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England moved to the top of their Nations League group with a commanding win over Belgium in Bristol.

Sarina Wiegman’s side had shown they could turn up and beat the best, their stunning performance in a 1-0 win over Spain two months ago demonstrating a fluency that had been lacking. Here they had the chance to prove they could deliver against lower ranked opposition and they did so in style.

• Postecoglou fighting to keep his job after league struggles
• ‘I just don’t think it’s about the managers themselves’

Ange Postecoglou believes Tottenham must make material changes to their outlook as a club if they are to reach the level of success they crave. The manager, who is fighting to continue into next season, described his job as different to anything he had experienced because of the “weight of things you’re trying to rail against”.

They include the isolation of the post, how the Spurs manager is normally the lone spokesperson for the club, nobody from the hierarchy publicly defending its positions. This echoed the sentiments of some of his predecessors, especially Antonio Conte. Postecoglou did not name names but it is a matter of fact that the chairman, Daniel Levy, almost never gives interviews. The chief football officer, Scott Munn, and the technical director, Johan Lange, are similarly low-profile.

The City midfielder made his teammates look like geniuses and once more he is making just the right move at just the right moment

Not for the first time, Kevin De Bruyne read the situation to perfection. Not for the first time, he spotted the right play just a little earlier than everyone else. And of course this was always his gift: not simply to pick the right option but to do it faster than anyone else, buying him those crucial fractions of a second when everything else was in flux and only he in stillness.

And of course this was not the only respect in which De Bruyne understood the game of football better than most. As a struggling teenager in the Genk academy, he noticed the way the club abruptly stopped paying for a foster family to house him, and then quietly resumed when he started banging in goals for the second team. Cast adrift at Chelsea, he noticed how he was ignored while first-team players were lavished with attention and bespoke coaching.

With delays in paying players and an owner who has lost the faith of fans, the Championship club urgently need a plan

It is highly unlikely a statement including the phrase “impacted on the club’s immediate cashflow” can result in anything positive. Sheffield Wednesday announced their latest financial issues on Monday after failing to pay their players on time at the end of March, putting the Championship side under a dark cloud.

This is the latest cause for concern among Owls supporters who have become increasingly frustrated by the ownership of Dejphon Chansiri, and the longer the players are not remunerated the greater the risk of punishment. An English Football League charge could come next week if the players remain unpaid. A fine, transfer ban or points deduction would then be among the options open to the league, which is in dialogue with Wednesday, if the matter is not resolved quickly, which the club is confident it will be.

• Harry Kane scores in 3-1 victory at 10-man Augsburg
• Espanyol up to 15th after 4-0 win against Rayo Vallecano

Bayern Munich came back from a goal down to beat 10-man Augsburg 3-1 away on Friday and move nine points clear at the top of the Bundesliga but Jamal Musiala went off injured and looks unlikely to be fit for next week’s Champions League quarter-final.

Musiala equalised before Harry Kane’s header and a deflected own goal from Augsburg’s Chrislain Matsima gave Bayern the points after the hosts took the lead thorugh Dimitris Gianoulis’ strike but ran out of steam when Cedric Zesiger was sent off. Bayern now have 68 points with six games left, nine ahead of Bayer Leverkusen, who travel to Heidenheim on Saturday.

• Slot: ‘Nothing else matters’ if Liverpool win league title
• Owen suggested cup exits left ‘bitter taste’ on season

Arne Slot has hit back at Michael Owen’s suggestion that the Premier League title would not be enough for Liverpool this season by insisting nothing matters more than becoming champions of England again.

The former Liverpool striker was taken to task by Virgil van Dijk after the Merseyside derby on Wednesday for claiming the campaign was “building into something really special” until Slot’s team exited the Champions League and lost the Carabao Cup final. Owen agreed it would still be special for Liverpool to win the title for a record-equalling 20th time but with the caveat that the two cup defeats in six days would leave “a bitter taste”.

• ‘There are certain limits the players can do’
• Arsenal’s Gabriel out for season with hamstring injury

Mikel Arteta believes squad sizes must be increased to cope with the demands placed on players by the increased number of games and has warned that more will suffer serious injuries if the schedule continues to expand.

Arsenal confirmed on Thursday that Gabriel Magalhães had become the latest member of Arteta’s squad to sustain a hamstring injury, with the Brazilian set for surgery and out for the rest of the season. He joins Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus and Riccardo Calafiori on the sidelines, although there was better news for Arsenal on Jurriën Timber and Ben White before Saturday’s game at Everton.

• ‘Such behaviour is completely unacceptable,’ Everton say
• Samantha Tarkowski calls abuse ‘beyond disgusting’

Everton have condemned threats aimed at James Tarkowski in the aftermath of the Merseyside derby and pledged to work with social media companies and police on any investigations into online abuse.

