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Is there a surer bet in football than Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City doing what they need to do – in other words, win and keep winning – when they have the Premier League title within their grasp?

On the three previous occasions that they have been involved in neck‑and-neck races for the line under Guardiola – the margin for error slim to non-existent – they have never slipped. Their winning sequences have been long and ­devastating. Here we are again, City closing on yet another title, a sixth in total under Guardiola, this victory an eighth in a row when the pressure is at its most acute.

• Tottenham defeat by Manchester City guarantees fourth
• Club last played in the tournament in 1982-83

Aston Villa have qualified for the Champions League after Tottenham’s defeat at home against Manchester City on Tuesday night. The result confirms that Villa will finish fourth and take the final place on offer to an English club.

Villa last played in the tournament, known then as the European Cup, in the 1982-83 season, when they were knocked out by Juventus in the quarter-finals. They had qualified as the holders after beating Bayern Munich 1-0 in the 1982 final in Rotterdam thanks to a Peter Withe goal.

• Initial contact has been made with Ipswich manager
• Brighton and Brentford also show an interest

Kieran McKenna has emerged as a surprise candidate to replace Erik ten Hag if the Dutchman leaves Manchester United at the end of the season, with the Ipswich manager also attracting strong interest from other Premier League clubs after achieving successive promotions at Portman Road.

McKenna, who was on the Old Trafford coaching staff for six years before taking charge of Ipswich in December 2021, is understood to be highly regarded by the United ­hierarchy after helping the Suffolk club to return to the Premier League for the first time since 2002. He is believed to be under serious con­sideration to take over from Ten Hag should United decide to bring an end to his tenure after a disap­pointing second season in charge, with the co‑owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe poised to review his position after the FA Cup final against Manchester City a week on Saturday.

Rangers prolonged their Scottish ­Premiership title race with Celtic after surging back from two goals down to beat Dundee 5-2 at Ibrox.

Tony Docherty’s side needed a victory to stay in the hunt for European football and they scored twice inside 40 ­minutes through the defenders Jordan McGhee and Antonio Portales. Ross McCausland pulled a goal back just before the interval but Rangers were jeered off by their supporters at half-time.

• Wayne Rooney had said players were pretending to be unfit
• Erik ten Hag: ‘They are training to make themselves available’

Erik ten Hag has rejected Wayne ­Rooney’s claim that some of ­Manchester United’s injured footballers are fit enough to play, by stating they all are “desperate” to be involved.

Rooney, a former United captain and the club’s record goalscorer, made his assertion after the 1-0 defeat by Arsenal on Sunday while ­working as a Sky Sports pundit, ­saying he was “100% sure” that ­players were ­declaring themselves unfit without being so and that this had left Ten Hag to “take all the stick”. His comments were put to the manager.

• Saudi Arabian-controlled Newcastle United lobbied for funding
• Emails highlight relationship between council officials and club

Human rights campaigners have suggested Newcastle city council could be complicit in sportswashing after its executives lobbied officials at the Saudi Arabian-controlled Newcastle United, attempting to secure investments and funding.

More than 200 pages of emails obtained under a freedom of information request highlight a close relationship between senior council officials and the St James’ Park hierarchy.

Our pick of the best rants, musings and carefully worded statements from the Premier League and beyond this term

Vinícius Júnior scored twice as the newly-crowned La Liga champions Real Madrid thrashed visitors Alavés 5-0 on Tuesday after the hosts had paraded the trophy in front of the home fans before the game.

Jude Bellingham and Vinícius scored a goal each inside 30 minutes before Federico Valverde put Real 3-0 up at the break, unleashing an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net in first-half stoppage time.

• Richard Masters tells MPs to ‘draw own conclusions’ over delay
• Moshiri extends sale and purchase agreement with 777

Richard Masters says the Premier League has been “very clear” with 777 Partners over the conditions it must meet to complete a takeover of Everton, and that observers can draw their “own conclusions” as to why the deal has yet to be approved.

Speaking to MPs as part of the process of the government’s football governance bill, the Premier League’s chief executive acknowledged that lengthy takeover deals create tension among supporters but said the Everton owner, Farhad Moshiri, still wanted to pursue a deal with the challenged investment company.

