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Brennan Johnson is benefiting from the “extreme” demands placed on him by Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou and proving himself to be an elite player, says his Wales manager Rob Page. Johnson has taken time to settle at Spurs following his £47.5million move from Nottingham Forest during the closing minutes of the summer transfer window. The 22-year-old forward has yet to score and suffered a hamstring injury on his first Premier League start for Tottenham, ruling him out of action for a month. Johnson’s second Premier League start against Chelsea on Monday also ended prematurely when he was sacrificed after Spurs were reduced to 10 men by defender Cristian Romero’s red card. But Johnson has shown signs of promise in North London with a superb assist for Son Heung-min’s winner at Crystal Palace, while he also set up the Spurs skipper for a disallowed effort against Chelsea before his first-half withdrawal. “Brennan’s at a big, big club now pushing for top four so the demands on him will be extreme,” said Page, who welcomed Johnson back into his squad after injury for this month’s decisive Euro 2024 qualifiers against Armenia and Turkey. “The squad of players he’s got around him now will be slightly different, but I’m not concerned at all. Even by training with the players he’s with will bring him to another level. “We’ve all seen the potential. When I worked with him at the Under-21s and the younger age groups, I could see he was going to go (to the top). “It’s taken him a little bit of time to get up to that standard, but he’s shown glimpses of it. “What is important now is that he sustains that level by playing with those players and the demands of the manager there. He will absolutely do that.” Johnson has only scored twice in 22 Wales appearances – against Belgium and the Netherlands in the Nations League – and that is a disappointing return for a player considered to be Gareth Bale’s natural successor in the Dragons’ forward line. Page suggested that is down to the way Wales have previously been structured as a team but he insists, as evidenced by last month’s stunning 2-1 win over World Cup semi-finalists Croatia, they are evolving as an attacking unit. He said: “The majority of the games in the World Cup and Nations League A we were the underdogs and not going to have a lot of the ball. “Our defensive structure has to be spot on if not you’re going to get found out, but as we evolve I’m asking more from the forward players and we saw that against Croatia. “I brought Jack Lester in (as assistant coach), who’s one of the best forwards I played with and coaches I’ve seen. It was an area I wanted to improve and I’ve seen a difference already.” Wales will avoid the play-offs in March and qualify automatically for next summer’s Euro 2024 finals in Germany if they beat Armenia in Yerevan on November 18 and Turkey in Cardiff three days later. Page said: “I like Brennan as a nine purely because of his pace. He did that for us in Latvia (when Wales won 2-0 in September) and there’s not a defender out there who’s going to want to play against him and DJ (Daniel James) because pace frightens defenders. “But I’m not going to pigeonhole him as a nine. He can play in any one of the front three positions easily.” Read More Ollie Watkins header seals win over AZ Alkmaar as Aston Villa eye last-16 spot Lucas Paqueta goal proves decisive as West Ham sink Olympiacos Katie Taylor ‘aware of what is at stake’ in Chantelle Cameron rematch Brighton complete double over Ajax to boost Europa League hopes England’s Ben Stokes has ‘no idea’ if Pakistan clash will be his last ODI Rasmus Hojlund says ‘a matter of time’ until Erik ten Hag improves Man United

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tennessee Titans desperately need a victory

Now that the twin strikes by Hollywood writers and actors are over, TV networks are scrambling to salvage

Ollie Watkins came to Aston Villa’s rescue as Unai Emery’s side hit back to beat AZ Alkmaar. The striker celebrated his England call-up to nod in with nine minutes left for a 2-1 win and put Villa on the brink of the Europa Conference League knockout stages. Diego Carlos’ controversial goal – heading in a corner which should have never been given – quickly cancelled out Vangelis Pavlidis’ opener. Victory left Villa joint-top of Group E, behind Legia Warsaw on their head-to-head record, knowing a point from their final two games would guarantee progress. Legia’s 2-0 win over Zrinjski Mostar earlier on Thursday had put the Polish side three points clear in the group. Villa knew victory would virtually secure second spot and their superiority was telling early, the hosts thinking they had the lead after just three minutes. Ezri Konsa’s shot was deflected behind and, from the corner, Watkins header was cleared off the line by Pavlidis. The ball ran to Leon Bailey and his cross was nodded in by Clement Lenglet – only for VAR to rule the goal out with Bailey offside. Lenglet almost gifted Alkmaar an opener, though, when Pavlidis seized on his loose pass and tried to lob Emi Martinez before horribly misjudging Ibrahim Sadiq’s superb cross. Mat Ryan tipped Youri Tielemans’ shot behind as Villa looked to regain some momentum but there would have been frustration for Emery as their early edge slipped away. Alkmaar even had their own goal disallowed three minutes before the break when a neat move ended with Pavlidis tapping in, although the striker was comfortably offside. The striker then tested Martinez after Villa played themselves into trouble as the visitors ended the half on top. It proved a warning sign as, six minutes into the second half, the striker opened the scoring with a goal of pure simplicity. Villa were caught out by Riechedly Bazoer’s ball over the top as Pavlidis ran clear of Lengent and beat Martinez for his 15th goal of the season. Alkmaar had something to cling to, having been 3-0 down at the same stage in the Netherlands two weeks ago, and Yuki Sugawara’s shot deflected wide. Yet Villa contentiously levelled after an hour. Lucas Digne’s cross was blazed over by Boubacar Kamara but referee Luis Godinho inexplicably gave a corner. Somewhat inevitably, when Bailey delivered the ball Diego Carlos nodded in. It gave Villa renewed confidence and, with time running out, Watkins grabbed the winner when he stole in ahead of Jordy Clasie to nod in Douglas Luiz’s fine pass. Read More Lucas Paqueta goal proves decisive as West Ham sink Olympiacos Katie Taylor ‘aware of what is at stake’ in Chantelle Cameron rematch Brighton complete double over Ajax to boost Europa League hopes England’s Ben Stokes has ‘no idea’ if Pakistan clash will be his last ODI Rasmus Hojlund says ‘a matter of time’ until Erik ten Hag improves Man United Gareth Southgate ‘not interested in just racking up games’ as England manager

