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Full-time: Manchester United 2-0 Tottenham

Carrick earns his fourth successive win as United’s interim head coach.

Michael Carrick’s Manchester United revival has a fourth consecutive league win, while Thomas Frank’s Tottenham sink further, with still no victory in the competition in 2026.

Bruno Fernandes’s 81st-minute strike was a feathered touch off a shin – from Diogo Dalot’s cross – that beat Guglielmo Vicario to the left of the Spurs goalkeeper, and confirmed a miserable day for Frank.

• Derby captain Travis scores own goal and sees red

• Southampton extend Watford’s woeful run

Leif Davis’s superb late header gave Ipswich a 2-1 victory at Derby to strengthen their promotion challenge. The visitors took the lead in the eighth minute when the Derby captain, Lewis Travis, headed a corner into his own net but Derby hit back in the second half and drew level through Rhian Brewster’s penalty.

But Davis had the final word and the home side ended the match with 10 men after Travis’s miserable afternoon ended with him sent off in added time for a second yellow card.

After the euphoria of the FA Cup triumph the south London club are suffering turmoil and recrimination in 2026

Crystal Palace supporters are not used to this attention. After an unforgettable 2025 that broke new ground for the south London club as they won their first major trophy, the first few weeks of 2026 have thrust Palace into the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Dumped out of the FA Cup as holders by Macclesfield in one of the competition’s biggest shocks, there followed a double bombshell a week later that the captain Marc Guéhi was being sold to Manchester City and the manager, Oliver Glasner, would depart at the end of the season.

Coach should not ‘stick to football’ when football strays into politics and death but his role as fluffer for his club’s autocratic owners cannot be ignored

You may find yourself living in a glass and steel yak-fur-lined penthouse. You may find yourself with six Premier League titles and a sport refashioned in your image. You may find yourself in front of a large advert board covered in words such as Experience Abu Dhabi, haunted by images of suffering, a scythe clanking gently at your shoulder. And you may say, well, how did I get here?

There are only ever two types of Pep Guardiola article. First, articles announcing that Guardiola’s influence has reached some new level of annihilating dominance, that what we have here is our own cashmere-draped, cranium-whirring Ideal Tactics Man, that Pep-ism is bigger than smartphones, bigger than internet porn, bigger than a mother’s love, that playing out from the back is now visible from space.

Manager caught in the first sticky patch of her career, but has agreed a new contract despite falling out of WSL title race

Dejected body language, talk of a crisis, and a 12-point gap ruling them out of the title before the second week of February. For a Chelsea team so used to winning the Women’s Super League, this is uncharted territory after their 5-1 loss to Manchester City.

For Sonia Bompastor, who has had more defeats in her past five league matches than in her previous 104 games in charge of Chelsea and Lyon, this is also an unfamiliar scenario, but Chelsea have placed their full faith in her – and vice versa – by agreeing a new, extended contract with the Frenchwoman and putting their trust in each other that recent results amount merely to a temporary blip, rather than a longer-term downward spiral.

The job is not done yet, far from it. But on a rainswept evening in West Yorkshire, the collective response from everyone associated with Leeds United for each of their goals left you in no doubt that this had the whiff of a season-defining night.

With Leeds and Nottingham Forest sitting an advantageous but not decisive six points above the relegation zone before kick-off, and 18th-placed West Ham away at Burnley on Saturday, it felt like both these famous old clubs knew victory could dramatically shape the remaining three months of the campaign.

Head coach says champions were ‘outplayed for large parts’ in 3-0 reverse last November, but are now more dangerous

The test for Liverpool against Manchester City on Sunday is not of their title credentials. That ship has sailed. Instead it is of how far Arne Slot’s side have truly progressed since their title defence was holed.

Slot feels Liverpool’s displays have warranted defeat only occasionally this season – late lapses, set-piece failures and wasted chances have been more common explanations than the overall performance – and the 3-0 reverse at the Etihad Stadium in November was certainly one of them. The controversy over Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed header at 1-0 still lingers for the Dutchman but does not prevent him holding his hands up.

• Chelsea head coach has been a target for ridicule

• Rosenior hails positive change in culture at Chelsea

Liam Rosenior says life is too short to worry about people laughing at him. The 41-year-old has quickly become a figure of fun since his appointment as Chelsea’s head coach and was ridiculed after miscontrolling a dropping ball during his side’s defeat at Arsenal on Tuesday.

