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• Player found guilty of ‘non-serious assault’ in 2020

• England defender to appeal again against verdict

The England and Manchester United defender Harry Maguire has been handed a 15-month suspended prison sentence by a Greek court over a 2020 incident in Mykonos.

In 2020, Maguire was found guilty of repeated bodily harm, attempted bribery and violence against public employees after his arrest after a brawl outside a nightclub.

• Clubs in favour say squads of 28 would reduce injury risk

• Critics fear move would deepen hoarding of top talent

Elite clubs are lobbying Uefa to expand the size of Champions League squads to 28, arguing it would reduce the risk of injuries. The calls have come at the highest level of the European game and prompted fears that it would deepen the hoarding of top talent.

At a meeting of Uefa’s club competitions committee (CCC) last month, clubs argued that the cap of 25 players should be increased. It is not a view shared by all 16 clubs represented on the CCC, with some strongly against expansion.

• Incident took place at EFL Trophy game with Barnsley

• Player ‘truly sorry for the offensive word that I used’

Jack Fletcher – the son of club legend Darren Fletcher – has received a six-game ban and been fined £1,500 for calling a Barnsley player a “gay boy”, with the Manchester United midfielder apologising for his conduct.

Fletcher made the comment when playing for United Under-21s in October’s 5-2 EFL Trophy loss at Oakwell. On 62 minutes Fletcher used the homophobic term in an argument with an unnamed Barnsley player, according to the testimony of Will Davis, the referee, who subsequently sent the 18-year-old off. Fletcher admitted the charge, with both the opponent and the FA regulatory commission accepting he did not wish to be intentionally homophobic.

• Fixture will be a first in English women’s top divisions

• Dates and kick-off times revealed for WSL season finale

The Women’s Super League 2 side involved in the new promotion-relegation playoff will have home advantage in the one-leg contest, WSL Football has confirmed, with the top-flight side having to play away from home.

The first fixture of its kind in the English women’s top divisions, the playoff will be held on Saturday 23 May with a 12.30pm kick-off and will pit the team third in WSL 2 against the WSL’s bottom side. The match will be broadcast live on BBC Two and Sky Sports.

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In recent weeks, the Premier League has descended into a full-blown existential crisis. VAR is increasingly bobbins, various teams are ruining everybody’s fun by Arsenaling about at set pieces and Arne Slot has made the grim admission that he finds “no joy” in the current lack of swashbuckling action. Naturally, the usual suspects are clutching their pearls, wailing that everything was better back when pitches were bogs and tackles were felonies. Desperate for a Tuesday night shot in the arm, The Best League In The World™ offered viewers a choice of four matches so turgid they bordered on the offensive. One was a goalless void; another’s solitary highlight involved a Leeds substitute pilfering a strategically placed towel; a third saw an Everton win so routine it made a documentary on the history of beige paint look like Mad Max: Fury Road. Ultimately, the only drama to be found was at Molineux – and even there both sets of players decided to wait 70 minutes before bothering to engage in some actual football.

You can only go to the coffee shop so many times, you can only feed the chickens and the ducks so many times, and, you know, it gives you that edge. I had the heart pumping, nervous before the game, things like that, and you forget really. I even feel quite stiff if I’m honest, and I’m not really doing much running, but it’s the adrenaline. It was nice to get a result with the fans as well, because they’ve been superb” – Neil Warnock, back in the dugout at 77 as Torquay caretaker, reflects on their 2-2 Conference South draw with Farnborough.

No, I just won’t believe it. Football Daily supposedly won a match 17-0 in Championship Manager 01-02? (yesterday’s Football Daily). Nope, don’t buy that at all. My memory is a bit fuzzy about whether 2001 was the an older era, or even the time of the long-lost ‘TV and Radio’ listings. But there’s no way that Football Daily’s crack staff [erm, OK – Football Daily Ed] was around way back then. Also, Woking?” – Mike Wilner.

Just to follow up on the original Stroopwafel mention (Monday’s Football Daily), lukewarm is really the optimum temperature. Too hot and that caramel is taking the roof of your mouth off and cold is also suboptimal. Derek Smalls it all the way” – Matt Leuw.

Wolves are the modern-day Robin Hood. They rob the rich and give away to the poor” – Krishna Moorthy.

I don’t know how often Football Daily can be described as required reading, but you achieved it on Tuesday. Your inclusion of David Squires’s take on Gianni Infantino’s ‘accomplishments’ in his 10-year reign, followed by a link to Barney Ronay’s – as you aptly described it – ‘excoriating’ column on this same man, offers us all an opportunity to reflect soberly on what we enjoy about football and what, instead, we should wholeheartedly reject. Thank you” – Mike Fichtner.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

• Iran was only country missing from Fifa planning summit

• US and Israel began attacking Iranian targets on Saturday

Donald Trump has said he does not care whether Iran participate in this summer’s World Cup, which is being jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada. The US and Israel began attacking targets in the country on Saturday, with the conflict in the Middle East since spreading to the wider region.

