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Last season, there was a coldly efficient streak to Liverpool. They rolled out a series of unremarkable 2-0 wins, a title rooted in unfussy competence. This season could hardly be more different; they are neither unfussy nor competent. They led 2-0 and, four minutes intostoppage time, they led 3-2, and yet still they didn’t win it. It was tremendous fun, but Arne Slot will have hated it.

Just as no side can be sure whether a win at West Ham in their previous away match means they’ve played well or were just playing West Ham, so it would be unwise to read too much into this mishmash of the haplessness and excellence. Their three goals all resulted from fine finishes and one from clever buildup play, but the image of the game – once again – would be Virgil van Dijk standing hands on hips, steam rising both literally and metaphorically as he glared in disbelief at the bizarrely diffident defending around him.

• Inter Miami host Vancouver for MLS championship

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3 min: Miami pinned Vancouver deep in their own half for quite a while, and after a short break the other way, they get it back. Allende gets the first shot of the game, putting it over from near the corner of the penalty area.

1 min: The atmosphere is lively as we have a frantic midfield battle, with neither team sustaining possession.

As this game ticked into the 95th minute, an enthralling contest had already lived up to its billing. And then mayhem unfolded inside the Arsenal 18-yard box and, subsequently, in the Villa Park stands, the 128-year foundations put to the test as Emiliano Buendía, enveloped by the rubble of splayed defenders and with virtually the last kick of the game, exhibited unthinkable composure to curl a first-time shot into the corner and seemingly blow the Premier League title race wide open.

Not for the first time, Aston Villa had been the architects of Arsenal’s downfall, though few envisioned a climax quite like this. David Raya blocked Youri Tielemans’s side-foot effort from inside the six-yard box and then Buendía saw his initial effort halted by a combination of Martín Zubimendi and Jurriën Timber before seizing on the loose ball. Buendía slipped as he shifted possession to Boubacar Kamara and Arsenal smelled danger, Ben White and Timber flinging themselves towards the ball.

In the 65th minute Rayan Cherki burst along the right, cut back, then delivered a scintillating rabona plum on to the head of Phil Foden, who nodded home off the bar. Manchester City had cruised to a 3-0 lead and were heading for second, two points off the top, after Arsenal’s defeat at Aston Villa, and the Etihad Stadium doffed the proverbial at the magical Cherki.

Of his 22-year-old star man, Pep Guardiola said: “Rayan is an exceptional player, so young, has huge personality. In the final third he has something special. What I admire the most about Rayan is not the skills. I never saw these kind of crosses from Messi – I like simplicity because I learned from Messi never to make a mistake with the simple things.

• England to play Croatia at Dallas Cowboys’ stadium

• Scotland’s opener against Haiti starts 2am UK time

England will kick off their World Cup campaign against Croatia in Dallas at 9pm UK time on Wednesday 17 June. They will play at the Dallas Stadium, home of the NFL’s Cowboys, which has a retractable roof and air conditioning. That will mitigate the effects of a 4pm EST kick-off (3pm local time). The roof will be closed for the opener.

England learned the specifics of their group phase schedule at part two of the World Cup draw in Washington DC, on Saturday. Their second game, against Ghana, on 23 June, will be played in Foxborough, near Boston at 4pm EST. It is an open-air stadium. The average June daily temperate high there is 26C.

So long as the Premier League invests in its players and Fifa pays it lip service, the continent’s flagship tournament will always struggle to fit in

Perhaps attitudes are not quite as parochial as they once were, but it remains true that, in England at least, the Africa Cup of Nations is discussed less as a tournament in its own right than in terms of what it means for the Premier League.

There will be the usual harrumphing about why the tournament is played in the middle of our season, but the Confederation of African Football has tried to satisfy European clubs only to be thwarted by Fifa and the increasing demands of the calendar.

