A 10th career Grand Slam semi-final for Sabalenka was starting to look unlikely at the start of the third set.

Sabalenka's serve wavered and Pavlyuchenkova broke five times in a row to take the second set and go up a break in the third.

But despite having momentum on her side, the Russian 27th seed could not make the most of her early lead, and Sabalenka levelled immediately.

The three-time major winner settled herself with a hold to go 3-2 up, claimed a crucial break for a 5-3 lead before serving out a 19th successive victory at Melbourne Park.

Sabalenka, who has reached the semi-finals in eight of her past nine Grand Slam appearances, joked afterwards that she would make her team get tiger tattoos if she won the Melbourne title.

The 26-year-old said the tattoo of a tiger on her forearm is a "reminder of never giving up, staying aggressive, staying hungry and pushing myself no matter what is going on in life."

She added: "If I win the Australian Open, which hopefully I do fingers crossed, we are going to celebrate.

"Then I'm going to call a tattoo specialist so they wake up with a tiger tattoo."

Forwards: Fin Baxter (Harlequins), Ollie Chessum (Leicester), Arthur Clark (Gloucester), Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale), Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins), Ben Curry (Sale), Tom Curry (Sale), Theo Dan (Saracens), Ben Earl (Saracens), Ellis Genge (Bristol), Joe Heyes (Leicester), Ted Hill (Bath), Maro Itoje (Saracens), Curtis Langdon (Northampton), George Martin (Leicester), Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale), Henry Pollock (Northampton), Bevan Rodd (Sale), Will Stuart (Bath), Tom Willis (Saracens).

Backs: Oscar Beard (Harlequins), Elliot Daly (Saracens), Fraser Dingwall (Northampton), George Ford (Sale), Tommy Freeman (Northampton), Ollie Lawrence (Bath), Cadan Murley (Harlequins), Raffi Quirke (Sale), Harry Randall (Bristol), Tom Roebuck (Sale), Henry Slade (Exeter), Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton), Fin Smith (Northampton), Marcus Smith (Harlequins), Ben Spencer (Bath), Freddie Steward (Leicester),

Continuing rehabilitation in Girona: Alex Mitchell (Northampton)

If Alex Ovechkin was going to shatter Wayne Gretzky's NHL career goals record as a member of the Washington Capitals, he had some conditions that needed to be met.

Before re-signing, Ovechkin told Capitals owner Ted Leonsis that he didn't want to be "a third-line guy playing 8 to 10 minutes a game." He didn't want to be someone the team "trotted out on the power play" just to pad his goal totals, according to Leonsis.

Most of all, he didn't want to play for a rebuilding team. Before signing a five-year contract extension in 2021, he asked Leonsis to promise him that the owner would keep the team competitive, that the Capitals would be the annual playoff contender they had been for most of Ovechkin's career. In turn, he promised Leonsis that he'd stay in shape and that his eyes wouldn't be fixated on breaking Gretzky's record of 894 goals, but on bringing another Stanley Cup to Washington.

Leonsis promised him that the Capitals would not enter a rebuild if Ovechkin was still on the roster. "To me, a rebuild is when you look the players, the coaches, the fans in the eye and say we're gonna be really, really bad. And if we were really, really bad, I don't think Alex would break the record," Leonsis told ESPN in 2022.

This season is the fourth year of Ovechkin's contract extension.

It appears everyone has kept their promises.

The Capitals' captain has smashed the scoring expectations for a 39-year-old player. He had the best goal-scoring start of his career, collecting 17 tallies in 20 games before a broken leg interrupted his season. With 21 goals in 30 games, he's just 21 goals from becoming the NHL's all-time goal-scoring leader.

Rather than ice a shambolic roster playing out Ovechkin's record chase, Washington was the NHL's best team after 46 games, compiling a .728 points percentage. The Capitals were a surprise playoff entrant under first-year coach Spencer Carbery last season. An aggressive offseason augmentation of that roster propelled them to the top of the league.

"There has to be an expectation that we're going to win," forward Tom Wilson said. "That's a culture that's been built. The new guys came in this year and complemented that."

This isn't how it usually works for teams that contend for a dozen seasons.

Look at the Chicago Blackhawks, who followed their dynastic run by tearing down the roster to the foundations in order to draft Connor Bedard and subsequently linger in the league's basement. Look at the Pittsburgh Penguins -- home to Ovechkin's greatest rival Sidney Crosby -- who have unsuccessfully surrounded a veteran core with whatever talent they can scrounge. Their goal was a fourth Stanley Cup in the Crosby era. The result has been prolonging the inevitable.

