It was a decision that threatens to keep Nuno Espírito Santo awake for many nights to come.
Why, oh why, West Ham’s manager will doubtless wonder, did he opt to start with a back three on Tyneside?
Continue reading...Marco Silva tight-lipped on Fulham future after Robinson rescues point at Wolves
The Fulham manager, Marco Silva, insisted he had not made a decision on his future after his side’s European hopes were all but extinguished by Sunday’s 1-1 draw at relegated Wolves.
The visitors got themselves on level terms when Antonee Robinson equalised from the spot in first-half stoppage time, after Thomas Kirk gave a penalty for Mateus Mané’s late challenge on Timothy Castagne after a video assistant referee review. Wolves had taken the lead through Mané as they sought a first victory since beating Liverpool on 3 March.
Continue reading...Brentford 2-2 Crystal Palace, Leeds 1-0 Brighton, Everton 1-3 Sunderland: Premier League – live
Sunderland and Bournemouth were the big winners on a day of twists and turns in the race for Europe
Bradley Lowery, the Sunderland mascot whose battle with neuroblastoma helped raise than more £1m before his death in 2017, would have been 15 today. There will be a minute’s applause at Hill Dickinson Stadium after 15 minutes of today’s game, and two fans – one of each club – have cycled to the ground from the Stadium of Light to raise funds for the Bradley Lowery Foundation. Hats off to them.
Two more goals have been scored in a thrilling end-of-a-season game at Old Trafford, and Bruno Fernandes has equalled a major Premier League record. Clickity click click click!
Continue reading...Aston Villa 4-2 Liverpool: Premier League – as it happened
Ollie Watkins scored twice and ran Liverpool ragged as Aston Villa clinched a Champions League place in style
“Right Rob, let’s get down to brass tacks – Slot, should he be shown the door or given another year?” asks Peadar de Burca. “On the evidence of, let’s say, the last ten games, you’d have to say that the Liverpool manager has been found wanting. That extra little bit of innovation or rough magic hasn’t been there. A lot of talent at the top end of the team and you get the feeling a good manager could have shaped those players into something sharper, as opposed to the butter knife attack we’ve mostly seen. So, give him the boot?
“Well, this is a Liverpool team in transition. I suspect the owners, no mugs, had this in mind back in July after Diogo Jota’s tragic death and saw this as a year to acquire some serious talent, let them bed in with the real aim being the 2026-27 season. You’d hope Jeremy Jacquet will be joined by one or two more defensively minded players and the team will have more balance. The team will have had time to become a team. Let’s not judge Slot now, but in eight months’ time when Isak, Ekitike, Wirtz and Ngumoha are able to read each other’s minds.
Today we are without nine players. The good news is that Florian and Mo are on the bench, but Alex [Isak] is out with a minor injury.
I have to compliment Mo on how hard he has worked to be back. It’s not always straightforward with the type of injury he had.
Continue reading...Premier League and FA Cup final: predicted lineups for the weekend action
Manchester City face Chelsea for the trophy at Wembley while leaders Arsenal host Burnley on Monday night
FA Cup final (stats from all competitions)
Continue reading...Premier League and FA Cup final: 10 things to look out for this weekend
Guardiola can claim 17th City trophy, Arteta weighs up another Arsenal reshuffle and Brentford’s European dreams could edge closer
A measure of Pep Guardiola’s greatness is to be found in Saturday’s FA Cup final being a 24th visit to Wembley leading Manchester City. As this born winner could depart in the close season, the meeting with Chelsea may be a third-last outing in charge, in which he seeks the opposite result to the 2021 Champions League final. Yet Chelsea are now in a state of flux – Calum McFarlane is in a second caretaker spell of the season, following Liam Rosenior’s sacking last month, having also filled in when Enzo Maresca walked out on 1 January. This points to a City triumph and the 17th major trophy of Guardiola’s reign. But this is football, so who knows? Jamie Jackson
FA Cup final: Chelsea v Manchester City, Saturday 3pm (all times BST)
Aston Villa v Liverpool, Friday 8pm
Manchester United v Nottingham Forest, Sunday 12.30pm
Brentford v Crystal Palace, Sunday 3pm
Everton v Sunderland, Sunday 3pm
Wolves v Fulham, Sunday 3pm
Continue reading...Foden sparkles for City and Scottish title race goes to the wire | Football Weekly – video
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jordan Jarrett-Bryan, Will Unwin and Ewan Murray to discuss the title races in England and Scotland
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On today’s podcast: Manchester City did what they had to do, beating Crystal Palace, and are now two points behind Arsenal with two games to play. Palace started brightly, but a couple of glorious assists, one from Phil Foden and one from Rayan Cherki helped Pep Guardiola and co to keep the pressure on.
