The Atlanta Falcons will be without second-year tight end Kyle Pitts when they play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the NFC South lead on Sunday.  

The Falcons ruled Pitts out with a hamstring injury after he was held out of practice all week.  

Parker Hesse and Anthony Firkser could see more snaps at tight end, but neither option provides the vertical threat of Pitts, who was drafted fourth overall out of Florida in 2021.  

Pitts' absence is another blow for an Atlanta offense that is already missing starting running back Cordarrelle Patterson, who is out at least four games after undergoing a minor knee procedure.  

Pitts' role in the offense so far this season has been a point of contention for some Falcons fans. The 6ft 6in tight end has just 10 catches for 150 yards through four games, although he has been targeted 22 times.  

The Falcons dropped the first two games of the season but bounced back by beating the Seattle Seahawks and Cleveland Browns the past two weeks. The Buccaneers are also 2-2, coming off losses to the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs.  

Novak Djokovic set up a semi-final meeting with Daniil Medvedev at the Astana Open on Friday, cruising past Karen Khachanov in the last eight.

Djokovic complemented a fine display of serving by converting three of his five break points in a 6-4 6-3 victory, recording his seventh consecutive win following his absence from the US Open.

The 21-time grand slam champion has now reached six semi-finals this year, but saw room for improvement in his performance after beating the world number 18.

"I didn't play as well from the baseline as I did in the first two matches, but still it was enough," Djokovic said. "I managed to produce some good tennis when it was most needed in both sets."

Looking ahead to his final-four match, the Serb added: "I always expect highs from myself. Hopefully I can elevate still the level of my game for tomorrow, because it's going to be needed." 

Djokovic will face an 11th tour-level meeting with Medvedev in the next round after his fellow former world number one recorded a dominant 6-1 6-1 win over Roberto Bautista Agut.

On the other side of the draw, third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Hubert Hurkacz 7-6 (10-8) 6-3, and will now face Andrey Rublev after he eased to a 6-1 6-2 win over Adrian Mannarino.

At the Japan Open, a knee injury forced Wimbledon runner-up Nick Kyrgios to withdraw from his meeting with Taylor Fritz, with the American set to take on Denis Shapovalov in the semi-finals.

Seventh seed Shapovalov saw off Borna Coric 6-4 6-3 to reach the final four, while fourth seed Frances Tiafoe advanced with a 6-0 6-4 win against Miomir Kecmanovic.

South Korea's Kwon Soon-woo claimed the final place in the semi-finals in Tokyo, beating Spain's Pedro Martinez 6-3 6-0

Standing as the only undefeated team across the NFL, the 4-0 Philadelphia Eagles will need to bring an end to a poor record in Arizona, having lost four consecutive matchups against the Cardinals.

The Eagles have not won in Arizona since Week 8 of the 2001 season, a 21-7 win highlighted by Brian Mitchell's 94-yard touchdown return of the opening kick-off, and will hope for similar magic on Sunday.

Miles Sanders enters the contest in fine form, setting a new career high in rushing yards last week against the Jacksonville Jaguars with 134 and scoring two rushing touchdowns for only the third time in his career (Week 5 & 14, 2020).

That saw him become the first Eagles player with 130+ rushing yards and two TDs in a single game since LeSean McCoy in Week 16, 2013, and only the sixth player to do so in the franchise's history.

This season, Sanders boasts 356 rushing yards to rank third among the league's rushing leaders behind only Saquon Barkley (463) and Nick Chubb (459) – the trio the only three players across the NFL to have 350+ rushing yards in the opening four games of the season.

However, the Cardinals have been strong against the rush this season with their opponents averaging just 87 yards per game, ranking fifth in the NFL, though only two teams have faced less rushing plays than Arizona (81).

For the Cardinals' offense, the onus will be firmly on Kyler Murray, who has attempted 173 passes this season, behind only Matt Ryan (195), whose 128 completions make him the sole quarterback to tally more than Murray (113, tied with Josh Allen).