US president Trump told Politico: “I really don’t care. I think Iran is a very badly defeated country. They’re running on fumes.” Iran was the only nation missing from a Fifa planning summit for World Cup participants held this week in Atlanta, deepening questions over whether the country’s team will compete on US soil this summer amid an escalating regional war.

Ligue 1 clubs such as Monaco, Rennes, Nantes and Reims need the money – and Saudi Pro clubs are willing buyers

By Get French Football News

Signing Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kanté brought eyes to the Saudi Pro League but, in their bid to hold that gaze and avoid a repeat of what happened to the Chinese Super League, Saudi clubs have implemented a new strategy and targeted a new demographic. Eighteen months ago, the league introduced an extra spot in squads for foreign players, provided they were under the age of 21 when recruited. Saudi clubs honed in on France, where they have found willing sellers and enthusiastic recruits.

French football is not a self-sustaining ecosystem. Long dead is the dream of a €1bn broadcast rights deal, announced before last season. In the end, clubs earned less than €500m. This season, with the withdrawal of Dazn and the launch of the league’s own Ligue 1 Plus, broadcasting rights will total around €270m. BeIN Sports are pulling out of their deal to broadcast a game each weekend, so receipts will be even lower next season. The league’s channel is likely to earn just €120m for the 18 top-flight clubs. Alarm bells have sounded and salvation has come in an unfamiliar form.

After ninth red card this season, Chelsea are running out of time to fix discipline issues and must turn things around at Aston Villa

It is natural for young people to feel they have all the time in the world. For Liam Rosenior, though, part of the challenge with Chelsea’s tyros is making them knuckle down. They have to realise the competition is about to heat up. The sun was shining at training this week and the warmer weather brings a greater sense of urgency. The yellow footballs have gone into storage, signalling that the business end of the season is approaching.

“Today it’s the first time we trained with the white balls,” Rosenior said. “That’s normally a sign we’re into that period. When those white balls come out, we can’t make those mistakes that we’re making. You’re running out of time – and that’s the message myself and my staff have given the players this morning.”

As the sport’s governing bodies and social media companies fail in their aim to safeguard, players are forced to fill the leadership vacuum

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Hello and welcome to The Long Wave. I’m standing in for Nesrine today – and while this newsletter is not, and has never wanted to be, a digest of “the week in racism”, sometimes events are so egregious that they force our hand. In the past few weeks alone, there have been multiple high-profile reports of online racial abuse targeted at footballers, as well as a number of on-the-field incidents that have led to matches being halted as the victims have sought, and largely failed to get, support from the on-field authorities. So this week, I want to look at the rise of abuse in football to better understand whether the sport’s governing bodies and social media companies are even capable of standing by their repeated promises to tackle racism in the sport.

Plus: hat-trick heroes who were not named player of the match, managers sacked after big wins, and more

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“A few weeks ago, Sandra Jessen started for FC Köln against Essen,” notes James Vortkamp-Tong. “Is this the first time a player has contained the opposing side’s name in their own?”

It’s not actually the first time Sandra Jessen has played against Essen, as Alicia Butteriss points out. “From what I can tell she first started against Essen, for Bayer Leverkusen, on the last day of the 2018-19 Frauen Bundesliga,” writes Alicia. “It would be remiss of me not to add that she scored both of Köln’s goals when they beat Essen 2-1 near the start of this season.”

From the World Cup to the Women’s Asian Cup and the AFC Champions League, the future is shrouded in uncertainty

A question about the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to the head coach of the Iran women’s team before the Asian Cup was quickly, and unsurprisingly, shut down by officials in Australia. It is hard to know what Marziyeh Jafari could have said with events back home moving at an almost unimaginable pace. The former leader of Iran cast a large shadow over all walks of life and football was no different, though apparently he was not a fan.

But like many dictators he understood and was wary of the power of the country’s most popular sport, and the passions it provoked, especially when thousands of people came together. When times were tense, games were played behind closed doors. The heroes of Melbourne, who came from behind to win a playoff in Australia to qualify for the 1998 World Cup, were told not to come straight home to Tehran as the city celebrated. At that tournament there was more public joy after the famous 2-1 win against USA but Khamenei’s statement was not the most sporting. “Tonight again the strong and arrogant opponents felt the bitter taste of defeat at your hands,” he told the team. “Be happy that you have made the Iranian nation happy.”