It was the latest example of Rosenior facing online mockery because of his quotes and mannerisms. He has been referred to as “LinkedIn Liam” because of some of his comments in press conferences and compared to David Brent. One meme had him mocked up as Will McKenzie, the nerdy lead character from The Inbetweeners.

Clarets host must-win game with West Ham on Saturday but face a third demotion in three Premier League seasons

“I still enjoy the day out, I just don’t let the results affect me any more,” says the Burnley season-ticket holder Mark Bentley. Fifteen games without a Premier League win and 11 points adrift of safety, the Clarets are facing relegation the season after promotion for a second time in two years. Sparring with the best should bring glorious enjoyment at Turf Moor but instead they have three victories from 24 games, beating the two other promoted sides and rock-bottom Wolves, with survival chances looking worse than slim.

Relegation rivals West Ham visit on Saturday, and another defeat would remove any faint hope that Burnley could turn it around and leave their record over recent seasons reading: down, up, down, up, down. Beating Sunderland in their first home game brought optimism after a summer where money was spent, notably bringing in the 96-cap Kyle Walker after eight years of success at Manchester City, but that feelgood factor has dwindled.

In February 2023 more than 100 charges were laid against the serial champions but we are still waiting for the verdict

Exactly three years ago, 10 paragraphs on the Premier League website set the cat among the pigeons. Under the nondescript heading “Premier League statement”, football’s richest and most popular domestic competition announced unprecedented disciplinary charges against Manchester City, champions of the two previous seasons (and the two to come). We are still waiting for the outcome.

The estimated 134 charges covered years of alleged wrongdoing but broke down into a couple of key chunks: accusations that City had failed to provide “accurate financial information” to the league and to properly “cooperate … and assist” with the subsequent investigation. Precious little new information has followed.

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• Club short on defenders before three games in seven days

• Head coach ‘very happy’ with squad despite lack of cover

Arne Slot has said Liverpool have “a hell of a challenge” to prevent injuries affecting their ambitions for the rest of the season after failing to sign Lutsharel Geertruida on deadline day.

Although Liverpool strengthened for next season with the £60m signing of Jérémy Jacquet, who will arrive from Rennes in the summer, their current problems in defence were not covered. The Premier League champions did move for the Netherlands international Geertruida, who is on loan at Sunderland from Leipzig and wanted the transfer, but the deal was called off because Sunderland were unable to secure a replacement.

• Leicester breached PSR rules for period ending 2023-24

• Club outside the relegation zone on goal difference

Leicester have been deducted six points after being found in breach of the Premier League’s financial rules. The punishment, determined by an independent disciplinary commission, leaves them outside the Championship relegation zone only on goal difference.

A hearing took place in November after Leicester were alleged to have breached profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) for the three-season period ending with 2023-24. There were also two further charges against the club for failing to cooperate and failing to submit their financial accounts on time.

• Tuchel wants warm-up games on 6 and 10 June

• Most qualified teams not available on second date

The Football Association is experiencing difficulties in securing suitable opposition for England’s World Cup warm-up games owing to their late start to the expanded 48-team tournament.

England open against Croatia on the last day of the first round of games on 17 June, six days after the first match between Mexico and South Africa, and Thomas Tuchel wants final preparation games as close to his team’s tournament kick-off as possible.

Former Labour party general secretary and chair of the FA who was described as ‘too straight, too honest and too nice’ to succeed

The wide-ranging diversity of the employment and pursuits in the packed public life of David Triesman, Lord Triesman, who has died aged 82, was fuelled by a visionary idealism he first displayed as a teenage schoolboy and which he thereafter sustained throughout a rollercoaster ride in sport, business and politics.

He began his working life as an academic, spent nearly two decades as a trade union leader, ran the Labour party as general secretary for two years in the troubled run-up to the Iraq war from 200103 and then became a government minister in the House of Lords. A qualified senior football referee who had played for Tottenham Hotspur’s youth team in the 1960s, he served as chair of the Football Association from 2008 to 2010. He remained an active member of the Lords and numerous public bodies, and in 2011 founded his own consultancy dealing in property and private equity.

