Newcastle Falcons back Toby Flood has signed a two-year contract extension with the Championship leaders.

The 34-year-old former England international, who can play at fly-half or centre, will remain at Kingston Park until the summer of 2022.

Flood has made 129 appearances for the Falcons over the course of two spells on Tyneside.

"It's not a decision that has been taken lightly. A lot of thought has gone into how my body is," he said.

"After what happened last season with our relegation, I feel a duty to set the record straight and put a few things right with regards to us competing well again in the Premiership.

"I still feel I can make a positive contribution."

Flood won three Premiership titles with Leicester Tigers and also had a spell playing in France with Toulouse.

Newcastle have won all 13 of their Championship this season and have a 12-point lead over second-placed Ealing Trailfinders with nine games of the campaign remaining.

Adam Radwan, Gary Graham, Jamie Blamire, Alex Tait and Tom Arscott have previously signed new deals with the Falcons.

Dai Young has left Wasps after nine years as director of rugby.

It was announced last week that the 52-year-old would be "stepping back" from first-team duties, but his departure from the club has now been confirmed.

Wasps, who are 10th in the table after 10 games, were Premiership runners-up in 2017 but never won a major trophy during Young's tenure.

Young said he was "proud" of his record, but that it was "the right time for both the club and myself" to leave.

"It will be tough to leave a club and group of people that has meant so much to me over the past decade," added Young. "It has been a fantastic experience for myself and my family."

Lee Blackett, 37, has been named as interim head coach having worked under Young as attack and backs coach.

Young, a former dual code Wales international and British and Irish Lion, joined Wasps in 2011 from Cardiff Blues.

Having reached the Premiership play-offs in three successive seasons between 2016 and 2018, they have only won 13 of their past 47 matches in all competitions and have been knocked out of Europe early in each of the past two years.

The Coventry-based outfit have also lost many of their big names during that period, including England's Elliot Daly to Saracens last summer, as well as World Cup winner Willie Le Roux, Kurtley Beale, Danny Cipriani and Christian Wade.

They are just two points above 11th-placed Leicester after losing to Tigers on Saturday, but with Saracens' relegation already confirmed following their salary cap breaches in previous seasons, Wasps are spared any concerns of dropping down to the Championship.

"I'd like to place my sincere thanks on record to Dai for his hard work and support over the years," said chairman Derek Richardson.

"He has done a tremendous job and, in particular, I'd like to thank him for his advice and help when I first became involved with the club, and also his support for the move to Coventry in 2014."

Colorado Avalanche star right wing Mikko Rantanen will be out weeks with an upper-body injury, coach Jared Bednar said after Monday night's 4-3 loss to Tampa Bay.

Rantanen was tripped up and went crashing into the boards behind the Tampa Bay net in the second period. He got up clutching his left shoulder and headed straight to dressing room.

Rantanen, 23, has 19 goals and 21 assists in 40 games this season for Colorado, coming off a career-best season in which he had 31 goals and 56 assists.

He missed 16 games earlier this season with an ankle injury.

Kyle Boyd was a high school history teacher who had recently relocated to Seattle because his wife got a new job. He grew up playing hockey, and one weekend last year, decided to go skating because he missed it. He drove 45 minutes to a rink in the suburbs for an open skate. The ice was packed with about 100 people, including birthday parties for kids.

"A gentleman came up to me and said, 'Oh, you're a really good skater, are you from around here?'" Boyd recalls.

Boyd, 29, explained that he was from Minnesota.

"I know Minnesota well," the man said. "I actually helped bring the Minnesota Wild there."

Coincidentally, Boyd's father, Dr. Joel Boyd, is the team physician for the Minnesota Wild, and was the NHL's first black team doctor. Boyd kept chatting with the man, who then used a familiar Seattle refrain: "Let's get coffee."

Boyd agreed and exchanged info. "He seemed nice enough," Boyd said. "But I had no idea who it was."

Turns out, the man was Tod Leiweke -- president of the incoming Seattle NHL franchise.

