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Referee: Jarred Gillett

Assistants: Neil Davies and Steve Meredith

Fourth official: Matt Donohue

VAR: James Bell

Assistant VAR: Craig Taylor

Hearts are threatening to upset the dominance of Celtic and Rangers in a break from the deadening European trend, which could be just what audiences need

There’s a good advert right now on the rolling TV sports news channels. It starts with a rush of beeps and plinks and flashing symbols, generating instantly the flat, glazed, hungry quality of the online casino. A well-groomed middle-aged woman is shown sitting in an armchair in a suburban living room. It’s a jarring tonal shift, but we’re still in that same space, betting graphics dancing around her head.

The middle-aged woman turns to the camera and says: “The games are all different … It never gets boring,” eyes gleaming strangely, hands gripping the struts of her chair. Here is a person who is not just pleased, but uncontrollably energised by the prospect of WowBet.com’s 10bn mildly divergent AI-generated gambling patterns. At this point the words “Sandra Frottwangle, funeral director” appear on the screen.

Goaded by Tottenham and lampooned by Wolves, Mikel Arteta’s side face Chelsea this weekend with rivals hoping to prey on their sensitivities

Arsenal had to expect the jibes from Tottenham and they were not disappointed. Just before kick-off in last Sunday’s north London derby, the Spurs support in the South Stand of their stadium spelled out a giant message in mosaic form. “North Ldn since 1882,” it read.

A clear dig, then, at Arsenal’s south of the river history from the Woolwich days and, as mentioned, very much a part of a rivalry where goading and baiting go hand in hand with the loathing. Arsenal had been similarly provocative before the derby against Spurs at the Emirates Stadium last November, lighting the pre-match scene with a tifo featuring images of various club greats. The most prominent at the top of it? Sol Campbell, of course.

At 17, the England Under-23s defender is juggling the demands of first-team football with her engineering studies, with a little help from ballet

“I just want to have my name out there to the point where when someone hears it they know instantly who is being talked about,” says the Chelsea full-back Chloe Sarwie. “I want to be that player who can amaze people constantly and that is up there as one of the best.”

You could be forgiven for viewing this level of confidence as arrogant, but you would be wrong. The talented 17-year-old defender comes across as grounded, intelligent, hard-working and humble, but her edge is a steely belief in her football.

City manager wants players rested for run-in, Howe wary of Arsenal interest and Moyes wrestles with ‘dark arts’

• Interim head coach concerned by physical levels in squad

• ‘We need to put petrol in the engine so it works better’

Igor Tudor says his Tottenham players are not fit enough and has questioned their desire to put in the hard yards without the ball.

The interim head coach has a clearer idea of the problems he faces after two weeks – and there are many of them, including low levels of confidence and the capacity of the younger players to handle the pressure of a relegation battle.

• Chelsea left particularly frustrated by Uefa actions

• Clubs were not briefed about plans to release information

Premier League clubs are unhappy with Uefa’s decision to reveal details of their financial results before some have been published and without warning.

Chelsea’s record pre-tax loss of £355m last season formed a key part of Uefa’s European Club Finance and Investment Landscape report, which was presented by its executive director, Andrea Traverso, at the Financial Times’s Business of Football Summit on Thursday, with the losses incurred by Tottenham and Aston Villa also featuring prominently.

As Wolves applied the seal to only their second Premier League victory of the season, Rodrigo Gomes doubling their lead over Aston Villa deep into second-half stoppage time, Rob Edwards hared down the touchline, yelling into the stands as his players started a celebratory pile-on a few yards behind him. It was a moment of catharsis for Edwards, who beat his chest and wellied an advertising hoarding, but for Unai Emery it was a different kind of cue.

As those in old gold savoured a win over near neighbours that takes them to 13 points, ending any fears that they may not eclipse Derby’s record-low tally of 11 in 2007-08, Emery marched straight down the tunnel before the post-match handshakes.

Arsenal and Liverpool will fancy their chance of making the quarter-finals, while Manchester City and Newcastle face tougher routes

The Club World Cup final victory over Paris Saint-Germain last summer was probably Enzo Maresca’s finest hour as Chelsea manager. He devised a gameplan, pinging balls over Nuno Mendes for Cole Palmer to chase, backed up by Malo Gusto, that tore the European champions apart in the first half. Liam Rosenior may try to exploit the same vulnerability, but this is a Chelsea that look weary, their exertions in the US perhaps having left them fatigued.

