SPORT

We are in the thick of the NFL playoffs, which also means teams that need a new head coach are busy shopping. And this year, there are a lot of shoppers, after more than 25% of teams said “thank you and goodbye” to the guy they started the season with.

Most of the coaches were fired. Most of them didn’t make the playoffs this year. Most of them didn’t even finish .500. None of that describes Mike Tomlin.

After leading the Pittsburgh Steelers to the team’s 25th division title — eight because of him — he decided to step down after 19 years on the job. Upon hearing the news, the Athletic reported, players became very emotional, including future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who was said to be in tears. The players’ response is consistent with Tomlin’s decades-long reputation in the league as a great mentor and friend.

Unfortunately, because we’re all trapped in this what-have-you-done-for-me-lately meets rage-bait world, there is this narrative out there that Tomlin is not an all-time great coach. In fact, some Steelers fans online and former NFL players on podcasts are suggesting he was mediocre because the team hasn’t won a Super Bowl since President Obama’s first month in office. About a third of the league’s teams have won a championship since Tomlin. For the fanbase for teams like the Cleveland Browns or the Arizona Cardinals, a Super Bowl in any year would be enough. However, the Steelers faithful have a different history and higher expectations.

I get it.

That is still no reason to disrespect one of the greatest coaches in league history as he walks out the door. Recency bias typically comes with a dash of amnesia. Sprinkle in the pace of the modern news cycle and the algorithms’ insatiable hunger for outrage, and you can see why people are tempted to say negative things about someone who has never had a losing season. That achievement is not perfection, which is commonly the bar set on social media by naysayers in search of clicks, but it is unequivocal excellence. No other NFL coach with his number of years in charge can make such a claim. That is also true in the NBA, the MLB and the NHL.

The only quarterback the Steelers drafted in the first round during his era, Kenny Pickett in 2022, is currently on his fourth team. For perspective, Brock Purdy, the current San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback, was available. That’s not meant to be a dig at the Steelers front office. Every team has its hits and misses during the NFL draft. That’s just to remind you of Pittsburgh’s decadelong carousel under center. As coach, Tomlin has more seasons using three different starting quarterbacks than he does finishing the year 8-8.

There’s no medal or ring for never having a losing season. However, that accomplishment should always come with respect. Because winning an NFL game has never been easy.

For perspective, in 2022, while the Steelers were busy not drafting a franchise quarterback, former Rams coach Dick Vermeil was inducted into the Hall of Fame. In 15 years, Vermeil had seven losing seasons. Like Tomlin, he has one Super Bowl ring. Vermeil, who was famous for turning teams around in three seasons, left the game with a .525 win percentage. After two decades, Tomlin won 63% of his games, which ranks in the top 10 all time and is the best in Steelers history.

To question if he’s an all-time great isn’t just counterintuitive.

It’s disrespectful. And for what? To generate some content between playoff games? An irrational need to be a contrarian?

There’s more to Tomlin’s story that is being underdiscussed. Less than 2% of all K-12 teachers are Black men. The percentage of Black head football coaches in the top division has never been more than 15. Chances are Tomlin is the first Black man many of his players have ever witnessed be in charge. There have been stretches in which he was the only Black NFL head coach and thus the first person journalists reached out to when it’s time to talk about the Rooney Rule. He’s carried that unspoken responsibility, that invisible weight, quietly for 19 years.

And he did so without ever ending the season having lost more than he won.

Instead of asking if Tomlin is an all-time great, the conversation in the sports world should be focused on how great Tomlin is.

YouTube: @LZGrandersonShow

Rookie Beckett Sennecke had two assists and then scored in the shootout, sending the Ducks to a 3-2 victory over the Kings on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena.

Mason McTavish ended it with a third-round shootout goal for the Ducks, who rallied from an early two-goal deficit for their second straight victory after a nine-game skid.

Tim Washe scored his first NHL goal and Ryan Strome got his first goal in a month for the Ducks when Southern California’s two NHL teams opened a back-to-back, home-and-home chapter of the rivalry by going to their second shootout of the season. Lukas Dostal made 26 saves.

Joel Armia had a goal and an assist in his return from a five-game injury absence for the Kings, who have lost five of six.

Darcy Kuemper stopped 26 shots, but the Canadian Olympian couldn’t stop the famously deliberate shootout style of McTavish, one of the NHL’s most successful shootout scorers.

Quinton Byfield put the Kings ahead on their first shot on goal 98 seconds after the opening faceoff, beating Dostal for his ninth goal off a rush set up by Armia.

Neither team mounted a consistent offensive attack for two periods, but Armia made it 2-0 for the Kings midway through the second with a one-timer off a backhand pass from Andre Lee.

Strome answered 39 seconds later, putting a shot past a screen from Sennecke for his second goal in 22 games.

Less than three minutes after that, Washe alertly located a rebound off the boards and beat Kuemper from a sharp angle for his inaugural goal in his sixth NHL game. The 24-year-old undrafted forward won an NCAA title last spring with Western Michigan.

The Ducks played without their top two scorers because of injury. Leo Carlsson had treatment earlier in the day on a thigh injury that could endanger his participation in the Olympics, while Troy Terry (upper body) went on injured reserve before missing his fourth straight game.

The Kings were without captain Anze Kopitar, Trevor Moore and Corey Perry.

New Rangers winger Skov Olsen says fans can expect him to “go for it” and hopes to end the season lifting trophies.

The Denmark international has signed on loan from Wolfsburg until the end of the campaign, with Rangers holding the option to make the move permanent in the summer.

Skov Olsen, 26, has made only 10 appearances for the Bundesliga side since his summer move from Club Brugge.

He excelled in Belgium, scoring 49 goals and providing 30 assists in 124 games and Skov Olsen told BBC Sport Scotland he hopes to show fans he can recapture that form at Ibrox.

“Hopefully I can bring extra strength to the front, to both score and create for the team,” he said.

“I think they can expect I will try to break through, [going] inside and outside. Shoot and set up my mates. Just go, even [if I] lose the ball – go again.

“That’s what they can expect – I will try and go for it.

“It’s a very interesting time. But we have to take one game at a time and win the next one in front of us. Hopefully at the end of the season we’ll lift trophies.”

Skov Olsen played at Nordsjaelland in Denmark and with Bologna in Serie A before his move to Club Brugge.