Boyd and Leiweke spoke over coffee, which turned into several phone conversations. "He talked a lot about his passion for growing the game, and in particular growing the game in nontraditional hockey communities," Boyd said. "Places where hockey has not been a fabric of the community or a meaningful part of the culture, and really trying to bring to life a more diverse version of the sport."

They talked about the barriers and obstacles that hockey can present to nontraditional hockey families. And eventually, when they realized their passions aligned, Leiweke offered Boyd a job. Boyd is now NHL Seattle's youth and community development and training director. He started in August, after he finished teaching his final summer school session.

Every American city to which the NHL has expanded has seen a spike in youth hockey participation. As Seattle prepares to enter the NHL for the 2021-22 season, the franchise is planning for the same. But Seattle has also put a premium on accessibility and introducing the sport to everyone in its diverse community.

"It fits into everything this organization has tried to build so far," general manager Ron Francis said. "Forty-six percent of our staff is female, 24% of our staff is a different ethnic background. It's a very diverse and eclectic group already, and that's the same magic we want to bring into the community as we grow the game. We want to make it inclusive for everybody. If people want to play hockey in Seattle, we'll find a way to try to help them."

Seattle is already seeing an uptick in interest. After all, this is a fan base that proved it was starving for a pro franchise. "The NHL asked ownership in Seattle to get 10,000 season ticket deposits in a six-week period, and they did it in 12 minutes," Francis said. "And you end up with 25,000 in the first hour, and 32,000 in the first day, that tells me there's a lot of interest."

According to USA Hockey, there were 4,405 registered players in the state in 2017-18, including 1,744 youth players. By 2018-19, that figure had grown to 2,802 youth players. Sno King, one of the more established hockey associations, reported a spike in the "Late Start" program -- where participants older than the typical under-8 group have the opportunity to learn the sport (i.e. high school and adult age).

There are currently no high school varsity programs in Seattle, but that could change.

There has been bustling interest in Seattle -- and the area has shown tremendous support for its two junior hockey teams in the WHL -- but a barrier has been the unavailability of rinks. There are not enough sheets of ice, and it's expensive to build in the state (especially in Seattle proper).

As Boyd was exploring the landscape in Seattle, he reached out to people already involved. "They explained to me that a lot of the hockey on the weekends actually takes place in Vancouver, Canada," Boyd said. "I feel like that is a really big challenge for the families who are trying to have their kids play. The reality of that much travel really limited who could be able to enjoy the game."

Things should improve. There are currently 13 facilities and 16 sheets of ice in the area. There are five confirmed new sheets of ice coming over the next three years, and USA Hockey projects it could rise to six or seven. NHL Seattle has played a big role in that growth.

One of the new rinks is the team practice facility. It's a 180,000-square foot, $70 million project that will include three sheets of ice.

Picture hockey in the United States like its own universe.

There are some large, gaseous planets with many moons, such as Boston and the Twin Cities. There are smaller planets, with the buoyancy of new life, such as Chicago or Washington. There are dimming, dying stars, and there are new ones that glow with the intensity of ... well, the Las Vegas Strip.

It's been a long-standing theory that Toronto -- for better or worse -- is the center (centre) of the Canadian hockey universe. What's the American equivalent?

"In the whole United States? Wow," pondered Seth Jones of the Columbus Blue Jackets, the 25-year-old Texas native who has played on the U.S. men's national team three times. "Minnesota's always a big hockey location. Detroit. Probably one of those two."

The U.S. hockey universe is constantly expanding. In 1990, there were 195,125 players who were part of USA Hockey. After a record-setting 2018-19 season, that number reached 567,908 -- an increase of more than 190%. The growth includes men but is especially thanks to women: In 2018-19, the number of women and girls players cracked 80,000 nationally for the first time, according to USA Hockey.

Jones has marveled at that growth.

"It's come a long way from when I was 10 years old. I grew up playing hockey in Colorado, so it was a little bit more developed than when I moved to Dallas," he said. "They were probably 10 years ahead of Dallas. But now I go and there are so many rinks in Dallas. The organizations are doing such a great job developing kids and giving them a chance to be on the ice constantly. There are tournaments every other weekend for them."

