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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.

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.

• Forwards in line to sign from Wolves and Aston Villa

• James Ward-Prowse seals loan move to Burnley

Wolves have agreed to sell Jørgen Strand Larsen to Crystal Palace after receiving a bid totalling £50m for the Norway striker.

The agent Jorge Mendes has been leading negotiations on behalf of Wolves, who have accepted an initial £45m, plus £5m in add-ons. Strand Larsen would represent Palace’s record buy, eclipsing the £35m they paid to take Brennan Johnson from Tottenham this month.

Tottenham eased into the last 16 and the midfielder trusts their uplift will provide ‘a big jump’ in the Premier League

It was a question most assuredly in keeping with the overall craziness of the situation. Tottenham: 14th in the Premier League, with two wins out of 14 in the competition, some of their fans beginning to fret about relegation. Also out of both domestic cups. Tottenham: the fourth best team in Europe after the conclusion of the league phase of the Champions League. On a fast-track to the last 16.

So, of course, it was put to João Palhinha as he left the stadium after Spurs’s convincing 2-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday night. Can Spurs win the Champions League? The midfielder’s response was to chuckle. And then laugh a little more. “I know what you want to hear from me,” he said.

In a tumultuous campaign and three-way Scottish title fight, the 73-year-old manager still has ambitions on the European stage

Martin O’Neill’s involvement in celebrated European moments in Celtic’s history means he is entitled to bridle at the belief that domain is no longer a priority. O’Neill used pre-match media duties for the Europa League visit of Utrecht on Thursday to point towards what has the potential to be an uplifting few days for the Scottish champions.

“We got a result in Feyenoord and fought our guts out in Bologna,” he said. “We don’t now want to just throw it away. We want to try and go for it if we can. We could still lose the game. We might not win the match and we might go out of the competition, but we want to give it a go.

Today’s rumours embrace chaos

There is plenty of plotting to be done at Old Trafford and they are keen to bring in some young talent. One man on the Manchester United shortlist is Chelsea’s 19-year-old Tyrique George, who has become something of a fringe figure at Stamford Bridge in recent times. Other options for the recruitment bods are Milan’s Rafael Leão and Everton’s Iliman Ndiaye.

Randal Kolo Muani scored in Tottenham’s win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday night but his future looks uncertain. That was his only his third goal for the club in an underwhelming loan. Juventus are in search of a striker and could bring him back to Turin for a second spell. Another option for i bianconeri is Manchester United’s Joshua Zirkzee, who does not look as if he will be prolific in the Premier League and is available this month.

While the desperation to keep Trinity Rodman is understandable, tweaking the salary cap could be a big mistake

Perhaps it was all worth it in the end. As a tearful Trinity Rodman signs the most lucrative contract in the history of women’s football – flanked by the Washington Spirit owner, Michele Kang, and a young fan called Emma in pink braids – the internet is already burning white hot. The podcasters will feast for days. After months of bungling US soccer finally has its money shot and, in more ways than one, the numbers are going to be stratospheric.

But then Rodman has always been an effortless creator of content: a true footballer for the TikTok generation. From the spectacular strikes to the famous Trin Spin, from the vivid streaks in her hair to the viral goal celebrations, Rodman’s ability to convey the joy of the game in snackable morsels is the root of her appeal. Aged 23 she already has an Olympic gold medal and 49 international caps, to which she can now add a £1.5m-a-year deal and her very own rule.

• Chelsea get first Champions League away win since 2022

• Head coach praises Cole Palmer for ‘magnificent’ showing

Liam Rosenior praised his young Chelsea side’s ability to deal with adversity after they produced a spirited comeback against Napoli to reach the last 16 of the Champions League.

An excellent double from João Pedro and a devastating cameo from Cole Palmer ensured Rosenior’s side secured a 3-2 win at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona and avoided the inconvenience of having to go through next month’s two-legged playoff for a place in the knockout phase.

Liverpool are having to stomach “a very bad cocktail” in the Premier League of wasted chances and cheap goals conceded, according to Arne Slot. To extend the mixologist’s analogy, his team are enjoying life with a few margaritas in the Champions League.

