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I do still write Leroy Rosenior and need to correct myself.

Liam Rosenior looks chipper.

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That version of Bubbles with the bouncy bassline ends, the whistle goes, and Manchester United get the ball rolling. A roar from all four corners.

The teams are out! West Ham United sport their famous claret and blue, while Manchester United wear their second-choice kit of “snowflake … with flashes of purple and lilac.” A rare old noise at the London Stadium ahead of a fixture that delivers, one way or another, more often than not. We’ll be off in a minute!

Arsenal and Manchester United face familiar opponents in a revamped competition that has so far proven more competitive

The next phase of the new Women’s Champions League format gets under way on Wednesday and Thursday, when the four playoff first legs take place. Arsenal and Manchester United are among eight teams vying to join Barcelona, Lyon, Chelsea and Bayern Munich, who automatically qualified for the quarter-finals as the top four in the league phase.

As in the men’s competition, a switch from a group stage to the league format has been made. However, with the UWCL group stage having been introduced only for the 2021-22 season, there was scepticism about a change coming so soon, with the group stage viewed as a big step forward and in its relative infancy.

• Manager says this season has been toughest of career

• Liverpool lack right-back options for Sunderland game

Arne Slot has said it would be unacceptable for Liverpool not to qualify for the Champions League and that this season has been the toughest of his managerial career “by a mile”.

The Premier League champions lie sixth, five points off fourth place, although fifth is likely to yield a Champions League spot. Liverpool, who spent almost £450m on players last summer, are heavily reliant on Champions League income for their business model but have won once in seven league games before Wednesday’s visit to Sunderland.

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Very few football fanbases have experienced a more dramatic decade than supporters of Coventry City. Nine years ago, the club slipped into League Two in front of four-digit crowds at the cavernous Ricoh Arena. They managed to rebound under Mark Robins, despite constant uncertainty under owners Sisu, and a spell in exile at Birmingham City’s ground for their Championship return in 2020. Three years later, a playoff final between two comeback clubs went the way of Luton, on penalties. And last season, the chief suit, Doug King, decided to replace Robins with Frank Lampard, an unpopular decision justified by a push for promotion that ended in an unlucky playoff semi-final defeat to Sunderland.

Re: ‘Late but well worth it’ (yesterday’s last line, full email edition). Hold-ups on the line. An agonisingly slow tube journey. Dad and I arriving at Brisbane Road well after kick-off on 8 September 1962. Proudly kitted out in my blue scarf knitted by mum, with my blue rattle carpentered by dad (yes, we played in blue then). Barely time to grab a rosette, a hot dog and a bag of roast chestnuts. ‘Hurry up son,’ says the friendly turnstile man. ‘You don’t want to miss this one.’ Nearly 25,000 standing fans crammed into the tiny ground, but generously parting to allow us to move nearer the pitch. Still 0-0 at half-time, Denis Law kept at bay. Floodlights now casting lengthening shadows in the smoky, onion-scented air, cigarettes twinkling across the pitch. Eighty-nine minutes, still no score, then Orient winger Terry McDonald grabs the goal that consigns him to the local pantheon and Matt Busby’s boys to a 1-0 defeat. We may have ended up one-season wonders, but what a day that was” – Max Maxwell.

Erling Haaland, Patron Saint of First World Problems, was right to dedicate the win at Anfield to long-suffering City fans cheering ‘week in, week out’ (yesterday’s News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition). To put their almost-18-month trophy drought into context, a child born the day they won the 2024 Community Shield would today have only marginally more hair and decorum than Ian Holloway” – Rowan Sweeney.

Mike Kilner was the only person who bothered to write a letter (yesterday’s Football Daily letter) and still didn’t win letter o’ the day. Maybe if this letter is published and wins the letter of the day, he can live vicariously through me” – Nigel Sanders.