• JRC unhappy with City manager’s ‘controversial views’

• Guardiola referred on Tuesday to ‘genocide in Palestine’

The Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, has been urged to be “more careful with his future language” by representatives of the city’s Jewish community, after he spoke out about Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

Guardiola gave a speech in support of Palestinian children at a charity event in his home city of Barcelona last week, and on Tuesday he told journalists at a press conference how the suffering of innocent people caught up in conflict, including the one in the Middle East, “hurts” him, and leaves him feeling compelled to speak out.

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

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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

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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.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Sam Dalling and Dan Bardell as Manchester City comfortably set up a League Cup final against Arsenal after a 5-1 aggregate win over Newcastle

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Arsenal need energy from home crowd, Florian Wirtz has found his groove and Liam Rosenior deserves respect

Daniel Farke is understood to have wanted a new goalkeeper during the January transfer window but the Leeds board failed to oblige. Might that decision ultimately cost the club their Premier League status? It will be interesting to see whether Farke recalls the recently dropped former Lyon goalkeeper, Lucas Perri, or keeps faith with Karl Darlow against Nottingham Forest at Elland Road on Friday night. Darlow, formerly second choice at Newcastle, struggled with crosses when Arsenal won 4-0 in West Yorkshire last Saturday and may approach a quintessential relegation six-pointer against Forest with dented confidence. What about Illan Meslier? Previously a star under Marcelo Bielsa, a keeper once hyped as France’s future No 1 has been demoted to third choice and has been discussing a potential move to Besiktas before Friday’s transfer deadline in Turkey. Talks only began after Leeds rejected a bid for Perri from Besiktas last week. Time will tell if that was that the right decision. Louise Taylor

Vivid dreamscape sold to fans in 2021 is yet to materialise amid layers upon layers of bureaucracy, economics and geopolitics

Layer two: Nick Woltemade, signed for £69m in the hot madness of summer, has stopped scoring. Anthony Elanga, a £55m winger, has struggled for game time and goals. Malick Thiaw, a £35m centre-half bought from Milan, keeps making basic errors. Last summer’s transfer window, conducted without a sporting director and with an outgoing chief executive, looks increasingly like a disaster. The football seems a little slower and less urgent these days, St James’ Park a little quieter and more anxious. Eddie Howe is basically holding this thing together with hugs and smiles.

Layer three: turns out Alexander Isak lighted the exit path so that others might follow. Sandro Tonali’s agent decided to make a little mischief on transfer deadline day, putting Arsenal on alert. Perhaps Tonali will be the next painful transfer saga, perhaps Bruno Guimarães or Lewis Hall or Tino Livramento. The sporting director, Ross Wilson, is still getting his feet under the table. The chief executive, David Hopkinson, reckons Newcastle can be the best team in the world by 2030. They sit 11th in the Premier League. No signings arrived in January.

With 13 clubs punished, Chengdu are the only Super League top six side that will start the upcoming new season on zero points, but China’s U23s and provincial sides are lifting spirits

When Keir Starmer met Xi Jinping recently, reporters said the British prime minister was shocked at his Chinese counterpart calling Crystal Palace “Palace”, liking Manchester City and Arsenal and supporting Manchester United. The reasons can be guessed. Fan Zhiyi was popular at Selhurst Park in the late 1990s, Sun Jihai was a cult hero at Maine Road and Manchester United had Dong Fangzhuo. The president of the world’s second most populous country and second biggest economy didn’t, however, mention Everton.

Li Tie spent four seasons at Goodison Park, playing the most in his first, 2002-03, with 29 Premier League appearances. The Chinese international moved into coaching on returning home and managed the national team from 2019 to 2021. Since December 2024, he has been in prison, serving a 20 year sentence on charges of taking bribes. Since last Thursday, he has been banned from all football activities for life.

Liverpool paid £60m for the 20-year-old defender Jérémy Jacquet. Previous deals in the league suggest it is a risk

By WhoScored

As Premier League teams get younger and transfer fees get bigger, we are seeing players with little experience commanding huge prices. Jérémy Jacquet’s £60m move to Liverpool makes him the fourth most expensive player aged 20 or younger in Premier League history. Spending so much money for a defender with just 36 appearances in France’s top flight looks like a risk, but how have players Jacquet’s age fared after big moves?