Here’s how to follow along with our coverage – the finest writing and up-to-the-minute reports

Brighton’s yoga-mad, teetotal veteran on the secrets to his longevity after 24 seasons in the English top flight

Being teetotal, always asking questions and taking up yoga in his early 30s after a recommendation from Gareth Barry have played their part. But if one thing inspired James Milner to break the Premier League’s appearance mark then it is a trait honed during his formative years in Yorkshire: sheer bloody-mindedness.

“Some things don’t change,” Milner says with a chuckle when asked whether his desire to prove people wrong was as strong as ever after his 40th birthday last month. “There’s people who are always going to doubt you but that’s always something that’s been at my forefront: to prove them wrong.”

Chelsea must keep their heads at Arsenal, Anthony Gordon faces his old club and a key return for Sunderland

Unai Emery has seen most things in this game but he has never won at Wolves. In three and a half years at Villa, he has lost two and drawn one of his three games at Molineux. Twelve months ago they lost this fixture 2-0 and this week Emery shared his poor record to stress the difficulty of the challenge facing his side, particularly given they have won just one of their past five matches in all competitions. Emery even mentioned his visit to Wolverhampton with Arsenal in 2019, when his team trailed 3-0 at half-time and lost 3-1. For Emery, there is no better time to break his duck, with the schedule dictating that Villa could move nine points clear of fifth-placed Chelsea, who visit Villa on Wednesday, before Liam Rosenior’s side travel to Arsenal on Sunday. Victory would enhance Villa’s chances of returning to the Champions League but also pile pressure on direct rivals. Ben Fisher

Wolves v Aston Villa, Friday 8pm (all kick-offs GMT)

Bournemouth v Sunderland, Saturday 12.30pm

Burnley v Brentford, Saturday 3pm

Liverpool v West Ham, Saturday 3pm

• Geoff Scott appointed in medical department overhaul

• He had 20 years at Spurs but clashed with Postecoglou

Nottingham Forest have appointed a new director of performance, Tottenham’s former head of medicine and sports science Geoff Scott, amid concerns that injury problems have exacerbated their struggle to avoid relegation.

Scott spent 20 years at Tottenham until leaving two years ago after a clash with the then manager, Ange Postecoglou, who was in charge of Forest for eight matches this season.

• Wage bill increased by £42m to £428m, accounts show

• Not hard to resist calls to start Ngumoha, says Slot

Liverpool had the highest wage bill in the Premier League when winning their 20th league title last season, the club’s latest set of accounts show.

Liverpool’s wage bill increased by £42m to £428m in the year ending 31 May 2025, when a Premier League title triumph in Arne Slot’s debut season as head coach and a return to the Champions League increased revenue to a record £703m. The club’s wages-to-revenue ratio stood at a healthy 61%. It was the biggest wage bill in the division, ahead of Manchester City on £408m, and included bonuses for the record-equalling title triumph.

• ‘There’s a lot more to come,’ Carrick says of defender

• Sacking Amorim and his staff could cost United £16m

Michael Carrick has hinted that Harry Maguire will be offered a new deal with Manchester United and believes “there’s a lot more to come” from the defender.

Maguire’s contract runs out in the summer and he has yet to sign a new one, but there is optimism at Old Trafford that he will stay at the club he joined for £80m in August 2019. United host Crystal Palace on Sunday, aiming to extend their six-match unbeaten run under Carrick. They have dropped only one point in that period, with Maguire’s value to the interim head coach demonstrated by the fact he has started every fixture of his tenure.

• Striker was demoted to under-21s after refusing to play

• Recent club form has not translated to USMNT

Josh Sargent joined Toronto FC from Norwich City in England’s second-tier Championship on Friday, ending a difficult situation in which the striker was exiled to the under-21 squad after he refused to play in an FA Cup match last month.

Sargent, 26, was signed as a designated player through the 2030-31 MLS season. He had eight goals this season and 56 goals in 157 appearances with the Canaries overall.

• Ifab expected to adopt changes at meeting this weekend

• MLS added timed sub, off-field treatment rules in 2024

• New rules could make for faster play at the World Cup

Four years ago, MLS Next Pro implemented a pair of rules geared towards eliminating time-wasting. Now, just months ahead of the 2026 World Cup, MLS’s experimentation is set to be adopted globally. The International Football Association Board (Ifab), the sport’s rule-making body, is set to meet this weekend and is widely expected to adopt both changes.