• Vote next month after FA board approves radical plan

• New playoff format would begin as soon as next season

EFL clubs will next month vote on an expansion of the Championship playoffs to six teams after being given approval to pursue the radical change by the Football Association’s board.

The Guardian has learned that the 72 EFL clubs were on Tuesday invited to an extraordinary general meeting on 5 March, when the vote will take place on a new playoff format that would begin next season.

Our cartoonist looks back at the mayhem on Merseyside as visitors’ late win reminded Arsenal they’re still in the hunt

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Fifa president will be under major scrutiny when he goes to Brussels to address the Uefa annual congress on Thursday

Assuming Gianni Infantino turns up on time, he is expected to make his customary address to Uefa’s annual congress on Thursday. The couple of hours spent in Brussels Expo Hall 3 will be largely procedural but the Fifa president’s messaging will be worth delegates’ attention. Even by the standards of relations between football’s major governing bodies, the past 12 months have been fractious. The fault lines hardly get narrower and there is certainly no reduction in the number of thorny issues simmering away.

At last year’s edition, in Belgrade, Infantino used the gathering of European football’s great and good to make a caveated case for Russia’s return to competitive action. If that was a rolling of the pitch, his comments on the matter in an interview last week amounted to letting the sprinklers loose. Infantino said the ban on Russian sides should be reassessed, at least for age-group teams, but there is little chance of his views gaining weight around Europe even if he elects to revisit the argument.

US captain reflects on her playing career in France and the need for greater competition as she prepares for a summer move to Denver

Lindsey Heaps is sitting in the heart of Lyon, a city that has witnessed her transformation from a self-described “baby” into the authoritative captain of the US women’s national team. Now wearing the No 10 shirt for OL Lyonnes, inherited this season from Dzsenifer Marozsán, Heaps is reflective. She is a veteran, a leader who has won almost everything, yet she remains a student of the game, constantly seeking the “good struggles” that defined her early years.

The timing of our meeting is poignant. This month Lyonnes reasserted their dominance over the Première Ligue with a 1-0 victory against Paris Saint-Germain, before winning 4-0 against Saint-Étienne in a derby. The results leaves OL in a league of their own: 14 points clear of second-placed Nantes, with PSG cast adrift in fifth place, 17 points behind the leaders. For Heaps, these numbers are not just a source of pride; they are a symptom of a wider problem.

Referee Craig Pawson sent off Dominik Szoboszlai by the letter of the law; the only way it should be done

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Refereeing is the most thankless of jobs. There are times when you can get a decision absolutely right and still you get criticised on all sides.

In the final seconds at Anfield on Sunday, with the Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson caught upfield, Rayan Cherki rolled the ball towards the Liverpool goal. Erling Haaland gave chase and would have gotten there to nudge the ball definitively over the line but he was pulled back by Dominik Szoboszlai, who would then have caught up with the ball to clear had he not been pulled back by Haaland. The ball crossed the line but the referee Craig Pawson, after a VAR review, gave not a goal but a free-kick for the first offence, sending Szoboszlai off for the denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity.

Club’s record signing on adjusting to the north-east, Afcon pride, and learning from Patrick Vieira and Liam Rosenior

Vous or Tu? It says a lot about Habib Diarra that his joy at being promoted from Strasbourg’s Under-17s to the first team was tempered by anxiety over the two French words for “you.”

Would addressing new, senior teammates by using “tu” be regarded as disrespectful? Ultimately, the young midfielder played safe and opted for the more formal “vous”. Cue wholesale laughter from the older players who told him not to be so silly; he was one of them now.

• Head coach says he expected backlash after taking role

• ‘I’m not a massive name and have a different character’

Liam Rosenior has opened up on the ridicule directed at him since he became Chelsea’s head coach, saying he expected the backlash and revealing it has affected his family.

Speaking with honesty and positivity, the 41-year-old was keen to stress that he will not allow the discussion around his personality, looks and coaching background to stop him from doing his job. ­Rosenior has said previously that he knows “a lot of people in this country have been laughing at me” since his ^­appointment as Enzo Maresca’s replacement last month.