Tarkowski’s wife, Samantha, said the Everton defender had received death threats after Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat at Liverpool and that the family had also been the target of vile abuse. Tarkowski was booked for a reckless 11th-minute tackle on Alexis Mac Allister in the derby and Howard Webb, head of Professional Game Match Officials Limited, has admitted to Liverpool the challenge was worthy of a red card.

• Dazn has global rights and will show games on app
• Dazn remains confident of securing agreement

The BBC and ITV have declined to pursue the chance to televise this summer’s Club World Cup, leaving Fifa increasingly concerned about the visibility of its flagship new tournament in a key market.

The streaming platform Dazn agreed to pay $1bn (£787bn) for global Club World Cup rights in a deal which involved the company pledging to make all 63 matches available free-to-air on its app.

Ipswich welcome Wolves in a must-win relegation tussle while City travel to United in the Manchester derby

Saturday 12.30pm TNT Sports 1 Venue Goodison Park

England’s ageless right-back proved she has no intention of slowing down soon with a performance which bodes well for the Euros

There was a very summer 2022 feel to this England victory. From the throwback of seeing a confident Beth Mead finding acres of space down the right, to Keira Walsh hitting defence-splitting passes with ease, to a sold-out crowd enjoying the embers of the sunny weather and creating a party atmosphere as they revelled at the entertaining, attacking football being played by the European champions, with a level of cohesion rarely seen since the World Cup. The lineup was reminiscent of that 2022 Euros success too, with seven of this starting side here having been key components of the team that won the European title.

Rolling back the years even further, though, was Lucy Bronze, because there was something very World Cup 2015 about the performance of the best player on the pitch.

Crystal Palace out to earn first double over rivals since 1933 in ‘A23 derby’ that has import beyond bragging rights

When Fabian Hürzeler called Oliver Glasner a few days after his appointment by Brighton last June, he found the Crystal Palace manager was only too happy to offer a few pointers about life in the Premier League. “He is very helpful and open-minded,” Hürzeler later said. “He is a role model, I think, in how he acts and how humble and grounded he is.”

Although Glasner and Hürzeler were managers in Germany at the same time at Eintracht Frankfurt and St Pauli respectively, they worked in different divisions and had not come face to face until Ismaïla Sarr scored twice in a 3-1 Palace victory at the Amex in December. The Austrian had warned his Brighton counterpart in one of their frequent chats that their friendship would be put aside for the afternoon as arch-rival clubs met in the fixture some outsiders have taken to referring to as the “A23 derby”.

The same economic forces that led to stagnation today are already in practice at the world’s biggest clubs

The problem with running a modern top-flight football club is that raising revenue is hard to do. Once you’ve grabbed your slice of league-wide media rights, made a vaguely colonial-sounding pre-season tour of the “Far East,” stitched up some sponsorship deals with a gambling company or a country’s tourism agency, and shipped as many shirts as the global merch market can handle, you hit the ceiling of your earning capacity. At that point, as a club, what do you do?

You can raise ticket prices, which risks alienating fans and the local community you’re supposed to represent. You can try your hand at a few miserable little crypto or AI plug-ins to build “engagement” among supporters or become a pioneer in the nascent field of fan “activations,” with limited potential returns. You can promise to build a new 100,000-seat stadium, but that takes time and money and doesn’t solve your immediate (or even future, should you go into debt to finance the project) need for cash. You can flog off a hotel or two to a sibling subsidiary of your parent company, though for that you need to start off with a couple of hotels. You can hope to sell to a monied investor, but the days of loss-indifferent billionaires making vanity investments in clubs seem over, and there are only so many publicity-hungry sovereign wealth funds to go around.

There was a cheeky free-kick in the third tier of Swedish football when Jönköpings Södra's Linus Lyck caught the goalkeeper and defensive wall unawares with a nonchalant curler into the bottom corner to give his side a 1-0 lead against Lunds BK. It was reminiscent of a goal scored against Chelsea by Liverpool's Fábio Aurélio in 2009

Great Weston: National League footballer scores from inside his own area – video

• UK poised to host Women’s World Cup in 2035
• FA to discuss with United whether stadium will be ready

Wembley and a new Manchester United stadium could be crown jewels in the 2035 Women’s World Cup after Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, announced the United Kingdom had a clear run at hosting the tournament.

Infantino confirmed there were no other bidders for the tournament, meaning a football World Cup will take place on British shores for the first time since 1966. The Football Association expects Wembley to host the final, although Fifa will have ultimate signoff. United’s planned new home, which is mooted to have a capacity of 100,000, may also play a focal part if the venue has been completed according to projections.

• Club León was disqualified by Fifa in March
• Arguments set to take place on week of 5 May

Sport’s highest court said Friday it will hold fast-track appeals next month as Mexican soccer club León tries to overturn a Fifa decision to expel it from the Club World Cup in the United States.