However, a pass completion percentage of 65.3 is only enough to rank 14th in the NFL, with Murray's 991 yards leaving him 16th in the league and indicative of his bizarre lack of downfield threat. Murray's air yards per attempt average of 5.47 is the worst in the league among quarterbacks with at least 10 attempts.

The Eagles have allowed their opponents a gross passing yards total of 821, the seventh-lowest total in the NFL, so Murray will face a stern test if he is to lead the Cardinals to a fifth win in a row against their NFC rivals.

Bryson DeChambeau says it is "crazy" that LIV Golf players have been denied the opportunity to earn world ranking points.

Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) on Thursday announced that no points will be up for grabs at the events in Bangkok this week or Jeddah next week despite a new alliance between LIV Golf and the MENA Tour being formed on Wednesday.

Players on the Dubai-based MENA Tour have been able to earn points since 2016, but OWGR refused to award points for the two remaining LIV Golf events this year as they stated that insufficient notice had been given for a customary necessary review of the changes to be carried out.

That has not gone down well with 2020 U.S. Open DeChambeau, who was among the big names to turn their back on the PGA Tour and join the Saudi-backed breakaway series.

"They're delaying the inevitable," the American said after his first round in Bangkok on Friday. "We've hit every mark in their criteria, so for us not to get points is kind of crazy with having the top - at least I believe we have the top players in the world.

"Not all of them, but we certainly believe that there's enough that are in the top 50 and we deserve to be getting world ranking points.

"When they [OWGR] keep holding it back, they're going to just keep playing a waiting game where we're going to keep dropping down in the rankings to where our points won't even matter.

"That's what they're trying to accomplish, and I hope that people can see right through that rather than believe the lies that they've been told. From my perspective, I think we deserve points."

Four-time major winner Brooks Koepka accused OWGR of "sitting on the fence".

"I don't think it [the OWGR statement] really was much of a response," Koepka said. "I just hate when you sit on the fence. Just pick a side. If it's yes or no, just pick one. I'm not a big fan of that.

"Yeah, not to say something to where it's not really an answer and we'll think about it. Just pick a side. If it's yes, if it's no, it's fine, we'll figure it out from there."

After a scintillating game between the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints last week, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium plays host to NFL action again as the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers lock horns.

The Giants travelled across the pond for Sunday's London game beset by injuries at wide receiver in their stuttering offense.

No receiver had 20 or more yards in their 20-12 victory over the Chicago Bears last week.

It was the second time in six games that has happened for New York, the team having had just one such instance over their previous 231 outings, but they still improved to a surprise 3-1 record.

Victory against the Bears came with just 71 passing yards, with the Giants yet to have over 200 passing yards in a game so far this season.

Their gross passing yards total this term stands at 642, the second-lowest tally across the NFL behind only the struggling Bears (471).

Rushing has been the name of the game for the Giants offensively.

They boast the NFL's most net rushing yards (770), the fourth-most average carries per game (33.5) and the second-highest average gain per carry (5.75).

While the Packers are heavy favourites to slow New York’s fast start to the season, the odds of them halting running back Saquon Barkley's renaissance look slim.

No player in the NFL is averaging more yards per game than Barkley's 115.8, while a Packers defense that has traditionally struggled against the run is surrendering 4.97 yards per rush, the 11th-most in the league.

Packers linebacker Rashan Gary will be part of a defense hoping to prevent the Giants' charge after recording two sacks in the 27-24 overtime win against the New England Patriots.

He has at least one sack in all four of Green Bay's contests this season and no Packers player has ever registered a sack in each of the opening five games of a campaign.

In total, the Packers, who also hold a 3-1 record, have 11 sacks this season, five of which have come from Gary himself.

Only six teams have more than Green Bay's sack total and just three NFL players have more than Gary so far in 2022.

Offensively, Aaron Rodgers has already racked up some big gains with the Packers recording 17 passes of 20 or more yards this season, only behind the Detroit Lions (18) and Denver Broncos (21).

The veteran QB had two passing TDs in each of his last three contests, all of which have been victories for Green Bay as they bounced back well from a disappointing opening loss to the Vikings.