• National League South side into third round for first time

• Cheltenham come from behind to beat Buxton 6-2

Louis Britton scored twice as Weston-super-Mare booked their spot in the third round of the FA Cup for the first time with a 2-0 win at fellow National League South side Chelmsford.

To compound Chelmsford’s misery, Taylor Clark was given his marching orders late on, 12 minutes after coming off the bench, for a dangerous high tackle.

• Supporter had been taken ill during first half at Valley

• Clubs pay tribute after fan passes away in hospital

A Charlton supporter has died after being taken ill during the club’s abandoned Championship fixture against Portsmouth. The fan was treated by medical staff in the stands before being taken to hospital, but it was later confirmed the person had died.

The 12.30pm kick-off was paused in the 12th minute, when the score was goalless, after the referee Matthew Donohue was made aware of the severity of the incident in the lower tier of the Covered End by supporters who shouted to attract his attention. The match official then took the players off the pitch six minutes later. It was announced at 1.30pm that play would not resume.

Long before the end Burnley were down to 10 men, en route towards a sixth straight Premier League defeat and concerned, largely, with damage limitation. But then, as is becoming a habit here, Newcastle lost concentration and Burnley very nearly pickpocketed a last-minute point when Josh Laurent miscued a glorious headed chance to equalise in the dying seconds.

“We have to improve,” said the home manager, Eddie Howe. “It was a bizarre ending, and a sluggish start, but we got the job done. It was a tough game and the vibrant second half I was hoping for didn’t happen, but we’ve taken 10 points from the last possible 12. That’s no mean feat so let’s be positive rather than negative; we’re moving in the right direction.”

How each team qualified, who will be favourites to progress to the knockout stage and which games to look out for

The opening game in the Azteca will be a repeat of the opener in 2010 when South Africa drew 1-1 with Mexico in Soccer City, Soweto. Mexico have won one knockout game at the World Cup, beating Bulgaria last time they hosted, in 1986. Their manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that side and will be targeting their third quarter-final as hosts. South Africa, coached by the veteran Belgian Hugo Broos, qualified for their first World Cup since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin, despite having a game against Lesotho they appeared to have won awarded against them for fielding a suspended player.

Clashes between rival factions are the culmination of a long-running feud involving claims of racism

It should have been a night for Crystal Palace supporters to savour. About 1,500 officially made the trip to Strasbourg for their second away match of the Conference League group stage last week, although plenty more had gathered in the pretty Alsatian city famous for its expansive Christmas market.

Yet while most were enjoying being part of Palace’s first European campaign after May’s FA Cup win, “a tiny minority” – as the club’s statement the following day described them – had different ideas. Footage of bottles and chairs being thrown as two rival groups of supporters of the same club clashed before the game in one of the city’s squares went viral on X. “Palace fans fighting each other in Strasbourg,” read the message, not surprisingly sparking widespread confusion.

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One of the main accusations levelled at Thomas Frank is that he lacks the boldness to manage Tottenham. His methods have not been received as well as they were at Brentford and a stuttering start to life in north London has left the Dane’s growing number of critics wondering if he is too reactive to succeed at a club whose supporters will never accept their team losing without having a go.

The damaging statistics have piled up: staggeringly low expected goals, entire opening periods without a single Spurs player managing a shot on target, no league win at home since the opening weekend of the season. At Brentford, though, they remember Frank fondly. They were sad to lose him to Spurs in the summer and probably did not expect their former manager to be under such intense scrutiny when they faced him for the first time.

Arsenal rebounded from back-to-back draws and a week of speculation about their squad harmony as Stina Blackstenius’s late strike gave them all three points against Liverpool. Arsenal had taken an early lead through the former Liverpool forward Olivia Smith, but the Gunners shrank into themselves after Beata Olsson’s equaliser until Blackstenius delivered a much-needed winner in the 87th minute.

