Sunderland manager Gus Poyet told his players they can still play themselves into his starting line-up for the League Cup final.
The side head for Arsenal on Saturday, eight days before they meet Manchester City at Wembley, with the season’s first major trophy at stake. Starting spots are very much up for grabs, he said.
“No doubt, no doubt,” he said. “Managers will always have seven or eight we will pick if they are fit, which leaves three or four which are always available for people depending on what they do or how they feel. I hope nothing happens next week, so I can make the decisions based on performance and what we need.”
Hull City Manager Steve Bruce believes their season could hit new highs in the next three days.
Hull can give their Premier League survival hopes a major boost when they visit second-from-bottom Cardiff City today, before hosting Brighton in Monday night’s FA Cup replay.
Bruce does not love the idea of playing twice in 48 hours, but two victories would leave his side with plenty to look forward to.
League safety is the priority, and would move one step closer to reality with success in South Wales, while a home quarter-final draw against Sunderland awaits the winners of the cup clash.
“Can we get to 30 points and be in a cup quarter-final by Monday? It’s all to play for and it would be a terrific boost for us all,” he said.
“It’s a big game every week for us, from the day we started at Chelsea to our first home game. They’re all big games and Cardiff is another one.
“We’re not exactly steeped in tradition of going to FA Cup finals or semi-finals, so it would be terrific for everyone concerned.
“Why can’t we mount a challenge on two fronts?”
Sam Allardyce said West Ham’s owners will only know whether they were right not to sack him at the end of the season.
Management have stuck with Allardyce and have been rewarded with 10 points from the last four games, lifting the team from the bottom three and into 11th place. The owners’ patience will only be vindicated by where they finish. “We’ll only know that at the end of the season, when we have achieved what we want to achieve and that is to finish as high up the table as we can,” he said.
“We are not out of the woods yet but we have made great strides, all of us, including the co-chairmen and vice-chairman Karren Brady for getting some new players in January.
“Everyone has played a part to alleviate the situation we were in and it’s my job to make sure that pays off. At the moment it’s going well but Southampton are back in good form again so it will be a difficult game.
“But hopefully with the form we are in we will be big enough and strong enough to conquer them.”
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Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
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Three-day coronation
Royal purification
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
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Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
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