The court of arbitration for sport (Cas) said León and its sibling club Pachuca have separately filed appeals against a Fifa ruling last month that barred León from the Club World Cup because the clubs have the same owner.

• Australia secure morale-boosting win in Sydney
• Hosts hold on after own goal sets up win

The Matildas have kicked off their 2026 Asian Cup preparations with a 1-0 win on home soil over local rivals South Korea.

Australia broke the deadlock at Allianz Stadium in Sydney by way of an own goal in the 54th minute before withstanding a late South Korean challenge in front of 37,199 fans on Friday night.

• Fifa considering one-off expanded tournament in 2030
• Ceferin: ‘We didn’t know anything before the Fifa council’

The Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, has hit out at a proposal to expand the 2030 men’s World Cup to 64 teams, calling the concept a “bad idea” and appearing to criticise Fifa for not advising his organisation of the suggestion in advance.

Fifa confirmed last month that it would consider adopting the sprawling new format as a one-off in 2030 to celebrate the tournament’s centenary, after the idea was raised at a meeting of its council by the Uruguayan football association president, Ignacio Alonso.

• Dai Yongge given until 22 April to divest interests in club
• EFL believes Dai more motivated than previously to sell

Reading have been granted an extension until 22 April by the English Football League for their owner, Dai Yongge, to sell the club. Reading had been at risk of suspension if they failed to show adequate signs of progress.

Dai was disqualified under the league’s owners’ and directors’ test in February due to debts and court rulings in his native China but the troubled League One club were permitted an extension on the initial 28-day period in which Dai needed to divest his shares, until this Saturday. The EFL, whose board met at their monthly meeting on Thursday, has now given Dai more time to sell.

Tournaments in 2031 and 2035 are likely to be great events but will be hosted by those who need them the least

There is an abundance of reasons why staging the 2031 and 2035 Women’s World Cups in the United States and UK respectively offers cause for delight. The countries have well-established and emotionally invested fanbases, a genuine buy-in to the women’s game and huge, modern stadiums to choose from. These two summer parties will surely eclipse anything women’s sport has seen and the countries, having invested in the women’s game more than any others in modern times, have frankly earned this.

Yet the news that the US and UK are bidding unopposed to host these tournaments is also sad for the women’s game from a global perspective. The US’s NWSL and England’s Women’s Super League are the two most-watched women’s leagues in the world with the largest average attendances and the most professional facilities for players. Therefore, while many will argue that means they deserve the Women’s World Cup the most, they are also the countries who need the tournament the least.

Curtis Jones is not a long-term fix at right-back for Liverpool, Tyler Dibling is a wanted man and Arsenal are depleted

When Arsenal next visit Merseyside on 11 May their first act may be to form a guard of honour for Liverpool, who could by then be newly crowned Premier League champions. The title appears destined for Anfield – Arsenal have been unable to sustain a consistent challenge for it all season – but Mikel Arteta will feel duty-bound to delay the seemingly inevitable for as long as possible on his return to Everton. Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid may be the priority for Arsenal but rotating is hardly an option for Arteta at Goodison Park given he has four defenders available. A makeshift unit would benefit from a demanding afternoon together before welcoming Real to the Emirates. Arne Slot claimed it is unfair on Everton to have an early Saturday kick-off after Wednesday’s Merseyside derby. Depleted or not, Arteta’s team should take advantage. Andy Hunter

Everton v Arsenal, Saturday 12.30pm (all times BST)

Crystal Palace v Brighton, Saturday 3pm

Ipswich v Wolves, Saturday 3pm

West Ham v Bournemouth, Saturday 3pm

England goalkeeper on how she has fine-tuned her game since moving to France and ‘loving the architecture’ in Paris

Many of us might perceive it as a bustling metropolis full of tourist hotspots. To Mary Earps, however, Paris is noise-free. Peaceful. Beautiful. It is very rare for anybody to spot the England goalkeeper in public – unless she is at the airport or waiting to catch the Eurostar from Gare du Nord – and, for a player who shot to fame so quickly that she was the 2023 BBC Sports Personality of the Year, such relative invisibility in the City of Light is a blissful feeling.

“It’s been more refreshing than I thought it would be,” Earps says of her move to Paris Saint-Germain, who she joined last summer. “The last few years have been unbelievable, a massive acceleration I could never have predicted, and what’s come with that is some incredible opportunities but also a lot of noise, and so I really wanted to get into a little focus zone and just totally concentrate on my development as a footballer. Careers are short and I really wanted to maximise mine. I’m trying to squeeze out every last bit of potential that I have in myself and put the blinkers on a little bit – it’s been nice to escape and just be totally all-in with trying to push myself to another level.”

Tottenham manager chiding his own fans during defeat at Chelsea was an act of self-indulgence that backfired

In fairness to Ange Postecoglou it will go down as one of the great managerial ear-cuppings. It was bitter, it was undignified and, rather than an act of defiance, it is probably going to be remembered as the moment of high farce that finally broke Postecoglou’s relationship with Tottenham’s fans.

