Soccer
Chelsea re-established their 10 point lead at the top of the Premier League last night, with a 2-1 win over London rivals West Ham.
Eden Hazard scored first at the London Stadium, before Diego Costa doubled the lead. With Manuel Lanzini pegging one back for the hosts late on, that came in the third minute of stoppage time however and there was to be no more drama.
Tonight Arsenal look to turn around a first-leg 5-1 deficit when Bayern Munich come to the Emirates Stadium for the second instalment of their Champions League last-16 tie. Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger spent yesterday's press conference rubbishing rumours that the reason he dropped talisman Alexis Sanchez for the weekend's 3-1 defeat to Liverpool was because of a training ground bust-up.
Rugby
In his column this morning Gerry Thornley says that Ireland must trust referee Wayne Barnes for this Friday night’s Six Nations encounter away to Wales - despite the team’s record being noticeably worse when the is Englishman in charge.
“Barnes has refereed 13 Irish Test matches, in which Ireland have had four wins and lost nine. Nor do one or two of those wins inspire particularly happy memories of his officiating.”
Thornley also writes that the odds are increasingly stacked against Jared Payne returning to the Irish XV in Cardiff.
The Ulster back’s lack of match fitness looks set to be the decisive factor, and to compound matters he had to sit out training at the Irish squad’s base in Carton House yesterday due to a knock picked up in his return for Ulster on Friday night.
Meanwhile Belvedere's power forwards coasted them back into the Leinster schools cup final for a third successive season with a five point victory over Clongowes at Donnybrook yesterday.
Racing
The Grade One feature on each of the first four days of April's Punchestown festival will be worth €250,000, with the festival now worth over €2.9 million. The move is part of a general prizemoney boost of €284,500 to the festival.
GAA
Clare's Tony Kelly says that 'if the Super 8 were to come into the hurling I'd be a fan of it.'
The former Hurler of the Year also feels that the club calendar problem badly needs to be addressed, with a need for two separate seasons - one for club and one for county.
What to watch out for
In Champions League action tonight there's Arsenal versus Bayern (TV3 from 7.30pm), and Napoli versus Real Madrid (eir Sport 1 from 7.30pm).
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Tyrone Mings have a 6pm deadline to respond to the Football Association charges for alleged violent conduct they were served on Monday.
Also, Frank Warren and Floyd Mayweather are holding a press conference in London at 11.45am - where there might be some more news on the prospective bout with Conor McGregor.
