Arsenal have completed the signing of Leandro Trossard from Brighton and Hove Albion for a reported £27million.

The Belgium international has agreed a long-term deal at Emirates Stadium, which is thought to run through until July 2027.

Arsenal made no secret of their desire to bring in attacking reinforcements this month, with Mykhaylo Mudryk initially seen to be their primary target.

But Chelsea beat them to the signing of the Ukraine international last week despite Mudryk appearing eager to move to north London.

Shakhtar Donetsk confirmed Arsenal matched the reported £89m (€100m) bid of Chelsea in monetary terms, but they felt the variables and bonuses in the Blues' offer were more realistic.

However, some might feel Trossard is a less risky signing and represents better value.

Arsenal are thought to have been keen on Trossard since before he joined Brighton from Genk in 2019, and at the Amex Stadium he has blossomed into a high-level winger who offers both a goalscoring threat and creativity.

Since the start of last season, Trossard is one of just seven players to score at least 14 Premier League goals (excluding penalties) and create more than 65 chances in open play – the others are Harry Kane, Mohamed Salah, Kevin De Bruyne, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Bruno Fernandes.

Arsenal's north London rivals Tottenham had also been credited with an interest, though recent reports suggested a £12m bid by Spurs was "laughed off".

Trossard had been keen to leave Brighton after falling out with head coach Roberto De Zerbi, who criticised the winger's attitude earlier this month after taking him out of the team.

Coco Gauff is excited about the prospect of players from the United States winning both singles titles at the same grand slam again following a bright start to the Australian Open for the men.

The last American to win the men's singles crown at any grand slam was Andy Roddick at the 2003 US Open.

The USA is still way out in front for all-time grand slam men's singles titles with 147, though 19 years and counting is comfortably their worst barren spell during the Open Era.

This comes after 2003 was the 15th year in a row that the USA had at least one champion in the men's majors, with the likes of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi both prolific winners.

Of course, the drought did not extend to the women, with Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens and Sofia Kenin all winning at least once since Roddick's success at Flushing Meadows.

But with eight of the last 32 in the men's draw representing the USA, there is a renewed sense of optimism – and that is even accounting for their highest seed, number eight Taylor Fritz, falling in the second round.

Gauff – who beat compatriot Bernarda Pera on Friday – is the USA's next great female hope, and she is looking forward to the day Americans claim a men's and women's double at the same slam.

Asked if there was a refreshing sense of excitement around the men, Gauff said: "Yeah, definitely. I definitely think on the men's side they're thriving.

"It's like eight people in the round of 32 I saw. I think it's incredible. It's just people that you've been rooting for for a long time, and some new faces, too, that people probably haven't been rooting for a long time but fell in love with.

"I'm just excited. On the women's side, we're always like, 'the guys need to catch up, you guys need to put in your work'. I think they're here. I'm hoping that eventually, hopefully soon, we'll have our slam champion on the men's side.

"That would be pretty cool if an American woman and guy could win the same slam. I don't know when the last time that's happened or if it's ever happened. I'll be pretty excited."

Coincidentally, it last happened at Melbourne Park. In 2003, Andre Agassi and Serena Williams were victorious at the Australian Open.

Gauff is not getting carried away, but her perception is there is genuine belief among the men now, which is being fed by unity.

"I definitely think the guys are feeling it," she said. "You can see it. I think it really comes from, not the women, but the same dynamic, where everybody is doing well, so it makes you want to do well.

"We're all not competing with each other but pushing each other. I think that's what the men are having.

"They're competing against each other but also pushing each other to be better. I'm pretty sure all the American guys get along, at least that's what I think."

There were setbacks to American men's title hopes on Friday as Frances Tiafoe and Mackenzie McDonald both lost at the last-32 stage, but there was a hugely notable win too, with Sebastian Korda beating seventh seed, two-time Australian Open runner-up and former US Open champion Daniil Medvedev in straight sets.

Jaylen Brown likened the intensity in the Boston Celtics' workmanlike overtime 121-118 victory over the Golden State Warriors to a playoff game.

The Warriors had not returned to TD Garden since winning Game 6 of last season's NBA Finals to secure the championship.

Much like in that series, the Celtics were littered with turnovers (17 in total resulted in 24 points for the visitors) and struggled to fire on all cylinders offensively.