Here was a man on the edge, the list of grievances piling high, the emotion impossible to contain as he watched his side somehow cancel out Chelsea’s 1-0 lead at Stamford Bridge. Postecoglou had heard the chants of “You don’t know what you’re doing” from the travelling supporters when he brought Pape Sarr on for Lucas Bergvall in the 64th minute. Now came vindication. On 66 minutes: a first shot on target. This was progress. Three minutes later, Sarr charging into midfield, knocked Moisés Caicedo over and unleashed a shot that went in thanks to more dreadful goalkeeping from Robert Sánchez.

It has been an odd, slow bicycle race of a season, but this is hardly the fault of Arne Slot’s impressive league leaders

There was an extraordinary moment in the seconds after Diogo Jota had scored the only goal of this Merseyside derby, as the home supporters seethed and writhed, bodies tumbling, a wave of noise barrelling around the Anfield stands.

At which point a lone middle-aged man could be seen emerging from the seats, waving his fists in the direction of what must have been the fourth official, making wild but oddly precise spectacles gestures with his fingers, all the while being hurled back by the combined efforts of three men in orange jackets.

Former Liverpool midfielder was frozen out by Turkish club but has seized lifeline given by new manager

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is still just 31 years old, which feels very young for a man who made his first-team debut for Southampton when Gordon Brown was UK prime minister. It is just over 15 years since Oxlade-Chamberlain broke into Alan Pardew’s Saints squad, aged 16, and after successful and high-profile moves to both Arsenal and Liverpool, plus a trophy haul that includes a Premier League and Champions League title, plus three FA Cups, few can say that Oxlade-Chamberlain has not fulfilled his potential.

Yet his exit from Liverpool at the expiry of his contract in 2023, aged just 29, felt a little hollow. Presented with a photo collage after his final Anfield match and photographed on the pitch alongside his fellow departees, Roberto Firmino (to Saudi Arabia) and 37-year-old James Milner (to Brighton), who were both beaming ear to ear, Oxlade-Chamberlain looked a little lost, diffident almost. Where next?

• Third-tier Arminia Bielefeld send holders tumbling out
• Paris Saint-Germain avoid scare against Dunkerque

Third-tier Arminia Bielefeld stunned the DFB-Pokal holders, Bayer Leverkusen, 2-1 on Tuesday, coming from a goal down to reach the final. Bielefeld, who have eliminated four Bundesliga teams in consecutive rounds in the competition, became the fourth third-tier side to reach the final.

“I am so proud of the team,” said the Bielefeld coach, Michél Kniat. “The whole region is feeling this. No one will be sleeping tonight. We defended with a lot of passion and that was the key. We worked extremely hard.”

• Yassine Cheuko had helped protect Inter Miami star
• MLS now using its own security on matchdays

Lionel Messi’s bodyguard, Yassine Cheuko, has been banned from from the touchline during Inter Miami matches.

The former Navy Seal has gained a cult following from social media videos showing him closely watching the crowd to stop rogue fans from harming the Argentinian star. He has also chased down fans intent on getting close to Messi on several occasions.

Winger has 32 Serie A goals over the past three years as side keep up push for another Champions League campaign

Venice has no shortage of eye-catching door-knockers, heavy bronze casts of 16th-century lions and sea monsters adorning entrances of palaces throughout the lagoon city. Still, there is always room for another. Riccardo Orsolini could not hang around quite so long, but his goal for Bologna away to Venezia on Saturday will linger in the memories of supporters.

The second half had barely started when Nicolò Cambiaghi cut back from the left flank and crossed right-footed to the far post. Orsolini met his delivery with an exquisite side-footed volley across the goalkeeper and into the corner of the net.

Manuel Pellegrini’s team of misfits beat Sevilla in the league for the first time in seven years and celebrated in style

This weekend, 46,731 people came to see Betis and Sevilla but the derby wasn’t until the following night – so 33 hours later they came and did it all over again, even better. Saturday’s second-biggest attendance in Spain had watched the country’s most passionate rivals train. Sunday’s biggest crowd saw them play, a record 58,538 fans still inside and still singing late into a night they’ll never forget. The Benito Villamarín was bouncing, smoke rising round the home fans as they belted out the club’s anthem – here we are, squashed together like cannon balls – as the players started a lap of honour. Somewhere in all the madness and the noise, Antony, stripped to the waist and sitting on the goalkeeper Adrián’s shoulders, heaved a giant flag through the air. “This is incredible,” he said, and it was.

