Today's sports news: What you need to know

Olympic canoe racing gold medallist Dame Lisa Carrington has levelled up her duel with Aimee Fisher.

Carrington edged reigning world champion Fisher by 0.11 of a second at Lake Karapiro on Sunday morning.

It came a day after Fisher narrowly won the first race in what was a three-race series to decide who would represent New Zealand in the K1 500 metres at this year's World Championships.

The third and deciding race was scheduled for Thursday.

The 2022 World Championships would be held in Canada in August.

Gunners hand Man Utd another defeat

Arsenal dealt a blow to Manchester United's hopes of a top-four Premier League finish as Nuno Tavares, Bukayo Saka and Granit Xhaka struck in a 3-1 win that revived the home side's chances of Champions League football next season.

The Gunners were rewarded for their blistering early pace as Tavares tapped home in the third minute after United goalkeeper David de Gea pushed away a curling effort by Saka, following some poor defending by the visitors at The Emirates.

Saka doubled the Gunner's lead from the penalty spot after a foul on the winger in the build-up to a disallowed goal by Eddie Nketiah. Nketiah's strike was ruled offside by the Video Assistant Referee.

United's sluggish display overshadowed fleeting moments in which they threatened and was another reminder of the challenge facing incoming manager Erik ten Hag, though the visitors got one back as Cristiano Ronaldo swept in Nemanja Matic's cross.

The Portuguese forward's 100th Premier League goal came after a traumatic week personally for the player after the death of one of his newborn twin babies.

United improved after the restart but their woes deepened as skipper Bruno Fernandes hit the post with a poor effort from the penalty spot following Tavares' handball, before a 70th-minute thunderbolt from Xhaka sealed the win for Arsenal.

- Reuters

Man City extend buffer in EPL

Four goals from Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus earned Manchester City a 5-1 win over relegation-threatened Watford, a victory that moved Pep Guardiola's side four points clear at the top of the Premier League standings.

With title rivals Liverpool not in action until Monday (NZ time) against Everton, City were overwhelming favourites to put Watford to the sword at the Etihad Stadium, with a double from Jesus' putting them 2-0 in front inside 24 minutes.

Watford then briefly threatened to make a game of it as French defender Hassane Kamara's first goal in English football five minutes later brought the visitors to within one of City.

However, a stunning strike from Spain international Rodri restored City's two-goal advantage in the 34th minute before Jesus completed his first Premier League hat-trick early in the second half after converting from the penalty spot.

Not done there, the 25-year-old tapped home his fourth in the 53rd minute to complete the rout.

Meanwhile stuttering Tottenham Hotspur's top-four ambitions suffered another blow as they were second best in a 0-0 draw away to Brentford.

Having seen Arsenal displace them from fourth spot earlier in the day, Tottenham would have reclaimed it with a win but were lacklustre and were fortunate to earn a point.

Newcastle United's Brazilian contingent sprung to the fore as Joelinton scored a brace and Bruno Guimaraes netted one more in an emphatic 3-0 victory over struggling Norwich City at Carrow Road.

The win moves Newcastle into the top half of the table and is another sign of their rapid improvement under manager Eddie Howe, who steered the side to their first league victory at Norwich in 28 years.

A below-par Leicester City played out a 0-0 draw against Aston Villa at home, a result that ended a four-match losing streak for Steven Gerrard's visiting side.

- Reuters

Verstappen takes Imola sprint race

Formula One champion Max Verstappen won a sprint for pole position at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, but Ferrari's Charles Leclerc still stretched his overall lead to 40 points.

The Dutch driver had already secured the official pole for the record books in a wet qualifying for the sprint at Imola but the race result made that concrete, as well as bagging him eight points.

Leclerc had seized the lead at the start, and held it through an initial safety car period, before Verstappen made up for his poor getaway and passed the Monegasque - whose tyres were fading fast - with a late move around the outside.

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz moved up to second in the championship standings after racing from 10th place to fourth, behind Red Bull's Sergio Perez in third.

Verstappen, who retired in the first two races of the season, is now 45 points behind Leclerc.

The first sprint of the season saw points awarded to the top eight, rather than podium places as was the case last year.

Leclerc said it had been a struggle with the tyre degradation at the end but was confident Ferrari would come back stronger in the main Grand Prix in front of their army of red-shirted home 'tifosi'.

Champions Mercedes had an afternoon to forget, with George Russell finishing 11th and losing second place in the standings while seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton was 14th - one place lower than where he started.

- Reuters

Stokes show support for Root

Ben Stokes has backed Joe Root to continue his run-scoring spree with the bat, offering his England team mate "nothing but love, respect and support" after his decision to quit test captaincy.

Root stepped down last week, saying the job had taken a heavy toll on him, after dispiriting tours of Australia and the Caribbean capped a string of poor results.

The 31-year-old Root is England's second-highest test run-scorer of all time, behind Alastair Cook. His tally of 5,295 runs as skipper is the highest by an England captain. He scored 1,708 test runs in 2021, including six test centuries.

"Now that he has stood down, I fully expect him to continue his brilliance with a bat in hand and show why he is the greatest batsman we've ever produced," all-rounder Stokes wrote in a column for the Daily Mirror.

"We are lucky to have him and he's still got so much to offer English cricket."

Stokes thanked Root for his support as captain, saying their relationship went "deeper and further" than just team mates and they have been "good friends" for a long time.

Stokes said Root called him to inform of his decision.

England appointed former batter Rob Key as the managing director of the country's men's cricket team while Stokes, who was Root's deputy, has been tipped as a favourite to become the next captain.

- Reuters