Since Ovechkin entered the NHL in 2005-06, the Capitals have the third-best points percentage as a team (.608) behind the Vegas Golden Knights and Boston Bruins. The Capitals won the Stanley Cup in 2018. If they had skated into hockey purgatory, waiting for Ovechkin to play out the string before transitioning to the next thing, it would have been understandable.

But that's not what he wanted. That's not what the Capitals wanted.

Instead, the present is potent and the future is bright in Washington. Here's how they pulled it off.

OVER THE PAST 42 years, the Capitals have had four general managers. When David Poile left to join the expansion Nashville Predators in 1997, George McPhee was imported from Vancouver to become the next general manager. Since then, the line of succession has been internal: Brian MacLellan had been McPhee's assistant GM when he was elevated to replace him when McPhee was fired in 2014. Chris Patrick was MacLellan's assistant when he was elevated to replace him last offseason, with MacLellan moving up to president of hockey operations.

"It's pretty similar to how we've interacted over the years. I'm just making more phone calls now and dealing with agents at the NHL level than I was before," Patrick told ESPN. "I think what Mac does really well is understanding what a team's needs are, how the team's playing, what areas we need to address."

Assistant general manager Ross Mahoney, team president Dick Patrick and Leonsis have been the other constants.

"We all put our time in, we all learned from our mistakes," Mahoney said.

Mahoney believes there are three key areas for building a team: drafting and developing, signing free agents and making trades. He has seen teams master one or two of those tasks but struggle to succeed in all three facets. But this Capitals team has aced all three tests.

In July 2021, Ovechkin announced he had re-signed for five years ($47.5 million). He would be over 40 years old by the end of the deal. The majority of the team's core -- center Nicklas Backstrom, forward T.J. Oshie and defenseman John Carlson -- were also signed long term, and not getting any younger.

"I think there was a recognition, probably around when we signed that deal with Ovi, that we were kind of moving to the next phase here," Patrick recalled. "You just look at the history of the league and how guys perform as they age. Let's be realistic and understand that we can't just rely on [Ovechkin and Backstrom] to carry the team anymore. It's not physically something they're going to be able to do."

The realization for Capitals management was that supporting Ovechkin's record chase with a competitive team did not mean propping up the roster with veteran mercenaries until he retired.

"If there are opportunities to add players that are in their early 20s outside of the draft, we should be looking at those types of deals," Patrick said. "It doesn't feel like teams would ever trade guys like that, but it happens more than maybe you realize. You just have to make sure you're kind of on those opportunities."

Like when the Blackhawks didn't tender Dylan Strome a qualifying offer in 2022, and the Capitals signed the 25-year-old center. He's their leading scorer.

Like when the Toronto Maple Leafs traded 23-year-old defenseman Rasmus Sandin to Washington in 2023, as the Capitals flipped a first-round pick they acquired in sending Garnet Hathaway and Dmitry Orlov to the Bruins at the deadline. He has been a mainstay on the team's second defensive pairing.

Washington added two more players like this with their biggest swings of the offseason: trading for 25-year-old Los Angeles Kings center Pierre-Luc Dubois and 26-year-old Ottawa Senators defenseman Jakob Chychrun.

Patrick cited Matthew Tkachuk as the kind of young player who could become available via trade; the star winger was available for the Florida Panthers in 2022. Though he's not Matthew Tkachuk, the Chychrun trade was similar in that the Senators did not expect him to re-sign after this season. The Capitals pounced, sending defenseman Nick Jensen and a third-round pick to Ottawa for Chychrun, a top-pairing, puck-moving defenseman.

Through 41 games, Chychrun leads all Washington defensemen with 31 points.

The Dubois trade was one of the offseason's most shocking moves. The Capitals acquired the disappointing center -- and the remaining seven years of his contract with an $8.5 million annual cap hit -- for goalie Darcy Kuemper in a one-for-one trade.

Acquired from Winnipeg to potentially ascend to the Kings' No. 1 center spot after Anze Kopitar retired, Dubois was a massive disappointment in his first season in Los Angeles, finishing with 16 goals and 24 points in 82 games and skating to a minus-9. He continued to underwhelm in the Kings' postseason loss to Edmonton, notching one goal and 20 penalty minutes in five games.

The Capitals were Dubois' fourth NHL team in nine seasons -- unusual for a third overall pick -- having previously fallen out of favor in Columbus and Winnipeg. All of those teams were banking on his potential, enchanted by the brief flashes of its fulfillment.

That included the Capitals, who watched him step up in the 2018 playoffs with two goals, two assists and dominant play. "Every time he was on the ice it was like, 'Oh my god, this guy again.' He was such a handful and I don't even think he was even 22 years old at the time," Patrick said.

