Event of the Day: Los Angeles Rams versus Minnesota Vikings
Our event of the day is the Thursday night NFL fixture between the Los Angeles Rams and the Minnesota Vikings at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The Vikings are somewhat of a bogie team for the Rams, winning five on the bounce against their Los Angeles opponents. When the two sides met last season, the Vikings ran away convincing 24-7 winners. However, the Rams have started the season in sparkling form and go into today’s encounter unbeaten with a 3-0 record. They opened the campaign with a straightforward 33-13 victory over the Oakland Raiders, and followed this with a 34-0 trouncing of the Arizona Cardinals. The Rams maintained their 100% start to the season with a hard-fought 35-23 win over their Los Angeles rivals, the Chargers. With an offense currently averaging 34 points a game, they are certainly the NFL team to beat at the moment. However, they are likely to be without their two star cornerbacks for today’s showdown. Aqib Talib is a certain absentee, whilst Marcus Peters is a doubt.
Minnesota will look to take full advantage. The Vikings were hotly tipped for Super Bowl success at the start of the season, but have had a much less impressive opening three games than today’s opponents. They currently sit on 1-1-1 following a huge upset on Sunday. The Vikings lost to massive underdogs the Buffalo Bills in one of the biggest NFL shock in years. This was a convincing victory to boot, the Bills winning 27-6. Minnesota will be desperate to bounce back from Sunday’s woeful defeat and silence the critics. Victory over the Rams would be the perfect response. With so much to play for already, a fantastic spectacle is in store.
Honourable mentions around the globe go to day 5 of the Wuhan Open on the WTA Tour in China. Quarter-finals day will see 16th seed Ashleigh Barty, who knocked out Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber yesterday, play Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the unseeded Russian who beat world number five Petra Kvitová to reach this stage. Meanwhile on the ATP World Tour, both the Chengdu and Shenzhen Open enter their fourth day of action in China. The County Championship season concludes across the UK, as Surrey versus Essex continues at the Oval. Elsewhere in England, flat racing comes from Newmarket, where it’s day 1 of the 2018 Cambridgeshire Meeting. Italian giants AC Milan travel to Empoli in Serie A, whilst in La Liga, Girona host Real Betis. Sporting action in the States comes from Tropicana Field, where the final game in the MLB series between the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees takes place. In Austria, the sixth day of world class road cycling action gets underway at the UCI Road World Championships.
Whatever you’re watching, enjoy!
Photos by NFL