A tentative agreement to end the NBA's crippling lockout and save the season will have owners and players scrambling to get the details in place in time for a star-studded Christmas tip-off.

"There is a lot of work to be done in a lot of places, with a lot of committees and player groups and the like, but we are optimistic that it will hold and we will have ourselves an NBA season," NBA commissioner David Stern said as he and players' association executive director Billy Hunter sat wearily side by side around 3:00 am on Saturday to announce the handshake agreement.

Arsene Wenger is expected to make changes to his starting line-up for the League Cup this week after admitting tiredness played a part in dropping points against Fulham.

Thomas Vermaelen earned a 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium with his late header, after scoring an own goal to open the scoring in the Premier League clash.

Sir Alex Ferguson could face FA action after launching a verbal attack on assistant referee John Flynn following Manchester United's controversial 1-1 drew with Newcastle at Old Trafford.

Rio Ferdinand was judged to have brought down Hatem Ben Arfa after 61 minutes although television replays suggested the England defender had been hard done by as referee Mike Jones consulted with his assistant Flynn before awarding the spot kick.

Defending champion Roger Federer will take on France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Sunday's World Tour Final, looking to win the title for a record sixth time.

The showpiece, season-ending match at London's O2 Arena will be Federer's 100th final and he got there by beating David Ferrer 7-5, 6-3 in Saturday's semis, making it 12 wins from 12 matches against the Spaniard.

Novak Djokovic is in danger of being eliminated early from the ATP World Tour Finals after losing to fellow Serb Janko Tipsarevic 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 Friday in their final round-robin match.

The loss means the top-ranked Djokovic fell to 1-2 in group play and will miss the semifinals if Tomas Berdych beats David Ferrer in the late match, with the Spaniard having already advanced. Berdych would join Ferrer, Roger Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last four with a win.

Chelsea coach Andre Villas-Boas revealed on Friday that he has held talks with owner Roman Abramovich, as he bids to turn around a spell of worrying form that threatens to derail the Blues' season.

Chelsea have lost four of their last seven games in all competition and are experiencing their worst start to a Premier League season since Abramovich bought the club eight years ago.

Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta hasn't recovered from a leg injury and will miss Saturday's Spanish league match at Getafe.

Iniesta skipped Wednesday's 3-2 Champions League victory at AC Milan with a bruised left thigh, and coach Pep Guardiola left the Spain international out of Friday's squad for the trip to the Spanish capital.

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone says he is "not really" optimistic about the U.S. Grand Prix taking place next year and has set American organizers a Wednesday deadline to guarantee its long-term financial backing.

Organizers for the proposed race in Austin, Texas, say they have agreed to pay the sanctioning fee to secure a spot on next year's F1 calendar, but that's not enough for Ecclestone.

Atletico Madrid coach Gregorio Manzano says injured striker Radamel Falcao hasn't recovered in time to play in Saturday's Spanish league derby against Real Madrid.

Atletico was hopeful the €47 million-signing ($67 million) would recover from a leg muscle tear to play at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, but Manzano ruled out the Colombian international on Friday.

At a time when Germany is playing its best football in years, the organization behind it is trying to tackle problems threatening to tarnish its image.

Referees under probe by tax authorities and the plague of fan violence, especially in lower-tier leagues, are keeping the football federation busy half a year before Germany goes to the European Championship as a favorite for the title.