This was Antony’s first Seville derby and he’d not seen anything like it for years: never mind Ajax or Old Trafford, this took him back to Brazil. But it wasn’t just him, a debutant in a fixture that hits hard; nor had anyone else, the place going wild, something extra in the celebrations this time, Betis players still there half an hour after the end, parading round the pitch before bounding down corridors, singing and hammering at doors, cracking open the beers. You’d think they had won the Champions League. The one man there who has – five times – said that when it came to “feeling, vibrations, this is without doubt the most special game there is,” so Isco and his teammates celebrated something that, right there in the moment, felt even better: they had beaten rivals Sevilla 2-1.

• ‘Additional context’ not in public sphere helps inform FA’s decision
• Striker included in training squad for South Korea friendlies

Matildas striker Sam Kerr will be free to return as national team captain once she recovers from her serious knee injury after the Football Australia board decided on no further sanctions for her drunken night during which she verbally abused a London police constable.

The 31-year-old will continue her recovery in camp with the Matildas for the April matches against South Korea, but has not been cleared for a return to competitive football.

Against a backdrop of Taliban rule and corruption claims against FA president, Zohib Islam Amiri sees demoralisation setting in

When Zohib Islam Amiri came back to play in Afghanistan in January for the first time since 2010, he was hoping to make a difference. “I wanted to try to give some of the young Afghan kids some inspiration,” he says. “But as soon as I got there it was clear that things were even worse.”

Amiri, who made his international debut as a 15-year-old in 2005 before serving as captain for more than a decade, became the first Afghanistan player to move overseas when he joined Mumbai in 2011. The defender’s return to play for Abu Muslim in the Afghanistan Champions League – a competition set up in 2021 when the Taliban regained power – was never intended to be the end of his career. But having seen his side crowned champions after a controversial 8-0 victory amid allegations of match-fixing, Amiri decided enough was enough.

• 4-1 World Cup qualifying defeat was last straw for CBF
• Brazil have lost fives times so far in Conmebol group

Brazil have sacked their head coach, Dorival Júnior, the country’s football confederation (CBF) said on Friday, after the five-times world champions were thrashed 4-1 by fierce rivals Argentina in a humiliating World Cup qualifying loss in Buenos Aires on Wednesday.

The 62-year-old was appointed in January 2024 after the team spent a year under two caretaker coaches as the Brazilian FA were unable to tempt the Italian Carlo Ancelotti from Real Madrid.

• Ligue 1 leaders trounce Saint-Étienne 6-1
• Harry Kane scores as Bayern battle past St Pauli

Paris St Germain coach Luis Enrique wants the club to keep their focus on domestic and European titles despite all but securing a fourth consecutive Ligue 1 crown.

PSG thrashed relegation-threatened Saint-Étienne 6-1 to virtually assure themselves of a second straight title under the Spaniard. Only Monaco have a mathematical chance to overhaul them after their 2-1 win over Nice left them 21 points behind PSG with seven games to play.

Weston-super-Mare’s Luke Coulson scored from his own penalty area against Hornchurch in the National League South. With the hosts 3-2 down in stoppage time, goalkeeper Mason Terry went up for a late corner - but the ball instead dropped to Coulson, who kicked it from the penalty spot all the way upfield, where it bounced and rolled into an empty net.

Sir Gareth Southgate has expressed his concern that 'callous, manipulative and toxic influencers' are taking the place of traditional father figures in society and contributing to mental health issues among young men. He believes the decline in communities and a lack of mentors – or 'father figures' – are causing more young men to become reluctant to talk or express their emotions. Southgate voiced concern that 'this void is filled by a new kind of role model who do not have their best interest at heart'.

• Gareth Southgate rails against ‘callous toxic influencers’ in Dimbleby Lecture

Newcastle United beat Liverpool 2-1 at Wembley Stadium to win the Carabao Cup final. Goals from Dan Burn and Alexander Isak gave Newcastle a two-goal lead before Federico Chiesa scored a late consolation for Liverpool. The Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said: "With such a long wait for a trophy, this will be a day that I'm sure everyone will never forget." More than 32,000 Newcastle fans made the journey to Wembley and they celebrated the victory into the night.

• Eddie Howe ‘will never forget’ day Newcastle broke trophy drought

Sam Merson, son of the former footballer Paul Merson, scored an 'outrageous' goal for Hanworth Villa against Farnham Town. Merson's goal opened the scoring in the game which ultimately ended 1-1

Leeds’s history of dark weirdness lends credence to the idea that ‘club DNA’ is real, even if reality may be more mundane

• Sign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here

A month ago, Leeds were merrily on top of the Championship. They had just beaten Sunderland with two late goals and Sheffield United with three. They had gone 16 games unbeaten and were playing with authority and conviction. More than that, they seemed to have the deepest squad in the Championship. The Sunderland game had turned when they brought on Willy Gnonto and Largie Ramazani; nobody else in the division could bring that sort of quality off the bench.

Since then they have won one of five games and slipped to second. It’s happening again.