The first of the two, commonly referred to as the timed substitution rule, forces a team to play a man down for a minute if a player takes longer than 10 seconds to leave the pitch. The second of the guidelines, dubbed the off-field treatment rule, removes a player from the match for a minute if they spend more than 15 seconds on the ground after an injury.

Get our roundup of women’s football for free twice a week, featuring the insights of experts such as Ada Hegerberg and Magdalena Eriksson

Join us as we delve deeper into the wonderful world of women’s football in our weekly newsletter. It is informative, entertaining, global, critical – when needed – and, above all, passionate. Written mainly by Júlia Belas Trindade and Sophie Downey, expect guest appearances from stars such as Anita Asante, Ada Hegerberg and many more.

Try our other sports emails: as well as the occasionally funny football email The Fiver from Monday to Friday, there are weekly catch-ups for cricket in The Spin and rugby union in The Breakdown, and our seven-day roundup of the best of our sports journalism in The Recap.

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Kick off your afternoon with the Guardian’s take on the world of football

Every weekday, we’ll deliver a roundup the football news and gossip in our own belligerent, sometimes intelligent and – very occasionally – funny way. Still not convinced? Find out what you’re missing here.

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Our editors’ favourite sporting images from the past week, from the spectacular to the powerful, and with a little bit of fun thrown in

The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend’s action

Subscribe to get our editors’ pick of the Guardian’s award-winning sport coverage. We’ll email you the stand-out features and interviews, insightful analysis and highlights from the archive, plus films, podcasts, galleries and more – all arriving in your inbox at every Friday lunchtime. And we’ll set you up for the weekend and let you know our live coverage plans so you’ll be ahead of the game. Here’s what you can expect from us.

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Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Lars Sivertsen and Mark Langdon to dissect a dramatic Champions League night

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

On today’s pod: the Italian job. After fears Serie A could be shut out of the Champions League last 16, Atalanta produced a stirring comeback in Bergamo to knock out Dortmund 4-3 on aggregate. The panel debate the decisive moment: was it a high foot or a low head? Laws Lars introduces us to a new referee rhyme, and the panel salutes Samardzic’s top-corner penalty with the last kick of the game.

Juventus nearly joined them, dragging their tie with Galatasaray level with 10 men before running out of steam in extra time. Was Lloyd Kelly unlucky to see red? Did VAR overreach? And how on earth did Juve not score from that late Zhegrova chance? The panel also ask whether Galatasaray are chaos merchants by design, capable of beating anyone or collapsing spectacularly.

For anyone who supports a club who don’t win anything, the Champions League good guys are delivering the dream

Where will you be when Bodø/ Glimt win the Champions League? OK, they won’t win the Champions League, but they could win the Champions League. Could they? Four wins in a row. Manchester City, Atlético Madrid away, Inter, comprehensively, twice. It’s an astonishing run.

I am generally cynical about anything foisted upon us by the game’s overlords, but after a brilliant couple of nights of football Uefa must be delighted with the drama and excitement these playoffs produced.

The knockout playoffs are complete after a whirlwind round of action. Bodø/Glimt’s fairytale continues while the holders struggled again

Bodø/Glimt’s 2-1 defeat of Inter at San Siro continued this season’s miracle. The post-match discussion between Inter coach Cristian Chivu and his opposite number, Kjetil Knutsen, was one of admiration, an acknowledgment the Norwegian team had been too good for the runaway Serie A leaders. Even though Inter were without Lautaro Martínez, their standard bearer, a comeback seemed likely as they dominated the early stages. But they found no way through, eventually falling victim to the high-quality, high-speed attacking that had left them with a 3-1 deficit to overcome from the first leg.

There is a glaring contrast between the Asian Football Confederation’s corporate dream and the structural realities of the tournament in Australia

Just over a year ago, 18 senior players from the Bangladesh women’s national team threatened to retire from international football in protest of their alleged treatment by their head coach.

In an emotional media conference, captain Sabina Khatun stood in front of a tangle of microphones – in an image reminiscent of Lydia Williams when the Matildas went on strike in 2015 – to accuse Peter Butler of verbal abuse, body shaming, mental harassment, and inappropriate comments about their private lives.

