Daizen Maeda marked his 100th Celtic appearance with a match-winning hat-trick as the holders saw off a spirited challenge from Livingston to reach the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup semi-finals.

Maeda put Celtic ahead for the third time in the 86th minute to take his tally for the club to 27 goals after the cinch Premiership bottom side had twice equalised at Celtic Park through Daniel MacKay and Tete Yengi.

Substitute Kyogo Furuhashi was on target deep into stoppage time as Celtic sealed a 4-2 triumph.

Celtic missed both Callum McGregor and Cameron Carter-Vickers through injury, but they did just enough to seal a Hampden trip next month.

Carter-Vickers was withdrawn as a precaution after the defender’s hamstring caused concern in training, while Luis Palma failed to shake off a knock, which allowed Nicolas Kuhn to make his first start at Celtic Park.

Livingston also had injury issues to contend with, mainly in midfield. Jason Holt dropped out through illness and Andrew Shinnie with a groin problem, while the cup-tied David Carson joined Scott Pittman on the sidelines.

David Martindale lined up with full-back Jamie Brandon and winger Steven Bradley as part of his central trio.

Celtic had an early warning when Ayo Obileye hit the post, although Willie Collum blew for a home free-kick.

Kuhn had already shown flashes of promise before setting up the seventh-minute opener with an excellent cross from the right.

Right-back Michael Nottingham allowed Maeda to go but the forward was level when the cross came in and he took a touch before finishing from six yards.

Livi levelled five minutes later after Cristian Montano’s ball in between Stephen Welsh and Alistair Johnston put MacKay in behind.

The winger, who scored against Celtic for Inverness in last year’s final, had time to wait for the ball to bounce before curling into the top corner.

Left-back Montano undid his good work 10 minutes later when he dithered in possession on the edge of his box after Livi appeared to have thwarted a dangerous counter-attack.

Matt O’Riley won the ball back and Maeda stooped to head home after Michael McGovern had stopped the midfielder’s shot.

Celtic had chances to enjoy a more comfortable half-time break with Adam Idah the biggest cuplrit, making a mess of two shooting chances when he got in behind, although he forced a good stop with a header.

McGovern also saved well from Maeda twice before the break and both the Japan international and Idah failed to convert a low cross from Kuhn after the interval.

Yengi stabbed Stephen Kelly’s cross just wide before netting Livingston’s second equaliser in the 54th minute.

O’Riley was caught in possession by Brandon on the halfway line and, although the Celtic midfielder got back to hold up Yengi, the striker turned and curled a brilliant finish into the far corner.

The home support were almost stunned further moments later when Nottingham’s header was stopped by Joe Hart’s foot on the line.

Celtic took time to react and McGovern was equal to efforts from Johnston and Kuhn when they got going.

Furuhashi, Daniel Kelly and James Forrest – making his first appearance of 2024 – came on and the latter added a spark before being involved in taking the lead for a third time.

The winger fed Tomoki Iwata’s run beyond and the Japanese midfielder’s low cross was tapped in by Maeda.

The attacker almost got his fourth, but hit the crossbar from close range and Furuhashi was played through in the closing seconds to slot home, which was initially denied, before a VAR review overturned an offside decision.

Christian Pulisic struck in the first half to help AC Milan move up to second in Serie A with a 1-0 victory over Empoli at the San Siro.

Pulisic grabbed the only goal of the game five minutes before the break with a first-time effort which was initially given offside. The assistant referee thought Noah Okafor had mistimed his run, but a VAR check ruled him to be onside.

Empoli sensed blood in the second period and had chances to equalise through Nicolo Cambiaghi and Mattia Destro, but Milan hung on to claim back-to-back wins.

The hosts were first to come closest to an opener when former Chelsea man Pulisic found space in the box but fired straight at Elia Caprile with five minutes on the clock.

Milan made most of the running in the first period with Okafor cutting in from the right and letting fly, only for Caprile to gratefully dive right on to the ball.

The hosts opened the scoring five minutes before the break when Okafor broke the line and fed a pass through to Pulisic, with his deflected effort wrong-footing Caprile before eventually being given by VAR.

Cambiaghi weaved his way into the area and his deflected effort needed to be tipped behind by Mike Maignan for Empoli’s first effort on target after 56 minutes.