No. 2 Duke and No. 12 Arizona meet on Friday night in the Blue Devils' famously rowdy Cameron Indoor Stadium

Jaguars left tackle Cam Robinson spent several hours over three days this week watching cutups from a team not even on Jacksonville’s schedule

Lucas Paqueta got West Ham’s Europa League campaign back on track with the winner in a 1-0 victory over Olympiacos. The Brazil midfielder crashed in a second-half volley to keep the Hammers on top of Group A and to the brink of qualifying for the knockout stages. It was also a measure of revenge for West Ham, who had accused the Greek team of celebrating their 2-1 win in the reverse fixture two weeks ago as if they had won the Europa League itself. Olympiacos fans created a hostile atmosphere that night in Athens, unfurling a huge banner across one stand reading ‘Tonight you dine in hell’. The London Stadium, by contrast, could never be referred to as a cauldron of noise, and besides, ‘Tonight you dine in Westfield’ does not have the same ring to it. Nevertheless, the place was crackling at kick-off with the Hammers, last season’s Europa Conference League winners, in need of a victory to keep their continental destiny in their own hands. But a workmanlike but limited Olympiacos proved a tough nut to crack in the opening 45 minutes. Said Benrahma dragged an early shot wide and then saw a better one saved by visiting goalkeeper Alexandros Paschalakis. From the corner James Ward-Prowse’s cross was headed straight at Paschalakis by Nayef Aguerd. Jarrod Bowen, on the day he earned another call up to the England squad, nodded Vladimir Coufal’s cross wide before Paschalakis was called into action again by Benrahma’s low drive. Two more Aguerd headers were off target before Olympiacos had their first shot in anger, shortly before half-time, with on-loan Wolves forward Daniel Podence volleying Francisco Ortega’s cross wide. Ward-Prowse should have given his side the lead on the hour when he met a cutback from Bowen, but the midfielder’s shot was straight at Paschalakis. But Paqueta, the best player on the pitch, finally broke the deadlock after Bowen’s square pass found Ward-Prowse. The former Southampton midfielder chipped it forward into the area for Paqueta to fire home on the volley from. The goal was initially ruled out by an assistant referee’s flag, but a VAR check showed the Brazilian was onside and referee Matej Jug, who had infuriated West Ham with some strange decisions all evening, got the biggest cheer of the night when he signalled a goal. It was a fourth assist in four European outings for Ward-Prowse, who was overlooked by England again earlier in the day, more than a year after his last call-up. Paqueta pointedly went to the 3,000 travelling fans to celebrate, probably because the West Ham players were targeted by laser pens from Greek supporters in Athens. West Ham survived a late scare when Mady Camara rattled a post but they held on to complete their European revenge mission. Read More Katie Taylor ‘aware of what is at stake’ in Chantelle Cameron rematch Brighton complete double over Ajax to boost Europa League hopes England’s Ben Stokes has ‘no idea’ if Pakistan clash will be his last ODI Rasmus Hojlund says ‘a matter of time’ until Erik ten Hag improves Man United Gareth Southgate ‘not interested in just racking up games’ as England manager Ali Price joins Edinburgh on loan from Glasgow after input from Scotland

Coach Jonathan Gannon cautioned Kyler Murray that he might not be the same old quarterback right away on Sunday, following a 335-day layoff caused by a torn ACL in his right knee

Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone has signed a contract extension to stay at the club until June 2027

A devoted group of Bay Area baseball fans are sending “Stay In Oakland” boxes to 15 Major League Baseball team owners, imploring them to vote no on the team's planned relocation to Las Vegas

The Los Angeles Chargers host the Detroit Lions on Sunday

The United States has begun its campaign in the Billie Jean King Cup Finals with a win over defending champion Switzerland