Arsenal fans have had a pretty dismal season so far, with the club languishing in mid-table as manager Unai Emery was sacked and supporters fell out with stars like Mesut Ozil and Granit Xhaka. But is it all their own fault?

ESPN and the team led by Dr. Thomas Curran, at the London School of Economics, compile the Luck Index to examine how the Premier League would be if luck were not a factor through this season. And the ESPN Luck Index suggests it could be a very different look for the Gunners if events hadn't turned against them.

Indeed, luck has cost Arsenal NINE points this season! That sends them shooting up from 10th in the table to fifth, only outside the Champions League places by a goal difference of +1 to Chelsea.

The officials were sleeping when Watford's Tom Cleverley encroached on a short goal-kick, which forced the defence into an error and led to a goal. The Luck Index says that draw should have been an Arsenal win.

What if Arsenal had been given a penalty for a foul on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at Sheffield United with the score at 0-0? That turned a 1-0 defeat into an Arsenal victory. And they were robbed of a winner at home to Crystal Palace by a horrendous VAR decision, which ruled out Sokratis' late goal.

Most recently, if Chelsea's Jorginho had been sent off for a second yellow-card offence when Arsenal were in front then the Gunners would have gone on to win the game to give new boss Mikel Arteta some festive cheer on his home debut.

Arteta will certainly hope the club's luck evens itself out over the course of the season.

The only team that comes close in terms of bad luck are Watford, who are catapulted up the table 10 places from 19th to NINTH, with relegation fears a thing of the past.

The Hornets claim seven points, including a win at home to Crystal Palace after Troy Deeney was denied a penalty having been dragged down by Gary Cahill, and they also get a win at Southampton after VAR missed a handball in the build-up to Danny Ings' equaliser.

Manchester United are given three additional points, but drop a place to fifth as Arsenal overtake them. Wolves also gain three points but are unchanged in seventh due to the Gunners' surge, while Tottenham drop a point and slide two places.

Spare a thought for Bournemouth, who may sit in the relegation zone now but would be four places and three points better off without bad luck.

How about the top of the table? The Champions League places remain unaltered, although Liverpool drop two points due to Sadio Mane's fortunate penalty award in the last minute at home to Leicester. In third, Manchester City also drop two points and Chelsea stay on 36 points.

The luckiest team are Brighton & Hove Albion -- who are docked a mammoth seven points to send them tumbling from 14th to 19th and four points from safety. Perhaps the most high-profile decision to go in their favour came against Everton, where they were losing before a terrible VAR decision gave them a penalty and the game was turned on its head for a 3-2 win.

Crystal Palace are six points and six places worse off, sending them tumbling into 15th with just a two-point buffer to the relegation zone, while Sheffield United have also enjoyed their share of the luck, worth four points and two places.

How will luck affect the table at the end of the season? Will it save a team like Brighton from the drop into the Championship? Watch this space.

Glenn Maxwell picked a typically opportune time to rattle the Melbourne Stars to a Big Bash League victory at the MCG, leaving his erstwhile Melbourne Renegades rival and now the Australia ODI captain Aaron Finch to explain why the allrounder wasn't joining him on the plane to India.

After a World Cup campaign that fell short of expectations, and a battle with mental-health issues that forced an extended break from the game in the first half of the season, Maxwell is a T20 concern only for the time being, meaning he is with the Stars for the duration of the BBL and will next play for Australia in their next bracket of T20Is ahead of the World Cup on home soil later this year.

However, the fact that the next 50-overs World Cup is to be held in India in 2023, a part of the world that Maxwell knows intimately through his many IPL and international campaigns, means that Finch, the national coach Justin Langer and his senior assistant Andrew McDonald will be looking again in the 31-year-old's direction before the time comes to name the Cup squad.

"People look at [that innings] and they see the results and see all the sixes and all the big hitting, but the way he approached it last night was very clinical," Finch said of Maxwell. "The way that he gave himself a bit of a chance early and then dominated late. Once he's in, you can't bowl to him anywhere. He's got an answer to everything.

"It's never closed, but when you're picking a side there has to be a spot there. It just comes down to being in the right place at the right time and having the right match-up. You can only pick so many top-three batters. Guys that have been a part of the squad, Shaun Marsh for example, was disappointed as well after playing some great cricket for the last couple of years, but anyone who misses out is disappointed."

For the time being, the selectors have chosen to take a closer look instead at this summer's breakout Test batsman Marnus Labuschagne, who with his energy, part-time spin bowling and strong footwork against spin looks a useful addition to the white-ball squad, if not quite so explosive as Maxwell can be. Finch said Labuschagne's burgeoning friendship with Steven Smith should ensure that by the time the team sets up for the first ODI against India he will be well and truly across the team's plans.

