The Texas Rangers are on the verge of winning a lackluster World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Yet, the Astros had two chances to beat Texas at home.

The curse of Chelsea’s number nine shirt claimed its latest victim after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s unhappy 21-game spell was ended by a move to Marseille. The last dozen players to wear the shirt have struggled to make a prolonged impact – including three club-record signings up front, but also a holding midfielder and a certain Dutch defender. Here, the PA news agency looks at the “Curse of Khalid Boulahrouz”. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, 2022-23 “It’s cursed, it’s cursed, people tell me it’s cursed!” said then-manager Thomas Tuchel last summer, adding: “There was not a big demand for number nine, nobody wants to touch it.” Aubameyang was not deterred but, after arriving with a broken jaw sustained in a robbery at his Barcelona home and seeing his former Borussia Dortmund boss Tuchel sacked the day after his debut, he failed to establish himself under Graham Potter – he was not even included in the squad for the Champions League knock-out stages, despite scoring two of his three Chelsea goals in the group stage. Romelu Lukaku, 2021-22 The Belgium striker returned from Inter Milan for a second spell at the club for £97.5million but within months his frustrations became clear in an interview with Sky Sport Italia. Despite 15 goals in all competitions, it was no surprise when he returned to Inter on loan. He scored 14 goals in the season while wearing number 90 at San Siro and has been left out of Chelsea’s pre-season tour of America. Tammy Abraham, 2019-21 Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was the last inarguably Chelsea number nine but amid almost £250m spent to fill the troublesome shirt in the 18 years since his departure, academy product Abraham produced arguably the most successful spell with 15 league goals and 18 in total in 2019-20. Twelve more the following year earned a move to Roma under former Blues boss Jose Mourinho. Gonzalo Higuain, 2018-19 The Argentinian’s loan from Juventus yielded five goals in 18 appearances. He was shunted to number 21 on his return to Juve and terminated his contract early the following season to move to Inter Miami. Alvaro Morata, 2017-18 A then club-record buy for £60m, the Spaniard scored 15 goals in his debut season but fell out of favour, switching to number 29 and adding another nine goals before joining Atletico Madrid. Radamel Falcao, 2015-16 The Colombian scored once in 12 games in an injury-hit season. Fernando Torres, 2011-14 The then British-record £50m signing from Liverpool got the longest run at making the Blues’ number nine shirt work for him, wearing it 172 times across three and a half seasons. He scored 45 goals, including a memorable Champions League semi-final clincher against Barcelona, and set up another 26 but several prolonged scoring droughts saw him move on to AC Milan on loan and then his boyhood club Atletico Madrid. Franco Di Santo, 2008-09 Fourteen scoreless substitute appearances were all Di Santo had to show for his time in west London. Steve Sidwell, 2007-08 The former Reading midfielder managed only 24 appearances, scoring once. A largely defensive player, he would have been a glaringly unlikely wearer of the number nine shirt had it not been for his immediate predecessor… Khalid Boulahrouz, 2006-07 The versatile Netherlands defender was assigned one of the few available numbers after his £8.5m arrival from Hamburg. He lasted one season and 23 appearances in all competitions before a loan to Sevilla and a permanent exit to Stuttgart. Hernan Crespo, 2005-06 The Argentina striker had already spent a season at Stamford Bridge wearing number 21, scoring 12 goals, and a year on loan at Milan before Mourinho recalled him and gave him number nine as a show of faith. He added another 13 goals and a league title but soon returned to his earlier employers Inter. Mateja Kezman, 2004-05 Inheriting the shirt from Hasselbaink, Kezman failed to make a similar impact with just seven goals in his sole season. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Marcus Smith teased by England team-mates over Racing 92 speculation England’s Lotte Wubben-Moy begins Doodle Diary again – Friday’s sporting social Rory McIlroy feels he still has chance of winning 151st Open despite Friday’s 70

