⚽ Friday’s team news, press conferences and analysis
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Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alex Scott, Cole Palmer and Rio Ngumoha are in. There is no place for Phil Foden.

Full squad to come below.

Cam Norrie and Harriet Dart make early SW19 exits
Jack Draper withdraws with injury | Email Billy

Jodar* 2-1 Gill (* denotes server): The Spaniard is playing his first pro-level game on grass but it does not really look like it. A few more good serves and then a final smash down the centre seals his hold.

Jodar 1-1 Gill* (* denotes server): Gill speeds to a 40-0 lead with some big serves and a powerful forehand down the line. Jodar gets back into it to make it 40-15 but the Spaniard’s wild return at game point is well out and Gill gets on the board.

⚽ All the latest on day six of the tournament
⚽ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | Mail us

Donald Trump: The US president is in France for the G7 summit where he is meeting with world leaders. The US-Iran agreement will be high on the agenda after Trump clashed with and threatened key allies. Why am I mentioning this in the Geopolitics World Cup blog? Because the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, took a punt and opted to give Trump a belated 80th birthday gift: a Germany football top with the number 47 on the back and “Trump” written on it. It is quite rare for Trump to endorse anything that is not branded “USA! USA! USA! but he seemed pleased.

Algeria: The Desert Warriors will hope to harness strong backing from local supporters ⁠when they open their campaign ​against the defending champions Argentina. Residents of Lawrence, Kansas have fallen in love ⁠with Algeria, who have made their base camp in the city 40 miles west of Kansas City and Petkovic praised the north African team’s newfound fans for their warm welcome.

Lawrence is located a little over 40 miles from Kansas City, a roughly 40-minute drive from the Metropolitan area that is hosting the base camps of Argentina, the Netherlands, and England for the World Cup. All three are staying at boutique hotels around the city. Algeria? Well, they chose the humble Lawrence DoubleTree.

So where did this come from? According to Stan Herd, a local artist, you have to go back to April, when it was officially announced that Lawrence would host Algeria. “I think everybody’s surprised at it,” Herd said. “We’re not.”

⚽ All the latest news and previews going into a big weekend
⚽ Premier League preview | Fixtures | Tables | Mail Dominic

Premier League: The press conferences from the Premier League managers are coming thick and fast. Before we get to those, here is what can be decided this weekend.

European qualification: With Manchester United joining Arsenal and Manchester City in securing Champions League football next season after beating Liverpool last weekend, there are just two guaranteed spots left in Europe’s top-tier club competition. Liverpool and Aston Villa currently sit fourth and fifth respectively, with the Arne Slot’s side hosting Chelsea on Saturday and Villa travelling to Burnley on Sunday. Both sides will confirm Champions League qualification if they win and sixth-placed Bournemouth drop points away to Fulham on Saturday. A draw will also be enough for Liverpool and Villa if Bournemouth lose. However, sixth place could yet earn Champions League qualification. That will be the case if Villa finish fifth in the Premier League and go on to win the Europa League.

Relegation: Leeds and Forest both moved a step closer to securing their Premier League status thanks to 3-1 wins last week, beating Burnley at home and Chelsea away respectively. Victory for Leeds at Tottenham on Monday will guarantee their top-flight status for next season regardless of results elsewhere – though they will be safe before a ball has been kicked in north London if West Ham lose at home to Arsenal on Sunday. If West Ham draw with Arsenal, Leeds will be safe with a draw against Spurs. Forest will also be safe if they win at home against Newcastle on Sunday and West Ham fail to do so later in the day against Arsenal. A draw will be enough for Forest if Arsenal go on to beat West Ham.

The Milano Cortina Winter Olympics closed in style amid a fanfare of opera, dance and song in the Verona Arena as Norway topped the medal table

We’re heading over to Livigno shortly for the women’s halfpipe. Team GB’s Zoe Atkin qualified first but there is plenty of competition, not least from China’s Eileen Gu.

Some big news coming out of the 50km women’s cross-country skiing, with Frida Karlsson pulling out. The Swede was the gold meal favourite having won the skiathlon and the 10km intervals, as well as a silver in 4x7.5km relay.

