New rules. Robot umps. A reimagined postseason.

As Major League Baseball attempts to tweak its formula for a new generation of fans, there have been some hits and some misses.

We have an idea that could be a home run.

While Players Weekend has been a big success for the league the past two seasons, the jerseys have not, with last year's monochromatic black and white designs translating poorly to television and receiving mass criticism from around the sport. The look confused fans at the park, too, who had a hard time separating the players from the umpires, while the Cubs quietly protested the monochromatic look by wearing their regular blue caps with the white uniforms for one game.

"What's the slogan, 'Let the kids play?'" said Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona. "Let the grown-ups look like morons."

Said Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts: "It's not our proudest moment rockin' these all-white milkmen jerseys."

So here's the idea: Why not hold a contest to let young fans design the uniforms?

Why now is the time

Major League Baseball kicked off its inaugural Players Weekend during the 2017 season to give players, from the stars to the final few guys on the roster, an opportunity to express themselves and better connect with fans. But while the league allows players to wear their nicknames on the back of their specially designed uniforms, those uniforms have not been particularly well-received.

"Last year's was really awful," said Paul Lukas, a former ESPN.com contributor and founder of UniWatch, a website dedicated to tracking the latest developments in sports sartorial choices. "I don't think much of the Players Weekend uniforms. They feel a little gimmicky to me. The idea is that this is for the players. Like really, is this what the players wanted to wear? I question that."

A new partnership, though, could make this the right time to rethink the uniforms.

This year, Nike takes over as the official jersey supplier for Major League Baseball, adding to the multibillion-dollar sports apparel giant's portfolio its third of the four major American sports leagues, along with the NFL and the NBA. For baseball, it marks the league's first major switch-up since 2004, when Majestic took over as its sole provider of on-field uniforms. This year in spring training, the Swoosh logo now sits squarely on the front right shoulder of every MLB uniform, to the consternation of many traditionalist baseball fans. But whether or not you like the corporate advertising on the front of the uniform -- Majestic chose to place their logo on the uniform sleeves -- Nike is here to stay in baseball, with a 10-year contract through 2030.

According to a 2019 Nielsen Sports report on Generation Z fans, baseball has one of the largest generational gaps in interest, with 41.1% of people between 25 and 69 interested in the sport but just 27.8% of Gen Z -- which Nielsen lists as those between 16 and 24 -- interested. Additionally, the average age of an MLB fan (57) is significantly higher than that for the NFL (50) and NBA (42), according to a 2017 study commissioned by SportsBusiness Journal.

The collaboration with Nike is part of the league's larger effort to reach out to those younger fans. Combined with the marketing and design forces of the world's largest sports brand, baseball has an opportunity to take some risks, pushing the envelope for what fashion looks like on -- and off -- the baseball field in the 2020s.

How it would work

A uniform design contest would not just generate buzz for the games, but perhaps draw a whole new type of fan into the sport, inviting the next generation to help shape the league's cultural future.

Smartphones and tablets make the setup relatively easy. MLB and Nike could create a template for submissions, and through a dedicated app or website, fans could simply upload their designs. If the league prefers to stay within a certain set of boundaries, all types of design limitations could be imposed, such as keeping to a particular palate of colors for each team.

Once the designs are in, an All-Star panel of judges -- from players to celebrities to designers -- could comment on and critique them. From there, Nike and MLB could take the best designs for each team, work with the artists to tweak them as needed, and put them out there for a final online vote.

Lukas, who has held design contests on the UniWatch blog and column for years -- giving readers an opportunity to re-imagine the outfits for existing teams and dream up new ones for expansion franchises -- has seen how technology has given savvy fans a new way to connect with sports.

"As digital and design software has become more sophisticated and more accessible to more and more people, the participation has increased and I would say that the quality of the designs have increased," Lukas said. "The digital tools available to people now are pretty powerful and pretty sophisticated and you can do a lot with them. [The contests] have really shown it's possible for even laypeople, as opposed to professional designers, to put out some pretty decent looking work."

