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• Senior club figures think defeats would lead to sacking

• Leeds have lost six of their past seven matches

Daniel Farke is facing a defining week as Leeds manager, with senior figures at the club expecting him to be sacked if his side lose home games against Chelsea and Liverpool.

Leeds were unfortunate to be beaten by an injury-time Phil Foden goal at Manchester City last Saturday, but because it was their fourth successive defeat, and sixth in seven matches, patience at Elland Road is wearing thin.

No team in Serie A have collected more points this year, so the Giallorossi remain upbeat in a stacked title battle

Gian Piero Gasperini was a victim of mistaken identity last week, after an Italian news story about a man who allegedly impersonated his dead mother to collect her pension was picked up by media outlets around the world. Roma’s manager has no connection to any of this, yet one Argentinian broadcaster included an old photo of him in their coverage.

The segment for Telefe Noticias showed Gasperini’s face between those of the accused and the deceased. A silly meme, circulated by football fans on social media to imply some (dubious) resemblance, confused as being authentic. The online version of the video was quickly taken down from YouTube, but not before it created a fresh set of headlines back in Italy.

Ruben Amorim is happy to ‘steal’ from others, Phil Foden is central to City and Thomas Frank is in trouble at Tottenham

• Latest Premier League table | Top scorers

As Barney Ronay has noted, Arsenal are facing a weekly renewal of the Game You Just Have to Win If You Want to Be Champions. Did this represent a Game You Just Have to Win Because Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo Was Sent Off? Yes and no. The hosts will naturally be more pleased with a point in the context of the first-half red card, while Arsenal perhaps looked a little jaded and below their best overall. But Enzo Maresca’s side were excellent throughout, despite having to play so much of the match with 10 men, and they deserved something from it. Compared with some Chelsea v Arsenal encounters from the olden days (when more overtly physical iterations of the Blues traditionally used to crush the fragile Gunners) there were no signs of weakness, mental or otherwise, from Arteta’s Premier League leaders in a fierce and physical derby. They will experience few harder tests than this, and a point was fair. Luke McLaughlin

• Chelsea manager complains of inconsistent refereeing

• Maresca agrees Moisés Caicedo tackle warranted red card

Enzo Maresca complained of inconsistent refereeing after Moisés Caicedo was sent off for Chelsea and Arsenal’s Piero Hincapié escaped a potential red card during a bruising 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.

Although Maresca accepted that Caicedo deserved to see red for a dreadful tackle on Mikel Merino midway through the first half, the Italian still cried foul. The head coach cited Tottenham’s Rodrigo Bentancur not being sent off for a poor tackle against Chelsea at the start of November and he was similarly bullish when told about Reece James arguing that Arsenal should have been reduced to 10 men when Hincapié left Trevoh Chalobah with a black eye during an aerial duel.

• Paquetá critical of lack of support during spot-fixing case

• ‘It’s ridiculous to have your life affected for two years’

West Ham’s Lucas Paquetá hit out at a lack of “psychological support” from football authorities, in an astonishing online outburst in the wake of his bizarre sending-off late on during his side’s 2-0 defeat by Liverpool.

The 28-year-old midfielder, who was left in limbo for two years during a Football Association investigation into spot-fixing allegations, was shown two yellow cards, both for dissent, within seconds of one another by the referee Darren England.

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

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

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

• Pyrotechnics in stands cause referee to call halt

• Real Madrid’s Mbappé levels in 1-1 draw at Girona

Ajax have strongly criticised an “utterly outrageous” firework display that caused their Eredivisie match against Groningen at the Johan Cruyff Arena to be abandoned.

The referee Bas Nijhuis took the players off the field within five minutes of the start after fireworks and flares were ignited behind one of the goals, and the stadium filled with smoke. Attempts to restart the match 45 minutes later were met with more fireworks, causing Nijhuis to formally abandon the game.

• Barcelona midfielder faces lengthy spell out

• Blow to Spain’s chances in second leg of final

The three-time Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmatí has been ruled out of Spain’s Nations League final second leg at home against Germany after fracturing her left fibula in training.

The Barcelona midfielder, who has topped the Guardian’s list of the 100 best female footballers in the world for the past two years, fell awkwardly during a session on Sunday and tests have revealed a broken leg.