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This was a moment headline writers and social media hacks had been waiting for since January last year, when Jhon Durán crossed the Atlantic to join Aston Villa. It wouldn’t make a great deal of sense with just one goal; he’d have to make it a brace for the whole thing to click together. Moussa Diaby may well have recognised this, too, blasting a pass in the 88th minute at Villa Park on Monday night. All Durán had to do was get in the way and watch the ball bobble off his thigh and past a wrong-footed Alisson to make it 3-3 against Liverpool. Yes, “Durán Durán” inevitably made its way round the World Wide Web, the Colombian forward’s late double surely helping Birmingham’s famed new-wave outfit flog some tour tickets.

Re: yesterday’s Football Daily. Yes, that’s clear evidence of a waterfall at Old Trafford. I’d posit an absolute shower most weeks, too” – Stuart Macnab.

Re: your timeline of Kalvin Phillips’ West Ham loan (yesterday’s Hammer Horror, full email edition). You forgot to add the payoff … 8 June: is recalled to Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the upcoming Euros” – Guy Stephenson.

There has been a lot of talk recently about whether the Premier League actually is the promised land for smaller clubs or whether it is a somewhat poisoned chalice. To answer this, what is the significance of the following numbers: 1, 1, 5, 0, 9, 3, 2, 2? These are the number of wins each of the last 8 Huddersfield Town managers have earned, since putting everything into trying (and failing) to beat Forest in the playoff final. Not very fun to be a team on the way down from the top division” – Sean Brennan.

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Our cartoonist on the Premier League doing strange things to mascots (and people) as it nears its finale

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Manchester United’s Aoife Mannion joins Faye Carruthers and Suzanne Wrack to discuss her team’s 4-0 FA Cup final win over Spurs and more

A big weekend of football calls for a star guest. This week, Faye Carruthers and Suzanne Wrack are joined by Manchester United’s Aoife Mannion to discuss her team’s 4-0 Wembley win over Tottenham. The trio preview the final weekend in the WSL and the league’s record scorer, Vivianne Miedema, saying goodbye to Arsenal. They also look at the England squad announced by Sarina Weigman.

To sign up for our bi-weekly women’s football newsletter – all you need to do is search ‘Moving the Goalposts sign up’ or follow that link. Here’s an extract from the latest edition.

I have been forced to adjust to a reality where I can no longer be an elite athlete but I have tried to find something positive in it

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Everyone goes through change in life. It is just about how you respond. They can be big changes; they can be small, but it is about how you handle it yourself.

Over the last few months, I have been through the biggest change of all. Since being diagnosed with a heart condition – arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy or ARVC, a disease that causes irregular heartbeats – last year at just 27, I have had to learn to navigate a world where I can no longer be a professional footballer. I have been forced to adjust to a reality where I can no longer be an elite athlete and where I can’t play a sport I have been a part of since I was three. I have had to accept the reality of my condition and everything that comes with it.

• Football clubs well placed to spread messages of inclusion
• British Future’s report calls for government to channel funding

The increasing cultural significance of football clubs means they should be harnessed by government to develop “social connection” within communities, a new report claims.

The popularity of the national sport among all sections of society and strong links between local teams and community identity mean clubs are well placed to spread messages of inclusion, bringing together communities that might otherwise not interact, the study argues.

• Club claims huge volume of rain caused issue after Arsenal game
• United have examined feasibility of replacing Stretford End roof

Manchester United failed to fix a hole in the Old Trafford roof despite being aware that it was prone to sporadic leaks, as occurred at the end of the 1-0 defeat against Arsenal on Sunday.

While it is understood United accept there are faults in the stadium covering that allowed rain to get through on Sunday and previous occasions, the club deny that the large cascade of water pouring from the south-west corner at the Stretford End was due to a leak in the roof. Instead this was because of the huge volume of precipitation that fell which entered a siphonic roof drainage system and caused this to overflow.

• Palace sporting director in frame to replace Dan Ashworth
• Reports in Germany claim Bayern Munich eyeing Oliver Glasner

The Crystal Palace chairman, Steve Parish, is attempting to persuade Dougie Freedman to reject an offer from Newcastle to become their sporting director after the former Scotland striker held talks about replacing Dan Ashworth.

Freedman, who has also been linked with Manchester United thanks to his impressive record at Selhurst Park, met Newcastle officials last week and is understood to be weighing up whether to step into the shoes of Ashworth, who remains on gar­dening leave before an expected move to Old Trafford to become their ­sporting director. Parish is determined to retain the 49-year-old, who had successful spells as a Palace player and manager before returning as sporting director in 2017.