Everton harbour ambitions of bringing European football to Hill Dickinson Stadium next season and a first Premier League win at their new home in seven attempts will increase the optimism. The hosts were effective, rather than magnificent, against a woefully poor Burnley but the result is all that matters.

Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City are the next three visitors to Everton, so goals from James Tarkowski and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall were essential as they looked to build momentum. It was only Everton’s fifth win in 15 league games since leaving Goodison Park, helping solidify their position in eighth, which could be good enough for continental qualification come the end of the season.

Last year Sunderland departed West Yorkshire on a snowy February night with their hopes of automatic promotion from the Championship in tatters. Leeds had come from behind to clinch a 95th‑minute win that would take them top of the second tier and only the most optimistic visiting fans expected a rematch this season.

Fast forward to a balmy March evening, though, and Régis Le Bris’s well‑executed gameplan lifted an injury hit yet streetwise Sunderland and their debutant goalkeeper Melker Ellborg to 11th in the Premier League.

Bracketed regularly together, holding the same ambition of European football for the first time, Brentford continue to hold the advantage. The chase may come down to one of them and Bournemouth were left frustrated by a 13th drawn game of the season.

On a midweek night when the Premier League resembled Prem Rugby – all hustle, grappling, kicking for territory and physicality usually closing off creativity – Brentford toughed it out. Following the final whistle the tension spilled over. Keith Andrews was at the centre of proceedings, though claimed to have “no idea” what started a ruck that involved Jordan Henderson and the Bournemouth assistant Shaun Cooper.

Even before Wolves fashioned a 94th‑minute winner, this had been everything but the stress‑free visit Arne Slot would have gladly welcomed. Just as it seemed Mohamed Salah had rescued Liverpool a point at bottom club Wolves, André’s deflected shot beat Alisson to secure for the hosts their second Premier League win in five days, having waited six months for their first, in January. Slot hunched over, winded by defeat, alarmingly a fifth in stoppage time this season. Wolves, meanwhile, are suddenly having something of a ball.

For Rob Edwards, the Wolves head coach, it was that time again. “It’s not great for my heart, but I could get used to it,” he said. Last Friday, he streamed down the touchline and pulled his calf, he said, celebrating Wolves’ second goal to secure victory against their rivals Aston Villa.

• André scores 94th-minute winner at Molineux

• ‘This has happened to us so many times this season’

Arne Slot described Liverpool’s defeat at Wolves as an episode that “sums up our season” and warned his squad they must address their shortcomings. André’s 94th-minute strike, deflected in via Joe Gomez, represented the fifth winning goal Liverpool have conceded in stoppage time this season and Slot bemoaned a familiar theme as his team struggled to create chances from open play.

Liverpool looked to have rescued a point through Mohamed Salah, the Egyptian cancelling out Rodrigo Gomes’s opener in the 83rd minute, but in added time André seized on a clearance by Alisson to compound Liverpool’s frustrations. Liverpool return to Molineux on Friday in the FA Cup fifth round.

• United manager admits a lot of wins would be needed

• Carrick: ‘You can’t rule anything out in football’

Michael Carrick has refused to rule out Manchester United catching Arsenal and challenging for the title, though the interim manager admitted a lot of wins would be needed.

United recorded a sixth victory under Carrick when defeating Crystal Palace 2-1 at Old Trafford on Sunday, making it 19 points from 21 since he took over. Their form is the best in the Premier League over that period but United trail Arsenal by 13 points with a game in hand and have 10 matches to play. Carrick was asked before United’s game at Newcastle on Wednesday whether he would rule out catching Mikel Arteta’s team.

• Ukraine 1-6 England

• Georgia Stanway and Jess Park also score twice

Stressed, anxious or doubtful after a goalless first half? Not these England players, who remained fully confident in their ability and found a flurry of second-half goals to begin their Women’s World Cup qualifying campaign with a 6-1 win against Ukraine.

It helps when you have players with the firepower of Alessia Russo, Georgia Stanway and Jess Park all thriving and scoring twice. The European champions may feel they should have won by a greater margin: they were profligate in the first half, but eventually opened the floodgates as Park continued her bright Manchester United form.

• Chris Sutton said Arsenal would be ‘ugliest’ champions

• Gunners manager wants even more goals from dead balls

Mikel Arteta has hit back at critics of Arsenal’s dependence on set-pieces, saying he is disappointed the Premier League leaders do not score even more goals from dead balls.

Arteta’s side have a five-point lead thanks in part to their success at set pieces. They equalled the Premier League season record for goals from corners by scoring two in the 2-1 win against Chelsea on Sunday, reaching 16 for the campaign.