The Capitals tracked Dubois' path from Columbus to Winnipeg. They tried trading for him in summer 2023 before the Jets sent him to Los Angeles. They got their man last offseason, with his stock the lowest it has been.

"He was playing behind two good centers in L.A. It seemed like he wasn't getting the opportunities he needed to get," Patrick said. "There was still a good player there, but he was too buried in the lineup."

Tim Barnes, who has run the analytics department in Washington since 2014, had his group confirm that Dubois' issue was mostly usage. The Capitals did their due diligence to make sure there weren't other issues off the ice.

"You do the work on who he is as a person and in the room. From what we learned, he was a great teammate, hard worker, wants to get better, loves the game," Patrick said. "It's just the situation wasn't great for him in L.A."

But none of this would have mattered if their coach didn't want him. There were plenty of reasons to be wary, from the long-term contract to his underwhelming play with the Kings.

"I think a lot of coaches would be like, 'I don't want that problem.' But Carbs was open-minded about it. He did his work, he understood who the person was," Patrick said. "Maybe some stuff that some coaches saw as negatives, Carbs didn't mind them. He felt he could deal with it."

Dubois has resurrected his career in D.C. with 36 points in 46 games, including 8 goals.

Goaltender Logan Thompson also falls into the "aggressive acquisition of players of a certain age" gambit. Thompson, 27, played parts of four seasons with the Golden Knights. Injuries to starter Adin Hill led to Thompson playing a career-high 46 games last season, posting a 25-14-5 record with nearly identical stats to Hill's.

Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon said Thompson requested a trade, and the Capitals swooped in with two third-round picks -- including one acquired from Toronto in a deadline trade for defenseman Joel Edmundson.

The Capitals were comfortable with Thompson, who played with their ECHL affiliate in 2019-20 and had a good relationship with Washington goalie coach Scott Murray. Whatever went on with Thompson in Vegas, the Capitals weren't concerned.

"I mean, that's the biggest thing a lot of times in trades and free agency, just trying to get a sense for what the person's like and what they're like in the group and in the room," Patrick said. "And so we felt like we had a pretty good feel for that."

The Capitals have also been adept in finding players who are "maybe underappreciated in their roles with other teams" said Patrick, who points to center Nic Dowd and defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk as examples. Defenseman Matt Roy was used a lot by the Kings, but has played an important role for Washington after he was signed as a free agent last summer.

All of these moves speak to a cap flexibility that the Capitals didn't always anticipate. One of the primary differences between the Capitals' resurgence and the Penguins' fade is the composition of their respective cores. Pittsburgh has $30.9 million in cap space dedicated to Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson -- 35% of its cap space dedicated to four players.

The Capitals used to have a similar plight with Ovechkin ($9.5 million), defenseman John Carlson ($8 million), Backstrom ($9.2 million) and Oshie ($5.75 million). But Backstrom and Oshie are on long-term injured reserve this season. Backstrom returned from hip surgery to play just eight games last season before "stepping away from the game" last November. Oshie is expected to miss the entire season due to a chronic back injury.

Patrick said that if Backstrom could have returned, the Capitals would have welcomed him back and "gone in a different direction" with their offseason acquisitions.

"Maybe you still make that deal for Dubois and you just free up money somewhere else," he said. "It's all a little bit 'Choose Your Own Adventure': If something comes in front of you, then you figure out the next moves you'd have to make."

Instead, the clarity Backstrom gave the Capitals last summer regarding his health "helped us understand where we could go in our decision-making process," Patrick said.

TYING ALL OF THIS together is Carbery, 43, one of the most critical NHL coaching hires of the past several seasons.

After the Capitals defeated the Penguins on Jan. 18, Carbery was asked about his team being atop the NHL standings.

"I don't really know how to answer that," he said through a smile and a chuckle. "We feel good. I mean, we're happy. The guys should be really proud where we are after 46 games. We'll just continue to build and continue to grind."

His tone was that of a coach who knows there's a long road ahead, but Carbery's Capitals have already come so far.

In 2023, Carbery was an assistant coach with the Maple Leafs, and generated a lot of buzz in the coaching market. The Capitals had parted ways with head coach Peter Laviolette after missing the playoffs. MacLellan coveted the young coach. Carbery, in turn, fancied the idea of coaching the Capitals after having coached their ECHL team in South Carolina for five seasons and the Hershey Bears for three seasons.

It took a bit for the Capitals to find an identity under Carbery last season. "We were very defensive. We weren't scoring many goals as a team," Carlson said. "When your team is not as offensive as in years past, we all have to change. We all have to find different ways. And I think it just took us longer."