Premier League champions’ charges could be seismic but are not unprecedented after two major illegal payment sagas in English football

There is a sense that the 130‑plus Premier League charges Manchester City are facing are unprecedented, and in terms of the potential fallout that may be true. City have the wealth and, it seems, the will to pursue extraordinarily costly legal action. If they are found guilty – and it should be stressed that they deny all charges – the implications for the club and the league could be seismic. But the charges are not unprecedented. Twice before in the 150‑year history of English football, clubs have faced major investigations into illegal payments. Both had hugely significant consequences for the clubs involved.

Fifa president’s talk of the Club World Cup promoting access and equity is simply double-think to disguise another land grab

It takes a while for the voice to emerge from the background haze, a mist of generically noodling electronic music, the kind of music that comes filled with a comforting sense of death, hold music from the executive euthanasia clinic.

Finally the voice emerges, whispering through your headphones in that familiar rich, reverent Euro-tone, like being spoken to by the sun. This is a voice that says: I am here to command. But I am also just a conduit for a divinity that flows through me and into you. Although mainly, and let’s be absolutely clear, through me.

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While they may be more adrift from safety than a drunken 18th-century sailor abandoned at sea in a leaky rowing-boat without any oars, Southampton still have one small and very significant sliver of dignity left to fight for. As we approach the run-in of a Premier League campaign where anything resembling jeopardy is at a premium, Ivan Juric’s side are clawing their way towards the holy grail that is Not Being As Terrible As 2007-08 Era Derby County. Managed at first by Billy Davies and then Paul Jewell, the Rams of that particular campaign were consigned to the Championship and the history books as the worst team in Premier League history, infamously acquiring just 11 points over the course of a season. And while it is probably unfair to single out the likes of Robbie Savage, Danny Mills and Kenny Miller for their roles in securing this unwanted record, a special shout-out should almost certainly go to pub-quiz staples, Newcastle United, the only team to get beaten by the worst top-flight rabble ever assembled.

I can confirm that we have received one bid for 2031 and one valid bid for 2035. The 2031 bid is from the [USA USA USA] and potentially some other Concacaf nations. The 2035 bid is from Europe, from the home nations” – yes, as well as an in-no-way-problematic Women’s World Cup in tariff-land, the tournament is set to head for British shores four years later.

To expand on John Kozempel’s fine missive (yesterday’s Football Daily letters), the term ‘tailgating’ comes from dropping the back of a pickup truck or station wagon – the tailgate – in a stadium parking lot to create a flat, elevated surface for beverages, BBQ grills, etc. On a mildly political level, perhaps the ongoing tariff spat between the USA USA USA and Europe may lead to an increase in importing Euro-styled vehicles. I’ve never seen a BMW/Mercedes/Renault pickup truck before, but I’m certain they’ll develop creative party features – champagne chiller, paté slicer, bratwurst steamer – and take tailgating to the next level. Europe should send these over as soon as they’re available. By the way, you can keep Christian Pulisic in exchange” – Mike Wilner.

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

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This time last year, Bayer Leverkusen’s 39-match unbeaten streak across all competitions and almost supernatural propensity for pulling late, late equalising and winning goals out of das collective hinterteil was the talk of Europe. With the end of the season hoving into view, Football Daily certainly wasn’t alone in wondering if Xabi Alonso’s side could go an entire season without losing a single game, while the young Basque in charge of them was being linked with Real Madrid, Liverpool and perhaps even a late run at the White House despite being just two years into his senior managerial career. While Leverkusen went on to secure a domestic double without tasting defeat, they ultimately came up short by being soundly beaten in the final of Bigger Vase, where Atalanta’s Ademola Lookman took a sledgehammer to their long unbeaten run, which lasted 51 matches, in the Italian club’s 3-0 win. It was the penultimate game of the German side’s season, and the only one they failed to win or draw.

There was definitely a message to the players and it was as simple as it has always been: don’t accept being outworked by a team, which we were against Newcastle. If the stakes are so high, that is almost unacceptable” – Liverpool boss Arne Slot warns his team to get back on the gas in Wednesday night’s Merseyside derby.

Congratulations to Ryan Yates on providing (by his own admission) the most useless assist since Héctor Enrique set up Diego Maradona’s goal-of-the-century at the Azteca Stadium in 1986 with a hospital pass. The Forest man really must work on his soundbites though; his ‘I headed it in the six-yard box’ is humorous, but lacks the mischievous insouciance of the Argentinian’s great post-match comment that ‘with a pass like that he could hardly miss’” – Justin Kavanagh.

I am not someone who raises a great hue and cry over the language differences between American and British English. Our friends in the UK are more than welcome to take a lift from the ground floor rather than an elevator from the first. However, learning from yesterday’s Football Daily (News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition) that the UK has taken the term for the sacred American tradition of consuming excessive amounts of meat and alcohol before a game and turned it into a crime – or a non-crime, as ‘tailgating’ appears to be over there – I regret to inform you this is a bridge too far. Luckily, we now have precisely the administration to overreact to such grievances” – John Kozempel.

