Of course, fate dictates that on the day Chelsea suffered their greatest existential crisis due to sanctions placed on owner Roman Abramovich, the club had a fixture to fulfil. Victory over Norwich last night came relatively easily, but answering questions on what happens next for the club won't be so simple. In terms of what Chelsea's apparent impending demise might mean for the league as a whole, Johnny Watterson's column looks at the justified whataboutery attached to this whole saga when clubs such as Manchester City and Newcastle go on as normal despite questions that can be asked of their ownership too. On this side of the water, there are plenty of League of Ireland games on tonight which Gavin Cummiskey has previewed. Lisa Fallon looks at the news of Stephen Kenny's contract extension and how it reflects the benefits of playing the long game.
We're one day closer to Ireland's crunch Six Nations clash with England, which means the pre-match noise from both camps ramping up. Eddie Jones has doubled-down on his assertion that Ireland are "red-hot" favourites, while Andy Farrell has responded that he doesn't care about Jones' mind games, granted he does think they are good for the entertainment value of the sport. Both sides named their teams yesterday, Ireland making six changes but one man who keeps hold of his starting spot is Munster backrow Peter O'Mahony.
Kellie Harrington has been speaking of life as Olympic champion. Unsurprisingly, every opponent now just wants to take her down a peg or two given her success: "I have a target on my back and they're really, really trying, they're trying to take me off the mat basically," she says. "They're getting more dirty as well. They're not even boxing anymore, just doing dirty little tactics like if you get close they're trying to push your head down or push their hand up into your face. I just keep laughing and it pisses them off even more."
In golf, the opening round of The Players at Sawgrass was suspended due to weather with Rory McIlroy and Séamus Power barely having begun their rounds. Tommy Fleetwood is one of those who did finish and he shares the lead on six under. In Thailand, Leona Maguire is seven off the lead after her first round.
