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Manager’s changeable lineups have pushed striker to usurp Ollie Watkins and likely lead the attack at Wembley

Unai Emery keeps his Aston Villa players on their toes. Sometimes he tells his squad the lineup the day before a game, on other occasions half an hour before they depart the team hotel for the stadium on a match day. Training tends to offer some clues but of late there have been surprises. Emery, a hugely emotional character, has been known to make impulsive, snap calls. Morgan Rogers, a rare mainstay and one of Villa’s trio of undroppables, recently described how his manager’s decision‑making can feel like flip‑of-the-coin stuff.

When the teamsheets are released an hour before kick-off at Wembley on Saturday, the eyeballs will jump towards the most intriguing selection dilemma: will Emery favour Marcus Rashford or Ollie Watkins?

• Team need point against Tottenham to clinch league title
• ‘In some moments we have to do much better,’ says coach

Arne Slot has warned Liverpool’s Premier League rivals that he expects the champions-elect to improve next season as they strive to fulfil his vision of the perfect team.

Liverpool require one point at home to Tottenham on Sunday to secure a record-equalling 20th league title and for Slot to become the first Dutch coach to win the Premier League. The head coach admits his team have “a big responsibility” to deliver at Anfield given the club’s last Premier League triumph, in 2020, came behind closed doors during the Covid pandemic. Slot’s family will be in attendance, although he says their visit was planned months ago to coincide with a public holiday in the Netherlands.

With Oliver Glasner and top players attracting interest, south London club know they must seize FA Cup opportunity

For Crystal Palace supporters of a certain vintage, Malcolm Allison and his famous fedora is where it all began. Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the club’s first FA Cup semi-final appearance, under the maverick former Manchester City manager, when they were in the old Third Division.

Allison had already changed Palace’s nickname from the Glaziers to the Eagles and their colours to red and blue within a few months of his arrival from City in March 1973. It was after their third-round victory over non-league Scarborough that he decided to keep wearing the lucky hat that had bizarrely been inspired by the “spats” – fabric shoe covers – worn by Portsmouth’s 1939 Cup-winning manager, Jack Tinn.

• Real Madrid refuse to turn up for pre-match events
• Club had previously demanded action from RFEF

Real Madrid have denied that they ever considered refusing to play the Copa del Rey final against Barcelona after they boycotted the pre-match activities, prompting uncertainty that the game would go ahead. A statement from Madrid finally confirmed that they would play after 10pm on Friday night, just 24 hours before kick-off.

A previous statement from Madrid had demanded that the Spanish football federation (RFEF) take action after comments made by the referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea in the buildup to the game. That came after Madrid had refused to show up for the pre-match press conference, training session or the managers’ photocall at the Cartuja Stadium in Seville. Amid reports from media close to the club that they were contemplating refusing to play the match, Madrid finally confirmed their participation late on Friday night.

History books are firmly against the Blues as they try to overturn a three-goal deficit against a side that rarely falter

The scale of Chelsea’s task in their European semi-final second leg can be summed up in a few ominous statistics. For starters, their opponents, Barcelona, have never lost a two-leg Women’s Champions League tie after securing a first-leg victory. They have won 17 consecutive two-leg ties in the tournament and, this time, the eight-time semi-finalists are three goals ahead.

For Chelsea to knock them out from 4-1 down will require something out of the ordinary; historic in fact. Since Europe’s elite women’s club competition was rebranded to be known as the Women’s Champions League in 2009-10, no team have overturned a three-goal deficit to progress on aggregate.

Paris Saint-Germain’s hopes of becoming the first side to complete a Ligue 1 season unbeaten came crashing down at the Parc des Princes on Friday when Nice handed them their first defeat of the league campaign, winning 3-1 to boost their own Champions League ambitions.

Having already secured the title earlier this month, PSG still top the Ligue 1 standings on 78 points, while Nice move up to fourth on 54.

• Team visit Liverpool 16th, with manager’s future in doubt
• Postecoglou critical of negative hysteria facing Spurs

Ange Postecoglou has railed against what he says is a well-worn narrative around Tottenham – the club must always be set up for a fall, negative interpretations at every turn. And yet the manager still believes they can break the cycle of frustration, leaning on the words of Jacob Riis, a journalist and social reformer in late 19th and early 20th century New York, to inspire his players.

Postecoglou has endured a miserable Premier League season, losing 18 matches. He takes his team to Liverpool on Sunday admitting that some of his work has gone “disastrously wrong”. It is why he may not remain in his post beyond the end of the season even if he wins the Europa League. Spurs are into the semi-finals, where they take on Norwegian club Bodø/Glimt.

• Head coach laments time when club bought star players
• Cole Palmer ‘worried’ about 16-game goal drought

Enzo Maresca has said Chelsea’s transfer plans depend on whether they qualify for the Champions League. The head coach, who insisted Cole Palmer’s goalscoring drought was all in the player’s head, also hinted at wanting to add more experience to his squad.