Slot’s side cruised into the last 16 for the second successive season with a demolition of Qarabag at Anfield. Mohamed Salah was among the goalscorers for the first time since accusing Liverpool of throwing him under the bus, while Alexis Mac Allister, Florian Wirtz, the potent Hugo Ekitiké and substitute Federico Chiesa were also on the scoresheet.

Manchester City’s ability to rotate players has been central to opening up a nine-point lead over Chelsea

In recent WSL seasons squad depth has become increasingly decisive in winning the league. Success is no longer guaranteed by the best players but by squads able to sustain performance over a long campaign.

Manchester City’s ability to rotate players has been central to their momentum at the top and contributions from players beyond the starting XI increasingly define the competition. City are nine points ahead of Chelsea going into Sunday’s game against them.

Plus: two sets of fathers and sons involved in one match, more record wins and losses and ‘sixes and sevens’

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“Twelve of the 18 Bundesliga teams have a negative goal difference,” notes Damian Cerase. “I suppose this is down to Bayern handing out weekly drubbings, given that their GD is +57 after only 18 games. What’s the greatest disparity in a full season between the number of teams registering positive or negative GDs?”

“At the time of writing in the Bundesliga, all teams haven’t quite played the same number of games but nevertheless 66.6% of the teams have a negative goal difference,” begins Chris Roe. “For a complete season, the highest percentage in the English league system is from tier two in 2005-06 when 17 of the 24 teams (70.83%) had a negative goal difference; no doubt this was in part due to champions Reading, who had a +67 goal difference for the season. This example is narrowly ahead of two Premier League seasons (1998-99 and 2017-18) when 14 of the 20 (or 70%) had negative GD at the end of the season.

All the latest Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Serie A deals and a club-by-club guide

• Women’s transfer interactive – all the January deals

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

• Men’s transfer interactive – all the January deals

• West Ham do Paqueta deal and sign Fulham’s Traoré

• Ward-Prowse poised for Burnley loan from West Ham

Manchester City have agreed a £27m deal to sell Oscar Bobb to Fulham, with the terms including a 20% sell-on clause. City also have matching rights to buy the Norwegian back should a fee be agreed for his sale in future.

An identical agreement allowed City to bring back James Trafford from Burnley last summer for the amount Newcastle had agreed to pay for the goalkeeper. Trafford left City for Turf Moor in July 2023.

On a chilly, fun, boisterous night in Paris, with the Champions League mega-table scrolling away in the background, Newcastle produced a fine performance at the home of the European champions that left both teams outside the automatic qualification slots, but Newcastle much the happier of the two.

A 1-1 draw means Eddie Howe’s team finished 12th overall. They will now enter the knockout phase in the last two weeks of February, as had always seemed likely, to face either Qarabag or Monaco. More surprisingly, Paris Saint-Germain will join them there after some late score-ticker malarkey nudged them out of the top eight.

Pep Guardiola often bemoans the schedule so Manchester City ­entering the last 16 directly and missing the home-and-away knockout playoff round pleased the manager.

City ended in eighth place due, in part, to Benfica’s 4-2 win against Real Madrid, the Portuguese side being led by his old adversary, José Mourinho, to whom Guardiola will be happy to offer a thank you message.

Arsenal’s challenge for the Premier League title may be showing some signs of wobbling but there are no such problems in the Champions League. An eighth successive victory means Mikel Arteta’s side have become the first team to end the league phase with a 100% record since it was introduced last season, with only a consolation goal in injury time denying them the distinction of winning all by a two-goal margin.

Whether that can translate into silverware in a competition that Arsenal have infamously never won and in which they have reached only one final remains to be seen. But even with a second-string side that once again showed the strength in depth at Arteta’s disposal, completing the job against the bottom side, Kairat, was never in doubt even when the Kazakh champions equalised after an early goal from Viktor Gyökeres.

• Anatoliy Trubin scores dramatic goal against Real Madrid

• Barça and Sporting in last 16, Bodø/Glimt make playoffs

Goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin scored a 98th-minute header as Benfica defeated Real Madrid 4-2 to secure a Champions League knockout place on Wednesday and deny their opponents an automatic spot in the last 16.

