Slot Says Liverpool Title Favorites Due to Last Season’s Triumph, Not Spending Spreehttps://english.aawsat.com/sports/5173432-slot-says-liverpool-title-favorites-due-last-season%E2%80%99s-triumph-not-spending-spree
Slot Says Liverpool Title Favorites Due to Last Season’s Triumph, Not Spending Spree
Florian Wirtz of Liverpool looks on during a pre-season friendly soccer match between Liverpool FC and Athletic Club in Liverpool, Britain, 04 August 2025. (EPA)
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Slot Says Liverpool Title Favorites Due to Last Season’s Triumph, Not Spending Spree
Florian Wirtz of Liverpool looks on during a pre-season friendly soccer match between Liverpool FC and Athletic Club in Liverpool, Britain, 04 August 2025. (EPA)
Liverpool manager Arne Slot said it is completely normal for his side to be viewed as favorites to retain their Premier League crown, citing last campaign's success rather than their close-season transfer activity.
Liverpool, who won the Premier League last season to secure a record-equaling 20th English title, have bolstered their squad with the arrivals of Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and others.
The Merseyside club, however, have also had Trent Alexander-Arnold leave for Real Madrid, Luis Diaz move to Bayern Munich and Jarell Quansah to Bayer Leverkusen, while their Portuguese forward Diogo Jota died in a car crash last month.
"It's completely normal that we are one of the favorites, because we won it last season," Slot told reporters ahead of Sunday's FA Community Shield showdown against Crystal Palace.
"And we brought in good players. Like all the other teams did, by the way. This is what makes this league so nice."
Liverpool had only signed forward Federico Chiesa from Italian side Juventus in the close-season window last year.
"Every team in the Premier League is spending money. So if we are only favorites because we've spent a bit, I would see that as weird because we've lost a lot as well. But that we are favorites because we won it last season and we played so well, that's clear," Slot said.
"And the ambitions haven't changed, because the ambition of this club is always to compete for every trophy."
Liverpool, eyeing a 17th Community Shield title, face FA Cup winners Palace at Wembley.
‘Incredible Situation’: Spurs Coach Tudor on Subbing Kinsky After Errorshttps://english.aawsat.com/sports/5249933-%E2%80%98incredible-situation%E2%80%99-spurs-coach-tudor-subbing-kinsky-after-errors
Tottenham's goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky leaves the field after substitution during the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Tottenham in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP)
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‘Incredible Situation’: Spurs Coach Tudor on Subbing Kinsky After Errors
Tottenham's goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky leaves the field after substitution during the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Tottenham in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP)
Tottenham's interim coach Igor Tudor bemoaned an "incredible situation" which led him to withdraw goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky after just 17 minutes of Tuesday's 5-2 Champions League defeat at Atletico Madrid.
The 22-year-old Czech stopper made two errors leading to goals as Spurs fell three behind inside the first 15 minutes of the last 16 first-leg clash at the Metropolitano stadium.
Tudor selected Kinsky, who had not played since October, over Guglielmo Vicario after five straight Premier League defeats before the game.
"(The situation was) very rare. I've been coaching for 15 years, I've never done this. It was necessary to preserve the guy, preserve the team," Tudor told reporters.
The Croatian coach defended his decision to start Kinsky.
"It was, before the game, the right choice to do in the moment like we are. With pressure on Vicario, in another competition... 'Tony' is a very good goalkeeper. It was, for me, the right decision.
"After this, of course, it's easy to say that it was not the right decision."
Kinsky slipped and gave the ball away in the sixth minute for Marcos Llorente to open the scoring.
After Micky van de Ven fell over allowing Antoine Griezmann to score the second, Kinsky erred again.
The goalkeeper bungled a pass and Julian Alvarez was able to walk the ball into the net.
Tudor sent on Vicario to replace Kinsky, who was applauded off by Atletico's fans.
"Unfortunately, it happened in this big game, these mistakes. So we paid this start of the game, it was too much for us," continued Tudor.
"(Kinsky) was sorry... the team is with him, me too. I was speaking with him. He understands the moment, he understands why he goes out.
"As I said before, he's a very good goalkeeper. We are with him, we are all together. It's never about one player."
Tudor, who has lost all four matches at the helm since replacing Thomas Frank in February, refused to say whether he should still be at the helm.
Tottenham, 16th in the Premier League, are facing a fight against relegation.
"I need to keep working. Not speaking too much, stay focused on the things we can do," Tudor added on TNT Sports.
"It's unbelievably difficult to explain all these things, the first time in my career that I saw these things, 15 years.
"I'm focused on the problems, the players also. We need to stay positive."
China Sprint Race Presents ‘Huge Challenge’ in F1’s New Erahttps://english.aawsat.com/sports/5249909-china-sprint-race-presents-%E2%80%98huge-challenge%E2%80%99-f1%E2%80%99s-new-era
Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 8, 2026 Drivers in action during the race. (Reuters)
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China Sprint Race Presents ‘Huge Challenge’ in F1’s New Era
Formula One F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia - March 8, 2026 Drivers in action during the race. (Reuters)
Formula One's new era heads into its first sprint in Shanghai this weekend, with the Chinese Grand Prix promising a very different test to Melbourne, where George Russell led home a Mercedes one-two.
The Silver Arrows dominated the season-opener, Russell winning from Kimi Antonelli and followed home by the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in the first race under sweeping new regulations.
Lando Norris and McLaren struggled, the British world champion trailing home fifth and teammate Oscar Piastri failing to even start after crashing on his way to the grid.
Red Bull's four-time champion Max Verstappen carved his way through the field to sixth after starting 20th on the grid following a qualifying crash.
The Shanghai International Circuit, unlike the Albert Park track in Melbourne, has one long straight and several complexes of turns.
