By Thursday morning, a lot had changed around Tottenham Hotspur. The Arsenal result from the night before had naturally sent a charge around the club, given that the derby is next up. They’ll suddenly be facing a team enduring their own crisis. This has been amplified by the shift that comes from a new coach, no matter who it is. While there have been questions about Igor Tudor, he has spent most of his time so far seeking to implement his own game model. It’s foundation-first.

There have already been a few quips about how Thomas Frank would have overly focused on Arsenal, a factor that had started to grate on some of those around the club.

They – and Arsenal – are also conscious of how the atmosphere on Sunday is going to be different. The toxicity that surrounded Frank will be gone, at least temporarily. The derby will only amplify this better mood.

That suddenly creates a new danger for Arsenal. This could be an especially bad week.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a longer-term risk for Spurs from some of this, and that goes beyond the threat of relegation.

This is the first time that a north London derby has involved both the title and survival since 1934-35, when Arsenal were champions and Spurs went down. Arsenal won those fixtures 5-1 and 0-6.

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This season feels very much up for grabs at both ends.

But if Frank occasionally overstated the exact quality of Arsenal, and recent results make even discussing it feel mistimed, Spurs would be unwise to ignore the wider point.

The club hierarchy is currently trying to figure out a way out of this unprecedented mess, but there is a good roadmap across north London.

The very fact that Arsenal are so disappointed right now is at once a sign of their progress. Better to be frustrated in a title race than nowhere near. They are competing.

Spurs chief executive Vinai Venkatesham should know about that journey better than anyone at the club, since he was on it.

The official was part of a wider team led by former executive vice-chair Tim Lewis, former sporting director Edu, the ownership and – of course – Mikel Arteta, in making Arsenal a serious operation again.

The hierarchy first stripped everything back, removing all old pretensions and hang-ups to rebuild anew. Arteta decided on an identity and went there.

Another irony in the eternal intertwining of these two clubs is that this Arsenal have almost represented an upscaled version of what Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham Hotspur were, right down to the style and an initial emphasis on youth.

Above all, though, Arsenal have had a clear sense of where they are going.

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Spurs haven’t really been able to say that since Pochettino took them to the Champions League final in 2019, but arguably even earlier.

Since the club lost the Argentine’s singular focus, they have been a mess of different ideas. It says much that all of 2025, 2023, 2021 and 2019 were cast as restarts when they really just perpetuated the same cycle.

A significant cause was the one constant at Spurs: Daniel Levy. The former chair is still widely respected in the game for how he gradually built the club, but there were increasing criticisms about how virtually everything at Tottenham was done according to his preferences. Even executives at Arsenal quipped about how it was Levy’s way rather than the Spurs way.

It arguably says more that, outside Pochettino’s time and brief bursts like Antonio Conte’s Champions League qualification or Ange Postecoglou’s Europa League triumph, the club has been most associated with a dismissive eponymous adjective: “Spursy”. They are now a club who receive most attention for things going wrong.

The ultimate example might be the Eberechi Eze negotiations, which was one of Levy’s last acts.

Except that the departure of someone as central as Levy has now naturally left a huge vacuum, and one that threatens to swallow up the whole club.

It is actually even worse than the obvious lack of decisiveness over Frank, and how the complete absence of a plan saw them allow a dysfunctional situation to become one where relegation is a genuine risk.

Put bluntly, Spurs have no idea what they are, and multiple sources insist there are still not enough football people at the club to figure this out.

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Those same sources point to how Tudor was previously a name raised by the former director of football, Fabio Paratici.

This is a club badly in need of ideas, and especially one central idea.

As is often the case, it’s impossible not to feel some of this should be obvious, to the point it’s almost boring to repeat in a media article.

Spurs themselves even pronounce it before every home match. There are the inevitable references to Danny Blanchflower’s famous speech proclaiming that “the game is about glory… about doing things in style and with a flourish”.

This again feels incredible to say about one of the wealthiest clubs in football, but it should not have taken them this long to decide on a football ideology that evokes this; to appoint managers and sign players that fit into this.

Again, it should be obvious, but it hasn’t been properly tried at Spurs in years.

One fair argument right now is that the club do not currently have the football expertise to start going about such a project. Other Premier League figures are insistent that Spurs won’t be able to properly do anything like that until there is a change in ownership.