"We know that he's not going to be overawed by the occasion," Finch said. "He's come back into Test cricket after missing out at the start of the Ashes and he's been unbelievable, so hopefully he can continue that. The form that he showed in the one-day games was outstanding domestically.

"He's averaging up around 40 there batting at three, batting at four for Queensland on what's been traditionally a little bit tougher batting conditions over the last couple of years in domestic cricket. Playing on some slower wickets that spin quite a bit, to be able to come in and do that role really well for Queensland is obviously what's got him a place in the side, as well as his current form. I don't see why it wouldn't translate."

Australia's tour of India for three ODIs in the middle of January will see the BBL take centre-stage, while the players and broadcasters alike get used to being elsewhere during what is usually peak cricket time in the school holidays. Fox Sports has already made its displeasure known at the scheduling of a BBL match directly opposite one of Australia's matches in India, and for Finch the scenario is not one he has previously contemplated.

"It's something we didn't expect to come up even a few months ago," he said. "But obviously there was a few games' shortfall with India in the last couple of years, so it doesn't make a difference to us to be honest, if you're playing one-day cricket anywhere it's exciting. Would've been nice to play a few more internationals at home during this period but it's just not possible."

Instead, Smith, David Warner, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood will be turning out in India, and Finch said that for the bowlers there will be the opportunity to reconnect with white-ball cricket after five Tests, while the batsmen need to make the most of their starts in conditions that ease markedly once the first 20 or so balls have been negotiated.

"It's a place where once you get in - it can be a really tough place to start your innings, the ball can swing early, can spin early. So once you get in it can be a beautiful place to bat, the outfields are obviously rapid, so you make the most of that. Any top-order player, once you get to 20 or 30, you really want to go on and cash in. That'll be the task for our top four.

"[The pace bowlers] were all keen to get on this tour and play as much as they could and keep developing their skills. Especially someone like Josh, who's been out of the side for quite a while now through injury and workload management at different times. I think the fact they're all so keen to get over there and do well is really exciting."

If the San Jose Sharks are going to turn their season around, it won't involve captain Logan Couture for several weeks.

Couture is expected to miss up to six weeks with a fractured ankle that he suffered Tuesday night in the Sharks' 3-2 loss at the St. Louis Blues, TSN reported. Couture was in a walking boot after the game. He awkwardly slammed his left leg into the end boards in the second period.

The 30-year-old center has 14 goals and 22 assists for 36 points to lead the Sharks. Couture was named to the NHL All-Star Game last week.

Sharks interim coach Bob Boughner hoped after the game that Couture's injury would be short term.

"It's big-time concerning. Even if it's a couple games or a couple weeks ... he's a captain, he's a leader, a catalyst for our offense," Boughner said. "If he's missing out of our lineup, that's a big loss. I think that other guys are going to have to step up in his absence, for sure."

Couture has been one of the few highlights for the Sharks during a frustrating campaign. San Jose has a record of 19-22-4. The Sharks' 42 points put them nine out of the final wild-card spot.

"It's always tough when you see a teammate get hurt, but hopefully he comes back soon. Because we need him," San Jose forward Tomas Hertl said.

EAGAN, Minn. -- Kyle Rudolph thought he was donating the gloves he wore while catching the winning touchdown in overtime to lift the Minnesota Vikings past the New Orleans Saints to a charitable cause. It turns out the tight end was duped by someone who went directly to eBay to sell his game-worn memorabilia for profit.

Rudolph expressed frustration Wednesday with a situation that played out postgame Sunday inside the visitors locker room at the Superdome.

I saw this.. it's disappointing. A member of the media in the locker room after the game asked if he could have my gloves for a charity benefit, so I said of course and I will even sign them for you! Well he got me, sold on eBay 3 days later.. https://t.co/JCTO0OWM5n

— Kyle Rudolph (@KyleRudolph82) January 8, 2020

"And to clarify it was not anyone I knew.. so wasn't a local reporter I see daily or national reporter," a follow-up tweet read. "Locker room was a zoo, he asked for them, I said of course and even offered to sign them..."

Fortunately, there's a happy ending to this story.

Jason King, a lifelong Vikings fan from Woodbury Heights, New Jersey, purchased Rudolph's gloves around 3 p.m. ET on Wednesday after he saw them being sold on eBay. King is a member of a "Minnesota Vikings Game Used/Issued Memorabilia Group" on Facebook and an avid collector of sports memorabilia. The 34-year-old verified the gloves' authenticity by matching a thread hanging from the left middle finger to a photo taken by Getty Images of Rudolph spiking the ball after his touchdown.