Renée Slegers said she let her frustration out in the dressing room at half-time. “The firmest it’s ever been,” Slegers said of her team talk. “I wasn’t happy after the first half, I think no one was. So, I was really clear that we had to raise our standards. Intensity wasn’t high enough, ball speed wasn’t high enough, positioning wasn’t early enough, there was not enough ball movement. Everyone agreed.”

Everton were unrecognisable to Sean Dyche on his return to the club he saved from relegation and potential administration not so long ago. In plush new surroundings, the former Everton manager encountered a contented fanbase and incisive, confident opponents as David Moyes’s team climbed to fifth in the Premier League with a comfortable win over Nottingham Forest.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall delivered another immaculate performance in the heart of Everton’s midfield as a fourth win in five games reinforced the strides made since Moyes replaced Dyche in January. Dewsbury-Hall engineered a rapid opener and scored the third, while in between Thierno Barry lifted the roof of Hill Dickinson Stadium by scoring his first Everton goal in his 17th appearance. Forest were flat and second best throughout.

Any momentum Chelsea had picked up in the final week of November, through outclassing Barcelona and matching Arsenal with 10 men, appears to have been stunted in December. After Wednesday’s defeat at Leeds, a point against Bournemouth is no disaster but, with Arsenal’s earlier loss to Aston Villa, it is a chance missed. Eight points separate Enzo Maresca’s side and the top of the Premier League.

At full time, Maresca was not ready to throw in the towel. “My message after Arsenal was that, if in February/March we are where we were, we are in a title race,” he said. “But the table is so tight. I’m still thinking that the four, five, six teams that are at the top are going to be all close.” The last time Chelsea failed to score in a league game was on the opening weekend against Crystal Palace, their run of 13 matches scoring the longest of any team this season. Cole Palmer, making his first league start since that goalless draw in August, exerted little influence and was replaced by João Pedro after an hour.

• England captain comes on in 60th minute of 5-0 win

• Ferran Torres hat-trick helps Barcelona sink Real Betis

Harry Kane scored a hat-trick after coming on as second-half substitute to guide Bayern Munich to a 5-0 victory at Stuttgart.

The Bavarian club, who have opened up an 11-point lead at the top, were a goal up but struggling against the aggressive hosts until the introduction of Kane on the hour mark. Stuttgart were also left with 10 men for the last 10 minutes after the dismissal of Lorenz Assignon.

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England manager happy to ‘focus on what we can influence’ after a draw that will live long in the memory and not for the right reasons

At the end of an extraordinary day in the US capital and a World Cup draw that lurched between the ridiculous and the sublime (with a greater emphasis on the former, if the truth be told), Thomas Tuchel and England now know. Croatia in Toronto or Dallas. Ghana in Boston or Toronto. Panama in New Jersey or Philadelphia. And that is just the group games.

With the excitement running wild and, well, England being England, their determination to bring it home to the fore, it was not long before the permutations were being scrutinised. It could be Mexico at the Azteca in the last 16 – the scene of the Hand of God in 1986. It could be Brazil in Miami in the quarter-finals. Tuchel pulled a face as if to say: “Wow.” There had been a lot to process. And that is before we talk about the Honourable Donald J Trump and his Fifa peace prize glory.

Each nation’s World Cup is defined, for good or bad, by huge, indelible moments. With a favorable draw, the onus is now on the US to create them

Christian Pulisic vividly remembers watching it with his family. So does Tyler Adams, who saw it with his friends from soccer camp. Memories of Tim Howard catching an Algerian header in Pretoria, and hurling it upfield to ignite the counterattack that would lead to Landon Donovan’s instantly iconic goal. The goal that spared the United States men’s national team’s blushes at the 2010 World Cup, sneaking them out of the group stage at Algeria’s expense. One of the most iconic moments in US socer history.

Pulisic was a few months from turning 12. Adams had just turned 10. Matt Turner would be 16 the next day, and Howard’s heroics made him wonder if he ought to devote himself fully to becoming a goalkeeper.