Tom Brady is not short of NFL records, but he has passed himself fit to face the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday and potentially claim a share of another piece of history.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Brady was held out of practice on Wednesday due to a shoulder complaint, having taken a hit in the Week 4 defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs.

But the 45-year-old said on Thursday of his shoulder: "It feels great. I'll be there Sunday."

Brady was never likely to miss a matchup with NFC South rivals Atlanta, who the Buccaneers have a 4-0 record against since signing the legendary QB.

The Falcons and the Bucs are tied in the standings at 2-2 this year, but Brady is 10-0 all-time against Atlanta.

This includes his remarkable Super Bowl LI win while with the New England Patriots and puts him one shy of the Super Bowl era record for the most wins by a QB against a single team without losing.

Should Brady guide the Bucs to another victory on Sunday, he will match John Elway's 11-0 return against the Patriots and Andrew Luck's perfect record against the Tennessee Titans.

Brady would then have the opportunity to own the record outright later in the season, as the Bucs play the Falcons again in Week 18.

Mercedes openly accepted the presence of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell at the top of Friday's Japanese Grand Prix practice time sheets was misleading.

Ahead of a weekend that could see Red Bull's Max Verstappen clinch a second successive title in the drivers' championship, it was the Mercedes pair who had the fastest cars on the track in wet conditions.

Their pace could to some extent be attributed to Mercedes' decision to allow both to use new tyre sets, however, as other teams equipped their cars with used sets, giving the Silver Arrows an advantage.

Russell had been 18th quickest in first practice, and Hamilton 13th, but in the later session it was Russell who set the fastest lap of one minute and 41.935 seconds, with Hamilton just 0.235 seconds behind him.

Verstappen was third on the time sheets, some 0.851secs adrift, just ahead of his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.

Andrew Shovlin, the Mercedes track-side engineering director, said there were grounds for cautious optimism, while acknowledging the team had not suddenly taken a giant leap ahead of their rivals.

"The time sheets are not a fair reflection of pace as our times were set on new tyres," Shovlin said. "But, like for like, we seemed to be in a reasonable position compared to Red Bull and Ferrari. We are expecting a dry qualifying session and most likely a dry race."

Ahead of Saturday's qualifying, Hamilton said: "Looking to tomorrow, I don't really know what to expect. I guess Ferrari and Red Bull will be rapid, and I hope that we are fast too – like I do each week!"

Russell said it was hard to predict how the Mercedes cars would contend over the weekend.

Quoted on the team's website, Russell said: "It is always nice to end the day top of the time sheets, and it was a decent improvement from FP1 when we were pretty much at the bottom.

"The wet conditions today were probably not that representative for the rest of the weekend, but it was a good learning opportunity for the future; it's important to understand things like the tyre crossover from wet to intermediate, and even if that doesn't pay dividends this weekend, it will in the future.

"I've no idea what to expect tomorrow in the dry – we will be battling for the top six positions, and hopefully we have a shot at something better than that. Let's wait and see."

Conor Benn is a "clean athlete", according to his father Nigel, after the 26-year-old's fight against Chris Eubank Jr was called off due to a failed drugs test.

On Wednesday, it emerged Benn had tested positive for the banned substance clomifene last month.

The British Boxing Board of Control subsequently prohibited the fight from taking place. Although promoters on both sides attempted to force a U-turn, their efforts were unsuccessful, with the fight officially postponed on Thursday.

Nigel Benn posted a video message to Instagram on Friday defending his son, calling him a "dedicated trainer" and a "clean athlete".

"As you know, we're in total shock," the former WBO middleweight and WBC super-middleweight champion said. "I've been with my son for the last 10 weeks, and the training has just gone the absolute best it could ever have been.

"He's a dedicated trainer, he leaves no stone unturned, and we'll get to the bottom of this.

"I love my son, I know he don't cut no comers. He just goes straight at it, 100 per cent.

"We'll keep you informed, we'll let you know what the next step is, but you know, he's a faithful trainer and a clean athlete. Speak to you all soon. God bless."

