Both Ireland and France will head into Saturday's Six Nations clash in Paris knowing exactly what they need to do in order to win the title, and both sides are likely to need to rack the points up in order to leapfrog England in the table. And, as Gordon D'Arcy writes this morning, a Halloween thriller could be on the cards at the Stade de France: "Have no doubt about it, this French side are capable of posting 40 on Ireland if we engage in a "you score, we score" battle of wills. But how else can Johnny Sexton's team go about this task? The Six Nations trophy is for sale to the highest bidder in 2020. To go into the match with a patient, take-the-points attitude will result in Ireland finishing second in the table, at best." Andy Farrell will announce his team for Paris later today with Robbie Henshaw likely to be the only change to the starting XV, in place of the injured Garry Ringrose. Opposite number Fabien Galthié will reveal his side at 10am (Irish time), with Teddy Thomas ruled out due to a hamstring injury.
Liverpool maintained their perfect start in the Champions League last night as they ran out 2-0 winners against FC Midtjylland thanks to goals from Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah, however victory was marred by an injury to auxiliary centre-half Fabinho. Elsewhere Manchester City were 3-0 winners away to Marseille, Ferran Torres, Ilkay Gundogan and Raheem Sterling on the scoresheet. Tonight Manchester United welcome RB Leipzig to Old Trafford, with Chelsea taking on FC Krasnodar in Russia. Among tonight's other games Barcelona travel to Turin to play Juventus, a day after president Josep María Bartomeu confirmed the club had agreed to proposals to join a European Super League - his last act before stepping down from the role.
Elsewhere this morning Seán Moran has looked at the effect empty stadiums could have on this year's All-Ireland Championships, with all games set to go ahead behind closed doors. And he's suggested an empty Croke Park - and an empty Hill End - could help to loosen Dublin's grip on Sam Maguire. He writes: "Not having the Hill standing sentry in their big matches at the very least disrupts the status quo and who could be more interested in maintaining the status quo than a team looking to win a sixth title on the bounce?" Meanwhile Tyrone's Conor McKenna has already caught the eye on his return from the AFL, scoring 1-2 against Donegal before following that up with 2-2 against Mayo last weekend. And the 24-year-old is pleased to be back home and facing into the Ulster Championship after six years in Australia: "They tried everything to make me happy over there, but it just didn't happen, I had to come home for my own sake. But no regrets, no, and I'd still advise any young fella from Ireland who has the opportunity to go over to the AFL to 100 per cent try it."
Drogheda United have been promoted to the League of Ireland Premier Division, after they beat Cabinteely 2-0 at Stradbrook last night. Bray Wanderers, UCD, Longford and Galway United are the sides to fill the playoff places after a dramatic final round of fixtures. Meanwhile tonight's top flight clash between Shamrock Rovers and Derry City won't go ahead due to Covid-19 cases in the Derry squad.
And Dan Martin remains in third place in the general classification of the Vuelta a España following yesterday's Stage 7 which was won by Canada's Michael Woods.