The rumours there refuse to go away. Many potential buyers are said to be interested. The Lewis family, however, are still described as “capricious” on this subject.

And of course, it wouldn’t be modern Spurs without some other layer of complication.

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Although it is usually at this point, during one of their frequent coaching changes, that they try to start thinking about the future, the biggest danger is a sense of drift; this time could see them get cut adrift.

They have to stave off relegation. Even the mere risk of this can affect preparation for next season, as Spurs may have to start considering two different plans.

The target will still be the same. They want to return to Pochettino after the USA’s involvement in the 2026 World Cup ends.

The hierarchy feels the fanbase needs to be unified after such a divisive period, and there is no better candidate. Pochettino’s football ideal, to be fair, also fits into that kind of Blanchflower proclamation.

But should this be based around one man? Is that not a superficial plan in itself? Is it even the same man as in 2019, let alone 2014, when Pochettino offered the fire that was necessary?

There is yet another little twist in how Arteta suddenly faces up to precisely the problem that Pochettino did, and potentially peaking at the wrong time, of not taking the project to fulfilment.

Spurs could have a significant say in that – but they know the club needs to be about so much more. Arsenal are still going for everything, while their great rivals still just need something.

The Big West should receive just one NCAA Tournament bid, but three teams are currently within a game of each other atop the standings.

UC Irvine holds the top spot at 11-4 after defeating Long Beach State yesterday.

Hawaii and Cal State Northridge both have 10-5 conference records after losses on Thursday to Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara, respectively.

The Anteaters and Rainbow Warriors have the better overall records with meaningful games still on their slates, so we take a look at those two teams here.

The players at both Hawai’i and UC Irvine have easy access to the beach, but they find themselves in different basketball situations.

Hawai’i’s big men play a drop action in the pick-and-roll. This means the big man doesn’t defend the guard, but provides just enough of a presence to be annoying.

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If the ball handler gets hot from 15 feet, a post player pops for some threes, or if there’s a vertical threat, it can be beaten.

Since the Big West lacks elite athleticism, this defense is effective.

The other guiding principle, and the main one, is no-help defense. This forces the opponent to win one-on-one matchups, which is difficult for most college players.

The justification for this defense is that it helps stymie ball movement.

The Bows rank first in the nation, only allowing 9.0 assists per game this year. UH also ranked in the Top 25 in this same category a season ago.

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Hawai’i is also sixth in the country in defensive rating and 35th in points allowed per game.

Offensively, the Rainbow Warriors are decent, ranking 104th in points scored per contest.

They have four different players who average 10 points or more per game, led by center Isaac Johnson, who averages 13.4.

Head Coach Eran Ganot is on pace to lead Hawaii to its third 20-win season in the last four years, and has recorded just one losing season in his 11-year tenure as the coach at UH.

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UC Irvine (11-4, 18-9)

UC Irvine is like that reliable worker who always gets overlooked. Last year, if not for a missed point-blank layup, they would have won the NIT.

Scarcely any mid-major program will make the Big Dance each season like Gonzaga, but the Anteaters are back at the top of the Big West standings again in 2026.

Offensively, the ‘Eaters are led by Jurian Dixon, who averages 15.5 points per game.

Dixon has proven a bit inconsistent at times, but can also take over a game, as was the case with his 26-point explosion against CSU Bakersfield.

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The Big West Freshman of the Year in 2024-25 decided to stay after a tough end to his freshman season, aided by a bunch of players transferring out, meaning he would get more shots.

Irvine has two other players who average more than 10 points per game, and Kyle Evans is one of those guys.

But Evans isn’t known for his offense; he’s a defensive menace, leading the NCAA in blocked shots, averaging 3.35 blocks per contest.

He has 87 total denials on the year, 15 more than the second-place shot-blocker.

Evans’ defensive presence helps anchor a team that ranks seventh in defensive rating and 43rd in points allowed per game. He also averages 8.5 rebounds per contest.

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The third player averaging more than ten points per game is Derin Saran, who also averages 3.5 assists and 1.4 steals per contest.

Russell Turner has done a marvelous job at UC Irvine. Most of his players impact the game in multiple facets, a staple of a winning program.

Not surprisingly, he is the winningest coach in ‘Eaters history.

Writes about football and basketball as a Senior Writer and hosts “The Nick Bartlett Show” for SuperWest Sports.