Ever since the club’s very beginning, David Beckham and Jorge Mas have had moments like this Saturday in mind

Back on 27 February 2020, days before Inter Miami’s first-ever fixture in MLS, I stood next to the club’s managing owner, Jorge Mas, and co-owner David Beckham as part of an MLS press junket in New York City. I was there for Sports Illustrated and my show Planet Fútbol TV, which I co-hosted with my friend, the late, great Grant Wahl. We were adamant that the Inter Miami story was riveting, not just because of Beckham’s influence in MLS, but also because his new club was about to introduce the unique culture of Miami and south Florida – the Latin American capital of the world – to the league.

The conversation in 2020 was my second meeting with Mas and my first with Beckham. I remember the sense of excitement from both men, knowing that this Inter Miami project – seven years in the making before their debut in the league – was about to come to fruition after a long, arduous journey. From legal battles with Internazionale over the trademark of the word “Inter” to political and structural problems as they tried to make a stadium, Miami Freedom Park, a reality. Now, the club was finally starting life in MLS.

Australia might face the USA, Paraguay and a Europe qualifier as the underdog, but have honed a style that is almost built for tournament football

All things considered, Australia’s draw for the 2026 World Cup can’t be described as simple. But it’s also fair to say that things could have gone a lot worse. And at an expanded, 48-team tournament, it is a group that the Socceroos should not be overawed by.

At the end of a sometimes ridiculous, sometimes cringe-inducing, and sometimes shameless draw in Washington DC, Australia’s men had found themselves sorted into Group D by the time the Village People closed the show. They will begin the tournament placed alongside co-hosts the United States, South American foes Paraguay, and a European qualifier to be drawn from one of Turkey, Slovakia, Kosovo, or Romania.

Player-manager on his long road to recovery after a betting addiction, and leading the lowest-ranked team left in the FA Cup

“It’s tough, it’s stressful, it’s completely draining … but I absolutely love what I do,” says Scott Davies, sitting in an empty dressing room waiting for his players to arrive for training. Since 2022, Davies has been the player-manager of Slough Town who, sitting third bottom in National League South, are the lowest-ranked team left in this season’s FA Cup.

Some players are stuck in traffic; training was moved forward to teatime to accommodate a local team’s match on the Arbour Park pitch. When the session gets under way in the bucketing rain, the sixth‑tier side are sharing the 3G surface with a junior team. “I always thought I’d love to be a manager of a non-league football club and have a job on the side,” says Davies. The 37-year-old has opted out of training, instead watching the session from inside, with a tactics board propped up in front of him.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Liew and Will Unwin to discuss the Premier League, with David Conn discussing the IOPC report on policing at Hillsborough

On the podcast today: Manchester City were 5-1 up at Craven Cottage before very nearly throwing it away. If not for Josko Gvardiol’s goal-line clearance in injury time, Fulham might have pulled off one of the greatest ever Premier League comebacks.

Elsewhere, a late double for Cristian Romero earns Spurs a point away at lead-losing Newcastle, Jack Grealish wins it for Everton at Bournemouth, and we look ahead to the World Cup draw on Friday.

Plus: David Conn joins the podcast to discuss the Independent Office for Police Conduct report on policing at Hillsborough. The IOPC found that 12 police officers would have faced gross misconduct cases if any were still serving.

• US drew Australia, Paraguay, Euro play-off team

• Pochettino: friendlies tell little about WC tests

• Manage wants ‘final’ mindset for every match

Mauricio Pochettino said that it is “neither an advantage nor a disadvantage” that the United States’ World Cup group consists of two – and perhaps three – teams that his team will have played in friendlies within a year or so before kickoff of their opening game.

The US were drawn with Australia, Paraguay and the winner of a European play-off involving Turkey, Romania, Kosovo and Slovakia. The US played Australia in a friendly in October, winning 2-1 in Commerce City, Colorado. They played Paraguay in another friendly in November – a game that marked Gio Reyna’s return to form with the national team in a 2-1 win. Turkey, should they make it through the play-off, would have a leg up on preparations, having beaten the US 2-1 in a pre-Gold Cup friendly in June 2025.

