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Antonio Conte’s Tottenham Hotspur side face a trip to Brighton & Hove Albion on Wednesday night, with the Italian manager undoubtedly hoping his side can quickly bounce back from their 3-2 defeat at Manchester United last Saturday.

However, despite Spurs’ hosts this evening being in an extremely poor run of form at present, the Seagulls are nevertheless a much better side than their last five defeats on the spin would suggest – with a win against Tottenham potentially seeing Graham Potter’s side go level on points with Aston Villa in ninth place.

As such, Conte must ensure that his team selection is spot on at the Amex if he wishes to give his side the best possible chance of returning to north London with all three points – a result that could see Spurs close the gap to fourth-placed Arsenal to just three points, with the Gunners facing Liverpool tonight.

So, will the 52-year-old make any changes to the side that started the defeat at Old Trafford last weekend? Here’s how we think Tottenham could line up against Brighton, as well as the latest team and injury news…

With Conte recently revealing that all three of Oliver Skipp, Japhet Tanganga and Ryan Sessegnon remain sidelined due to injury, we predict the Italian will make just two changes to the team that lined up against United on Saturday.

The back four remains untouched, with Hugo Lloris starting between the sticks, and Ben Davies, Eric Dier and Cristian Romero making up Spurs’ three-man defence.

At wing-back, Matt Doherty once again gets the nod ahead of Emerson Royal on the right, while the disappointing display of the £34m-rated Sergio Reguilon – who Alasdair Gold claimed “everyone loves” – sees the 25-year-old drop to the bench, with Steven Bergwijn – who appears a perfect candidate at left wing-back – being given a chance to impress in a new role.

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In the middle of the park, both Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Rodrigo Bentancur retain their starting berths, while, in the front three, Dejan Kulusevski makes way for Lucas Moura – a player dubbed a “nightmare” by Dier – while Son Heung-min and Harry Kane remain unchanged.

AND in other news: Sold at £47m, now worth £100m: Levy will “cry every night” over his worst THFC mistake

Sachin Tendulkar is a doubtful starter for India’s first tour game © Getty Images

India get into action with their first tour game against Victoria on Thursday, two days after their arrival in Australia. The Indians won’t be taking the game lightly given that it’s the only practice match before the first Test, but both sides have concerns over injuries and the weather with rain forecast for the next three days.Victoria have been in good form this season, equal on points with top-ranked New South Wales, and will take the game against India as a chance to blood allrounder John Hastings and batsman Aaron Finch.Victoria’s bowling will not be at full strength with fast bowlers Shane Harwood and Gerard Denton injured and Dirk Nannes being rested. Cameron White, the captain, is ruled out while Brad Hodge, who is to lead the side in White’s absence, is an uncertain starter and will be passed fit only after his back is assessed on Thursday.The visitors will look to playing most of their first-choice Test XI but Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan, who didn’t take part in training on Tuesday, are uncertain for the clash. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who along with Tendulkar and Zaheer missed the final Test against Pakistan in Bangalore, is fit to play the opener and said the game was a crucial one for the team.”It’s always better to have a few sessions before a big Test match [and] we don’t really have much time for practice,” Dhoni told the . “Tomorrow is crucial … I think most of the players would love to play.”Tendulkar, Dhoni said, was improving, “[but] if he needs some more time to rest himself and recover, to be 100% for the first game, he can take it.”Dhoni played down talk of the team not having enough practice and of the importance of the forecast of rain. “You’d love to have more time [for practice], but that’s too many ifs and buts,” he said. “Even if it rains there’s nothing can be done about it – we’ll go indoors and have a knock, do whatever we can.”Dhoni said the team were aiming for a win. “If you are on the field and if you are playing you have got to win, there is no question of just playing the game for practice.”He said the team would have to adapt to the bouncy pitches in Australia. “Getting used to the conditions is very important … so the practice game is important, especially when you’re coming from a series in India,” he said. “When you’re playing in Australia, the length you’re bowling is very important, very different to where you bowl in the sub-continent or England.”Meanwhile, Greg Shipperd, the Victoria coach, said despite missing a few regulars, his team would give India a tough fight. “We will come out and play some good quality cricket and I’m sure probably surprise them,” he told sportal.com.au. “I think it [the pitch] will be quite grassy – it will be hard and I’m sure it will be a good cricket wicket with plenty of pace in it.”He said the team had enough strength in bowling and was expecting legspinner Bryce McGain to make an impression, which could aid him in winning the nod for a place in the Australian Test squad. Ricky Ponting revealed that McGain was considered by the selectors as a candidate for the Boxing Day Test.”A four- or five-for from Bryce McGain here certainly throws his hat into the ring for the second Test,” Shipperd said. “I was disappointed for Bryce [missing out on the Boxing Day Test] because I thought it was a 50-50 bet between him and Hogg.”Teams (from):
Victoria : Brad Hodge (capt), David Hussey, Aiden Blizzard, Aaron Finch, John Hastings, Nick Jewell, Michael Klinger, Andrew McDonald , Bryce McGain, Robert Quiney, Peter Siddle, Matthew Wade (wk), Allan Wise.India: Anil Kumble (capt), Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Pankaj Singh.