Last season, the Capitals were 28th in goals per game (2.63) and 16th in goals against (3.07). This season, they're second in goals per game (3.57) and third in goals against (2.43).

Patrick has praised Carbery's communication skills and his boldness -- like in signing off on the Dubois deal, for example.

"I worked with him a lot in Hershey. I guess I didn't have that appreciation for his willingness to go against the conventional coach thinking," Patrick said.

"He's a bright, intelligent guy who's competitive. I think a really, really good communicator. I think Spencer's as honest as they come. He will tell you what he expects of you. He will tell you what he wants," Mahoney said. "He's got the X and O's and all that, but I think being able connect to all 23 players is not easy to do."

Carbery is also young enough to be an effective coach for the NHL veterans as well as the next wave of prospects for the Capitals -- who are another reason this retool has worked.

MAHONEY HAS RUN the Capitals' draft for 27 years, first as director of amateur scouting and then as assistant general manager. The foundation of the Ovechkin Era has been built through the draft, starting with the Great 8 going first overall in 2004.

Since 2008, Ovechkin's first trip to the postseason, the Capitals have missed the playoffs only twice. They've maintained that success without bleeding their prospect pipeline dry. Since 2008, there were only three drafts in which the Capitals didn't make a first-round pick.

The Ovechkin Era was fostered by picks such as forwards Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Marcus Johansson, Alex Semin and Wilson; defensemen Carlson, Mike Green, Dmitry Orlov and Karl Alzner; and goalies Braden Holtby and Philipp Grubauer. In Game 5 of the 2018 Stanley Cup Final, the Capitals had 12 players drafted from Mahoney's boards in their lineup. That's not considering the talents that Washington drafted who blossomed elsewhere, such as forward Filip Forsberg and goalie Semyon Varlamov.

Time is the ultimate judge of a team's draft success. But Mahoney believes the past few drafts could be as fruitful as some of the best of the Ovechkin Era.

"I think we're kind of in another phase right now that's like the one we were in back then," he said.

Look no further than the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championships, where two Capitals prospects led Team USA to another gold: Defenseman Cole Hutson, selected 43rd overall last summer and winger Ryan Leonard, taken eighth overall in 2023.

Hutson led all scorers in the tournament with 11 points in seven games, including a goal and an assist in the gold medal game, becoming the first defenseman to do so in tournament history.

U.S.-based scouts Jeremy Browning, Rich Alger and A.J. Toews identified the defenseman as a player the Capitals should target one year before the draft.

"We had him higher than where we took him," Mahoney said. "He's not the biggest player, but he plays big. He could really skate, has exceptional confidence with the puck. I think that really came through in the world junior tournament. In all honesty, he played even better than I thought he would."

As far as when Hutson might join the Capitals, Mahoney said that's up to the Boston University star. If he shows the right trajectory, he could force Washington's hand in getting him to the NHL sooner than later.

"He's on the right path. Next year, we'll see where he's at. My advice to them is always make it hard on the coaches or make it hard on the development team," Mahoney said.

In the 2023 NHL draft, the Capitals held the eighth overall pick. They watched the expected top picks come off the board -- Connor Bedard to Chicago, Leo Carlsson to Anaheim, Adam Fantilli to Columbus and so on -- but as the first round continued, there wasn't a chance that Russian star Matvei Michkov would still been available at No. 8.

The Philadelphia Flyers drafted Michkov at No. 7, then the Capitals selected Leonard of the U.S. National Team Development Program at No. 8.

Would Washington have gone Michkov over Leonard at No. 8? Mahoney wouldn't say, but admitted that he had to pace himself walking to the podium before enthusiastically making Leonard the pick.

"I wanted to run up there, but I thought that would be a little bit immature in my part," he said.

Leonard was tied for second in points at World Juniors (10), up from his six points in seven games during Team USA's 2024 gold medal win. He captained the team to gold, something that wasn't lost on the Capitals.

"I'm quite sure someday here in the future that not only Ryan will be contributing in a major way to the Capitals, but I could see him taking on a leadership role also," Mahoney said.

Leonard had 60 points in 41 games at Boston College last season, starring on a line with Will Smith, now with the San Jose Sharks, and Gabe Perreault, a top New York Rangers' prospect. The winger's 31 goals set a freshman record at the school. He decided not to join the Capitals last season, opting to return with Perreault to BC this season, but Mahoney said the team wants to see him in Washington "sooner than later."