Benfica were heading out despite leading 3-2 with seconds of stoppage time remaining before Trubin met a free-kick to score the goal they needed to get into the playoff round on goal difference.

• Winger was highest earner at £325,000 a week

• He has not played this season after being frozen out

Raheem Sterling is looking to revive his career after departing Chelsea by mutual consent. The 31-year-old winger was the club’s highest earner but has been out of favour since the summer of 2024. Sterling had 18 months left on a deal worth £325,000 a week.

Sterling struggled to produce his best form after joining from Manchester City in 2022. He was the first player to arrive under the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital ownership and was hailed as a marquee signing.

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 Nick Ames, Nicky Bandini, Lars Sivertsen and Archie Rhind-Tutt to discuss a dramatic end to the Champions League group stage

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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 previews the A-League Men’s Sydney derby at Allianz Stadium where two stinkball teams converge this weekend

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.

The Leicester City chair plays down talk of another relegation but knows the mood among fans is fraught

Leicester City are hurting but Aiyawatt “Top” Srivaddhanaprabha, looking towards the pitch at the King Power Stadium, insists he shares supporters’ frustrations. He acknowledges the warm glow of their extraordinary Premier League title win almost a decade ago has long faded. He watches every game, which sometimes means tuning in from Thailand in the early hours. An 8pm kick-off in England is a 3am start in Bangkok.

“I want to see the real passion of the players and the performance,” the chair says. “When it is not there, I can’t sleep, so it’s love and pain. Leicester is like my son. So I have to do it right. Of course, a son can be naughty, a son can fail the exam, a pain in your head. The son can be top of the class, graduate, have a bad girlfriend or good wife, you never know. So I feel the same, but the love is there. The responsibility is there. The first thing for me is to identify the problem and fix it.”

Farai Hallam trusted his own judgment on Yerson Mosquera incident despite a VAR review and, in doing so, showed the way forward

I refereed professional football for 25 years. We were talking about handball when I started and it remains one of the most discussed topics in the game.

One reason for this is that we’ve had a number of law changes by the International Football Association Board (Ifab) over recent years. All were made in an effort to achieve consistent outcomes for the benefit of the game, but we can sometimes end up with different interpretations of the laws.

There is no special trick to the interim manager’s early success, just a commitment to sound and sensible thinking

What must Ruben Amorim make of it? Maybe that 3-4-2-1 might not be the answer for this Manchester United team? Perish the thought. The club’s recently sacked manager was clear that not even the pope would make him change – presumably because Leo XIV is also a big fan of three centre-halves. Saying that, Amorim did come close to losing his religion towards the bitter end, however brief and unconvincing his dalliance with a back four was. He reverted to a three for his final game at Leeds in early January.

As the dust settles on Michael Carrick’s second thrilling win as the United interim manager in two matches, the last-gasp triumph at Arsenal following the home win against Manchester City, it is a moment, first and foremost, for the club’s supporters to savour.

With the year’s first games out of the way, open questions remain for Emma Hayes’ side in each position

The first international window of 2026 has come and gone for the US women’s national team – though you’d be forgiven if it felt like a continuation of a familiar, looping theme.

Once again, Emma Hayes used the window to examine fresh faces among her incredibly deep player pool. Even considering the constant shuffling under Hayes after the 2024 Olympics, this was an especially experimental squad. Per the federation, the lineup for Saturday’s 6-0 thrashing of Paraguay featured the fewest average caps for a starting 11 (9.6) in a quarter of a century. On Tuesday, that record was broken again: a 5.2 cap average across the lineup.

If there’s one thing more beautiful than a goal in the 92nd minute it is a goal in the 96th, however ugly it actually is

The most romantic line ever written was sprayed on a dirty old wall somewhere in Italy and repeated everywhere else. You’re as beautiful as a goal in the 90th minute, the graffiti goes, and this was as beautiful as it gets until it got better. The board had gone up at the Ciutat de Valencia stadium on Friday night when Elche embarked upon a move that could have come from a cartoon or a console, the final scene in a film. Escape to Victory only more so, it started the way Michael Caine planned it, all arrows and crosses and ping-ping-ping, and finished the way Pelé actually played it: a picture of perfection which earned them a 2-2 draw in the derby at Levante. Or so it goes.