King messaged the account to get more information about the gloves and was told the seller received them "directly" from Rudolph. Nowhere in their message exchange, or the product's post, does the seller detail anything about the proceeds from the gloves being donated to charity.

Rudolph's gloves, which were listed on Wednesday, had a starting bid of $280 and a "buy it now" price of $375, which is the amount King paid.

Shortly after making his purchase, King began to see news of the scam circulating on Twitter. Upon seeing Rudolph's post, King tweeted the tight end that he was the buyer of the gloves and would gladly donate them to charity.

Rudolph responded, directing King to the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital, where he and his wife, Jordan, have done extensive charitable work throughout his nine-year career with the Vikings. Rudolph then said he would send King the gloves he plans to wear during the Vikings' NFC divisional playoff matchup against the San Francisco 49ers.

King has yet to receive confirmation from the seller that the gloves are on the way to his home in New Jersey.

"If I end up receiving the gloves, I would like them to be displayed at the children's hospital in honor of Kyle," King told ESPN. "I have four kids myself, and I really appreciate the work he does off the field."

If he does not receive his purchase, King said he plans to donate the money he spent on the gloves toward Kyle Rudolph's End Zone, a 2,500-square-foot space designed to help children and teenagers find a place to play, relax, engage in healing therapies and socialize at Masonic Children's Hospital. He tweeted to encourage others to donate as well.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- After North Carolina dropped an ugly game to Georgia Tech on Saturday, coach Roy Williams said this was "the least gifted" team he has had. If the Tar Heels were going to use the comments for motivation, it didn't last Wednesday. They blew a 14-point lead, dropped their second straight and seventh in the past 10, and fell to Pitt for the first time ever at home, 73-65. It was Pitt's first ACC road victory in more than two years.

"People will say what they say about us," senior Brandon Robinson said. "But we're going to come out and compete. It's not like we don't care and we're giving up. We're going to try to make a change."

Still, Williams didn't back down from his comments and suggested that, indeed, UNC played with little energy in the second half as a large lead slipped away amid cascading turnovers and a suddenly electric Panthers offense.

Williams said his assessment of the Tar Heels' talent was "the truth" and suggested the media was sensationalizing an honest evaluation.

"I just made a statement. If you disagree, that's your prerogative, but I think if you look at it, you'd probably agree," Williams said. "To me, that's the most ridiculous thing to get attention. It's like me wearing lucky socks or something. You've got to play the damn game."

Inside the locker room, players said they didn't exactly disagree with Williams' take, either.

"When I saw it, I felt like it was kind of true, honestly," freshman Armando Bacot said. "I don't think Coach means no harm by it. He still believes in us. But he's just keeping it real."

Bacot, UNC's lone McDonald's All American with Cole Anthony still recovering from knee surgery, was 6-of-11 for 15 points and nine boards, a nice step up after some recent struggles in which he said he was "fighting the voice in my head."

"We're struggling right now, and we're not talented enough for me to do that," Bacot said. "I knew that wasn't me, and I had to turn it around."

But even the strong performances left Williams frustrated. Garrison Brooks finished with a team-high 21 points, but a late turnover was at the forefront of Williams' mind. Williams said the team practiced well in recent days, but the performance Wednesday was, at times, lethargic. He said the team even added two new offensive schemes this week, to no avail.

"Could you tell it?" Williams asked rhetorically. "I couldn't. We played just as dang bad as we did before."

Robinson said the team remains confident and is still focused on making -- and winning -- the NCAA tournament. At this point, however, UNC is just 8-7, and Williams' assessment of the talent on the floor looks like a stinging projection of those tourney hopes.

"He's been around a lot of great teams, and that's his opinion," Robinson said. "I don't want that to be our narrative."

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Miami Heat were testy ahead of their game against Indiana after coach Eric Spoelstra categorized his team as “mediocre” on the road.

An altercation in the third quarter elevated the Heat's game that much more.

In the midst of the Heat outscoring the Pacers 38-23 in the third quarter on the way to a 122-108 rout, Jimmy Butler exchanged bumps, words and gestures with Indiana's T.J. Warren, who was ejected.

Afterward, Warren said nothing. Butler didn’t hesitate to speak his mind.

“I mean, to me, I think it’s tough for him because I can guard him and he can’t guard me,” Butler said. “At the end of the day, that’s what it comes down to. I think you’ve just got to watch your mouth in certain situations. There’s some (crap) you just don’t say as a man. He’s got to see me the next time because I feel like what he said was truly disrespectful.”