Players travelled back with the fans after victory at Fulham but the side has struggled at their superb new stadium

The 20.12 from London Euston to Liverpool Lime Street resembled an old football-special train on Saturday with Evertonians in full voice and party mode for the entirety of the journey after victory at Fulham. The impact of another valuable away win was not lost on David Moyes or his players. They were in the second carriage and listened to the celebrations all the way home.

“It was brilliant on the train going back because we knew what it meant,” the Everton manager said. “If you’re an away supporter and you put your money and your effort into getting to all the games, it’s a thrill when your team get results. And we did, we got it pretty late again. I think part of the job here is to actually give the Evertonians something to shout about and the away supporters have probably had it a bit better than the home ones. We need the home ones to give us everything which the away supporters are giving us as well.”

• Manager has ‘no doubt’ he remains best person for job

• Newcastle travel to Spurs on Tuesday in 12th place

Eddie Howe has said he would offer Newcastle his resignation if he believed he was no longer the right man to lead the club.

Howe’s team visit Tottenham on Tuesday night aiming to end the run of three successive Premier League defeats that has prompted their slide to 12th place. Victory would be their first in an away match since December but the 48-year-old manager remains confident he can navigate his fatigued side out of their slump.

• He says his form must improve and there are no excuses

• Van Dijk reveals Liverpool failed to execute gameplan

Erling Haaland says Manchester City’s dramatic 2-1 win at Liverpool on Sunday meant more than just the points and represented a statement from the club in terms of the ­Premier League title race.

City had won only once at Anfield under Pep Guardiola – during the 2020-21 fan-free Covid season – and went there on a run of one victory in six in the league which had allowed Arsenal to pull clear at the top.

• Green Streets failed to play last game of season

• Team stayed up on goal difference, rivals relegated

There is uproar in the Dhiraagu Dhivehi Premier League, the leading football competition of the Maldives, after it was alleged one of the tropical archipelago’s leading clubs sought to escape relegation by failing to play a match.

The Premier League side Green Streets beat the drop last Thursday after not fulfilling their final league fixture of the season against New Radiant.

Ousmane Dembélé becomes our seventh winner as he beats Lamine Yamal into second and Vitinha into third on our list of the best players on the planet

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The Frenchman, who has been named the best male footballer in the world by the Guardian, has benefitted from PSG’s focus on the team rather than individuals

What makes a good player great, and a great player the best? This question has been occupying me since 2014, when the Guardian first asked me to contribute to its inaugural Next Generation feature. My job was to look for a France-based talent born in 1997 who could go on to have a stellar career.

After a great deal of research, I narrowed it down from my shortlist of five by asking questions not about the players’ football ability, but about other attributes: resilience, adaptability, decision-making, creativity, work ethic, response to feedback and willingness to learn. Qualities we cannot see, and are harder to measure.

Aitana Bonmatí has been voted the best female player on the planet by our panel of 127 experts ahead of Mariona Caldentey and Alessia Russo

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The margin may have got smaller but the brilliant Spanish midfielder makes it a hat-trick of No 1 finishes

They say the best things come in threes, and Aitana Bonmatí has written herself into the Guardian’s top 100 history as the first player to finish at the top of the tree for a third consecutive year.

Last year the majestic midfielder emulated her Barcelona and Spain teammate Alexia Putellas by winning for a second year running, but the 27-year-old has now gone one better, establishing herself once again at the top of the women’s game.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Nedum Onuoha to chew over Manchester City’s late win at Liverpool.

On the podcast today: a game packed with incident at Anfield. Dominik Szoboszlai’s free-kick, Alisson’s reckless tackle and a hilarious disallowed goal in injury time. All that meant Manchester City remained just six points behind Arsenal and the title race remains on.

Elsewhere, Arsenal win 3-0 against Sunderland and Manchester United are in the top four thanks to yet another Cristian Romero red card.