Why it would work

Nike has already proven that design contests can be incredibly effective marketing tools. One of Nike's most hyped and critically acclaimed sneakers of the past few years, the Nike Air Max 1/97 Sean Wotherspoon, was the product of the 2017 Vote Forward campaign, which invited designers from around the world to Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, to develop their own sneakers. Nike fans could then vote for their favorite sneaker to go into production, thus creating the 1/97, seen on the feet of everyone from LeBron James to rapper Travis Scott to RM of the K-pop band BTS. Between the success of Wotherspoon's shoe to the fashion phenomenon of Virgil Abloh's collection to the mega-success of Scott's collaborations, many of Nike's biggest hits in recent years have been at least partially outsourced. The Nike By You (previously NikeID) customization application has long allowed people to build their own favorite silhouettes.

Nike has brought some significant changes to both the NFL and NBA. When Nike took over NFL uniforms in 2012, the company gave a dramatic redesign to both the Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and it followed suit in the NBA in 2017 with the City Edition uniforms, creating bold alternates that have become some of the most praised in sports, most notably the Miami Vice-themed unis for the Heat.

Major League Baseball, on the other hand, has been hesitant to take bolder risks with uniforms, according to multiple sources familiar with the conversations. Dramatic redesign attempts such as the Arizona Diamondbacks' have been panned in recent years, and baseball fans are -- fairly or not -- notorious for being hostile to change. Many of the design tweaks announced for the 2020 season were minor (aside from the San Diego Padres' return to brown and yellow, which was determined before Nike signed on).

A design contest led by younger fans would certainly take on a different tenor, but as other online design contests have shown, there are a lot of incredibly talented people out there. With some help from Nike, a weekend designed to appeal to young fans could also be visually designed by them as well. And from a public relations standpoint, it's much harder to criticize a design when it's created by a young baseball fan (although Twitter would surely find a way, as it tends to do).

Despite the league's hesitation at times, baseball's relationship with its uniforms has actually evolved in recent years. Even in a sport steeped in tradition, nostalgia and history, the baseball uniform has become a canvas for subtle rebellion. Lately, more and more players are ignoring the unwritten rules of generations past and choosing "untraditional" baseball numbers -- like Aaron Judge, Alex Verdugo and Hyun-Jin Ryu, who wear No. 99 for their respective teams, or Mallex Smith, who wears No. 0 (until recently, Marcus Stroman did as well). Baseball has also been more willing to take risks during Players Weekend, not only allowing players to wear their nicknames, but even emojis on their backs, while working with Majestic to create the alternate uniforms specific for the event.

While many today think of conservative uniform designs when it comes to baseball, the sport has been more of a uniform edge-pusher in the past. During the 1970s, baseball largely switched to pullover uniform designs, and road grays were swapped for powder blues to account for the mainstream proliferation of color televisions. Some of those once-loathed uniforms are now seen as classics.

"Usually, it's when teams go back to basics that I hear the most positive response," Lukas said. "I'm not sure what fans want from baseball right now. Do they want it to be more innovative and experimental, something along those lines, or are they happy with the basic and classic designs? With Nike on board, we'll see. Nike has not and cannot do anything unilaterally. They don't tell a team that they are going to wear this. The team has the final say."

There have been examples of teams using fan contests to shape team branding in the past. In the 1980s, the Chicago White Sox held a design contest won by Richard Launius, who created the "SOX" design that's been retroed by the South Side squad on multiple occasions. Minor league teams have held similar contests around the country, where in other sports, the NHL's Ottawa Senators created an alternate uniform designed by a 29-year-old fan in 2011. In the NBA, the Dallas Mavericks produced an alternate uniform design in 2015-16 that came from a design contest.