The Heat had little trouble in handling the Pacers.

Butler scored 14 points and was one of seven Miami players in double figures. Another was Bam Adebayo, who had 18 in three quarters and said the road effort had something to do with Spoelstra’s “mediocre” comment. The Heat improved to 10-9 in road games.

“It was a real big emphasis because coach called us ‘mediocre’ on the road,” Adebayo said. “We didn’t appreciate that. We tried to prove him wrong.”

The Heat built a 28-point lead by the end of the third quarter and rested the starters.

“It wasn’t about me or my message, it was about this team taking ownership of what we’ve done so far on the road,” Spoelstra said. “Nobody has felt great about that in the locker room and one of the qualities of this team has been to own things we haven’t been doing well and try to correct it.”

Tyler Herro led Miami with 19 points, Derrick Jones had 18 and Duncan Robinson scored 11 of his 17 in the third quarter. Goran Dragic and Kendrick Nunn each scored 14.

“That’s how this team is built,” Spoelstra said. “That’s how our best player (Butler) is wired. It’s fun basketball to be a part of if everybody can embrace it, that it could be multiple guys, different guys on different nights and it doesn’t necessarily have to be one guy with a high usage rate. Jimmy really facilitates this kind of attitude and it permeates throughout the team.”

The Pacers were led by forward Domantas Sabonis, with 27 points and 14 rebounds for his 30th double-double of the season.

“Just collectively as a unit, they controlled this game from the start,” Pacers coach Nate McMillan said.

OLADIPO TARGETS JAN. 29 RETURN

Two-time All-Star Pacers guard Victor Oladipo eagerly confirmed the plan for his season debut in a Jan. 29 home game against Chicago, a little more than a year since he ruptured a right quad tendon in a Jan. 23, 2019, home win over Toronto.

“I think waiting a year was good for me,” he said Wednesday. “I think the date is good, something I’m going to look forward to.”

A healthy Oladipo could elevate the Pacers to among the Eastern Conference’s elite. Without him, they recently defeated defending champion Toronto, as well as LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers at home. The sixth-year pro was averaging 18.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.7 steals in 36 games before the injury.

“I’m just looking forward to going out there and playing basketball again,” he said. “It’s what I love to do. … It’s been a crazy journey. It’s been a tough journey, but it’s molded me into a better person. I truly believe that.”

TIP-INS

Heat: Miami has won two games in 12 days against Pacers after losing four in a row last season. … Improved to 8-0 against Central Division teams.

Pacers: Two days after scoring a season-high 36 points in a win at Charlotte, forward T.J. Warren had just three points before being ejected after a third-quarter altercation with Butler. … Point guard Malcolm Brogdon missed his fourth consecutive game with a sore lower back injury.

UP NEXT

Heat: At Brooklyn on Friday.

Pacers: At Chicago on Friday.

---

More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports

After stunning his players in a film session Wednesday with a verbal suggestion that they were no longer playing "like a bunch of thugs," Cleveland Cavaliers coach John Beilein later reached out to players individually to insist he instead meant to use the word "slugs."

Delivering the term thugs to a group of largely young African American men carries obvious racial connotations, and Beilein acknowledged to ESPN in a telephone conversation Wednesday night that he understood that.

Beilein was wrapping up what had been an off-day film session in Detroit and a hush fell over the room when his players and staff heard the words come out of his mouth, sources said.

The Cavaliers players left the room initially stunned and were increasingly disturbed as they dispersed out of the meeting, league sources said.

Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman was alerted to the issue in the aftermath of the meeting and reached out to Beilein for clarification later Wednesday. Soon after, Beilein said he started to contact his players individually to clarify his words and meaning.

"I didn't realize that I had said the word 'thugs,' but my staff told me later I did and so I must have said it," Beilein told ESPN on Wednesday night. "I meant to say slugs, as in slow-moving. We weren't playing hard before, and now we were playing harder. I meant it as a compliment. That's what I was trying to say. I've already talked to eight of my players tonight, and they are telling me that they understand."

Altman was in the process of gathering details and context on the team film session Wednesday night, sources told ESPN.

Beilein held the film session at a Detroit hotel on Wednesday and largely derided his players for poor decision-making and execution, sources said. The Cavaliers play the Pistons on Thursday in Detroit.

After signing a five-year contract, Beilein, 66, has been slow to connect with his players and adjust to the NBA in his first year on the job. Beilein has been on the receiving end of significant frustration from All-Star forward Kevin Love and, in some cases, several of the younger core of players whom Beilein had been hired to teach and develop.