This time, though, Boston found a way to win. Trailing by 11 points in the second half, the Celtics fought back and Brown tied the game via a three-pointer with 18 seconds remaining and then, having gained an eight-point advantage, held on after a sloppy ending to overtime.

"That felt like a playoff game," Brown said.

"Their intensity, their force where they came, that's a game I'm sure they wanted to win. We were down, what, five to seven [points] in the fourth quarter, four, five minutes left. 

"To be able to have poise to battle back, that shows a lot of growth. We're taking steps in the right direction."

Jayson Tatum had a career-high 19 rebounds to go with 34 points and six assists but was also guilty of a couple of poor turnovers.

He too, though, felt the Celtics showed the sort of requisite desire to win when the team is not particularly playing their best basketball.

"You're going to need games like this," Tatum said. 

"There's going to be a handful of playoff games where you don't necessarily shoot the ball well, maybe even on the road – under 40 per cent, 73 per cent from the free-throw line, 17 turnovers – and still find a way to win.

"I think that just shows the depth of our team, that on a below-average night for us, we can still find a way to win. That's all that matters at the end of the night. Did you win or did you lose?"

Interim Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla felt the nature of the victory showed how the team have grown since losing the Finals.

"For us, we've talked about poise and physicality," he said. 

"Everybody asks, what did we learn [from losing in the Finals]? What have we learned? And I think what we've learned is it takes a mindset in order to be successful. And it takes a mindset to be a really, really good team in the NBA. And you can't be inconsistent with that.

"I think even though you play really, really well and we win, we're still going to have some of those moments. Yeah, we had some turnovers, we had some kind of plays where it's just kind of like, 'That shouldn't happen'. But that's going to happen.

"It's about just the habits that we're growing as far as our mindset, our poise, our physicality, our ability to execute, our ability to handle the chaos of an NBA game."

The Celtics sit top of the Eastern Conference with a league-best 34-12 record, while the Warriors are ninth and 22-23 in the West.

As Premier League managers try and strengthen their squads you'll need to ensure you make the right moves ahead of another weekend of action.

Amid the comings and goings in the January transfer window, finding the right formula is crucial in order to challenge for honours or start climbing the table.

Using Opta data, Stats Perform has picked out four players who can earn you some precious points.

David Raya (Leeds United v Brentford)

Raya has kept two clean sheets in Brentford's past three top-flight games, the latest coming in a 2-0 victory over Bournemouth.

The Spain international has kept out the opposition entirely on six occasions this season in the Premier League and his tally of 81 saves is more than any other goalkeeper.

Leeds put five goals past a poor Cardiff City side in the FA Cup on Wednesday, but they have been wasteful in the top flight. A combination of a solid defence and Raya could frustrate them at Elland Road.

Dan Burn (Crystal Palace v Newcastle United)

If you have not got Burn in your defence, then it is a case of better late than never.

Newcastle have kept five consecutive Premier League clean sheets and Burn has been at the heart of their back four in all of those games.

Only team-mate Kieran Tripper (11) has more clean sheets to his name in the league this season than Burn's tally of nine.

A threat from set-pieces, the towering centre-back has also created five chanes and is due a Premier League goal after finding the back of the net against Leicester City in the EFL Cup.

Half a season is a long time in football.

At the end of the 2021-22 campaign, Liverpool had come within a whisker of becoming the first English team in history to win the EFL Cup, FA Cup, Premier League and Champions League in a single campaign.

Chelsea had reached two domestic finals, losing on penalties to Liverpool on both occasions, and finished third in the Premier League after initially threatening a title charge with their early season form.

As the two prepare to meet at Anfield on Saturday, they do so in very different places from then, sitting ninth and 10th in the league table respectively.

They both managed to win their last games 1-0, but there is a long way to go if they are to get back to where they expect to be, and Stats Perform has taken a look at where it may have gone wrong for the two stumbling giants.

Reds struggling to step up to the challenge

It has been a particularly harsh slide for Liverpool, who for the second time in recent seasons were denied the league title by Manchester City in May despite earning over 90 points, while an inspired performance from Thibaut Courtois stopped them in the Champions League final against Real Madrid.

The inevitable disappointment from those two blows has been suggested as one of the reasons why they have accumulated just 28 points from 18 Premier League games, having already lost three times as many as they did in their entire league campaign last season (6-2), and conceding just one fewer goal in less than half the games (25-26).