• Manager compares set-play goals to NBA three-pointers

• Erling Haaland faces fitness test ahead of Forest match

Pep Guardiola is happy that Manchester City have scored a Premier League low 15.8% of their 57 goals this season from set pieces.

City’s nine goals from set plays are the second fewest in the division, ahead of the eight scored by Nottingham Forest and Wolves, as of Tuesday afternoon. Arsenal are the only team to have scored more goals in total than City, with 58, but 24 of them have come from set pieces, representing a 41.3% share, the highest of any top-flight side.

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Robyn Cowen is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jordan Jarrett-Bryan and Seb Hutchinson to review the first batch of midweek Premier League action, including another win for Wolves at home

Subscribe to The Guardian Football Weekly ► https://www.youtube.com/@FootballWeeklyPodcast?sub_confirmation=1

On the podcast today: Wolves beat Liverpool in injury time thanks to a deflected André goal, his first in 60 games for Wolves. The great escape surely couldn’t be on … could it?

Elsewhere, pulses aren’t exactly set racing but there are significant wins for Everton, who break their home hoodoo against a still crestfallen Burnley, Leeds lose under the lights to Sunderland and Bournemouth and Brentford play out a goalless draw.

Plus, a look ahead to the rest of the midweek Premier League action, the Lionesses begin their march to World Cup glory with a big qualifying win against Ukraine and your questions answered.

Chapters:

00:00 - Coming up...

01:51 - Wolves 2-1 Liverpool

14:21 - Everton 2-0 Burnley

22:20 - Leeds 0-1 Sunderland

30:00 - Bournemouth 0-0 Brentford

30:30 - Prem preview

44:37 - Lionesses round up

49:15 - What's Fabrizio up to?

53:15 - What's Felipe Luis up to?

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The MLS champions face a familiar conundrum: lend credence to a warmongering administration, or sit out and draw heat

Donald Trump was not at the White House when the military he commands began bombing Iran over the weekend. He was at Mar-a-Lago, his estate in Florida, following the action from a makeshift situation room apparently built from those curtains that you can wheel away. That’s also where he was when American forces kidnapped Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife a few weeks earlier.

On Thursday, however, Trump will be at the White House for the really important business – namely, receiving Inter Miami as winners of the 2025 MLS Cup.

At a meeting of the board that governs the World Cup stadium in Foxborough, promises were made if not accepted

Tuesday evening’s meeting of the Foxborough, Massachusetts, Select Board is still minutes from starting, but a local resident can’t keep himself from approaching the bench. He has an urgent question for the five members, who in effect serve as the town’s primary governing body. His tone isn’t one of anger, more of concern.

“Do you think we’re going to have the World Cup here?”

The midfielder on her nomadic life, experiencing Nigerian celebrations and the national team’s World Cup prospects

Being an integral figure in the distinguished history of Nigeria’s women’s team is an experience that will never dim in the mind of Jennifer Onyinyechi Echegini. Seven months on from beating the hosts Morocco in a pulsating Women’s Africa Cup of Nations final at Rabat’s Olympic Stadium, in the process winning a record 10th African title, “Joe”, as her Paris Saint-Germain teammates call Echegini – an acronym of her three initials – is yet to come down from her career high.

“Winning the Wafcon is on another level, you know?” the 24-year-old midfielder says from Paris. “The pride and the achievement that I felt … when you’re playing with a group of girls that you love and care for, it makes it even more special.”

Spurs’ slide from title hopefuls to relegation candidates is a story of complete mismanagement and widespread injury

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Last week, after Tottenham had lost 4-1 at home to Arsenal, Igor Tudor was bullish. It was possible leaving his post-match press conference to think he was a man with the energy and personality to drag Spurs away from the relegation zone. This week, after Tottenham had lost 2-1 at Fulham, Tudor was deflated. The previous week he had spoken of defeat in the North London derby as being part of the process, a game that would startle his players into understanding what was required of them. This week, he just mumbled about having to forget the game and move on. A week in the Tottenham job seemed to have broken him.

Tudor is a specialist firefighter. He has saved teams from worse positions than being four points clear of the relegation zone with 10 games to go, which is where Spurs stand now. But that is what makes his defeatist tone so shocking. He spoke of “big problems”, dismissing a question about his 4-4-2 formation with the snort of a man asked about the shade of the carpet in his hallway as his roof burns down. He talked of an attack that lacks quality, of a midfield that cannot run and a defence that is not prepared to “suffer” to keep goals out. He made fairly explicit that he thinks his players lack the requisite character and pointed out how Fulham were better at reading the game, accusing his players of lacking “brain”.

