Anscombe has been revitalised by his move to Gloucester where he has linked up with Wales half-back partner Tomos Williams.
“When I got to Gloucester it felt like I was meant to be there and it has been refreshing,” said Anscombe.
“The most important thing is trying to play consistently, spending time back on the field and keeping myself together.
“It’s been nice linking back up with Tommy again, we know each other from our years at Cardiff. He’s been outstanding for Gloucester, one of our best players recently and is world class.”
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With Dan Biggar having retired after the World Cup and Anscombe’s injury, Sam Costelow, Ioan Lloyd and Ben Thomas have started the last eight Tests, all of which Wales have lost in 2024.
Costelow and Thomas are the other fly-half options in the November squad.
“My goal is to try and play for Wales again and help bring some experience to this younger side,” said Anscombe.
“We’ve got to get a few wins here and that helps you enjoy what you do.
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“We haven’t been far away. If we can put in a couple of improved performances that bring wins, suddenly everyone starts relaxing a little bit. Winning is a habit, but so is losing.
“We just need to understand what it takes to win at this level.”
MANCHESTER UNITED are finally up and running in the Europa League.
The Red Devils ran out 2-0 winners over Greek outfit PAOK to pick up their first win in Europe’s tertiary club competition.
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Manchester United welcome PAOK to Old Trafford for their fourth Europa League match of the seasonCredit: EPA
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The Greek outfit frustrated the Red Devils for the first halfCredit: EPA
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Amad Diallo broke the deadlock in the 51st minute with a brilliant headerCredit: GETTY
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Diallo bagged his and United’s second with a deflected strike in the 77th minuteCredit: GETTY
Ruud van Nistelrooy‘s troops huffed and puffed but couldn’t break the Greek outfit down in what proved to be a disappointing first half.
But they eventually breached the vistors’ defence in the 51st minute thanks to a looping header from Amad Diallo.
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United were poor defensively throughout the match and should have been punished by Tarik Tissoudali in the 64th minute.
But the winger fired the tamest of shots straight at Andre Onana with acres of space around him in the 18-yard box.
And Diallo made them pay in the 78th minute with a deflected strike from just outside the penalty box.
Victory over PAOK has left United in 15th place in the Conference League table and on course to qualify for the playoffs.
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THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY..
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The Football Association has opened a safeguarding inquiry into a Premier League club boss, a year on from a BBC investigation.
The investigation found that despite three women reporting the man to the police for alleged sexual offences, he remained in position at the club.
One of the women told the BBC the FA had failed to protect women and girls by taking no action, despite her being under 16 at the time of the alleged incident.
Sports news publication The Athletic have reported and the BBC understands that following the police decision to take no further action, the FA have now opened an inquiry of its own.
A spokesperson for the national governing body said they do not comment on individual cases but they have “robust safeguarding measures in place”.
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In an email from the end of October, seen by the BBC, the FA invited one of the complainants, who we are calling Kate, to a meeting to discuss her experiences as part of their safeguarding investigation. They added that they will not be able to share with her any details of their investigations including any outcome reached once complete.
Kate first contacted the FA in July 2023, where she told them she had reported the man to the police for a historic rape that she says happened when she was 15. However, she believes nothing was done by the FA until now.
“Football authorities and [the] government seem to have turned a blind eye, deaf ear and chose to say and do nothing to protect females from the threats he poses to girls and women,” she told the BBC in reaction to the news of an FA inquiry.
While Kate is glad the investigation has been opened she says she has serious concerns about the lack of transparency about any action taken. “We need assurances that all females at the club are safe,” she adds.
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The boss was also investigated in 2021 after an allegation that he sexually abused a different 15-year-old in the 1990s. No further action was taken in that case because of legislation which stated that if an offence of “unlawful sexual intercourse” took place between 1956 and 2004, and the alleged victim was a girl aged 13 to 15, she had to make a complaint within a year.
The BBC spoke to a third woman, who says in the late 90s she was locked in a room by the boss as he attempted to coerce her into sexual activity. She says this took place during a job interview when she was in her early 20s.