A lack of turnover in his previously trusted players has been another factor blamed for what has been a tired looking season from the Reds, and tired performances are understandably a significant problem for a team that thrived by overwhelming the opposition with their energy and high pressing.

Liverpool simply aren't executing as many high turnovers, averaging 9.4 per 90 this season, the fourth-most in the league, down from 11.7 last season when they produced comfortably the most (Man City second with 9.9 per 90).

One of the criticisms Klopp has been willing to make publicly of his team in recent games has been their struggle to win challenges, and he wasn't wrong as Liverpool have the worst record in the Premier League for duel success this season (47.4 per cent).

This could go some way to explaining why the number of big chances against them – defined by Opta as a situation from which a player should reasonably be expected to score – has exploded, having already allowed 54 in just 18 games, one more than the whole of last season, and 13 more than their total from the 2018-19 campaign when the team was entering its peak.

Compounding the problem, their ability to put away their own big chances has also fallen off a cliff, having led the league with a 55.3 per cent conversion rate last season.

Despite only Man City (67) creating more big chances than Liverpool's 60 this season, only Leicester City (25.8 per cent) have a worse conversion rate than their 26.7 per cent, less than half what it was last season.

The sale of Sadio Mane could be a factor given the Senegalese forward scored 14 of his 27 big chances in the league last season (51.8 per cent), while his primary replacement Darwin Nunez has only taken four of his 19 so far (21.1).

Things should settle if Nunez and new arrival Cody Gakpo can get close to their previous numbers. The Uruguayan put away 21 of his 35 in the Primeira Liga for Benfica last season, with his 60 per cent success rate the fourth-highest of players in Europe's top 10 leagues (min. 20 big chances), while Gakpo scored five of his 10 big chances for PSV in the Eredivisie before his move this season.

Blues in limbo after period of change

If the lack of squad replenishment is one of the main issues at Liverpool, it could be argued quite the opposite is true of Chelsea since their ownership change last May.

The £88.5million purchase of Mykhaylo Mudryk took the club's overall spending to £372.7m since then (according to Transfermarkt), with 13 new players coming in.

All that on top of swapping the head coach in September, with Thomas Tuchel replaced by the much-heralded Graham Potter, who had never coached a club of Chelsea's standing before.

While many put this down to same old Chelsea, changing their man in the dugout at the first sign of any trouble, it felt more like a statement of intent from Todd Boehly and co, wanting to put in place a long-term strategy with a progressive coach like Potter at the helm.

Despite a solid enough start, going unbeaten in his first nine games (W6, D3), a 4-1 humbling at former club Brighton and Hove Albion signalled the start of a prolonged wobble that has seen them lose another seven of their 11 games since. 

Potter managed to turn the Seagulls into one of the most attractive and fluent teams in the league, with one particular stand-out metric being their high turnovers.

Between the start of the 2021-22 season and leaving for Chelsea last September, only Liverpool (11.4) and Man City (9.9) averaged more high turnovers per game than Brighton (9.8) in the Premier League.

During the same period, Chelsea averaged 8.2 per game, which has gone up to 8.9 under Potter, showing there is still a way to go before his new team will be fully able to implement his style of football.

There has also been a significant struggle to score goals, having only managed 22 at the halfway point of the league campaign – four fewer than Leeds United and Leicester City – after scoring 76 last season.

It is an interesting situation considering Brighton managed just 42 goals last season, with only Wolves and the three relegated teams scoring fewer, and many pointed to the fact Potter never really had an orthodox and accomplished striker to call on.

However, at Chelsea he has had Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who may not be what he once was but still scored 13 goals in 23 games for Barcelona last season. The Gabon international has found the net just three times in 16 outings for the Blues, and once in 10 games in the Premier League.

There is also the revolving door of players in and out of the side due primarily to injuries and Potter trying to ascertain his best team, making 60 changes to his starting XI already since his arrival, 21 more than any other manager in the league in that time.

With the talent and resources available to both Klopp and Potter, it would be safe to assume that this is probably just a bad patch for them and before long, the familiar figures of the Reds and the Blues will be back challenging the top four.

There are certainly issues to iron out for both though, and what better way to start than by adding further misery to the other at Anfield on Saturday?

Jayson Tatum grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds during the Boston Celtics' 121-118 overtime victory against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday.

