The Morning Sports Briefing

Arsenal steady the ship

The title may be gone but Arsenal have alleviated any real danger of outside of the top four with a 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion at the Emirates last night.

Alexis Sanchez returned to form - albeit a bit too late - with a brace on a night in which supporters voted with their feet with Arsene Wenger’s side sleepwalking towards another predictable league finish.

Meanwhile Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy has accepted the charge of improper conduct he received following his red card in the 2-2 draw with West Ham, in the hope of avoiding any extended ban which would keep him out of the Foxes' title run-in.

Top 50 Euros moments

Today sees the second of our Top 50 European Championships moments revealed, and it will be live on irishtimes.com/sport this afternoon.

Liam Toland column

In his column today Liam Toland dissects Connacht's brilliant win over Munster last weekend on a night which highlighted both the political and on-pitch problems facing Anthony Foley's side.

He writes: “But then I was shocked to notice that by the 50th minute, thanks to the yellow cards and the sheer effort to contain Connacht, Munster looked wrecked. Suddenly the decent runs from earlier by secondrows Aly Muldowney and Ultan Dillane were breaking shoulders.

“In fact, nearly every Connacht ball carrier was making yards on the ever-weakening Munster defence. This is the insight into the gulf between the two teams.”

McGregor U-Turn

In a not-so-shocking turn of events Conor McGregor has announced he isn't retired from the UFC after all and still wants to fight Nate Diaz at UFC 200. However McGregor is refusing to partake fully in the promotional circus surrounding the event - hence the stand-off with organisation president Dana White.

Dunne starts brightly

Paul Dunne got off to a great start in the Shenzhen Open with a 68 but has lost touch with the leaders on Friday morning. Dunne sits at five under par which leaves him seven off the lead of Soomin Lee.

Elsewhere Padraig Harrington shot an opening round of 70 in the Texas Open.