Maresca, who will serve a touchline ban at Saturday’s home game against Everton, said Chelsea have the second-youngest squad in Europe and said he was often having to place his trust in teenagers when he makes substitutions. The club have adopted a policy of signing talented youngsters under the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital ownership and will prioritise deals for a centre-back, a winger and a striker this summer.

• Manager believes rebuilding the squad will take time
• 13 players are out of contract at the end of the season

David Moyes has described The Friedkin Group (TFG) as Everton’s “new lover”, with the club in need of tender care and serious action in the transfer market.

Moyes admits Everton remain in a delicate position despite the takeover by TFG and securing their Premier League status before the move to a new stadium at Bramley-Moore dock. With a high turnover of players guaranteed this summer, and profitability and sustainability rules still affecting the club, Moyes said there was uncertainty over how TFG will navigate its first summer transfer window as Everton’s owner.

• ‘When we scored the first goal we didn’t celebrate’
• Spaniard promises: ‘Next season will be better’

Pep Guardiola has pointed to how the “stupid detail” of Manchester City’s underwhelming body language when celebrating goals shows the spirit has been lost and has to be recovered if they are to challenge for the title next season.

The champions have endured a disappointing Premier League ­campaign and are third on 61 points, 17 behind the leaders, Liverpool. They face ­Nottingham Forest in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

• Pundit talked about pathway for women being blocked
• ‘Wrong for Ian’s name to be raised in that conversation’

Eni Aluko has apologised to Ian Wright for her comments over his involvement as a pundit in women’s football.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour this week, the former England forward discussed the risk of men blocking opportunities for female broadcasters in women’s football. When asked by the presenter Clare McDonnell whether Wright was an example of someone taking up space that could be occupied by a woman, Aluko said: “I’ve worked with Ian a long time and, you know, I think he’s a brilliant broadcaster. But I think he’s aware of just how much he’s doing in the women’s game. I think he should be aware of that.”

Chelsea to give youth a chance, Ipswich look to prolong the inevitable and Jamie Vardy begins his swansong

Tyrique George has caught the eye since breaking into Chelsea’s first team. A homegrown talent, the 19-year-old winger has done well in his Conference League outings and is in contention for his first start in the league when Enzo Maresca’s side host Everton in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off. Fast, direct and sharp on the ball, George has quickly become a favourite with supporters and he lifted some of the pressure off Maresca after coming off the bench to score an excellent equaliser in Chelsea’s comeback win at Fulham last weekend. Thrown on as a striker, George made it 1-1 with a fine shot from the edge of the area. It was the latest in a series of positive contributions from the teenager. His enthusiasm could make a difference against Everton. Jacob Steinberg

Chelsea v Everton, Premier League, Saturday 12.30pm (all times BST)

Brighton v West Ham, Premier League, Saturday 3pm

Newcastle v Ipswich, Premier League, Saturday 3pm

Southampton v Fulham, Premier League, Saturday 3pm

Norwegian on risk-taking, what attracted him to Palace and the experience giving him hope of a great relegation escape

Leif Smerud had already fallen in love with London when, on a post-season football tour to the city as a young player, he discovered a blues club on Kingly Street in Soho, Ain’t Nothin’ But …, where he likes to enjoy live music. He has adored coaching since first taking sessions at the Stavanger club Vidar, whose young team included the future Fulham defender Brede Hangeland. In the past two months, combining those passions, he has fallen for Crystal Palace because of their “underdog, competitive spirit”, since becoming their women’s team manager. Now, to try to save their top-flight status, he must call upon the skills he has honed in another of the loves of his professional life: psychology.

Smerud, having studied and taught sport psychology academically and worked as a clinical psychologist at a private practice, is as qualified as anybody to discuss the mental side of football. “I was very keen, when I was very young, to understand how some teams have great players but don’t perform,” he says, “while other teams have much lesser names but they perform.” How, then, can this expertise help Palace’s mentality as they enter their final three games knowing that they need to win all three to have any chance of avoiding relegation back to the Women’s Championship?

Astonishing final-game deciders, postponed playoffs and the unluckiest team in the country with 100 points

Six years after Bury were expelled from the Football League, last weekend they smashed a North West Counties League record by attracting a crowd of 8,719 to Gigg Lane as they sealed the first promotion since they were reborn by thrashing Burscough 4-0, a 15th successive victory. A measure of this achievement: the previous record crowd, the 6,023 who watched FC United of Manchester lose 1-0 to Great Harwood Town, was set in April 2006 (the 5,834 that saw Bury draw 2-2 with Ramsbottom United on Boxing Day sits at No 3 on the list); only one team in non‑league football, Southend in the division above the division above the division above the division above them, have had more people at a game this season; Bury’s average attendance in the ninth tier of English football, 3,315, is bigger than that of five teams in League Two and one in League One, as well as seven in the Portuguese top flight; that record attendance was 2.7 times larger than the total attendance at the other 11 games played in their division on the final day.