Milan continued to come forward in search of a second though, Samuel Chukwueze was next to come close when he tried to curl into the bottom corner, but was blocked behind for a corner.

The best chance of the second half fell for the home side when Ruben Loftus-Cheek came forward and, after a couple of step-overs, his powerful shot was well saved by Caprile to stop Milan from putting the game to bed.

Another effort fell for Milan but they failed to take it, Okafor was the producer once again with a cross at the back post, but Davide Calabria could not guide his header on target.

Empoli remained a threat on the counter and were keen to punish Milan’s profligacy, Bartosz Bereszynski twisted and turned in the area, but his low ball into the box was cleared by Yunus Musah.

Milan were treading on thin ice and the visitors came within inches of an equaliser when Cambiaghi headed onto the post with seven minutes remaining.

With the game creeping towards the final minute, Empoli almost snatched a point when a corner found Destro free inside the area, but his header was straight at Maignan as Milan held on for victory.

Brighton bounced back from European embarrassment at the hands of Roma by scraping a 1-0 Premier League success over relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest.

Albion returned to the Amex Stadium with their maiden Europa League adventure in dire straits following Thursday’s 4-0 thrashing in the Italian capital.

But Andrew Omobamidele’s first-half own goal got the Seagulls back to winning ways ahead of Thursday’s last-16 second leg with the Serie A club in Sussex.

An unconvincing victory for Roberto De Zerbi’s side ended a three-match winless run in the top flight to lift them to eighth in the table.

Struggling Forest, who dominated the second half, felt aggrieved that Brighton midfielder Jakub Moder avoided a 67th-minute red card for a lunging challenge on Neco Williams.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s men remained just three points above the drop zone after Divock Origi squandered their best opening of a soggy Sunday afternoon outing on the south coast.

De Zerbi made seven changes from the nightmare trip to Stadio Olimpico in search of fresh energy, while Forest’s two alterations included a first appearance since January for striker Chris Wood.

Albion began with intent craved by their Italian head coach and threatened through headed opportunities for Moder and Ansu Fati before edging ahead in the 29th minute.

Pascal Gross’ inswinging free-kick from the left caused indecision inside Forest’s six-yard box and, with the flapping Matz Sels under pressure from Moder, Omobamidele nodded into his own net at the near post.

Backed up by VAR, referee Michael Salisbury dismissed appeals for a foul on Belgian keeper Sels before Forest wasted a golden opening for an instant response.

Morgan Gibbs-White’s perfectly weighted pass sent Origi through on goal but his low effort was repelled by the legs of Seagulls keeper Bart Verbruggen.

The lowly visitors began the second half with renewed purpose during a prolonged nervy period for the home side.

Striker Origi lashed narrowly over from a tight angle, before Murillo thumped a free-kick straight at Verbruggen.

Brighton were struggling to get out of their own half and their cause could easily have become more difficult had Moder not escaped with only a booking for a late challenge on Williams.

Former Albion loanee Wood then forced a fine fingertip save from Verbruggen as the largely one-way traffic continued, with Forest now effectively playing with four in attack following the introductions of Anthony Elanga, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Taiwo Awoniyi.

Substitute Julio Enciso flashed marginally wide from long range in the 87th minute during a rare Brighton break forward.

And the Seagulls successfully survived six minutes of added time to warm up for a seemingly impossible Europa League task by condemning Forest to a sixth defeat in eight league games and a third on the spin.

Danny Ings scored his first Premier League goal in more than a year as West Ham came from two down to snatch a 2-2 draw against his former club Burnley.

The ex-England striker had probably his best game for the Hammers despite only coming on as a substitute in the 82nd minute.

Ings had a goal disallowed, then scored the equaliser and hit the crossbar in stoppage time at the end of a barmy match.

A long-range strike from David Datro Fofana and an own goal by Konstantinos Mavropanos had put Burnley, who kicked off rock bottom in the Premier League and had not scored for a month, two up at half-time.

West Ham, on the back of a not particularly arduous 1-0 Europa League defeat in Freiburg, were lethargic and sloppy for 45 minutes but, inspired by Lucas Paqueta and Ings, hit back for a point.

They fell behind after only 11 minutes, although there did not appear to be any danger when Fofana picked the ball up 40 yards out.