Inaugural prize expected to be handed to Donald Trump but ‘process’ for choosing future winners to be proposed by controversial tycoon’s committee

It was the timing that set off the first alarm bells. With Donald Trump brooding over missing out on the Nobel peace prize, and shortly before Gianni Infantino, the president of world football’s governing body, Fifa, was due to meet the US president in Miami, an announcement was made.

In a press release and a post on his personal Instagram account last month, Infantino said Fifa would launch its very own peace prize, to be awarded each year to “individuals who help unite people in peace through unwavering commitment and special actions”.

Gus Poyet’s assistant says ‘moment of misunderstanding’ led to his being punished by the K League

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors had their “La Decima” banners ready on the second weekend of November to celebrate a 10th South Korean title won in style by the head coach, Gus Poyet. Their game with Daejeon Hana, however, turned out to be the most controversial and divisive of the season. Jeonbuk were leading 2-1 when, in injury time, the referee, Kim Woo-seong, did not award a penalty for handball, much to the displeasure of Mauricio Taricco, Poyet’s No 2.

Even when the video assistant referee intervened and Kim pointed to the spot, the former Tottenham full-back kept complaining, to the extent that he was shown a second yellow card minutes after the first. The Argentinian put his index fingers next to the outer corner of each eye. Kim interpreted the gesture as racist and reported the 52-year-old to the K League’s disciplinary committee.

Two major figures from the last 15 years of global soccer have largely met in big-game contexts. They’ll do so again in MLS Cup on Saturday

This was the matchup Thomas Müller wanted.

“My history with [Messi] forces me to hope for a final against Miami,” the former Bayern Munich and Germany star told Calen Carr in a recent interview previewing the MLS playoffs ahead for his new side, the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Perhaps the data-soaked discourse of modern football actually does this Premier League centurion something of a disservice

Stack them up. Pile them high. Sort them and arrange them, parse them and categorise them, order them to your table like items in a Chinese restaurant. Personal favourites? Give me the No 33 against Arsenal, the one with the flowing hair. I’ll also take a No 81 against Chelsea, when he spots a hapless Robert Sánchez out of goal, and lobs him deliciously from the edge of the area.

Give me a No 98 against Bournemouth, in which he deliberately slants his run around the keeper, slots it in from a tight angle, tries to clamber atop the advertising hoardings in triumph, loses his balance, collapses in peals of giggles. And maybe chuck in a No 53 against Brentford, in which Kristoffer Ajer somehow manages to fall over without being touched, spooked into incoherence by his very presence.

In the past, moments like Chelsea’s shorthanded goal might have sent Arsenal reeling. No longer

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The gap at the top is five points. Arsenal have now played two of their three toughest away games of the season. They’ve come through a potentially extremely tricky week with reputation enhanced, despite being without one of their starting centre-backs for all three games and both for one of them. If there is any sense of disappointment, it is only that they failed to beat Chelsea, whom they have become accustomed to getting the better of, despite having a man advantage from the 38th minute on Sunday.

But really there shouldn’t be any disappointment. Coming out of the international break, having conceded a late equaliser to Sunderland in their previous game, Arsenal looked potentially vulnerable. Despite having been by far the most impressive side this season, their lead over Manchester City was only four points. They were without Gabriel, who probably ranks alongside Declan Rice as their most important player. They faced Tottenham, Bayern and Chelsea over the course of eight days, and Manchester City appeared to be beginning to gather momentum.

Reaction to goalkeeper’s error on Saturday was reprehensible but fans have had enough of being let down by the team

In my 35 years as a Tottenham fan, 15 of them as a season‑ticket holder, I’ve seen the home atmosphere turn ugly more than a few times. Chants of “We want our Tottenham back” have resurfaced during times of struggle, while mounting fury at Daniel Levy finally grew too loud to ignore for the Lewis family over the summer.