The Cavaliers are 10-27, and they are planning to continue making veteran players available on the trade market to cycle into a full rebuilding mode. Cleveland hired Beilein from the University of Michigan, his final stop in a college coaching career that spanned over 40 years.

CALGARY, Alberta -- The Calgary Flames and defenseman Rasmus Andersson have agreed to a six-year, $27.3 million contract extension. The deal was announced Wednesday.

The 23-year-old native of Sweden has three goals, nine assists and 33 penalty minutes in 45 games for Calgary this season, his second full year with the NHL club. He is averaging 19 minutes, 14 seconds on the ice and has 85 shots on goal.

The 6-foot-1, 214-pound defender, selected by the Flames in the second round of the 2015 NHL draft, totaled 12 goals and 49 assists in 110 games over his first two pro seasons with Stockton of the AHL. He also played in the 2018 AHL All-Star game.

Andersson and the Flames, who raced to the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference last season, have won three in a row but are in a congested battle for postseason positioning this season. They were the West's No. 1 wild card seed as play began Wednesday, but were just two points shy of being out of the playoff window.

Calgary will host the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

FRISCO, Texas -- Dallas Stars defenseman Stephen Johns could be nearing a return after missing a season and a half because of issues with headaches.

The Stars loaned Johns to the Texas Stars of the American Hockey League on Wednesday for a conditioning assignment. The club didn't indicate how long he would be in the minors.

Johns missed all of last season with what were called post-traumatic headaches. The 27-year-old played his first three NHL seasons with the Stars after coming over from Chicago in a trade.

A second-round pick by the Blackhawks in 2010, Johns debuted with the Stars five years later in the first season after the trade. Johns played a career-high 75 games in the most recent season he was active, 2017-18, when the Stars went 42-32-8 with 92 points.

Johns played 14 regular-season games as a rookie in 2015-16, then was part of all 13 playoff games for the Stars, who finished that season with 109 points as the West's No. 1 seed. Dallas lost in Game 7 to St. Louis in the second round.

Johns has 28 points (13 goals, 15 assists) in 150 career regular-season games.

Dallas, which lost in the second round last season, is part of a crowded field of contenders in the Western Conference this season. The Stars, who dismissed coach Jim Montgomery earlier this season, giving the interim reins to Rick Bowness, will meet the Ducks in Anaheim on Thursday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Unlike many of his peers, Charles Howell III often finds himself watching golf on television during his off weeks.

“Probably too much,” Howell admitted.

Last week was one of those instances, though as Howell explained Wednesday during his pre-tournament news conference at the Sony Open, he had a good excuse.

“My son now is big into golf and he loves it, so like he has his favorites and the guys that he really likes,” Howell said of his 8-year-old son, Chase. “Justin Thomas is his clear favorite. Not even close. Like watching last week (when Thomas won the Sentry Tournament of Champions), like me seeing golf through his eyes watching Justin in the playoff and rooting him on and all that kind of stuff, it's kind of reinvigorated my golf career a little bit.”

Howell said Chase, who achieved some social-media fame for his emotional reaction to his dad’s 2018 RSM Classic victory, is already a good player, and the two play every day when Howell is home.

Chase’s best score is 2 over through nine holes.

“He gets it around the golf course and he loves it,” Howell said. “I mean, as they say, apple trees make apples, I guess. Poor kid.”

If Chase can one day enjoy a similar career as his dad, he’d have done pretty well. Howell, in his 20th consecutive season on the PGA Tour, hasn’t won much (just three times) but has been a model of consistency with 95 top-10s and nearly $40 million in career earnings.

“I know how difficult it is ... I've had good friends of mine lose their card. It hurts watching guys go through that, so no, I don’t take that for granted at all,” Howell said. “These are the top 125 golfers in the world … and you have to continually show that and produce that every single year, and it's not easy. I mean, we always go towards wins, which you totally understand why, but maintaining a job and keeping a job out here with the travel and the stresses and everything else that goes along with it is still a very impressive feat.”

When Howell was a standout at Oklahoma State, his coach (and now the Cowboys’ athletic director), Mike Holder, told him, “If you love the game as much when you leave here as you did when you're coming in, then I've done my job.”

Howell did, and 20 years after turning pro, the same is true for the now-40-year-old.

“I still love the game and I still love practicing,” Howell said. “It was always about loving the good and the bad and the ups and the downs. We all know this game is very cyclical and crazy. … If I can stay healthy, I would love to keep playing and competing because I do enjoy it.”

His boy now has a lot to do with that.