England have been drawn in the same group as world champions Spain for the 2025 Women’s Nations League.

Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses fell to a 1-0 defeat by Spain in the 2023 Women’s World Cup final, while Spain are also the reigning Nations League champions.

The two sides are joined by Belgium and Portugal in League A Group A3.

Scotland have been drawn alongside Euro 2022 finalists Germany in League A Group A1, along with the Netherlands and Austria.

Also in League A, Wales are in Group A4 with Italy, Denmark and Sweden.

Northern Ireland will face Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Romania in League B Group B1.

Group games will take place between February and June – before Euro 2025, where England will be the defending champions, starts in Switzerland on 2 July.

More to follow.

Daniel Cormier doesn’t love the idea of Max Holloway jumping right back into the deep end.

Holloway came up short in his bid to reclaim the featherweight title when he got knocked out by Ilia Topuria in the main event of UFC 308. It was the first knockout loss of Holloway’s career and afterwards the former featherweight champion declared he will be moving up to lightweight full time. Fans were immediately interested in Holloway moving back up to 155 pounds as were a few fighters, including a former Holloway opponent: Dustin Poirier.

Poirier himself is near the end of his career, and though he already has two wins over Holloway, “The Diamond” is interested in a trilogy bout with current “BMF” champion. But Daniel Cormier isn’t sure that’s the best idea.

“He’s asking for Dustin Poirier. That would be absolutely fantastic,” Cormier said on Good Guy/Bad Guy. “But is there a better way to introduce Max Holloway into the lightweight division? Do we put him in there with a Dustin for a third time? Or do we see what happens with Michael Chandler after he fights against Charles Oliveira? Or do we start to kind of look down the rankings a little bit and say, ‘Well, it would be fun to watch him fight a Rafael Fiziev. It would be fun to watch him fight a Benoit Saint Denis. It would be fun to watch him fight a Paddy Pimblett.’

“I know that might not be fun for Max, that might not be great for Max, but it would also give him an opportunity to work his way back into contention without being in there with these absolute killers. Because personally, I would like to see Max Holloway not stand across from Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaethje, Alexander Volkanovski, then Ilia Topuria. Something not as crazy of a challenge.”

Poirier is certainly a major challenge for Holloway. The two have met twice before, once at featherweight where Poirier submitted Holloway with a triangle armbar in Holloway’s fifth career fight. The pair rematched seven years later at UFC 236 for the interim lightweight title, with Poirier taking a unanimous decision in one of the best fights of the 2019. That fight remains one of only two lightweight fights in Holloway’s UFC career, the other being his sensational knockout of Justin Gaethje to claim the “BMF” title at UFC 300.

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Charles Oliveira vs. Dustin Poirier.

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So based on everything we know, this isn’t true. But Poirier is out here ready if it somehow is.

Jon Jones training.

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Best fight of the weekend.

He’s back!

I cannot believe I’m saying this but: I think I agree with Daniel Cormier?

Max should take a fair bit of time off anyway just to make sure he’s good, but I was at UFC 236 and Poirier plunked Max around. Obviously it was very competitive and both men are older and probably a little worse, but that’s a tough matchup for Max in the best of times. Maybe easing back into lightweight would be prudent.

That being said, I need a Max vs. Charles Oliveira rematch like I need air.

If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @AlexanderKlee or @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let us know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and like us on Facebook.

Williams has admitted that the five major shunts from the last two Formula 1 race weekends have caused an ‘unsustainable’ run of damage to leave it short on spares.

The Grove-based squad has endured two bruising events in Mexico and Brazil, where drivers Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto both endured a run of heavy accidents.

Albon suffered a big crash in first practice in Mexico, after making contact with Oliver Bearman, while his race ended on the opening lap when he was tagged by RB‘s Yuki Tsunoda.

In Brazil, Albon had a major crash in the wet qualifying session which put him out of the race because the damage he caused could not be repaired in time.

Colapinto also crashed in qualifying and, while the team could get his car fixed in time, he suffered another big accident in the wet race that brought out a red flag.

The run of incidents has burned through Williams’ spare parts and team principal James Vowles has admitted that it is now facing a race against time to work out what can be done to put it in the best possible shape for the race in Las Vegas.

The team will not only need to ensure it has enough spares to get through the weekend but also that it is running with its car in the best possible configuration of upgrades.

Franco Colapinto, Williams FW46, crashes out

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

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Speaking in his regular post-race review on the Williams App, Vowles said that work at the squad was still ongoing to finalise what shape it would be in for Las Vegas.

Asked about the spares situation in light of the crashes, Vowles said: “There’s no team on the grid that can cope with five major accidents in two race weekends. Simply the matter of spares we carry are not sufficient to carry that amount of attrition. 

“Vegas, I have high hopes for. We were fast there last year, and I’m confident the car will work well in those conditions.

“So we will do our absolute utmost to get two cars to the best specification they can be, with sufficient spares around us to make that happen.

“What that looks like is difficult to predict. We’re still getting the items back from Brazil and determining what we have to do in terms of construct and build in order to give ourselves the best possible scenario.”

James Vowles, Team Principal, Williams Racing, in the the team representatives press conference

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Vowles said that what happened in Brazil in particular, especially because Albon’s Q3 crash had come after some impressive pace in the wet, was incredibly hard to take.

However, he reckoned the pain of all that happened, which included dropping down a constructors’ championship position because of Alpine‘s double podium, had not changed his belief about what Williams could achieve in the future.

“The Brazil weekend was probably the most brutal that I can remember across my entire career. In the space of seven days, a little more than, we had five major accidents. In Brazil alone between qualifying the race three.