It was right to disallow Tottenham’s goal in the north London derby and it was also correct to rule out the goal that would have given Burnley a 4-4 draw against Brentford

At the start of the season, clubs, fans and the media were told referees would be taking a proactive approach to holding in the penalty area, or grappling as some call it. We have since seen some really good examples of on-field referees making decisions where they have clearly identified holding offences and others where the VAR has recommended a review. But in the past six or eight weeks the issue seems to have intensified, with a change in tack in the Premier League, where clubs are loading the penalty area at every set piece.

During the game between Arsenal and Chelsea on Sunday there was one corner where Declan Rice was holding Jorrel Hato, David Raya was being held, Gabriel Magalhães’s shirt was being pulled and Viktor Gyökeres was having a tug at Enzo Fernández. It was very messy. The players have a real responsibility with this because a lot of histrionics go with it. Players are going to ground easily, obscured by a crowd of people in the penalty area, and offences can be difficult to detect.

Hat-trick against Villarreal, his first at 18 years and 230 days, made him the youngest Barça player to score a league one

Mounir Nasraoui and Sheila Ebana watched their little boy make history while everyone else watched too, which takes getting used to but is the way it is now and forever. A moment before the second half began on Saturday, Hansi Flick came to an agreement with Lamine Yamal, or tried to. The teenager had scored twice – both superb, the second absurd – to put them 2-0 up against Villarreal and the coach had an idea. If we score the third, we’ll take you off, Flick said; if I score the third, we will, Lamine Yamal replied. Twenty minutes later both happened together and that, he laughed after, was “perfect”, so up went the board with his number on and up went 44,256 people too, applauding as he went.

Back home, following the game on TV and broadcasting to the world, so did his dad. Lamine Yamal slapped hands with Roony Bardghji, delegate Carlos Naval and Flick, but his eyes were turned towards the stands, looking for his mum. He settled into the bench for a while, saw Robert Lewandowski add another to complete a 4-1 victory and then, when the final whistle sounded, headed back out, collected the match ball from Naval and went to find her. “This is yours,” he said, cameras catching another conversation. “I’m going to take it inside and get everyone to sign it, then bring it to you.” Sheila hugged him hard, kissed her “handsome boy”, and waited for him to return so they could go for dinner.

Hosts thought they had salvaged an unlikely draw, but title and multiple records now loom for Vincent Kompany’s side

It is not and will not be about the individual records. At least that is what Vincent Kompany has said on more than one occasion and will continue to say, despite Der Klassiker delivering the decisive blow in what was never really a Bundesliga title race on the final day of February. However, in the context of the league campaign, outside the bubble of what was a satisfying spectacle in a standalone sense, there may be little more to say.

Much as Kompany insisted that “prizes are awarded at the end of a season, not in February”, none of the 80,000 fans in Signal Iduna Park or those beyond needed any telling what this all meant. Joshua Kimmich’s beautifully taken late winner, snuffing out a late Borussia Dortmund comeback, gave Bayern Munich a 3-2 victory in an oscillating thriller and extended their lead at the top to 11 points, with 10 games to go. Game, set and match, even if Bayern’s CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen resisted an attempt by the presenters of Bild Sport to ply him with a glass of championship champagne on Sunday.

The former Wolves manager has impressed in the dugout (and the classroom) since replacing Liam Rosenior

By Get French Football News

“Un bon match,” said Gary O’Neil as he walked into the press room, large mug in hand, after Strasbourg’s entertaining 1-1 draw with Lens. You can’t say the Englishman hasn’t embraced the move to Alsace since being named Liam Rosenior’s successor at the start of January; all that was missing was the minuscule espresso to complete the Londoner turned cultured European vibe.

His drink would have gone cold by the end of his 28-minute post-match press conference, which he delivered with a Cheshire cat grin that sometimes broke into a slight blush. There were even a few phrases in French. “I have another lesson on Monday. Hopefully, I’ll bring some more French next week,” he joked on his way out of the door, giving a shoutout to his teacher, Ella.

Raffaele Palladino’s side lacked energy after salvaging Serie A pride last week, when league was written off prematurely

On Wednesday, Atalanta “saved Italian football”. At least, that’s what the headlines said after their sensational 4-1 win over Dortmund that overturned a two-goal first-leg deficit and ensured Serie A representation in the last 16 of the Champions League. Yet on Sunday they could not save themselves from defeat to Sassuolo.

This ought to have been so much easier. Their opponents were a man down from the 16th minute, when Andrea Pinamonti was sent off for a studs-up challenge on Berat Djimsiti. Perhaps Atalanta let complacency creep in, multiplied by exhaustion from their midweek exertions. Or maybe Sassuolo deserve all the credit for the resilience they have developed this season under Fabio Grosso.

