Van Persie makes his first return to the Emirates as Podolski looks set to start in place of Giroud

Wilkinson makes an emotional return to HQ with Toulon on Sunday

Sebastian Coe has overseen a drastic 50 per cent cut in the number of staff employed by the British Olympic Association as the new chairman attempts to reduce the body's financial "fragility" in the wake of the London Games.

As spearhead of England's attack, he has mastered the art of verbal jousting and – feeling fitter than ever – he can't wait to get at it this summer

Mo Farah will return to London next year to make his marathon debut proper but beyond that it is the extraordinary exploits of the flying Finn Lasse Viren, the greatest distance runner in Olympic history, that offer a clue to the possible long-term ambition of the Briton.

Ethiopian bizarrely not selected for London overhauls Mutai in final miles for second win

The London Marathon organisers were criticised by Josh Cassidy, a former winner of the men's wheelchair race, after the Canadian collided with Tiki Gelana, the Olympic champion and women's favourite, at a drinks station nine miles into the race.

When Tiki Gelana won Olympic gold in London last year she was only doing what has become expected of a runner from the small town of Bekoji, some 170 miles south of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

Chelsea captain in public rebuke of FA chairman during handover of trophy

Planet's fastest endurance athletes set to spur each other towards historic time