• Medal table | Live scores and schedule | Results | Briefing
• Tell us your highlights from the Winter Olympic Games
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The first person down the half pipe was world champ, Finley Melville Ives, who lost a ski mid-air and is languishing at the bottom of the leader board.

Ah, here comes Gus Kenworthy, he of the the urinated ‘fuck ICE’ snow message, and silver medallist in the 2014 ski slopestyle for the US, before switching to Team GB. He’s a brave guy, and has received death threats since his protest.

GB progress to men’s curling final, USA beat Canada in overtime to win gold in women’s ice hockey and the USA’s Alysa Liu triumphs in figure skating

The cross-country bit gets going at 1pm, and I’m looking forward to that. It’s a scientific fact that here’s no kind of race a human can devise that is uncompelling.

In the Nordic, teams of two both have a go at ski jumping, and Germany have just leapt into the lead; they’ll start the cross-country portion with no time penalty, because Austria have just completed this part of things, and only landed far enough for fifth. Norway are second, Japan third and Finland fourth.

• Medal table | Live scores and schedule | Results | Briefing

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Women’s aerials: the qualifying rounds of accelerating down a ramp and flying through the air. Hanna Huskova, gold medallist in 2018, does a triple somersault, or the “the kiss arse blaster” in the commentator’s words, but it is only enough to leave her seventh.

Women’s curling: Back to the brushes, where Rebecca Morrison posts the final stone of the sixth end into perfect position, Team GB take two and go into a 4-3 lead against the USA with four ends left.

• Medal table | Live scores and schedule | Results | Briefing

• Follow us over on Bluesky | Get in touch: email Geoff

Heinis of France is in the air, it feels hein just looking at him, and he jumps 129, giving him 133.8 points; he moves above Karhumaa and into the lead.

I’ve also got the curling on and, if you’ll excuse my parochialism, I’m not watching pool leaders Switzerland monstering defending champions Sweden, rather USA v China, for reasons of relevance to GB. The Americans now lead 2-1 playing the fifth.

• Medal table | Live scores and schedule | Results | Briefing

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Brignone smashed her leg at the end of last season, fought her way back, and now look!

Goodness me, she’s almost perfect as she nears the end, and 1:03.23 is her time! That puts her 0.74 up on Colturi, Hector and Stjernesund, plus a whole 1.02 on Shiffrin!

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The riders are having to squint into the sun to see their scores come up. There’s lots of USA support on the slopes, first for 19-year old Bea Kim, who looks happy to settle into fifth, then for the queen of half pipe, Chloe Kim, who is aiming for her third consecutive gold medal in this discipline. Oh and she’s also just finished a degree at Stamford. It’s a cracking start – a big backside 720, frontside 900, and something floaty and turny which the commentators describe as “the penny black” of halfpipe. She immediately settles into first.

Women’s halfpipe qualifying: Thinking about my attempts to stand on a skateboard as young women in baggy snow trousers zig-zag and float across the halfpipe.

• Medal table | Live scores and schedule | Results | Briefing

• Follow us over on Bluesky | Get in touch! Mail Geoff

Ooooh, Ariane Raedler of Austria, eighth in the individual event, nails 1:35.65, a time that would’ve been good enough for bronze; she takes the lead, giving Katharina Huber, her partner, a chance in the second portion.

Miradoli of France lays down a quicker time than she did coming 16th in the individual downhill, 1:37.37; I guess she’s used to the course now. Our big names, though, don’t come out for a while: Goggia, who took bronze in the individual event is ninth, Aicher who claimed silver, is doing the slalom portion, and Johnson is 14th with Srobova, Vlhova’s partner, going 28th and last.

Reaction after Manchester United sacked Ruben Amorim after disagreements over the team’s tactical approach, with Darren Fletcher taking over on interim basis

1. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (2018-2021) – 54% win rate

The Norwegian started off as a caretaker and his impact was so great that United granted him the full-time job. Undoubtedly the best football of the post-Ferguson era was played under Solskjaer, who preferred his side to counter-attack at speed and enjoyed a sensational record against Manchester City and Pep Guardiola, beating them three times at the Etihad. Came second in the league in 2020-201 but was denied an elusive trophy by the agonising 2021 Europa League final defeat to Villarreal on penalties.