It is now 10 victories on the spin in all competitions for Arsenal, after Mesut Özil pulled the strings in a 3-1 home victory over Leicester City last night. Tonight the attention switches from Premier League to Champions League, and Manchester United welcome Juventus and Cristiano Ronaldo to Old Trafford. Ronaldo's homecoming of sorts is a reminder "of happier past associations for a player who was, in that three-year spell, the best the league has seen." Pep Guardiola's Manchester City travel to take on Shakhtar Donetsk, and the Catalan manager is calling for the fans to show more enthusiasm and belief in Europe.
In his column this morning, Gerry Thornley calls on rugby fans to give the big-hearted Simon Zebo a break, he deserves it: "For sure it's understandable that some people found Zebo's actions were distasteful. You wouldn't have blamed Lowry for decking him . . . A big-hearted, good-natured, generous person, as evidenced by his contributions to various charities, he even said this was not the example he wanted to set his kids. He made a mistake." The IRFU launched their strategic plan for the next five years yesterday, which included plans to reach the World Cup semi-finals or better in both 2019 and 2023.
The only remaining football management vacancy in the country was expected to be filled last night, but Roscommon county board were unable to ratify Aidan O'Rourke because he has requested additional time to confirm one additional member of his backroom team. Another board meeting has been pencilled in for Wednesday.
A runner-up finish behind Sergio Garcia in the Valderrama Masters yesterday has invigorated Shane Lowry's season - his second place payday of €222,220 enabling him to leapfrog up the Race to Dubai order of merit standings to 43rd and also jump up the world rankings to a more palatable 70th. Lowry was outside the automatic top-60 on the order of merit who make it to the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai next month prior to this season's best finish in Valderrama