• Manager ‘not 100%’ after absence due to pneumonia
• Howe thanks club doctor for insisting he go to hospital

Eddie Howe has acknowledged there could have been “a different outcome” had he not been admitted to hospital in time to treat the pneumonia he initially tried to ignore.

Newcastle’s manager has thanked the club’s doctor, Paul Catterson, for insisting he could not shrug off an illness Howe had initially self-diagnosed as flu and that he needed to seek urgent specialist treatment.

Palace, Villa, Forest and Man City bid to reach the FA Cup Final while Liverpool can secure the Premier League title

FA Cup semi-finals (stats from all competitions)

The finishes are still flowing for Al-Nassr but, at 40, his future for club and country is under increasing scrutiny

On Saturday, Cristiano Ronaldo can take a big step towards a first major trophy since moving to Saudi Arabia but the quarter-final of the Asian Champions League against Yokohama F Marinos also offers a chance to take a smaller stride towards an unprecedented personal milestone: 1,000 first-class goals.

Pelé scored plenty but claims of 1,279, recognised by the Guinness World Records, included unofficial and exhibition games and perhaps, wondered Diego Maradona, backyard games against his nephews. The stats site RSSSF credits the Brazilian with a total of 778.

Leeds crown court heard how Adrian Daniel, 33, died 10 days after he was hit by Akins, who was driving his seven-year-old daughter to a piano lesson in 2022

The Mansfield Town forward Lucas Akins has been jailed for 14 months after causing the death of a cyclist he hit as he pulled out from a junction.

Leeds crown court heard how Adrian Daniel, 33, died 10 days after he was hit by Akins, who was driving his seven-year-old daughter to a piano lesson in a Mercedes G-Wagon, near Huddersfield in March 2022.

The Match of the Day presenter has been challenged again on his views on Gaza and Israel. But can we really expect him to have no opinions about the outside world?

The most extraordinary revelation to come from Gary Lineker’s interview with Amol Rajan on the BBC is that he’d sometimes come home from school to find Engelbert Humperdinck playing cards with his dad. Surprisingly, almost all the reaction to the conversation has ignored this bombshell – Engelbert apparently not such a big player in the culture war world; best focus on your Middle Easts, your Bravermans, your impartialities, Brian.

Of course the job of news outlets is to pick out headlines but it does appear almost no one has watched the whole programme. It’s essentially a nice wide-ranging interview covering the career of one of the best English footballers and football broadcasters of all time.

• Media industry veteran close to agreeing new role
• Kogan has negotiated TV rights deals across the sport

Lisa Nandy, the culture, media and sport secretary, is poised to ratify the appointment of the chair for the new Independent Football Regulator.

Sources have indicated that the media industry veteran David Kogan is in pole position to be named head of the IFR. It is understood that while some details have to be cleared up, an agreement for him to take the role is close.

Crystal Palace defender on dreaming of FA Cup glory, Oliver Glasner and the importance of faith to the team

Maxence Lacroix is treating Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final at Wembley as just another game but the same can’t be said of his mother. “She’s more stressed than me right now,” the Crystal Palace defender says. “But I think it’s really good for a mother or father to see their son running his dream and playing this type of game because she knew it was difficult before and now she sees her son growing, having a family and doing what he wants. So I think she’s proud, a little bit stressed but it’s all right.”

Growing up in Ajat, a village in the Dordogne, Lacroix knew he was never going to follow in his mother Corrine’s footsteps by becoming a doctor. Having moved to Germany from the French side Sochaux as a 20-year-old after coming through the prestigious Clairefontaine academy, he reunited with Oliver Glasner – his former manager at Wolfsburg – in south London last summer. The elegant defender is the heartbeat of the Palace side that will face Aston Villa for a place in the final and has been tipped to win his first senior cap sooner rather than later after representing France at every youth level.

Southampton Women’s recruitment manager talks about their groundbreaking scheme to find the next generation

It was 2am in the morning and Dean Gibson was sitting in the McDonald’s car park, just to make sure he had wifi access for an important call with an agent based in the United States. The scene aligns with some of the less glamorous stereotypes of working in recruitment and scouting: long nights journeying across the country alone, countless hours watching matches in all weather and often it will not even lead to signing the player. In women’s football, scouting is still in the embryonic stage of its development, but one Women’s Championship club is determined to change the perception of that and train up a new generation of scouts specifically skilled for the women’s game.

Gibson, recruitment manager for Southampton’s women’s and girls’ teams, is speaking to the Guardian about an initiative that his club is now running for a second successive season, named the Starling Bank Scout School, a 15-week programme that had 15 participants in 2024 and that has increased to 20 budding scouts for their current, ongoing class of 2025, and the scheme is heavily oversubscribed with 115 applicants for 2024 and now 160 applications for the latest programme.