He added he spoke to various people about the club, including some current Rangers players who he played with in his homeland.

“I know some of the guys from Nordsjaelland back in the day. [Oliver] Antman, the new signing Tochi [Chukwuani], and Dio [Mohamed Diomande].

“I know the guys a bit so it was very lovely to see them after some years.

“I spoke through a friend with Antman who came in the summer, obviously Tochi has just arrived, other than that I spoke to some other people about the club who only had good things to say.”

FRIDAY’S RESULTS

BOYS

CITY SECTION

AMIT 41, Discovery 17

Angelou 70, West Adams 50

Bell 37, Huntington Park 35

Bernstein 77, Mendez 31

Central City Value 61, Annenberg 49

CHAMPS 66, Bert Corona 38

Cleveland 78, El Camino Real 49

Community Charter 52, Lakeview Charter 39

Downtown Magnets 39, Orthopaedic 28

East College Prep 52, Esperanza College 39

Fairfax 60, LA Hamilton 35

Garfield 45, LA Roosevelt 40

Granada Hills 69, Taft 67

Granada Hills Kennedy 59, Canoga Park 36

Harbor Teacher 63, Port of LA 42

Hawkins 56.Locke 24

Jefferson 72, Diego Rivera 29

LA Marshall 75, LA Wilson 63

Lincoln 60, Franklin 37

Marquez 67, Maywood CES 18

Monroe 71, Chavez 55

MSCP 82, Foshay 57

Palisades 92, Westchester 54

Rancho Dominguez 78, Gardena 56

RFK Community 91, Belmont 24

San Fernando 100, Reseda 25

San Pedro 61, Wilmington Banning 34

SOCES 95, VAAS 21

Sotomayor 47, Maywood Academy 40

Stern 58, Gertz-Ressler 55

Sun Valley Magnet 57, MSAR 31

Torres 49, Elizabeth 42

USC Hybrid 39, South LA College 25

Venice 57, LA University 49

View Park 71, Dymally 14

SOUTHERN SECTION

Agoura 59, Calabasas 58

Anaheim 67, Century 13

Apple Valley 82, Sultana 48

Azusa 64, Garey 43

Beckman 68, Mission Viejo 64

Bishop Montgomery 51, Bishop Amat 47

Buckley 69, Santa Monica Pacifica Christian 65

California 54, Santa Fe 48

California Lutheran 63, Hesperia Christian 51

CAMS 51, HMSA 46

Cathedral City 55, Desert Mirage 46

Citrus Hill 53, Vista del Lago 43

Coastal Christian 72, Maricopa 44

Corona Centennial 89, Corona 52

Crossorads Christian 58, Bethel Christian 38

Cypress 71, Santa Ana Foothill 54

Diamond Bar 69, Claremont 63

Downey 70, Lynwood 30

Duarte 55, Baldwin Park 47

Eastvale Roosevelt 100, Norco 34

Excelsior Charter 81, ACE 62

Fontana 55, Jurupa Hills 45

Gabrielino 65, El Monte 21

Grace 66, Nordhoff 42

Heritage 62, Canyon Springs 52

Heritage Christian 80, Cerritos Valley Christian 39

Hesperia 53, Oak Hills 49

Highland 57, Quartz Hill 48

Hueneme 48, SLOCA 42

Indian Springs 79, Miller 47

Indio 50, Twentynine Palms 48

Irvine University 46, Woodbridge 44

Keppel 67, Bell Gardens 39

La Canada 70, Monrovia 47

La Habra 57, Anaheim Canyon 54

La Mirada 68, Gahr 50

La Salle 50, Paraclete 40

La Serna 63, Whittier 36

Loara 79, Santa Ana Valley 48

Long Beach Cabrillo 73, Long Beach Wilson 67

Los Alamitos 71, Edison 63

Los Amigos 50, Western 46

Mesrobian 52, Waverly 16

Millikan 61, Long Beach Poly 51

Moreno Valley 49, Valley View 45

North Torrance 58, Torrance 42

Northview 49, Covina 33

Oak Park 59, Camarillo 44

Oaks Christian 54, Westlake 43

Orange Lutheran 84, Servite 73

Orange Vista 63, Liberty 55

Oxnard Pacifica 59, Rio Mesa 58

Pacific 50, Entrepreneur 49

Palmdale 68, Lancaster 60

Paloma Valley 53, Lakeside 38

Paramount 50, Norwalk 49

Pasadena Poly 58, Flintridge Prep 41

Patriot 67, Jurupa Valley 55

Portola 89, Laguna Beach 57

Ramona 84, Rubidoux 53

Rancho Alamitos 45, Orange 42

Redondo Union 85, Mira Costa 51

Rosemead 59, Pasadena Marshall 33

Sage Hill 75, St. Margaret’s 67

Santa Margarita 70, JSerra 67

Savanna 50, Garden Grove Santiago 43

Sierra Vista 56, Nogales 37

Silver Valley 66, Big Bear 60

Simi Valley 71, Royal 56

South Torrance 58, El Segundo 52

St. Bonaventure 55, Foothill Tech 46

Summit Leadership 67, Lakeview Leadership 54

Temple City 65, South Pasadena 50

Trinity Classical Academy 70, PACS 58

Troy 75, Esperanza 73

Villa Park 60, Sunny Hills 45

Walnut 71, Glendora 62

Warren 89, Firebaugh 58

Westminster La Quinta 64, Saddleback 60

Woodcrest Christian 66, Xavier Prep 55

INTERSECTIONAL

CSDR 53, Indianapolis Indiana School for the Deaf 19

East College Prep 52, Esperanza College 39

Legacy Christian Academy 86, Highland Hall 28

Loma Linda Academy 71, River Springs Charter 21

Mayfair 53, Washington 50

More 64, St. Monica Academy 46

St. John Bosco 57, Springfield (Mo.) Kickapoo 48

Trona 42, Lee Vining 31

GIRLS

CITY SECTION

AMIT 31, Discovery 23

Bell 32, Huntington Park 20

Bernstein 40, Mendez 12

Birmingham 80, Chatsworth 30

Central City Value 34, Annenberg 13

Cleveland 58, El Camino Real 46

Community Charter 25, Lakeview Charter 24

Crenshaw 66, GALA 26

Diego Rivera 49, Jefferson 19

Eagle Rock 67, Bravo 13

East College Prep 51, Esperanza College 21

Gardena 51, Rancho Dominguez 4

Garfield 58, LA Roosevelt 15

Granada Hills 60, Taft 12

Granada Hills Kennedy 69, Canoga Park 10

Grant 44, Verdugo Hills 30

Hawkins 56, Locke 24

King/Drew 104, Fremont 0

