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Rob Page hopes the presence of Aaron Ramsey can help Wales realise their Euro 2024 dream after the injured captain joined them on their long trek to Armenia. Midfielder Ramsey has not played since mid-September after damaging a knee tendon, missing last month’s stunning victory over World Cup semi-finalists Croatia that has left automatic qualification in Wales’ own hands entering the final two games. The 32-year-old, however, has taken the unusual step of an injured player being present for Wales’ 4,600-round mile trip to Yerevan, one of European football’s most remote outposts. “Rambo’s travelled with the lads, which is brilliant,” Page said ahead of Saturday’s penultimate qualifier at the Republican Stadium, the scene of their only previous visit to this corner of Eastern Europe in 2001 – a game the manager played in. “It’s the presence around the changing room. I used to say it with Gareth Bale. Aaron falls into the same category for me. “The wealth of experience he’s got. Just being around young JJ (Jordan James), who can pick his brains on just about anything. He’s the captain and he’s been wanting to travel. He’s been with the group all week. “He’s done his little bits of work that he’s needed to for Cardiff. He’s got a plan and gone off and done his own bits. “We’ve had to find a training ground for him, but he wants to be around the boys and I think that speaks volumes about what we’ve got as a group.” Wales know two closing victories – already-qualified Turkey are the visitors to Cardiff on Tuesday – will see them secure qualification for a fourth tournament out of five. Dropped points will leave them relying on favourable results elsewhere and the prospect of avoiding the play-offs in March where the likes of Norway, Poland and Ukraine could be lurking. “The camp has been great all week. The positivity has been incredible,” said Page, who has a difficult selection call to make with Tottenham forward Brennan Johnson available after missing the Croatia win through injury. “There’s enough experience in that changing room of big games, when you need big players to step up for big games – and this is a big game for us. “Our full focus is on this game. We’re not even talking about Tuesday’s game. We’ve got enough experience to cope with this. “We haven’t got anything where you need that siege mentality (like Wales did in October) but we’re coming off the back of one of the best performances we’ve ever had, certainly of my tenure. “We can’t be complacent, we need consistency when it comes to that level of performance. If we do that the result will look after itself.” Ben Davies, as he did against Croatia, will lead Wales in the absence of Ramsey and playing at Euro 2024 would represent the Tottenham defender’s fourth major tournament – three European Championships and the 2022 World Cup. Davies said: “This is the dream for us and it doesn’t matter if you’ve done it once or three or four times. “We’re confident as a group that on the day we can beat anybody. We’ve done that in the last two and we want to show that again. “We’re a good group, a tight-knit group, and it’s nice to see the same faces every time you come. “You end up playing as a family and I think that where our success has been gained, being a band of brothers out there.”

Rob Page hopes the presence of Aaron Ramsey can help Wales realise their Euro 2024 dream after the injured captain joined them on their long trek to Armenia. Midfielder Ramsey has not played since mid-September after damaging a knee tendon, missing last month’s stunning victory over World Cup semi-finalists Croatia that has left automatic qualification in Wales’ own hands entering the final two games. The 32-year-old, however, has taken the unusual step of an injured player being present for Wales’ 4,600-round mile trip to Yerevan, one of European football’s most remote outposts. “Rambo’s travelled with the lads, which is brilliant,” Page said ahead of Saturday’s penultimate qualifier at the Republican Stadium, scene of their only previous visit to this corner of Eastern Europe in 2001 – a game the manager played in. “It’s the presence around the changing room. I used to say it with Gareth Bale. Aaron falls into the same category for me. “The wealth of experience he’s got. Just being around young JJ (Jordan James), who can pick his brains on just about anything. He’s the captain and he’s been wanting to travel. He’s been with the group all week. “He’s done his little bits of work that he’s needed to for Cardiff. He’s got a plan and gone off and done his own bits. “We’ve had to find a training ground for him, but he wants to be around the boys and I think that speaks volumes about what we’ve got as a group.” Wales know two closing victories – already-qualified Turkey are the visitors to Cardiff on Tuesday – will see them secure qualification for a fourth tournament out of five. Dropped points will need them relying on favourable results elsewhere and the prospect of avoiding the play-offs in March where the likes of Norway, Poland and Ukraine could be lurking. “The camp has been great all week. The positivity has been incredible,” said Page, who has a difficult selection call to make with Tottenham forward Brennan Johnson available after missing the Croatia win through injury. “There’s enough experience in that changing room of big games, when you need big players to step up for big games – and this is a big game for us. “Our full focus is on this game. We’re not even talking about Tuesday’s game. We’ve got enough experience to cope with this. “We haven’t got anything where you need that siege mentality (like Wales did in October) but we’re coming off the back of one of the best performances we’ve ever had, certainly of my tenure. “We can’t be complacent, we need consistency when it comes to that level of performance. If we do that the result will look after itself.” Ben Davies, as he did against Croatia, will lead Wales in the absence of Ramsey and playing at Euro 2024 would represent the Tottenham defender’s fourth major tournament – three European Championships and the 2022 World Cup. Davies said: “This is the dream for us and it doesn’t matter if you’ve done it once or three or four times. “We’re confident as a group that on the day we can beat anybody. We’ve done that in the last two and we want to show that again. “We’re a good group, a tight-knit group, and it’s nice to see the same faces every time you come. “You end up playing as a family and I think that where our success has been gained, being a band of brothers out there.” Read More Everton hit with 10-point deduction for breaching Premier League financial rules Carlos Alcaraz sets up Novak Djokovic clash with win at ATP Tour Finals Fine finish hands Nicolai Hojgaard two-shot lead at halfway stage in Dubai Exeter captain Poppy Leitch hoping for more progress during inaugural PWR season Street Child Cricket World Cup gives youngsters chance to shine Wales v Armenia: Key talking points as Rob Page’s side face crunch qualifier

