BRENTFORD 1-1 ARSENAL: Gunners come unstuck in west London as Mikel Arteta’s side are held to a draw and fail to respond to Manchester City’s 3-0 win over Fulham

Arsenal could not restore their six-point lead at the top of the Premier League table as they were held to a draw by Brentford. The Gunners have seen their cushion on Manchester City cut to four points after a bruising encounter in west London.

In a tight first half the best chance fell to Igor Thiago, but his header was kept out by a diving David Raya. Arsenal managed a solitary shot in the first 45 minutes, but improved after the break.

Noni Madueke gave them the lead when he climbed highest to nod Piero Hincapie’s cross into the corner. Keane Lewis-Potter spurned a great chance to make it 1-1 with a header from a deep corner, but made amends soon after as Brentford’s long throw-ins came up trumps.

Michael Kayode’s throw was flicked on by Sepp van den Berg and Lewis-Potter beat Martin Odegaard to the ball to send a diving header into the net. It could have been even worse, had Cristian Mosquera not summoned a perfectly-timed last-ditch tackle to deny Thiago late on and the Brazilian not blasted over another chance in injury time.

In a dramatic end-to-end conclusion, Caoimhin Kelleher had to fly off his line to deny Gabriel Martinelli. Here are the talking points from a pulsating and potentially consequential match.

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1. Raya keeps old side out

Brentford had a dominant spell in the first half and looked odds-on to take the lead, only for their former goalkeeper to deny them. Raya was actually guilty of setting up Brentford’s best chance in the first half when his attempted roll out to Declan Rice presented the ball to Mathias Jenson.

Jenson’s cross was perfect for Thiago, whose header appeared certain to ripple the net. Yet Raya read the flight of the ball and flung himself to the left to paw away the Brazilian striker’s header. “My first thought is ‘can be do better?’ But you have to credit Raya for an unbelievable save,” said Peter Crouch on TNT Sports at half-time.

2. Eze flops

Eberechi Eze was handed a huge opportunity in west London. Barring the hat-trick against Tottenham in November, he has struggled to make an impact in the Premier League, more often than not finding himself on the substitutes’ bench.

Handed a first start in nine weeks, since a 2-1 win over Wolves on December 13, he failed to take his chance, with his most notable involvement to pull back Dango Ouattara to halt a possible Brentford break. Arteta didn’t waste time, hauling his summer signing off at half-time to bring on Martin Odegaard.

3. Madueke finds a way

Madueke is not a consistent goalscorer. His first of the Premier League season came when the Premier League intervened to overturn their original decision to award an own goal for Karl Darlow from his inswinging corner. And not many people would have predicted his second would come from a towering header.

But unlike Eze, Madueke took his opportunity. Just as Bukayo Saka was being readied on the Arsenal bench, the England winger produced a timely leap to loop a header into the corner past a helpless Kelleher.

4. Set piece FC

Arsenal are the undisputed best at attacking set pieces, but there is no doubt that in Kayode, Brentford have the best long throw-in taker in the Premier League. While some players struggle to reach into the box with the right trajectory, the Bees right-back is consistently threatening with his delivery.

It was his throw that Van den Berg got on the end of to send the ball dropping perfectly for Lewis-Potter on the edge of the six-yard box. Brentford head coach Keith Andrews is a former set piece coach and his replacement, Stephen Rice, has continued the lineage which has also included Nicolas Jover, who is now at Arsenal.

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5. Title race heats up

This was always going to be a difficult assignment for Arsenal, with Brentford strong at home and in decent form. It also didn’t help that Manchester City’s mid-week game came before Arsenal’s – and their most comfortable of win over Fulham turned the screw on Arteta’s side.

They didn’t capitulate against an aggressive and well-organised Brentford, but in the circumstances this was still a slip-up.

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“In the past, Iran has tied the construction to rebuilding an advanced centrifuge assembly plant, but the size of the facility, as well as the protection provided by the tall mountain, raised immediate concern whether additional sensitive activities are planned, such as uranium enrichment,” they said.

A dad who slapped a teenage boy at the school gates after accusing him of bullying his daughter has been spared jail.