LA Marshall 46, LA Wilson 40

Larchmont Charter 49, Stella 3

Marquez 52, Maywood CES 43

Maywood Academy 46, Sotomayor 34

MSCP 40, Foshay 30

Orthopaedic 42, Downtown Magnets 19

Rancho Dominguez 51, Gardena 4

San Pedro 69, Wilmington Banning 40

Sotomayor 47, Maywood Academy 40

South East 64, South Gate 18

Sun Valley Magnet 37, MSAR 34

Sylmar 71, Panorama 31

Torres 55, Elizabeth 7

USC Hybrid 44, South LA College Prep 9

USC-MAE 40, Aspire Ollin 11

West Adams 33, Angelou 17

Westchester 60, Palisades 55

SOUTHERN SECTION

Agoura 43, Calabasas 37

Aliso Niguel 56, Mission Viejo 28

Anaheim Canyon 33, El Dorado 30

Apple Valley 61, Sultana 21

Bonita 43, Ayala 35

Canyon Country Canyon 72, Hart 16

Cerritos 65, Oxford Academy 43

Claremont 60, Diamond Bar 38

Coachella Valley 39, Yucca Valley 31

Corona Centennial 86, Corona 22

Corona Santiago 37, Riverside King 32

Culver City 71, Hawthorne 12

Cypress 49, Santa Ana Foothill 39

Eastvale Roosevelt 70, Norco 19

EF Academy 23, Webb 21

El Modena 53, La Habra 26

Esperanza 49, Villa Park 43

Fillmore 49, Carpinteria 41

Flintridge Prep 67, Rio Hondo Prep 20

Gabrielino 56, El Monte 20

Glendora 56, Walnut 32

Hacienda Heights Wilson 52, West Covina 49

Heritage Christian 53, Cerritos Valley Christian 29

Hesperia Christian 49, Linfield Christian 38

Indian Springs 50, Miller 20

Irvine 57, Irvine University 5

Kaiser 37, Santa Rosa Academy 34

Keppel 62, Bell Gardens 23

La Canada 93, Monrovia 21

Lakeview Leadership 32, Summit Leadership 31

Lakewood 34, Long Beach Jordan 29

La Puente 29, Workman 23

La Quinta 46, Desert Chapel 21

La Serna 65, Whittier 44

Legacy Christian 47, Buckley 45

Leuzinger 61, Santa Monica 32

Liberty 47, Lakeside 32

Long Beach Wilson 57, Long Beach Cabrillo 15

Los Amigos 35, Westminster La Quints 27

Lynwood 77, Downey 23

Marlborough 76, Louisville 25

Nogales 50, Sierra Vista 48

Northview 42, Covina 35

Northwood 42, Woodbridge 31

Norwalk 47, Mayfair 32

Notre Dame Academy 62, New Roads 32

Oak Hills 67, Hesperia 37

Oak Park 76, Camarillo 18

Oaks Christian 73, Westlake 44

Orange 54, Rancho Alamitos 33

Palm Springs 27, Immaculate Heart 23

Palos Verdes 62, Torrance 33

Pasadena Poly 70, Chadwick 30

Patriot 51, Jurupa Valley 41

Portola 72, Laguna Beach 28

Ramona 62, Rubidoux 9

Redondo Union 69, Mira Costa 34

Ridgecrest Burroughs 36, Serrano 33

Riverside Poly 74, Perris 15

Riverside Prep 54, AAE 38

Rosary Academy 61, St. Margaret’s 55

Rosemead 57, Pasadena Marshall 15

Royal 67, Simi Valley 55

Saddleback 38, Western 29

Samueli Academy 54, Vista Meridian 11

San Dimas 47, Los Altos 39

San Marino 45, Blair 10

Santa Ana Valley 68, Garden Grove Santiago 6

Santa Clarita Christian 44, Palmdale Aerospace 21

Saugus 61, Castaic 19

Savanna 54, Loara 41

Schurr 65, Montebello 33

Silver Valley 75, Big Bear 29

South Pasadena 47, Temple City 33

Thousand Oaks 61, Newbury Park 31

Troy 36, Sunny Hills 29

Twentynine Palms 53, Indio 13

University Prep 45, CIMSA 29

Village Christian 57, Whittier Christian 19

Vista del Lago 39, Citrus Hill 32

Warren 59, Firebaugh 2

Western Christian 49, Lucerne Valley 23

Westridge 34, Mayfield 13

Whitney 61, Pioneer 52

Xavier Prep 52, Woodcrest Christian 43

INTERSECTIONAL

Bishop McNamara (Md.) 57, Ontario Christian 55

CSDR 46, Maryland School for the Deaf 25

Loma Linda Academy 50, River Springs Charter 3

Long Island Lutheran (N.Y.) 70, Sierra Canyon 60

Rob Staton: Bears

There’s just a bit of magic about the Bears at the moment and the Rams have not played their best football in weeks. Soldier Field will be rocking and I think Chicago make it to the NFC Championship.

Mike White: Rams

The Chicago Bears’ renaissance has been nothing short of remarkable and Ben Johnson deserves a tonne of credit for it. As does Caleb Williams who’s defied a lot of the (justified) rookie season critics in his second year.

That said, this is a Rams team that many have been crowning as the champions-elect for weeks and not without good reason. Whether it’s offensive guru Sean McVay, the experience and MVP qualities of Matthew Stafford or the magic hands of Puka Nacua, they have all the ingredients for another Super Bowl run. The predicted Arctic conditions might be somewhat of a leveller but still taking the Rams by four.

Phil McGeoghan: Rams

I am such a fan of Sean McVay. His mind, the way it works, his gameplans, also his humour. His willingness to be open. All these things matter in football.

Because of his personality and how he is with the players, he admires his guys. He doesn’t pretend Davante Adams isn’t one of the best to ever do it. He doesn’t pretend he’s not in awe of Matthew Stafford when he makes one of his no-look throws. That stuff really builds culture.

That’s why they’ve won Super Bowls, that’s why people don’t leave there unless they get promoted and get better jobs, because McVay is such a good man and he’s a brilliant, brilliant offensive mind so I’m picking Sean McVay and the Rams for those reasons.