Moisés Caicedo was too pumped up before his rash red card but the Blues’ progress under Enzo Maresca is undeniable

This was the resumption of a bitter rivalry. It felt spicy from the moment Marc Cucurella sent Bukayo Saka flying with the first foul of the afternoon and, although it ended with Arsenal still dominant in first place, they will look at Chelsea’s defiant response to Moisés Caicedo’s reckless red card and conclude that Enzo Maresca’s young side will be coming for them in the future.

There were probably more reasons for Chelsea to feel positive at the end of this bruising 1-1 draw. Their dominance of Arsenal was once routine, back in the days when Didier Drogba would delight in dragging Philippe Senderos around Stamford Bridge, but the balance of power has shifted in recent years.

The New York mayor-elect’s devotion to a north London club shows how the global game is winning hearts across the US

• Bryan Armen Graham is the deputy sport editor of Guardian US

When Zohran Mamdani made an appearance on The Adam Friedland Show last week, the newly elected mayor of New York was expecting the typical nimble rundown of politics, jokes and conversational detours. What he wasn’t expecting was Ian Wright suddenly filling a phone screen with a congratulatory video. The former England and Arsenal striker saluted him on “what you’ve achieved”, urged him to channel that “winning energy” into the job ahead before signing off with a nod to the Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta. Mamdani cheesed guilelessly as it played before finally blurting out: “I love this man.”

For a moment, the incoming mayor of the most powerful city in the United States was simply another geeked-out Arsenal obsessive left weak by one of his childhood heroes. And in that moment lies something revealing about how football fandom in the US has changed. This was not a politician deploying a sports reference for relatability; it was a display of genuine allegiance that’s planted at the intersection of two different stories about how Americans have come to love the global game.

Bryan Armen Graham is the deputy sport editor of Guardian US

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With each Wolves near miss, it was impossible to ignore the growing likelihood of an Aston Villa victory. For so long Unai Emery cut an agitated figure but by the end he could celebrate a seventh league victory in eight matches, Boubacar Kamara ­dispatching an unerring left-foot strike into the top corner midway through the second half to hoist Villa up to fourth and within a point of second-placed Manchester City.

Villa rattled the crossbar after a couple of minutes but from there Wolves gave their hosts an uncomfortable ride, this arguably their best display of the season. Jørgen Strand Larsen had an early goal disallowed for offside and on the verge of half-time Emiliano Martínez pushed ­Yerson Mosquera’s header on to the bar with his fingertips before ­scrambling the ball clear.

Just when Ruben Amorim must have thought his luck would never turn, Manchester United managed to inflict Crystal Palace’s first home defeat in the Premier League since February and end their own five-year wait for a victory at this ground after a first half when their opponents should have been out of sight.

Oliver Glasner’s side had been rampant and deservedly took the lead through Jean-Philippe Mateta’s retaken penalty but they could not make their dominance count. Having failed to score in four previous league meetings that included three defeats, like the proverbial London buses United struck back twice in nine minutes through Joshua Zirkzee – his first goal in the Premier League for almost a year – and Mason Mount to snatch the points.

For long spells nothing happened. At one point it was so quiet you could hear a distant plane droning by. But Liverpool will not care.

Sometimes you have to get back on the horse however you can, and if that requires a stepladder, an awkward bunk from a scornful stablehand and an ungainly scramble into the saddle, so be it.

Revenge is best served on a freezing cold day at the City Ground, Brighton found, as the Seagulls made amends for being thrashed 7-0 here 10 months ago. If Sean Dyche thought pummelling the Premier League champions last week was a sign of what was to come, he was given a shock here against a side that flew up to fifth.

Fabian Hürzeler is an ­innovator, picking as a winger the left-back Maxim De Cuyper, as Brighton targeted a perceived weak spot on the Forest right. The German was proved correct with his selection as the ­auxiliary midfielder opened the ­scoring before Stefanos Tzimas removed nerves late on after making the most of a Morato error.

• O’Neill to get another game; Engels goal crucial in win

• Hearts drew 0-0 at Motherwell on Saturday; Rangers 0-0 Falkirk

Martin O’Neill continued his resuscitation of Celtic’s season by overseeing a fourth consecutive Premiership victory, at Hibernian, on the day it emerged his caretaker stint is to last a while longer.