With at least five minutes of stoppage time still to run, the stadium announcer asked the Aston Villa supporters to remain in their seats at the final whistle for a lap of appreciation. At that particular moment, it was wishful ­thinking as Villa went for the jugular. Seconds earlier, Moussa Diaby had blasted at goal, forcing Alisson into a smart, right-hand save to prevent an improbable 4-3 comeback victory against Liverpool and bedlam in the stands.

Many fans had spent the ­previous 10 minutes on their feet after Jhon Durán’s late double secured an unlikely point that may prove priceless in the race to secure a Champions League berth. Just when it seemed inevitable Liverpool would yield ­victory from Jürgen Klopp’s final away game, the substitute striker, unpredictable at the best of times, flipped the mood in the stands. His goals, in the 85th and 88th minutes, in this breathless contest may well define Villa’s season.

• Forward is WSL’s all-time leading scorer with 125 goals
• Miedema could be joining Manchester City

Arsenal have confirmed that Vivianne Miedema will leave at the end of the season when her contract expires. The forward joined from Bayern Munich in 2017 and has scored 125 goals and provided 50 assists in 172 appearances.

Miedema, the Women’s Super League’s all-time leading scorer, has played 13 times this season after being out from December 2022 to October 2023 because of an anterior cruciate ligament injury. It is understood she may stay in England and join Manchester City for the 2024-25 season.

Michael Emery allegedly asked teammates ‘Anyone want a go?’ hours after non-league side won at Wembley

A footballer raped a sleeping woman twice in one night and sent naked photos of her to his teammates asking: “Anyone want a go?”, a court has heard.

Michael Emery, 33, a reserve goalkeeper for Warrington Rylands FC, invited the woman to stay in his hotel room after his team won a non-league cup final at Wembley on 22 May 2021.

In 1970, Rinus Michels was pioneering a new style of play while Leeds and Chelsea were kicking lumps out of each other

I recently watched a recording of the 1970 FA Cup final replay with my 12-year-old son. You can find the match by searching for “football’s most brutal game”. I was attempting to show him how football has “evolved” and it made me smile that the first thing you see in the BBC coverage is an upfront trigger warning that “some viewers might find the video disturbing”.

That in itself tells us how much society has changed over the past 50 years, before you see the Leeds manager, Don Revie, smoking a cigar in the dugout while Leeds and Chelsea play out a game that today looks like a combination of football and mixed martial arts. Some of the best players of that generation, including Jack Charlton, Billy Bremner and Ron “Chopper” Harris, spend more time kicking each other than they do the ball. The game was viewed on TV by nearly 29 million people and featured only one yellow card and no sendings-off.

Atmosphere against Arsenal showed that whether supporters want manager to stay or go, backing for team remains strong

At the picnic benches behind the Stretford End where fans enjoy a pre-game bite the atmosphere is as serene as Erik ten Hag’s perma-calm media persona before Manchester United’s kick-off against Arsenal.

The manager has remained unruffled despite the 24-7 speculation about his job, but in the next few weeks his future will be decided by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the Ineos chairman’s key lieutenant, Sir Dave Brailsford, and the acting chief executive, Jean-Claude Blanc.

City erupts in ecstasy as Atalanta’s victory over Roma returned Bologna to Europe’s top table for the first time in 60 years

Alessio De Giuseppe hopped into the passenger seat of Riccardo Orsolini’s car without stopping to check where it was headed. The Dazn reporter had been waiting outside Bologna’s training ground, hoping to speak with players after their qualification to next season’s Champions League was confirmed by Atalanta’s 2-1 win over Roma on Sunday night. Orsolini pulled out of the gates and gestured for him to get in. Like a hitchhiker with no fixed destination, De Giuseppe climbed in first and asked questions later.

This scene unfolded live on TV, rendered more surreal by the camera cutting back not only to Dazn’s panel of analysts in the studio but also to images of a laughing Cesc Fàbregas in a white jacket. The former Arsenal, Barcelona and Chelsea midfielder was joining the show via a separate video call to speak about his work helping Como to get promoted to Serie A.

Real Madrid refused to dance on the grave but with relegation confirmed elsewhere, Los Cármenes resembled a crematorium

Carlo Ancelotti had the cool cat shades and the big fat cigar but this wasn’t the time, not just yet. Real Madrid’s party, the manager taking to the mic, and the dancefloor, a conga line forming round the most famous fountain in the city, would have to wait a little while; first they had a funeral to go to. On Sunday morning, the champions boarded an open top bus down the Castellana and a stairway up Cibeles, goddess of fertility. But not before they headed to Los Cármenes on Saturday evening to face Granada – a week after Madrid won the league, three days after they reached the European Cup final, and two hours, 38 minutes after Granada were relegated.