There are factors that have helped that growth. Representation, for example. Players like Jones, Auston Matthews (Arizona) and Jack Hughes (Florida) have shown there are paths from non-traditional hockey markets to reaching the NHL.

"When kids can say, 'Hey, that guy made it from this area,' it really encourages kids to say, 'I can make it from here if they did,'" Vegas forward Max Pacioretty said.

Then there's the trickle-down effect from the NHL to the local levels. "Every American market that wins the Stanley Cup gets a bump. St. Louis is up 30% in eight-and-under players after the Blues won the Cup," said Pat Kelleher, executive director of USA Hockey.

Of course, the opposite can happen for those who don't win ...

There are hockey hotbeds, markets that are slightly cooler and regions that generate the most gravity in the U.S. hockey universe. This is a tiered look at some of them.

Note: The numbers provided here were collected from USA Hockey and the NHL, unless otherwise specified. Keep in mind that for older youth players, those who compete in high school hockey are not counted toward the local totals.

Hotbeds heating up

5. Seattle

What, already? The Seattle (maybe Kraken?) don't arrive in the NHL until the 2021-22 season, but the market is already showing growth. There's the long-standing major junior Seattle Thunderbirds in the market. In 2018-19, its 2,802 youth players ranked the market ahead of at least four current NHL markets. But it's the landscape that has many anticipating a hockey boom. There are 16 sheets of ice in the area now, but more on are on the way as Seattle builds up the hockey groundwork following the NHL's arrival. That includes a 180,000-square foot, $70 million practice facility that will include three sheets of ice.

"Seattle's just going to blow up," Kelleher said. "There's already a lot of infrastructure there as far as rinks. But the new Seattle team is building even more. I think there are at least seven sheets of ice under construction in the Seattle market right now."

4. Nashville

The story starts with the Predators, who are averaging 17,416 fans per game and have seen that attendance increase over a three-season span. Their success on the ice and at the gate has led to an increase of 36.6% in total participation from 2014-19. There are some points of concern: While players ages 15-18 increased for six straight years, the 8-and-under player pool declined in 2018-19. But with the highly anticipated (and highly over budget) Ford Ice Center having finally opened in October 2019, expect all of these numbers to take a jump.

"Nashville is growing because it's adding more facilities," Kelleher said. "That's it. It's about access."

3. Washington

This is more along the lines of "remaining hot" rather than heating up, because the D.C. area has seen a boom in hockey participation for the last decade. The Capitals are arguably the region's most popular professional franchise, averaging more than 18,500 fans per game. Ever since the team opened MedStar Capitals Iceplex in 2006, giving the region some much-needed local ice, there's been a surge in community participation. From 2014 to '19, the Capitals saw an 18.5% increase in local participation, to 22,144. Boys and girls youth hockey has grown steadily over that span, and adult participation increased by 8.7% in 2018-19.

A true success story for how excitement on the NHL level, and investment in the local levels, can transform a hockey market.

2. Anaheim

The Anaheim Ducks' $108 million, 280,000-square foot practice facility that opened in Irvine, California, in January 2019 is going to strap a rocket to the back of a market that has already shown solid growth. From 2014-19, total participation grew by 27.4%. From 2016-19 alone, youth hockey participation was up 18%. It's a hockey-soaked area, with the Los Angeles Kings and their AHL affiliate the Ontario Reign within a reasonable distance.

This market would have ranked higher were it not for the downward attendance trend for the Ducks (down 5% over three seasons) and the lack of any Division I programs nearby. But on a local level, it's a market on the rise.

1. Las Vegas

Vegas Golden Knights winger Pacioretty sees it whenever he takes his children to play hockey. The boom for Vegas isn't just in the stands at home games -- where the Knights are averaging 18,290 fans per game, playing to a 105.3% capacity -- but at the local participatory level, too. "It's just picked up huge," said Pacioretty. "I see a lot of good kids that are coming up when I go to the rink with my kids."