The hard-fought 2-1 win, secured with first-half goals from Daizen Maeda and Arne Engels, moved the resurgent champions within two points of the faltering Hearts with a game in hand.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Midfielder’s three goals illustrate the different attributes that have made her the player she is today

England laid down a marker at Wembley on Saturday evening as they waltzed to victory over China with a scintillating show of attacking force. Among the many eye-catching performances, Georgia Stanway stood out, joining Beth Mead and Aggie Beever-Jones by becoming the third Lioness to score a hat-trick at Wembley. Her three goals and assist formed part of a midfield display that was right up there with the best the national stadium has witnessed over the years.

The 26-year-old has been one of the first names on Sarina Wiegman’s team sheet since the Dutchwoman took over as manager in 2021. Famous for her long-range finishing and tenacious tackling, she is emblematic of the fight and quality that this England team possess. When in top form, she and Keira Walsh form one of the best midfield partnerships out there, complementing each other’s attributes. She is one of the leaders of this team, unafraid to stand up and be counted on and off the pitch when things go wrong and at the core of their success when they go right.

Top-four seeding shows Fifa prioritising marketing over sporting integrity once again but even best-laid plans can flop

The plastic balls rumble around the glass bowls of destiny. Portentous music plays. There is a sense of possibility, as though the inner workings of the universe have suddenly been laid bare, a door opening to reveal the three Fates sitting by their spinning wheel, measuring rod and shears in hand.

A World Cup draw is a moment of perfection, a platonic vision before reality has had time to intervene. Everybody is fit and in form. Every nation is playing as an ideal version of itself – no injuries, no disputes over bonuses, no concerns about fatigue or the temperature or whether a player might be distracted by a possible transfer; it’s the World Cup as pure potential. With Friday’s draw, next summer will suddenly feel a lot closer.

Troubled times at Carrington as the club proud of producing the next generation of stars is in flux under fresh leadership

The standards of Manchester United’s academy have “really slipped” in recent years, according to Sir Jim Ratcliffe. The club is renowned as one of the world’s best schools for young players, so the words of the man at the top of the football operation will have stung those trying to create the next generation of stars.

The academy is in flux after Nick Cox, its long-time leader, left in September to become technical director at Everton. His replacement, Steve Torpey, joined from Brentford and is an ally of United’s director of football, Jason Wilcox. The pair worked together at Manchester City and the introduction of another former employee from there implies a literal blueprint is being followed.

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

By WhoScored

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

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

Another home defeat for Liverpool has piled pressure on Arne Slot. Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Archie Rhind-Tutt and Nicky Bandini to discuss that, Arsenal’s win against Bayern Munich and Tottenham’s high-scoring defeat in Paris

On today’s pod: Arne Slot’s problems at Liverpool are mounting up. The home defeat against PSV was the ninth loss in the last 12 games and is more evidence of a dire drop-off from last season’s title-winning form.

Elsewhere, Arsenal’s season keeps getting better with Mikel Arteta’s side winning 3-1 against Bayern Munich to follow up the weekend’s north London derby victory. Next up come Chelsea, with the Gunners now clear favourites for the title and are arguably Europe’s most in-form side.

Meanwhile, Spurs followed up their woeful weekend performance with a more spirited effort in Paris. They led twice but still fell to a 5-3 defeat, their first in the Champions League this season

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

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

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

Cheikh Touré died after being lured abroad in one of a growing number of extortion schemes tricking talented teenagers with dreams of making it big

The last time Diodo Sokhna spoke to her teenage son, he seemed subdued, his voice sapped of all the optimism he had set off with on a journey supposed to put him on the road to a career as a professional footballer.

After that call Cheikh Touré went silent. His mother’s WhatsApp messages to his phone received only the dreaded single tick, indicating they had not been received. Soon afterwards a man with a foreign accent rang her from a number she did not recognise. He told Sokhna her son was dead and then hung up.