The FA’s proposals for a shake-up of the competition have met a groundswell of opposition with fans arguing it would bolster the wealthy elite

As so much of the modern game increasingly sucks the joy out of football, there remains something pure and precious about the sight of those famous black and white numbered balls being tipped out of the velvet bag for an FA Cup draw.

Your heart rate intensifies as they clatter when tipped into the bowl. Each side has the same chance of being pitted against any other club and, for those few moments, there is a special feeling. Hope.

As the winter transfer window closes, here are the patterns which have emerged across Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues

Were there an Early Bird Award for prompt recruitment, Eintracht Frankfurt would be making space in their trophy cabinet. Before the transfer window even opened they had announced the signings of Younes Ebnoutalib and Keita Kosugi, reportedly for a combined £13m, while Ayoube Amaimouni-Echghouyab and Arnaud Kalimuendo followed within a week. Throw in the arrival of Love Arrhov from Swedish side Brommapojkarna, a deal agreed last May but effective on New Year’s Day, and they had five new names in the squad in time for their first game after the Bundesliga’s winter break, a 3-3 draw with Borussia Dortmund. Ebnoutalib, an imposing 6ft 3in striker signed from second-division Elversberg, scored in that game, assisted by Kalimuendo, who arrived on loan from Nottingham Forest. In fact, it has been a promising start for their January arrivals: Amaimouni-Echghouyabe opened his account the following week against Stuttgart, while Kalimuendo has scored against Bremen and Hoffenheim. Unfortunately, Frankfurt won none of those matches. Even so, there are reasons to hope their signings can help revive a listless season. Will Magee

• Fifa president sorry for comment about arrests

• Infantino says it is time to look at readmitting Russia

The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, has apologised over remarks he made about British fans and defended the decision to award a peace prize to the US president, Donald Trump.

Infantino said at last month’s World Economic Forum in Davos that the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 had been special because “for the first time in history no Brit was arrested”.

Manager dismissed despite sublime late equaliser against Gladbach and the next appointment will be telling

Every little detail suggested it would almost immediately find its way into the annals of legend. It started as a last-ditch attempt from a set piece, in the fourth of five minutes of stoppage time, with the clock ticking towards the climax at seemingly twice its normal pace and the goalkeeper, Mio Backhaus, wandering up for the corner in desperation rather than genuine hope of his Anatoliy Trubin moment.

It was pinball; Marco Grüll’s delivery was headed out, nodded back towards goal by Isaac Schmidt and heading out for a goal-kick, only for Senne Lynen to stretch and just about keep it in, slicing it up in the air, before it fell to Keke Topp. The 21-year-old’s sublime finish appeared to have been cut and pasted from a different sequence entirely, a sumptuous left-foot volley on the swivel that arrowed past Borussia Mönchengladbach’s goalkeeper, Moritz Nicolas, hitting the net and lifting the roof off.

Werder Bremen’s equaliser felt like a near-miracle. On a day and in a minute that looked like it would be their coach’s last, they had finally, improbably coaxed the sound of the ship horn and The Proclaimers’ 500 Miles from the Weserstadion’s speakers with a goal to snatch a point at the last.

The American has earned the trust of Luciano Spalletti in Italy, but his role with the USMNT remains an open question

Juventus have tried to get rid of Weston McKennie. They even succeeded once, sending him on loan to Leeds United only for the American to return six months later. When he got back to Turin, as US coach Gregg Berhalter told the story at the time, Juve had emptied his locker and given away his parking spot. Despite this, McKennie stuck around.

It’s just as well for the Old Lady that he did – McKennie is now in the form of his life. The 27-year-old has scored four times in just eight games since the start of 2026. He has become one of Juve’s most important players and arguably the biggest driving force behind their recent upturn in form. Luciano Spalletti – among the most big-name coaches currently working in Italian football – has used McKennie to mould the team in his own image.

League’s star said to be unhappy over his club’s transfer dealings and Karim Benzema’s move. Now he could face his first backlash

Jurassic Park sounded great given the spectacular beasts on display, but there was chaos after they started to do their own thing. When Cristiano Ronaldo, surely the T rex, and Karim Benzema, perhaps a velociraptor, are scoring in spectacular fashion there are headlines around the world, but the Saudi Pro League is finding out that when they start to flex their muscles off the pitch, there is even more interest and, it turns out, a real problem for the competition.