But the Chelsea loanee strolled through powder-puff challenges from Nayef Aguerd and Kalvin Phillips before launching a rocket from 25 yards into the top corner.

Phillips would probably have been a shoo-in for Thursday’s England squad had he stayed on Manchester City’s bench this season.

But his loan switch to West Ham has been little short of disastrous so far and, with England boss Gareth Southgate watching from the stands, the midfielder looks in serious danger of playing himself out of the squad for this summer’s Euros.

West Ham’s abject first-half display was summed up neatly when their former youngster Josh Cullen crossed low from the left and Mavropanos stuck out a foot to divert the ball past Alphonse Areola.

James Ward-Prowse and Jarrod Bowen are also on Southgate’s radar, but both had days to forget. The latter headed his only chance wide and the former, along with Phillips, was hooked at half-time.

Edson Alverez and Michail Antonio were thrown on instead and within a minute West Ham had halved the deficit, Paqueta pouncing on some sloppy Burnley possession, striding forward and confidently beating James Trafford.

Mohammed Kudus should have equalised when he collected Bowen’s cross and had a free shot after Lorenz Assignon opted to go down clutching his face rather than defend his goal, but luckily for him the Ghana winger blazed over from 10 yards.

West Ham thought they had equalised when Ings prodded home but a VAR check showed Antonio was a fraction offside when he chested the ball into his team-mate’s path.

Yet at the start of eight minutes of stoppage time, a product of Burnley’s almost incessant time-wasting, Ings collected a pass from Kudus, turned and fired through Trafford.

The £12million signing from Aston Villa in January last year almost won it moments later but his shot crashed back off the crossbar.

Substitute Catarina Macario scored three minutes after her second-half introduction to send Chelsea through to the FA Cup semi-finals with a 1-0 victory over Everton at Walton Hall Park.

The United States international was still recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament issue when she signed for the Blues last summer but made an emphatic first impression when she scored on her debut in last week’s Women’s Super League victory over Leicester.

Emma Hayes made six changes from Thursday’s Conti Cup semi-final victory over Manchester City, but Chelsea failed to find an opener in a cagey first half, coming closest with a crossbar-clipping header by Nathalie Bjorn before the centre-back was forced off and replaced by Niamh Charles in the 14th minute.

The Toffees had their chances, Kathrine Kuhl forcing Zecira Musovic into a good save with a sharp effort but could not make anything of a series of set-pieces.

Chelsea wasted their best chance to take the lead before the break when Jelena Cankovic curled wide from a promising position following some good work by Johanna Kaneryd to release the Serbia international.

Macario, one of four second-half substitutions for Chelsea, finally broke the deadlock in the 66th minute when she swept home Aggie Beever-Jones’ cut-back.

Katja Snoeijs was inches away from squaring things up, but Chelsea clung on to keep alive their chances of becoming just the second English side in history to secure a quadruple, with Arsenal having done so in 2007.

WSL leaders Chelsea, who will find out their FA Cup semi-final opponents in Tuesday morning’s draw, face Ajax in their Champions League quarter-final this month before taking on Arsenal for the Conti Cup on March 31.

Tottenham inflicted a chastening 4-0 home defeat on 10-man Aston Villa as Ange Postecoglou’s men emphatically won this key battle in the race for Champions League qualification.

Sunday’s crunch clash between fourth and fifth was described in the build-up by Villa skipper John McGinn as “the most important game in the club’s recent history”.

Unai Emery’s men had the chance to move eight points clear of Spurs in the final guaranteed Champions League spot, but instead the hosts’ captain saw red in an embarrassing second-half collapse.

Tottenham moved within two points of Villa with a win that started with James Maddison turning home a brilliant Pape Matar Sarr cross in the 50th minute.

Brennan Johnson scored a fantastic second three minutes later and McGinn’s rash, frustrated challenge on Destiny Udogie led to a straight red card that ended Villa hopes of a comeback.

Son Heung-min and substitute Timo Werner struck in stoppage time as Spurs secured a statement win in the Midlands, ending Villa’s run of three straight Premier League wins in this fixture.

The players emerged to smoke and pyrotechnics at Villa Park but there were no first-half fireworks to write about.