Late equaliser was a kick in the teeth for Eder Sarabia’s plucky promoted side who threatened first win since 1970s

“It sounds a little crazy,” David Affengruber said but it didn’t sound crazy at all, not to anyone who had actually been watching. “We only come into this league this year and we’re a little bit disappointed to get a point against Real Madrid,” Elche’s Austrian centre-back concluded, standing at the side of the pitch where, Sunday’s game at the Estadio Martínez Valero finally over, a handful of kids and Endrick were now allowed to run about a bit. It was late and the stands had emptied, 31,024 people heading out the gates and into the night, but he was still in kit and sliders. Together, they’d had a lot of fun yet there was “frustration” too, he said.

Which was one way of putting it, as calmly understated as his play, but there were others. And if that was like him, this was like his coach, rarely one to hold back. A little bit disappointed? How about bloody annoyed? Eder Sarabia had just watched his side, runners-up in segunda last season, score as many in one night as Madrid had allowed in five; seen a team who hadn’t won since September and a club who hadn’t beaten Madrid since the 1970s get a 2-2 draw against league leaders who had only dropped points twice; and witnessed his men match a monster with a budget 19 times bigger, subs more expensive than all of Elche’s players ever, and a left-back whose cost could cover his entire club for a year. But was he happy?

Hat-trick against Dortmund showed striker’s instinct and invention as Sebastian Hoeness finds a solution yet again

This had felt like one of those weeks not in which momentum was shifting, but in which it had already shifted. It was ultimately a positive one for Germany; they had entered Monday’s reception of Slovakia, who had beaten them in the teams’ first game in Bratislava, with need of a point and not without some trepidation. Those worries were emphatically scrubbed out in Leipzig, 6-0. It was night and day next to the laboured win in Luxembourg three days before, but those contrasting displays had one thing in common. They were marshalled by the goals and the sang-froid of Nick Woltemade.

That the towering striker was Stuttgart’s for a season feels almost a dream already; a super, surprise single season of future fable to be filed alongside Didier Drogba’s solo campaign at Marseille as he power-walked the path to global domination. Yet if any team in Germany are equipped to deal with sudden, painful personnel losses it is Sebastian Hoeness-era Stuttgart.

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

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

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

A pension-pot World Cup looms and with Trump in the White House and a crown prince at his back, it is now a safe space

It was hard to choose one favourite photo from football’s double-header at the White House this week. In part this is because the pictures from Donald Trump’s state dinner with Mohammed bin Salman and his in-house hype men Cristiano Ronaldo and Gianni Infantino were everywhere, recycled feverishly across the internet, dusted with their own drool-stained commentary by the wider Ronaldo-verse.

Mainly there were just so many jaw-droppers. Perhaps you liked the one of Trump and Ronaldo strolling the halls of power, Ronaldo dressed all in black and laughing uproariously, like a really happy ninja. Or the one of Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez standing either side of a weirdly beaming Trump at his desk, holding up some kind of large heraldic key as though they’ve just been presented with their own wind-up wooden sex-grandad.

When you work in the game it is easy to get cynical but this week I’ve been consuming all the #limbs I can find

For the second time in a week, I’m welling up. This time in a cafe on Northcote High Street in Melbourne at 9am. I punched the air when Kieran Tierney curled that one in. But Kenny McLean. From the halfway line. As the ball sails over Kasper Schmeichel my hands involuntarily shoot to the sky. What a moment. The commentary is amazing. Before long I’m watching it on a loop. The unwritten rule of not talking over each other goes out of the window. In fact it’s better. You want the comms to feel like you feel.

On BBC Scotland, Liam McLeod, Steven Thompson and James McFadden absolutely nail it. McLeod: “They’ve given it away.” Thompson: “SHOOT, SHOOT.” McLeod: “He’s gonna shoot.” (McFadden is grinning wildly.) Thompson: “OH HE’S DONE HIM, HE’S DONE HIM, HE’S DONE HIM.” McLeod: “HAS THAT GONE IN? OOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOO THAT’S UNBELIEVABLE …” The fixed camera set on Thompson and McFadden is wondrous. Two grown men jumping up and down in unison like 10-year-old boys. They are just so happy.

The Arsenal and England forward is backing new global campaign because talent and teamwork should decide the game – not the climate

I’ll never forget stepping out on to the pitch in Switzerland for the Euro 2025 tournament. The air felt heavy – not with pressure or expectation, but with heat. It was more than 30C (86f) that day. It makes your lungs sting, makes you feel like you’re running through water.