Nigel Benn famously twice fought Chris Eubank Sr in the 1990s, with Eubank winning the first contest and the second ending in a draw.

After no little drama so far in the NFL, the action continues in Week 5 with another Sunday crammed full of appetising games.

Following a thriller between the Minnesota Vikings and the New Orleans Saints in London last week, England's capital plays host to the latest international series matchup as the New York Giants face the Green Bay Packers at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Elsewhere, pre-season Super Bowl favourites the Buffalo Bills welcome the Pittsburgh Steelers, while the Philadelphia Eagles look to continue their winning streak on the road against the Arizona Cardinals.

With all that and more on offer, Stats Perform has delved into Opta data to preview this weekend's contests.

New York Giants (3-1) @ Green Bay Packers (3-1)

The Giants head to London on the back of a 20-12 victory against the Chicago Bears, where they did not have a single receiver with 20 or more receiving yards for the second time in six games, stretching back to last season. Prior to that, the Giants had one such instance in their previous 231 outings.

Last week, Aaron Rodgers went 21-for-35 (60.0 per cent) in the Packers' 27-24 overtime win against the New England Patriots, which tied the Tennessee Titans for the most overtime wins since 2017 (six).

In that game, Rashan Gary had two sacks and boasts at least one sack in all four games this season. No Packers player has recorded at least one sack in the team's first five matches of a campaign, since sacks became an official statistic in 1982.

Philadelphia Eagles (4-0) @ Arizona Cardinals (2-2)

The Eagles head to Arizona as the only undefeated side remaining in the 2022 season, but they have lost four straight road games against the Cardinals, coming as part of a 3-10 record since 1993 – their last win in Arizona coming in 2001.

Philadelphia maintained their winning streak against the Jaguars after fighting back from a 14-0 deficit, their first win when trailing by at least 14 points after the first quarter since 2014, also against the Jaguars, while their last such win prior to that was against the Jets in 1993.

Cardinals QB Kyler Murray threw two touchdowns and ran for another last week, tying Daunte Culpepper as the second-fastest quarterback to reach 75 passing TDs and 20 rushing career TDs, doing so in 50 games. Only Josh Allen (48 games) has been quicker to that total.

This season, the Cardinals have outscored their opponents 49-13 in the fourth quarter, boasting the best differential (+36) in that regard, while the Eagles are -20 this season in the fourth (9-29), ranking 27th in the league.

Pittsburgh Steelers (1-3) @ Buffalo Bills (3-1)

The Steelers boast a stellar overall record against the Bills, winning seven of the last nine matchups. However, they are 1-2 in games against Josh Allen, who has been responsible for at least one touchdown in his last 18 consecutive home games, tying Jim Kelly for the franchise record.

Sunday's game will mark Kenny Pickett's first career start, having thrown three interceptions in the second half against the New York Jets last week, making him the first Steelers debutant to throw three interceptions since Terry Hanratty in 1969.

He faces a challenge to get the Steelers' offense ticking, Pittsburgh having gained 1,115 total yards through the first four weeks of the season, the team's lowest tally since the 2010 season (1,078 yards).

Stefon Diggs is the man to watch for the Bills, boasting 406 receiving yards this season – 253 more than his closest teammate in the rankings (Isaiah McKenzie, 153), which is the largest such gap in an NFL team this season.

Elsewhere…

The Chicago Bears head to Minnesota to face the Vikings and rank last in the NFL for net passing yards, with 390 so far, some 168 fewer than the Giants with the second-lowest total (558). The Bears are the first team with fewer than 400 net passing yards in the first four games of a season since 2005.

Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert is looking to enhance his touchdown record on the road against the Cleveland Browns, having thrown at least one TD pass in 35 different games since making his debut in Week 2 of the 2020 season – tying him with Kirk Cousins for the most games with a TD pass over the last three seasons.

The Houston Texans travel to face the Jacksonville Jaguars on the back of eight straight wins against their opponents, which stands as Houston's longest streak against any opponent all-time. Houston have yet to post a win this season, however.