Ollie Watkins threatened to punish Spurs’ high line early on, with Micky van de Ven’s recovery pace bailing out Cristian Romero after the in-form striker burst past beyond him.

Another example of that approach saw Watkins slipped through before the offside flag saved the Villa striker’s blushes after his undercooked pass to Leon Bailey was cut out by Pedro Porro.

Guglielmo Vicario punched away a testing McGinn free-kick and Matty Cash prodded wide after a cutback was blocked, while at the other end Villa’s five-man defence was keeping Spurs’ attack quiet.

Villa went close to taking the lead on the stroke of half-time from a short corner. The ball was laid back for McGinn to hit a well-struck cross and Lucas Digne’s flicked header looped narrowly wide.

Postecoglou’s men escaped that threat and came back from the break with a pep in their step, and not even Van de Ven’s early withdrawal could throw them off kilter.

The injured Tottenham defender had to be replaced by Radu Dragusin and headed down the tunnel just as his team-mates and the away end burst into celebration behind him.

Sarr hit an outstanding cross from the right that Maddison met ahead of a pair of Villa defenders to turn home in the 50th minute.

The Spurs man wheeled off to celebrate with the away end, then turned to the home fans when bringing out his darts celebration.

The visiting hordes were on their feet again three minutes later as Ezri Konsa’s poor pass to Tielemans was cut out brilliantly by Dejan Kulusevski, with Son collecting the ball and playing on to Johnson to brilliantly bend beyond Emiliano Martinez.

Emery responded by changing personnel and shape, only to be derailed by McGinn’s dismissal in the 65th minute.

The frustrated Villa skipper wiped out Udogie with a stupid tackle, leading to a clash involving both teams as referee Chris Kavanagh brandished a straight red card.

“2-0 in your cup final” bellowed the gleeful travelling fans, who saw Kulusevski try to add a third as they cruised against the 10-man hosts.

Vicario spread himself to stop substitute Nicolo Zaniolo but Tottenham were in control and struck twice more late on.

Son lashed home from Kulusevski’s pass in the 91st minute and substitute Werner completed the rout four minutes into the additional 10 as the home fans cleared out.

Tottenham inflicted a chastening 4-0 home defeat on 10-man Aston Villa as Ange Postecoglou’s men emphatically won this key battle in the race for Champions League qualification.

Sunday’s crunch clash between fourth and fifth was described in the build-up by Villa skipper John McGinn as “the most important game in the club’s recent history”.

Unai Emery’s men had the chance to move eight points clear of Spurs in the final guaranteed Champions League spot, but instead the hosts’ captain saw red in an embarrassing second-half collapse.

Tottenham moved within two points of Villa with a win that started with James Maddison turning home a brilliant Pape Matar Sarr cross in the 50th minute.

Brennan Johnson scored a fantastic second three minutes later and McGinn’s rash, frustrated challenge on Destiny Udogie led to a straight red card that ended Villa hopes of a comeback.

Son Heung-min and substitute Timo Werner struck in stoppage time as Spurs secured a statement win in the Midlands, ending Villa’s run of three straight Premier League wins in this fixture.

The players emerged to smoke and pyrotechnics at Villa Park but there were no first-half fireworks to write about.

Ollie Watkins threatened to punish Spurs’ high line early on, with Micky van de Ven’s recovery pace bailing out Cristian Romero after the in-form striker burst past beyond him.

Another example of that approach saw Watkins slipped through before the offside flag saved the Villa striker’s blushes after his undercooked pass to Leon Bailey was cut out by Pedro Porro.

Guglielmo Vicario punched away a testing McGinn free-kick and Matty Cash prodded wide after a cutback was blocked, while at the other end Villa’s five-man defence was keeping Spurs’ attack quiet.

Villa went close to taking the lead on the stroke of half-time from a short corner. The ball was laid back for McGinn to hit a well-struck cross and Lucas Digne’s flicked header looped narrowly wide.

Postecoglou’s men escaped that threat and came back from the break with a pep in their step, and not even Van de Ven’s early withdrawal could throw them off kilter.

The injured Tottenham defender had to be replaced by Radu Dragusin and headed down the tunnel just as his team-mates and the away end burst into celebration behind him.

Sarr hit an outstanding cross from the right that Maddison met ahead of a pair of Villa defenders to turn home in the 50th minute.

