In front of their home crowd, Alex de Minaur<\/a> and rising star Maya Joint<\/a> will be hoping to go deep with Australia, but will face Casper Ruud<\/a>‘s Norway and Barbora Krejcikova<\/a>‘s Czech Republic.<\/p>\n Iga Swiatek<\/a> and Hubert Hurkacz<\/a> will be representing Poland and will face off against Alexander Zverev<\/a> and Eva Lys<\/a>, who will be leading the way for Germany.<\/p>\n Felix Auger-Aliassime<\/a> and Victoria Mboko<\/a> are the headliners for Canada, Flavio Cobolli<\/a> and Jasmine Paolini<\/a> will be looking to continue their team success with Italy, while the retiring Stanislas Wawrinka<\/a> begins his final season on tour, leading the way for Switzerland.<\/p>\n Grand Slam champions Naomi Osaka<\/a> and Emma Raducanu<\/a> will go head-to-head when Japan and Great Britain face off, really highlighting what a fantastic week of action it is set to be.<\/p>\n Tennis is back!\u00a0<\/p>\n Tolga Akdeniz<\/p>\n The PDC World Darts Championship draws to a fascinating conclusion over the next couple of days, with four men targeting the prestigious crown at London\u2019s Alexandra Palace.\u00a0<\/p>\n Defending champion Luke Littler<\/a> is the overwhelming favourite to claim the title, as the 18-year-old sensation looks to become the first player to go back-to-back since Gary Anderson<\/a> in 2016.<\/p>\n Littler faces compatriot Ryan Searle<\/a> in Friday\u2019s last four, with \u201cHeavy Metal\u201d playing in his first-ever major semi-final, while 55-year-old Anderson comes up against rising Dutch star Gian van Veen<\/a>, who impressively dismantled former champion Luke Humphries on Thursday.<\/p>\n With the winner set to receive a record \u00a31 million in prize money, and a potential nine-darter an additional \u00a360,000, the stakes couldn\u2019t be higher!<\/p>\n Danny Clark<\/p>\n Three division titles will be on the line in the final week of the NFL regular season this weekend.<\/p>\n On Saturday, in the first matchup, the Carolina Panthers<\/a> will take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> in a battle for the NFC South division crown. But the situation with this is a lot more interesting than most think.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Panthers will win the division if they either beat or tie the Bucs\u00a0or the Atlanta Falcons defeat the New Orleans Saints (also two NFC South teams).\u00a0<\/p>\n For the Bucs to take the NFC South, they need to beat the Panthers or have the Saints beat the Falcons.\u00a0<\/p>\n Over in the NFC West, it’s a battle between the Seattle Seahawks<\/a> (13-3) and San Francisco 49ers<\/a> (12-4) in a showdown for the division crown.<\/p>\n Both teams have already clinched playoff spots, but this will decide the division and the No. 1 seed in the NFC, meaning whoever wins will get the first-round bye.<\/p>\n Then, in the very final game of the NFL regular season schedule, it’s a highly anticipated matchup between the long-standing rivals, the Baltimore Ravens<\/a> and the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n In this matchup, it’ll be a winner-takes-all scenario. Whoever wins will be crowned AFC North champion and will clinch a playoff spot, while the loser’s season will officially end.\u00a0<\/p>\n It’ll be the 40th game in which Ravens head coach John Harbaugh and Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin have faced each other since both were hired in their respective roles over 16 years ago.<\/p>\n Eric Himmelheber<\/p>\n Saturday, January 3rd<\/p>\n The Catalan derby between fierce city rivals\u00a0Barcelona<\/a> and Espanyol<\/a> has been somewhat lopsided in recent years, with Barca winning five of the last seven meetings and not losing once in their previous 13. In fact, you have to go all the way back to 2018, in a Copa del Rey quarter-final, for the last time Espanyol beat Barca.<\/p>\n The most recent meeting between these two was at the RCDE Stadium back in May, when Lamine Yamal led Barca to a 2-0 win, which in turn clinched the LaLiga title, sparking furious reactions from the disgruntled home fans as Espanyol battled against the drop.<\/p>\n This year feels special, though. Not only did Espanyol survive relegation, but they have gone on to have their best start to a LaLiga campaign in 20 years! The last time Espanyol had achieved 30 points after 16 rounds was way back in 2004\/05. They bettered that before Christmas in beating Athletic Club to reach 33 after 17.<\/p>\n All that after losing last season\u2019s hero, goalkeeper Joan Garcia, to Barcelona in the summer. Yes, that\u2019s right, there\u2019s even more narrative to this derby than usual, and Garcia is expected to line up between the sticks in his first return to Espanyol since crossing the divide for just 25 million euros.