Paul Higham: Bears

Only four quarterbacks have thrown for 140-plus yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter of a play-off win in the past 20 years – and two of them collide at Soldier Field.

So this genuinely could be decided by whether Matthew Stafford or Caleb Williams, who have combined for 29 fourth-quarter touchdowns this season, has the ball last after both earned thrilling late wins last week.

Williams has been doing it all season though, and watching last week even when they were well behind it seemed inevitable the Bears would come roaring back to win. It just gives you a funny feeling that they’ve got something special rolling in the Windy City.

As the clock ticked down late in the fourth quarter with the outcome long decided, Redondo Union senior guard Devin Wright caught a pass off the backboard from teammate Chace Holley in midair and stuffed it through the hoop two-handed — the exclamation point to an emphatic 85-51 victory over archival Mira Costa on Friday night.

Wright finished with a game-high 23 points — most of them on layups while cutting to the basket — small forward SJ Madison scored 19, Holley had 17 and Chris Sanders added 16 as the Sea Hawks, ranked No. 2 in the Southland by The Times, stayed unbeaten in the Bay League and sent a message to their competition.

Redondo Union’s SJ Madison shoots a jumper during an 85-51 win over Mira Costa on Friday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

“We knew this was a big game and I had to be there for my team,” Wright said after scoring 18 points in the last two quarters. “We saw early they couldn’t contain us so we were getting open looks and hitting them.”

Madison and Mira Costa forward Paxx Bell traded baskets throughout a fast-paced first quarter, which ended with the host Sea Hawks up 20-18. They extended the lead to seven by halftime and used a 23-7 run in the third quarter to put the game out of reach.

“Chace is a big weapon, but we’re all weapons,” Wright said. “If they double-team him it leaves someone else open. We all took our turns.”

Bell led the 19th-ranked Mustangs (18-4, 3-1) with 15 points while senior shooting guard Luke Lowell and junior wing Strax Dragicevic each added 12.

The teams shared the league title last winter, each winning on the opponents’ home floor. On Friday, the Sea Hawks (18-3, 4-0) showed they have the skill and talent to claim the title outright.

“We didn’t like splitting league with them last year,” Wright said. “So this year it’s all ours — and we’re taking it.”

Mira Costa’s Paxx Bell scores on a layup over Redondo Union’s Chace Holley in the first half on Friday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Redondo Union beat Mira Costa 72-66 in the CIF state Division I regional semifinals last season before losing to Sierra Canyon in the next round — falling one win shy of the state finals. The Sea Hawks failed to advance out of pool play in the Southern Section Open Division playoffs while Mira Costa fell to Los Alamitos in the Southern Section Division 1 final. However, that was then and this is now.

The teams meet again to wrap up Bay League play Feb. 3 in Manhattan Beach.

The Ducks will be without leading scorer Leo Carlsson until after the Olympic break after the center underwent a surgical procedure to treat a lesion in his left thigh Friday. A team spokesperson said he is expected to miss three to five weeks, which also leaves his participation in next month’s Milan Cortina Olympics in doubt.

Carlsson, 21, had a team-high 44 points on 18 goals and 26 assists heading into Friday’s rivalry game with the Kings at Crypto.com Arena. He did not play in the Ducks’ 3-1 win over Dallas on Tuesday.

Carlsson, a Swede, is one of four Ducks selected to play in the Winter Games. Sweden is scheduled to open play on Feb. 11, with the knockout stage starting Feb. 17.

His injury, known as a Morel-Lavallée lesion, is a rare degloving condition in which skin and fat become separated from fascia tissue, leaving a fluid-filled space. The No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NHL draft, Carlsson had 20 goals and 45 points last season.

The Ducks entered Friday having won just one of their last 10 games to fall to sixth in the Pacific Division.

Dunlop’s dramatic Superbike win at the North West 200 was named Race of the Year.

Jonathan Rea, who called time on his distinguished World Superbike career at the end of the 2025 season, was presented with a Special Recognition Award in light of his six consecutive titles in the series from 2015 to 2020.

Donegal rider Rhys Irwin was chosen as Short Circuit Rider of the Year after winning the British Supersport championship, with Ulster Superbike champion and Sunflower Trophy winner Carl Phillips the Short Circuit Rider of the Year on Irish circuits.

Casey O’Gorman, who made his debut in the Moto3 GP series at world level, was selected as Young Rider of the Year, while Emma McQuaid collected the Female Trailblazer prize.

Last year, Emma once again made history by becoming the first female ever to represent Ireland in a mixed-gender Nations team — not only in Quad Cross of Nations, but across any Nations event where men and women compete together. A milestone moment, not just for Emma, but for motorsport itself.

The Joey 25 event, held in Ballymoney in May to celebrate the life and racing career of Joey Dunlop 25 years since his passing, was the Event of the Year.

Davey Todd won the King of the Roads crown following a season which yielded a treble at the North West 200, a first win in the Superbike race at the TT, a Southern 100 Solo Championship success and a Macau Grand Prix victory.

Cork racing outfit Team 109 received the Team of the Year after becoming the first Irish team to win a world championship in short circuits – the World Supersport 300 series – with 17-year-old Benat Fernandez their rider.

Former British 250cc champion Adrian Coates was inducted into the Hall of Fame, with Dungannon’s Paul Cranston collecting a Services to Motorcycling award, reflecting his lengthy involvement in competing in the sport on both roads and short circuits.

David Allingham received the BSB Breakthrough Award after a hugely impressive campaign in the British Superstock series which saw him finish runner-up in the series and take a double success at the Brands Hatch round in late July.

Cole McCullough was named Off Road Rider of the Year after achieving a maiden win in grand prix motocross.

Lakers star Luka Doncic will miss Saturday’s game in Portland because of left groin soreness, the team announced Friday.

Doncic, the NBA’s leading scorer averaging 33.6 points per game, appeared to struggle with a groin injury during a loss against the Sacramento Kings on Monday. But he didn’t miss games on Tuesday and Thursday as the Lakers (24-15) traversed a particularly difficult week of five games in seven days.

Doncic led the Lakers to a win against Atlanta, and he played a team-high 35 minutes and 43 seconds in Thursday’s loss to the Charlotte Hornets. He scored 39 points with four assists in the loss, which was the Lakers’ fourth in the last five games.