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Following a light workout at Cranbourne and subsequent x-rays, the favoured Big Sky has been withdrawn from Victoria’s flagship two-year-old event.

The colt from the Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr stable was primed as the choice for the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) on Saturday, though Price voiced concerns over the colt after his Friday morning canter at Cranbourne.

Thursday’s Racing Victoria vet barrier check had cleared Big Sky, as it did for all 20 declared runners.

Price’s optimism faded rapidly, however, within the next day as issues emerged with the colt’s stride.

“I had a little canter with him this morning and his action is not what it should be,” Price told SENTrack.

“We know by looking at the data, on Tuesday morning his stride was a little shorter than it should be, but I was looking more at knees this morning and we have had them x-rayed.

“There’s a little bit of immaturity near front, off-front, there’s enough there to say I need a second opinion of what’s going on with that knee.

“We think we can see a small little flake of bone in there.

“I’m not sure we need to do, but what I do know is that horse will not be running on Saturday and will be going to the paddock.”

Price noted that his approach remains consistent across the board, irrespective of whether it’s a premier Group 1 for juveniles or an ordinary mile maiden.

“I wouldn’t ask any horse to do anything I wasn’t 100 per cent happy with, especially a two-year-old baby,” Price said.

“He’s very talented, he might be a Group 1 horse as a three-year-old.

“Regardless of anything in the future, he will not run tomorrow, and the information is ‘black and white’.

“It is disappointing, but it would be disappointment times ten if I was to run him and get a poor result, number one, and to see him pull-up poorly number two.

“He’s a young horse and we need to look after him.”

Markets reacted swiftly, elevating stablemate Guest House to the fore at $4.60, in front of Unit Five ($5.50) and Closer To Free ($6.50).

After vet reviews, the filly Torture trained by Ben, Will and J D Hayes was barred from racing, but Tough Romance from Tony and Calvin McEvoy secured approval.

Phillip Stokes’ first emergency Stretan Ruler was stood down Thursday to contest the Group 2 Silver Slipper Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill Saturday.

Visit leading betting sites to check the updated betting markets for the race.

Caulfield-bound Closer To Free faces no penalty from trainer Danny O’Brien for his novice status ahead of Victoria’s elite two-year-old showdown.

His qualification for Saturday’s Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield stemmed from a debut romp in the Blue Diamond Prelude (1100m) held on February 7.

Prior to that, O’Brien snapped up the colt post a Caulfield Heath barrier trial conquest nine days earlier under Adrian Corboy’s watch.

Post-debut, Closer To Free has shown further maturation, leaving O’Brien relaxed about the colt’s sophomore appearance on Saturday.

Devil Night mirrored this path last year, capturing the Blue Diamond on his second start following a Prelude second two weeks prior.

“The narrative around his trial was that he was wound up, but Adrian told me he was three or four weeks behind with him because he got cast in his box over Christmas and he missed a couple of weeks work,” O’Brien said.

“When he came to the trials here, he said there was a lot of improvement in the horse and when I saw him in the yard before the Prelude I thought ‘he’s right, you might need another gallop’, but he came out of it really well and will be finding a couple of lengths on Saturday on top of what he’s already shown.”

Saturday’s race poses no issue for O’Brien due to Closer To Free’s light resume.

“The profile of these two-year-old races has changed over the last 15 or 20 years,” O’Brien said.

“The two-year-olds are not having as many starts as they used to before Christmas and ultimately, they get one or two post-Christmas before running in the Blue Diamond and even the Golden Slipper.

“I don’t think that is a disadvantage. I know when Star Witness won it, it was only his third race start, one start in December, one start in January, and then into to the Diamond.”

Discussing Australia’s breeding evolution, O’Brien notes a departure from rushing juveniles to the track.

“When I first started in racing, there probably wasn’t the number of shuttle stallions standing,” O’Brien said.

“It was more the colonials, they were a bit hardier, a bit more get up get going early, whereas nearly every stallion in Australia now has some form of shuttle blood.

“There has been a gradual shift, so I don’t think there is any disadvantage and he has been very well educated and we can thank Adrian for that.

“He’s got a very natural brain and there will be no horse that will handle the parade better than him.

“He’s so relaxed.”

Discover leading betting sites offering racing odds for the Blue Diamond Stakes.