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Wales welcome Turkey to Cardiff for their final Euro 2024 qualifier on Tuesday.Rob Page’s side must win and hope Croatia do not beat Armenia in order to secure automatic European Championship qualification and avoid the play-offs in March. Here, the PA news agency studies some of the main talking points surrounding the game. Favour needed Wales’ disappointing 1-1 draw in Armenia on Saturday took automatic qualification out of their hands heading in to the final round of matches. Croatia seized advantage by winning 2-0 in Latvia to move in to the box-seat and claim the second spot behind Turkey. The mathematics for Wales are simple: nothing other than beating Turkey will do, while praying Croatia do not finish with victory. Armenia have been Wales’ bogeymen in this group by taking four points from them, but they now need a huge favour from the team ranked 95 in the world. Play-off lifeline Amid the gloom of a flat performance against Armenia in Yerevan and Croatia’s subsequent success a few hours later, it was overlooked that Wales actually secured a play-off spot on Saturday due to other results across Europe. Wales would have suffered the agony of missing out on the play-offs had three from Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland and the Czech Republic missed out on automatic qualification. While Italy and the Czechs await their fate on Monday, Netherlands’ 1-0 win over the Republic of Ireland and Switzerland’s 1-1 draw with Kosovo secured their places at Euro 2024 and gave Wales a play-off safety net. Wales now hope Italy and the Czech Republic confirm their places in Germany next summer and provide them with a home play-off semi-final in March. Will the real Wales stand up? Two months, two games, two very contrasting displays. October saw Wales produce one of their best performances of recent times as Croatia, World Cup semi-finalists less than 12 months ago, were downed in 2-1 in Cardiff. Confidence was running high going into November’s camp but, having been stunned by an early Armenia goal, Wales were disjointed and fortunate not to lose again to a team ranked 67 places below them in FIFA’s world order. Boss Rob Page’s task now is to rediscover the fizz and fluency that swept aside Croatia and shelve the anxiety and hesitancy that bedevilled them in Armenia. Defensive Locks? Wales must make at least one change with defender Chris Mepham suspended after collecting a third booking of the campaign in Armenia. Tom Lockyer has had an eventful time over the last six months – winning promotion with Luton and requiring heart surgery after collapsing on the Wembley turf in the Championship play-off final. But Lockyer, known as ‘Locks’, might get the nod over Ben Cabango to join Joe Rodon and skipper Ben Davies in Wales’ three-man central defence against Turkey. Tottenham’s Brennan Johnson could also be restored to the attack, despite an underwhelming second-half performance off the bench in Armenia. Talented Turkey Turkey are on the rise again after missing out on the 2022 World Cup and underperforming at the last two European Championships when exiting at the group stage. Having sacked Stefan Kuntz and appointed Vincenzo Montella as head coach halfway through Euro 2024 qualification, Turkey have won five of their seven games and sewed up a top-two spot last month. Turkey avenged a solitary defeat to Croatia by winning 1-0 in Osijek, and their soaring confidence was underlined by a 3-2 friendly victory over Germany in Berlin on Saturday. Real Madrid’s Arda Guler, who scored in sensational style against Wales in June, and Kenan Yildiz, of Juventus, are both 18-year-old attacking midfielders and rated two of the brightest prospects in European football. Read More Australia handle pressure as India come up short – Cricket World Cup uncovered On this day in 2015: Eddie Jones appointed England’s first overseas head coach The sporting weekend in pictures Steve Clarke happy to toast Scotland fans after ‘strange’ draw with Norway Gareth Southgate targeting top of the world as England drive for Euros glory Rico Lewis hopes his versatility helps him make late push for Euro 2024 squad

Chelsea and Liverpool had disppointing seasons last year which resulted in plentiful changes at both clubs. Former Chelsea bosses, Graham Potter and Frank Lampard, have been replaced with Mauricio Pochettino who hopes to ignite a new successful era at the club. Pochettino has plenty of options to choose from but his focus on passing, speed and improvement of young players offers Chelsea the opportunity to rebuild themselves as a big threat in the top flight. Nowhere is this more on display than 23-year-old Reece James being made captain of the club following the departure of Cesar Azpilicueta. Liverpool, meanwhile, have overhauled their ageing midfield with Jordan Henderson and Fabinho both shipped off to Saudi Arabia. Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister have been brought in to replace them but questions remain over the Reds’ defensive capabilities. Added to all this is the subplot of Moises Caicedo. Liverpool have had a bid of £110m accepted by Brighton for the midfielder but Caicedo prefers to join Chelsea with the Blues thinking about tabling an improved offer for the 21-year-old. The battle for Caicedo’s signature could play out on the pitch as the two clubs clash this afternoon. Follow all the action from Stamford Bridge as Chelsea host Liverpool: Read More Jurgen Klopp wants players to step up as ‘reloaded’ Liverpool look to hit stride Moises Caicedo transfer takes twist as Chelsea look to hijack Liverpool offer Why Axel Disasi could solve Mauricio Pochettino’s defensive problems at Chelsea

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