I remember well the chorus of boos that ultimately sounded the death knell for Nuno Espírito Santo, when he subbed off a lively Lucas Moura against Manchester United. And if you want a deeper cut, I was there in May 2007 to witness the visceral anger and disgust when Hossam Ghaly threw his shirt on the ground after being substituted by Martin Jol, half an hour after coming on.

In MLS and NWSL alike, edge-of-your-seat contests have delivered indelible moments that even the best title race run-in can’t match

There’s a TV commercial that’s been running on Apple TV during MLS games for Lowe’s hardware stores. Lionel Messi carefully places a soccer ball on a field, ready to take a free kick. He is flanked by Lionel Messi and Lionel Messi. On the sideline, manager Lionel Messi, assisted by Lionel Messi, gesticulates. Lionel Messi lays off the ball for Lionel Messi, who crosses it to Lionel Messi. Lionel Messi chests and volleys it into the net and is mobbed by another half dozen Lionel Messis (or is it Lionels Messi?).

Facing Inter Miami in the ongoing MLS playoffs must feel more or less like living inside this ad. Before Saturday’s Eastern Conference final against New York City FC, Messi had either scored or assisted on all 12 goals Miami had scored in the postseason. Messi has smashed up the league this year, but he has saved the real savagery for the playoffs.

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That he stayed after relegation in 1978 and lifted the FA Cup with the team still in Division Two typified his commitment

Some players embody a club but few have ever embodied their side more than Billy Bonds, who died on Sunday at the age of 79. He was not a one-club man but by the time he finally retired, at the age of 41, in 1988, he felt like one, having racked up a record 799 appearances for West Ham. Just as significantly, he had lifted the FA Cup twice as captain.

There was applause at the London Stadium on Sunday as a montage was shown on the big screens. It featured a number of spectacular long-range strikes because it’s easier to show somebody scoring goals than preventing them, and still harder to somehow sum up leadership.

For a man who insists football isn’t political, the Fifa boss is putting a lot of effort into courting the most divisive politician on Earth

Gianni Infantino was 18 years old the first time he ran for office. It was a presidential election at FC Brig-Glis, the local amateur football club in the small Swiss town where he grew up. Running against two older men, and with no discernible footballing record of his own, the little red-haired kid with freckles was, unsurprisingly, the rank outsider in the race.

But he had a vision. He had a ferocious work ethic, boundless enthusiasm, well-established networks in the town’s Italian immigrant community. And even at this tender age, he had a flair for an eye-catching scheme. To the shock of many veterans at the club, Infantino surged to victory: partly on the back of his pledge to attract new sponsors and revenue streams, and partly on something more tangible. Infantino promised that if he won, his mother Maria would wash all the players’ kits, every week, for as long as he was president.

Leaders wary of the topsy-turvy nature of a competitive fifth tier which is an obstacle course as well as a marathon

There is arguably no tougher feat in modern football than gaining automatic promotion from the National League. Even Wrexham, with all their Hollywood money, took three seasons to crack the code of the solitary automatic spot. There is an illustrious list of former Football League clubs queueing up at the summit of the fifth tier with an eye on the promised land, all upwardly mobile and thriving after battling through various crises. All but two– one up automatically, one through the playoffs – will end the season disappointed.

Rochdale believe they can be the chosen ones. Saved from liquidation last year by a £2m takeover by local family the Ogdens, the club are now thriving on the pitch under Jimmy McNulty and hoping for a return to the EFL, where they enjoyed a 102-year unbroken stay between 1921 and 2023.