Greg Blewett cannot find his way back into the South Australia line-up © Getty Images

Greg Blewett remains hopeful he can play first-class cricket for two more years despite several states indicating they have no interest in signing him up. Blewett, 35, who is contracted to South Australia until the end of 2007-08, was dropped from the side due to poor form in his three one-day matches this season having lost his place in the Pura Cup team in 2005-06.Blewett was disappointed not to be recalled after injuries hit the South Australia top order and kept Darren Lehmann, the captain, and Cameron Borgas, the No. 3, out of action. He said South Australia’s agreement to pay out the remainder of his $270,000 three-year deal should make him an attractive option to the other states.”I would quite like to play on as I wouldn’t like to finish on these sort of terms,” he told Adelaide’s newspaper. “If I sign on for someone else, I will get paid whatever I can negotiate for that state which I think will help me in terms of my bargaining power. I think I’m in a pretty strong position.”But Blewett, who wants to play in the eastern states, said it was unlikely he could step into the shoes of the newly-retired Michael Bevan at Tasmania. “I am not sure I would fit into a team like Tassie which has gone down a development path,” Blewett said.The paper reported that Victoria and Queensland were not interested in adding Blewett to their squads, leaving New South Wales as his main option. Graham Dixon, the Queensland Cricket chief executive, said his state preferred to use local players. “We haven’t spoken to Greg and don’t intend to at this stage. Without closing the door he isn’t part of the plans,” Dixon said.Cricket Victoria said Blewett had been considered but they were looking instead at younger batsmen. South Australia, who are on the bottom of the Pura Cup and FR Cup tables, replaced Lehmann and Borgas in the limited-overs team with newer players such as Ken Skewes and Ben Cameron.

Scorecard
Pura Cup points tableLismore’s Matthew Phelps made a century in front of his home crowd but he could not prevent Victoria from claiming first-innings points on the third day of a high-scoring match. Cameron White stormed through the lower-order with 4 for 73 as New South Wales, who are hosting the game in the north of the state, lost 5 for 35 and were dismissed for 437.Phil Jaques failed to add to his overnight 109 before being trapped by Mick Lewis for 109, but Phelps, who was born in Lismore, took over the heavy-scoring role with 19 fours in his 133, which was scored in front of his mother Beverley and father Warren. However, the Blues started to stall in their chase of Victoria’s 5 for 519 declared when Phelps departed and their hopes of extending their lead at the top of the table were extinguished by White.Daniel Smith, the wicketkeeper who replaced Brad Haddin after he was called up for the Australia one-day team, was White’s first victim and he was followed by Aaron O’Brien, who collected a steady 61, Matthew Nicholson, the stand-in captain, and Grant Lambert. Victoria, who are two points behind New South Wales, finished the day with a 92-run advantage when bad light intervened with eight overs to bowl.

Steve Bucknor: unfazed by the threats© Getty Images

Steve Bucknor has revealed that both he and Aleem Dar received death threats on the last day of England’s final Test against South Africa at Centurion. Bucknor and Dar were the two umpires for that game.According to London’s , Bucknor stated that the threat came through a phone call made to the chief executive’s office at SuperSport Park during the final day’s play. “I was told that the threat came towards the end of the last day. I’m not sure if Aleem realised it was against him as well, but I was told that the words the caller used were ‘We are going to get rid of Aleem Dar and Steve Bucknor, we are going to shoot them’,” Bucknor said. “You get lots of abuse as an umpire, but that is the first time that I have been threatened to that extent. I briefly thought about cutting short my stay and going home to the Caribbean, but I convinced myself that I am stronger than that. If umpires react to threats like that, then there will be a flood of them.”I have to say that I am not really worried about it – the words were serious, but I’m not sure whether the person who said them was serious – I’m certain it was just a hoax call,” Bucknor continued. “Also, I grew up in a part of Jamaica where threats are a daily occurrence, and I refereed football matches in Jamaica where you get threatened all the time – although it was never this extreme. Nevertheless, it’s not been a pleasant couple of days.”Bucknor has already officiated in 99 Tests, but his performance during the series came in for criticism from some of the players and the media. Michael Vaughan, the England captain, was especially vocal about the umpires’ interpretation of the playing conditions during the fourth Test at Johannesburg, while South Africa believe that plenty of decisions went against them during the recent series. Dar has returned to Pakistan after the Tests, but Bucknor is still in South Africa and will officiate in the one-day series as well.

