2+ min ago (634+ words) West Ham star Lucas Paqueta took aim at the Football Association (FA) in an angry outburst following his sending off against Liverpool. The Brazilian midfielder was shown two yellow cards inside a minute in the latter stages of Sunday's 2-0 Premier League defeat at the London Stadium. Both were issued for dissent, with Paqueta furious after a decision made by referee Darren England. He continued to argue angrily with the official after receiving a first yellow, with team-mates Jarrod Bowen and Mateus Fernandes unsuccessful in their attempts to guide him away. Paqueta's repeated protestations earned him a quick-fire second yellow and subsequent red, with the player then seen sarcastically applauding as he took time to leave the pitch, also complaining to the fourth official. Paqueta has since criticised the FA in an extraordinary outburst on social media, accusing them of providing…...

14+ min ago (686+ words) Arne Slot has explained why he chose to drop Mohamed Salah to the bench for Liverpool's win at West Ham as injury fears were also allayed over Milos Kerkez. It was a bold move from the under-pressure Slot that eventually paid off as "116million signing Wirtz delivered what club legend Jamie Carragher described as by far his best performance in English football to date and Isak finally scored his first top-flight goal since forcing a record "125m switch from Newcastle in the summer. Slot remarked ahead of the game against West Ham that Salah's demotion was purely as a result of the need to rotate his team amid a hectic fixture list and he repeated that claim after the full-time whistle, also revealing the tactical insight behind the decision. "I got this question already a lot," he said. "It's every time we…...

17+ min ago (614+ words) Old curtains from a royal residence have been recycled into festive stockings for a charity auction. Members of a sewing bee took on the task of turning the curtains from Sandringham House in Norfolk into 25 stockings ahead of Christmas. The sewing bee is based in another stately home with a royal connection " Dumfries House in Ayrshire, Scotland. Its members meet there every week and, in recent months, their time has been spent repurposing the luxurious curtain material for the charity endeavour. Twenty-four of the individually numbered stockings are being auctioned to raise money for The King's Foundation, with the final one to be given to the King as a Christmas present. Each one took more than six hours to make, with bee members using techniques such as hand embroidery, piping and seam matching. The King's Foundation, which is based at…...

33+ min ago (300+ words) A 32-year-old man was killed in a car crash on the M4 on Sunday morning, resulting in part of the motorway being closed all day. The man was driving in a black Mercedes when his vehicle came off the road on the slip-road to Leigh Delamere services at approximately 2am on Sunday morning. Another man who was travelling in the vehicle is being treated for serious injuries in the hospital. As a result of the sad incident, a section of the M4 is shut between Bath and Chippenham, between Junction 18 and Junction 17. National Highways warned they expected the disruption to the traffic to continue into the afternoon. Wiltshire Police said: "The man's next of kin have been informed and they are receiving support from specially trained officers. Our thoughts are with them.' They have asked any witnesses or anyone possessing dash cam footage…...

37+ min ago (611+ words) Alexander Isak admitted that a weight has been lifted off his shoulders after he finally scored his first Premier League goal for Liverpool. The Swedish striker had only found the back of the net once in 10 appearances across all competitions after forcing a British record "125million transfer from Newcastle to Anfield in the summer, in a 2-1 Carabao Cup third-round win over Championship side Southampton back in September. He had not managed to notch in any of his first five top-flight outings after a delayed start to his Liverpool career owing to a lack of pre-season on Tyneside, with his ongoing struggles providing a key subplot during an abysmal run of form that had seen the Reds lose nine of their last 12 matches to pile pressure on manager Arne Slot. However, both narratives changed on Sunday, with Isak firing into the bottom…...

38+ min ago (657+ words) Lando Norris said he just wanted to go to bed after Max Verstappen cashed in on a calamitous McLaren strategy decision to win the Qatar Grand Prix and take his British rival to a mouth-watering season finale. Norris was bidding to be crowned world champion in Doha, but he finished only fourth and will head to the 24th and concluding round in Abu Dhabi guarding only a 12-point lead over Verstappen, with team-mate Oscar Piastri, runner-up to the Red Bull driver here, 16 points back. McLaren were in control of the 57-lap contest, despite Norris dropping behind Verstappen from second to third at the start. Piastri led, but both he and Norris were told not to pit when a safety car was deployed on the seventh lap after Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly collided. Of the other 18 drivers, only Haas' Esteban Ocon…...

1+ hour, 10+ min ago (430+ words) Arsenal are set to receive an automatic fine from the Football Association (FA) following their fiery Premier League clash with Chelsea. Mikel Merino's header shortly before the hour mark cancelled out Trevoh Chalobah's opening second-half goal as the London rivals played out a hard-fought 1-1 draw on Sunday, leaving leaders Arsenal five points clear of Manchester City at the top-flight summit and Chelsea one further back in third. It was a feisty encounter at Stamford Bridge, with a total of seven yellow cards produced by referee Anthony Taylor, who overturned a first-half caution for Moises Caicedo following a VAR review and sent off the Chelsea midfielder for serious foul play for a dangerous challenge on Merino. Left-back Marc Cucurella was the only other Chelsea player to be carded on the day, with the other six yellows all going to Arsenal. Midfielder…...

1+ hour, 12+ min ago (311+ words) A 32-year-old man was killed in a car crash on the M4 on Sunday morning, resulting in part of the motorway being closed all day. The man was driving in a black Mercedes when his vehicle came off the road on the slip-road to Leigh Delamere services at approximately 2am on Sunday morning. Another man who was travelling in the vehicle is being treated for serious injuries in the hospital. As a result of the sad incident, a section of the M4 is shut between Bath and Chippenham, between Junction 18 and Junction 17. National Highways warned they expected the disruption to the traffic to continue into the afternoon. Wiltshire Police said: "The man's next of kin have been informed and they are receiving support from specially trained officers. Our thoughts are with them.' They have asked any witnesses or anyone possessing dash cam footage…...

2+ hour, 13+ min ago (441+ words) Enzo Maresca has criticised referee Anthony Taylor for not sending off Arsenal's Piero Hincapie for his elbow to Trevoh Chalobah's face. Chalobah was seen using ice on a cut by his cheekbone at half-time after replays late in the first half showed he had received a rogue elbow to the face from the Ecuadorian centre-back. It came just three minutes after Chelsea went down to ten men when Moises Caicedo had a yellow card for a studs-first challenge on Mikel Merino upgraded to straight red by the VAR. Chelsea had to play the game with ten men after Caicedo's 38th-minute red card but Maresca explained after the game that he believed Arsenal's Hincapie should have been sent off, too, and that the game should have been ten against ten. Maresca was informed after the game that his captain, Reece James,…...

2+ hour, 17+ min ago (539+ words) Actress Alex Kingston has become the eighth celebrity to be eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing. The Doctor Who star and her professional dance partner Johannes Radebe have left the show after losing the dance battle to EastEnders'actress Balvinder Sopal and Julian Caillon. The couples performed their routines from Saturday night, with Kingston and Radebe dancing their cha cha cha to Anita Ward's Ring My Bell. They failed to make it through to the quarter-final after the majority of the judges chose to save Sopal and Caillon, who danced a jive to Right Back Where We Started From by Maxine Nightingale. Sunday-night's leaderboard was the first to have extra points from the brand new instant dance challenge, which offered a maximum of six additional points to the team who impressed the judges the most. Following the performances, the judges cast their…...