The calendar and the contrast were cruel, and it could have been even worse. When Madrid wrapped up the title last Saturday – finally confirmed two hours after beating Cádiz, the players watching together as Barcelona were defeated by Girona – the federation announced that they would hand over the trophy before their next match. Which might have made sense except the next match was away against someone almost certainly going down, and Madrid said no, give it to us the next morning, the cup eventually presented behind closed doors in silence then carried into the city where thousands waited. They were going to dance, sure, but not on Granada’s grave.

Odds are still against them but if struggling Effzeh stay up the wild win against Union Berlin will be talked about for decades

Borussia Dortmund may have done the Bundesliga proud this week. They didn’t do FC Köln any favours on Saturday night. After the Champions League finalists’ meek 3-0 defeat at Mainz, Edin Terzic and Marco Reus were sheepish and apologetic, with the coach bemoaning the display as “the face we’ve shown far too often this season”.

No matter. It takes a lot to dampen the spirits of the people of Cologne at any time, but on this Saturday? Nothing was going to smother the fire in their hearts. Their Effzeh had snatched victory from the jaws of certain defeat in a manner that stunned a stadium and city in which people want to believe anything, everything, is possible. They couldn’t quite believe this. “We were already relegated,” defender Timo Hübers told Sky afterwards. “We were mentally and physically exhausted.”

Arsenal can still improve, Erling Haaland perplexes and Thomas Frank feels the love from his players

Though Arsenal have enjoyed another fine campaign, the likelihood is that they will again finish second, victims of the almost unbeatable combination that is state wealth plus Pep Guardiola. And regardless of whether they finish as champions or runners-up, they must improve next term – not easy given they’ve followed an 84-point season by racking up 86 with three still to play for. However, on five occasions this term, Arsenal have failed to score in a league game – as well as in the FA Cup against Liverpool and the Champions League at Bayern Munich – which is to say that, unlike Manchester City and unlike Liverpool in 2019-20, they lack superstars able to override poor performances with individual brilliance, finding crucial goals where there appeared to be none. This is not an issue easily resolved, but Jürgen Klopp found a way, completing an already excellent side by adding Alisson and Virgil van Dijk to his back five; Mikel Arteta must now do similarly to Arsenal’s attack. Daniel Harris

Match report: Manchester United 0-1 Arsenal

Match report: Tottenham 2-1 Burnley

Match report: Nottingham Forest 2-3 Chelsea

Match report: West Ham 3-1 Luton

Old Trafford flooded with water at the end of Manchester United's game with Arsenal on Sunday, leaking through the roof and cascading through the stands. Footage also shows the roof in Arsenal's dressing room leaking water on to the players. The Glazers, Manchester United's long-time owners, have often been criticised by fans for their apparent reluctance to invest in updating and adequately maintaining the increasingly ageing stadium.

After losing to Chelsea in last year's FA Cup final, Manchester United Women stormed to a 4-0 win against Tottenham this time around to claim their first major trophy. The team celebrated on and off the pitch with the usual singing and champagne spraying.

Arsenal made sure the Premier League title race will go to the last day of the season with a 1-0 victory at Manchester United. Leandro Trossard struck in the 20th minute to put Arsenal back on top of the table and ensure the Gunners will take their title fight with defending champions, Manchester City, to the final round of matches.

‘Live the final day’: Arteta dreams of title after win at United sets up climax

Arsenal keep up title pressure as Trossard sinks Manchester United

Real Madrid celebrated their 36th La Liga title as they paraded through the streets of the Spanish capital. Madrid had clinched the league title a week earlier, with four games to spare, but could not celebrate the triumph before last midweek's Champions League semi-final second leg against Bayern Munich.

The Liverpool manager, Jürgen Klopp, has said that his side can no longer win the Premier League title. Liverpool sit third in the table, five points behind the league leaders, Arsenal, with just two games to play. 'We cannot win it [the Premier League] anymore. We don't have to deal with that,' Klopp said. 'We all can read the table. We all see the situation. Do we expect them to lose? City has to lose three games. Three. Difficult to see that, but you never know.'