This is an extract from our free weekly email, Moving the Goalposts. To get the full edition, visit this page and follow the instructions. Moving the Goalposts is back in to its twice-weekly format, delivered to your inboxes every Tuesday and Thursday.

When they’re not shouting at their own children, many of Britain’s soccer dads like nothing more than swearing at the officials, or even trading blows on the touchline. Isn’t this supposed to be fun?

A chilly Saturday morning on the Astroturf pitches at Coram’s Fields in central London and several youth football matches are under way. I’m watching an under-11s game. The sound is the thud of boot on ball, the shrill interruption of the referee’s whistle, and a whole lot of shouting. From the players (“Mine!”, “Here!”, “Pass!”, “Ref!”, etc). From the two coaches (“Press!”, “Stay wide!”, “Push up!”, “Ref!”, etc). And from the touchline dads. There is one mum here today, but she’s less vocal.

To varying degrees, the dads are part fan, part coach, part personal trainer to their progeny. There is one dad (there’s always one) who’s taking it a bit further, who’s a bit shoutier than the others. “Get rid of it!” he screams at the defence, meaning hoof it upfield, which is the opposite of the coach’s instructions to play it out from the back. “Ref! Seriously?” he shouts at the referee (who’s only about 17 himself).

The vice-chairman on his ‘rejuvenator’ manager Marco Silva, his use of analytics and European ambitions

Tony Khan does not look or sound like a man who has just watched his team lose a local derby in agonising circumstances. If he is feeling bruised after seeing Fulham fall to a last-minute defeat at home to Chelsea he is hiding it well. Instead Khan, the vice-chairman and director of football operations, brings nothing but positivity when he breezes into a small, private room at Craven Cottage and starts to talk about his hopes for the future.

The most immediate issue is whether Fulham’s push for European qualification is still on. “Oh absolutely,” says Khan, on a flying visit to London from his Florida base. “We have a very good chance and we have so many exciting things we can achieve in the remaining fixtures. It’s been such a great season. There’s a lot of great things happening at the club. It’s been so fantastic. I’m really excited for the future.”

French clubs are enjoying best continental season in decades but catastrophic crisis could engulf entire league

If it is results that count, tout va bien for Ligue 1. Having so far accrued its second-highest total of Uefa ranking points in a single campaign, the “league of talents” remains on course to register its best season in Europe since the 1990s, when Marseille, Paris Saint-Germain, Monaco and others regularly featured in the latter stages of Uefa competitions.

A transformed, exuberant if still-not-quite-perfect PSG hope to go one better than the Thomas Tuchel side who lost the 2020 Champions League final to Bayern Munich, and Lyon gave Manchester United an almighty scare in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. Brest and Lille defied the odds by qualifying for the knockout stage of the Champions League, beating teams such as PSV, Atlético Madrid and the holders, Real Madrid, on the way. The conveyor belt of young talent shows no sign of slowing, the 17-year-old Ayyoub Bouaddi of Lille and PSG’s Désiré Doué the latest French academy products to break through on the biggest of stages.

Sacking big name was a gamble but appointing a boyhood fan has proven a masterstroke for a side eyeing Europe

“Claudio has changed my life,” Borja Iglesias said and all around him, as they jumped and sang and smiled and hugged, they felt the same way; he has changed all of their lives. At the end of Celta de Vigo’s victory over Villarreal on Wednesday, players and staff crouched low before fans and for the first time a hush fell over Balaídos. All together now, the chant started slowly, quietly, whispered, but the pace quickened and the volume grew bit by bit until they burst to their feet, belted out their name and bounced off each other, footballers fell into the net laughing and one thought emerged above any other: how much fun they were having.

This is the way football’s supposed to be – about enjoying, about belonging – and this is the way it has been since Claudio Giráldez came along: good even when it has been bad and getting better all the time. The last time Celta played Villarreal they were beaten 4-3 with a 100th-minute winner, a game of seven goals that could have been 17 after which Iglesias said: “If we’re going to lose, let it be like this.” Eight months on Celta beat them back, a 3-0 victory lifting them into a European place where they have not finished for a decade and embodying all they want to be. Iglesias was a ballboy back then and it was “cool”, he said, but not quite like this, grateful for the days he has been given.

• Serie A leaders Inter will now host Roma on Sunday
• Italy v Wales in Women’s Six Nations also rescheduled

Serie A has postponed its three fixtures on Saturday because of Pope Francis’s funeral being held that day in Rome. Meanwhile, Italy’s Women’s Six Nations match against Wales is also expected to be rescheduled as the country prepares to pay its respects.

Earlier media reports in Italy had suggested that Serie A might make an exception for Inter’s clash with the visitors Roma to allow Simone Inzaghi’s side additional rest time before their midweek Champions League semi-final at Barcelona. However, the league has confirmed that the game at San Siro will now kick off at 2pm (all times BST) on Sunday.