In the past five years, total participation is up 86.4% in Vegas. From 2016-19, youth hockey participation increased by 60%, and the 8-and-under participation grew by 125% from 2017-19. While the overall numbers remain small in comparison to other NHL markets -- there were 2,255 total players, coaches and officials in 2018-19 -- there's no denying the growth in one of the league's most non-traditional markets. The Golden Knights gave the city a state-of-the-art practice facility in Summerlin back in 2017; two more sheets are on the way at Lifeguard Arena in Henderson, Nevada, a Golden Knights-funded facility that'll open this summer for its new AHL team.

"Vegas is one of these hotbeds that's going to happen," said Pacioretty. One can argue it already is happening.

Hotbeds cooling down

5. Boston

Few NHL teams can rival the local popularity of the Bruins, whose attendance has risen over the past three seasons. With the Red Sox trading away franchise players and Tom Brady staring at the sunset of this career, that might only increase. That said, local participation levels are decreasing. Total participation was down 2.8% from 2014-19, and boys' youth hockey alone was down 1.5% in 2018-19. (Girls hockey, however, was up 4.6%).

As we'll cover in a bit, the margins in the Boston area can easily withstand this kind of "decline," but the numbers are what they are.

4. Philadelphia

Despite the presence of Gritty and a room where fans can smash a television with a hockey stick, the Flyers' average attendance has declined 7.3% over three seasons. The city's local participation numbers are down as well over a three-year span (minus-183 participants), making Philadelphia one of only five NHL markets to see a decline. A good portion of that decline is in the region's youth hockey, as the 8-and-under players declined by 5.0% and the 9-14 players declined by 2.4%.

None of the state's Division I college programs are nearby, and the closest minor league team is the Flyers' AHL affiliate in Allentown, Pennsylvania, about 60 miles away.

3. Chicago

The Chicago market's turnaround is one of the biggest hockey stories of the past 20 years. In 2006-07, the Blackhawks were filling their arena to a 62% capacity. Today, they're still averaging more than 21,000 fans per game even though they've missed the playoffs for two straight seasons and haven't been out of the first round since 2015.

But we're starting to see some erosion on the local levels. Total participation was down 2.6% from 2016-19, including a whopping 11.6% decline in adult male players from 2017-19. (Women players were up 3.8%). Meanwhile, 8-and-under participation in 2018-19 was down 19.8%.

2. Detroit

Much of it is due to the economics of the region, and the fact that hockey remains an expensive sport to play. A lot of it can be attributed to the worst seven-year span for the Detroit Red Wings since the early 1980s -- they'll miss the playoffs for the fourth season in a row, and potentially do so with the fewest points in the standings in the salary cap era. Red Wings attendance is down 3.5% since 2017.

The market has suffered a 4.2% decline in total community participation from 2014-19, and that has escalated to a 4.5% decline from 2016-19. The 9-14 age group shrank by 4.3% in 2018-19.

1. Buffalo

Detroit had a steeper decline, but it also had a higher starting point locally than Buffalo. From 2014 to '19, Buffalo saw its total participation numbers drop to 15,064, a decline of 3.3%. Boys' youth hockey totals declined four out of five years in that span, although girls' youth hockey was up 4.5% in 2018-19. The 9-14 age range saw a decline of 6.7% in 2018-19. Adult players saw a decline in four of five years, dropping 2.9% in 2018-19 alone.

Buffalo isn't lacking for facilities, with about 29 available sheets of ice. It also has Canisius and Niagara's Division I teams. But it's on the NHL level where the market is hurting, with nearly a 5% decline in attendance from 2017-18 to 2019-20, and increasing fan apathy over what is likely to be a ninth straight season outside the playoffs.

Centers of the U.S. hockey universe

5. Chicago

In the great Chicago vs. Detroit hockey debate, the Windy City has some advantages over its Michigan neighbor.

Local participation numbers are at 29,580 for 2018-19, representing a 1.2% increase over a five-year span. But the declines in youth hockey (4.9%) and adult hockey (10.2%, all of it among men's league players) in 2018-19, leading to a 5.4% decline in total participation, is dispiriting. That said, there are 85 sheets of ice in the USA Hockey-defined Chicago market. High school hockey is thriving, with the United Center hosting the state finals on an annual basis.