In the England camp, we had done everything to prepare. Ice vests before training, hydration breaks, modified warm-ups – things that just weren’t part of football life a few years ago. At our base in Zurich we even had cryotherapy and Slush Puppies to cool our core temperatures. During training, there were ice-cold towels, extra rest moments and constant reminders to hydrate. You could feel how carefully the staff planned every detail. But when the whistle blew, no protocol could change the fact that the climate itself has changed.

Our cartoonist on a simple win over Spurs that boosted the Gunners’ title hopes, smug Australians and more

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Former defender on his challenge as sporting director at Ligue 1 club and using Arsène Wenger as an inspiration

Returning to Brittany was the obvious choice for Laurent Koscielny. Having left Lorient for Arsenal in 2010, the former defender is back at the Ligue 1 side as the sporting director.

“My wife and I were keen to come back, it’s a beautiful region, and the people are welcoming and kind,” the Frenchman says of the seaside town, known for its annual Celtic music festival and military naval base.

Which players have run the furthest, taken the most long throws and fouled the most without seeing a card?

By Opta Analyst

You know that Erling Haaland is the top scorer in the Premier League and that David Raya is great at keeping them out at the other end of the pitch, but what about the quirkier metrics? Who covers the pitch but sees the penalty area as their kryptonite? Which defender loves one-v-one battles? Who prefers to shoot without taking a touch to settle themselves?

The former Liverpool and Osasuna player on his coaching journey, redemption in Spain and working with Sven-Göran Eriksson

“I went to a very good school, believe it or not. A grammar school. We had Spanish lessons, but I didn’t take Spanish. I thought: ‘What’s a hairy-arsed kid from the Liverpool ghetto going to need that for?’ And lo and behold …”

It’s late in Bilbao, back in the country that changed him, and a glass of wine rests on the table in front of Sammy Lee, who is grinning again. It’s been an emotional evening and a long night: a lot of laughs, some tears too, talking life at Liverpool and the life that came next. “For me, it’s about coaching even more than playing,” the European champion and former England assistant says. “And that started here.”

In an exclusive extract from her autobiography, goalkeeper reveals the painful road to her shock England exit

England felt like such a safe space for me. It was usual to have a team review after a big tournament and after the Euros in 2022 we came together in the Club England meeting room at St George’s Park, the team’s headquarters.

The emotional security that I felt within England was bolstered by the culture and values that had underpinned and contributed to our success. Non-collegiate behaviour was not tolerated. We came back together to the news that Hannah Hampton had been dropped from the squad: her behaviour behind the scenes at the Euros had frequently risked derailing training sessions and team resources.

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Chelsea Football Club, an apology. Football Daily, and many others, would like to admit we might have poked rather too much fun at the machinations of the institution that brought us such chortlesome items as amortisation, nine-year contracts, spending a billion quid, stockpiling young players, flogging hotels to linked companies for accountancy reasons and selling a globally admired women’s team to linked companies for accountancy reasons. What larks we had! Todd Boehly, sweat-panted sire of soccernomics, we salute you. Behdad Eghbali, prince of pincer-like movements to snap up Geovany Quenda, Dário Essugo and Kendry Páez, whoever they are, take a bow. Clearlake Capital, Mark Walter and Hansjörg Wyss, names not mentioned enough, you guys have broken the mould. Who says private equity firms, global investment suits and nonagenarian Swiss billionaire financiers know nothing about football? Football Daily’s flat-capped, flat-earthers have been made to look dafter than ever.

In ‘never go back’ and ‘sequels are never as good’ (excluding the Godfather Part II obviously) news, a doff of the cap to Martin O’Neill. Five wins out of his six games in charge with a team that had only one out of the previous six games and Celtic’s first away win in Europe in four years” – Noble Francis.

If Graeme Souness believes that Mo Salah’s brother has been playing in his place this season (yesterday’s Football Daily), then we have to take him seriously. After all, given his experience with George Weah’s cousin Ali Dia when Southampton manager, who better than Souness to spot an imposter who’s only getting game time due to family connections?” – Christian Goldsmith.