In war-torn occupied territories, fake teams are being deployed as a tool to normalise a violent denial of the past

On 12 April a new club played its first game in Russia’s football pyramid. A healthy enough crowd gathered at Novokolor Arena in Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, 20 miles from the border with Ukraine’s occupied territories, encouraged by a slick buildup on social media. They watched “Zarya Luhansk” begin their slog through the Third League, the fifth tier of a complicated Russian system whose composition shifts annually, with a 5-0 home win over Volgar Astrakhan’s second team. Some had travelled by chartered bus from the city their club purports to represent.

The name may sound familiar. The real Zorya Luhansk are eighth in the Ukrainian Premier League and savour a proud 102-year history. They play European football almost every season and hosted Manchester United in 2016. Nowadays, they play home matches in Kyiv owing to the illegal occupation of their home city. Any idea they would pull out and compete in Russia is beyond laughable.

• Olmo scores winner early in second half against Mallorca
• PSG held 1-1 by Nantes but retain unbeaten run

Barcelona’s Dani Olmo scored inside the first minute of the second half to earn a hard-fought 1-0 home win against Mallorca, extending their lead in La Liga over Real Madrid at the top of the table to seven points with five games to go.

Barça dominated proceedings despite their coach, Hansi Flick, deciding to rest several key starters ahead of Saturday’s Copa del Rey final against rivals Real, but the Mallorca goalkeeper Leo Román put on a show between the posts to keep them at bay.

Both clubs threw away convincing leads in England last week. They need to get their seasons back on track quickly

By Get French Football News

Hubris cost Lyon last week and it almost cost PSG too. “We thought we were too good,” admitted Ousmane Dembélé after PSG conceded three goals at Villa Park and were nearly knocked out of the Champions League. “We eased off a bit. We thought it was over but big matches are like that,” said Malick Fofana after Lyon’s spectacular three-goal collapse against Manchester United did cost them a place in the Europa League semi-finals. “It is a match I won’t forget,” added Fofana, who knows that Lyon – like PSG – will have to re-engage if their season is to end well.

With a derby at Saint-Étienne on Sunday, Lyon had no time for a postmortem. But for Paulo Fonseca, one thing was clear. “We led 4-2 with one less player on the pitch but we celebrated the 4-2 too much when the match was not finished,” said the Lyon manager after his team’s 5-4 defeat at Old Trafford. “We should have thought about continuing to manage the match. We lacked experience at this moment,” he added.

Few expected this Köpenick clash to deliver many thrills, but the two clubs served up eight first-half goals

It was not the game, at the start of the weekend, that leapt from the fixtures page as a history maker. Even afterwards, if you looked at the numbers below the top line it hardly seemed a game to make you leap from your seat.

Yet few first halves have scrambled perception and expectation as much as Union Berlin’s meeting with Stuttgart on Saturday evening. Fifty-one minutes and 48 seconds which bedazzled and befuddled in equal measure at Stadion An der Alten Försterei, the claustrophobic arena known for unrelenting atmosphere, emotion but very few goals. In this first half, Union matched a third of the goals they had already scored at home all season, taking their season tally in their yard from 12 to 16. It was the first time a Bundesliga game has ever contained eight first-half goals; four, in this case, for each side.

• Lewandowski injury mars Barça’s 4-3 victory
• McTominay strikes as Napoli keep pressure on Inter

Barcelona fought back from 3-1 down to beat Celta Vigo 4-3 in a rollercoaster encounter, with a stoppage-time penalty by Raphinha extending their lead over Real Madrid at the top of La Liga to seven points.

Barcelona took the lead in the 12th minute through Ferran Torres but conceded an equaliser three minutes later when Wojciech Szczesny misread a cross and allowed Borja Iglesias to score. The Spanish forward then stunned the home fans when he scored two more goals in the second half, twice racing through to beat the keeper on his way to a hat-trick.

• Washington, USWNT star out indefinitely with injury
• Rodman, 22, appeared with national team on 8 April

Washington Spirit star forward Trinity Rodman is out indefinitely as she deals with a recurrence of back problems.

The United States Women’s National Team standout has been dealing with back trouble for several years.

• Melbourne City beat Perth Glory 5-1 to secure fourth premier’s plate
• Fourth Australian women’s side to complete unbeaten regular season

A four-goal first-half blitz has secured Melbourne City’s A-League Women premiership title defence and completed an unbeaten regular season.

City thrashed Perth Glory 5-1 on the road, taking an immediate grip on the match with goals from Taylor Otto and Bryleeh Henry in the opening six minutes.