Mohammad Ashraful has been omitted from a Bangladesh training camp, and is likely to miss the series against England.Ashraful shot to fame in 2001 aged just 17, when he became the youngest player to score a century on his Test debut. His subsequent scores, however, have been patchy, although he showed signs of a return to form with a gutsy 77 in the second Test against Peshawar last month.But he has been left out of a squad of 20 that began training on Wednesday, along with his fellow batsman Sanwar Hossain and the pace bowler Manjurul Islam. Fahim Muntasir, an offspinner, has been recalled after nearly a year while the slow left-armer Musaddeq Hossain is called up for the first time.”Our target is to improve individual performance,” said coach Dav Whatmore, who has overseen an impressive upturn in fortunes since taking over after the World Cup. In their most recent Test, against Pakistan at Multan, Bangladesh came within one wicket of their maiden victory.England arrive in Bangladesh on October 8 for two Tests and three one-day internationals.Bangladesh squad Khaled Mahmud (captain), Hannan Sarkar, Javed Omar, Habibul Bashar, Rajin Saleh, Alok Kapali, Mohammad Rafique, Khaled Mashud, Tapash Baisya, Mashrafe Mortaza, Alamgir Kabir, Hasibul Hossain, Fahim Muntasir, Musaddeq Hossain, Tushar Imran, Mushfiqur Rahman.

Sri Lanka’s five-man selection panel has picked two uncapped players in a14-man squad for the Janashakthi National Test series against Zimbabwestarting next Thursday.Matara born fast bowler Prabath Nissanka, 21, who made his limited oversdebut in Sharjah in October and played in one game during the recentlycompleted LG Abans tri-series, comes into squad in place of fast bowlingall-rounder Suresh Perera.Middle order batsman Chamara Silva is introduced into the squad afterMichael Vandort broke a finger in his left hand whilst training with hisclub. Vandort is expected to be available for selection in time for thesecond Test in Kandy.The 22-year-old right-hander, who has played eight One-Day Internationals,celebrated his call-up with a brilliant century (127 from 118 balls) againstthe Zimbabweans in their three day warm-up game, but will only play in thefirst Test if there is an injury to one of the established top six.Leggie Upul Chandana is left out, partly because he failed to impress duringthe LG Abans series, but also because the selectors, with one eye on theupcoming overseas tours, are keen to return to a fast bowler focusedstrategy during this series.So, left-arm spinner Niroshan Bandaratillake, who remains in the squaddespite claiming just four wickets in the West Indies series, is unlikely toplay.Nissanka and Charitha Buddika will compete for the third fast bowlers slot,but Buddika, who made his Test debut against West Indies in Galle, remainsthe leading contender with his recent good form and greater reliability.Sri Lanka:Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), Marvan Atapattu, Mahela Jayawardene, RusselArnold, Kumar Sangakkara, Hashan Tillakaratne, Chamara Silva, ThilanSamaraweera, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa, CharithaBuddika Fernando, Prabath Nissanka, Niroshan Bandaratillake

The Haryana-Orissa tie at Cuttack ended in a draw at the end of the lastday. The low scoring game finished just before the scheduled close.Having secured a first innings lead, Haryana were in a strong position. Atthe end of the third day, Haryana were 279/8. They added just 9 runs totheir overnight score and took the field on the morning of the last day.Orissa were set a stiff target of 340 off 82 overs. They did not attemptto go after the score at any point. Losing wickets at regular intervals,Orissa somehow managed to stave off the Haryana bowlers. The fact that thetop score was 49 from RR Parida shows clearly that none of the batsmencould get going.Sonu Sharma who picked up seven wickets in the first innings could notrepeat his performance. Sharma, Jain and Dalal picked up two wickets eachas Orissa slumped to 210 for 6.Both Orissa and Haryana had no chance of qualifying for the next phase ofthe tournament. At the end of the match, Haryana had 8 points and Orissafinished on 14, well short of the leaders in the their group.

As per The Daily Mirror and reporter Darren Lewis, there has been a very interesting transfer update out of Newcastle United involving Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger.