The Lakers, who finish a back-to-back set on Sunday at home against the Toronto Raptors, could also be without both centers against Portland. Starter Deandre Ayton (left knee soreness) and backup Jaxson Hayes (left hamstring tendinopathy) are both questionable. Ayton is averaging 13.9 points and 8.7 rebounds. Hayes has missed the last two games because of the injury but coach JJ Redick said Thursday the 7-foot center could be back this weekend.

Forward Adou Thiero remains out with a right medial collateral ligament sprain and guard Austin Reaves is closing in on the final week of the initial four-week timetable provided for his left calf strain. After aggravating the injury on Christmas Day, Reaves was ruled out for at least a month before he would be reevaluated.

The Tampa Bay Rays sent outfielder Josh Lowe to the Angels on Friday as part of a three-team trade in which left-handed reliever Brock Burke went from the Angels to Cincinnati.

Infielder Gavin Lux moved from the Reds to Tampa Bay and minor league right-hander Chris Clark from the Angels to the Rays.

Lowe, who turns 28 on Feb. 2, batted a career-worst .220 with 11 homers and 40 RBIs last year. He injured his right oblique for the third time in 13 months and didn’t play between the March 28 opener and May 15.

Lowe has a $2.6-million, one-year contract and is on track to be eligible for free agency after the 2028 World Series. He has a .250 average with 43 homers and 170 RBIs in five big league seasons, all with the Rays.

Lux, 28, hit .269 with five homers and 53 RBIs in his only season with the Reds. He agreed last week to a $5,525,000, one-year contract and can become a free agent after this year’s World Series.

He has a .256 average with 33 homers and 208 RBIs in six seasons with the Dodgers (2019-24) and the Reds, who acquired him last January for minor league outfielder Mike Sirota and a draft pick. Lux missed the 2023 season after tearing his right ACL in a spring training game.

Burke, 29, was 7-1 with a 3.36 ERA in 68 relief appearances and one start for the Angels. He has a $2,325,000 salary also also can become a free agent after this year’s World Series.

Clark, 24, was a fifth-round draft pick in 2023 from Harvard and was 4-10 with a 4.73 ERA in 20 starts last year for Class A Inland Empire, High A Tri-City and double-A Rocket City.

Bath: De Glanville; Cokanasiga, Ojomoh, Lawrence, Arundell; Russell, Spencer (capt); Obano, Dunn, Du Toit, Roux, Molony, Pepper, Underhill, Barbeary.

Replacements: Frost, Van Wyk, Griffin, Hill, Reid, Carr-Smith, Carreras, Redpath

Edinburgh: Paterson; Graham, O’Conor, Lang, Satala; Thompson, Vellacott (capt); Whitcombe, Ashman, Blyth-Lafferty, Hunter-Hill, Young, Dodd, Douglas, Muncaster.

Replacements: Morris, Jones, Hill, McVie, Boyle, Shiel, Healy, Brown.

Using a playbook familiar to their front office, the Dodgers waited until the market for slugging outfielder Kyle Tucker dwindled before making him a staggering offer short on duration but generous in dollars.

The result is the defending two-time World Series championship team plugging the only hole in its lineup with another superstar — one regarded by many analysts as the prize of this free agency class. The contract Tucker agreed to Thursday night is for $240 million over four years, with a $64-million signing bonus and $30 million of the money deferred. He also will be able to opt out of the deal after the 2027 and 2028 seasons.

It’s a staggering development that caused immediate consternation throughout baseball. The Dodgers are in a league of their own when it comes to spending on payroll.

Or as ESPN baseball analyst Jeff Passan put it: “Fans feel like this game is unfair.”

To which Times columnist Bill Plaschke wrote, “So what? Who cares? If three consecutive titles blows up the game, so be it. The Dodgers’ only responsibility is to their fans, and they have more than fulfilled their civic duty, and that’s all that matters.”

Tucker homers during Game 4 of the Cubs’ National League Division Series against the Milwaukee Brewers on Oct. 9.

(Nam Y. Huh / Associated Press)

Projections early in the offseason were for Tucker to be paid $400 million over 10 years, but the only team that reportedly entertained a deal that long was the Toronto Blue Jays. The New York Mets made an offer close to that of the Dodgers, but Tucker opted for L.A.

The Dodgers employed similar strategy in snaring first baseman Freddie Freeman and starting pitcher Blake Snell in recent years and closer Edwin Díaz last month, patiently allowing media hype to dissipate and waiting out the market before pouncing with short-term offers at astronomical yearly salaries.

The average annual value (AAV) of Tucker’s contract as calculated by Major League Baseball will be a record $57.1 million, blowing past the previous highs set by the Mets’ Juan Soto ($51 million) and the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani ($46.06 million) the last two offseasons.

Ohtani, of course, is now Tucker’s teammate, as are fellow amply paid stars Mookie Betts, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Will Smith, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, Freeman and Snell. And on and on. The Dodgers’ estimated competitive tax payroll of $402.5 million is more than the combined spending of the A’s, Rays, Guardians and Marlins.

Who do the Dodgers have to thank for such largess?

Start with Ohtani. When the two-way star signed a record 10-year, $700-million deal with the team two years ago, he agreed to take home a paltry $2 million a year and defer the remaining $68 million, resulting in his reduced AAV. That covers Tucker’s salary and then some.

Don’t forget the $8.35-billion, 25-year deal with Time Warner Cable (now Spectrum) in 2013 that created the Dodgers SportsNet LA television channel. A bankruptcy settlement a year earlier allowed the Dodgers to cap TV revenue shared with MLB at about $84 million annually, even though experts projected the actual value at more than $200 million. Meanwhile, many teams have seen their TV revenue drastically reduced.

The settlement also approved the sale of the Dodgers from Frank McCourt to Guggenheim Baseball Management, the group fronted by Magic Johnson and run by Mark Walters that has greenlighted the lavish payroll spending.

The Dodgers celebrate after winning Game 7 of the World Series over the Blue Jays in Toronto last fall.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

And be sure to thank the fans who pack Dodger Stadium at each of their 81 home games, spending on parking, concessions and merchandise in addition to increasingly expensive tickets. Attendance in 2025 was 4,012,470, a Dodgers record, the highest in MLB and nearly 600,000 more than the next highest attendance, that of the San Diego Padres. The Dodgers averaged 49,537 fans per home game.