This year’s crop of tops draw on Venus flytraps, cherry blossoms and classic soccer jersey designs – to varying degrees of success

The 2026 NWSL season is upon us, and so are its kits.

All 16 of the league’s clubs got new kits ahead of this season, and for the first time the league gave select clubs the opportunity to design third kits. The resulting collection, which includes initial home and away looks for debutants Boston Legacy and Denver Summit, is a mixed bag.

MLS coaches’ reputation abroad won’t get any better after two disastrous appointments by desperate clubs

The shipment of Eric Ramsay’s possessions must have hardly made it to the West Midlands in time. After leaving Minnesota United this MLS offseason, his era in charge of West Bromwich Albion lasted just 44 days, during which time the Baggies played nine games, and won none. The club couldn’t afford to be patient – not while perched just one point above the drop zone in the Championship. Ramsay was sacked on Tuesday.

In one sense, this is business as usual in the English second tier. Ramsay is the 11th coach to be sacked, to resign or part by mutual consent since the 2025-26 season commenced, and the league’s 12th midseason change when counting Rob Edwards’s move to Wolves. One level below, League One has seen nine such changes; League Two has undergone seven. As Ramsay himself said a year ago: “getting managers sacked is a bit of a national sport.”

Our cartoonist looks at Wellington Phoenix goalkeeper Josh Oluwayemi’s unfortunate intervention that created global headlines

Italian giants were well beaten by a side who dazzled despite Norway’s domestic season not starting until next month

There was a moment after the final whistle at San Siro on Tuesday night when the head coaches, Bodø/Glimt’s Kjetil Knutsen and Inter’s Cristian Chivu, stood chatting, seemingly discussing some tactical element of the game that had just finished.

Chivu appeared genuinely interested in what Knutsen had to say, smiling politely, but above all he looked utterly bemused. What the hell had just happened? His Inter team, top of Serie A by 10 points and undefeated in the league since 23 November, had not only lost the home leg of their Champions League playoff against the Norwegian side but been well beaten: 2-1 on the night and 5-2 on aggregate.

• Costs will increase at extended 2026 tournament

• Around 10 federations want Fifa to tackle problems

A number of European football federations fear they will lose money sending their national teams to the World Cup this summer, with an unusual hike in costs and inconsistencies around tax exemptions among the problems Fifa is being urged to rectify.

Although Fifa approved record prize money of £539m for the tournament last December it may not be enough to prevent losses, or reduced profits, for competitors who would usually expect a World Cup to generate vital funds. An investigation by the Guardian and PA Media found particular concerns among football associations about the consequences of missing out on money that would largely be reinvested in local initiatives.

The world’s No 9-ranked team, who have been largely absent from international competitions for over a decade, is reaping the benefits of state-sponsored investment

In 1986, when Norwegian delegate Ellen Wille stood on stage at Fifa’s annual congress in Mexico and demanded the creation of a World Cup for women, it sparked support from one of the room’s unlikeliest allies. Delegates from North Korea, so the story goes, were inspired by Wille’s speech and returned to Pyongyang with a plan: to use women’s football as a tool to reassert their collapsing power on the world stage.

The plan was simple: starting in the late 1980s, the government would invest heavily in the women’s game, inserting football programs into school curriculums, establishing women’s teams in the military where players trained full-time, creating youth talent identification pathways, and constructing brand-new facilities across the country.

MLS stakeholders want to turn the interest in this summer’s North American World Cup into ‘rocket fuel’ for the league. Are those realistic expectations?

In 1988, a full eight years before Major League Soccer debuted, it got its first “World Cup bump”.

Fifa had just awarded the 1994 World Cup to the United States, but there was a stipulation. The US could host the tournament, but only if there was a competitive club league in place by the time it rolled around, something that hadn’t been true since the North American Soccer League collapsed in 1985. Tournament organisers missed that 1994 deadline, but two years later, MLS became a reality. Thirty years on, it is still here.

It was a close run thing for a time, but Tottenham’s haplessness prevailed over the idea that the league leaders might be inveterate bottlers

It was a derby but it was also a clash of emerging narratives, which is always a confusing, if thrilling, moment for the great soap opera of the Premier League. In the end, Tottenham’s haplessness prevailed over the idea that Arsenal might be inveterate bottlers, fated to let another title race get away from them. But there was a time in the first half when it seemed like it might be a close-run thing.

