Papiss Demba Cisse paid off the first instalment of his transfer fee as he fired Newcastle to a 2-1 Barclays Premier League victory over Aston Villa.

Rangers plunged deeper into crisis after crashing out of the William Hill Scottish Cup as goals from Gavin Gunning and Johnny Russell secured a 2-0 win for Dundee United at Ibrox.

Adam Johnson insists he did not take a dive to set up Manchester City's latest Barclays Premier League triumph.

Arsene Wenger challenged his Arsenal side to find consistency again after romping to a first Barclays Premier League win of 2012 as they thrashed 10-man Blackburn 7-1 at Emirates Stadium.

England at last saw the back of Azhar Ali, but still need to pull off the second-highest run chase in their Test history to avoid a 3-0 whitewash against Pakistan.

England at last saw the back of Azhar Ali, but still need to pull off the second-highest run chase in their Test history to avoid a 3-0 whitewash against Pakistan.

Azhar Ali's painstaking tour de force extended through its fourth session and into its ninth hour to pile on the misery for England at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Chelsea have confirmed their Barclays Premier League fixture against champions Manchester United will go ahead despite the cold snap.

Teenager North eyeing first stage of a Triple Crown

England at last saw the back of Azhar Ali, but still need to pull off the second-highest run chase in their Test history to avoid a 3-0 whitewash against Pakistan.

Vitali Klitschko is not the only giant of Ukrainian sport about to do battle with a Brit. While the world heavyweight champion eyes his title defence against Dereck Chisora in Munich on Saturday week, his compatriot and one-time fellow politician Sergei Bubka will be electioneering in London tomorrow.

There was talk of disillusioned Arsenal supporters bringing black rubbish bags to yesterday's game to illustrate their feelings about the club's current standing. None materialised, although they could always have been offered to Blackburn Rovers' followers. They must be tempted to purloin the idea rather than merely protesting further against their manager Steve Kean, for whom the word beleaguered is no longer adequate.

Sally Gunnell, the only woman to have held European, World, Commonwealth and Olympic hurdles titles at the same time, is concerned that the athletics authorities are not doing enough to harness young people's talents. The 45-year-old, who still holds the British record for 400m hurdles 15 years after she retired, warns that athletics is at risk of "losing" young people to more professionally led sports, such as football and cricket.

New manager, new team, same old QPR. On 2 January Neil Warnock's QPR were leading Norwich City 1-0 and cruising when Joey Barton foolishly pushed his forehead against Bradley Johnson's and was sent off. QPR lost 2-1.

Leeds United continue their search for a new manager with the comfort of a 3-0 win at an obligingly ill-disciplined Bristol City, who finished the match with nine men.

For a few peaceable hours yesterday, Test cricket returned to something like routine. What a relief, what a pleasure that it should happen on the day of the latest wham-bam edition of cricketshowbiz, the sporting X Factor otherwise known as the Indian Premier League auction.

I do all of my training at home here in St Kitts. There's no reason for me to go anywhere else. I've got everything I need on this island.

What new horizons might open up for Swansea City now they are also getting the hang of winning away? On an increasingly treacherous surface they produced another polished performance that lifted them to 30 points and mid-table security.