From one end to the other Elche had gone, the edge of their area to the heart of Levante’s. There had been a dribble out, a dozen passes, a touch for all of them. A superb assist, three defenders sent the wrong way. And then, two minutes into added time, the finish, Adam Boayar’s astonishing overhead kick sailing into the corner to complete a goal so good it was silly, so pristine as to be almost surreal. As the Ciutat fell silent, teammates piled on and fans in the away corner didn’t so much celebrate as put their hands over their mouths and try not to laugh, barely able to believe this.

Inter and Juventus exchanged remarkable home victories, while dominant Roma were held to a draw at home by Milan

Lady Gaga’s electropop banger Born This Way is 15 years old, but by the standards of some Serie A stadium DJs that makes it positively modern. Thumping out at the Olimpico on Sunday night it somehow felt timely. Roma were on the right track, baby, after a first half in which they thoroughly dominated Milan.

The expected goals counter had them up by 1.8 to 0.02. Sure, the actual scoreboard still showed 0-0, but the way Donyell Malen kept making space for himself inside the box was enough to convince fans his swaggering debut against Torino seven days before could be no flash in the pan.

William Saliba became a leader during his time in France. Arsenal are hoping the same happens to Nwaneri

By Get French Football News

When William Saliba joined Marseille on loan in 2021, it was unclear whether he had a future at Arsenal. Having moved to England after a prodigious rise at Saint-Étienne, the young defender was sent back to France for loan spells at Saint-Étienne and Nice but he still could not force his way into Mikel Arteta’s plans.

At the start of his loan spell at Marseille, Arteta said there was “space for him at Arsenal” but that it would “depend on the future of other players”. When he returned to London in the summer of 2022, it became quickly evident that other players would have to move aside for him; his presence in the Premier League team of the year for the last three seasons is proof of that.

Multi-club owner’s Women’s Champions Cup sponsorship creates a conflict of interest, whatever her motivation

You can imagine the meltdown across social media, if Stan Kroenke, Todd Boehly or the Glazer family were to enter into a partnership with the Football Association. Well, women’s football in the United States already took a similar unusual step in November 2024 when US Soccer announced “a historic gift” of $30m (£22m) from Michele Kang, the owner of one of the country’s biggest women’s clubs, Washington Spirit, over a five-year period.

US Soccer labelled the donation as philanthropic – the largest women’s football in the country had ever had – and “non-profit”. Then, in December 2025, US Soccer unveiled the Kang Women’s Institute, a platform “designed to accelerate advancements in the women’s game through science, innovation, and elevated best practices”, and there was surprisingly little public condemnation. Overwhelmingly, the women’s game around the world appeared to celebrate the businesswoman’s generosity rather than questioning this arrangement, because of Kang’s repeatedly stated aim of trying to grow women’s football.

On the whims of Fifa’s Peace Prize winner, a life usually so focused on sports has found anything but peace

It’s Saturday morning, and news breaks shortly after the Premier League kickoff window; another member of your community has been brutally killed in the streets by ICE. There are already a few videos on social media, depicting multiple angles of the grotesque scene. This killing, like the one before, has felt inevitable – because of the actions of the federal government, and in spite of the diligence and peaceful pushback by you and your neighbors.

For more than a decade, watching soccer has been a staple of your Saturday routine, as it is for millions of others. Given that, it was hard not to think about a prize awarded by the sport’s most powerful organization just eight weeks prior, to the president overseeing and encouraging all of this. You know, the medal meant to reward “exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace.” Plenty of people have been joking about this “honor” online since the day it was announced. You were among them in December. Today, you find it hard to laugh.

Arsenal let game slip against Manchester United and need to quickly press the reset button

And then the gap was down to four points. It is still four points, but the thought that Arsenal will struggle to suppress is that it could have been more, that it should have been more.