Nathan O’Mara, 38, insisted he had not intended to attack the boy but merely wanted to send ‘some sort of message’ with the confrontation outside the school in Penarth, South Wales.

But he said the ‘red mist’ came down when the boy ‘squared up’ to him.

O’Mara denied assault, claiming he hit the boy in self-defence, but was found guilty following a trial at Newport Crown Court.

He was sentenced to 44 weeks imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and handed a restraining order.

Recorder Ben Blakemore said: ‘You pulled up in your car, driving unnecessarily aggressively, and approached him in order to threaten him off your daughter.

‘At that point I am not sure you planned to assault him. What changed was something you hadn’t anticipated, he stood up to you.

‘He squared up and he didn’t step backwards when you stepped forwards. Matters heightened the way matters can do when machismo kicks in.

‘You wanted to assert yourself and frighten him off. You struck him with an open hand to the face, that was unnecessary.

‘That occurred because you were raising the heat in the confrontation and trying to get your message across in a different way.’

In a victim personal statement, the schoolboy said: ‘It’s affected my life at school, since the incident I have been isolated from friends and other students spread rumours.

‘They portrayed me to be something I’m not.’

David Pinnell, defending, said O’Mara, of, Sully, near Cardiff had a good relationship with his daughter.

Recorder Blakemore said: ‘You went about things entirely the wrong way. Rather than using channels available to you through school or the police if needed, you decided you’d deal with things yourself and in your own way.’

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Finding the best fitness app for your particular needs can feel overwhelming. With hundreds of workout apps promising fast results, personalised training plans and more upgrade options, it’s hard to know which ones are actually worth your time and your money.

Whether you’re a beginner looking for a fitness app, something you can use at home, or a training app that fits around a busy schedule, the right platform can make sticking to exercise easier, more effective and more enjoyable. From strength training and Pilates to running, yoga and habit-building, today’s best fitness apps offer expert-led workouts, AI features and flexible programmes you can do anywhere.

As a fitness editor, I’ve learned what makes a decent training tool and which apps aren’t worth the investment. In this guide, I’ve tested and reviewed the best fitness apps in the UK for 2026. Read on for the best apps for your body, goals and lifestyle.

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The best fitness apps for 2026 are:

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“Utilities have announced plans to retire more than 55,000 megawatts of coal-fired generation over the next five years. Reversing these retirement decisions could help offset the need to build new, more expensive electricity sources and prevent the loss of reliability attributes, ‌such as fuel security, that the coal fleet provides,” said America’s Power President and CEO Michelle Bloodworth.

Candidates traded blows in lively and feisty debate

It’s one of the most high-profile and hotly contested by-elections in recent memory. So it’s perhaps not surprising that when the main candidates bidding to become Gorton and Denton’s next MP met at today’s Manchester Evening News hustings things got a little feisty.

The tone was set from the off when Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin entered the room and shook hands with his rivals. “Welcome to Manchester,” he was pointedly told by Labour’s Angeliki Stogia.

Green candidate Hannah Spencer, a plumber and councillor in Trafford, was also quick to get her blows in when, in her opening statement, she described the election as a ‘straight-up race between the hardworking, local Mancunian who’s lived here all her life and the Reform candidate, who’s an academic bussed in from south, spreading that party’s message of division’.

Mr Goodwin had his own consistent attack lines as well, repeatedly accusing Labour of neglecting the constituency and criticising Gereen Party proposals to legalise all drugs, an idea the Reform man said ‘would be a nightmare for Gorton and Denton‘.

You can watch the full hustings here…

Seventeen-year-old Choi Ga-on denied American great Chloe Kim snowboarding history as she brushed off an early fall to win Winter Olympic halfpipe gold.

Kim had been hoping to become the first snowboarder – male or female – to win three consecutive Olympic gold medals.

But as heavy snow fell in Livigno, South Korean Choi usurped Kim at the top of the standings with 90.25 points from her final run, a score the 25-year-old could not better on her last attempt.

It showed remarkable resilience from Choi, after she had earlier taken a brutal fall in which she hit the icy lip of the pipe and flipped into its centre, lying motionless for some time.

But she eventually brushed herself down and stunned the onlooking crowd with her spellbinding third run, her coach bursting into tears at the realisation of what Choi had achieved.