It will require a different approach to battery deployment and energy harvesting in the new cars, which have a 50-50 split between conventional and electrical power.
But with only one practice session before sprint qualifying on Friday, the teams will have little time to hone their set-ups and strategies.
Saturday morning will see the sprint race over 19 laps of the 5.451km circuit and grand prix qualifying in the afternoon.
Sunday's grand prix will be over 56 laps, and if the race in Melbourne is anything to go by, it could be very eventful.
"Shanghai is going to be important to be straight on point with deployment, with everything, because obviously we get only one practice and then we go into qualifying," said Antonelli.
"The rate of development is going to be massive and it's going to be important to not put any wrong step because the situation can flip very quickly."
Leclerc agreed: "To have a sprint race so early on in a season like this will be a huge challenge for everybody. It's going to be very tricky."
Race-winner Russell said his only reservation about the 2026 cars was a lack of control when the active front wing was opened up under the new "straight mode".
Introduced this season to reduce drag and give a boost of speed akin to the now-defunct DRS system, Russell said it made the cars skittish.
- 'Pretty big gap' -
"The only thing I would request from the FIA is that the front wing doesn't drop as aggressively," said Russell.
"When we open 'straight mode' we will have lots of understeer, and when I was behind Charles and I was trying to duck out of his slipstream it was like my front wing wasn't working.
"So, I think from a safety aspect that would make the racing safer, better. I don't see a downside of doing it."
Norris was highly critical of the new cars.
McLaren, so dominant last season, were off the pace all weekend in Australia.
"The gap to the guys ahead is pretty big and we clearly have a lot of work to do," said the world champion.
Verstappen admitted Red Bull also have problems to address.
"I had some issues at the start with the battery so as soon as the clutch was dropped, I had no power, so that is something we need to understand," said the Dutchman.
"It was a decent comeback from P20 and we will work as a team to close the gap further."
New to the grid, Cadillac were encouraged by Sergio Perez finishing 16th on the team's much-anticipated debut.
"It was great to see the Cadillac Formula 1 Team bring its first car home," said team principal Graeme Lowdon.
Sinner Edges Into Indian Wells Quarters, Sabalenka Powers Past Osakahttps://english.aawsat.com/sports/5249905-sinner-edges-indian-wells-quarters-sabalenka-powers-past-osaka
Sinner Edges Into Indian Wells Quarters, Sabalenka Powers Past Osaka
World number two Jannik Sinner survived a stern test from Joao Fonseca on Tuesday to reach the Indian Wells quarter-finals, while women's world number one Aryna Sabalenka eased past 16th seed Naomi Osaka 6-2 6-4 to progress to the women's last eight.
Sinner was pushed hard by the 19-year-old Brazilian, trailing 6-3 in the first set before rallying to close out the match 7-6(6) 7-6(4).
"I am very happy winning this match," Reuters quoted Sinner as saying.
"Joao is an incredible talent. He was serving really well. I was trying to be as aggressive as possible and that was the key to get through against the incredible talent."
The Italian will now meet the home favorite Learner Tien on Friday for a place in the last four.
"I feel he is a very consistent player and I am very happy to face him again. He has improved a lot since the last time we met," Sinner said of his American opponent.
Meanwhile, in the first meeting between the two four-time Grand Slam champions since 2018 - when Osaka beat Sabalenka at the US Open en route to her maiden major title - the Belarusian's power proved too much for the former world No. 1 on Tuesday.
"Yeah that's crazy, for so many years we only played once. I'm pretty sure we are playing many more matches, she's coming back playing great tennis," Sabalenka said in her on-court interview. "I'm pretty happy for the result today, much better than last time."
Mar 10, 2026; Indian Wells, CA, USA; Naomi Osaka (JPN) and Aryna Sabalenka (BEL) embrace after their fourth round match in the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Osaka began confidently with a strong opening service game, but top seed Sabalenka soon found her rhythm and capitalized on a brief dip from the Japanese, breaking for 2-1 after two double faults.
The Belarusian tightened her grip with a barrage of powerful backhands to lead 5-2, then served out the set comfortably with an ace.
After a series of solid holds from both players early in the second, Sabalenka again used her firepower to take control, breaking again for a 4-2 lead that proved decisive in closing out the win and continuing her run in the tournament without dropping a set.
"I'm happy that I put so much pressure on her today, that I brought variety to the court," Sabalenka said. "My serve worked well. On the return I played really great tennis. Happy with my performance for sure."
Last year's runner-up Sabalenka will continue her quest for a first title in the California desert against Canada's Victoria Mboko, who sailed past higher-ranked American Amanda Anisimova 6-4 6-1.
It will be a rematch of an Australian Open round-of-16 between the two, which Sabalenka won in straight sets.
Elsewhere, Australia's Talia Gibson enjoyed the biggest win of her career, beating Italy's world No. 7 Jasmine Paolini 7-5 2-6 6-1 in her first match against a top-10 player.
The 21-year-old, playing her first WTA 1000 main draw, also became the first qualifier in 11 years to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament.
"I just have a confidence in the way I'm playing," Gibson said. "I'm in shock."
Czech Republic's Linda Noskova, the 14th seed, sailed past Alexandra Eala in just 55 minutes with a 6-2 6-0 win to book a quarter-final meeting with Gibson.
In the men's draw, Alexander Zverev saw off Frances Tiafoe 6-3 6-4, converting two of three break points and firing 14 aces to seal his ninth win over the 21st-seeded American.
He will next face France's Arthur Fils as he looks to reach his first Indian Wells semi-final.
Fils earlier produced a stunning 6-3 7-6(9) win over Canadian ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, saving five set points and rallying from 0-5 down in the second-set tiebreak to book a place in the quarter-finals for the second consecutive year.
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