Allowing amateurs to design Players Weekend uniforms would create a unique channel of communication between Major League Baseball and its fans -- which would be invaluable, according Dr. Brandon Brown, a clinical associate professor at NYU's Tisch Institute for Global Sport.

"Anything that you can do to not just understand your consumer, but live out your consumer's wants and needs in your own product speak directly towards them, and I think that increases consumption and brand loyalty," Brown said. "It almost creates an unsaid relationship that they're listening to what I'm saying as a consumer. [A design contest] is almost a two-way dialogue between company and consumer, and that's where you want to be."

There are other design collaboration opportunities as well. Why not let someone like Drake put a personal spin on the Toronto Blue Jays uniforms, similar to the OVO City Edition uniforms he inspired for the Toronto Raptors? Perhaps they could drop in a limited release, similar to the sales strategies behind Supreme and some of Nike's most hyped sneaker releases.

But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. Baseball, after all, is a sport that has largely repressed personality through its unwritten rules, sometimes pushing away the young fan in this age of social media. If MLB is serious about developing its next generation of fans, it could hand them partial control of what the future of the game looks like, at least during the limited, experiment-friendly Players Weekend -- representing an unprecedented level of outreach by the league.

So ... could it happen? When we pitched this proposal to Major League Baseball, the league called the idea "fun" although we were told planning for 2020 Players Weekend has long been in development. If not this year, though, why not 2021?

The days are growing brighter and moderately warmer even here along the western shore of Lake Michigan. Soon, I'll be making my annual trip to spring training. This year, it'll be to Arizona. And for that, I'm grateful, because it puts a buffer of a couple thousand miles between me and West Palm Beach, Florida, spring training home of the Houston Astros.

No matter how you feel about the Houston sign-stealing scandal, aren't you just a little fatigued by it at this point? Anti-Astros extremists sure aren't going to let go anytime soon. At the very least, the reception of the Astros in every new city they visit this season will be a story. Everyone is waiting for their chance to voice their displeasure, as is their right. This story is not going to die for some time, even as baseball tries to chart a scandal-free path forward.

Yet, does it have to suck the oxygen out of everything that remains good about the best game there is? Aren't we ready for a new season, perhaps now more than ever?

One of the wondrous things about baseball is just how deep its roots have grown through the eons. No other sport comes close. The history of baseball is like a work of magical realism of unthinkable breadth, one in which a new chapter is written each and every year, as it has since the days of outhouses, gas lamps and horse buggies. You never know where the story will take you, as the past few months have reminded us.

And, sure, some of that largely explains the degree of Astros uproar that has dominated all forms of sports media. We get mad because we care. Baseball is part of our national identity in a way that other sports can never be and you never want scandal fodder to be part of your identity. There have been pretty significant scandals stemming from malfeasance in other sports over the past couple of decades. Yet as we have seen with the Astros, nothing gets people more worked up than a baseball scandal.

You may have noticed that here I am again, talking about the very thing I don't want to be talking about. (Talking in the proverbial sense, of course.) The Astros continue to dominate my thoughts and that's why I'm so glad to be going to Arizona ... where the Astros are not.

Some people -- fans and media alike -- actually like a good scandal, and that's OK. Whatever trips your trigger. At the very least, you can say that the messes surrounding the Astros, Red Sox and the game in general give us something to talk about. You can absorb only so many "best shape of my life" stories, hopeful tales of budding stardom and anecdotes about lessons learned in the pitching lab -- the kind of stuff we usually traffic in this time of the year.

But here we are, just three weeks until real games begin. Let's acknowledge that we, myself included, will probably be talking about the Astros for the foreseeable future. Then let's try to set that aside and focus on an Astros-free baseball universe. There are so many other things worth our attention.

Britain's Heather Watson says she thought about quitting tennis before ending her four-year title drought.

Watson had been outside the world's top 100 at the start of 2020 but is now ranked 49th after beating Leylah Fernandez to win the Mexican Open.

It was the 27-year-old's first WTA title since the Monterrey Open in 2016.

