Ronnie O'Sullivan has described the venue for this year's English Open as "a hellhole" and urged World Snooker to spend more money on tournament hosts. "It's such a bad venue, it demotivates you to want to play. This is about as bad as I've ever seen," he said. World Snooker said other players' feedback was "overwhelmingly positive".

Eden Hazard scored twice to cap a marvellous individual display as Chelsea recorded their first victory of 2018 at the Amex Stadium. Goals in the first six minutes of the match by Hazard and Willian put the Blues in control. Brighton had a strong penalty shout turned down in the first half, and hit the bar after the break, while Willian’s free-kick was tipped on to the post by Albion keeper Mat Ryan. Hazard’s fine solo run and finish made it 3-0 before Victor Moses completed the rout late on.

On Friday night I saw Brighton’s 5-0 thrashing of Fulham, which kept the Seagulls in the hunt for promotion to the Premier League. The following day, my team Aston Villa dropped through the trap door after 28 years in the top flight. Championship football beckons. With Villa looking for a new manager, much has been made of the need for Championship experience. Albion boss Chris Hughton certainly has that, taking Newcastle up, getting Birmingham to the play-offs and now transforming Brighton...