The Spurs man wheeled off to celebrate with the away end, then turned to the home fans when bringing out his darts celebration.

The visiting hordes were on their feet again three minutes later as Ezri Konsa’s poor pass to Tielemans was cut out brilliantly by Dejan Kulusevski, with Son collecting the ball and playing on to Johnson to brilliantly bend beyond Emiliano Martinez.

Emery responded by changing personnel and shape, only to be derailed by McGinn’s dismissal in the 65th minute.

The frustrated Villa skipper wiped out Udogie with a stupid tackle, leading to a clash involving both teams as referee Chris Kavanagh brandished a straight red card.

“2-0 in your cup final” bellowed the gleeful travelling fans, who saw Kulusevski try to add a third as they cruised against the 10-man hosts.

Vicario spread himself to stop substitute Nicolo Zaniolo but Tottenham were in control and struck twice more late on.

Son lashed home from Kulusevski’s pass in the 91st minute and substitute Werner completed the rout four minutes into the additional 10 as the home fans cleared out.

Carlos Corberan expressed his delight as West Brom came from behind to thump Huddersfield 4-1.

Marking his first return to the Terriers since departing in 2022, Corberan oversaw a rampant Baggies display as they tightened their grip on the play-offs.

It was not plain sailing for the visitors, who failed to register a shot in the first half as they fell behind to Delano Burgzorg’s opener.

But a double courtesy of the in-form Mikey Johnston – his fifth and sixth goals since a January loan move from Celtic – inspired a second-half comeback.

And a poacher’s finish from Kyle Bartley twinned with an Okay Yokuslu thunderbolt topped off a rampaging second half showing.

“We knew that today was important and that it was going to be a tough game,” said Corberan, whose side stretched their unbeaten run to five games.

“In one week, we’ve had three games and two away. Playing away is tough, especially when you play against a team that are fighting to survive.

“I like the fact that I saw the right mentality of my team, especially in the second half.

“It was important after the first half to understand the type of game that we were playing.

“In the second half, we wanted to move fast from their press in our pitch and tried to launch attacks in their half.

“Sometimes it takes us some time to understand the game, but I think the players in the second half had the right character and understanding to win the three points.

“What’s important is that we’re starting to find the right stability because we’re having a lot of mistakes but what’s important is how you stop it after.”

Meanwhile, Huddersfield remain entrenched in the relegation zone as they were punished for letting their first-half advantage slip.

“Their first two goals were really unlucky, and this changed the game,” said boss Andre Breitenreiter.

“We were fantastic in the first half and controlled the game; we wanted to play the same style in the second half.

“We should score again after the equaliser and we had a big chance, but that was the difference today – they scored from 30 metres and we didn’t from 10.

“We had a lot of chances and we didn’t use them; West Brom were good in the second half and we have to congratulate them.

“We tried until the end and created some more chances but we have to learn from this; we needed too many chances for only one goal.

“I spoke to the team and we have to concentrate on what we can do really well.

“It was a fantastic first half against a big team with high quality and we controlled them, but we need this performance now over 90 minutes.”

Carlos Corberan enjoyed a happy return to Huddersfield as West Brom came from behind to clinch a thumping 4-1 victory.

The Baggies failed to register a single shot in a dismal first-half display as Delano Burgzorg gave the hosts a deserved lead at the break.

However, a rampant away side turned on the style in an impressive second half to stretch their unbeaten run to five games and tighten their grip on a play-off place.

A double courtesy of the in-form Mikey Johnston, a goal on Kyle Bartley’s return and a thunderbolt from Okay Yokuslu set the Baggies on their way to an important win.

Andre Breitenreiter – Huddersfield’s fifth boss since Corberan left the club in July 2022 – oversaw another bright start in his fourth game in charge.

The hosts, who dropped into the relegation zone following Stoke’s victory at Preston on Saturday, dominated the early stages and were eventually rewarded.

On the cusp of the half hour mark, Burgzorg opened the scoring against the Baggies – just as he did in the reverse fixture back in September.

The Dutch forward twisted beyond Darnell Furlong before unleashing a fierce strike that wriggled under stopper Alex Palmer – his seventh goal of the campaign.