Liverpool have dropped to 12th in the table – matching the lowest finish by reigning Premier League champions

By WhoScored

Six defeats in 12 top-flight games is not just a wobble. It’s one of the worst starts ever made by defending Premier League champions. The last team to begin their title defence this badly was Leicester City in 2016-17. They finished 12th that season – where Liverpool are now – with Claudio Ranieri sacked midway through the campaign. The same fate befell José Mourinho at Chelsea in the 2015-16 season. They started with seven defeats in 12 games, a collapse so severe that Mourinho was shown the door a week before Christmas. For Liverpool and Arne Slot, the warning signs could not be clearer.

The transformation from champions to chaos has been stark. Just six months ago, Slot was heralded as a record breaker, the man who had taken on the unenviable task of replacing club legend Jürgen Klopp and done it with apparent ease. Under his guidance, Liverpool clinched the title with four games to spare, an achievement only three other teams have managed. Slot became the third-youngest manager to win the Premier League, the fifth to win it in his first season in England and, most importantly, he brought the title to Anfield for just the second time in 35 years.

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Out there in the extended WhatsApp metaverse, an exclusive group of footballers send each other memes, jokes and probably much else besides. What goes encrypted stays encrypted but it was only last week that Christian Fuchs, reliable left-back turned Newport County manager, revealed his appointment to the Welsh club had set the notifications buzzing on the “Champions” group, made up of the 2015-16 Leicester City players. Ten years ago today, a Riyad Mahrez hat-trick at Swansea sent the Foxes to the Premier League summit. Jamie Vardy was denied a goal but had just completed a record-breaking streak of scoring in 11 consecutive matches. The following Monday, a 2-1 win over Chelsea sent José Mourinho through the Stamford Bridge door marked Do One. “I want to stay and I hope Mr Abramovich and the board want me to stay because I want to stay,” squealed José. “All at Chelsea thank José for his immense contribution …” came the reply.

That season, everyone trailed in the wake of a Vardy, Mahrez and N’Golo Kanté-charged wrecking ball. Next summer there will doubtless be a 10th anniversary celebration. Their story continues to defy belief. No tactical manual or chalkboard wonk ever divined the sheer inspiration of Claudio Ranieri’s “dilly ding dilly dong” motivational techniques. The problem with football is that you can never truly bask in the past. Just look at Manchester United’s constipations or the deleterious fall of Liverpool, actual champions whose performances have turned even the cheeriest Anfield fan into a Samuel Beckett tragicomedy. Though if you are mining for misery look no further than Leicester in 2025. There is the possibility that the 10th anniversary party will take place in League One.

Did the downfall begin the very next season? Where did it all go wrong, Mr Vardy? An opening-day loss at Hull, a team with no manager, was soon followed by Ranieri’s defenestration: dilly ding, dilly gone. Since then, there’s been tragedy in the 2018 helicopter crash that killed Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, the club’s owner. And good money thrown after bad: Leicester have walked a financial tightrope that may lead to docked points soon, plunging them into the Championship’s relegation zone. When Vardy departed for Cremonese last summer, the last of the immortals departed the tower. The doom has doubled. Ruud van Nistelrooy’s failure to find any fight against relegation last season has been replicated by Martí Cifuentes.

Unbeaten in Europe and with eight wins in eight games domestically, the club are aiming high after name change

When the Olympique Lyonnais women’s team officially became OL Lyonnes on 19 May, they came with a new mantra: “New story, same legend”. The eight-time European champions, now owned by Michele Kang and part of Kynisca – a multi-club ownership group dedicated to women’s sports that also already includes the Washington Spirit – are a “new project” with the aim of “developing as a women’s club with our own model”. As Kang put it: “The women’s team cannot just be a little sister to the men’s section.”

The OL Lyonnes era kicked off on 7 September, coinciding with the Lyon’s 1,000th match in the French women’s top division, against Marseille. Kang was present, alongside Mikel Zubizarreta, Kynisca’s global sporting director, who was poached from Barcelona Femení last year. On the pitch, new recruits snatched from other European clubs this summer – Jule Brand, Lily Yohannes, Ashley Lawrence, Ingrid Engen, Korbin Shrader and Marie-Antoinette Katoto – discovered what it will be like to play at the Groupama Stadium, where the men’s team plays, for the entire season.