\u00a0<\/p>\n Barca, for their part, are sitting pretty atop the LaLiga standings and will look to extend their lead over Real Madrid to seven points with a win, as they seek to defend their title.\u00a0<\/p>\n Anticipating a heated atmosphere, Espanyol have already announced a ban on all FCB symbols at the game, including scarves and shirts. Expect this one to deliver in more ways than one. For sure, the game of the weekend in Spain!<\/p>\n Pat Dempsey<\/p>\n Sunday, January 4th<\/p>\n The latest challenge in Manchester City<\/a>\u2019s title challenge has taken a dramatic twist after Chelsea<\/a> parted ways with manager Enzo Maresca on Thursday morning, sending shockwaves through the world of football.<\/p>\n It remains to be seen who Chelsea will appoint as their successor, but for now, their full focus will be on the short term and getting a result against the league\u2019s in-form side.\u00a0<\/p>\n After being held at Sunderland last night, City’s eight-game winning run came to an end. However, aside from the minor blip, Manchester City have reason to believe they can make a serious title challenge.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pep Guardiola\u2019s side look to be back to the levels they were playing at in their dominant title-winning campaigns. That is reason enough for their rivals to be worried because, at their best, Guardiola\u2019s City are unstoppable.\u00a0<\/p>\n Chelsea might benefit from a new manager bounce, but on the other hand, was Maresca doing such a bad job with an inexperienced, unbalanced squad built by owners out of their depth? Maresca did the best he could with the cards he was dealt, and until a recent major dip in form, he had Chelsea in a title race.\u00a0<\/p>\n Manchester City go into the clash with all the momentum, a more stable environment and a home advantage but that might just play into the hands of Chelsea, who have the chance to play free of pressure.\u00a0<\/p>\n Manchester City and Chelsea are two of the most successful clubs in England in modern times, and a fierce rivalry has developed as a result.<\/p>\n With all the storylines added into the mix this time around and this is must-watch viewing for your Sunday evening.<\/p>\n Harry Dunnett<\/p>\n South Africa<\/a> and Cameroon<\/a> clash in a potentially compelling Round of 16 tie at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Rabat on Sunday, with plenty of subplots adding intrigue to the main event.<\/p>\n Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos was in charge of Cameroon when they unexpectedly lifted the 2017 Cup of Nations trophy, but his tenure ended in acrimony when he was sacked 10 months later in a painful separation.<\/p>\n Now he will look to mastermind Cameroon\u2019s exit with South Africa, whom he has steered to qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, a tournament Cameroon failed to reach.<\/p>\n Cameroon were also Bafana Bafana\u2019s very first opponents following South Africa\u2019s readmission to international football, meeting on a rainy night in Durban in July 1992, when the hosts triumphed 1-0.<\/p>\n The teams have met nine times over the years, with Cameroon winning just once. South Africa have recorded three victories, including their only Africa Cup of Nations finals meeting, a 3-0 success on home soil in the tournament opener in 1996.<\/p>\n Cameroon qualified second in Group F this edition with seven points and arrive in good form. Bafana Bafana won two of their three Group B matches to finish second, losing to 10-man Egypt after dominating the game but failing to score.<\/p>\n However, it is at the business end of the competition where Broos is renowned for his tactical acumen and has yet to lose a knockout match outright at the Cup of Nations.\u00a0 In the 2023 edition, South Africa beat Morocco 2-0 before being involved in three penalty shoot-outs, eventually losing the semi-final to Nigeria on spot-kicks but finishing third.<\/p>\n Broos also eliminated Senegal, Ghana and Egypt in the knockout rounds on his way to lifting the trophy with Cameroon in 2017.<\/p>\n The Cup of Nations Round of 16 will be played between Saturday and Tuesday, with two games per day. \u00a0<\/p>\n Nick Said<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first Editors’ Picks of 2026 sees the start of the new tennis season, the end of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-348746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Top](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/b7564388-4fae-4637-9db6-033ed9a69030.jpg\" "\\"Top")
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