And a rocked West Brom nearly found themselves further behind moments later, but they were indebted to Bartley’s heroic last-ditch challenge to thwart Jack Rudoni.

Despite a dreadful first half, the Baggies only found themselves one goal behind and Corberan’s instructions at the interval proved decisive.

A transformed side returned for the restart and they soon found their leveller to open the floodgates.

Jed Wallace dashed to the byline and teed up Celtic loanee Johnston for a simple tap-in, with the latter continuing his hot goalscoring streak since a January switch.

Burgzorg was gifted a golden chance to restore Huddersfield’s lead by Yokuslu, but Palmer raced out crucially to deny a Town second.

And that miss would prove pivotal for the course of the fixture as the visitors completed their quickfire comeback on the hour mark.

A Wallace strike prompted pinball in the hosts’ box with a poaching Bartley on hand to poke home – marking his first start in seven games with a goal.

Turkish international Yokuslu, who turned 30 on Saturday, then marked his birthday weekend in style as his piledriver from range arrowed beyond a helpless Nicholls.

The rampant Baggies soon added a fourth through Johnston’s second of the afternoon.

The dazzling winger skipped beyond Matty Pearson and slotted coolly beyond Nicholls for his sixth goal in seven games.

And to compound a miserable afternoon for the Terriers, a heroic Palmer double save denied both Rudoni and Danny Ward as they remain in the drop zone.

Meanwhile, West Brom secured a first win this season after conceding first and a first league victory at Huddersfield since 2000.

Centre-back Rob Dickie headed his fifth Championship goal of the season to give Bristol City a precious 1-0 victory over Swansea at Ashton Gate.

The tall defender glanced home Joe Williams’ chip into a crowded penalty area on 73 minutes to give the Robins bragging rights over the Swans in a forgettable game of few chances.

Swansea dominated possession for long periods without forcing a save from home goalkeeper Max O’Leary and could have no complaints.

The result left them just five points above the Championship relegation zone, while Bristol City now have a nine-point cushion to the bottom three.

Head coach Liam Manning made one change from the Robins side who suffered a fourth successive defeat at Ipswich in midweek, preferring Tommy Conway to Nahki Wells up front, while Swansea’s starting line-up included former Ashton Gate midfielder Jamie Paterson.

The vast number of empty seats spoke volumes for the damage done to fan morale by that recent run and the first half saw Manning’s men fail register a single attempt on goal.

They were booed off at the interval, having lacked any conviction in their attacking play and been largely outplayed by a Swansea team who went into the game a point behind them in the table.

The visitors themselves failed to get an effort on target but looked the more threatening side.

Paterson had a seventh-minute shot blocked for a corner by Zak Vyner while Liam Cullen was wide with a 29th-minute header and fired over from distance 10 minutes later.

All the while, the massed ranks of Swans supporters behind one goal made the atmosphere more like a home game for their team, who attacked with promise without finding a killer final ball.

The start of the second half was delayed because one of the water sprinklers remained on in the Swansea half. It brought a moment of light relief amid a grim battle.

By the 55th minute Manning had seen enough and sent on winger Mark Sykes for Harry Cornick. Still it was Swansea who looked the more likely scorers and Przemyslaw Placheta wasted a glorious chance on 57 minutes, shooting wildly wide when unmarked from a right-wing cross.

Dickie sent an effort wide from a free-kick into the box as the hosts at last put an effort in on goal on 64 minutes. They had a much better chance five minutes later but Ross McCrorie fired wide of the near post, with Conway waiting in the middle for a cross.

Dickie’s goal rewarded the first real spell of pressure from Manning’s side, who improved for Sykes taking over on the right flank.

It should have been 2-0 on 79 minutes when Jason Knight headed wide from a Conway cross, but one goal proved sufficient.

Paris St Germain drew for a third successive Ligue 1 game as the leaders were held 2-2 by Reims at the Parc des Princes.

Having seen Marshall Munetsi’s seventh-minute finish give the visitors a surprise lead, a much-changed PSG equalised 10 minutes later through a Yunis Abdelhamid own goal before Goncalo Ramos put them in front another two minutes on from that.

But Will Still’s Reims were back on level terms late in the first half thanks to Oumar Diakite, and with Kylian Mbappe’s attempts to produce a winner after coming off the bench proving unsuccessful, a point was the outcome for Luis Enrique’s side once again, having drawn 1-1 with Rennes and 0-0 at Monaco in their previous two league outings.