Six-times European champions Bayern Munich missed out on returning to the Champions League final for the first time since winning the competition in 2019-20. The 2-1 defeat in Madrid left manager Thomas Tuchel ruing an offside decision that denied his side a late equaliser and meant there will be no rematch of the all-German final in 2013, when Bayern beat Dortmund to win their fifth European title

• ‘Disastrous’: Tuchel rues contentious offside call as Bayern cave in Madrid

• Victory and Phoenix locked on 0-0 after first leg at AAMI Park
• Hosts had 20 shots to the Nix’s six but could not break deadlock

Melbourne Victory and Wellington Phoenix have it all to play for after a cagey 0-0 draw in the first leg of their A-League Men semi-final at AAMI Park. In a clash of two styles, the Victory were allowed to control the tempo and territory for much of the contest but were unable to create enough clear-cut chances to unlock a determined Phoenix defence on Sunday.

The hosts were the more positive throughout with 20 to six attempts, and five shots on target, while the Nix were content to sit back and play on the counter without managing a single shot on goal. The Victory pushed hard in the dying stages to find a goal to take to Sky Stadium as the Phoenix all but settled for a stalemate from halfway through the second half, with the return leg to be played in New Zealand on Saturday 18 May.

Ademola Lookman, Matteo Ruggeri and El Bilal Touré scored in Atalanta’s 3-0 win over Marseille for a 4-1 aggregate victory in their Europa League semi-final. The Italian side will meet Bayer Leverkusen, who overcame Roma, in their first European final, in Dublin on 22 May.

Lookman put Atalanta ahead in the second leg on the half-hour with a long-range strike past Pao López before setting up Ruggeri to double the lead seven minutes after the break.

• Llamas report focuses on responsibilities to workers
• Amnesty International calls on Fifa to reveal findings

Fifa must publish an independent report into its responsibilities to migrant workers in Qatar and begin the process of providing financial compensation, Amnesty International has said.

The human rights organisation has called on Fifa to finally publish the report by Michael Llamas, president of the Gibraltar Football Association, before its congress in Bangkok next week. According to those familiar with the process, the Llamas report has found Fifa has a responsibility to provide financial remedy to workers or the families of workers involved in 2022 World Cup projects in Qatar and that its conclusions were approved by the executive Fifa council in March. The Guardian understands the report is under review by Fifa stakeholders but that the governing body remains committed to its publication.

• Goalkeeper to hang up gloves after nearly 19 years and 103 caps
• She appeared at five World Cups and won the Asian Cup in 2010

After five World Cups, six Asian Cups, 103 caps and nearly two decades in a Matildas shirt, Lydia Williams says it is the right time to call time on her international career. One of the most experienced Australian footballers of all time on Thursday announced her intention from retire after the upcoming Paris Olympics – what would be her third Olympic football tournament.

“It’s been a wonderful ride over the last 19 years and I’m so thankful for the opportunity to not only wear the crest and perform for my country, but also to the wonderful memories and fantastic people that I’ve met along the way,” said Williams, who turns 36 next week.

• Fifpro wants expanded tournament in 2025 to be rescheduled
• Letter calls for agreement on international match calendar first

Fifa must postpone its expanded Club World Cup or face the prospect of legal action, the international ­players’ union has warned, in a fierce broadside against the game’s global governing body.

Fifpro and the World Leagues organisation have written jointly to Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, asking him to reschedule the 32-team tournament, which is set to take place in the US next June and July. The new Club World Cup, ­alongside its old iteration now rebranded as the ­Intercontinental Cup, should be paused until a full agreement on the shape of the ­international match calendar can be agreed, the letter says.

After a disastrous start to the A-League Men season, Mark Jackson’s side are now just three games away from an unlikely treble

Central Coast Mariners are done with flying under the radar. The reigning A-League Men champions have floated through a whirlwind week that started with sealing the premier’s plate with victory in the final match of the regular season, and ended with clinching the AFC Cup in Oman.

The Mariners will next take the first of three remaining steps towards a historic treble when they face Sydney FC in the first leg of their A-League semi-final on Friday night. The unprecedented haul of titles that is now within reach would rubber stamp the Mariners’ remarkable resurgence that could just as easily have hit its peak when stunning Melbourne City 6-1 in last year’s grand final.

Early season disappointments put the Argentinian coach on the hot seat, but a resurgent Lionel Messi has shown the value of experience

Riding a six-game unbeaten streak in MLS, leading the race for the Supporters’ Shield and with their star players featuring at the top of the goals and assists charts, all is well in the world of Inter Miami.