What happened on a manic Monday in the SPL should have been about what unfolded on the pitch. Al-Hilal, in first, drew with third-placed Al-Ahli. Al-Nassr won, to stay second, closing to within a point of the leaders. If Brendan Rodgers, having a whale of a time with Al-Qadsiah, wins his game in hand then four points will separate the top four with just over a third of the season remaining. It is the kind of title race most leagues would love.

City again needlessly threw points away but Solanke showed what Tottenham, with their long injury list, have been missing

There are times when football is gloriously silly, times when the logic of your eyes and all your experience tells you one thing is happening, and then it turns out the reality is quite different. What seemed at the break as though it was going to be an easy away win unexpectedly became a draw and, as a result, both ends of the table looked quite different at the final whistle to how it appeared they were going to look at half-time.

It was a case of multiple immutable but incompatible laws running into each other. On the one hand, Tottenham are terrible and have picked up only 10 points at home this season. But on the other, City have developed a habit of needlessly squandering points and somehow always do worse than expected against Tottenham. The consequence was a game that simultaneously made very little sense but at the same time was predictable, at least in the way it remained true to those fundamental principles.

The winger seems to have lost a yard of pace but he is only 31 and leaving Stamford Bridge to make a fresh start may be the best thing for him

While Raheem Sterling’s bank balance was boosted by his unhappy spell at Chelsea, the professional cost has been huge. The winger’s career has nosedived since his departure from Manchester City three and a half years ago. Sterling was hailed as a marquee signing when he joined Chelsea in the summer of 2022 but there was no place for him inside the tent by the time an agreement was finally reached to end his £325,000-a-week contract by mutual consent on Wednesday.

The decline has been sad to watch. There was excitement when Sterling became the first player to join Chelsea after the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital takeover. He had won four Premier League titles with City and had undoubted pedigree. Thomas Tuchel wanted his threat in the final third and much was made of Sterling, who grew up near Wembley, returning to London when Chelsea signed him for £47.5m.

I played out a torturous, all-too-familar dance after the Gunners’ title-race stumble. But if we’re suffering like this in January, how will we feel in May?

I sometimes joke that I’m not sure I actually like football, just Arsenal. Hate-watching rivals aside, if a game doesn’t concern the Gunners it probably doesn’t concern me, such is my one-club tunnel vision. Even then, there are occasions where my love of Arsenal appears debatable. As a friend recently put it to me: “I’ve watched Arsenal games with you. I’m not sure you like Arsenal and yet you’re possibly the most fervent Gooner I know.”

Ah, the torturous dance between joy and torment. I relived it again last Sunday evening, when Arsenal lost to Manchester United. On paper, it should have been simple enough to compartmentalise: you can’t win them all and we’re still four points clear at the top of the league table and looking strong in all three cups. And yet, for the first time this season, I succumbed to true result-induced head loss.

A country where safety is under threat from federal violence on the streets is not fit to stage soccer’s showpiece event

Removing the United States as co-host of the 2026 World Cup would hurt for pretty much everyone. Fans would miss out on seeing the sport’s pinnacle in their home towns (or somewhere nearby). Cities and businesses small and large would lose the financial benefits they had banked on. It would be a logistical and political nightmare on an international scale, the likes of which have never been seen before in sports. It would be eminently sad. And it would be entirely justified.

It brings me no pleasure to say this. The United States has been eager to host a men’s World Cup for more than a decade and a half. The desire survived and even grew after 2010’s failure to out-bid Russia and Qatar (in public and behind closed doors) for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. With hosting rights for 2026 later secured alongside Canada and Mexico, the US soccer scene prepared to show off that the sport is now part of the nation’s fabric, 32 years after hosting the tournament for the first time in 1994. Soccer’s growing popularity in America has helped inspire other US sports to try new formats, encouraged us to engage more fully with the world in a sporting context, and has been at the center of conversations about our society and culture. The 2026 World Cup was seen as the best chance for the world to fully experience not just how much the US has improved at soccer, but how much soccer has improved the US.