The Detroit Lions have set an NFL record already in this campaign, becoming the first side to score 140 or more points and concede 140 or more points across the first four games of a season. They travel to the New England Patriots.

Cameron Smith was among the early stragglers at LIV Golf Bangkok as the Open champion finished his first round seven shots adrift of the leaders.

After winning the Chicago leg of the breakaway series last month, Australian Smith would have been hoping for more at Stonehill Golf Course on Friday.

A double bogey at 16 was followed by a pair of pars as he came home in level-par 72.

Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra, Richard Bland and Branden Grace were the unlikely leading trio on seven under, with Marc Leishman and Ian Poulter tied for fourth one shot back.

Brooks Koepka was one of five players on five under, with Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau three under and Dustin Johnson two under.

Only five players shot worse scores than Smith, with Chase Koepka and Matthew Wolff bringing up the rear on two under.

The three co-leaders all had bogey-free rounds, each posting rounds of 65 after making seven birdies.

Lopez-Chacarra is a 22-year-old Spaniard who was a top amateur before embarking on his professional career in the LIV ranks. He has yet to have a top-20 finish on the tour.

Bland is a 49-year-old Englishman who in May 2021 won his first European Tour title at the 478th attempt; while Grace, with two wins on the PGA Tour and nine on the European Tour, is the renowned top performer among the pace-setting trio.

The Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) on Thursday revealed that no rankings points will be up for grabs in Bangkok this week or Jeddah next week.

Victor Wembanyama is honoured to have been labelled a "generational talent" and an "alien" by the legendary LeBron James.

Wembanyama is projected to be the number one pick in the NBA Draft next year and the French teenager has demonstrated why during his first trip to America this week.

The 18-year-old once again showed what the hype is all about as he scored 36 points, claimed 11 rebounds and made four blocks for Metropolitans 92 in a 112-106 win over G League Ignite on Thursday.

Over the two exhibition games this week, Wembanyama racked up 73 points, was 22-for-44 shooting, landed nine three-pointers, took 15 rebounds and made nine blocked shots.

Los Angeles Lakers superstar James said of the 7-foot-3 Wembanyama: "Everybody has been labelling this unicorn thing.

"Everybody has been a unicorn for the last two years, but he's more like an alien. I've never seen, no one has ever seen anyone as tall as he is, but as fluid and as graceful as he is out on the floor."

James added: "His ability to put the ball on the floor, shoot step-back jumpers out of the post, step-back threes, catch-and-shoot threes, block shots... he's for sure a generational talent."

Wembanyama was proud when he heard James singing his praises, but will remain grounded.

He said: "It's obviously an honour to see such great people talk like this about me, but it really doesn't change anything.

"I was like, 'Oh that's cool.' But no more. I have to try to stay focused. The thing is, I didn't do anything yet."

G League coach Jason Hart also had high praise for Wembanyama.

He said: "We will never see another player like that again. Just like I said about Shaq [Shaquille O'Neal], they just don't come around often.

"The good thing for me coaching, I'm glad I got a chance to play against him at 18. At 24, he's going to be a whole new player, somebody else's problem."

Albert Pujols has revealed he almost cut short his final season in baseball before going on the hot hitting streak that took him past 700 home runs.

The St Louis Cardinals great was mired in dismal early-season form, collecting just four homers in the first three months, but he added 20 in the remainder of the campaign.

Pujols failed to go deep once in June, which is when he began to doubt himself, questioning whether he should stick with it to the end of the season.

The 42-year-old will sign off on his MLB career after the playoffs, with the Cardinals hosting the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday, in the opening game of their best-of-three wildcard round tussle.

His haul of 24 home runs for the season is Pujols' best tally since 2016, when he hit 31, and it justifies the decision to play on after questioning whether he could justify continuing his career.

"There were some times when I [asked] myself that, many times," Pujols told MLB.com.

Pujols said that by early July, he had "figured something out". A homer in an 11-8 loss to the Phillies on July 7 stopped the rot.