All three investigations have now been dropped by the police.
In November of last year the BBC found that seven out of 20 Premier League clubs have had players or bosses investigated by the police for sexual offences since 2020.
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FA regulations only cover how to respond to allegations of this nature if they occur within a “football environment”, or if concerns relate to children or vulnerable adults.
Their policies allow the governing body to impose an interim suspension order blocking the individual from some or all activity within the game while it continues investigating.
Such an order can be imposed where the FA receives information that causes it “reasonably to believe that a person poses or may pose a risk of harm”.
The new inquiry will be led by the FA’s professional game safeguarding manager.
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A spokesperson for the national governing body said: “We investigate and assess all allegations and concerns about individuals who may pose a risk of harm to children and adults at risk in football and, where applicable, can impose proportionate safeguarding measures in accordance with FA safeguarding regulations.”
Unique fight shorts are the new wave in the UFC, and heavyweight champ Jon Jones will rock his first custom Venum fight kit shorts at UFC 309 when he puts his title on the line against Stipe Miocic.
Jones has only competed once thus far in the Venum era. He wore black shorts when he made his heavyweight debut against Ciryl Gane at UFC 285. Jones won the vacant UFC heavyweight title that night by submitting Gane in the first round.
Jones will wear his first custom Venum kit for his first title defense on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The black shorts feature two red roaring lion heads with gold lettering for Jones’s name, the UFC and Venum logos, and Philippians 4:13, the Bible verse the champ tattooed on his chest.
Jones joins the recent wave of custom Venum kits, which have caught the attention of fans as the designs allow some star fighters to differentiate themselves in the cage.
UFC light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira wore a vibrant tribal design at UFC 300, while former bantamweight champ Sean O’Malley debuted neon pink shorts at UFC 306 as recent examples of popular custom offerings.
Last week at UFC Fight Night 246 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, former UFC flyweight champ Brandon Moreno rocked custom Mexico-themed shorts that turned many heads as well.
The Chiefs, as you may have heard, are the NFL’s last unbeaten team, now 8-0 and almost halfway to the elusive perfect regular season.
The 1972 Dolphins, the only team to pull off an undefeated full season, opened that year with a win against the Chiefs, having beaten them in the playoffs the previous season. So any Chiefs run at perfection is ultimately a slow-burn revenge mission, and a difficult one at that.
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Do the Chiefs even want to stay perfect? Kansas City has had two teams open 9-0, and both lost the 10th game. The 2003 Chiefs finished 13-3 and lost in their first playoff game; the 2013 Chiefs dropped five of seven to finish 11-5 and lost in the wild-card round.
So we’re here to remind you how remarkably unlikely a perfect season will be, no matter how good the Chiefs might be. They can be the best team in the NFL and win an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl and still fall well short of perfection. There’s no shame in that. Here are a few vulnerabilities to watch, relative weak spots that could be exposed in an eventual loss to spoil that bid at 20-0.
Turnover margin
The Chiefs are not a good turnover team. They have forced exactly eight takeaways in eight games, and on turnover margin, they’re tied for 24th this season at minus-4. This is not a new development: Kansas City won a Super Bowl last year despite finishing 28th in turnover margin, and did the same in 2022 while ranking 22nd in turnover margin. Last year’s champs forced 17 takeaways in 17 regular-season games.
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They’re good enough that they don’t need to win on turnovers. Since Patrick Mahomes took over as starter in 2018, they’re 37-2 when they simply force more turnovers than they commit. Dead even on turnovers? They’re 24-6, winning 80 percent of the time. Even when they’re minus-1, as they were in Monday’s overtime win over the Bucs, they’re 17-9, winning almost two out of three times.
But get them to minus-2, and it’s a conversation you can have. When the Chiefs are minus-2 or worse under Mahomes, they’re 5-7. That’s actually really good under the circumstances, as NFL teams that are minus-2 or worse are 9-41 this year, winning just 18 percent of the time.