It shouldn’t have been. Arsenal are better than Spurs. They outplayed Tottenham for long periods. They had 20 chances to Spurs’ six. They won 4-1 and could easily have won by more. But bottling takes no account of that; indeed, the better the side play the more certain it is that they are bottling if they somehow fail to win. And frankly, the fact that Arsenal were level at half‑time was hard to explain as, for the third league game in a row, and fourth in the past six, they conceded within 10 minutes of scoring. Only the vague sense that this is the sort of thing Arsenal do made it seem like they might drop points, but football is rooted in such anxieties.

The Brazilian has seen this before, football has seen this before, and yet why does it feel like nothing ever changes?

José Mourinho: against provoking opposition fans. José Mourinho: in favour of restrained celebrations. José Mourinho, once of the poke‑in‑the‑eye, sprint‑down‑the‑touchline, accost‑the‑referee-in-the-car-park school of footballing expression: now apparently very big on showing respect to the game. Well, it seems like we’ve all been on a journey here.

“I told him the biggest person in the history of this club was Black,” Mourinho recounted when asked about his conversation with Vinícius Júnior on Tuesday night. “This club, the last thing that it is, is racist.”

Extending his England men’s team contract until 2028 means increased stability and a less relentless form of pressure

Thomas Tuchel was supposed to be here for a good time, not a long time. It was win or bust when he signed up to become England’s head coach in October 2024. The target was clear – lead the side to glory at the 2026 World Cup – and it came with an acceptance that the German was nothing more than a very expensive gun for hire.

An 18-month deal, which began on 1 January 2025, saw to that. Tuchel talked about it giving him focus. He said it streamlined the role. “It’s a little bit of a step into the unknown for me,” he said. Tuchel would have to adapt. He loves being out on the training pitch, working with his players, honing their understanding of his tactics. Wouldn’t he get bored during the long months without a game? Wouldn’t he get itchy feet as soon as he saw a job open up at a big club?

Tax exile has already proven himself a terrible club owner; now his ill-informed diatribe about immigration has poured fuel on wider flames

Well I, for one, am shocked. Shocked to learn that a tax-exiled English expat who made his billions squeezing chemical plants doesn’t have liberal, let alone accurate, views on immigration. Or at least, in public anyway.

It seems highly likely Sir Jim Ratcliffe knew what he was doing in the course of his now semi-recanted Sky News interview. And it is above all vital that at least one part of his empire of influence – football, sport, Manchester United – rejects it, as the club have done to some extent in their statement.

Our cartoonist on the north London derby and some uncomfortable truths for the interim Spurs manager

• Buy this cartoon | David’s favourite work of 2025

• And his latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now

England forward was among Arsenal heroes in attendance at event commemorating fan who was stabbed to death

There is a poignant silence as Tashan Daniel’s parents emerge on to Ken Friar Bridge on a cold, wet February afternoon in north London. With heads bowed, the England forwards Noni Madueke and Alessia Russo and the former Arsenal international turned TV host Alex Scott greet them with a hug before beginning a slow walk that Daniel was not able to complete in September 2019. The talented 20-year-old aspiring athlete and photographer was stabbed to death at Hillingdon station in west London on his way to watch his beloved Arsenal face Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup.

“I’ve got no words; it’s horrible, something that shouldn’t be happening,” says Madueke, who spent much of the half hour it took to reach Daniel’s seat inside the Emirates speaking to Daniel’s father, Chandy. “We were just talking about Arsenal, just talking about life. He’s a real Arsenal fan and his son was as well. I told him that this season’s going to be a special year. It’s such a difficult situation that they have been having to go through for so long and we wanted to come out here and try to give them strength.”

Quansah left Ghana for Ajax as a boy but injury ended his career before it started. He now earns £5 a day as a builder and strives to find a new purpose in life

By The Blizzard

John Quansah looks at a glass display case hanging on the wall of his living room in Obuasi, Ghana. Inside are three trophies from his days as a youth player at Ajax. For years, they lay tucked away in the back of a cupboard, but two years ago, that changed. “I’m an adult now,” John says. “It’s time to look at the past differently. When I look at the trophies now, I don’t just feel pain. I am grateful too – for those beautiful years.”