The Lowdown: Chelsea in turmoil…

On Thursday, a huge development in the footballing world broke as it was announced that the UK government placed sanctions on Roman Abramovich amid his nation’s invasion of Ukraine.

As a result, the billionaire oligarch’s assets were frozen, throwing Chelsea’s future into turmoil as reports even suggest the likes of Man United could poach their Champions League-winning manager.

The Premier League have now also confirmed he has been disqualified as a director with Newcastle, and by extension main club owners Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, now looking to seize an early opportunity for Rudiger amid the chaos.

The Latest: Newcastle exploring early Rudiger option…

According to Lewis and The Mirror, Newcastle are one of the ‘cheeky’ rival clubs checking to see if these sanctions allow them to sign Rudiger on a pre-contract now rather than waiting until summer.

Usually, English clubs can only open talks with Premier League free agents once their deal actually expires.

Indeed, only European sides are able to begin negotiations with soon-to-be top flight free agents during the season but PIF and the Magpies are apparently seeing if this law has changed since Chelsea can no longer offer new deals to players or staff.

The Verdict: Very interesting…

Depending on developments, signing the Germany international ahead of time would certainly be a ‘cheeky’ move by Newcastle as they aim to back Eddie Howe.

Described as the ‘real deal’ and a ‘nightmare’ by pundit Ally McCoist, Newcastle’s own striker Callum Wilson has called Rudiger ‘annoying’ and ‘frustrating’ to play against.

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Seeing if they can nip in ahead of the European competition may well be a clever move by PIF.

In other news: Staveley now working on another free deal for starlet with same agent as Fraser! Find out more here.

Could Daniel Christian be the saviour for the Redbacks? © Getty Images

South Australia have called on the former New South Wales batsman Daniel Christian in a bid to shore up their batting and he is expected to play in the next match. Christian, 24, was out of contract after New South Wales surprisingly chose not to offer him a deal for this season, although he played every one-dayer and Twenty20 match last season.His move to Adelaide will boost the Redbacks’ struggling top order. The side has lost all three of its Pura Cup matches, and won just one of its FR Cup matches this year, against New South Wales where the batsmen squeezed a last-ball victory.Rod Marsh, SACA’s high performance manager, told that he hopes Christian’s arrival can begin a turnaround for South Australia. “I’m very excited about it. He’s a lovely young man and I think he’s got a lot to offer South Australian cricket,” Marsh said. “He’s a kid with good talent, he’s been a very good junior player.”He was at the Academy with Callum Ferguson and Shaun Tait and I think he will fit in very well. I think he’s a bit unlucky not to be in the New South Wales contract list, they just couldn’t fit him in.”I’ve had my eye on him for a couple of years now. He offers a bit of everything. He can bat anywhere in the top seven or eight. He bowls quicker than a lot of people give him credit for. So, without being too harsh, I think that we can do with a player of that quality in the squad. We’ve got to start getting a winning culture happening.”Christian had a promising first season in the FR Cup last year, finishing the limited-overs season with 256 runs, second only to Brad Haddin for New South Wales. “[I’ve] just come down here to work on my own game and hopefully get some runs on the board and perform well,” Christian told . “I dive around the field and things like that and just try to enjoy it as much as I can.”A member of the victorious Australia Under-19 World Cup-winning squad in 2001-02, alongside new team-mate Mark Cosgrove, he also offers sharp bowling and was an Academy graduate in 2003. But it’s his batting that is badly needed with several Redbacks batsmen either injured or out of form.”It puts more pressure on those playing to make sure they play well,” Marsh said. “All good cricket teams have pressure put on them by those outside the team. Look at the Australian team. As a batsman you wouldn’t want to fail with [Simon] Katich playing so well. [Nathan] Bracken’s taking wickets, Tait is coming back from injury. As a consequence you see Mitchell Johnson bowling well on debut.”Although Christian has not been signed to South Australia’s contract list, Marsh said he could soon feature in first-class games as well as one-dayers. Christian has not yet chosen a club to play for but is expected to do so by this Sunday to give him a run ahead of the Redbacks’ next game, which is against Western Australia next Wednesday.Marsh doesn’t rule out chasing other players to boost South Australia’s stocks either. “We are always on the lookout for good cricketers and it’s always been a firm belief of mine that you want the best 66 players in the premier competition,” he said. “South Australia over the years have had a history of recruiting some outstanding players – Bradman, Sobers, Gibbs, Garner – some not as good. If we have to go outside the state, then we have to go outside the state.”