The Blackhawks continue to average 21,415 per home game, despite a lack of success on the ice. The market also has the AHL Chicago Wolves and the USHL Chicago Steel.

While the area lacks Division I programs, there are 118 men's and women's players from Illinois playing Division I hockey this season. That's a lot of kids who grew up during Generation Kane and Toews.

"Chicago's done a really good job, especially on the youth hockey front," Kelleher said.

4. New York City

Admittedly, this choice is a complicated one. There are three NHL teams that claim their own territories in the New York area, with the Rangers in Manhattan, the Islanders on Long Island and the Devils just a tunnel's drive away in Newark, New Jersey. USA Hockey declares a "market" to have a 50-mile radius from where the team plays, which means the Rangers gobble up participatory numbers from both of their rivals' areas and dip into Connecticut, too. Taken as that whole, a total participation number of 40,317 doesn't seem like much when viewed as a percentage of the metropolitan area's total population. And when a good chunk of those numbers come from Northern New Jersey -- which, while Rangers territory, doesn't love being treated as a New York City suburb -- the market's a tough one to define.

That said ... 40,317 people participating in youth and adult hockey is nothing to sneeze at, especially when you get into the trends. From 2014-19, total participation has grown by 13.8%, with youth hockey for boys and girls growing at a 15% clip during that time. It was up 5.1% alone in 2018-19, thanks to an 8.5% increase for girls' hockey players and a 12.1% increase for 8-and-under players overall.

In a 50-mile radius from Madison Square Garden, there are no less than 95 sheets of available ice. That includes 42 sheets in northern and central New Jersey, where 17,642 of the New York City total resides.

While it lacks Division I college programs -- West Point is the lone men's program, Long Island University the lone women's one -- there are scores of public and private high school programs in this region. Plus, it has something no other area can boast: Four professional teams in the Rangers, Islanders, Devils and the Metropolitan Riveters of the National Women's Hockey League.

3. Detroit

Even as the NHL team struggles in the market, there's no denying the deep-seeded passion for the sport in his hockey hotbed. Total participation numbers for the sport are 23,237, placing it sixth among NHL markets. But keep in mind the youth hockey numbers might not account for the thriving high school hockey scene in the metro area, which includes powerhouses like Detroit Country Day and Detroit Catholic Central.

It's impossible to divorce the passion in the Detroit market from the hockey culture in the entirety of Michigan, especially when the University of Michigan and Michigan State put on an annual display at the "Duel in the D." There are seven men's Division I programs in the state. Michigan also has the third-most men's and women's current Division I NCAA players combined (190). Plus, USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth is less than 30 miles away, and there are 63 sheets of ice in the market.

It's going to take the Red Wings a few playoff years to restore the luster to "Hockeytown, USA." But in many ways, Detroit can still put a claim on the moniker.

"Detroit has always been really, really strong. Their numbers are good. But they've had some statewide economic numbers that have been an influence," Kelleher said.

2. Boston

We're talking Boston specifically here, but we all know we're essentially talking about the majority of Massachusetts. The Boston region defined by USA Hockey has 178 sheets of ice and had 55,981 total community participants as of 2018-19. A region that has eight Division 1 men's programs -- Bentley, Boston College, Boston University, Harvard, Holy Cross, Merrimack, Northeastern, UMass-Lowell -- within that market, with six of them having Division I women's teams. A state that's produced 205 current Division I men's and women's players. A city where the high school and college hockey championship games have more hype locally than what many NHL teams receive in their own markets.

While there has been some erosion at the youth level, the 2018-19 season saw an increase of 2.9% among 8-and-under players, and a whopping 7.6% increase for adult players, including a 4.0% increase for women's players after two years of decline.

The hockey community in Boston was always thriving, but the trickle down from the big club in town certainly helps. It's still incredible to think about where the Bruins were 15 years ago, struggling to sell out home games, and where they are today, which is one of the NHL's most popular teams by any metric.

Boston is a hockey hotbed. But it's not the center of the hockey universe in the U.S.

1. Minneapolis-St. Paul

A.J. Mleczko Griswold was born in Nantucket, played at Harvard and proudly flaunts her Massachusetts hockey creds as a U.S. national team gold medalist and NBC broadcaster. But she had a concession to make.