It was a gritty all-round performance from Tatum as he also finished with 34 points, six assists and three steals, imposing his will on the game despite shooting an inefficient nine-of-27 from the field and committing seven turnovers.

Like Tatum, his All-Star team-mate Jaylen Brown also shot just 33 per cent from the field (six-of-18), but veteran center Al Horford picked up the slack, scoring 20 points on eight-of-13 shooting while adding 10 rebounds and three blocks.

As was a theme on the night, Warriors superstar Stephen Curry struggled from the field, shooting nine-of-25 for his 29 points, supplementing his outing with seven assists, four steals, four rebounds and two blocks. Klay Thompson (eight-of-16) and Jordan Poole (10-of-25) chipped in 24 points each.

With the win, the Celtics improved their league-leading record to 34-12, while the Warriors fell under .500 at 22-23, including a horrific 5-17 record on the road.

Russell leads late Timberwolves comeback

Minnesota Timberwolves guard D'Angelo Russell nearly scored as many points as the entire Toronto Raptors team in the fourth quarter of a 128-126 comeback win.

Russell had 16 in the last period – including 14 in a row for the Timberwolves – while the Raptors could only muster 17 points, allowing the home side to claw back from what was a 14-point margin with 10 minutes remaining.

The former All-Star finished with 25 points on eight-of-15 shooting, adding six assists and two steals, while role-player Kyle Anderson continued to flourish in his expanded minutes with 20 points (eight-of-nine), 10 rebounds and six assists.

Suns snap losing run with Nets win

In the battle of two short-handed teams, the Phoenix Suns ended their three-game losing streak in a nail-biting 117-112 victory over the Brooklyn Nets.

The Suns were up by 24 at one point, but Kyrie Irving got hot in the fourth quarter to finish with 30 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, for the Nets who were without Kevin Durant.

Deandre Ayton stepped up for Phoenix, missing Devin Booker and Chris Paul, with 24 points and 14 rebounds, while Mikal Bridges added 28. Cam Johnson added 19 points on his return from injury.

Pep Guardiola took a swipe at Manchester City's home support and said he "doesn't recognise" his side on current form, despite battling to a 4-2 win over Tottenham.

City were booed off the pitch when two goals behind in Thursday's Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium, facing a third straight loss for the first time since April 2018.

Ederson played Rodri into trouble and that allowed Dejan Kulusevski to fire Spurs ahead, before Emerson Royal profited from more sloppy play at the back to head in a second.

But City's response was just as emphatic the other side of half-time as Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland had them on level terms by the 53rd minute.

Star man Mahrez assisted that Haaland goal – ending the striker's three-game scoreless run – before scoring two of his own to seal a superb second-half comeback.

It marks the second time City have recovered from two goals down and won a league game this season, having also done so against Crystal Palace in August.

While the win moved City within five points of leaders Arsenal, albeit having played a game more, a tetchy Guardiola was not happy with what he witnessed against Tottenham.

"We have to prepare better. I cannot deny how happy we are but we are far away from the team that we were," he told Sky Sports. 

"Not in terms of play – we played good – but there are many other things, like competitiveness.

"We gave them the first goal. The second goal is ridiculous. There's nothing from the stomach, from the guts. We were lucky, but if we don't change we will drop more points."

Asked what was missing from his side, Guardiola said: "Passion, fire and desire to want to win from the first minute. Our fans were silent for 45 minutes.

"They booed because we were losing but in the second half we played good, we had more chances."

City have won the Premier League in four of the past five seasons, whereas surprise leaders Arsenal are chasing a first title in 20 years.

Guardiola's side still have to face Arsenal home and away, but the Catalan coach insists his side will not catch the Gunners unless something changes.

"Maybe it's the same with our team [as the fans]. Maybe we are so comfortable with winning four Premier Leagues in five years," Guardiola said.

"We have an opponent in Arsenal who have the fire. Two decades without winning the Premier League. Everything is so comfortable [at City] but opponents don't wait.

"I don't recognise my team. They [previously] had the passion and desire to run. We are far away from the team we had in previous seasons.

"Do you think this comeback will happen every time? It won't. Today we were lucky. If we want to win something or compete, then by complaining, complaining, complaining there is no chance we will win anything.

"It's my duty, it's my job [to get the fans back onside]. I want my fans back, I want my fans that are here – not my away fans, they are the best – but my fans here.