The days of the retirement league trope appear to be ending, while Inter Miami’s star had an outstanding – and amusing – game against Orlando City

Even before David Beckham swapped Madrid for Los Angeles, MLS had harbored a reputation as a “retirement league.” The notion is well worn in banter circles. It’s tired, and also at least a little bit true.

Robbie Keane. Kaká. David Villa. Andrea Pirlo. Didier Drogba. Wayne Rooney. Zlatan Ibrahimović. All of them – and many others – enjoyed late-career stops in the United States. Today, three of the 11 players named to Fifa’s Dream Team after the 2014 World Cup play in the league: Lionel Messi (Inter Miami), Thomas Müller (Vancouver Whitecaps) and James Rodríguez (Minnesota United). When Son Heung-min (33 years old) joined Los Angeles FC after his decade with Tottenham, he reunited with longtime Spurs teammate Hugo Lloris (39), and ensured derby days against the LA Galaxy’s Marco Reus (36).

The Fifa president’s sycophancy towards the US president has left the organisation facing a new nadir, but any reckoning seems a distant prospect

Mr President. Fellow exco members. We’re going to need a bigger Board of Peace. How many mini‑pitches are we up to now? Gaza got 50 of them last month. What will it take to football-fix the global conflict being set in train by Fifa’s own Peace Prize Boy? A hundred mini-pitches? Four billion mini-pitches? All the mini‑pitches in the universe?

In a more sane version of what we must, out of habit, call the real world, it would seem absurd to talk about sports administration in the context of the US, Iran and the airborne conflict being played out across the borders of their allies.

Breaking from European traditions would bring a TV boost and help build a schedule that works both for players and fans

The announcement that Major League Soccer (MLS) is to switch from a summer season to a winter one has reignited the debate about the National Women’s Soccer League’s (NWSL) schedule.

This is not a new conversation: the pros and cons of alignment with the European calendar have been considered for many years by the NWSL.

If every win is going to be painful from here, you may as well just take the painful wins – welcome to Arsenal’s late title stagger

On Thursday night at a swanky London hotel so luxuriously risk‑averse the toilets are equipped with wireless thermostats to control to within half a degree the heat of the seat, the Premier League chief executive, Richard Masters, spoke in detail for the first time about the prospect of “Premflix”, the direct‑to‑consumer model of the future, an app that will sluice this irresistible footballing opiate directly into the eyeballs of 8 billion rapt humans.

In doing so Masters was echoing the words of Todd Boehly on the same stage 12 months earlier, who had talked about the Premier League as a kind of fire stolen from the gods, source of the next great tech platform, an engine of empire, tool of world domination, of lassoing the moon out of the sky.

Arsenal and Liverpool will fancy their chance of making the quarter-finals, while Manchester City and Newcastle face tougher routes

The Club World Cup final victory over Paris Saint-Germain last summer was probably Enzo Maresca’s finest hour as Chelsea manager. He devised a gameplan, pinging balls over Nuno Mendes for Cole Palmer to chase, backed up by Malo Gusto, that tore the European champions apart in the first half. Liam Rosenior may try to exploit the same vulnerability, but this is a Chelsea that look weary, their exertions in the US perhaps having left them fatigued.

Our cartoonist on a decade of magic moments in the big job for world football’s leading ‘man of the people’

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The south-east London club have promotion to League One within sight in just their second season in the EFL with their manager central to the transformation

With half an hour to go before kick-off, a roar echoes round the ground. MK Dons have levelled with Cambridge United via a penalty deep into injury time, Aaron Collins scoring from the spot to deny the hosts victory.

In the 20-minute interlude between Shayne Lavery’s opener at the Abbey Stadium and the referee’s fateful whistle, Cambridge looked set to go top of the table. Instead Bromley get under way against Accrington Stanley with a one-point lead at the summit of League Two, much to the relief of the home fans.

Brighton’s yoga-mad, teetotal veteran on the secrets to his longevity after 24 seasons in the English top flight

Being teetotal, always asking questions and taking up yoga in his early 30s after a recommendation from Gareth Barry have played their part. But if one thing inspired James Milner to break the Premier League’s appearance mark then it is a trait honed during his formative years in Yorkshire: sheer bloody-mindedness.

“Some things don’t change,” Milner says with a chuckle when asked whether his desire to prove people wrong was as strong as ever after his 40th birthday last month. “There’s people who are always going to doubt you but that’s always something that’s been at my forefront: to prove them wrong.”

