Lascelles popped up to head home in the fourth minute of stoppage time to grab a point that leaves Newcastle in 16th spot on 28 points from 28 games, two points above the relegation zone. Villa are ninth on 41 points from 27 matches.
* Borussia Moenchengladbach slumped to a 3-1 defeat at Augsburg on Friday to suffer a fourth straight Bundesliga loss and stay in 10th place as their hopes of a European spot fade. Gladbach's hopes of playing European football next season are all but gone with the team on 33 points, six behind Borussia Dortmund who are in sixth place which leads to Europa League qualification.
* Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren bosses, whose teams were the top- three in Formula One last year, have given their backing to proposed Saturday sprint qualifying races. The sport is expected to confirm the experiment, which would award championship points on Saturday as well as in Sunday's race, for a limited number of the season's planned 23 grands prix.
* The Premier League plans to welcome up to 10,000 fans in stadiums for the final two rounds of matches this season, chief executive Richard Masters said on Friday.
* The International Olympic Committee on Friday unanimously approved a set of 15 reforms it hopes will again turn the Olympics into an attractive prospect for fans, cities and sponsors through reduced cost, an increased digital presence and new revenues streams.
* Max Verstappen lapped fastest for Red Bull as Lewis Hamilton and Formula One champions Mercedes endured a surprisingly difficult first day of pre-season testing in sandstorm-hit Bahrain on Friday. Verstappen completed a whopping 139 laps while seven times champion Hamilton, who took over from team mate Valtteri Bottas after the lunch break, managed a mere 42 and was 2.2 seconds off the pace.
* The inaugural round of the UCI's new track cycling Nations Cup due to be held in Newport in Wales has been cancelled because of COVID-19 restrictions, British Cycling said on Friday. The event was scheduled for April 22-25 in the Geraint Thomas National Velodrome.
* Brighton & Hove Albion fullback Tariq Lamptey will miss the rest of the season due to a hamstring injury which has kept him out since December, manager Graham Potter said on Friday. Lamptey, 20, was enjoying a breakthrough campaign with Brighton before picking up the injury in a Premier League match against Fulham on Dec. 16.
* Primoz Roglic claimed his second victory in this year's Paris-Nice race as he won the sixth stage, a 202.4-km ride from Brignoles to Biot, to extend his overall lead on Friday. The Vuelta a Espana champion beat sprint specialists Christophe Laporte of France and Australian Michael Matthews at the end of a short uphill drag.
* Manchester United's David De Gea has returned to England from his paternity leave in Spain but the goalkeeper's participation against West Ham United is in doubt as he is still self-isolating, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said. De Gea has missed United's last three games after he was given time off to travel to Spain for the birth of his first child.
* Andy Murray will miss next week's Dubai Championships after his wife Kim gave birth to their fourth child. The three-time Grand Slam champion had planned to play in Dubai before the Miami Open which he still intends to play.
* Manchester United co-chairman Avram Glazer plans to sell five million Class A shares, the English soccer club said late on Thursday, in a stake sale that could be worth around US$100 million. New York-listed shares in United, controlled by the American Glazer family, closed at US$20.13 on Thursday.
* Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said on Friday that he is unsure as to where captain Sergio Ramos's future lies after recent speculation about the defender's next move. Ramos reiterated in multiple interviews on Thursday that he wanted to stay at the club once his contract expires this summer, after media reports in Spain had linked him with a move away.
* Two-times Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso said on Friday he expects to race all season with titanium plates in his broken jaw. The 39-year-old Spaniard told reporters at testing in Bahrain on Friday that he did not expect any issues on track, however, in what will be his comeback campaign after two years away.
* Everton playmaker James Rodriguez will miss Saturday's Premier League game at home to Burnley due to injury but could return after the international break, manager Carlo Ancelotti said. Midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure, however, could be out for eight to 10 weeks after suffering a small fracture in his foot, while Fabian Delph remains out with a tendon issue.
* Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and midfielder Ilkay Gundogan have been named the Premier League Manager and Player of the Month respectively for a second successive time, the league said on Friday.
* South African billionaire mining magnate Patrice Motsepe was elected unopposed as the new Confederation of African Football president, at the organisation’s congress in Morocco on Friday.
* Chris Wilder has left his role as Sheffield United manager, Sky Sports reported on Friday, with the club rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table and favourites to get relegated. The Blades have won just four games in the Premier League this season and Saturday's 2-0 home defeat by Southampton left them on 14 points, 12 points adrift of the safety zone with 10 matches to play.
