Solskjaer’s United win again, City and Liverpool set for battle

Manchester United made it four wins from four under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer last night, as they beat Newcastle 2-0 at St James' Park thanks to second-half goals from Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford. With Rafael Benitez's side looking to contain it took the visitors until the 64th minute to take the lead - substitute Lukaku scoring with his first touch - and they finished with a flourish as Rashford rounded off a fine breakaway move. Solskjaer's United are now six points off fourth place after Chelsea were held to a goalless draw by Southampton at Stamford Bridge. Elsewhere Shane Duffy was on target as Brighton drew 2-2 with West Ham at the London Stadium, while Robbie Brady was sent off late on in Burnley's 2-1 win over Huddersfield. Crystal Palace struck twice in the last 10 minutes to beat Wolves 2-0, and Bournemouth and Watford played out a 3-3 draw, with all six goals coming during a 26-minute spell in the first-half.

Tonight Manchester City welcome Liverpool to the Etihad with Pep Guardiola's side needing a victory to reduce the deficit at the top of the table to four points and to breathe life into a faltering title defence. Ahead of the match, Guardiola said: "It is different pressure and we have to live it. We have to handle it. Maybe people expected we would always be top but we are Manchester City, we are not Liverpool or Manchester United. We are Man City - it is quite usual in the history [to be behind]. That is why it is nice after what we have achieved in the last decade to still be up there."

In today's rugby statistics column John O'Sullivan has looked at the contribution made to the four provinces by their respective overseas - or non-Irish qualified (NIQ) - recruits during the opening 12 rounds of the Pro14 season. He picks out the likes of Leinster's James Lowe and Connacht's trio of Jarrad Butler, Colby Fainga'a and Kyle Godwin as having had fine campaigns thus far, but it is an Ulster player who is proving to be the pick of the foreign imports. He writes: "However there is no disputing the player who has made the biggest impact this season in the Pro14, the 28-times capped Springbok international Marcell Coetzee. . . He is tied third (139) in terms of tackles, tied seventh in both defenders beaten (27) and offloads (12) and second in terms of turnovers won (17)."

And in her column today Joanne O'Riordan has looked at unifying effect sport can have, particularly the World Darts Championships. She writes: "If our crazy and chaotic family can come together and all sit in slight harmony for four hours of a darting extravaganza, then the role in sports in our society can become even more significant in 2019."