"This is a tough question, because I'm from Massachusetts, but I might have to give it to the State of Hockey," she told ESPN. "On our '98 team, we had five players from Massachusetts and only three from Minnesota. Look at the roster from 2018."

The gold medal winners from the PyeongChang Games had seven Minnesotan players and three from Massachusetts. Five of them were from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

Is this the center of the U.S. hockey universe?

"That's a loaded question for me, because I'm a native Bostonian, so this is going to get me in trouble. But it's hard not to say Minnesota," said Kelleher, echoing Mleczko Griswold. "You have the Wild. You have all the college programs, men's and women's. You have girls high school hockey that's just huge there. It's tremendous."

From 2014-19, Minneapolis saw a 4.5% increase in community participation, to 53,989 total participants. That included a 9.6% increase in girls' hockey players during that span, up to 9,227 in 2018-19. There were 36,620 youth hockey players (ages 4-18) accounted for by USA Hockey in 2018-19, but that didn't include the massive number of boys and girls playing public and private high school hockey in the market -- statewide, an estimated 6,500 players play on prep teams. (And, as we've seen, many of them have resplendent hair.) According to USA Hockey's count, there are 163 sheets of ice in the Minneapolis area.

"The community-based model for youth hockey just does so much. When I grew up in the Boston area, it was more community based. We still have some great community-based programs that do it, but it's a little different," Kelleher said. "In Minnesota, it's community based. It builds towards high school hockey. They all go to the same school together. Their parents all shop for groceries at the same place. They all play from ages 5 to 7 up through high school, and that's the most unique place in the country for that. They have a rink in every community. It's different than that in different parts of the country."

The Wild have infamously taken a step back in popularity in the last several years, including the end of a years-long sellout streak. From last season to this season, the Wild have seen an 8.0% decrease at the gate. They aren't the only show in town, of course: The Minnesota Whitecaps of the NHWL are the other pro team in the market, and the University of Minnesota's men's and women's programs are among the most popular in the nation.

While there are other contenders for the throne, it's hard to argue against the Twin Cities as the center of the hockey universe.

"Minnesota is the heartbeat," said Kelleher.

But can we get even more specific?

Is there a center of the center of the hockey universe?

Consider this: USA Hockey says that the Twin Cities market pulled 10,922 of its total participants in 2018-19 from a region that includes Bloomington (estimated population 85,934), Eden Prairie (64,952) and a little, rather wealthy place ($99,295 median household income, per the U.S. Census Bureau) called Edina (54,791).

No one has captured more Minnesota Tier 1 boys' state hockey championships than Edina, with 13. They also lost three times in the title game, and finished third three times. Edina has also won the Class AA girls' hockey title for three straight seasons. Among the notable Edina High School alumni: Anders Lee and Kieffer Bellows of the New York Islanders; former Montreal Canadiens player Bill Nyrop; former NHL player Paul Ranheim; and former NHL executive Brian Burke.

"In the Twin Cities, it might be Edina," said Tom Chorske, a Minneapolis-born former NHL player who's now an analyst for Fox Sports North. "They win a lot at youth level and produce a lot of college players. A lot of Wild players live in Edina and their little kids are playing there."

So there you have it: Edina, Minnesota. The center of the center of the hockey universe in the United States.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has accused Premier League schedulers of failing to give Manchester United enough time to prepare for European matches.

United face Club Brugge in the Europa League on Thursday, just three days after facing Chelsea on Monday night.

Solskjaer's team won 2-0 at Stamford Bridge but afterwards he questioned why the fixture could not have been played earlier to give his players more recovery time ahead of their European tie in Belgium.

"We have got a game on Thursday, so thanks for the help in recovery we get in Europe," Solskjaer said.

"I saw Jose [Mourinho] say something about that as well. We don't really get too much help to prepare for Europe."

In contrast Club Brugge, top of the Belgian league, played their weekend fixture on Saturday and will have two days more to prepare for United's visit.

"For me, how we didn't play [Chelsea] on Friday, Saturday or at least Sunday is beyond me," Solskjaer said.