The winner of May’s thriller between heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley and challenger Daniel Dubois could well be targeted by a returning Tyson Fury.

Wardley will mark the first defence of his WBO title at the Co-op Live Arena, having become champion in November when the belt was vacated by Oleksandr Usyk.

The Ipswich man, who stopped Justis Huni and Joseph Parker in 2025, has said he wants a proper first outing as champion to prove to fans he has earned the belt – he had wanted to fight Usyk for it, but the Ukrainian did not share that interest.

As for Dubois, he has managed to get the Ukrainian in the ring, twice, losing on both occasions. Most recently, he was stopped inside five rounds at Wembley Stadium, losing his own world title. This shot at Wardley’s belt in his first fight back represents both an excellent opportunity and a dangerous career move.

Watching on from ringside will be Fury, who ends a year-long retirement in April against Arslanbek Makhmudov. He has made it clear he will target the winner, however can’t split them when predicting who that will be.

Speaking on the FurociTV YouTube channel, ‘The Gypsy King’ praised the matchmaking, ultimately recognising the fight as a pick ’em with a high chance of ending early in either man’s favour, giving Dubois a 50% chance of becoming a two-time champ.

“I think Wardley’s a good fighter and I think the Daniel Dubois fight is a very good fight. Great fight for British boxing – two British heavyweights knocking lumps off each other. These are two big punchers. Whoever lands first with the big shot will win.”

“These guys are 6 foot 4, 6 foot 5 wrecking machines. Look how they’re built – they’re built like Greek gods carved out of stone. They’re training, young, ambitious … They’re both in their prime, both fresh, both young – it’s a real fight, it’s not like one is past it and one isn’t. I think the fans are the real winners here. They get to see a 50/50 fight between two big heavyweights for the world title.”

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Fans, analysts and fighters are split on the contest. While Dubois may well be the hardest puncher Wardley has faced, he has also been stopped on three occasions himself – something the gritty and courageous champion is well known to take advantage of. All of the above makes it one of the best heavyweight fights of the year so far, and perhaps entire.

Team USA women’s hockey captain Hilary Knight’s massive third-period goal that sent the gold medal game against Canada to overtime had historic implications Thursday night in Milan.

Knight became the greatest women’s hockey scorer in Olympic history when she tipped home Julia Edwards’ shot at the blue line with just 2:04 left on the clock while the U.S. had an empty net, to tie the gold medal game at one goal apiece. 

Finally, Team USA was able to erase the shutout against Canada, and it ultimately worked in their favor. 

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Hilary Knight (21) of the United States celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal in the third period during the women’s gold medal match against Canada at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games Feb. 19, 2026, in Milan, Italy.  (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

In overtime, Megan Keller dangled around a Team Canada defender and tossed a backhand toward the net that got through Ann-Renée Desbiens’ right arm and trickled into the net for the gold medal victory. 

Knight’s goal broke the U.S. women’s record for career goals while representing the Stars and Stripes, which was previously held by Natalie Darwitz and Katie King. She now has 15 for her career.

USA WOMEN’S HOCKEY TEAM BRINGS OLYMPIC GOLD BACK HOME IN OT THRILLER OVER CANADA

Knight also broke the record for most career Olympic points in Team USA women’s hockey history with her 33rd point, breaking the record previously held by Jenny Potter, who had 11 goals and 21 assists in her career.

This only adds to the illustrious career Knight has had for Team USA. The victory in Milan marked her second Olympic gold medal and fifth overall. And, yes, that is yet another Olympic record. 

Hilary Knight of the United States celebrates her goal during the women’s gold medal match against Canada at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games Feb. 19, 2026, in Milan, Italy. (RvS.Media/Monika Majer)

Knight, 36, also became the third Olympic hockey player, man or woman, to have five medals in a career.

There’s a reason why Knight wears the “C” on her chest, having tallied 12 gold medals over her career between the Olympics and world championships. She has registered 81 goals and 70 assists throughout her long career. 

Back home, Knight’s resume in the PWHL includes tying for the league lead in points during the 2024-25 campaign with 29 while playing for the Boston Fleet. 

Hilary Knight of the United States during the second period of a women’s playoffs semifinal match against Sweden at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games Feb. 16, 2026, in Milan, Italy. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

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And in the Seattle Torrent’s first-ever season this year, she is tied for sixth in the league with seven assists. 

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