The response around baseball to Tucker’s contract was as shrill as it was predictable. Cries for a salary cap when negotiations begin for a new collective bargaining agreement at season’s end peppered social media. Some even advocated owners locking out the players if they don’t agree to level the hot-stove playing field.

Anything to stem the spending of a franchise enjoying a revenue model that enables them to spend on salaries unchecked while breaking no rules.

“The Dodgers theoretically aren’t doing anything wrong,” ESPN analyst Chris “Mad Dog” Russo said Friday on the Dan Patrick Show. “But the rules have to change. This is getting to be a joke.”

Russo then proceeded to list the reasons players gravitate to Chavez Ravine: “Play in L.A. Winning team. Great organization. Good weather. Have a chance to be in the World Series every year.”

Under the current rules, the Dodgers are punished financially for their gleeful spending. Competitive balance taxes — also known as luxury taxes — are imposed when payrolls reach certain thresholds. The Dodgers have blown past the highest level and must pay 110% of every dollar they spend above $304 million, meaning their commitment to Tucker will cost them $500 million — $240 million to the player and roughly $264 million to MLB in taxes.

By any measure, that is a lot to pay a player who batted a ho-hum .266 with 22 home runs, 73 runs batted in and 25 stolen bases in an injury-marred 2025, his lone season with the Chicago Cubs. Tucker was a three-time All-Star during seven seasons with the Houston Astros.

What does MLB do with the luxury tax revenue? Half is distributed to small-market teams, ostensibly to increase their spending on salaries.

Tony Clark, executive director of the MLB players union, concedes that the system might need tinkering but is adamantly opposed to a salary cap.

“We just completed one of the greatest seasons in MLB history, with unprecedented fan interest and revenues,” he told The Times’ Bill Shaikin. “While the free agent market is far from over, it is gratifying to see players at all levels being rewarded for their incredible accomplishments by those clubs that are trying to win without excuses.”

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, who will sit across the negotiating table from Clark when a new CBA is hammered out a year from now, is careful not to cast blame on the Dodgers while acknowledging that other teams and their fans are frustrated.

“The Dodgers are a really well-run, successful organization,” Manfred said during the team’s spending frenzy a year ago. “Everything that they do and have done is consistent with our rules. They’re trying to give their fans the best possible product. Those are all positives.

“I recognize, however — and my email certainly reflects it — there are fans in other markets concerned about their team’s ability to compete. We always have to be concerned when our fans are concerned about something. But pinning it on the Dodgers? I’m not in that camp.”

And if CBA negotiations reach an impasse and players indeed are locked out and go unpaid until they return, Tucker’s contract provides a hedge for that as well — $54 million of his signing bonus is payable now.

Samson Nacua took a vehicle that didn’t belong to him without permission.

But he didn’t mean to.

That’s what the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept. determined after investigating the events that led to the arrest of Nacua and another man, Trey Rose, for allegedly stealing an SUV belonging to Lakers rookie Adou Thiero early Dec. 18.

The sheriff’s department has asked the L.A. County district attorney not to press charges against Nacua and Rose after determining that the two men thought they were driving a vehicle belonging to Nacua’s younger brother, Rams receiver Puka Nacua, a representative for the LASD West Hollywood station told The Times on Friday.

It turns out the NFL star happens to own an SUV of the same model and color as Thiero’s, only a year or two older, according to the LASD representative. Nacua and Rose thought they were picking up Puka Nacua’s vehicle from a valet parking location in Beverly Hills but ended up with Thiero’s SUV instead.

The LASD representative called it a case of “mistaken vehicle identity, basically.”

Thiero does not want to press charges, according to the LASD representative.

Nacua played four years of college football at Utah and one at Brigham Young. A receiver like his brother, Nacua now plays for the United Football League, spending the last two seasons with the now-defunct Michigan Panthers. In April, Nacua received a one-game suspension without pay after video showed him slapping a fan at a game.

He was selected by the Birmingham Stallions in this week’s UFL draft, which included all players who were on active rosters last season.

Glasner congregated all his players and staff at the club’s training ground just before noon on Friday.

What arrived did not necessarily shock the players, they all had to have been living under a rock not to know their manager was very likely leaving in the summer.

The timing, though, got tongues wagging. Why now?

Prior to his announcement to the players, his captain Guehi had confirmed his intention to join Manchester City.

Glasner is one of Guehi’s biggest supporters, he will continue to be when they part ways.

It was always the Austrian’s intention for him and his captain to leave at the end of the season, but with Guehi’s departure thrust forward it is, perhaps, no surprise that he has taken the decision to confirm his intention to go now, too.

Nevertheless, the cracks between Glasner and the Palace hierarchy began showing in the summer.

The Austrian coach had been vocal in his frustration at the lack of transfer incomings. The club signed only back-up left-back Borna Sosa and number two keeper Walter Benitez before the final week of the window, by which point the season was already under way.

They targeted a move for Sporting defender Ousmane Diomande, but the club never got close to reaching an agreement.

Glasner was steadfast in his belief that the club should capitalise on last season’s euphoric FA Cup triumph by building a squad capable of pushing up the Premier League, but also one that could cope with the demands of playing European football for the first time.

Eventually, Palace signed Yeremy Pino in a deal worth £26m while young players Christantus Uche and Jaydee Canvot also arrived.

But Uche and Canvot have hardly played, with Glasner largely relying on the same squad as he did last season with minimal rotation, a squad that lost key player Eberechi Eze to Arsenal.

Palace started the season brightly, with many tipping a push for a Champions League place.

But Glasner feared trouble was round the corner. The coach is adept at juggling domestic and European football – he won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022 after all.

Some behind the scenes believe his apprehension to rotate the team provided a clear indication that it was his intention not renew his contract.

“It’s been like he has been getting his pound of flesh from the players because he knows he is leaving anyway,” said one source.

Eventually Glasner’s concerns came to fruition. They are currently nine matches without a victory, their latest defeat arriving last Saturday against non-league Macclesfield as their efforts to retain the FA Cup came to an embarrassing end.

They are currently 13th in the Premier League heading into this weekend’s game at Sunderland.

Preventing Guehi from joining Liverpool in a deal worth £35m in the summer did represent somewhat of a victory for Glasner, who was adamant all along that the defender should not be sold even if it meant the club would lose him for nothing this summer.