If Leonard makes the leap from Boston College to the Capitals, it would make him a rarity in the team's prospect pipeline. Only a handful of players -- forward Tom Wilson being one of them -- have joined the NHL without getting considerable seasoning in the AHL with the Hershey Bears. On the current roster, center Aliaksei Protas spent parts of three seasons with the Bears, while center Connor McMichael played 90 games in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Having a team in Hershey gives Washington a geographic advantage, in part due to the short travel time for call-ups but also enabling Capitals executives to be more hands-on with prospects. Since Ovechkin joined the Capitals, the Bears have won the AHL Calder Cup five times, including back-to-back championships in the past two seasons under head coach Todd Nelson. That continued success is vital to player development, according to Patrick.

"Having good teams in Hershey is important because it puts players into bigger game environments, playing important games against good teams," he said. "I think all those situations are huge for their development and I think it really helps them when they get into the NHL. Players need to find ways to be mentally ready to play those games. And I think going through that process in Hershey really helps."

Among the players who are percolating in the Capitals' pipeline: Defenseman Vincent Iorio (55th overall in 2021), forward Ivan Miroshnichenko (20th overall in 2022) and center Hendrix Lapierre (22nd in 2020). Among those on the way: Wingers Andrew Cristall of the WHL's Spokane Chiefs (40th overall in 2023) and Terik Parascak of the Prince George Cougars (17th overall, 2024), as well as Hutson.

"We're really patient with our prospects, never been ones to rush players into the NHL and it's worked out really well for us. We've got really good coaches down there [in Hershey]," said Mahoney, who also credits former NHL players such as Brooks Orpik and Jim Slater in the team's player development program.

"We do everything we can on our end to help them. We just need them to do everything on their end. And we feel really good about what we have coming in our pipeline," he said.

A promise made was a promise kept for the Capitals. Alex Ovechkin is thriving on a Stanley Cup contender, as the gap between his goal total and Gretzky's seemingly unbreakable record continues to narrow. And he's surrounded by players, with more on the way, who indicate there might be life after Ovi in Washington.

Xabi Alonso has said he is "very calm" despite being linked to taking charge at Real Madrid, with speculation over the future of Carlo Ancelotti.

Alonso, who spent five years as a Real Madrid player and also began his coaching career at the club's academy, is in the Spanish capital to lead Bayer Leverkusen in Tuesday's Champions League game with Atlético Madrid.

The Spanish radio station Onda Cero reported on Monday that Ancelotti, who has a contract at the Bernabéu until 2026, had decided to leave this summer.

Sources close to Ancelotti have denied that the Italian is considering an early departure, although ESPN has reported that Alonso is the favourite to take over when the time comes.

"I'm very calm, I'm focused on what I have to do," Alonso told Movistar on Monday, ahead of Leverkusen's game at the Metropolitano Stadium.

"I have enough things to worry about. Right now that's what's in my head. This is the time now to work with Leverkusen, with the team, with all the challenges we have, and I'm very happy."

Former midfielder Alonso joined Madrid from Liverpool in 2009 and won the Champions League, the LaLiga title and two Copas del Rey before departing for Bayern Munich in 2014.

After retiring as a player, he spent a season coaching Madrid's under-14s before taking charge of Real Sociedad's reserve team and then Bayer Leverkusen, winning an unbeaten Bundesliga title in 2023-24.

ESPN has reported that Madrid have been tracking Alonso's progress, and view him as the leading candidate to succeed Ancelotti.

Ancelotti has won two Champions Leagues and two league titles since returning to Madrid in 2021.

The team are top of LaLiga and have won two trophies this season, but have also faced criticism from fans and the media, and were beaten 5-2 by Barcelona in the Spanish Supercopa final earlier this month.

Alonso's Leverkusen are second in the Bundesliga, four points behind Bayern Munich, and fourth in the Champions League table ahead of Tuesday's game at Atlético.

"Thinking in the long term in football just means worrying about things," Alonso told Movistar on Monday, when asked if he'd like to coach Madrid one day.

"I have to focus on the short term, which is Atleti, then we go to Leipzig [in the Bundesliga], I have enough."

Manchester City have completed the signing of defender Vitor Reis from Palmeiras, the club confirmed on Tuesday.

The deal is worth 35 million ($36.2m) for the 19-year-old Brazil youth international. He's signed a four-and-a-half year contract until 2029.

Reis is the second summer signing to arrive at the Etihad Stadium following confirmation of the deal to sign Abdukodir Khusanov from RC Lens on Monday.

"I'm excited to join Manchester City, one of the biggest clubs in the world," Reis said.

"Everyone has seen the amazing achievements in recent seasons, and I want to make my mark as we seek more trophies.