Yet little over a month ago, head coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino was on the hot seat. A humiliating 4-0 defeat to New York Red Bulls in late March was followed by elimination from the Concacaf Champions Cup at the hands of Mexican side Monterrey in early April.

Michel’s team of misfits showed against Barcelona why they deserve their plaudits despite the big blue elephant in the room

Cristian Portugués Manzanera was lying on the physio’s bench, pissed off, his manager pointing at him. It was the morning of the best day of their lives and Miguel Sanchez Muñoz, Michel II of Vallecas, Prince of all Girona, had just named the team that would go down in history. This time, Yan Couto wasn’t in it and he wasn’t happy either, so the coach took him aside and explained. Which is when the Brazilian saw his teammate getting treatment. “Look at Portu,” Michel insisted, “he scores goals and I never start him. He says: ‘You’re sinking me, but OK, I’ll just go out and score again.’”

And so it was.

With facilities destroyed and lives cut short, the conflict has brought destruction to a previously thriving sporting scene

Mohammed Abu-Hujair was booked on a flight to Spain last October. A scout from Real Madrid had visited Gaza in August and invited Mohammed, a 17-year-old who plays on the left wing, to join a football academy with the hope that, if he did well, he would stay in Spain. Mohammed also had the promise of a contract with Gaza Sport Club, making him one of the youngest players to sign with the team.

Then came the 7 October attacks on Israel, and the war in Gaza. Mohammed didn’t make that flight. “My life has turned upside down in a blink of an eye,” he says.

Erling Haaland has been voted the best player in the world for 2023 by our 218-strong panel, with Jude Bellingham finishing second

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Aitana Bonmatí, Sam Kerr and Salma Paralluelo top the list of female footballers in the world in 2023 according to our judges

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The Norwegian is only 23 but his devastating goal record has seen him voted as the No 1 player in the world by the Guardian’s expert panel

When Pep Guardiola tearfully claimed Manchester City could not replace the departing Sergio Agüero in May 2021, he didn’t just create a meme. Guardiola was soft-launching a global audition for his team’s new attacking talisman. An unsuccessful pursuit of Harry Kane in the summer of 2021 came between two title-winning seasons where Ilkay Gündogan (13) and Kevin De Bruyne (15) were the club’s top league goalscorers. Guardiola’s slick creative machine needed a new front man, and they found him in Erling Haaland.

Like Agüero before him – and in contrast to many of City’s most successful Pep-era signings – Haaland arrived as a bona fide superstar, a plug-and-play addition to an already stellar lineup. Whether he was a bargain is another question. The release clause paid was €60m (£51.2m), but some reports suggest Haaland’s five-year deal could cost the club in the region of £300m. And while there was an ominous logic to the move for City’s rivals, questions remained.

Aitana Bonmatí the clear winner of the Guardian’s best 100 female footballers in the world with 15 Spaniards on the list

• The 100 best female footballers in the world 2023

After Alexia Putellas reigned in 2021 and 2022, her Barcelona and Spain teammate Aitana Bonmatí has been crowned the top female footballer of 2023 by the Guardian’s panel of 112 experts. The World Cup winner triumphed by a clear margin, finishing more than 500 points ahead of second-placed Sam Kerr.

Injuries and a World Cup meant there was a definite changing of the guard feel to this year’s list, sadly emphasised by the fact last year’s top two – Putellas and Beth Mead – missed a large chunk of our 12-month voting period with ACL injuries.

The club has been awarded a 999-year lease on the Den and its surrounds, bringing down the curtain on a fraught few years

Bermondsey has always been a fluid, ever-changing kind of place, shoved up into a bend of the Thames, surrounded on all sides but also oddly isolated.

For hundreds of years that whole strip of land south of the city was an interlude of leisure and licentiousness. In his biography of London Peter Ackroyd mentions “bear pits, stew-houses and pleasure gardens”, plus a flourishing grassroots industry of cutpurses and dandy highwaymen, a place where “flashy women come out to take leave of thieves at dusk and wish them luck”.

