Benfica, the PA news agency understands.

Donny van de Beek and Jadon Sancho have already left Erik ten Hag’s side this month to join Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund respectively on loan for the rest of the season.

Hannibal Mejbri is set to join Sevilla on loan with a view to buy having also attracted interest from Everton and Joe Hugill has joined Burton for the rest of the season fresh from extending his United contract.

Facundo Pellistri and Dan Gore are others attracting interest, while left-back Fernandez looks set to head to Portuguese giants Benfica.

The 20-year-old Spaniard joined from Real Madrid in 2020 but has yet to make a first-team appearance for United, spending last season on loan at Preston before joining Granada this term.

The process has now begun to recall Fernandez from the LaLiga outfit ahead of an expected move to Benfica, with the breakdown of the deal yet to be nailed down.

A potential 10 million euros (£8.6m) permanent move has been mentioned in the Portuguese media and a loan with clauses has also been under discussion.

Qatar began their defence of the Asian Cup with a 3-0 win over Lebanon at Lusail Stadium on Friday.

Two goals from Akram Afif and another from Almoez Ali saw the host nation make a perfect start as the tournament kicked off in front of a crowd of 82,490.

The only concern for Qatar coach Bartolome Marquez Lopez was an injury to star forward Ali in the second half.

But Afif proved how important he will be to his team's hopes of retaining their crown with clinical finishes at the end of each half.

Afif opened the scoring in the 45th minute when he latched onto Ali's lay off, and the forward rounded off the win in stoppage time when he charged into the box and lifted a shot over Lebanon's goalkeeper.

Ali, who was the leading scorer when Qatar won the trophy for the first time in 2019 with nine goals, struck in the 56th. He also had a goal ruled out for offside.

But he looked in discomfort as he limped off the field in the 77th minute, holding the back of his leg.

Qatar is staging the tournament for the third time after original host China withdrew as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament was supposed to be held in 2023, but was delayed to this month due to the extreme heat in the height of the summer in the Middle East.

A debate will be held to discuss the implementation of affordability checks on February 26, the Petitions Committee has announced.

Participants and fans of racing signed a petition, which needed 100,000 signatures to reach this stage, after it was launched under the name of Jockey Club chief executive Nevin Truesdale.

British Horseracing Authority chief executive Julie Harrington said in a statement: “We are pleased that the important issue of affordability checks will now be subjected to proper levels of parliamentary scrutiny.

“The fact that our survey reached the required 100,000 signatures threshold in just 27 days is powerful testament to the strength of feeling shared by bettors over the proposed checks. This has today been recognised by the Petitions Committee.

“No other form of leisure activity is subjected to the kinds of restrictions being proposed by the Government and so it is right that MPs have the chance to forensically debate this issue.

“The BHA and other racing stakeholders will work with MPs on both sides of the House to ensure that the views of British racing and those who bet on the sport are properly represented within the debate.

“While we support the need to protect individuals from the risk of gambling-related harm it remains the case that millions of people enjoy betting on horseracing without suffering any ill effects.

“The BHA will therefore continue to push for changes to the Gambling Commission’s proposals on affordability checks to protect the sport’s financial future and limit the impact on racing bettors.”