Watson said: "I thought I wasn't doing good enough, nor getting the satisfaction or results, so why continue to suffer through it?"

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live's The Inside Track, the British number two added: "I was pretty low. I was thinking of stopping tennis. You have those thoughts and I wasn't serious about it."

Watson says the key to her success in Mexico was finding the right balance on and off the court.

"I am loving life right now," she said.

"In the long run, I need to be happy off the court to be successful on the court.

"I felt like I had nothing to lose going into the tournament. On and off the court I felt good, I was in a really calm state of mind.

"I was going into the competition just enjoying it, being healthy - and as the tournament went on I thought: 'Oh this is nice.'

"I've been loving [tennis] these past eight months. When I got to the final I did put a bit of pressure on myself. I have been so consistent; more consistent then I have been in my career."

Watson is targeting a third Olympic appearance at the Tokyo Games this summer and also making the second week of a Grand Slam, having never previously gone beyond the third round.

"I have been very open that my number one goal is to be in the Olympics again," said Watson, who reached a career-high 38th in the world rankings in January 2015.

"My goal every year is to win WTA titles. I have one now, so the goal is to get another one and I want to make it into at least the fourth round of a Grand Slam."

“12 courts on three levels, with two all-glass showcourts”
By HOWARD HARDING – Squash Mad International Correspondent

The transformation of the squash complex at the US University of Pennsylvania into a state-of-the-art 12-court facility which is the envy of the Ivy League has signalled a new era for ASB as the world’s leading squash court manufacture moves into its sixth decade of operation.

It was back in 1997 that the German company was first selected to install 10 squash courts at the University’s Ringe Squash Center in Philadelphia.

A couple of years ago – by now with successful men’s and women’s teams – Penn felt the need to improve their facility and include glass show courts for a better viewer and user experience.

The major question remained: build a new squash centre or make use of the existing facility? After thorough consideration, a compromise was found in keeping the building shell but essentially remodelling the entire interior. The new set-up features 12 courts, including two state-of-the-art ASB ShowGlassCourts, on three levels.

There are three ASB System100 courts on the upper level, three on the lower level, and four on the main level alongside two ASB ShowGlassCourts.

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The installation process was a highly complex operation. Due to the tight space inside the building and the various levels, the delivery had to be split up in several containers on an almost just-in-time delivery pattern to avoid any waiting time for the various trades working inside the building.

“The University of Pennsylvania Squash Centre is situated between two historic American athletic venues,” said the University’s Director of Squash, Jack Wyant. “These are Franklin Field (site of the Penn Relays) and the Palestra (home of Big Five basketball, Penn wrestling and volleyball).

“The $19 million squash court renovation transformed a tired, dated facility into a modern, sleek, highly functional one capable of hosting national and international championships.

“The Penn Squash Center features lots of natural light, team rooms, offices, 12 courts including two four-wall glass exhibition courts, a stunning entrance and views of Center City Philadelphia.

“It services the needs of the Penn varsity teams, local and campus recreational play, and will host three major US junior and intercollegiate tournaments in its first six months of existence.”

This weekend it hosts the College Squash Association Intercollegiate Team Championships, one of the highlights of the American squash calendar.

The magnitude, significance and ultimately the success of the project has led ASB to reposition and refine its modus operandi going forward.

“We are at the beginning of 2020. We have our resolutions, determinations and goals,” says Zdeněk Klos, Senior CEO, ASB SQUASH. “Our main goal is to maintain and extend our position as the leader in quality and volume within the squash court industry.

“We will reach this goal by pursuing and proactively improving four principles: Firstly, innovation that matters: We are dedicated to further understanding the needs of our clients and our client’s clients. We will provide innovation that matters deeply, not something that is simply new.

“Secondly, we seek to understand before we create: understanding needs and motivations is a key priority in shaping the future relations with clients and with each other. Based on our wealth of knowledge in squash court manufacturing and the creative processes deeply embedded in ASB’s day to day environment, we develop custom tailored solutions, with our clients, for each and every project.