­Manchester United fans chanted abuse at Manchester City’s Phil Foden about his mother during Sunday’s goalless derby. City manager Pep Guardiola said the move 'lacked class' and added: 'I don’t understand the mind of the ­people ­involving the mum of Phil, it’s a lack of integrity, class, and they should be ashamed.' It is understood that City were shocked and disgusted by the chants and the number of people involved. United’s stance is that they condemn all abusive chants aimed towards players

• ‘Lack of class’: Guardiola hits out at United fans’ chant about Foden’s mother

There was a cheeky free-kick in the third tier of Swedish football when Jönköpings Södra's Linus Lyck caught the goalkeeper and defensive wall unawares with a nonchalant curler into the bottom corner to give his side a 1-0 lead against Lunds BK. It was reminiscent of a goal scored against Chelsea by Liverpool's Fábio Aurélio in 2009

Great Weston: National League footballer scores from inside his own area – video

Weston-super-Mare’s Luke Coulson scored from his own penalty area against Hornchurch in the National League South. With the hosts 3-2 down in stoppage time, goalkeeper Mason Terry went up for a late corner - but the ball instead dropped to Coulson, who kicked it from the penalty spot all the way upfield, where it bounced and rolled into an empty net.

Sir Gareth Southgate has expressed his concern that 'callous, manipulative and toxic influencers' are taking the place of traditional father figures in society and contributing to mental health issues among young men. He believes the decline in communities and a lack of mentors – or 'father figures' – are causing more young men to become reluctant to talk or express their emotions. Southgate voiced concern that 'this void is filled by a new kind of role model who do not have their best interest at heart'.

• Gareth Southgate rails against ‘callous toxic influencers’ in Dimbleby Lecture

Unai Emery has built a side with high standards and a squad with depth – they’ll need both in the coming weeks

• Sign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here

Most teams in the battle for Champions League qualification are staggering to the line, battered, exhausted, done in by a season that feels like it finished in February but somehow still has a month to run. But as they falter, Aston Villa have seemingly found another gear.

Liverpool are secure in the Champions League qualification slots and Arsenal soon will be, which leaves the remaining three places between five contenders who are separated by just two points, although Nottingham Forest face Tottenham on Monday. Forest, though, have won just three of their last eight in the league. Newcastle had won six in a row in all competitions before Saturday’s 4-1 defeat to Villa. Manchester City are unbeaten in five in the league. Chelsea have won five of their last 11 in the league and have a notably tough run-in. But Villa have won 10 of 11 in all competitions, the only blip their Champions League defeat away to Paris Saint-Germain. There is no question that they are the side in form.

This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition.

The Championship’s best team will need to be smart in the transfer market to give themselves a chance next season

When Leeds United sold £140m of playing talent last summer, Daniel Farke deviated from accepted managerial convention and declined to throw his toys out of the pram. Farke is a little too unconventional, a little too resistant to groupthink, to always do the expected and his club’s owner, the San Francisco‑based 49ers Enterprises, is poised to reap the benefits.

The German’s unusual amalgam of high emotional intelligence and advanced numeracy have helped to provide the framework for the freshly secured promotion to the Premier League that Leeds so narrowly missed out on last May.

The coverage of Manchester United’s win over Lyon last week was just the latest sign that fandom is consuming everything

Impartiality fan here – for my sins! – but you have to say Robbie Savage and Rio Ferdinand during the closing minutes of Manchester United v Lyon on Thursday night were absolute class. It all starts in the 118th minute, with United 6-5 down on aggregate, and the TNT Sports camera lingering on the face of a crying boy in the crowd. “Let’s hope we can put a smile on that young man’s face by the time we finish,” the commentator Darren Fletcher says.

And it’s worth unpacking those 17 words, because contained within them are at least three layers of assumption. Foremost among which is the assumption that it would be a good thing, all round, if United won. The child is crying. Is there any cause more catholic or universal, any image more reliably guaranteed to tug at the tear ducts, than a crying child? The coefficient can wait for now.

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Some phrases are commonised so quickly that it’s easy to forget how new they are. The concept of the second-screen experience wasn’t regularly discussed on these pages until 2012; a decade later it is much a part of our lives as privately WISHING TO HELL YOU’D PUT THAT BLOODY TABLET DOWN AND LISTEN TO THE DIALOGUE PROPERLY – IT’S CASSAVETES! But never mind the second-screen experience. We’re now moving towards the age of the second first-screen experience, in which a dopamine fiend watches two football matches/episodes of Dawson’s Creek simultaneously. We know this because, for the last few years, Football Daily has been that dopamine fiend. This weekend, two screens might not be enough.

It took me a while to get used to it and unfortunately I couldn’t continue. It was really a matter of the altitude. It’s surreal here” – Palmeiras forward Estêvão – who will join Chelsea for £29m later this year – had an 18th birthday to remember, netting his side’s second in a 3-2 Copa Libertadores win over Bolivar before dropping to the turf, throwing up and leaving the field on a stretcher as the high altitude of La Paz took its toll. Reminds us of Football Daily’s 18th … minus the goal, of course.

