• Ukrainian wins 116-112 on all three scorecards
• Briton shakes his head and leaves ring speechless

Oleksandr Usyk remains the shining king of boxing’s dark and chaotic world. The great Ukrainian retained his three titles as the heavyweight champion of the world when he defeated Tyson Fury on points in a defining contest in the early hours of Sunday morning in Riyadh. Usyk boxed with clinical authority to win clearly by a score of 116-112 on all three cards.

The pace was unrelenting and, ultimately, Usyk was just too fast, too smart and too skilled for Fury. His movement, accuracy and precision of punching were exemplary. Fury fought brilliantly at times but he could not sustain any real pitch of intensity. He began to flag at key moments of the bout as Usyk pulled away to secure his ­comprehensive victory.

• Teenager into third round after 3-1 win over Ryan Meikle
• Littler just misses nine-dart finish in fourth set

A tearful Luke Littler came within millimetres of opening his quest for a maiden World Championship crown with a nine-dart finish as he beat Ryan Meikle in record-breaking fashion.

The teenage sensation was back on the Alexandra Palace stage 12 months on from his remarkable debut run to the final and showed everyone why he is the favourite to win the title.

They were 95 minutes into the battle that been built as the clash that would decide the title, the final seconds slipping away, when a man who looks for all the world like a norse warrior delivered the decisive blow. Atlético Madrid had suffered, they had resisted and, in truth, they had probably longed for that final whistle to go, and then suddenly Alexander Sørloth thumped in another late winner. In doing so he sent Atlético Madrid top the table at Christmas and their coach, staff and subs sprinting on to the pitch.

Barcelona’s fans, meanwhile, turned and headed straight for the exit, unable to believe what had just happened. What had happened was this: on a night when they had hit the bar and had more than enough chances to win it, including deep into added time, in which Jan Oblak, the goalkeeper had been the best player on the pitch, with Pedri, they had somehow been beaten. It is the third time in a row that they have lost here in La Liga and the first time they have ever fallen at the hands of a Diego Simeone-led Atlético team and it hurt.

This was almost the perfect way for Mikel Arteta to celebrate five years as Arsenal manager. Another two goals for Gabriel Jesus – his first in the Premier League since January – followed up his match-winning performance against the same opponents a few days ago as Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and the substitute Declan Rice with his first league goal of the season rounded off another ­victory over Crystal Palace.

Only the sight of Bukayo Saka limping off during the first half with a suspected hamstring injury could dampen the enthusiasm of the travelling fans, whose side have scored five or more goals in six away games in all competitions in 2024 – the most ever by an English top-flight club in a calendar year. More importantly, they are now only three points behind the leaders, Liverpool – albeit having played two games more. But with Manchester City six points behind Arsenal and almost a speck of dust in their rear-view mirror, Arteta will know they have never had a better chance to go all the way after clinically ­dispatching Oliver Glasner’s side.

Pep Guardiola appears to have no fix for Jack Grealish’s slump – or Manchester City’s as a whole

Perhaps the most startling aspect of Manchester City’s ongoing, real-time collapse, which continued here with a 2-1 defeat by a vigorous, happy-looking Aston Villa, is the lack of any sense of struggle, desperation, or even any real variation. You lost. Lose again. Lose the same way.

Eleven games and eight defeats into that run, nobody outside the players really has any clue how or why City have been reduced to what they looked like here, a team playing Dignitas football, always aware of that spectre in the corner of the room, already hearing the clank of the scythe.

• Manager says his accent leads to ‘dismissive’ coverage
• Australian says Emery and Nuno had similar treatment

Ange Postecoglou has said some of the criticism he receives is offensive, personal and disrespectful. The Tottenham manager, whose attack-minded tactics have been questioned – most recently after Thursday’s 4-3 Carabao Cup quarter-final win over Manchester United – ­wonders whether this is influenced by his ­Australian accent or the disdain he shows for established practices.

Postecoglou said he saw the same thing happen to Unai Emery at ­Arsenal and Nuno Espírito Santo when the Portuguese was in charge of Spurs. Emery, now at Aston Villa, was ­ridiculed at times for his ­difficulties with English ­pronunciation. Nuno is doing well at Nottingham Forest after an unhappy 17-game spell at Spurs in 2021.

• Ilube steps down after emergency meeting
• Chair was heavily criticised over sport’s pay furore

Sir Bill Beaumont has been appointed as the interim chairman of the Rugby ­Football Union after Tom Ilube stepped down, sparking a civil war within the organisation amid accusations of “bullying, ­entitlement and elitism” between RFU council factions.

On another dramatic day at the RFU, Ilube’s departure comes after an extraordinary emergency ­council meeting on Wednesday with some members accusing others of ­behaving like “a mob”.

Ben Stokes seems wary of using the word ‘ruthless’ but it is the one thing talented players need to become a truly great team

Sometimes I feel this England team can’t take two steps forward without doing something that makes me think they’ve gone backwards. So much progress has been made, so many reasons for optimism provided before a year that is likely to define them. But then they end it with a display that forces me to wonder whether they have it in them to become the best in the world, to win the World Test Championship, to be more than just entertainers.

Ben Stokes says he hates the word “ruthless”, but I am puzzled by him attaching a negative connotation to a word that is synonymous with all the greatest teams in the history of sport. No team relishes facing talented and ruthless opponents – well England have the talent, but not the attitude. This is a team that has shown they can dominate, and that they can also self-destruct.

British heavyweight is intent on setting the record straight after his defeat in May but this showdown goes far beyond boxing

This has been a year like no other for Tyson Fury. He has again earned vast fortunes but, as he prepares to climb into the ring to once more face Oleksandr Usyk in the early hours of Sunday morning in Riyadh, 2024 has until now been defined most clearly by loss. In May, Fury endured the first defeat of a professional career which began 16 years ago this month. Usyk won a split decision over him to become the first undisputed world heavyweight champion this century.

Far more significantly, and in a devastating personal tragedy, Paris Fury suffered a miscarriage the day before the fight. When a visibly moved Fury revealed the news to a few of us in October he urged us not to imply this was a reason for his defeat: “I am not ­making excuses but she was six months pregnant. It’s not like a small miscarriage at the beginning. You have to physically give birth to a dead child, on your own, while your husband is in a foreign country.”