Why we bring this up: The Chiefs’ remaining schedule includes three of the NFL’s best teams in turnover margin. In two weeks, they face the Bills, tied for the league’s best at plus-11 in turnovers, and later they’ll face the Chargers (plus-9) and Steelers (plus-10). All three are leading their divisions right now, and the net turnover differential between the Chiefs and those teams is enough to bring those rare minus-2 scenarios into play.
Mahomes’ interceptions are up this year, enough that he was tied for the league lead with nine before this past weekend. It’s rare he has more than one in a game — it’s happened only 14 times in his seven-year career, but the Chiefs are just 8-6 in those games. So if a team can pick him off a couple times, there’s a chance.
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Keep them under 20 points
Much has been written about how the Chiefs have won as much with their defense this year. Before Monday night, they’d won 13 games in a row and had scored 28 points or fewer in all 13 games, the only such streak in NFL history. They scored 30 points on Monday, but needed overtime to do it.
All this is to say that these Chiefs have not been a dominant team offensively over the past two years. At their scoring peak, from the start of 2020 to their Week 8 bye in 2022, Kansas City scored 40 or more points 11 times in 46 games, but since then, they’ve scored 40 or more just once in their past 42 games.
“Hey, get them to score less” is not an innovative strategy, but the key number to aim for is 20 points or fewer. When the Chiefs scored 20 or fewer last year, they were just 4-6. Only one team has held them under 20 this year, and it’s the Chargers, who have the NFL’s No. 1 scoring defense and lost 17-10 in their first meeting.
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The Chiefs’ remaining schedule includes four games against the NFL’s top three scoring defenses — a rematch with the Chargers, a Week 17 showdown with the Steelers and two against the Broncos, this week and the season finale. That game at Buffalo next weekend — a rematch of last year’s playoff showdown — would also put Kansas City against the league’s No. 8 scoring defense.
Kickoff return concerns
The Bucs’ Bucky Irving had a 46-yard kickoff return Monday night, the second-longest the Chiefs have allowed over the past three seasons. Special teams coordinator Dave Toub is one of the best in the league, and Kansas City has an 80 percent touchback rate with Harrison Butker, so the team’s opponents have only returned nine kickoffs all season.
But on those returns, they’re averaging 30 yards per return, the eighth-highest average in the league. The Saints’ Rashid Shaheed had a 38-yard return against the Chiefs and the 49ers‘ Isaac Guerendo had a 35-yarder. The entire league has given up only three kickoff return touchdowns all season, and Kansas City hasn’t allowed one since 2020, but it’s something to watch. Keep an eye out for Bills rookie Brandon Codrington in two weeks.
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The threat of a Mahomes injury
It’s almost cheating to have an undefeated season end because of a quarterback injury, but Mahomes had a scare early in the fourth quarter Monday night when he scrambled to his right, then pulled up and tossed a touchdown to Samaje Perine. He was down on the field with an ankle injury and initially had to be helped to the sideline before finishing the walk on his own. He ended up not missing a snap, but the concern was enough to have TV showing backup Carson Wentz throwing on the sideline.
Mahomes has been remarkably healthy in his NFL career, missing only two starts in seven seasons due to injury — in 2019 with a dislocated kneecap. He sat out the regular-season finales in 2020 and 2023 because the Chiefs had clinched everything they could, but otherwise, he’s been able to play every game.
Could the Chiefs win with Wentz? He’s 3-5 as a starter since the start of 2022 in stints with the Commanders and Rams. The Chiefs split the two games Mahomes missed in 2019, and that was with Matt Moore filling in at quarterback. Mahomes’ current ankle injury won’t sideline him, but it might limit his scrambling ability and the elusiveness that allows him to extend plays and improvise as few quarterbacks can.
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Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
However the timing of the midweek game coincides with the club’s WSL stars hosting Bayern in the Champions League.
Gunners officials have opted to change the venue for the women’s match with the team forced to make way for their men’s side hosting Crystal Palace.