Are we to assume that the reason Manchester United Women are taking part in the new World Sevens tournament (yesterday’s News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition) is because that’s the size of their squad now thanks to The (Big Sir) Jim Reaper?” – Derek McGee.

Following the preview of Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final (yesterday’s Football Daily), can I be the first of 1,057 pedants to point out that Wembley Way does not exist. The pedestrianised street leading from Wembley Park station to Wembley Stadium is (and has always been) called Olympic Way. Blackburn fans born before the 1995 Charity Shield (for example) could be forgiven the mistake, but everyone else (especially otherwise well-informed tea-timely football emails) should know better” – Chris Carter (and no others).

Nice shout for the Human League, a terrific league (Wednesday’s Football Daily). According to the band’s Wikipedia page, the name came from a science-fiction board game. So, if a great league can get its name from a related activity, this suggests that an excellent name for a football league would be the Football League. Yes, that has a familiar and comforting ring to it” – Mike Wilner.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Seb Hutchinson and Dan Bardell as Manchester City get a vital win over Aston Villa in the hunt for Champions League football

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

On the podcast today: two midweek Premier League games to review. One more consequential than the other as Manchester City go third with a late win over Aston Villa. In the other fixture, Crystal Palace score two brilliant goals to claim a point at Arsenal.

Our cartoonist on the big German striker’s blunt opinion of his Hammers teammates and life in general

• Buy a copy of this very cartoon in our Print Shop
• David’s new book, Chaos in the Box: buy it now

Without a pathway to follow in their own country, players have had to look overseas to make a career. But no more

As “O Canada” reverberated around Vancouver’s BC Place last Wednesday, the emotion was clear on the faces of those on the pitch and in the crowd. There were hugs, there were tears, and there was an unbeatable cacophony of noise when Quinn slotted home the winning penalty, the first goal of the Northern Super League era. All 14,000 inside the stadium were aware of how momentous this occasion was, the moment professional domestic women’s football had finally arrived in Canada.

For many of the Canadian players involved for Vancouver Rise and Calgary Wild, it was the first time they will have heard only their anthem at the start of the match. “It was something I said to our team before the game,” the Rise midfielder Quinn reflected after the game. “That was pretty neat.”

Faye Carruthers is joined by Sophie Downey, Tom Garry and Emma Sanders to discuss the Champions League semi-finals, the Women’s Championship and the latest WSL action

On this week’s Guardian Women’s Football Weekly, Faye Carruthers is joined by Sophie Downey, Tom Garry and Emma Sanders to review disappointing first-leg semi-final results for Arsenal and Chelsea in the Champions League. They are trailing in their ties with Lyon and Barcelona respectively. But can they turn it around? The panel preview this weekend’s must-win second legs.

And after teasing you for weeks, the panel take a deep dive into the Women’s Championship as we approach the final two games of what’s been a thrilling season. They also round up the very latest from the WSL.

Who should be on Arne Slot’s shopping list, Chelsea’s unlikely hero and an angry Ollie Watkins

Arne Slot is set to win the Premier League but at the same time knows he needs to make plenty of improvements within his squad this summer. One key acquisition will be a new striker. Darwin Núñez was not brought off the bench at Leicester despite Liverpool misfiring, Diogo Jota’s fitness is a constant concern and Luis Díaz, who started on Sunday, does not give off the impression of being a No 9. In tight matches, Mohamed Salah has often been the man to separate them from opponents. They had 28 shots at the King Power Stadium but needed a full-back to score the winner. Núñez will almost certainly depart Anfield to open up a spot for a superior No 9 but they do not come cheap. Plans will be afoot but they know they cannot get it wrong twice, having spent more than £80m on the Uruguayan who has never looked like delivering. Will Unwin

Match report: Leicester 0-1 Liverpool

Match report: Ipswich 0-4 Arsenal

Match report: Aston Villa 4-1 Newcastle

Match report: Manchester United 0-1 Wolves

Match report: Fulham 1-2 Chelsea

Match report: Everton 0-2 Manchester City

Match report: Brentford 4-2 Brighton

Chelsea change under the spotlight, twins have Manchester City seeing double and Holland shines for Liverpool

Were Chelsea wrong to make a substitution while preparing to defend a corner? The former England midfielder Fara Williams criticised Chelsea for doing so in the 81st minute, when Nathalie Björn was replaced by Naomi Girma seconds before Barcelona scored their third goal, a far-post header from an unmarked Irene Paredes, with Williams telling TNT Sports, “You can see that there is a bit of confusion” in Chelsea’s organisation for the set piece. Sonia Bompastor said she had been forced to withdraw Björn because of an injury, and played down the incident. “I don’t think the substitution had an impact on the goal we conceded,” the head coach said. “When I talk about not making mistakes, maybe we didn’t have to concede that corner. If you have a better clearance from the goal and don’t concede that corner, you don’t give Barcelona the opportunity to score. I don’t think the substitution had an effect on the goal. I think Naomi [Girma] knew exactly where she had to go and I think everyone knew their role in that.” The header was the first of two late strikes for Barcelona in Sunday’s first leg which put the tie in a much more challenging position for Chelsea before Sunday’s return at Stamford Bridge. Tom Garry

Arteta’s side delivered a performance for the ages to knock out Real Madrid, while PSG held firm at Villa Park and Inter outlasted Bayern to set up a semi-final of contrasts

Arsenal

Southampton, Leicester and Ipswich are returning to the Championship. Which of their players deserve to stay up?