“Thirdly, active and honest involvement: Once engaged, we aim to become part of the client’s team in realising a joint vision rather than a supplier waiting to hear from its client, we shape the process together, proactively.

“Finally, being a real team player,” concluded Klos. “Contractual arrangements and transparency are the basis of our day to day business. However, even more so is spoken word and executed collaboration. Providing reliability and trustworthiness is a cornerstone of ASB’s philosophy, not only in performing according to a contract, but also ensuring 100% satisfaction in executing agreed terms and reacting to change along the way.”

Future ASB projects include the US Squash National Training Centre, also in Philadelphia, where two ASB ShowGlassCourts will be sited, together with three ASB System100 courts, with moveable walls enabling easy conversion to two international doubles courts.

Furthermore, ASB is masterminding the construction of the world’s first bank of four TPoint courts. Installation of this unique, high-end, outdoor court concept (see images below) is currently under way in Tel Aviv, Israel. 

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Pictures courtesy of ASB

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has again hit out at fixture schedulers after Manchester United were given less recovery time than Manchester City ahead of the derby for the third game in a row.

United face City at Old Trafford on Sunday after playing Derby in the FA Cup fifth round on Thursday night. Pep Guardiola's side played Sheffield Wednesday 24 hours earlier.

Ahead of December's derby at the Etihad Stadium, United were asked to play Tottenham a day later than City's clash with Burnley.

And before last season's April meeting at Old Trafford, City played Spurs on the Saturday while United were scheduled to face Everton on the Sunday.

It is not the first time Solskjaer has questioned the fixture list this season after United were asked to play Chelsea in the FA Cup on a Monday night -- rather than the weekend -- before facing Club Brugge in the Europa League the following Thursday.

"I cannot believe why there's a derby on Sunday and we've got to play Thursday night," Solskjaer said. "What's the point in that? That doesn't level the playing field. It was the same when we beat them last time to be fair, we played Wednesday and they played Tuesday. Those 24 hours are important so we've got to be good at recovering now.

"I've not [complained to the authorities]. I don't think we can. It's one of those where you get told when you're going to play, so we've not got any help before this one."

United have found form ahead of the derby stretching their unbeaten run to nine with a 3-0 win at Pride Park.

They have enjoyed success over City at the Etihad, winning on three of their last four visits including two victories this season.

But they haven't enjoyed a derby win at home in the Premier League since Louis van Gaal's team won 4-2 in April 2015.

"When you're at home and you have to open up against a team like Man City, they will exploit that if you're not 100%," Solskjaer added.

"Sometimes being at home with your fans, you want to show them what you can do and beat your opponent, and sometimes you open too many spaces.

"They'll feel confident. They've hit form, they're playing well. They've just been at the Bernabeu winning there, they've won the cup final so I'm sure they'll come confident. They'll play their own game, we'll play our game and hopefully it'll be a good one."

Solskjaer is sweating on the fitness of Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Daniel James after all three missed the trip to Derby.

Wan-Bissaka is struggling with a back problem while Maguire injured an ankle in training on Wednesday.

"None of them have been training yet since the last game," Solskjaer said. "We've got to look at them Saturday probably.

"[Maguire] is touch and go because he rolled his ankle and he twisted his ankle but hopefully he'll recover quickly. I hope he'll be fit."

It has emerged that the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) had approached the BCCI to allow Ravindra Jadeja to play the Ranji Trophy final against Bengal in Rajkot, starting Monday, but the request was turned down by Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI president.

SCA president Jaydev Shah told the Indian Express that he had spoken to Ganguly, who had stressed on "country first", as India would be starting an ODI series against South Africa on March 12 in Dharamsala.

"I spoke to him [Ganguly] and was told that the board can't allow Jadeja to play Ranji as country comes first," Shah said. "If BCCI wants people to watch their premier domestic cricket then no international game should be held during Ranji final, henceforth. It's my suggestion.