The Frenchman raged over the game’s super-rich when in charge of Arsenal. His hopes of a more level playing field may come to fruition

For much of the final 14 of his 22 years at Arsenal, Arsène Wenger was a study in frustration. The free thinker who brought trophies and glory to Arsenal in his blazing first eight years at the club, ushering in a revolution across the Premier League with his use of data, approach to talent scouting, commitment to technically intricate football and careful attention to the diet and lifestyle of the players under his watch, was suddenly transformed into a snippy crank. The sideline fiddling with his parka zipper, the tetchy press conference responses, the comic insistence that he “almost” signed every successful player in Europe, the disgusted tossing of the tiny water bottle as his once-invincible team gave away another lead, endured another slapstick mishap at the back, squandered another title challenge: the visual lore of Late Wenger has, in its own way, become a series of cliches, a kind of stock carousel for any once-great manager on the brink of professional disintegration.

The cause of Wenger’s great anguish through this long decline, of course, was what he memorably described as “financial doping”: the emergence – first with Roman Abramovich at Chelsea, then with the Abu Dhabi United Group’s takeover of Manchester City – of a new class of billionaire club owners who turned the Premier League into a simple spending contest tilted, seemingly perpetually, in favor of the teams controlled by plutocrats.

US stars have flooded English soccer on the backs of the Wrexham phenomenon. But the shimmer of fame cannot overcome ineffective ownership

Tom Brady was nowhere to be seen as Birmingham City dropped to the third tier of English football. He was, however, in Los Angeles the following day for Netflix’s The Roast of Tom Brady, a live TV special in which Bill Belichick, Kevin Hart and many others ripped into the seven-time Super Bowl winner.

“I see your soccer team got knocked down another tier in the English Football League,” Belichick, Brady’s former coach, said from the dais. “For those not familiar with English football, thanks to the intricacies of their obscure regulations system, I’ll put it in English for you: they suck! Not so easy to run a team, is it Tom?”

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Having made no secret of his displeasure at the squalid state of Manchester United’s IT department and dressing rooms last week, one shudders to think what Big Sir Jim Ratcliffe made of the scenes at Old Trafford on Sunday. While the club’s techies and future stars might be forced to endure workplaces that are ankle-deep in Monster Munch crumbs and Marvel comics or empty Brylcreem tubs and gaffer tape, respectively, at least they are dry as they potter about in these messes of their own making. The same cannot be said for many of the club’s paying customers, who could be forgiven for hoping the roof over their prohibitively priced seats might prevent them from being soaked to the skin by the waterfalls which cascade through its assorted holes and gaps on the regular occasions the heavens open in the sky above Manchester.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Dan Bardell and Will Unwin to review the penultimate weekend in the Premier League, discuss Manchester United’s FA Cup triumph, Celtic’s win over Rangers, and more

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

On the podcast today: Arsenal get a conservative but vital 1-0 win at Old Trafford, while the Manchester City machine bulldozes through yet another Premier League opponent in Fulham. However they got it done, both sides won … which means the winner will be decided on the final day.

Spurs manager Robert Vilahamn talks about his hopes of ending the season in north London with silverware

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“It doesn’t end if we don’t win,” says Robert Vilahamn before his Tottenham side play Manchester United in the FA Cup final at Wembley on Sunday.

It is that mindset and the aura around the club that has fans so excited, because, at the end of the Swede’s first season in charge, it feels as if there is so much more to come. If anything, as Vilahamn points out, reaching a Cup final so soon into his tenure and after a relegation battle last season puts them ahead of schedule.

Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund booked their spots in the final at Wembley thanks to a pair of unlikely match winners

Two second legs that both reached a dramatic climax, one with late goals, the other with late misses, set up a Wembley final between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.

Goalkeeper: Andriy Lunin, Real Madrid

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nicky Bandini, Archie Rhind-Tutt and Sid Lowe as Real Madrid again find a way to win when it matters in the Champions League, denying Harry Kane … again

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

On the podcast today: Real Madrid can’t keep getting away with this, can they? Two late, late goals from former Stoke City man Joselu see them through to yet another Champions League final. They probably deserved this one, but what a gut punch it is for Harry Kane.

Our cartoonist on the Tractor Boys embarking on another great adventure in the top flight after consecutive promotions

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Plus: the same losing teams in the playoffs in consecutive seasons and even bigger cumulative cup crowds

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“Newcastle have beaten Sheffield United 13-1 on aggregate this season,” tweets Craig. “Has there been a larger margin before?”

Newcastle romped to an 8-0 victory at Bramall Lane in September, then beat Sheffield United 5-1 at St James’ Park last month. The aggregate score is a Premier League record, pipping Manchester City 12-0 Watford (2019-20) on goals scored. But won’t somebody think of the rest of the world, and women’s football, and the years 1888-1992? Yes, yes they will. And we’ll stick with league matches, too, as that was the basis for the question.