Quansah left Ghana for Ajax as a boy but injury ended his career before it started. He now earns £5 a day as a builder and strives to find a new purpose in life

By The Blizzard

John Quansah looks at a glass display case hanging on the wall of his living room in Obuasi, Ghana. Inside are three trophies from his days as a youth player at Ajax. For years, they lay tucked away in the back of a cupboard, but two years ago, that changed. “I’m an adult now,” John says. “It’s time to look at the past differently. When I look at the trophies now, I don’t just feel pain. I am grateful too – for those beautiful years.”

Of course, he didn’t fulfil his big dream. But not everyone can say they have played for Ajax. He has every reason to be proud, to look back at that time with satisfaction. During a move, he finds the trophies again and decides to mount a display case on the wall of his new living room. Inside, he places three trophies. One for the best player at a youth tournament in Belgium. Next to that, one from another competition, and one he received for sportsmanship, also awarded in Belgium.

In tandem with Game Day Vision, the Premier League club are improving the matchday experience for supporters with a variety of conditions

Thomas Clements’ eyes begin dancing as he recalls in vivid detail his first trip to Highbury. It was 1995 and Ian Wright was among the scorers as QPR were defeated. Clements – named after Michael Thomas, scorer of Arsenal’s decisive second goal against Liverpool in their 1989 title decider – points to his dad, Kevin, standing a metre away. “I was sat on his shoulders in the North Bank,” he says.

That is, in itself, not unusual for a child of the 1980s. However, whereas most regular match-goers might take for granted the seemingly small things – travel arrangements, the journey to the stadium, grabbing food and drink, meeting friends and family, entering and exiting the ground – for disabled supporters such as Clements, careful thought and planning go into all arrangements.

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In 2021, during a wide-ranging interview with the Guardian, Flamengo’s veteran defender Filipe Luís described his employers as “probably the most demanding club on earth”. In the early hours on Tuesday, he dropped the probably. Filipe Luís, by now the highly successful manager of Flamengo, had just watched his team win 8 [E-I-G-H-T – Football Daily Vidiprinter] -0 against Madureira to reach another Campeonato Carioca final. Despite that, and the fact he won seven [S-E-V-E-N – FDV] different competitions in 18 months at the club, he was unceremoniously bundled through the door marked Do One. “Clube de Regatas do Flamengo informs that Filipe Luís will no longer be in charge of the professional team,” began an official statement that put the “tory” in “perfunctory”. “Flamengo thanks former player and coach Filipe Luís for everything that was achieved and shared during this journey. The club wishes him success and the best of luck in the continuation of his professional career.”

I don’t drive, but I get around with a driver. I prefer not to drive here. I don’t have a car, but I can drive. I don’t like how they drive here. They follow the rules too much and are a bit slow. Sometimes you see these big traffic jams for no reason. Unfortunately, that’s just how it is here. Everyone has their ways” – Arsenal’s Riccardo Calafiori appears to be no fan of London’s traffic calming measures.

I read with interest your mention of a ‘lukewarm stroopwafel’ with regards to the Premier League’s current stylings (yesterday’s Football Daily). I remember when the Wenger/Fàbregas/Van Persie Arsenal served a delightfully sugared, strawberries and cream stroopwafel that met with withering critique for having no spine, for not tasting good away at Stoke on a Tuesday night. I also remember José Mourinho’s Chelsea teams showing up with a borderline anti-stroopwafel, covered in dirt and sour intention, and hearing that this was a ‘pragmatic’ stroopwafel, full of ‘pace’ and ‘toughness’ and various other bits of hidden post-Imperial delight. I would also note that when playing in Europe, where one’s stroopwafel jersey isn’t tugged all match long and the other side feels compelled to at least attempt to lay out a decent stroopwafel of their own, Arsenal seem capable and delighted to plate up a delicious, crispy-on-the-outside and chewy-on-the-inside version. In light of all of this. Lukewarm? Piping hot? Out of the freezer? Covered in grime? I couldn’t care less which stroopwafel Mikel Arteta puts on the menu this year, as long as the table has the trophy as the centrepiece” – Thad Brown.

Loved the Ken Muir letter (yesterday’s Football Daily letters). Loyalty!” – Paula Adamson (and others).

Real Madrid were reminded on Monday that, when the going gets tough, Getafe get going” – Peter Oh.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

SheBelieves Cup campaign that starts against Argentina will show coach is now refining rather than experimenting

When the whistle blows to start USA v Argentina on Sunday in Nashville, a new period of the Emma Hayes era will begin in earnest. The team preparing to play La Albiceleste in Tennessee for the 11th SheBelieves Cup, followed by Canada and Colombia, is the first in more than a year to feature no uncapped players.