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Sparks were seen flying from Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari as the first practice session for the highly anticipated Las Vegas Grand Prix descended into chaos. Thursday night’s practice (16 November) was cancelled after just nine minutes when Sainz hit a broken drain cover, damaging his car. CCTV footage from the Bellagio Hotel and Casino, which overlooks the track, shows the moment the Ferrari driver ran over the manhole. Sainz has been handed a 10-place grid penalty for the incident, and his car required repairs ahead of the second practice session, which took place in the early hours of Friday morning.

Everton have been given a 10-point deduction after an independent commission found them guilty of breaching the Premier League’s financial fair play (FFP) rules. The club plan to appeal against what they regard as a disproportionate and “unjust” punishment and said they were “shocked and disappointed” by the decision and the sanction. But as it stands, Sean Dyche’s men will drop from 14th to 19th place in the Premier League table and be plunged into greater danger of relegation as they only stay above bottom side Burnley on goal difference. The Toffees become the first English top-flight club to receive such a punishment for falling foul of FFP guidelines. They are just the third club in the Premier League era to be deducted points for any reason: Portsmouth saw nine points taken away for entering administration in 2010 and Middlesbrough were slapped with a three-point deduction for illegally postponing a game in 1997 – both teams subsequently suffering relegation at the end of the season. A statement from the Premier League read: “An independent commission has imposed an immediate deduction of 10 points on Everton FC for a breach of the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSRs). “The Premier League issued a complaint against the club and referred the case to an independent commission earlier this year. During the proceedings, the club admitted it was in breach of the PSRs for the period ending season 2021-22 but the extent of the breach remained in dispute. “Following a five-day hearing last month, the commission determined that Everton FC’s PSR calculation for the relevant period resulted in a loss of £124.5m, as contended by the Premier League, which exceeded the threshold of £105m permitted under the PSRs. The commission concluded that a sporting sanction in the form of a 10-point deduction should be imposed. That sanction has immediate effect.” Last month, the Premier League had recommended a deduction of up to 12 points for the Toffees, as they urged the independent commission to impose a severe sanction. Everton responded in a club statement that said: “Everton Football Club is both shocked and disappointed by the ruling of the Premier League’s commission. “The club believes that the commission has imposed a wholly disproportionate and unjust sporting sanction. The club has already communicated its intention to appeal the decision to the Premier League. The appeal process will now commence and the club’s case will be heard by an appeal board appointed pursuant to the Premier League’s rules in due course. “Everton maintains that it has been open and transparent in the information it has provided to the Premier League and that it has always respected the integrity of the process. “The club does not recognise the finding that it failed to act with the utmost good faith and it does not understand this to have been an allegation made by the Premier League during the course of proceedings. Both the harshness and severity of the sanction imposed by the commission are neither a fair nor a reasonable reflection of the evidence submitted. “The club will also monitor with great interest the decisions made in any other cases concerning the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability rules.” Manchester City face 115 charges for allegedly breaching FFP rules in a case that has not yet been heard while Chelsea could also face charges relating to former owner Roman Abramovich’s reign. Everton had announced a total loss of over £300m for the three-year period from 2019 to 2022, far above the £105m permitted. However, clubs were also permitted additional losses related to the Covid-19 pandemic and infrastructure costs are exempt, meaning there is a grey area in terms of interest payments on the costs of building Everton’s new stadium. Everton contend that that is where the discrepancy lies and that it is a matter of the interpretation of accounting. In addition, Everton had a £200m pre-agreement for a naming rights deal for their new Bramley-Moore Dock stadium with USM, Alisher Usmanov’s company, which they had to abandon after Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Everton have willingly operated under a de facto salary cap since then. The Premier League provided the club with financial guidelines and Everton have a net profit of £28m from the last four transfer windows – the third largest, after Leicester and Brighton, in that time. The Independent has previously reported that an extra layer of political pressure was exerted by the anticipated introduction of an independent football regulator – as laid out by prime minister Rishi Sunak in the King’s Speech earlier this month – with other figures in the sport believing the Premier League is attempting to show the government it can regulate itself. Eyes will now turn to Burnley, Leeds United and Leicester City, who had threatened to sue the Merseyside club for financial losses should they be found guilty of an FFP breach. Read More Watch: Everton CEO responds to Premier League after point deduction Everton vow to fight to ‘unjust’ Premier League points deduction Victor Lindelof: Scoring more goals is next step for Manchester United Sean Dyche: Everton are starting to show belief on the road after latest win Everton edge Crystal Palace in five-goal thriller On this day in 2014: David Moyes appointed Real Sociedad head coach