"They need to support every corner and every action, because Tottenham are one of the toughest opponents I've ever faced." 

Guardiola was at least more upbeat when asked about the display of Mahrez, who now has 11 direct goal involvements against Spurs, making them his favourite opponent.

"What a player," Guardiola said. "Before the World Cup he was on holiday. Now he has realised, 'oh'."

City return to action on Sunday with a home match against Wolves, with that match kicking off ahead of Arsenal's meeting with Manchester United.

Dani Ceballos' late goal saw Real Madrid beat Villarreal 3-2 and complete a stunning comeback in the Copa del Rey on Thursday.

Madrid were beaten 3-1 by rivals Barcelona in the Supercopa de Espana final on Sunday and found themselves two goals down at the break at Estadio de la Ceramica after goals from Etienne Capoue and Samuel Chukwueze.

But Vinicius Junior halved the deficit with a composed 57th-minute finish before Eder Militao prodded home from close range.

With the last-16 tie seemingly heading for extra time. Ceballos proved Madrid's unlikely hero as he lashed home to keep Madrid's hopes of winning a 20th Copa del Rey title alive.

Juventus claimed their spot in the Coppa Italia quarter-finals with a 2-1 win over Monza thanks to Federico Chiesa's sublime strike.

Chiesa, a second-half substitute in Thursday's clash at the Allianz Stadium, curled in off the post with 12 minutes remaining.

Moise Kean had given Juve an early lead but his effort was cancelled out by Mattia Valoti.

Kean saw what he thought would be a winner disallowed for offside, but Chiesa struck just after to settle the tie.

Nicolo Fagioli spurned a glorious chance for Juve in the opening moments but that miss mattered little as Kean headed Weston McKennie's cross into the far corner in the eighth minute.

Against the run of play, Valoti struck his third goal in as many Coppa Italia rounds to restore parity – Mattia Perin only able to push the forward's header into the roof of the net.

Juve's youngsters responded well, Samuel Iling-Junior firing wide and Matias Soule forcing a diving save from Cragno, but the hosts could not retake the lead before the break.

Kean came close to a second four minutes after the restart, bounding forward into the area, though Cragno was again on hand for Monza.

Juve had the ball in the back of the net after Danilo's shot deflected off Pablo Mari and against the crossbar, with Kean heading the rebound home, only for the offside flag to cut his celebrations short. 

The pressure finally told in the 78th minute, with Chiesa finding room down the left-hand side of the box and curling an effort in off the right-hand post.

Manchester City recovered from two goals down at half-time to defeat Tottenham 4-2 at the Etihad Stadium and close the gap on Premier League leaders Arsenal.

Spurs took advantage of some poor City defending – with Ederson in particular at fault – through goals from Dejan Kulusevski and Ederson Royal just before the interval.

But City's response was just as swift as they were level eight minutes into the second half thanks to Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland, who ended his mini goal drought.

City survived a scare when Perisic hit the post, but Riyad Mahrez put them ahead and added another late on to move his side within five points of Arsenal, who have a game in hand.

Like he did in Spurs' 3-2 win here last year, Kulusevski opened the scoring after Rodri poked the ball into his path when put under pressure following Ederson's poor pass.

Emerson headed in a second for Spurs moments later after Kane won a tackle against Rodri and had an angled drive pushed back into danger by Ederson.

Guardiola opted against making any changes at the break, but his side's response was instant, with Alvarez firing home a loose ball after Riyad Mahrez's cross was not dealt with.

City, who left Kevin De Bruyne on the bench all match, were on level terms two minutes later through Haaland's close-range header after Mahrez headed the ball back across goal.

Ivan Perisic had a shot blocked right in front of goal by Rico Lewis, with the loose ball hitting the post, and that would prove a big moment as Mahrez completed the comeback.

Mahrez first fired a low, hard shot past Lloris at the Spurs keeper's near post, before capitalising on Clement Lenglet's poor touch to race in and double his tally at the death.

Barcelona sailed comfortably into the Copa del Rey quarter-finals thanks to a second-half splurge of goals in Thursday's 5-0 win over third-tier Ceuta.

The Blaugrana started slow at Estadio Alfonso Murube, but ultimately had few issues in sealing a place in the last eight.