For a head coach who spent 2025 setting, challenging or matching all-time USWNT records for capping players, that is a notable shift and it marks the next phase of the team’s World Cup preparation.

Robyn Cowen is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jordan Jarrett-Bryan and Seb Hutchinson to review the first batch of midweek Premier League action, including another win for Wolves at home

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On the podcast today: Wolves beat Liverpool in injury time thanks to a deflected André goal, his first in 60 games for Wolves. The great escape surely couldn’t be on … could it?

Plus: top and bottom being first and last alphabetically, oldest players to outscore their age and cornerless matches

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“With Sheffield Wednesday on the brink of relegation in February [update: they’re now down], what is the earliest a team has been demoted to another division?” asks Kevin Bartholomew.

The earliest confirmed relegation in a season we can find is Peterborough United, in 1967-68, who were relegated from the third tier with a whopping 27 games remaining. After the club were found guilty of breaking league rules relating to match-fee incentives and signing-on bonuses, a Football League management committee confirmed in mid-November of 1968 that Posh would be relegated, whatever their final league placing or points tally. Despite finishing ninth with 50 points, Peterborough were docked 19 of them, rendering them bottom. The club were relegated having scored 79 goals that season, which made them more prolific than all but one of the other teams in Division Three, including champions Oxford United.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Tom Garry and Jamie Spangher to review a dramatic FA Cup fifth round and look ahead to the upcoming Asian Cup and World Cup qualifiers

On today’s pod: late drama and penalty shootout chaos in the FA Cup as Tottenham edge London City Lionesses in a 17-penalty epic to set up a quarter-final with holders Chelsea. The panel discusses Lize Kop’s heroics, Spurs’ resilience and what the result means for both clubs.

Elsewhere, Chelsea overcome Manchester United after extra time in a heavyweight rematch of last year’s final, Liverpool claim Merseyside derby bragging rights, and Birmingham and Charlton keep WSL 2 representation alive in the last eight. The panel also reflects on Chatham Town’s historic cup run and what the growing gap between the WSL and WSL 2 tells us about the current landscape.

Rio Ngumoha lifts Liverpool, the tussle to be Harry Kane’s England deputy and Chelsea self-destruct

Tottenham weren’t quite as dreadful as they were in losing 4-1 to Arsenal in November, but they were still extremely so, devoid of wit, energy, solidity, creativity, quality, and everything else one would hope to see in a football team. Make no mistake, they are in serious danger of going down and, assessing their fixtures, it is not easy to see where they might win enough points to stay up – all the more so given the form of West Ham and Nottingham Forest who are both playing well. Spurs, on the other hand, haven’t won a league game in 2026 and look like they’ve forgotten how – partly, it must be said, because of an awful injury list. So, where does Igor Tudor go from here? It may well be that his only option is to pick both Dominic Solanke and Randal Kolo Muani, get balls into the box, and hope they can make enough of them to save him – which might not be The Tottenham Way^TM, but is a lot better than relegation. Daniel Harris

Ousmane Dembélé becomes our seventh winner as he beats Lamine Yamal into second and Vitinha into third on our list of the best players on the planet

• Premier League dominates list | How every judge voted | Our methodology | The top 100 female players for 2025

• 2024 edition | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012

The Frenchman, who has been named the best male footballer in the world by the Guardian, has benefitted from PSG’s focus on the team rather than individuals

What makes a good player great, and a great player the best? This question has been occupying me since 2014, when the Guardian first asked me to contribute to its inaugural Next Generation feature. My job was to look for a France-based talent born in 1997 who could go on to have a stellar career.

After a great deal of research, I narrowed it down from my shortlist of five by asking questions not about the players’ football ability, but about other attributes: resilience, adaptability, decision-making, creativity, work ethic, response to feedback and willingness to learn. Qualities we cannot see, and are harder to measure.

Aitana Bonmatí has been voted the best female player on the planet by our panel of 127 experts ahead of Mariona Caldentey and Alessia Russo

• 2024 list | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018

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The margin may have got smaller but the brilliant Spanish midfielder makes it a hat-trick of No 1 finishes

They say the best things come in threes, and Aitana Bonmatí has written herself into the Guardian’s top 100 history as the first player to finish at the top of the tree for a third consecutive year.

Last year the majestic midfielder emulated her Barcelona and Spain teammate Alexia Putellas by winning for a second year running, but the 27-year-old has now gone one better, establishing herself once again at the top of the women’s game.

From PSG’s Ibrahim Mbaye to Brazil’s next hope, we select some of the most talented players born in 2008. Check the progress of our classes of 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 … and go even further back. Here’s our Premier League class of 2025