Our cartoonist on the Swindon Town manager’s fiery response after his captain was suspended at short notice

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Well drilled, well balanced and boasting enviable depth, City can move closer to dethroning Chelsea on Sunday

After six consecutive years as champions, Chelsea find their once firm grip on the Women’s Super League crown has been reduced to a little finger clinging to the side of the trophy. They head to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday nine points behind their opponents and surely sensing that only a win could prevent the title from transferring to Manchester City’s outstretched arms.

City have endured plenty of near misses since they last won the WSL 10 years ago, finishing second five times – or six, if we include 2017’s shorter Spring Series. They have frequently made it look as if “next year” would finally be their year, so there is something incongruous about their flourishing form arriving after they finished 17 points behind Chelsea last season.

The joy of the game is that big moments are rare – the climax of the UCL group phase felt like too much of a good thing

It’s half an hour after attempting to watch 18 football matches at the same time on the final match day of the Champions League group stage, so it’s still a little early to tell whether I think it was a brilliant night of football or not.

The information overload from a TV, laptop and phone means I may need a couple of weeks to really process it – by which time of course this will all be forgotten and we’ll be wondering whether one point from three Premier League games is enough for Thomas Frank to keep his job.

On a soaked Brixton pitch, the club launch their latest programme as part of a widening mission that now stretches from Glasgow’s soup kitchens to Gaza relief

You would not expect to find coaches from the Celtic FC Foundation in Brixton. But even the torrential rain in south London has not stopped them and four local teams from turning out to help launch a programme that will provide girls and young women from underprivileged backgrounds in the local area with a chance to play football.

It is one of several initiatives established since the foundation began working in London to mark Celtic’s 125th anniversary in 2013. Another, based in Hackney, called Breaking Barriers helps integrate refugee and asylum-seeking communities through the sport.

Guests with a ‘pitch view’ room at the Blackpool FC Stadium Hotel can’t watch the game – our writer checks in for a trip into the dark

Seems perfectly reasonable that anyone booking a “Superior Room with Pitch View” at the Blackpool Football Club Stadium hotel, located inside the Bloomfield Road Stadium, would expect a hotel room with a view of the pitch. And that is exactly the case – except, bizarrely, when Blackpool are actually playing, with some hotel guests scuppered recently by the smallest of fine print when booking: “Due to the EFL rules and regulations, bedroom curtains have to be kept drawn throughout a match.” Failure to do so could result in a £2,500 fine. Ouch.

Across the 14 years that I have worked for the Guardian, there have been a few occasions when I have been tempted, perhaps after a stressful shift, to go and lie down in a dark room. I just didn’t think that this could be an actual assignment. But off I go to Blackpool to investigate this special type of 3pm blackout, and shortly before kick-off between Blackpool and their League One relegation rivals Northampton, I find myself pulling a very heavy curtain across a panoramic window facing the Bloomfield Road pitch and the Blackpool Tower beyond. That’s my daylight done for the day.

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Despite Aston Villa’s twin-engine strike force being linked with moves elsewhere just over a year ago, Unai Emery was dreaming of a dynasty. “Hopefully we can be together with Ollie Watkins and Jhon Durán for 10 years,” he told reporters with the optimistic tone of a man who hadn’t yet checked the young Colombian’s WhatsApp status. “Maybe 12 years, maybe 15!” Despite interest at the time from Arsenal, Watkins remains at Villa but his considerably younger former teammate has just forced a move to his third club in three different time zones since leaving Birmingham. Of course, it’s no secret that he has form in the itchy feet department, as Villa fans who remember his ill-advised crossed-arms ‘Irons’ pose on a live Social Media Disgrace feed before a move to West Ham that never materialised will attest.

Football Daily gave me a great idea (imagine that!) in yesterday’s Quote of the Day. In every article and letter that you publish, let’s declare the main participant’s age, as of James Milner’s top-flight debut in 2002. I feel like I could learn a lot about Noble Francis and the other regulars like this” – Mike Wilner (Milner +36).

I was at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco last weekend for the Manet & Morisot exhibition when I saw a fellow museum-goer wearing a Manchester City scarf, but looking distinguished otherwise. I was tempted to ask him what he was doing there because the Monet exhibition isn’t until next month” – Peter Oh.