Robert Lewandowski scored twice in the second half, either side of goals from Ansu Fati and Franck Kessie, to ensure Barca's progression was routine enough, with Raphinha having put the visitors ahead before the interval.

LaLiga leaders Barca are well in the hunt for a domestic clean sweep after their Supercopa de Espana victory over Real Madrid.

Despite naming a side littered with top-tier talent, Barca did not impose themselves as well as might have been expected throughout the first half.

The visitors struggled for clear-cut opportunities despite posting an overwhelming 69.8 per cent possession figure.

It was a piece of individual brilliance that unlocked their hosts four minutes before half-time, when Raphinha curled beyond Tomas Mejias.

Barca doubled their lead five minutes after the break, when Kessie picked off a wayward pass deep in Ceuta territory to set Lewandowski up for an easy finish.

Fati capped a fine solo run with a deft touch to put Barca 3-0 up, with Kessie turning from provider to scorer as he headed in from Raphinha's cross seven minutes later.

Lewandowski got his second in the 90th minute, drilling low into the corner to cap off an emphatic win after Kessi, Fati and Jordi Alba had gone close.

Andy Murray made a record-breaking fightback in the longest match of his career to beat Thanasi Kokkinakis in an Australian Open thriller in the early hours of Friday morning.

After finding himself two sets down, Murray drew on the fighting spirit he has produced so many times over the years to secure an incredible 4-6 6-7 (4-7) 7-6( 7-5) 6-3 7-5 win on Margaret Court Arena.

The battling Brit came off the ropes to become he first player in Open era history to win 10 grand slam matches from two sets down.

With the clock having ticked past 4am local time, the 35-year-old finally triumphed in what was the second-longest match (five hours and 45 minutes) in Australian Open history, only beaten by the 2012 final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal (five hours and 53 minutes). 

Here, Stats Perform takes a closer look at some of the numbers from Murray's incredible win.

Murray's unbeaten grand slam streak against Australian players continues

Murray's success over Kokkinakis ensured his unbeaten record against Australian opponents at majors remained intact, making it 12 out of 12.

The former world number one has lost all five of his finals at the Australian Open, but he is now into the third round at the tournament for the first time since 2017.

His victory over Kokkinakis made him just the fifth male player in the Open era to win more than 50 main-draw matches at the Australian Open, joining illustrious company in Roger Federer, Djokovic, Nadal and Stefan Edberg.

Murray's greater experience shows against big-serving opponent

Kokkinakis seized control of the match by taking the first two sets, but as Murray dragged the contest into the later stages, the Brit's experience in big matches showed.

The 37 aces fired down by Kokkinakis was his highest career tally in an ATP-level main-draw match and 27 more than Murray served up. Kokkinakis racked up an astonishing 102 winners to Murray's impressive 69.

Three-time grand slam champion Murray became just the seventh male player to feature in 250 grand slam main draw matches, roaring back to surpass Todd Martin and Federer for the most major victories from two sets down. It was his first such triumph at the Australian Open.

Murray has now won both meetings with Kokkinakis, after also defeating him in the 2015 Davis Cup, and sets up a third-round clash with Roberto Bautista Agut, with whom he holds a 3-3 head-to-head record.

Marco Rose joked Yann Sommer would have snubbed a move to Bayern Munich in order to reunite with him at RB Leipzig if he had only asked.

The goalkeeper made the switch to the Bundesliga champions from Borussia Monchengladbach on Thursday after almost a decade at Borussia-Park.

He arrives to replace the injured Manuel Neuer and could slot straight into the starting line-up for Bayern's league match with Leipzig on Friday.

Rose, who coached Gladbach for a two-year period between 2019 and 2021, quipped that Sommer could have made the move to another destination if he had intervened.

"He called me and said 'if you don't take me, I'll go to Bayern'," he said. "I hold Yann in very high regard, as a person but also as a player.

"I think he's had an outstanding phase [of form]. I think he's a good signing for Bayern Munich. [But] I think that Sven Ulreich is an excellent goalkeeper who has also done well.

"There will be a good goalkeeper in goal [whoever it is]. Yann, I wish all the best of course."

Sommer made 272 Bundesliga appearances for Gladbach following his arrival in 2014, and enjoyed a 71.1 save percentage among goalkeepers with more than 10 league games.

He has the second-best figures in the division this term, with 77.1 per cent, behind only the 79.1 figure posted by Union Berlin's Frederik Ronnow.