Plus, lots of managers under pressure, a huge win at the bottom for West Ham and your questions answered.

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The Brazilian was often exposed by the tactics of Ten Hag and Amorim, but was always adaptable and a replacement will be expensive

“Leave the football before the football leaves you.” The meme-baiting quote from Jamie Carragher hung heavy over Casemiro for a long while, but it is testament to the Brazilian’s character and durability that he will leave Manchester United this year on his own terms, two years after those infamous words from the former Liverpool player.

In fairness to Carragher, context at the time was key. After United were hammered 4-0 by Crystal Palace in May 2024, Casemiro looked spent at the elite level, bypassed too easily in increasingly fast‑tempo matches and left for dead by Erik ten Hag’s high-risk tactics.

VAR’s application has been a divisive topic everywhere it has been introduced. It was more of the same in Serie A

You might not be shocked to learn that Daniele De Rossi thinks football has gone soft. Since retiring and moving into management, the man with the “beware the sliding tackle” tattoo has acknowledged he sometimes misses getting to stick the boot in. But would the stick figure seen flying into an opponent on the back of his right calf even stand a chance in this era of VAR?

“I don’t know what to say any more,” lamented De Rossi after his Genoa team lost 3-2 to Napoli on Saturday. “The football we played no longer exists. We were naïve, but it seems I don’t know anything. I don’t know what sport I am coaching.”

Arsenal make the leaders pay, Sonia Bompastor is defiant and Manchester United’s squad is working in harmony

Andrée Jeglertz said Manchester City’s “decision-making wasn’t ideal all the time during the game” in their 1-0 loss to Arsenal at the Emirates stadium on Sunday. He’s right. City may have had 22 touches in the opposition box to Arsenal’s 19 but they had only had one shot on target to Arsenal’s four. To some extent though, they have a hall pass for that lack of solid decision-making because it’s just so rare. Despite the defeat, City are sitting pretty at the top of the WSL table, their lead still a hefty eight points ahead of Manchester United. Should Arsenal win their game in hand, City’s lead will still be seven points. In a 12-team league and 22-game season, it’s incredibly unlikely that that gap will be bridged. Their goal difference is also 10 better than United’s. This is City’s title to lose and with the talent they have at their disposal the likelihood of any rot setting in is extremely slim. They play bottom-placed Leicester next, then struggling Aston Villa, who suffered a third back-to-back defeat, and those teams should fear City’s frustration. Suzanne Wrack

Win against Stuttgart was a reminder that unity remains St Pauli’s greatest strength in defying the odds again

It had begun to look like a lost cause. In a season where the Bundesliga’s relegation battle increasingly promises a richness that the title race may lack (with all due respect to Borussia Dortmund’s efforts to stalk Bayern Munich at closer quarters in recent weeks), it has felt like St Pauli were, like fellow minnows Heidenheim, ready to be cut away. The Hamburg club’s best-ever start to a top-flight season, two wins and a draw from their first three games, felt like an age ago. Nine successive defeats will do that to you.

Yet these masters of the unusual and the unexpected had another surprise up their sleeve this weekend; not least, one suspects, to themselves. Stuttgart travelled north on a fine run of form, sitting pretty in a Champions League spot and fresh from a week of qualifying for the DFB Pokal semi-finals, a trophy which they have every hope of retaining. With one league win against largely hopeless Heidenheim since that golden start for their hosts, who are also harbouring an injury list as long as one of Scottie Pippen’s arms (to paraphrase Jay-Z), it looked straightforward for Sebastian Hoeness and his men.

Roberto De Zerbi’s team has stood up to PSG this season, but they were humiliated at the Parc des Princes on Sunday

By Get French Football News

To understand Marseille’s season, you need not watch all of their games; those played against PSG will suffice. After Marseille’s 1-0 win over the European champions in September – their first at the Vélodrome in the league in 14 years – the word “finally” was the word scrawled across the front page of local paper La Provence. That victory brought relief, but also hope and optimism: the Empire could be toppled. But it struck back on Sunday night.