"I don't like to complain, you know that, and we have just got to get on with it and do as well as we can."

Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho has said he expects forward Son Heung-Min to miss the rest of the campaign, with the South Korea international set to have surgery after suffering a fractured arm, the club have announced.

The news will come as a huge blow to Spurs who are already without fellow forward Harry Kane until April, due a hamstring injury.

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And, while Tottenham initially stated they expected Son to be out for "number of weeks," Mourinho said he was far less optimistic.

"I'm not going to count on him again this season," he told a news conference ahead of their Champions League round-of-16 first-leg clash with RB Leipzig.

"If he plays two or three games then it's because he [Tottenham's press officer] is very optimistic, but I'm not counting on him."

Mourinho also said Son's absence is likely to mean a change in system.

"The situation couldn't be worse in terms of options," the former Chelsea and Manchester United boss added. "It's a very, very obvious situation.

"There is nothing that you can do. We are going to play with the players that we have available. The players are going to give everything, which is what they are doing. In some periods I was worried about not having attacking options on the bench, now it's not having attacking options on the pitch."

Son reportedly suffered the injury early on in the 3-2 win over Villa, in which he scored two goals -- including a last-gasp winner.

Tottenham are still fighting on three fronts as they host Leipzig on Wednesday, before welcoming Norwich on March 4 in the FA Cup fifth round.

In the Premier League, they sit fifth -- one point behind fourth-place Chelsea -- with games against the Stamford Bridge side as well as other rivals for Champions League qualification in Wolves and United to come in the next few weeks.

One of the most impressive things about Erling Haaland's spectacular start to life at Borussia Dortmund doesn't even involve a goal that he scored; it came after one that he didn't.

With his new team 3-1 down to Werder Bremen in the DFB-Pokal, Haaland drifted away from his marker at the far post and stretched to reach a beautifully lofted cross. He knew that in order to steer his header beyond Bremen goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka, he had to fall at the same speed and angle as the arriving ball. Ultimately, he got his calculation slightly wrong; his header was on target but too close to the keeper, who gratefully palmed it away for a corner.

Most striking is what happened next. Haaland hammered the turf in frustration, furious at himself. It was the behaviour of a forward who hadn't found the net in 30 matches, not one who had scored his first eight goals for Dortmund at the rate of one every 22 minutes. Haaland has the desperation of all truly elite strikers, which manifests almost as a form of physical thirst. No amount of goals is ever enough; their throats are permanently parched.

Of course, acquiring a striker with such an appetite is great for Dortmund. After all, they don't have a problem scoring goals -- they have scored five goals in three consecutive Bundesliga matches for the first time in their history -- but they have a problem scoring the right kind of goals. They need to be decisive in games when they are underperforming. There are few teams more irresistible in Europe than Dortmund when they are at their best, and that is sometimes their weakness; it is as if, seduced by the knowledge of how good they can be, they try to play outstanding football at all times when in truth, pragmatism will often do the trick.

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Haaland is a pragmatist. That isn't to say he lacks elegance or craft; it's just that his eyes are fixed firmly on the bottom of football's balance sheet. Accumulation is everything. Just look at the way -- again against Bremen -- he thrashed Julian Brandt's goal-bound strike into the net just before it crossed the line. He did that to make sure Dortmund pulled one back after going 2-0 down; he also did it because he wanted it. That thirst, again, and Haaland is still only 19.

NBA Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen was recently musing about the future of another sporting prodigy: Luka Doncic. The 20-year-old Slovenian is currently thrilling the NBA with the Dallas Mavericks and is already regarded as one of the best players in the game. He will get even better, Pippen remarked, when he starts being selfish, when he starts imposing his will on games. Haaland is already selfish -- in the best way. He doesn't just take responsibility. He seizes it.

Jonathan Harding, the football journalist and author, has rightly warned of the dangers of relying on a player so young. At the same time, it is hard to escape the thought that Dortmund's attack has finally found the consistent focus it has lacked since the sale of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Arsenal. Paco Alcacer, the Spain international, was prolific in Germany, but his departure for Villarreal, where he excelled in his first game, was understandable. The Dortmund forward line, with so many gifted players who can float along it, needs a fixed point, and for all his considerable gifts, Alcacer does not offer the same physical presence as Haaland. Indeed, few do.