The competition latched on to the Matildas’ success but some feel that more could have been done to move the game forward

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Was the 2023-24 A-League Women (ALW) season the best in the competition’s history? Possibly. There were certainly enough standout games, players, narrative, and intrigue to provide enough fuel to carry a long pub debate. What can be said more definitively, though, is that the campaign just concluded with Sydney FC edging Melbourne City to win a record fifth title was one of, if not the most consequential since the league’s inception.

Generally, you only get one post-World Cup season to capitalise and, after the 2023 tournament, this was the year for the ALW. And the ground was fertile. Putting aside their historic achievements on the field, what the Matildas achieved across that tournament was unprecedented, taking hearts and minds of the country in a stranglehold and altering what was thought achievable not just in women’s football, football, or sporting context, but on a cultural level itself.

The outgoing manager deserves another WSL title but her replacement will inherit a lot of quality young players

Many will look at Emma Hayes’s 12 years as Chelsea manager and think her lasting legacy is six – potentially seven – Women’s Super League titles, five FA Cups and two League Cups but for me her impact has been felt far beyond west London. By turning Chelsea into the benchmark for others to follow, she has forced up standards throughout the women’s game.

People forget that the early years were difficult for Hayes, with Chelsea narrowly avoiding relegation in her first full season, but there was always a clear plan of how to improve. Her spell managing in America at Chicago Red Stars, where I was in the squad, I think was pivotal in her career and shaped what she wanted to do at Chelsea. At the Red Stars we arguably had the most talented group of individuals but we were not the best team and I think she realised it was imperative she recruited the right characters, not just the best players. I think this resulted in a big shift in Hayes’s outlook.

Fresh doubts of deal being completed paint bleak picture and could leave troubled club unable to meet their financial obligations

Everton’s owner, Farhad Moshiri, has always sounded extremely confident that he will be selling the Premier League club to the US investment firm 777 Partners. In October last year he told Sky Sports News: “The more time that I have spent with the 777 team, the more my confidence increases that we have found the right people to take the club forward in the modern era.”

That comment is ageing less and less well.

What was the point of such a spectacular player spending seven seasons of his prime playing for Paris Saint-Germain?

Farewell then, project superstar. By the end of this Champions League semi-final second leg it seemed oddly fitting that the final act across 180 minutes should be Kylian Mbappé falling over his own feet.

Mbappé was through on goal at the time, the most beautifully balanced footballer on the planet haring away from a clutch of yellow shirts in emergency battery mode, then slipping over on the Parc des Princes turf just as the final whistle was blown.

Spurs’ fightback to book a spot in 2019 Champions League final was one for the ages. Where have the players ended up since?

André Onana
Of all the Ajax players, perhaps Onana has been on the wildest ride since 2019. Just over two years separated a 2021 doping suspension after a positive test for Furosemide – a substance he says was his wife’s and taken mistakenly – and his appearance in the 2023 Champions League final with Internazionale. A £44.1m move to Manchester United followed, where form and fortunes have fluctuated for both club and Cameroon.

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

We pick the best youngsters at each club born between 1 September 2006 and 31 August 2007, an age band known as first-year scholars. Check the progress of our classes of 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 … and look at the editions from further back

• Next Generation 2023: 60 of the best talents around the world

Five years ago we picked 80 of the most talented players in the world to follow their progress in a cut-throat business

It is the time of year when we check in on the Next Generation players we picked in 2018 to follow for five years, to assess their progress amid success, setbacks, injuries, trophies won and transfers made.

Next Generation started in 2014 with the aim of showing the difficulties that even the best prospects in the Premier League (we pick one from each club at first-year scholar age) and the rest of the world (we choose 60 born in a specific calendar year) face on their way towards the top.

A defensively minded midfielder who is incredibly strong (he used to be a wrestler) but with an excellent touch to go with his physicality. Made his debut in the Swedish top flight as a 16-year-old last year and captained Sweden as they reached the quarter-finals of the Euro Under-17 tournament in England this summer. Has taken an unusual path to the top. He left the top-flight side IFK Göteborg for sixth division Angered MBIK as a 14-year-old as he felt that he was not getting the right support for his football education. Another Gothenburg club, Häcken, snapped him up in 2017 and he made his senior debut that season. Has signed a new contract with the club from Hisingen until 2021 despite interest from Real Madrid and Benfica and trials at both Manchester clubs.