Wilf Davies and his eating habits (yesterday’s Football Daily) reminded me of the man who suffered stomach pains after eating only red, brown, pink, yellow, black and white snooker balls. The doctor told him to eat more greens” – Trevor Townson.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Liew and Mark Langdon as Nottingham Forest beat Manchester United, taking a step closer to Champions League football next season

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On the podcast today: Anthony Elanga scores a wonderful solo goal against Manchester United and it proves enough for Nottingham Forest to claim a vital 1-0 win in the hunt for Champions League football.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Emma Sanders and Tom Garry to discuss a dramatic week for the women’s game

On this week’s Guardian Women’s Football Weekly: the panel discuss both Arsenal and Chelsea’s progression into the semi-finals of the Champions League.

With the international break looming, the relegation battle is on. Liverpool lost at home against Aston Villa, who moved out of the drop zone and four points clear of Crystal Palace.

Sonia Bompastor not looking for excuses after Chelsea draw as Villa earn first win under Natalia Arroyo

Sonia Bompastor refused to use fatigue as an excuse after Chelsea dropped points to West Ham on Sunday. Goals from Maika Hamano and Aggie Beever-Jones fired the Blues to a 2-0 lead within 21 minutes, but Shekiera Martinez’s second-half double meant the Hammers stole a point. It was the first time in more than seven years that Chelsea had squandered a two-goal lead in the WSL. The reigning champions went into the match having played Manchester City four times in 12 days, but Bompastor did not want to make any excuses. “It’s always difficult with this quick turnaround to have all the energy but that’s not an excuse,” the manager said. “We are Chelsea, we have the depth in the squad and the quality in the squad enough to finish this block with a better result. But sometimes it happens.” Emillia Hawkins

Manchester City’s fire still burns bright, Marcus Rashford reminds critics of his ability and Eberechi Eze’s great week

A seventh semi-final in succession showed that Manchester City, at least, see magic in the FA Cup. The quarter-finals saw them cast as unwelcome outsiders, lacking the romance of their fellow hopefuls. None of the other seven had won a major trophy this century, four never in their history. Pep Guardiola’s frenzied reaction after Omar Marmoush scored his team’s second at Bournemouth showed his fire still burns brightly. Surely nearing the end at City, Kevin De Bruyne played the 90 minutes, remaining influential and mobile throughout. He and his teammates have played better this season but this display at the Vitality saw real gutsiness, a key part of the makeup during the glory years. If the hosts, shorn of Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez, were incapable of holding City’s hand to the fire as they had in November, a new City is emerging. Nico O’Reilly added impetus from the bench. So did Marmoush, both offering the pace, strength and vigour their manager now desires. John Brewin

Match report: Bournemouth 1-2 Manchester City

Match report: Preston 0-3 Aston Villa

Match report: Brighton 0-0 Nottm Forest (3-4 on pens)

Match report: Fulham 0-3 Crystal Palace

Secret device was designed to improve players’ technique in the late 1920s and was later used by other top-flight clubs

“The men are not deviating by one hair’s breadth from the ordinary system of training. To alter that system even for a Cup final would be folly,” the Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman said, four days before the 1927 FA Cup final.

A description of that system was provided by the London Daily News. “Just before 10 each morning the players assemble and take ball practice,” it wrote. “This is varied by sprints on the track, as well as a light programme of physical jerks in the dressing room. Lunch is a modest item. An underdone steak varied with a small fillet of fried plaice or sole, plus a light vegetable ration, is the diet chiefly fancied, and fruit, raw and stewed, is popular with nearly all the men. The liquids at lunch are mainly non-intoxicants.”

The late, great striker entered Goodison folklore with the winning goal in an Anfield Merseyside derby

I didn’t have a great time at university. Academically it was fine – got in, got a 2:1 in history and got out – but socially I struggled. There were various reasons for that, a fair few of which were definitely my fault. Like joining zero societies. Like joining the uni magazine but writing zero articles for it. And like what happened on my first night there.

It was about 6pm on Monday 27 September 1999 and I was back in my dorm after registering for my courses, checking out the library and buying my first pint of milk and loaf of bread from the campus shop. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. It was Daniel, the lad from the next room, and he was standing alongside two girls I’d never seen but who were really attractive.

Brazil striker may be on the move this summer but after a troubled journey he has found happiness at Molineux

Matheus Cunha’s time at Wolverhampton Wanderers may be coming to an end but the Brazilian forward will never forget his time with the club. He says he was reborn and “recovered his joy” there after two difficult years and the frustration of not being selected for the 2022 World Cup.