For Kim, the build-up to the Games had been far from ideal.

With just one competition under her belt this season, she dislocated her shoulder and sustained a torn labrum in what she described as the “silliest fall” in training in Switzerland last month.

But despite having her shoulder in a brace, she showed little sign of it affecting her as she scored 90.25 in qualification on Wednesday.

Watched on by Team USA ‘honorary coach’ Snoop Dogg and snowboarding legend Shaun White in Thursday’s final, eight-time X Games champion Kim had looked set for gold after her opening run scored 88.00, with few coming close.

But Choi’s score – met by both cheers and gasps of shock from the onlooking crowd – piled the pressure on Kim, only for a fall to ensure she would leave an Olympics with silver for the very first time.

Japan’s Mitsuki Ono took bronze with a score of 85.00.

The Summit contestants are being put through their paces in the high-stakes ITV reality series.

The Summit contestant Afton McKeith has revealed her co-star “fainted” in an unseen moment on the programme.

The TV star, who is the daughter of controversial I’m A Celebrity star Gillian McKeith, is being put through her paces in the new ITV competition, which is hosted by This Morning’s Ben Shephard.

It follows 14 competitors attempting to scale a mountain peak in New Zealand’s South Island Alps in a bid to win £200,000.

After just the opening episodes, one star was brutally axed, and two more tearfully quit, including Patrick, who had to medically withdraw.

The content creator had been attempting to scale a mountain on a ladder, the first of the group to do so. He thought he’d be strong enough to carry the weight of his supplies on his back, but was struggling within minutes and forced to call it quits.

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Afton has now revealed Patrick actually fainted during the brutal task, replying to a comment on X.

One viewer had reacted to Afton’s tears as she expressed her fears on the show, recalling her mum fainting on I’m A Celebrity.

They wrote: “Afton ffs. Just like her mum. She’ll start fainting come tomorrow.”

Afton replied: “Patrick actually did during the climb! After watching tonight I can see it wasn’t shown though.”

She also said: “Patrick sadly got injured and was told that his injury is too severe to continue. There was no choice unfortunately.”

She went on to recall her own turn climbing the ladder, saying: “The ladder steps were so far apart! It was hard to reach since I’m not that tall and it was all about upper body strength. It was unexpectedly more exhausting than it looked. And such a twist with the mountain keeper showing up to intimidate me!”

Taking to Instagram after he was forced to quit, Patrick expressed his devastation at leaving the challenge after tearing his bicep.

“I did not see that coming, having to be carried out by a chopper, you know, it’s really sad. That’s the worst way I could have possibly gone,” he said in a social media video.

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He went on: “What surprised me most about myself doing this experience is my mental strength. I didn’t know I had it in me.”

He added: “The one piece of advice I would give to myself is to expect the unexpected, go easy on yourself, don’t over-exert yourself and stay hydrated.”

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Afton was among those sharing her support, commenting: “Love you Patrick. I was devastated to see you go.” Another fan added: “So gutted he has gone.”

The Summit continues on Tuesday at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.

He allegedly had quantities of potassium permanganate, sulphur, black powder, 100 blank cartridges, ball bearings and other component parts of improvised devices

A man accused of storing explosives in his south Belfast home is not ideologically driven or linked to terrorism, the High Court heard on Thursday.

Dangerous chemicals and an improvised grenade were discovered during a major security alert at Radoslaw Kuc’s terraced house on Empire Street last year, prosecutors said. But a judge was told psychiatric assessments have confirmed the 51-year-old suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.

“There is no evidence that he’s involved with any terrorist-type organisation,” Madam Justice McBride accepted.

“It doesn’t look as if he is part of a wider network, it doesn’t look as if it was ideologically driven.”

Kuc faces a charge of possessing explosives in suspicious circumstances in connection with seizures made on January 29, 2025. He allegedly had quantities of potassium permanganate, sulphur, black powder, 100 blank cartridges, ball bearings and other component parts of improvised devices.

Crown counsel Mark O’Connor told the court that a number of laptops and mobile phones were also confiscated from the defendant’s home.

“In the property he had a diagram which he claimed was for a laser for a drone,” the barrister added.