He joined only three others in history in passing 700 career home runs: Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714).

Pujols said: "When you have good people around you and they are encouraging you and you realise that God has opened so many doors for you, man, it puts things back into perspective.

"I decided, 'I'm going to stick with it!'.

"I knew sooner or later it was going to come and turn around for me, because it can't be like it was all year long."

The Cardinals finished the regular season with a 93-69 record, and Pujols is hoping they have saved the best for last.

He said: "It's my last year and I want to go out with my best. And my best is winning a championship."

Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson accepted the lion's share of blame for his side's 12-9 overtime loss at home against the Indianapolis Colts.

Wilson completed 21 of 39 passes for 274 yards and two interceptions in Thursday's game, with the second interception proving especially costly late in the fourth quarter.

With less than two and a half minutes remaining, leading 9-6, the Broncos opted to pass the ball to try to seal the game, but instead Wilson took a shot at the endzone and was picked off by former defensive player of the year Stephon Gilmore.

The Colts ended up driving down the field to tie the game as time expired, before kicking another field goal on the first drive of overtime to put the pressure back on the Broncos.

Wilson completed long passes to Jerry Jeudy and Mike Boone to move inside the 10-yard line, but when faced with a fourth-and-one at the five-yard line, they decided to go for it instead of kicking for the tie.

The final throw of the game was broken up once again by Gilmore in the endzone, relegating the Broncos to a 2-3 record with one of the worst offenses in the NFL in the first year of Wilson's five-year, $242million contract.

Speaking after the game, Wilson did not hide from his struggles, saying he needs to figure it out in a hurry.

"It's very simple, at the end of the day I've got to be better, I've got to play better," he said. "This team, our defense played their butts off tonight, we had some key, good drives and we moved the ball into the red zone, but we didn't get to capitalise on some of them.

"At the end of the day, those two interceptions can't happen. Can't happen. I let the team down tonight, but the good thing is, one thing I know about myself is I'm going to respond – I don't know any other way.

"I always believe in myself, I always believe in this team and what we can do, and what I can do.

"When you play this game, the one thing you know is you're going to go through adversity, and with adversity you get a choice. I'm always going to choose to understand that adversity is just temporary, and you're going to overcome the obstacles and battles.

"We're all working together, we're all still together and focused on trying to do whatever it takes. It starts with me, and I'll make sure I do that."

Touching on the final play, Wilson said it was the right decision to go for it.

"We had a good play-call on, we went to Courtland [Sutton] there and the guy [Gilmore] made a good play," he said.

"I was ready to move around if we needed to – we came up with a big fourth-and-two a couple drives before – so we went for it.

"We didn't want to end in a tie, we wanted to try and win the game. That was our mentality. I think coach made a good call, I think I've got to find a way to make a play, whatever it takes.

"The thing about close games… is it comes down to finding a way. We've found a way before, but this time we didn't."

Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett also accepted blame for Wilson's struggles, saying he needs to figure out how to get his star quarterback into a rhythm and get points on the board.

"We want to always try to get him into a rhythm, and I didn't feel like we were able to get him into that," Hackett said. "It starts with me, to be able to get him into that rhythm with the receivers and tight ends.

"There were a couple of opportunities – we had a couple of drops again, and a couple of penalties – we keep continually hurting ourselves, and I think that's the thing that's frustrating.

"We need to address it as an offense, and we need to fix that, because the performance from the defense was spectacular, and we're wasting those great opportunities to go win a football game."

Hackett also said he did not regret his final play-call, calling it "a good decision".

"We wanted to win the game," he said. "We hadn't moved the ball very well the whole night, and I thought we had a spectacular drive to get all the way down there.

"It ended up being fourth-and-one, we got the 'go' to go for it, and I thought that was a good decision. We wanted to put the ball in Russell's hands and call a play that we know he really likes – and it didn't work out.

"The timeout before was to get a feel for what they were doing, and the run did not look as good as we hoped it would have, and it gave us a chance with Russell. That's all you can ask for in that situation to win the game."