Leicester were relegated at the weekend and will join Southampton in the Championship next season. Ipswich are 15 points from safety with five games to play, so it’s only a matter of time before they too are consigned to the second tier. The three sides have been extremely disappointing this season, picking up just 10 wins between them, but they have some talented players who will be targets for Premier League sides in the summer transfer window.

The Premier League-bound Clarets and their manager have no shortage of motivation heading into next season

If the opening night was anything to go by, it looked as if Burnley’s return to the Premier League at the first time of asking was inevitable. It was Scott Parker’s first game in charge, a tricky trip to Luton, who had dropped down with the Clarets. One team had enjoyed a summer of continuity whereas everything had changed at Turf Moor but it was Burnley who left with a dominant 4-1 victory.

That warm night at Kenilworth Road was not indicative of what was to come. By the end of the month, three of the goalscorers had left – 11 first-team players departed in August – forcing Parker to almost reset after the campaign had started, but it helped mould his squad into his vision for a promotion push. It would not be done with the flair and style with which Vincent Kompany et al accrued 101 points and 87 goals to win the title two years ago but, with the potential to reach a century, the result could be the same.

Chris Davies’s dominant side has secured League One promotion but the club hope that is just the start

On day one in the job, as Chris Davies surveyed St Andrew’s for the first time last summer, the Birmingham City manager was struck by a damning statistic courtesy of the club historian, Malcolm McHenry: no league side had lost more matches across the previous five seasons. Birmingham were relegated to League One a month earlier after circling the drain for a while. “When you hear something like that, it’s powerful because you think: ‘Wow, there are 92 teams,’” Davies says.

“Everyone has suffered so much … I suppose I saw an opportunity to change that and this season we’ve won more games than any other team in the country.”

Statistics can help assess a potential recruit’s emotional control and leadership, while highlighting red flags

“The players didn’t show enough fight.” Listen to any pundit’s post-match reaction and you will hear variations of that soundbite. But can you analyse an athlete’s state of mind, based on their on-pitch body language?

In an era when football is increasingly leaning on data to demonstrate physical attributes, statistics offering an accurate indication of a player’s psychological qualities, such as emotional control and leadership, are harder to come by. But Premier League clubs including Brighton are using a technique intended to help in that regard with selection and recruitment.

Rodri has beaten Vinícius Júnior and Erling Haaland to top our ranking of the most talented players in the world this calendar year

• How all the judges voted | Rodri heads 2024 list | Our methodology | The top 100 female players in the world
• 2023 edition | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012

The Manchester City midfielder becomes the sixth player to top our ranking of the world’s best 100 male footballers

• The 100 best male footballers in the world 2024

One of the worst things about seeing Rodri in agony on the pitch against Arsenal in September – and the subsequent news that he had ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament – was that in the buildup to the injury he had criticised the workload being put on players. It was as if he knew something bad was about to happen.

In April, after an epic 3-3 draw at Real Madrid the Manchester City and Spain midfielder said: “I do need a rest.” He added: “Let’s see how we speak, how we live the situation. Sometimes it is what it is. I need to adjust. It [rest] is something we are planning, yes.”

Aitana Bonmatí finishes top of our rankings for a second consecutive year, with Caroline Graham Hansen second and Sophia Smith third

• Bonmatí on top of world again | How every judge voted | Video top ten | 2023 list | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018
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The Spanish midfielder wins for a second consecutive year on a fast-moving list that sees 15 players appearing for the first time

• The top 100: check out the full list for 2024

Aitana Bonmatí emulates her Barcelona and Spain teammate Alexia Putellas and takes back-to-back wins in the Guardian’s 100 best female footballers in the world list.

The double Ballon d’Or winner received votes from all 99 of this year’s judges, finishing 667 points clear of her club teammate Caroline Graham Hansen, the Norwegian climbing to her highest ranking after a superb individual year for both club and country.

From Franco Mastantuono to Estêvão, we select some of the most talented players born in 2007. Check the progress of our classes of 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 … and look at the editions from further back

We pick the best youngsters at each club born between 1 September 2007 and 31 August 2008, an age band known as first-year scholars. Check the progress of our classes of 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 … and look at the editions from further back

From Warren Zaïre-Emery to Endrick, we select some of the best players born in 2006. Check the progress of our classes of 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018

• Next Generation 2023: 20 of the best Premier League talents