“Rubbish,” read the front page of La Provence on Monday. And there really was only one word for it. It was a 5-0 defeat that could have been 10 – a humiliation. The Marseille defender Facundo Medina had spoken about “seeking revenge” for his team’s defeat to PSG in the Trophée des Champions in January, a defeat on penalties so narrow and frustrating that it left Roberto De Zerbi in tears in the dressing room.

Liverpool rue costly mistakes, Viktor Gyökeres builds up a head of steam and Rayan gets the hype train chugging

• Premier League top scorers: the latest standings

Arne Slot was close to landing a coup against Pep Guardiola, the coach he admires most. Then came more of the individual errors that have ruined Liverpool’s title defence. Aching weaknesses within Slot’s squad were exposed again. Dominik Szoboszlai playing Bernardo Silva onside for Manchester City’s equaliser was an error midfielders playing full-back will make. Szoboszlai’s late red card was, though, foolish. Alisson’s foul on Matheus Nunes for Erling Haaland’s decisive penalty was another rush of blood. Liverpool’s huge summer spend was motivated by their executives’ belief in buying the best individuals to unlock the Premier League’s tactical cages. City’s key individuals showed such a policy can pay off, with Silva inspirational, Gianluigi Donnarumma making the save that sparked the game’s chaotic final scenes, Marc Guéhi looking an astute defensive signing and Haaland supplying Silva’s goal. City had been unconvincing but their mentality held, allowing them to eventually profit from Hugo Ekitiké’s misses and the waning of Mohamed Salah. John Brewin

Match report: Liverpool 1-2 Manchester City

Match report: Brighton 0-1 Crystal Palace

Match report: Arsenal 3-0 Sunderland

Match report: Newcastle 2-3 Brentford

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

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

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

The window to impress on Mauricio Pochettino is waning, and the pressure is on for the No 9s on the bubble

In past points of his managerial career, Mauricio Pochettino could upgrade his squad via the transfer market. When Tottenham sold striker Roberto Soldado in 2015, his replacement came two weeks later: Son Heung-min. It’s a facet of the job completely absent in his role with the US national team, though he’d be forgiven for wishing a similar market was available ahead of this summer’s World Cup.

With provisional World Cup squads due 11 May and Pochettino wanting to avoid a “cruel” scenario of bringing players over for the final friendlies in May and June only to leave them off of his tournament squad, the window for hopefuls to make an impression is nearly closed. There are positional battles across the pitch; there’s no ironclad starting goalkeeper, a likely opening (or two) at center back beside Chris Richards, and multiple midfield places.

The USMNT manager said players should stay out of conversations that don’t deal with soccer

Last week, Mauricio Pochettino began a World Cup year with an unforced error.

At the tail-end of a virtual press conference that covered a wide range of ongoing USMNT business, the 53-year-old Argentine – who has made himself commendably available to the American soccer press – was asked about recent comments by Tim Weah.

Leander Schaerlaeckens’ book on the United States men’s national soccer team, The Long Game, is out on 12 May. You can preorder it here. He teaches at Marist University.

• Winger suffers online racism on return to France

• Abuse of Frenchman’s family led him to leave Mexico

Lens have condemned the racist abuse aimed at new signing Allan Saint-Maximin after a previous racist incident involving the former Newcastle winger’s children ended his career in Mexico’s top flight.

Saint-Maximin joined Lens on a six-month deal during the winter transfer window. He left Mexican side Club América, saying his children were the victims of racist abuse there.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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After impressive work by Manchester United and Liverpool and disappointment for Chelsea, we assess every team’s business

With the contracts of so many senior players expiring in June, Arsenal’s focus was on preparing for the summer when they are expected to go through a major rebuild. Therefore their quiet window was no surprise, but they will be relatively pleased to have brought in a star of the future, Smilla Holmberg, at right-back and to have fulfilled their need for a backup goalkeeper, with Barbora Votíkova’s deadline-day loan. Much more significant, though, is the positive progress they are understood to have made in their attempt to sign Georgia Stanway on a free at the end of the season, and big decisions such as not seeking to extend Katie McCabe’s stay, as they prepare to refresh the team.