From ‘Leicester is like my son, so I have to do it right’ to ‘Leicester in relegation danger after six-point deduction for financial rules breach’. Well, ‘a week is a long time in politics football’, as former UK prime minister Harold Wilson would have said, if he were still alive and interested in East Midlands-based football (which he wasn’t, he was a Huddersfield fan)” – Noble Francis.

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Organisation formed by journalist Miriam Walker-Khan is taking the next step in making sure South Asian women and girls feel welcome in football at all levels

There was a different kind of energy in an upstairs room at Stamford Bridge after escaping the buzz of the match-going crowd before Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat of Chelsea in the Women’s Super League 10 days ago. There was a celebratory, empowering energy, but also a determined and hopeful vibe.

The room was full of people celebrating the third anniversary of Brown Girl Sport, the award-winning online platform and community that aims to highlight the stories of South Asian women and girls in sport in order, according to its website, “to smash stereotypes that Brown women don’t do, care or know about sport”.

Pep Guardiola’s side would be on top of the league had they not consistently struggled to hold leads

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The focus had been on Arsenal. They had not won in three Premier League games before this weekend and it was reasonable to ask how secure their position at the top of the table was. But the impact of their wobble was not that their lead was eaten into, but that they missed opportunities to extend it, because those in the chasing pack were also dropping points.

In their six league games since the New Year fixtures, Arsenal have dropped seven points. But City in the same period have dropped 11, as have Aston Villa and Liverpool. Fulham have dropped 10, Everton have dropped nine, Brentford and Newcastle have dropped eight, Chelsea seven and Manchester United six; hardly anyone in the top half of the table has closed the gap on Arsenal at all, which is why, after Saturday’s comfortable win at Leeds, their lead remains at six points.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Sam Dalling and Dan Bardell as Manchester City comfortably set up a League Cup final against Arsenal after a 5-1 aggregate win over Newcastle

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On the podcast today: it’ll be an Arsenal v Manchester City Carabao Cup final after Pep Guardiola’s side beat Newcastle 3-1 at the Etihad to round off a 5-1 aggregate triumph.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Tom Garry and Emily Keogh to analyse the weekend’s WSL games and Arsenal’s triumph in the inaugural Fifa Women’s Champions Cup

On today’s pod: Manchester City take a giant step towards the WSL title with a stunning 5-1 demolition of champions Chelsea, opening up a 12-point lead at the top. The panel assesses a ruthless display from Andrée Jeglertz’s side, Kerolin’s hat-trick and the mounting pressure on Sonia Bompastor after the Blues’ heaviest defeat in years.

Elsewhere, Manchester United move into second with a hard-earned win over Liverpool, Everton finally end their Goodison Park hoodoo against Aston Villa and Tottenham edge past West Ham. The panel also wraps up comeback wins for London City Lionesses and reflects on Brighton’s difficult week.

João Pedro stepping up for Rosenior, Arsenal frontmen show their teeth and stretched Liverpool are fighting on

João Pedro is enjoying life under Liam Rosenior. The versatile Brazil forward was excellent after coming on at half-time against West Ham. João Pedro, who has five goals in his last five games, helped Chelsea complete their comeback from 2-0 down by scoring his side’s first and then creating Enzo Fernandez’s stoppage-time winner. Chelsea chose well when they beat Newcastle to the signing of the 24-year-old from Brighton last summer. João Pedro was excellent at the Club World Cup, but despite dealing with fitness issues has still has 12 goals in all competitions this season. Capable of playing as either a No 9 or a No 10, the Brazilian was important for Enzo Maresca but has improved since the Italian’s departure. “I’ve had very, very good conversations with him already, probably four in my office,” Rosenior said last week. “I think he’s sick of my office, where I’ve said to him ‘If you play with intensity with your quality, the quality comes out’.” Jacob Steinberg

Álvaro Arbeloa’s team have concerns as they look ahead to the knockout stages, while Jamie Carragher has concerns about the draw

It was billed by broadcasters as “Matchday Mayhem”. Finally, after 17 of the 18 final day matches had finished, came a chaotic denouement. Not even José Mourinho’s long Champions League heritage had included a moment like this, though his wild celebration was familiar. Benfica were beating Real Madrid 3-2, and Mourinho’s former club were already dropping out of the top eight. “I was told [the scoreline] is enough, so let’s close the door,” said Mourinho.

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