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

Research is on ‘an upward curve’ and the next five years could be vital in trying to limit cruciate ruptures

Players who compete in the top two levels of German women’s football are four times more likely to rupture their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) than their male counterparts, according to the German Football Association (DFB).

The governing body has funded a central injury and illness registry in women’s football for three years. So far in the Frauen Bundesliga, Germany’s top flight, there have been a reported seven ACL injuries 10 games into the current campaign. In the men’s Bundesliga, meanwhile, there have been three such injuries.

Gotham are underdogs against a potent Spirit side but they have the talent and resilience to cause another upset

At the close of quintessential NWSL playoffs rife with last-minute goals and upsets, the eighth-placed underdogs Gotham FC will face second-placed Washington Spirit for the trophy. Both teams have won the NWSL Championship once before: the Spirit in 2021 and Gotham two years later. Washington are the likely favourites, but Gotham’s talent cannot be discounted.

As we look forward to Saturday night in San Jose, here are a few key battles that could decide the game.

Another home defeat for Liverpool has piled pressure on Arne Slot. Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Archie Rhind-Tutt and Nicky Bandini to discuss that, Arsenal’s win against Bayern Munich and Tottenham’s high-scoring defeat in Paris

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On today’s pod: Arne Slot’s problems at Liverpool are mounting up. The home defeat against PSV was the ninth loss in the last 12 games and is more evidence of a dire drop-off from last season’s title-winning form.

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It is measure of just how much more shameless and obsequious Fifa has become under the presidency of Gianni Infantino that news of its decision to unsuspend Cristiano Ronaldo from Portugal’s first two group games at next year’s Geopolitics World Cup has been greeted with little more than an amused, weary eye-roll at the brass neckery of it all. Issued with a straight red card for violent conduct during a defeat at the hands of the Republic of Ireland, the preening Portuguese showpony was issued with a standard three-match ban, the first game of which he spent on the Naughty Step during his side’s subsequent 9-1 demolition of Armenia. His was an absence that didn’t so much make the heart grow fonder, as the team grow in stature and confidence.

Surely the benchmark for ‘lamping’ your teammate (yesterday’s Football Daily) was set in January 1979 by ‘Killer Hales’ and Mike ‘Flash’ Flanagan at the Valley. Without the benefit of today’s array of camera angles and pundits to know-it-all, it was difficult to judge who started it, but the football reasoning was that Killer thought Flash had delayed a pass and prevented him scoring. However, there were some mutterings about off-field tensions and they went their separate ways. Five years later, amazingly, they were both back in the Addicks’ front line” – Geoff Williams.

I found it interesting that a slap to the head did not cause Michael Keane to fall to the pitch and roll around in apparent agony. Surely Keane should have been booked for his embarrassingly flagrant act of simulated stoicism?” – Ian Potter.

Idrissa Gueye’s straight red might turn out to be the least of his worries. Apparently his reward for winning this eliminator is a crack at the title against local favourite, Duncan Ferguson” – Allastair McGillivray.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Sophie Downey and Theo Lloyd-Hughes for an NWSL special, looking at the final between Gotham FC and Washington Spirit, as well as the season as a whole, and all of the latest news from the home nations

On today’s pod: we have a National Women’s Soccer League Special for you – after Gotham FC were handed the keys to New York City following their 1-0 Championship win over Washington Spirit in the final. We’ll reflect on the game itself as well as the season as a whole.

Also, it’s the International break so we’ll also take a look at how the home nations are looking and react to the news that Tanya Oxtoby has left Northern Ireland to become Newcastle United’s head coach.

Bellingham’s dramatic 95th-minute bicycle kick prompted an unfettered outpouring of emotion for England fans

How vociferously are you allowed to celebrate a goal as a 30-year-old? This was the only thing that tempered my jubilation on 30 June 2024, a moral quandary amid the elation, the beer sweat, the tears.

As I dragged my heavy legs away from the Greenwich beer garden which that day became a golden English garden, having inadvertently collided with my friend’s chin while celebrating Jude Bellingham’s brilliant bicycle kick, I was hit with a pang of shame.

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

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

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

• Men’s transfers summer 2025: all the moves