"Working with Pep Guardiola is something every young player wants to do, and I know he can help me to develop into the best player I can be.

"City also have a lot of experience of working with Brazilian footballers and joining the likes of Ederson and Savinho in the squad will be a big help to me."

Reis is set to be followed to the Etihad by Eintracht Frankfurt forward Omar Marmoush.

City have agreed a 75m ($77.6m) fee for the Egypt international which could rise to 80m ($82.6m) with performance-related add-ons. Marmoush arrived in Manchester on Monday to undergo a medical ahead of a formal announcement.

Meanwhile, City captain Kyle Walker is nearing a move to Milan.

The England defender is set to agree a loan move to the Serie A ahead of a possible permanent transfer in the summer.

City remain on the look out for a central midfielder in the final weeks of the transfer window. Douglas Luiz, who moved to Juventus from Aston Villa, last summer, is one of a number of options being looked at.

Britain's Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid progressed to the quarter-finals of the men's wheelchair singles as they got their 2025 Australian Open campaigns under way.

Reid, the 2016 singles champion in Melbourne, defeated Belgium's Joachim Gerard 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-4.

Second seed Hewett, who won the title in 2023, then won 6-4 6-2 against Frenchman Stephane Houdet.

There was victory for Andy Lapthorne, in the quad wheelchair singles, as he beat Argentine qualifier Gonzalo Enrique Lazarte 6-3 6-3.

But wildcard Lucy Shuker lost her women's wheelchair singles opener 6-3 4-6 6-4 to South Africa's Kgothatso Montjane.

Reid and Hewett will play their quarter-final ties, against Argentine fourth seed Gustavo Fernandez and the Netherlands' Ruben Spaargaren respectively, on Wednesday.

They will also launch their doubles bid against Japan's Takuya Miki and Daisuke Arai on the same day.

The pair, who are the men's doubles top seeds, are five-time defending champions.

Shuker will be in women's doubles action, seeded second alongside Japan's Yui Kamiji, while Lapthorne plays in the men's quad doubles with Dutchman Sam Schroder.

The WRU also say both home fixtures in the 2025 Six Nations will be played in front of sell-out 74,000 crowds at the Cardiff venue.

Ireland visit the Welsh capital on Saturday, 22 February (14:15 GMT) before Warren Gatland's side host England on Saturday, 15 March (16:45 GMT).

"Selling out both of our home fixtures is an achievement reflective of the excitement building ahead of another thrilling Guinness Six Nations campaign at the world renowned Principality Stadium," said WRU chief executive Abi Tierney.

"Both senior men's home fixtures have been in high demand and this is a fantastic achievement and a sign of the passion and belief that Welsh rugby fans have for this team.

"Principality Stadium is one of the most iconic sporting venues in the world and our retractable roof, one of our most distinctive features, enables us to create an amazing atmosphere with the the match day experience set to come alive during the 2025 Six Nations."

Wales begin their Six Nations campaign against France in Paris on Friday, 31 January before facing Italy in Rome eight days later.

The side, who finished bottom of the championship without a win in 2024 and have lost a record 12 internationals, also travel to Scotland on Saturday, 8 March, before the concluding home fixture against England.

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Kings honored firefighters and first responders in the first game back in their downtown arena since the catastrophic wildfires that devastated large parts of Los Angeles.

The Kings were scheduled to face Calgary on Jan. 8, but that game was postponed because of the fires. Los Angeles then played its next five games on the road before returning home.

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Kings wore LAFD caps during pregame warmups. Firefighters and first responders from various departments in the region were honored at center ice before the game.

The Kings replaced their traditional logo at center ice with a graphic paying tribute to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

"To see the guys out there and the gals, it was humbling. I don't know. I just felt that way," Kings coach Jim Hiller said about the ceremony. "I felt a little emotional. I just felt like those people have been out there doing some pretty amazing things that we just saw a little bit from a long distance. And we're in our own little bubble doing what we have to do. It brought it to life for me, pretty personal, and it's just disappointing we couldn't do more with it."

Los Angeles' Anze Kopitar and Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby then did a ceremonial face off with Fire Engineer Chien Yu.

The Kings were looking to extend their home winning streak, but played one of their worst games of the year as they lost to the Penguins 5-1.

"Those guys, you know, risk their lives for the community, for the city, and we can't thank them enough," Kopitar said. "The city's been going through some tough times, and, obviously, in situations like this, I'm sure the city is going to come together and help and pull their weight in every which way possible to the people that have lost everything and, again, try to help them out, get them on their feet and essentially rebuild."

Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan knew his team was coming into an emotionally charged building, and knew it was important to manage the first 10 minutes of the game.

"We knew it was going to be an emotional night in the building for all the right reasons," Sullivan said. "Our team is supportive of the endeavor with the Kings and acknowledging and recognizing the heroism of the fire department and all these first responders that are putting themselves in harm's way to try to help people. That's bigger than any hockey game."

Pittsburgh goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, who made 25 saves in the win and was wearing an LAFD shirt after the game, appreciated seeing the amount of recognition the firefighters and first responders received throughout the night.

"It means a lot to them and their families. For them to get some recognition, I'm sure it goes a long way for them because they're just doing it out of the kindness of their hearts and trying to help other people and be good people. We're very thankful to have people like that in our world," he said.

Arsenal have been here before. The present and fierce debate over whether they should sign a striker in January is similar to the mood around the club three years ago, when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was abruptly transferred to Barcelona and the Gunners pondered signing a replacement.

Steadfast in their belief that the ideal player wasn't available, Arsenal decided that they would not compromise or gamble by pursuing an alternative, instead trusting those already at the club to see it through. They ended up paying a high price, missing out on UEFA Champions League football by just two points as late-season defeats at Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur cost them dearly.

The final table showed Arsenal in fifth place with 61 goals. Champions Manchester City ended with 99, Liverpool with 94.

The Gunners have adopted a disciplined approach in the transfer market during manager Mikel Arteta's five-year reign, preferring to wait for their top target or pivot to a backup option who could be had for less in certain circumstances. It has served them well, transforming them from top-four hopefuls to title contenders in the past two seasons.

A reminder of this longer-term view came this week with news that they are in pole position to sign Martín Zubimendi from Real Sociedad. That deal, regarded as a significant coup if they pull it off, will strengthen their central midfield and ease pressure on the club to tie down either one or both of Jorginho and Thomas Partey, who each have contracts expiring at the end of the season.

There are more immediate priorities, though. As former Manchester United defender Patrice Evra said last week: "Arsenal is like watching Netflix: you always have to wait for the next season."

Perhaps now is the time to seize the moment. Nobody watches Arsenal right now thinking they are a central midfielder short. City's dramatic fall from grace this season has created an unexpected opening that Arsenal, second for the past two years, should have been best placed to take; instead, Liverpool have opened up a four-point gap at the top of the table with a game in hand.

In the face of criticism regarding their faltering attack, Arteta repeatedly points to Arsenal's 91-goal haul last season, a club record for a Premier League campaign. But too many games follow a similar pattern: creating limited chances from open play, which are often squandered, relying on set pieces to mask that inefficiency, or a moment of brilliance from Martin Ødegaard or Bukayo Saka.

Arsenal edged past Tottenham on Wednesday night, deservedly so, but without breaking that cycle. On Saturday, they raced to a 2-0 lead at home to Aston Villa, with two open-play goals, only to concede twice late and settle for a point. It was a result that could prove every bit as harmful to their Premier League title chances as when they met in similar circumstances back in April, when Villa's smash-and-grab 2-0 victory cost Arteta's side dearly.

That Villa loss came in the middle of a two-legged Champions League quarterfinal defeat to Bayern Munich, after which sources told ESPN that the club were seeking to bolster their forward line in summer 2024. They ultimately opted against doing so, signing instead left-back Riccardo Calafiori and midfielder Mikel Merino before on deadline day, as Chelsea suddenly dropped their demands, a late loan move for Raheem Sterling materialised because, they felt, the numbers worked and Arteta knew the player from working together at City.

A revitalised Sterling might have made a big difference, but the version in need of rehabilitation does not. Can they afford to wait once again this month, or does the tangible opportunity of a first league title in 21 years require greater urgency and ambition?

The root cause of Arsenal's decision not to pursue a striker last summer was Benjamin Sesko's change of heart, as he opted to sign a new contract with RB Leipzig rather than seek a move. Arsenal assessed their options, but ultimately chose against recalibrating their sights.

Newcastle were reluctant to allow Alexander Isak to depart, while the Gunners did not even enter the conversation as Ivan Toney left Brentford for Al Ahli and Victor Osimhen traded Napoli for Galatasaray.

Other forwards were also considered, but Arsenal decided not to compromise. That decision has looked increasingly questionable as the team has struggled to find a consistent rhythm in the final third.

Their impressive potency from set pieces has gone from a welcome side hustle to arguably their principal threat, particularly when Ødegaard was absent for several weeks with an ankle problem and more recently, as Saka is now out until March following hamstring surgery.