"Will BCCI keep an international match during IPL? No, because it gives money. Ranji Trophy can only be popularised if star players play at least in the finals. Don't keep any international cricket during finals, have a proper window."

Like Jadeja, Mohammed Shami is also expected to be a part of the India ODI squad - he suffered an external injury in the last Test in New Zealand - and will not be a part of the Bengal line-up, but Test specialists Cheteshwar Pujara (Saurashtra) and Wriddhiman Saha (Bengal) are available for selection.

"I would have loved to see him (Jadeja) play the Ranji Trophy final for us, why only Jadeja, I would have loved to see Mohammad Shami (for Bengal) also," Shah said.

Can Liverpool get back on track after losing two games in a row? Will Pep Guardiola rotate his City side heavily for the Manchester derby? Here's what we are watching out for in the Premier League this weekend.

JUMP TO: Who is Jose Mourinho kidding? | What's Pep's derby plan? | Man to watch | Game to watch | Team that needs a bit of luck | One thing that will happen | Predictions

THE WEEKEND'S BIG QUESTIONS

Will Liverpool get back on the winning horse?

This season was shaping up to be a Roman procession for Liverpool. A few weeks ago they were in with a realistic chance of not just winning the title, but doing so undefeated, and winning the Treble, and breaking Manchester City's points record. Only one of those feats is available to them now, although we should probably pause for a moment and extensively qualify that "only." Liverpool are going to win their first league title in 30 years, so while all the other stuff would have been nice, it was nothing compared to their ultimate prize.

Liverpool have now lost three games in a row in three competitions, something that hasn't happened to them since January 2017. It's not a wobble yet, and we're weeks away from their form actually being a concern, but in order to close off this season in the fine style they deserve, they could do with getting back into the winning habit as soon as possible -- starting with Bournemouth's visit to Anfield on Saturday.

Who is Jose Mourinho kidding?

We don't really know what Jose Mourinho is saying to his Tottenham players behind closed doors. Maybe it's all positive reinforcement, slaps on the back and staring deep into their eyes to call them tigers who can do anything. If it is that, it's in stark contrast to his public pronouncements, which seem entirely designed to give the impression that his Spurs players are weak and useless, unable to perform their roles as professional athletes or keep up with a mildly strenuous schedule.

Mourinho said after Spurs were knocked out of the FA Cup by Norwich on penalties this week that it simply wasn't possible for his players to compete in both their Premier League game against Burnley on Saturday and the Champions League encounter with RB Leipzig on Tuesday. If he sticks to that, then expect the kids to run out at Turf Moor, because giving up on the second leg of a European tie when you're only 1-0 down from the first game would be a sackable offence.

But that's if you accept his premise. His players probably are tired, but he's gone beyond telling us they're tired. He's also basically suggesting they're no good, not up to it, physically incapable. If nothing else, what impact will talk like that have on team morale? Who knows? Perhaps telling everyone that your players can't cope and wishing the season was already over is the reason they've now lost four straight games in three competitions.

Will Pep Guardiola pick a shadow side for the Manchester derby?

"Premier League, we cannot win," Pep Guardiola said after Manchester City's victory over Sheffield Wednesday in the cup this week. "We can win the FA Cup or Champions League. [This game] was a final. We knew that. We talked a lot about this game."

Sitting a massive 22 points behind Liverpool, the Premier League now amounts to just a series of high-profile training sessions for Guardiola. The purpose of the league is to ensure his team stays fit and sharp for the cup games, and that applies to even the Manchester derby. So after the exertions of this week, with injury problems and with that second leg against Real Madrid in the Champions League looming on the horizon, how many changes will Guardiola make for the visit of Manchester United on Sunday? Phil Foden should get a game, but which other fringe players will come in?