Sommer is the second new face to arrive at Bayern this transfer window, following Daley Blind from Ajax.

Gladbach moved quickly by announcing fellow Switzerland international Jonas Omlin as Sommer's successor on Thursday.

Yann Sommer has joined Bayern Munich from fellow Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach.

Sommer, a Switzerland international, has regularly been one of the best-performing goalkeepers in Germany during his time at Gladbach.

The 34-year-old, whose contract was due to expire at the end of the season, has joined Bayern on a two-and-a-half-year deal for a fee reported to be in the region of €8million.

Bayern wanted to add to their goalkeeper options after Manuel Neuer was ruled out for the rest of the season having broken his leg while skiing in December.

The possibility of recalling Alexander Nubel from his loan at Monaco had been explored, though Sommer always seemed to be the priority target.

Despite Gladbach's insistence they did not wish to sell him, Sommer reportedly asked to leave, and a deal was struck between the clubs on Wednesday.

"I'm really looking forward to my new role at Bayern. It's a big club with power, we've often played against each other - I know about the enormous quality and charisma of this club," Sommer said on his transfer.

"I'm proud to be part of Bayern now. We have big tasks ahead of us. I'm really looking forward to the start with my new colleagues and to everything that's coming.

"I would like to thank Borussia Monchengladbach for eight and a half great years and for making this transfer possible."

Sommer joined Gladbach in 2014 and made 272 Bundesliga appearances. Hoffenheim's Oliver Baumann is the only goalkeeper to have played more times in the competition in the same period.

Of goalkeepers to make 10 or more Bundesliga appearances in that time, Sommer's save percentage of 71.1 is the seventh best and ranks similarly to Neuer's (72.5). He has kept 70 clean sheets.

Sommer has only made 10 appearances in the competition this season but boasts the second-best save percentage (77.1) behind Union Berlin's Frederik Ronnow (79.1).

Based on Opta's expected goals on target conceded (xGOT) data, Sommer's saves have prevented 4.1 goals in the Bundesliga this season, the highest figure in the division, with Neuer ranked second (3.8).

Bayern restart their campaign against Julian Nagelsmann's former team RB Leipzig on Friday.

Aryna Sabalenka was stuck in the biggest crisis of her tennis career 12 months ago, but the Belarusian big-hitter has found light at the end of a dark tunnel.

In a second-round win over Wang Xinyu at the 2022 Australian Open, Sabalenka served 19 double faults, and it was remarkable that she still pulled off the victory.

But it was no blip. In four matches, stretching from the 2021 WTA Finals to two tournaments in Adelaide at the beginning of the 2022 season, Sabalenka served a total of 74 double faults.

She considered it a success in round three at the Australian Open when she served 10 double faults against Marketa Vondrousova, such was the extent of her problem.

"I think it's more mental," Sabalenka said at the time, "because I put a lot of pressure on myself about my serve, and the last matches I was trying to control everything on my serve; my legs, my arm, the ball toss. And it was overthinking."

A year on, and Sabalenka is looking a different player, one that perhaps might finally be ready to win a singles grand slam.

That breakthrough might come this fortnight, with Sabalenka in scintillating form on Thursday as she beat Shelby Rogers 6-3 6-1 on Rod Laver Arena.

And here's the thing: she served three aces and not one double fault.

The yips have been cured.

"I worked a lot on my serve," said the 24-year-old after the Rogers match. "Like, really a lot. You can't even imagine how much I worked. I'm just super happy right now that everything is working.

"Oh, my God, I did almost everything to try to fix my serve. The whole year we were trying different things mentally, mental stuff, technique, technical, trying to breathe differently.

"I tried a lot. I watched a lot of different videos, from when I had no problems, when I had problems, trying to understand what is different."

Sabalenka had three double faults in her first-round win over Tereza Martincova, but three is fine, normal even. Zero in round two is something special.

The fifth seed will tackle Belgium's Elise Mertens on Saturday for a place in the last 16, knowing she managed to make it through to round four last year with a malfunctioning game.

The sky is the limit for Sabalenka if the serve is reliable. A three-time slam semi-finalist, her all-round numbers against Rogers were good, with 32 winners against 18 unforced errors a healthy ratio.

She reached the title match at the WTA Finals in November, a big moment at the end of a challenging year. Now a bigger goal is in her sights.