This is despite the club committing to hosting all their women’s side’s home games in Europe at the Emirates.
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The Arsenal Supporters Club expressed their disappointment in what they described as a “change in priorities” for the fixture with the date and venue for having been known for weeks.
However, Slegers feels Gunners officials are dealing with “a hard dilemma”.
The WSL team other home ground Meadow Park is being considered as a possible alternative venue for match.
Interim Arsenal boss Slegers whose team hosts Brighton tomorrow night, said: “It has been a very hard dilemma for the club with two great teams competing in competitions.
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“What Arsenal have been doing really well is pushing the growth of women’s football for a very long time.
“This is a bump in the road but what Arsenal has been doing is very strong.”
The Gunners’ battle with Bayern being shunted from the Emirates comes three weeks after the departure of former Arsenal Women’s gaffer Jonas Eidevall.
The Sweden-born head coach resigned from his role on October 15 after the team won just one of their opening four WSL games this term.
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Since Slegers took charge the Gunners have gone unbeaten in three games across all competitions with two wins and a draw.
And she insists hers and the team’s focus is on their football.
She added: “With what we are doing, you could say we live in a little box with the team and the staff.
“For us, obviously Jonas leaving was a change.
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“But all the other things of what we are doing are not impacted by those external things.
“What we need to do is work on our football and group dynamics.
“That’s what we do day-in, day-out and that’s where focus is.”
Tomorrow night’s WSL duel between the Gunners and Brighton will be the first between the sides this term.
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The Seagulls have had an impressive start under head coach Dario Vidosic and are four points clear of fifth-placed Arsenal.
The team, who have Gunners striker Michelle Agyemang on loan for one season, have lost just one of their first six opening games this term.
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Arsenal could go a point behind third-placed Brighton if they defeat them in the WSL tomorrowCredit: Getty
Brighton, who are third, currently occupy one of the WSL’s top three spots for qualification to compete in the Champions League.
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Of if their duel could be a big one in terms of the battle to reach next term’s tournament, Slegers adds: “It’s still early in the season, but I think all games are important.
Ty Majeski, who will compete for the 2024 Truck title on Friday with ThorSport, was the final driver to transfer into the Championship 4 at Martinsville. As part of his Championship 4 duties, he, along with other final four members of each series were required to be in attendance Tuesday of this week for a production day to create and film content for the upcoming weekend. Majeski, however, wasn’t there, resulting in a $12,500 fine from NASCAR. Series officials cited “failure to complete media obligations” as the reason.
But it’s not like Majeski was having a lazy day at home or simply forgot. He had flown home to the pivotal battleground state of Wisconsin to vote in the 2024 presidential election.
And as Majeski noted, he wasn’t even part of the Championship 4 until locking in last weekend, just a few days before Election Day. And unlike many in the NASCAR world, he is registered to vote in a state other than North Carolina, thus creating this unique conflict.
Ty Majeski, ThorSport Racing, Road Ranger Ford F-150
Photo by: John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images
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“I didn’t know I was gonna be in the Championship 4 until a few days prior. I’ve always in my whole life been an election day vote guy. I’ve never done an absentee ballot. I wanted to make sure my vote was counted.”
“It’s obviously been a whirlwind for sure,” said Majeski on Thursday. “Like I said, I’m really focused on the race Friday night. I felt like I needed to do my duty as a US citizen to vote. My team owners and I, Duke [Thorson], Rhonda [Thorson] and Allison [Thorson], we all made the decision to exercise that right.”
Majeski and team intend to appeal the fine, and yes, he was fully aware that he was skipping production day to vote.
“I didn’t specifically have much communication with NASCAR prior, said Majeski I let everybody internally at ThorSport handle those conversations prior to not being there on Tuesday, so I feel like they knew our position and it’s kind of unprecedented.
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“It’s unfortunate circumstances for everybody. I don’t think anybody wants to be put in that position, but we have to have a free country to race in and that’s just part of being a US citizen, so I wanted to exercise that right.”
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