Although denied by Glasner, a number of sources have indicated that the 51-year-old would have considered his position immediately had Palace sold Guehi in the summer.

Even after Glasner informed Parish of his intention to step down over dinner in October, you sensed Palace had not given up hope of somehow persuading their manager to U-turn.

For example, the club record signing of Brennan Johnson is said to have been driven by the Austrian.

Equally, Parish is understood to have played a key role in ensuring Johnson arrived early in the January window to deliver for his manager, which many interpreted as an attempt at trying to convince Glasner that the club were prioritising strengthening the squad with his imprint.

That said, Palace have been active in identifying potential candidates to replace Glasner in the summer.

Once Guehi has officially signed, those at Etihad Stadium will take great pleasure in securing the services of one of the best centre-backs in the country.

Guehi was wanted by clubs from all around Europe, not only last summer but this transfer window too.

It is understood the 25-year-old has been admired by City for a long time and they were willing to wait until the summer to bring him in, but had to act quickly and decisively after injuries to Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol.

Though youngsters Abdukodir Khusanov and Max Alleyne have filled in flawlessly, title races require finished products with the know-how of competing in big games.

Guehi will provide strong leadership having captained Palace to a shock FA Cup triumph over City at Wembley last season, as well as playing a major part in England’s run to the final of the 2024 European Championship.

Though in the final months of his contract at Selhurst Park, a £20m fee for an international player with proven Premier League experience, and one which can hit the ground running immediately, can be classed as highly satisfactory business.

Sources have said this is not a knee-jerk transfer or a panic buy because of the injury situation, instead being struck strategically for a player that is anticipated to be at the club for the long-term.

Since the start of last season, Guehi ranks inside the top 10 among Premier League centre-backs for clean sheets, duels won, aerial duels won and line-breaking passes. He will bring calmness and physical dominance to the City backline.

His potential signing could also spell the end for John Stones, with the Englishman currently out injured and his contract expiring in the summer. The 31-year-old played only 11 top-flight games last season and just seven so far this year.

Earlier this month,, external Guardiola seemingly cast doubt on Stones’ future by saying his injury record will have to be taken into account in contract talks.

They cannot be serious.

They cannot be stopped.

Two months after winning a second consecutive World Series championship, the Dodgers have fired another destructively defiant shot across the bow of a battered baseball landscape, shredding losers and infuriating fans and raising an historically holy amount of hell.

Meet Kyle Tucker, the hottest free agent on the market, a right fielder who slugs the snot out of the ball and who is now a $60-million-a-year Dodger.

Of course he is.

Smile. Shrug. Giggle.

Tucker agreed to a four-year deal worth $240 million Thursday night, making him baseball’s highest annual salaried player just weeks after the Dodgers spent $69 million to make free agent Edwin Díaz baseball’s highest paid reliever.

And all of this, just one winter removed from the Dodgers signing top free agent pitchers Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki.

And all of that, just two years after the Dodgers signed star free agents Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto while locking up potential free agent Tyler Glasnow.

For Dodger fans, the dream continues.

For fans of every other team, the nightmare never ends.

Two years ago, the Dodgers built what appeared to be the best team ever.

Last season they built what appeared to be the best team ever, ever.

And now they’ve built quite possibly the best team ever, ever, ever.

With slugger Tucker in the mix, their batting order feels like it goes a dozen deep. With Díaz in the bullpen, their one weakness last season has been fixed as fast as you can say, “Timmy Trumpet.” And their starting rotation is already so strong, they shouldn’t even miss newly retired future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw.

This team could win 120 games. Check that. This team should win 120 games. Check that again. This team will probably win 97 games while they spend the regular season resting up for the playoffs.

No matter how the 2026 Dodgers finish, they are starting just as the last two Dodger teams started.

By hilariously making everyone hate.

This is a team with already such a monstrous payroll, they pay more in luxury tax than New York’s two high-priced teams combined. This is a team with individual players who earn more than some entire opposing starting lineups combined.

This is a two-time defending champion whose latest signing will be met with the same old whines from the same old chumps.

The Dodgers aren’t playing fair! The Dodgers are ruining baseball!

Actually, the Dodgers are playing totally fair, breaking no payroll rules, taking advantage of Ohtani’s incredible sponsorship impact and his massively deferred contract — he agreed to take only $2 million a year from his $700 million salary — to fund a team of all-stars around him.

And, actually, the Dodgers are totally not ruining baseball, they’re enhancing it. Last fall’s World Series ratings were up 20 percent from the previous year with Game 7 being watched by an average of 51 million viewers. That’s NFL playoff territory.

Any good drama requires a villain, and the Dodgers have been more than happy to fill that role, Manager Dave Roberts even publicly leaning into it while addressing the crowd after last fall’s National League Championship Series win over the Milwaukee Brewers.

“Before the season started, they said the Dodgers are ruining baseball,” Roberts shouted. “Let’s get four more wins and really ruin baseball!”

What they’re ruining is baseball’s current system, which favors a smart owner who is willing to reinvest the profits — hello, Dodger boss Mark Walter — over a lazy owner who won’t spend to win.

Kyle Tucker celebrates with his Chicago Cubs teammates after scoring a run against the San Diego Padres on Oct. 2.

(Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

That will surely all change after baseball’s union contract expires following this season. The owners will attempt to enact a salary cap, the players will resist, and the Dodgers will be blamed for causing some sort of labor stoppage.

So what? Who cares? If three consecutive titles blows up the game, so be it. The Dodgers’ only responsibility is to their fans, and they have more than fulfilled their civic duty, and that’s all that matters.

To those who have started bleating again about the Dodgers ruining baseball, the Dodgers owe answers only to their city, and the latest reply should be just two words.

Kyle Tucker!

They didn’t need a bat — they just won consecutive titles with a legendary lineup of bats — but they signed the best available one anyway.

Tucker is so good, during each of his last two full seasons, in 2022-2023, he had at least 29 homers and 107 RBI. He had struggled with injuries in the two seasons since, but even missing a month last year with the Chicago Cubs he still had 22 homers and 75 RBIs.

Tucker is so good, he will probably move fan favorite Teoscar Hernández from right to left field and probably move former NLCS MVP Tommy Edman from the utility man to second base and the Dodgers will be noticeably better everywhere.