With 13 goals this season, Cunha is three away from scoring the most by a Brazilian in a single Premier League campaign. The record of 15 is jointly held by Roberto Firmino (for Liverpool in 2017-18) and Gabriel Martinelli (for Arsenal in 2022-23). Clearly Cunha has left behind the sadness of his time at Atlético Madrid and the 25-year-old speaks warmly about the new life he has found in a new country and the gratitude that has comes with that.

New head coach must find a way to focus Jude Bellingham and bring Premier League style to international stage

Thomas Tuchel does not have time on his side after opting not to oversee England’s Nations League games in November. He has looked to hit the ground running, just as he did when he won the Champions League four months after joining Chelsea, but building rhythm in international football is not easy. The players are not around for long and some games drift into irrelevance. Tuchel has started with two straightforward wins but neither set the pulse racing. The awkward reality is that qualification lacks jeopardy these days.

Chelsea and England defender on the power of football and praise for her teammate for talking about her ADHD and autism diagnosis

“When you experience the things we have in the women’s game, it does open your eyes to the struggles of others,” says Millie Bright. “It makes you more aware of all kinds of different barriers people might face. You really appreciate the struggles that people have to go through and the constant barriers and battles that have to be fought every single day just to exist. Literally just to exist. You’re not asking to be better than anyone, you’re just asking to exist and be able to do what you love doing, whatever that is, in sport or beyond sport; things that are just part of living a full life, and everyone deserves a full life.”

The Chelsea and England defender is sitting in the small stand at Cobham FC’s brilliantly named Leg O’Mutton Field talking about the power of football. Last year Bright was back in Killamarsh, the village in north-east Derbyshire where she grew up, visiting the “Millie Bright pitch” at her childhood club, Killamarsh Juniors. The club had previously benefited from Football Foundation funding. Since then, 30 3G pitches dedicated to prioritising women’s and girls’ football that have received funding via the Premier League, the Football Association and the government-backed Football Foundation’s Lionesses Futures Fund.

Jordan Henderson is a great leader for England. But he has been encouraged and applauded for the very same acts for which minority ethnic players are castigated and stigmatised

How shall I lead thee? Let me count the ways. I lead thee by stepping up and being vocal, around the dressing room, setting standards in training. I lead thee quietly by example, you know, the not-much-of-a-shouter‑and-a-screamer-but-when-he-speaks-people-listen kind. I lead thee by having been there, done that, won everything in the game. I lead thee by never backing down from a challenge. I lead thee by sheer gravitas.

By any of these measures, Jordan Henderson is a leader. He was a leader for Liverpool, raising standards and setting the tone for 12 golden years. He was a leader for the NHS and the LGBTQ+ community off the field. He was still a leader when he left Liverpool and moved to Saudi Arabia in an attempt to create – in his words – “positive change” in the country for his beloved LGBTQ+ constituents.

Rodri has beaten Vinícius Júnior and Erling Haaland to top our ranking of the most talented players in the world this calendar year

• How all the judges voted | Rodri heads 2024 list | Our methodology | The top 100 female players in the world
• 2023 edition | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012

The Manchester City midfielder becomes the sixth player to top our ranking of the world’s best 100 male footballers

• The 100 best male footballers in the world 2024

One of the worst things about seeing Rodri in agony on the pitch against Arsenal in September – and the subsequent news that he had ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament – was that in the buildup to the injury he had criticised the workload being put on players. It was as if he knew something bad was about to happen.

In April, after an epic 3-3 draw at Real Madrid the Manchester City and Spain midfielder said: “I do need a rest.” He added: “Let’s see how we speak, how we live the situation. Sometimes it is what it is. I need to adjust. It [rest] is something we are planning, yes.”

Aitana Bonmatí finishes top of our rankings for a second consecutive year, with Caroline Graham Hansen second and Sophia Smith third

• Bonmatí on top of world again | How every judge voted | Video top ten | 2023 list | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018
• Subscribe now to our free women’s football newsletter

The Spanish midfielder wins for a second consecutive year on a fast-moving list that sees 15 players appearing for the first time

• The top 100: check out the full list for 2024

Aitana Bonmatí emulates her Barcelona and Spain teammate Alexia Putellas and takes back-to-back wins in the Guardian’s 100 best female footballers in the world list.

The double Ballon d’Or winner received votes from all 99 of this year’s judges, finishing 667 points clear of her club teammate Caroline Graham Hansen, the Norwegian climbing to her highest ranking after a superb individual year for both club and country.

From Franco Mastantuono to Estêvão, we select some of the most talented players born in 2007. Check the progress of our classes of 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 … and look at the editions from further back

We pick the best youngsters at each club born between 1 September 2007 and 31 August 2008, an age band known as first-year scholars. Check the progress of our classes of 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 … and look at the editions from further back

From Warren Zaïre-Emery to Endrick, we select some of the best players born in 2006. Check the progress of our classes of 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018

• Next Generation 2023: 20 of the best Premier League talents