MAN TO WATCH

Billy Gilmour

People can get a little too giddy when it comes to young players, so after Gilmour's excellent performance against Liverpool in the FA Cup this week, it was easy for Chelsea fans to get carried away about his undoubted talent. But he might just have to repeat that this weekend, as a spate of injuries in Chelsea's midfield will almost certainly mean he has to step in against Everton, with Jorginho suspended and both N'Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic struggling with injuries. Frank Lampard has clearly not been afraid to throw kids in, even if that has broadly been by necessity rather than design this season. He could have to place his faith in another one against Everton.

THE GAME YOU'RE NOT PLANNING TO WATCH ... BUT SHOULD

Southampton v Newcastle

Football doesn't make sense, Part 2,377. Newcastle are the lowest-scoring team in the Premier League, managing just 24 goals from their 28 games thus far; Newcastle are also the FA Cup's top-scoring team, having found the net 11 times in five games. Sure, all of those goals in the latter category have come against lower-league teams, but it must still be a frustration for their fans that they can score when they like in the cup but can't hit a barn door in the league. If nothing else, their game Saturday against Southampton, a team reeling from that unexpected defeat to West Ham, should be interesting to see if Newcastle can translate that cup scoring into the Premier League.

THE TEAM THAT NEEDS A BIT OF LUCK

David Moyes' West Ham

On what do you judge West Ham's chances against Arsenal this weekend? On their recent form, which saw them beat Southampton last week for their first Premier League victory since Moyes' first game in charge? Or Moyes' historically awful record away at "big four" teams, where he has never won with any of the four Premier League clubs he has managed? They might end up needing to be a little fortunate at the Emirates, for if they get nothing from this run of tough games against the Gunners, Wolves, Chelsea and Tottenham, relegation could beckon.

ONE THING THAT WILL DEFINITELY HAPPEN

Raul Jimenez will do something good

Because he usually does. Wolves' striker has 13 goals and six assists to his name this season, meaning only Jamie Vardy and Mohamed Salah have made more direct contributions to goals than the Mexican. There's plenty to love about this Wolves team, but Jimenez is one of their primary attractions. Against a Brighton team who haven't won a game of any description in 2020, he, Diogo Jota, Adama Traore and Pedro Neto could all run riot.

PREDICTIONS

Liverpool 2-0 Bournemouth
Arsenal 3-1 West Ham United
Sheffield United 2-0 Norwich City
Southampton 1-0 Newcastle United
Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-0 Brighton & Hove Albion
Crystal Palace 1-1 Watford
Burnley 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Chelsea 2-2 Everton
Manchester United 1-3 Manchester City

Mitchell Starc is set to leave Australia's tour of South Africa early and miss the third ODI in Potchefstroom on Saturday to watch his wife Alyssa Healy play the Women's T20 World Cup final against India at the MCG on Sunday. Starc is scheduled to leave South Africa on Friday, and coach Justin Langer said that the arrangement would also give Starc a chance to "refresh" ahead of the series against New Zealand.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance for Mitch to watch Alyssa in a home World Cup final and so we were happy to allow him to return home to support his wife and be part of a fantastic occasion," Langer said. "It is something we have been talking about for a while and, given Mitch has had a considerable workload in all three formats this summer, his heading home a couple of days ahead of the rest of the squad means he will have a chance to refresh ahead of our home and away one-day internationals and Twenty20 internationals against New Zealand that will wrap up our season.

"We have plenty of fast-bowling options with us here in South Africa with Josh Hazlewood, Jhye Richardson and Kane Richardson all sitting out our previous match in Bloemfontein, and Mitch's absence will offer one of them an opportunity to impress in Saturday's match."

Starc took figures of 1 for 53 and 2 for 59 as Australia lost the first two games of their ODI series in South Africa.

As for Healy, she bounced back from a poor run of scores in the lead up to the World Cup to score 51 against India and 83 against Bangladesh, and will be one of the key cogs in the wheel for Australia in Sunday's final at the MCG.