Perhaps, too, Haaland has something else. When he strode forward to score the last of his three goals on his thrilling debut for Dortmund, a 5-3 comeback win against Augsburg, he did so with something possessed by all great strikers: a sense of inevitability. It's a certain type of body language: The shoulders are proudly out, the head still, the eyes fixed fiercely upon the target. Dortmund saw it every now and then in Alcacer and more consistently in Aubameyang, who scored 141 times in 213 appearances for the Black and Yellows. Yet the former Dortmund forward of whom Haaland is most reminiscent -- and excitingly so -- is the man who is currently leading Bayern Munich's title challenge: one Robert Lewandowski.

The immediate comparisons are obvious: Both of them are tall, strong, devastating finishers, with both the movement and the technique of wingers. The other thing they have in common is that they seem to represent an endangered species. Looking around the elite teams in world football, it sometimes appears that traditional centre-forwards are emerging despite current coaching methods, which seem to emphasise the development of wide players who can finish.

That appearance might be unfair; it is simply that the role of the centre-forward has been and always will be very hard to play, especially given the playmaking and defensive responsibilities that the role demands. Just look, for example, at how Manchester City's Sergio Aguero had to adapt his game to remain in the favour of Pep Guardiola. It is to the credit of Haaland and Lewandowski, then, that both of them are making it look as if it isn't that difficult. The Norwegian has 36 goals in 26 appearances this season, and the Pole has a mere 35 in 29.

At present, the only things that seem likely to stop either of them in the Bundesliga are injury or transfer abroad. While Haaland has only just arrived in the country, Dortmund will be conscious of the threat of a huge bid from Spain, where Real Madrid and Barcelona -- the latter in sore need of a player such as Haaland -- inevitably lie in wait. For now, though, the German club can enjoy a striker who looks set to galvanise their championship ambitions -- not just this season but for several to come.

Fit-again Trent Boult is "very excited" at the prospect of bowling to Virat Kohli in the two-Test series starting Friday, and has already set the India captain's wicket as his prime target as New Zealand look to bounce back after a 3-0 series defeat in Australia late last year.

Boult is back after suffering a broken hand during the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, and is set to be reunited with Tim Southee and Neil Wagner to spearhead the pace attack in the Tests in Wellington and Christchurch.

"I'm very excited to bowl to Virat again," Boult said. "He's an exceptional player. Everyone knows how great he is. That is personally why I play the game, to get guys like that out and test myself against them, so I can't wait to get stuck in."

"I suppose breaking a hand, you don't really know how much you use it until it's broken. Everything has gone well but catching would be the biggest issue for me at the moment" Trent Boult

Boult had missed the first Test of the Australia series in Perth because of a side injury but had recovered in time to play in Melbourne. But he fractured his hand while batting at the MCG and was ruled out of the rest of the tour as well as the limited-overs leg of India's tour.

"I suppose breaking a hand, you don't really know how much you use it until it's broken," he said. "Everything has gone well but catching would be the biggest issue for me at the moment. I'm 100% fit and hungry.

"It's been nice just to be able to bowl. I had some time away from the game and having my second son a couple of weeks ago, it actually came at quite a good time, but I'm hungry to be here and can't wait to get back in the whites and get the red ball moving around."

While fast bowlers, especially with the new ball, will be key at Basin Reserve, of late the surface has tended to dry out quickly and tilt in favour of the batsmen. And considering they are facing the No. 1 Test side, Boult is expecting an even contest despite New Zealand's home advantage.

"I'm preparing for a solid wicket. It generally is very good here and goes the full distance (five days)," Boult said. "I do enjoy playing here, the history that's involved, and it's going to be an exciting week building up. I can't wait to get out there.

"They [India] are a great side and they are leading the ICC Test Championship. They are very clear on how they wanted to play the game. It was a tough learning curve in Australia but it's going to be good place to see where we are in terms of bouncing back from the defeat in Australia."