Manchester United played out a third-consecutive stalemate last night, as they were held to a goalless draw by Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side looked leggy and short of pace, creativity and drive with chances at a premium throughout in a foggy south London. United are now 14 points adrift of runaway Premier League leaders City ahead of Sunday's Manchester derby at the Etihad. Earlier in the evening Leicester City also slipped up, Kelechi Iheanacho earning the Foxes a point in a 1-1 draw with Burnley at Turf Moor. Elsewhere Aston Villa were beaten 1-0 by basement side Sheffield United at Bramall Lane - Ireland's David McGoldrick with a well taken winner in the first-half. Tonight Tottenham take on Fulham at Craven Cottage (6pm), Everton travel to West Brom (6pm), and Liverpool welcome Chelsea to Stamford Bridge (8.15pm).
In this morning's Rugby Statistics column John O'Sullivan has looked at the impressive performances of Robbie Henshaw, who has been arguably Ireland's standout player during the opening three rounds of the Six Nations. And he believes Henshaw's midfield partnership with Garry Ringrose can provide the Irish backline with the creativity and stability needed to end the Championship on a high against Scotland and England. He writes: "Prior to the opening game of the tournament against Wales, the last time they started a Test match as a midfield pair was the 2019 World Cup quarter-final defeat to New Zealand. There is evidence that both are adopting a more hands-on role as distributors and decision makers. It will broaden the avenues of attack and reduce the onus on Sexton to provide the creative spark."
In today's America at Large column Dave Hannigan looks at the Irish contribution to the Fight of the Century - Muhammad Ali's first bout with Joe Frazier, on March 8th 1971. "Irish" John Clohessy and Danny McAlinden were among the Irish on the undercard at Madison Square Garden - while cheering Ali on ringside was Ulster MP and civil rights activist Bernadette Devlin. Devlin, unsurprisingly, was firmly in Ali's corner: "Befitting a woman who once received the key to New York City from Mayor John Lindsay then arranged for Eamon McCann to hand it over to the Black Panthers, she denounced racism among Irish-Americans, slammed the Vietnam War, protested US president Richard Nixon, railed against capitalism and extolled socialism."
Elsewhere in today's edition of our film series Malachy Clerkin has looked at 2017's I, Tonya, starring Margot Robbie, which looks at the 1994 ice skating saga of Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan. He writes: But more importantly, you are invited not to fixate on it. The best sports movies tell a certain truth. About sport, about people, about acceptance and triumph and loss and all that good stuff. I, Tonya is different in that it tells a whole load of different truths, each of them a different shade of reality, most of them at odds with each other."
Joanne O'Riordan has spoken to Niamh Tallon, who spotted a gap in the market and created Her Sport - a platform solely dedicated to women's sport. Tallon's idea started in 2018 and has blossomed since, she said: "It's like, why are you not writing about women's sport as well? Why are you not interviewing some of these athletes who are available? They're ready to talk, they want to talk? You're still getting stories from the men's side. The women didn't go under a rock, they're still there."
And Rory McIlroy is looking to continue his good record at Bay Hill, as the Arnold Palmer Invitational gets underway later today. McIlroy tees off at 1.06pm as he bids to end a 16-month tournament drought.