Manchester City have won only one of their past five in the league, but Arsenal have not opened up clear water. Against Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, they failed to take advantage of City slip‑ups, drawing both those games 0-0, and that left them vulnerable to a game such as this. From an Arsenal point of view, the title race is disturbingly alive.

Unprecedented times call for previously unthinkable conversations when it comes to the US-shaped problem

Could European countries really decide to boycott the World Cup this summer? It is an astonishing question to be asking in 2026 and an indictment of the bind in which, as Donald Trump sows confusion around a potential annexation of Greenland, the world’s most popular sport finds itself. But the idea is at least seeping into the mainstream and senior figures are asking what, in a worst-case scenario, it would take for football to meet the moment.

Unprecedented times call for previously unthinkable conversations. As the Guardian reported this week, an anniversary party for the Hungarian FA on Monday became the forum for unofficial discussions among national association heads about how a unified approach to the US-shaped problem might take shape.

Our cartoonist on anxiety at the Emirates as Michael Carrick oversees another thrilling win

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Liverpool and Tottenham are in different situations but face the same problem: a manager in the hot seat but few ideal options

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Another weekend, another few days of soul-searching for Liverpool and Tottenham. Liverpool had been on a 13-game unbeaten run before Saturday’s defeat to Bournemouth, but nobody could claim a string of results that included home draws with all three promoted clubs was convincing. Spurs had won just two of their 13 league games before Saturday’s away draw at Burnley, which was salvaged only thanks to an injury-time goal from Cristian Romero.

For both, European competition had offered some relief – Liverpool looked very good in a 3-0 win away to Marseille while Spurs, at least in the first half, produced probably their best performance since August in beating Borussia Dortmund 2-0 – but the sad truth is that the vast majority of European sides these days simply cannot live with the physicality of the Premier League. That’s not to say that Bournemouth or Burnley are better than Marseille or Dortmund, but it is to say that the challenge they pose a Premier League side is less.

Manchester City have issues with injury and form, and need their big players to step up and turn the ship around

At Bodø/Glimt, in a first Champions League outing since 1 October, the 29-year-old appeared what he is: a player still recovering after 18 months out with a serious knee injury and several related setbacks. This was only a third start since his latest return began with the second 45 minutes of the goalless draw at Sunderland on New Year’s Day. Last week Rodri declared he was “ready to go” and said: “I’m really happy to be on the pitch every single day.” Yet in Saturday’s 2-0 loss at Manchester United he was a one-paced, non-factor unable to do what he did with ease pre‑anterior cruciate ligament rupture: run midfield and so the contest. In Tuesday’s 3-1 humbling in Norway the Spaniard was the same, and two moments tell the tale of his form. First Jens Petter Hauge left him a statue before registering a memorable long-range strike for Bodø’s third goal; then came the two yellow cards in two minutes that had Rodri sent off.

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.

The opportunity for this tournament’s legacy is in the fan fests, camps and tune-ups accessible to more than the lucky few

In Germany, fans watched the games on screens in crowded town squares, their roars careening off ancient buildings, or from the banks of rivers, peering at floating, double-sided big screens on barges. At the next World Cup, in South Africa in 2010, people gathered in parks and open-air markets and hotel lobbies and unlicensed, makeshift bars in people’s garages. In Brazil, four years later, fans spilled from the bars on the Copacabana or watched in restaurants or in streets closed for the occasion – not as if anybody was driving during the Seleção’s games anyway.

During the 2018 World Cup, Russia surprised visitors – and its own citizens – with its friendliness as spontaneous parties broke out all over the country. The reason the 2022 World Cup in Qatar didn’t entirely feel like a real World Cup is that those sorts of spontaneous soccer gatherings just didn’t seem to be happening, or not at the same scale, at any rate. The absence of hordes of supporters just milling about everywhere contributed to the feeling of being at a Potemkin World Cup.