Of course, he didn’t fulfil his big dream. But not everyone can say they have played for Ajax. He has every reason to be proud, to look back at that time with satisfaction. During a move, he finds the trophies again and decides to mount a display case on the wall of his new living room. Inside, he places three trophies. One for the best player at a youth tournament in Belgium. Next to that, one from another competition, and one he received for sportsmanship, also awarded in Belgium.

The Winslow pub closed last month after serving pints to Everton players, managers and fans for 140 years

By When Saturday Comes

On Saturday January 24, Duncan Ferguson walked into the Winslow Hotel pub on Goodison Road and handed licensee Dave Bond £1,000 to put behind the bar. Ferguson, the former Everton centre-forward, was there because the Winslow, 140 years old and standing in the shadow of Goodison Park’s towering Main Stand, was closing. Eight months after Everton’s men left Goodison, this was another farewell party and Ferguson had turned up to say goodbye. “It was a brilliant gesture,” said Bond.

Ferguson was not the only ex-Evertonian present. Former captain Alan Stubbs, 1995 FA Cup winners Graham Stuart and Joe Parkinson, and 1987 League champion Ian Snodin each had a turn on the mic. Kevin Sheedy, one of the heroes of Howard Kendall’s great mid-1980s team, made an appearance too.

In tandem with Game Day Vision, the Premier League club are improving the matchday experience for supporters with a variety of conditions

Thomas Clements’ eyes begin dancing as he recalls in vivid detail his first trip to Highbury. It was 1995 and Ian Wright was among the scorers as QPR were defeated. Clements – named after Michael Thomas, scorer of Arsenal’s decisive second goal against Liverpool in their 1989 title decider – points to his dad, Kevin, standing a metre away. “I was sat on his shoulders in the North Bank,” he says.

That is, in itself, not unusual for a child of the 1980s. However, whereas most regular match-goers might take for granted the seemingly small things – travel arrangements, the journey to the stadium, grabbing food and drink, meeting friends and family, entering and exiting the ground – for disabled supporters such as Clements, careful thought and planning go into all arrangements.

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La Liga has El Clásico, France has Le Classique, and Argentina goes full gun with its Superclásico. English football has no true equivalent, with Liverpool and Manchester United fans unable to agree on a name for their grand-slam meetings. Up in the land of fitba, there’s this weekend’s 450th Old Firm/Glasgow derby (delete as applicable according to your stringency on Scottish company law). And Germany has Der Klassiker, between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. The Bundesliga marketing suits have been out in force this week for the one game, played on Saturday evening, that brings extra eyeballs. Though questions are often raised over whether this is a true, classic rivalry; Dortmund have not won a league title since Jürgen Klopp was making his rounds in 2012.

I just hope the hapless Dortmund defender Ramy Bensebaini (yesterday’s Football Daily) does not follow my path. I too was directly responsible for four opposition goals in one game: one came from my taking a corner that curved behind every one of my teammates, allowing five of the other lot to advance on our puffing centre-back; another was me slicing a clearance so badly that instead of arcing down the touchline, it went at 90 degrees, landing at the feet of an opponent with enough time and space at the edge of our box for his own Grand Designs project. I never again played any form of competitive sport” – Michael Hann.

I feel compelled to point out that Ramy Bensebaini played left-sided centre-back of a back three against Atalanta rather than left-back (yesterday’s Football Daily). I noticed this because of the body language of his teammate Daniel Svensson each time Bensebaini recklessly served a goal up on Wednesday. Svensson was the recovering left wing-back at the Algerian’s side, head bowed and shoulders increasingly drooping” – Matthew Parham.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the collection of words at the bottom of Football Daily’s full email edition (that rarely makes any sense to me) are a form of the popular location app what3words and give the venue of that evening’s secret ‘drinks’ for the hard-working hacks. It hasn’t escaped me that, when there are more than three words, my theory sheds more water than something that sheds water” – Shaun.

Regarding yesterday’s last line ‘Hot Parents’ Chat Ahoy’ (full email edition), am I the only one wondering if it is the chat or the parents that are hot? Pray tell” – Martyn Shapter [neither – Football Daily Ed].​​​​

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

SheBelieves Cup campaign that starts against Argentina will show coach is now refining rather than experimenting

When the whistle blows to start USA v Argentina on Sunday in Nashville, a new period of the Emma Hayes era will begin in earnest. The team preparing to play La Albiceleste in Tennessee for the 11th SheBelieves Cup, followed by Canada and Colombia, is the first in more than a year to feature no uncapped players.