It sees PSG go 10 points clear at the top of the table with 11 games remaining, with second-placed Brest having been beaten 1-0 at Lens on Saturday.

Mbappe – scorer of a brace in Tuesday’s 2-1 Champions League win at Real Sociedad – dropping to the bench, along with the likes Ousmane Dembele and Gianluigi Donnarumma, was among six changes Enrique opted to make to his starting line-up from that game.

After Danilo headed into Reims’ side-netting, there was an early jolt for the champions as Achraf Hakimi was punished for a mistake, being dispossessed in his own area by Diakite, who teed up a simple finish for Munetsi.

PSG responded with Ramos bringing a save out of Yehvann Diouf and Hakimi and the Portugal forward seeing efforts deflect wide, before drawing level when Reims captain Abdelhamid, under pressure from Ramos, diverted a corner into his own net.

Ramos then swiftly put them ahead with a deflected shot after the ball fell to him in the box when Valentin Atangana attempted to intercept a cross.

Reims did not look disheartened by the quick turnaround and after Munetsi and Teddy Teuma struck off-target for the visitors, either side of Diouf saving a Hakimi shot, they were level again on 45 minutes when Diakite latched on to Emmanuel Agbadou’s through-ball and sent a sidefooted effort past Keylor Navas and in off the post.

Further chances for the away side after the break saw Agbadou head over from close range and a Mohamed Daramy shot saved by Navas, before Diouf parried Lee Kang-in’s effort at the other end.

With 17 minutes of normal time remaining, Enrique brought on Mbappe and Dembele, and the former saw a low shot from outside the box comfortably saved by Diouf soon after.

Mbappe subsequently put a curler just wide of the top corner, and had another strike dealt with by Diouf in the closing stages as PSG’s sequence of draws extended.

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has been left out of the Egypt squad for a forthcoming international friendly tournament.

The 31-year-old left the Africa Cup of Nations early when he picked up a hamstring injury on January 18 against Ghana and, after appearing as a second-half substitute against Brentford in mid-February, was then sidelined again with what manager Jurgen Klopp said was muscle fatigue.

Salah returned to training this week and came off the bench in the 74th minute of their 5-1 thrashing of Sparta Prague in the Europa League on Thursday.

The Liverpool top-scorer has 19 goals this campaign and his return to fitness sparked a club-versus-country row, with Egypt previously rejecting Liverpool’s request to exempt their captain from the tournament in Abu Dhabi, where they will face New Zealand and then either Tunisia or Croatia in the final.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp previously admitted: “Two games with Egypt is really not up to me.

“We want to be careful, we have to be careful, but we’re in the middle of a super-intense period of the season and we need everyone.”

However, Salah has now been omitted from the squad announced by the Egyptian Football Association on Sunday and so will be able to remain with Liverpool to work on his fitness for the title run-in.

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has been left out of the Egypt squad for a fothcoming international friendly tournament.

The 31-year-old left the Africa Cup of Nations early when he picked up a hamstring injury on January 18 against Ghana and suffered a re-injury during a second-half substitute appearance against Brentford on his return.

Salah has been out of action since but returned to training this week and came off the bench in the 74th minute of their 5-1 thrashing of Sparta Prague on Thursday in the Europa League.

The Liverpool top scorer has 19 goals this campaign and his return to fitness sparked a club-versus-country row as Egypt previously rejected Liverpool’s request to exempt their captain from the tournament in Abu Dhabi where they will face New Zealand and either Tunisia or Croatia in the final.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp previously admitted: “Two games with Egypt is really not up to me.

“We want to be careful, we have to be careful but we’re in the middle of a super-intense period of the season and we need everyone.”

But, the Egypt FA have reportedly agreed to reluctantly leave their star man out of the international break and Salah will remain with Liverpool to work on fitness for their title run-in.

Kai Havertz may have scored the winning goal in a Champions League final but his late header to seal victory over Brentford and send Arsenal top of the Premier League was also a “dream” moment for the forward.

With title rivals Liverpool and Manchester City facing off 24 hours later, any victory for Arsenal would have taken them to the summit for the first time in 2024.