Will Arsenal regret Nwaneri move? Have Sunderland traded brilliantly again? We run the rule over every team’s business

The foot injury sustained by Mikel Merino made the last few days of the window a bit more interesting for Arsenal supporters, although in the end there was no big signing. Deadline-day links to Sandro Tonali of Newcastle and Leon Goretzka came to nothing, and Arsenal missed out to their north London rivals Tottenham on the 18-year-old Scotland striker James Wilson. They did sign the England Under-19 defender Jaden Dixon from Stoke but will Mikel Arteta regret allowing Ethan Nwaneri to join Marseille on loan with Merino poised to be out for at least two months? Ed Aarons

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

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

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

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

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

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Perhaps the only thing everyone can agree on is that, according to our old friend The Letter of the Law, the “goal” Rayan Cherki scored from inside his own half in the dying moments of added time of Manchester City’s wild win at Liverpool was correctly ruled out. It took a while but, between them, referee Craig Pawson and his coterie of curtain-twitching buzz-killing fun sponges in the Stockley Park VAR bunker got there in the end. Football Daily shudders to think about how much tedious debate Cherki could have put a stop to by simply putting his boot through the ball a bit harder. But we’re guessing he spent much of his weekend watching curling at the Winter Olympics and was trying to channel his inner Jen Dodds by sending the ball trundling on its merry way with just enough force to cross the goal line but not so much that it might do anything so vulgar as ripple the net. Like the match officials, it got there in the end but only after Dominik Szoboszlai and Erling Haaland had engaged in some tit-for-tat fouling that led to the goal being correctly disallowed, the Hungarian correctly sent off and an entertaining debate between those who would prefer matches to be ultimately governed by “vibes” over VAR.

Is Friday’s last line (full email edition) a link to Ian Holloway’s meltdown and Harry Enfield’s much-loved pub character Frank Doberman, whose pleasant mien gradually dissolves, finishing up in full-on rant mode? It was either that or the flat-capped ‘You don’t want to do it like that, did you?’ fella shaking his head at Jhon Durán’s latest career move to Russia” – Mike Kilner.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Nedum Onuoha to chew over Manchester City’s late win at Liverpool

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On the podcast today: a game packed with incident at Anfield. Dominik Szoboszlai’s free kick, Alisson’s reckless tackle and a hilarious disallowed goal in injury time. All that meant Manchester City remained just six points behind Arsenal and the title race remains on.

Plus: footballers’ weddings on live television, the most successful fictional teams, and more

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“Ian Muir played 95% of his games for Tranmere,” writes Robert Abushal. “One-club players aside, who’s the closest to 100% without being 100%?”

One-club men and women are among football’s more celebrated groups, the players who dedicated their entire career to one particular cause. Athletic Club give out the One Club Man and One Club Woman awards each year; the list of recipients include Paolo Maldini, Matthew Le Tissier and Malin Moström.

We haven’t included non-league teams, which rules out Paul Scholes (three games for Royton) and Le Tissier (Eastleigh) among others. We’ve also excluded Hamburg legend Uwe Seeler, whose one appearance for Cork Celtic was in a sponsored event.

Data on appearances for individual players can vary from source to source, particularly for older players. We made a judgment call in each case, so the figures may only be 99.82% correct. But that’s appropriate for this question, right? Right?

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

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

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

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

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

From PSG’s Ibrahim Mbaye to Brazil’s next hope, we select some of the most talented players born in 2008. Check the progress of our classes of 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 … and go even further back. Here’s our Premier League class of 2025