“That’s an amount that near enough no one can sustain on the grid.

“This team is going through the process of rebuilding itself into a state where it can win races in the future. That doesn’t happen overnight.

“It doesn’t happen without significant change throughout an organization, and this one race is simply just a blip in what is a grand scheme of a multi-year programme.

“It doesn’t mean it hurts any less. It’s something that hurts tremendously as I’m talking to you now.

“But I want us to be successful and performant. I came here not to be fighting for the odd point, but rather fighting for wins and more in the future. And that can’t be achieved without some level of compromise along the way, without rebuilding an organisation.

“So yes, it’s painful what happened last weekend, but it hasn’t changed what our destination is. In fact, it’s rooted me even further more to the fact of what we have to do to achieve it is significant, but we can achieve it together as a team.”

WILLIAM GALLAS has called out Arsenal’s “tired” stars – and demanded they raise their energy levels for a title push.

The former Gunners defender won two Premier League titles during his time with Chelsea.

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Mikel Arteta’s side have faltered in recent matches after a promising start to the campaign.

Arsenal have lost two of their last three top-flight games, dropping off the pace in the title race.

They go into this weekend’s fixtures seven points behind league leaders Liverpool.

Arteta recently complained his team looked “tired” during a Champions League game with Shakhtar Donetsk.

But Gallas – who played for the Gunners between 2006 and 2010 – doesn’t buy the excuse.

Gallas told Prime Casino: “Arsenal has won absolutely nothing! Nothing. Why are they tired?

“Their arms don’t ache from lifting trophies. Explain to me why they are tired.

“Liverpool, they don’t look tired, they look like they’re ready to fight for the title.”

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Arsenal led twice in a recent 2-2 draw with the league leaders, conceding a late Mo Salah equaliser after dropping deeper into their own half.

And Gallas believes the team’s only chance of winning a first title since 2003 is to go on the front foot.

He continued: “What Arsenal produced last season, and why everybody was happy, was that they had that confidence, they were not scared of anyone.

“I think they have to become fearless again this season to reproduce their best football.

“You can’t blame the lack of rhythm and control on the absence of Odegaard.

Arsenal player ratings v Inter Milan

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TOOTHLESS Arsenal were beaten by a superb Italian job in Milan as they lost 1-0 thanks to a controversial penalty.

Here’s how the Gunners stars were rated by SunSport’s Tony Robertson.

David Raya – 6

Unfortunate with the penalty on an otherwise quiet night. Passing was below par with on three out of nine long passes finding their mark.

Ben White – 7

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Dependable as ever at right back. Can’t be blamed for the defeat from a defensive standpoint.

William Saliba – 7

Marshalled defence well and produced some strong passes.  Three clearances and six duels won said everything about his performance.

Gabriel Magalhaes – 7

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Had a slightly better time in duels than Saliba but was worse on the ball.

Jurrien Timber – 7 

Had a good rapport with Martinelli down the left flank. Dependable but undone by the controversial penalty call.

Mikel Merino – 5 

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Difficult to see what he brings to the midfield at the moment. Clearly Arteta likes his height and strength, but not on the same wavelength as team-mates tonight. Unlucky to give away the penalty.

Thomas Partey – 6

Should have been given more licence to roam forward in the second half. But didn’t look like he had the legs to do that job.

Bukayo Saka – 6

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Captain for the night with Odegaard only fit for the bench. Saka was always a threat, but all too often or not chose the wrong option to go inside or out.

Gabriel Martinelli – 7

Flashes of brilliance and a thorn throughout the clash. Created four chances but team-mates were unable to help him out.

Kai Havertz – 6  

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Couple of flashes of brilliance, including a beautiful curled effort at goal that forced Sommer to punch clear, but needed to be a stronger force up top. Went off with a bloody head in injury time.

Leandro Trossard – 6 

Buzzed around and had threatening moments. But just didn’t get the ball enough in dangerous positions.

“You can’t call yourself a contender for the Premier League title if you can’t play your football when one player is missing.”

“Arsenal have an amazing opportunity to win the title this season.

“Manchester City are not the same team as previous Pep teams from the last few season. Arsenal need to take advantage of that.

“Don’t squander the opportunity that you’ve worked so tirelessly over the last two years for.”

Antoine Dupont has returned “better than ever” to XVs after winning Olympic sevens gold in the summer, says France flanker Francois Cros.

Scrum-half Dupont, 27, has been named captain for France’s opening Autumn Nations Series game against Japan on Saturday, in his first game in international XVs since his side’s devastating home Rugby World Cup quarter-final defeat by South Africa last October.

Having spent 2024 focusing on sevens, the former World Player of the Year set up a try and scored two himself as France beat Fiji 28-7 to win their first gold of the Paris Olympics in July.

“It was something incredible for him and French rugby,” Cros said.

“Since he’s come back, after having a good break, he’s better than what he was before.

“So it’s obviously a pleasure to have him back.”

After an extended break, Dupont returned last month and scored a 13-minute hat-trick off the bench for Toulouse in a 48-14 victory over Clermont.

Despite missing this year’s Six Nations and France’s summer tour of Argentina to focus on learning the shortened format, he continued playing for his club side Toulouse when possible, starring as his side won the Investec Champions Cup in May.

He will be partnered by Toulouse team-mate Thomas Ramos, who starts at fly-half in preference to regular 10 Matthieu Jalibert, with Dupont taking back the captaincy from number eight Gregory Alldritt for the match against Eddie Jones’ side.

“The question didn’t even need to be asked, it’s natural to us for him to be captain,” Cros said.

“Since he’s come back, his standards have been the same if not better. There was no doubt about that subject.”