Liverpool slumped to a club record fifth-consecutive home defeat last night, with Chelsea the latest side to emerge from Anfield with all three points. Thomas Tuchel's side outplayed their beleaguered hosts on Merseyside, with Mason Mount's finely taken first-half goal setting up an ultimately comfortable 1-0 victory. The result moves Chelsea up to fourth place in the Premier League, with Liverpool languishing in seventh. Earlier in the evening Everton edged out West Brom 1-0 at the Hawthorns to reemphasise their own top four credentials. Richarlison scored a headed winner against the Baggies, who saw Mbay Diagne's late effort cruelly ruled out for offside. There was also a narrow win for Tottenham - Jose Mourinho's side edging out Fulham 1-0 at Craven Cottage. Tonight, Championship form side Cardiff City are in action as they travel to play Huddersfield Town - a fixture which will be Mick McCarthy's 1,000th as a manager, writes Emmet Malone.
Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board's referrals committee is to meet at 9.30am this morning to begin the hearing of Gordon Elliott. The Co Meath trainer has been heavily criticised this week after a picture of him sitting on a dead horse circulated on social media last weekend. Elliott is currently banned by the BHA from saddling any runners in the UK, and has seen horses such as Envoi Allen and Quilixios leave his Cullentra yard in the fall out. Whatever punishment the IHRB decide to give Elliott following his hearing, he will not be seen at the Cheltenham Festival, which gets underway in less than two weeks.
Rory McIlroy's love affair with the Arnold Palmer Invitational continued yesterday, as shook off some indifferent recent form to post an opening round of 66 at Bay Hill. McIlroy's six under par opening effort included a run of five-consecutive birdies on his back nine, and saw him take a one-stroke lead over Bryson DeChambeau. He was later joined at the top of the leaderboard by Canada's Corey Connnors. And afterwards, the four-time Major winner said he had taken a leaf out of the Tiger Woods playbook in Orlando: "I've watched Tiger enough here over the years and the way he played this course was, he played it very conservatively, he took care of the Par 5s and that was usually good enough to get the job done. So, (I've) sort of taken a little bit of a leaf out of his book."
Elsewhere Connacht travel to Thomond Park tonight for a mouth-watering interprovincial Pro14 clash with Munster. Johann van Graan's side can secure their place in the tournament final on March 27th with victory in Limerick and boast a strong side including the prodigious outhalf pairing of Craig Casey and Ben Healy. Bundee Aki is in the saddle for the visitors however, and both sets of players will have plenty to prove, writes Gavin Cummiskey.
In his column this morning Johnny Watterson laments the closure of golf clubs around the country, despite the lack of risk connected to chasing a white ball around an open green expanse. But, as he writes, the reasons for keeping the gates locked are fairly obvious: "Right, so not everyone in golf works for Davys. That's not the point. It's the perception. No matter if there is zero chance of 18 holes being a super-spreader event. That's not the point. It's the perception of privilege. Those Limerick kids, who can blame them."
And the 2021 European Indoor Championships continue today, with the event attracting a record number of athletes despite the pandemic. 733 athletes from 47 nations have descended upon Torun, in Poland.