Arsenal's build-up play has long focused on the Ødegaard and Saka combination down the right, supported by Ben White from full-back. Prior to that second leg against Bayern in April, then-Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel made no secret of it: "With Saka and Ødegaard, they always attack on the right. They try to create an overlap there."

Saka is unavailable now, as was Ødegaard earlier in the campaign, while White has been missing since November due to knee surgery.

Ødegaard returned in fine form initially, Saka's numbers remained impressive until his injury and Jurriën Timber did his best to replace White, but this avenue of attack has not been as effective this term. That problem has been compounded by Gabriel Martinelli's loss of form on the left -- leading to his omission from the starting lineup for Wednesday's north London derby -- and Kai Havertz has regressed in front of goal amid social media abuse aimed at him and his family.

This isn't to say Arsenal are collapsing -- far from it. They have lost only two league games this season, and the gap to Liverpool is just about manageable as things stand. Yet the nagging feeling that they need something extra in attack is inescapable. A point that is often underplayed is that the Gunners are not necessarily focused on an out-and-out striker.

Arteta tends to like players capable of operating in a number of positions, and it says something about the squad depth that Saka's injury suddenly left 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri trying to fill his shoes on the right wing. Gabriel Jesus could have played there -- sources suggest he would actually quite like to more often -- but there are now fears he will be out for the rest of the season after undergoing anterior cruciate ligament surgery on his left knee.

Martinelli has looked inconclusive on the right flank, while Sterling made only his third league start of the season against Spurs and was better without the ball than with it. The possibility of signing someone more suited to playing out wide might well appeal, especially given Arteta's passionate defence of Havertz as a central striker.

Sources have told ESPN that after losing to Bayern, senior figures at the club expressed a belief that they needed a little more spark in the final third. Such a thing could come from a striker or a wide player. So, whom could they go after?

Sources have told ESPN that there is a belief among those with knowledge of Sesko's situation at Leipzig that he could become available this summer. One source has suggested he could be available for a transfer fee of around 70 million or 75 million. It is unclear whether Leipzig would even consider sanctioning a January move, but Arsenal are yet to test their resolve.

Isak is arguably the in-form striker in Europe right now. A brace in Newcastle's 3-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers made it eight consecutive Premier League games in which the Sweden international has scored. Only three players have ever managed a longer streak: Ruud van Nistelrooy twice, Jamie Vardy twice and Daniel Sturridge.

The size of the transfer fee required to get Newcastle to part with Isak is unclear, but one source suggests it could cost as much as 150m. Whether that could be negotiated down remains to be seen, but he has a contract on Tyneside until 2028 and Newcastle are in the hunt for Champions League qualification. They are currently only six points behind Arsenal in the table and hold a clear advantage in their Carabao Cup semifinal tie with the Gunners, leading 2-0 from the first leg. Allowing him to leave now appears highly unlikely.

Arteta was coy when asked about Viktor Gyökeres prior to Arsenal's Champions League meeting with Sporting CP in late November. There is a clear feeling that if Gyökeres were to go anywhere, it would be to reunite with Ruben Amorim at Manchester United, but there are palpable concerns regarding profit and sustainability rules (PSR) at Old Trafford that would suggest they lack the budget to complete such a deal this month.

Were Arsenal to consider a wide player, Athletic Club's Nico Williams has been on their radar for some time, and sources have told ESPN that the 22-year-old's contract has a release clause of approximately 60 million. Barcelona are widely reported to be monitoring Williams' situation, but a January deal might not be straightforward for anyone: sources have told ESPN that Williams did not leave in the summer, at least in part, because he wants to play a potential UEFA Europa League final at Athletic's San Mamés Stadium.

The Gunners -- along with Tottenham -- were also tracking Matheus Cunha, but reports suggest he is close to signing a new deal to stay at Wolves.

Elsewhere, Brentford boss Thomas Frank has ruled out the possibility of Bryan Mbeumo leaving the club this month. Teammate Yoane Wissa is admired by several Premier League clubs.

Arsenal have previously been linked with Lille's Jonathan David -- whose contract expires at the end of the season -- and Dusan Vlahovic, who is set to face renewed competition for places at Juventus with the imminent arrival of Randal Kolo Muani on loan from Paris Saint-Germain. Sources have told ESPN that Arsenal looked at Vlahovic three years ago in that January window when Aubameyang left, but ultimately believed his representatives were only serious about a move to Juventus from Fiorentina at the time. Whether something has changed in the intervening time remains to be seen.

January is always a difficult window for all clubs and no option is easy, but there is certainly a feeling among many supporters that something has to change at Arsenal if they are to do everything within their power to maximise their title chances.