Sports Interactive has included the women’s game after its tireless effort of collating a comprehensive database

Within minutes I am in the deep end as the Arsenal manager before the start of the 2025-26 season, sizing up a transfer budget that does not match my ambitions for the club. I am immediately at odds with the board when I launch a rogue bid to sign Aitana Bonmatí, which is immediately rejected.

I manage to recruit Alex Greenwood to shore things up in the wake of Leah Williamson’s injury and my late bid for Patri Guijarro, who wants to be part of my project, falls through at the last minute with the budget once again the problem. I demand answers from the board as to why they will not release more funds when the player-in-question wants to join, pointing out that our scouting report says she’s a necessary replacement for Lia Wälti.

Eberechi Eze’s hat-trick and Manchester City’s loss to Newcastle means Arsenal are in control of their own destiny

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So it turns out those who had already handed the title to Arsenal were right after all.

It’s absurd, of course, to start handing out the title in November but a feature of modern football is how obsessed it becomes so early with title races. It’s perhaps a legacy of the Pep Guardiola-Jürgen Klopp rivalry’s peak, when being champion meant amassing more than 95 points. It made sense then to scan the track far ahead for any potential hurdles because there were so few. But less than a third of the way through this season, Manchester City, who remain probably the biggest danger to Arsenal, have already dropped as many points as they did in the entirety of 2017-18, their 100-point campaign.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Jacob Steinberg as Chelsea lose 3-1 away at Leeds, Sunderland earn a draw at Anfield and Arsenal secure another straightforward win

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On the podcast today: another almost perfect night for Arsenal as title rivals Chelsea lose away at Leeds. The big man and big man strike partnership could turn Daniel Farke’s fortunes around.

Plus: the shambles that was 1950 World Cup qualifying, and plenty more brawling teammates

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“Has any player been shown a second yellow card while being substituted for not leaving the pitch correctly?” wonders Ken Foster.

They have indeed, Ken. Let Robin Horton take you back to a bitter January in 1980, when Stoke City were the visitors to Burnley in the FA Cup third round. “Stoke’s Denis Smith, already on a yellow card, limped towards the touchline with an injured ankle, only to linger on the touchline as substitute Paul Johnson was not properly warmed up,” Robin recalls. “Referee Kevin McNally therefore sent Smith off for time-wasting. McNally was not in Stoke’s good books; Burnley won the tie via a penalty, and Stoke’s Ray Evans also got his marching orders, for what manager Alan Durban described as ‘heavy sarcasm’.” That’s as good a reason for a dismissal as we can remember.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Emily Keogh and Ayisha Gulati to review England’s wins over China and Ghana. Plus, Suzy Wrack joins Faye to speak to the new Newcastle head coach, Tanya Oxtoby, about her return to club management.

On today’s pod: the Lionesses close out 2025 in style. England hit eight past China at Wembley, with Georgia Stanway scoring a hat-trick, before following up with a controlled win over Ghana on the south coast. The panel look at a clinical attacking display, Lucia Kendall’s dream homecoming and what Sarina Wiegman will take from facing two very different opponents.

Also, the panel reflects on a remarkable year for England, 17 games, 12 wins and back-to-back European titles, and considers what comes next as World Cup qualifying begins in March, with Ukraine, Iceland and Spain awaiting in the group.

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

We pick the best youngsters at each club born between 1 September 2008 and 31 August 2009, an age band known as first-year scholars. Check the progress of our classes of 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 … and go even further back. Here’s our 2025 world picks

Every deal in the NWSL, WSL, Liga F, Frauen-Bundesliga, Première Ligue and Serie A Femminile as well as a club-by-club guide

• Men’s transfers summer 2025: all the moves