It looked like they were on course to miss out after returning goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale gifted a goal to Yoane Wissa to cancel out a brilliant Declan Rice header, only for Havertz to convert with four minutes remaining and secure a 2-1 victory.

After a slow start following his summer move from Chelsea, where he netted the only goal of the 2021 Champions League final against Manchester City, Havertz now has four in four league games and was serenaded by the home fans at full-time.

“As a kid, I think you dream that you’re going to have moments like this in your career and Saturday I had something like this,” he said.

“The supporters made it very special to me and I’m very thankful to have this moment. Thank you to all of them.

“You always hope for that (connection with fans). I know maybe it wasn’t from the beginning but I always try to work hard and just not drop my confidence.

“I just give my best every game and I did it so I’m happy now that I’ve had some of those moments now.

“I’m very delighted, it was a big game for us. To play in these games and win it at the end is always very nice and it was a great feeling.”

Havertz’s late goal was controversial as there was a chance he could have been sent off earlier in the game.

After being cautioned for catching Kristoffer Ajer with an elbow, the Germany forward seemingly dived in an attempt to win a second-half penalty.

“Right now, I don’t think momentum is with us,” Vitaly Janelt told Brentford’s official website.

“Everyone expected that Arsenal would win by three, four, five today because of their last results, but everyone knows how difficult it is to play against us either at home or away.

“They didn’t create many chances and, for me, it was a clear yellow and then red to Havertz, it was a clear dive for me. Then he scores the winner, but that’s football.”

Bruno Fernandes says Manchester United need to knuckle down, rack up wins and improve in possession as they attempt to sneak into the Champions League spots.

This has been a season to forget for Erik ten Hag’s side, who put back-to-back Premier League defeats behind them by edging past relegation-threatened Everton 2-0 on Saturday lunchtime.

First half penalties from Fernandes and Marcus Rashford decided the contest at Old Trafford, with the former calling on United to ignore background noise and focus on themselves during the run-in.

Put to the Red Devils skipper that it feels like every match feels like a big game right now, he told MUTV: “It is actually.

“Obviously we know that this season is not being (as) good as we want, so we want to improve as much as we can until the end of the season.

“Improve obviously position-wise because we want to try to get as close as possible to the Champions League spots.

“We know that we don’t depend only on ourselves, but we have to do our job like we did today and win our games.”

United remain sixth after beating Everton and sit eight points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa, who host Tottenham – the team between them – on Sunday.

Fifth could yet prove enough for Champions League qualification but the Red Devils will be relying on other teams to improve England’s UEFA coefficient.

United have 10 Premier League matches remaining and now turn their attention to keeping alive their hopes of ending a season to forget with silverware.

Ten Hag’s men host Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-finals next weekend, when a repeat of the kind of sloppiness seen against Everton, particularly in the first half, could lead to an ugly outcome.

“No one gives the ball away on purpose,” Fernandes told Stadium Astro.

“So, you miss the pass, sometimes it doesn’t go the way you want.

“Obviously, we need to get high focus in these kind of games (against Everton) because we know they have a really strong counter-press and a really strong counter-attack.

“We know that every ball that they could recover, they will try to get their space and their time to have their chances.

“But I think overall the performance was good, obviously there’s always margin to improve.

“I think keeping more on the ball, more spells with more passes, trying to play higher on the pitch in their half, keep the ball there and then still creating a lot of chances that we create today.”

United take on a Liverpool side whose FA Cup progress led next weekend’s Merseyside derby to be postponed.

That means Everton have three weeks to stew on an 11th successive winless Premier League match, with boss Sean Dyche taking his team on a European training camp next week.

“We want to remind the players of the good side of these performances while putting that demand on the next part of it,” said the Everton manager, whose side return to action at Bournemouth on March 30.

“So, what is it that changes this situation? What is it that occurs when we take responsibility? That’s where we’re trying to get to. That will certainly be part of the demand of these next three weeks.

“We’re all together, make no mistake about that. I lead it. I’ve got no problem with that.

“We’ve got to stay with the consistency of what we’re doing while adding… the only way I can describe it is the will and demand to get hurt to score a goal, where it means that much that you will score a goal.

“When you get tight then, of course, a bit of that freedom can go, but we’re the only ones who can change it.”