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Remember that golden summer of strikers? Alexander Isak, the former hottest property in football. Get well soon, Alex. That all boiled down to a crazy last day of deal sheets, add-ons, release clauses, buy-backs, loans with options to buy, medicals and AI-generated InstaChat memes. Such halcyon days are unlikely to be repeated in this bleak midwinter. January, barring Manchester City snaffling Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guéhi, has been quiet. On Tuesday, the window will almost certainly creak shut rather than slam. At many Premier League clubs, a window has barely been open at all, making for a stagnant market.

The kerfuffle about the Blackpool FC stadium hotel puts me in mind of a Jimmy Greaves classic. When Chelsea’s Matthew Harding stand was opened Jimmy maintained that the architects had made a major mistake. The stand was facing the pitch. Very droll from a great character” – Paul Allen.

Perhaps a word for Barry Bannan, a bona fide Sheffield Wednesday legend, leaving the field in tears at Bristol City. I doubt there is a player more loved at any football club than Baz, but his desire to leave after 477 games is understandable given the shambles the team has become. If he is indeed off to Millwall (where he is undergoing a medical – Football Daily Transfer News Ed), is it too much for the football gods to grant him one last shot at reaching the promised land of the Premier League?” – Chris Goater.

The former Aberdeen midfielder, now with Swindon, opens up about the debilitating effect of suffering an ACL injury during her time in Scotland

“People need to know what happened,” Laura Holden says as she reflects on her difficult two years at Aberdeen when injury changed the course of her life. “It’s not all sunshine and roses. There are demons that just get brushed under the carpet without having the light shone on them.”

It has taken the Swindon Town midfielder time and a change of club to process everything that happened in Scotland. Holden joined the Dons in August 2023, determined to establish herself as a key player at one of the biggest clubs in the Scottish Women’s Premier League. But just six matches and 31 minutes into the first season, she ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament away at Hibernian.

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With Chelsea stumbling at the hands of Arsenal at the top, bottom club Liverpool finally ended their long wait

The Arsenal head coach, Renée Slegers, was effusive in her praise of her players’ ability to make things happen when their backs are firmly against the wall. After a dominant 2-0 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge she was asked about the Gunners’ ability to defy the odds and win against a major rival despite several key squad members being absent through injury and suspension. “When the moment is there for this team, when it really, really, really has to happen, they do it every single time, and so there’s a lot of strength in this team in those moments,” she said. That ability is great, but also a little damning. Five draws this season have already done the damage of practically ruling Arsenal out of the title race, one point separating them from Saturday’s opponents but 10 between them and the league leaders, Manchester City. It is not enough to find the fire, clarity and focus you need when up against the wall, Arsenal need to find it far sooner if they are to properly challenge for a title they’ve not won in seven years. Suzanne Wrack

Match report: Chelsea 0-2 Arsenal

Match report: London City Lionesses 1-2 Manchester City

Max Rushden is joined by Will Unwin, Robyn Cowen and Mark Langdon as Manchester United win 3-2 away at Arsenal in the game of the season so far

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On the podcast today; Michael Carrick’s dream start as interim at Manchester United continues with a 3-2 win at Arsenal. It’s Arsenal’s first home defeat of the season, prompting the panel to ask some familiar questions about mentality, strikers and goals from open play.

Casemiro is thriving under Michael Carrick, Newcastle look short of ideas and Sean Dyche takes aims at … towels?

Casemiro will depart Manchester United this summer. His four years in English football have been mixed but he may yet go out on a high. At one point in his first season, such as his performance in the 2023 League Cup final, he was hailed as the club’s best signing since Eric Cantona. He never lived up to that billing, the accusation that United had overpaid for someone who left his legs in Madrid. At the Emirates in 2026, just as against Manchester City the previous week, he showed his muscle memory endures. Kobbie Mainoo is a project player for Michael Carrick. Mainoo can learn much in his remaining months alongside Casemiro, who completed the 90 minutes at Arsenal and retained his influence. United are linked with younger midfielders in Carlos Baleba, Adam Wharton and Elliot Anderson. They may now have something to live up to. John Brewin

Match report: Arsenal 2-3 Manchester United

Match report: Newcastle 0-2 Aston Villa

Match report: Burnley 2-2 Tottenham

Match report: Manchester City 2-0 Wolves

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