Other residents in the Empire Street area had to be evacuated from their homes for nearly 12 hours during the search operation at Kuc’s house.

Police later confirmed that an improvised grenade was removed and made safe.

Opposing the defendant’s bid to be released on bail, Mr O’Connor cited potential hostility towards Kuc from others in the area who know he is a foreign national.

He also submitted: “There are concerns that an alcoholic paranoid schizophrenic with access to dangerous chemicals causes a risk of re-offending.”

With the Empire Street address regarded as unsafe for Kuc to return to, his lawyers indicated there are currently no friends or family he could stay with.

Barrister Turlough Madden argued the psychiatric assessments have shown his mental health is currently stable. Adjourning the application, Madam Justice McBride stressed that alternative accommodation must be found outside the area.

“My concern is that alcohol with paranoid schizophrenia is a very dangerous mix,” she said.

“The alleged offending causes some concern, (and) living in that community where he feels maybe there are people opposed to him.”

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced an end Thursday to credits to automakers who install automatic start-stop ignition systems in their vehicles, a device intended to reduce emissions that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said “everyone hates.”

In remarks with President Donald Trump on Thursday at the White House, Zeldin called start-stop technology the “Obama switch” and said it makes vehicles “die” at every red light and stop sign. He said the credits, which also applied to options like improved air conditioning systems, are now “over, done, finished.”

Zeldin repeated the generally-debunked claims that start-stop systems — which are mostly useful for city driving — are harmful to vehicles, asserting Thursday that “it kills the battery of your car without any significant benefit to the environment.”

This latest Trump administration move to cut automotive industry efforts to clean up their cars and reduce transportation-driven emissions came as Zeldin and Trump also announced a broader repeal of the scientific finding known as endangerment that has been the central basis for regulating U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

Start-stop is a technology that automatically shuts down a vehicle’s engine when a driver comes to a complete stop, and then automatically restarts the engine when the driver takes their foot off the brake pedal. Developed in response to the 1970s oil crisis, the feature was intended to cut vehicle idling, fuel consumption and emissions.

About two-thirds of vehicles now have it, providing drivers with anywhere from 7% to 26% in fuel economy savings, according to the Society of Automotive Engineers. Start-stop also causes a split-second lag in acceleration, a point of irritation for some consumers and automotive enthusiasts.

Burning gasoline and diesel fuel for transportation is a major contributor to planet-warming gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and more, according to the EPA. By implementing the systems, automakers could earn credits toward meeting federal emissions reduction rules.

“Countless Americans passionately despise the start/stop feature in cars,” Zeldin wrote in a post on X on Tuesday teasing the announcement. “So many have spoken out against this absurd start-stop-start-stop-start-stop concept.”

The announcement made good on Zeldin’s promises last year to “fix” the feature. Start-stop is “where your car dies at every red light so companies get a climate participation trophy,” Zeldin said in a post on X last May. “EPA approved it, and everyone hates it, so we’re fixing it,” he wrote at the time.

Zeldin’s announcement aligns with the administration’s broader attacks on cleaner-vehicle efforts. Trump eliminated the Biden administration’s target for half of all new vehicle sales in the U.S. to be electric by 2030, and signed Congress’ tax and spending bill that ended federal tax credits for new and used electric vehicle purchases.

The administration is also weakening rules for how far new vehicles must travel on average on a gallon of gasoline as it undermines the climate regulation at the core of auto tailpipe emissions.

Jeep-maker Stellantis welcomes the deregulatory effort, a spokesperson’s statement said: “We remain supportive of a rational, achievable approach on fuel economy standards that preserves our customers’ freedom of choice.”

A Ford Motor Co. statement said: “We appreciate the work of President Trump and Administrator Zeldin to address the imbalance between current emissions standards and customer choice.”

General Motors deferred comment to the auto industry group Alliance for Automotive Innovation.

“I’ve said it before: Automotive emissions regulations finalized in the previous administration are extremely challenging for automakers to achieve given the current marketplace demand for EVs,” said John Bozzella, president of the alliance. “The auto industry in America remains focused on preserving vehicle choice for consumers, keeping the industry competitive, and staying on a long-term path of emissions reductions and cleaner vehicles.”

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Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.

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Read more of AP’s climate coverage.

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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.