Tucker is so good, while he would be arguably the best hitter on any other team he joined, he is probably only the fifth-best hitter in the Dodgers’ order

Tucker, who turns 29 on Saturday, has such a commanding left-handed hitting presence that a slowly aging and increasingly battered lineup can pretty much rest until October. Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Will Smith, Max Muncy, take a couple of weeks off and see you in the fall.

Tucker celebrated his signing Thursday night with an Instagram highlight video titled, “It’s Time for Dodger Baseball.”

Indeed, it is. Anymore, it always is.

Anybody got a problem with that, go ruin yourself.

Sir Nick Faldo is returning home after having “successful” open-heart surgery, the six-time major winner has said on social media.

The Englishman won both the Masters and the Open on three occasions and ended his career with 43 tournament victories.

Faldo, 68, is widely regarded as Britain’s greatest player of the modern era.

“Headed home,” read a post on Faldo’s X account, external.

“After two weeks in Cleveland, Nick Faldo, and his wife, Lindsay, are on their way home following a successful, scheduled preventative open-heart surgery to repair his enlarged aorta, performed by world-renowned cardiac surgeon Dr Lars Svensson at The Cleveland Clinic.

“Nick is now looking ahead to returning to his golf course design work and to the Masters Week in Augusta, GA, where he will be celebrating ‘Six back in ’96’.

“Home never felt so good.”

Faldo was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1997 and was named PGA player of the year in 1990.

He spent a total of 97 weeks ranked as world number one.

Liverpool goalkeeper Rafaela Borggrafe has received a six-game ban for using discriminatory language towards a team-mate, it was revealed on Friday.

Reds manager Gareth Taylor explained Borggrafe accepted the sanction, following an investigation by the Football Association that began in September, and has served five of the six games already.

The incident, believed to involve Borggrafe making an allegedly racist remark, took place during Liverpool’s pre-season training camp.

The 25-year-old German joined Liverpool from SC Freiburg in the summer and has made three first-team appearances.

She will serve the final match of her ban when she misses Sunday’s Women’s FA Cup fourth-round tie against London Bees (13:00 GMT).

Borggrafe has also been enrolled in an education programme by the FA.

Liverpool followed FA protocols by reporting the incident and awaited details of the investigation, with Borggrafe’s punishment initially undecided, but the club have now been told the duration of her ban.

“The situation is the situation. The team and the club acted in the appropriate way,” said Taylor in a pre-match news conference.

“We supported the FA. It has dragged on a bit, which has been frustrating for everyone involved, particularly Rafaela.

“We’re happy now that it is completed and happy we have got some details on what it looks like. We all can move on.”

The gasps from the crowd at Crypto.com Arena — a mix of shock from Lakers fans and anticipation from fans rooting for the local hero — grew each time LaMelo Ball pulled up from seemingly more and more audacious spots on the court. The Charlotte Hornets star guard held three fingers to his bicep each time he splashed a shot through the net. He stared up into the packed stands to meet the eyes of his hometown crowd.

The former Chino Hills star ignited the Hornets to a 135-117 win over the Lakers on Thursday with 30 points and 11 assists. After a quiet three points in the first half, Ball erupted for 27 points after halftime, including eight made three-pointers on 12 attempts in the second half that gave the L.A. crowd flashbacks of the brace-faced freshman on Chino Hills’ famous undefeated team.

“We all know LaMelo,” Lakers guard Marcus Smart said. “He’s been playing like that since he was in high school. To us, they’re some crazy shots, but to him, those are his shots.”

Ball, now 10 years removed from the 35-0, national championship season with the Huskies, still plays with the looseness of the freshman who was hooping with his older brothers. But the 24-year-old is now starting to own the maturity of a six-year NBA veteran.

“He’s always been an explosive scorer, explosive passer, but now he knows how to win games when it comes down to, what, two possessions, one possession,” said Hornets guard Miles Bridges, who had 25 points, including five baskets assisted by Ball. “He knows how to make the right play and win the game.”

Ball, averaging 20.4 points, 7.8 assists and 5.2 rebounds, has a career-high plus-2.8 plus-minus rating this season. Ball’s traditional stats are modest compared to some of his stat-stuffing early seasons when he averaged more than 30 points and eight rebounds in each of his first two years in the NBA, but he is playing more efficiently than ever in some ways. He has a 120.8 offensive rating and a 42.2% assist percentage, which estimates the percentage of a player’s teammates’ field goals they assist while on the court. His assist percentage trails only Denver superstar Nikola Jokic.

“We’ve always marveled at his shot making, but the thing that I think continues to just impress me, the thing that continues to help our team get better and better is that he’s trusting the pass,” said Hornets coach Charles Lee, who called Ball the team’s “emotional leader.” “I think that he’s really maximizing everyone around him. He’s making them better. … And then he just does what Melo does: He’s a shot maker.”

Ball hit back-to-back three-pointers to start the third quarter. With his confidence growing, he started pulling up earlier in the shot clock. He danced with Lakers center Deandre Ayton, driving toward the lane on the 7-footer to only pivot back and drain another three. Fading away out of the corner of the court and almost into the laps of his teammates on the Hornets bench, Ball hit a rainbow three over Smart’s outstretched hand.

“I was really just playing for real,” Ball said.

Ball did not play in the Lakers’ first game against the Hornets in Charlotte, N.C., because of an ankle injury. In November, the Lakers held off a fourth-quarter surge from the Hornets, who showed how dangerous they can be. Young and athletic, with eager drivers and knock-down shooters, the Hornets can be one of the NBA’s most dangerous offenses. In the 15 games since Ball returned from a three-game absence because of an ankle injury, Charlotte has the top-ranked offense in the league. The Hornets hung 150 points against Utah. They blew out the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

“Our coaching staff and the guys in the locker room, we all knew that they got our full respect and attention pregame,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “And I thought we fought. Just another team that has a hot shooting night.”

The Lakers, who next play consecutive games at Portland on Saturday and at home against Toronto on Sunday, have lost four out of the last five. They are 25th in opponent three-point shooting, allowing teams to shoot 37.3% from three.

Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner has confirmed he will leave the club when his contract expires at the end of the season.

The Austrian, 51, will leave as a Palace legend having led the Eagles to their first major trophy when they beat Manchester City to win the FA Cup last season.

That victory meant Glasner also took charge of Palace in this season’s Conference League – their first experience of a major European competition – while they beat Liverpool on penalties in August’s Community Shield.