For a head coach who spent 2025 setting, challenging or matching all-time USWNT records for capping players, that is a notable shift and it marks the next phase of the team’s World Cup preparation.

Former Chelsea manager André Villas-Boas has played a big part in the club’s work towards gender equality in all sports

For a team that did not have a women’s side until a year ago, Porto have made a rapid rise. The first season ended with promotion from the third division and now they are on the verge of reaching the top flight, where they would finally compete with their rivals Benfica and Sporting.

Porto are top of the final phase of the second division championship, having won the first phase. The champions of the final phase are guaranteed promotion and the next two teams will take part in the playoffs. Porto are yet to concede a goal in a league game.

This is an extract from our free email about women’s football, Moving the Goalposts. To get the full edition, visit this page and follow the instructions. Moving the Goalposts is delivered to your inboxes every Tuesday and Thursday.

The ever-increasing number of games, combined with financial regulation, has produced flat play on the field but a tighter table overall

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A constant feature of this season has been the background grumble of dissatisfaction. You don’t have to spend long on social media to see moans about the quality of play, the sense that everything has somehow gone backwards since the tactical focus began to shift away from the pure possession and positional football of the peak Pep Guardiola years to something more direct and focused on set plays.

And yet, as we enter the run-in, there appears to be a proper Premier League title race. There is an extremely competitive battle to finish in the top five and qualify for next season’s Champions League and, although Wolves and Burnley are probably doomed, there are four teams scrapping to avoid that last relegation slot with another three glancing a little nervously over their shoulders.

Plus: top and bottom being first and last alphabetically, oldest players to outscore their age and cornerless matches

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“With Sheffield Wednesday on the brink of relegation in February [update: they’re now down], what is the earliest a team has been demoted to another division?” asks Kevin Bartholomew.

The earliest confirmed relegation in a season we can find is Peterborough United, in 1967-68, who were relegated from the third tier with a whopping 27 games remaining. After the club were found guilty of breaking league rules relating to match-fee incentives and signing-on bonuses, a Football League management committee confirmed in mid-November of 1968 that Posh would be relegated, whatever their final league placing or points tally. Despite finishing ninth with 50 points, Peterborough were docked 19 of them, rendering them bottom. The club were relegated having scored 79 goals that season, which made them more prolific than all but one of the other teams in Division Three, including champions Oxford United.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Tom Garry and Jamie Spangher to review a dramatic FA Cup fifth round and look ahead to the upcoming Asian Cup and World Cup qualifiers

On today’s pod: late drama and penalty shootout chaos in the FA Cup as Tottenham edge London City Lionesses in a 17-penalty epic to set up a quarter-final with holders Chelsea. The panel discusses Lize Kop’s heroics, Spurs’ resilience and what the result means for both clubs.

Elsewhere, Chelsea overcome Manchester United after extra time in a heavyweight rematch of last year’s final, Liverpool claim Merseyside derby bragging rights, and Birmingham and Charlton keep WSL 2 representation alive in the last eight. The panel also reflects on Chatham Town’s historic cup run and what the growing gap between the WSL and WSL 2 tells us about the current landscape.

Rio Ngumoha lifts Liverpool, the tussle to be Harry Kane’s England deputy and Chelsea self-destruct

Tottenham weren’t quite as dreadful as they were in losing 4-1 to Arsenal in November, but they were still extremely so, devoid of wit, energy, solidity, creativity, quality, and everything else one would hope to see in a football team. Make no mistake, they are in serious danger of going down and, assessing their fixtures, it is not easy to see where they might win enough points to stay up – all the more so given the form of West Ham and Nottingham Forest who are both playing well. Spurs, on the other hand, haven’t won a league game in 2026 and look like they’ve forgotten how – partly, it must be said, because of an awful injury list. So, where does Igor Tudor go from here? It may well be that his only option is to pick both Dominic Solanke and Randal Kolo Muani, get balls into the box, and hope they can make enough of them to save him – which might not be The Tottenham Way^TM, but is a lot better than relegation. Daniel Harris

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

• Premier League dominates list | How every judge voted | Our methodology | The top 100 female players for 2025

• 2024 edition | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012

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

• 2024 list | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018

• Meet the judges | See how every judge voted

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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.

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