The real drama, though, was in Scotland. Celtic won and scored a controversial penalty at the death at Motherwell as the title goes down to a final day showdown against Hearts, who beat Falkirk.
Plus, spygate, an FA Cup final preview and your questions answered.
Chapters:
00:00 - Coming up ...
00:44 - City keep up the chase
14:50 - Scotland and the worst VAR call of all?
29:35 - Southampton and spygate
41:12 - FA Cup preview
44:17 - Prem preview
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Continue reading...Why are we getting more, not less, VAR? Football will not kill its golden goose | Jonathan Liew
In generating a constant stream of outrage, debate and engagement, much-reviled tech has become its own spectacle
“Just keep delaying,” Darren England tells the referee, Chris Kavanagh, at West Ham on Sunday afternoon. The title is on the line, possibly relegation too, and as replay after replay queues up on the tape machine, who could blame a humble video assistant for wanting to savour the moment?
To survey it from all the relevant angles, consider all contingencies. To feel the sensation of all that awesome power at his fingertips. They’re calling it the most important VAR review in Premier League history. Stuart Attwell, you’ll never sing that.
Continue reading...Spurs drop points in survival battle and mayhem at Madrid | Football Weekly – video
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Lars Sivertsen, Seb Hutchinson and Sid Lowe as Tottenham draw and Barça win La Liga
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On today’s podcast: the agony continues for Spurs as Roberto De Zerbi says they will fight until the final minute of the season after their 1-1 draw at home to Leeds. It could have been better for Tottenham. They took the lead, a wonderful goal from Matthys Tel who then later connected with an overhead kick, unfortunately not with the ball but with Ethan Ampadu.
Elsewhere, Sid Lowe joins us after a clásico that saw Barcelona win La Liga and to try and unpick the unfolding chaos at Real Madrid. Fights in training, a Kylian Mbappé petition signed by 70m people. Is José Mourinho really the man to come in and steady that particular ship?
Also, Hull City reach the Championship playoff final, more on ‘spygate’, Nigel Martyn for England and we answer your questions.
Chapters:
00:00 - Coming up...
00:45 - 1 point gained, 2 dropped for Spurs?
15:28 - West Ham vs. PGMOL
19:19 - Sid Lowe on Real, Barca and Rayo Vallecano
42:59 - Championship play-offs
51:19 - Beth Mead to leave Arsenal
54:38 - Baz vs. Parakeet
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Continue reading...Tottenham 1-1 Leeds: Premier League – as it happened
Mathys Tel scored a wonderful goal and conceded a penalty as Spurs got one more point in the fight against relegation
1 min: Peeeeep! Leeds, clad all in black (well, black and some funny blurry shapes), get the game going.
The players are out! The display of flags was a little underwhelming, only partly because if you’re watching on TV it was mostly covered up by a sequence of graphics.
Continue reading...Football Daily | Arsenal emerge after being fed feet-first through the emotional wood-chipper
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Well, that escalated slowly. While Arsenal left it late to score their winner against West Ham on Sunday, they got the job done and now find themselves a couple of straightforward wins against the second worst team in the league and Crystal Palace Under-9s from the Premier League title that has eluded them for 22 years. Except this Arsenal team doesn’t really do “straightforward”, as they showed when letting West Ham nab an added-time equaliser, only for it to be snatched away following an intervention from the curtain-twitching buzzkills in their Stockley Park joy-vacuum. If Football Daily was an Arsenal fan, our soul would almost certainly have left our body as we watched Chris Kavanagh repeatedly rock-and-roll the footage on his touchline monitor, trying to pick through the weeds of the 1,057 different fouls being committed simultaneously by players from both teams. Eventually, he arrived at what (everyone except Peter Schmeichel and a few Pearly Kings agreed) was probably the correct decision.
I write with admiration of Stockport’s Dave Challinor for one or indeed two hidden skills (Friday’s Still Want More, full email edition). May I explain: he either has great willpower for not eating the Smarties on his tactics board and/or he knows how long he can keep his finger on the confectionery before it melts while the picture is taken” – Shaun Clark.
I really enjoyed the photo of Dave Challinor. My question: does he prefer using Skittles, M&Ms or Reese’s Pieces on his whiteboard? I’ve experimented with all three candies in my coaching sessions with U8 and U10 teams over the years. I’d appreciate his expert insight about which is most effective. Or tastes best” – Mike Wilner.
This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.
Continue reading...West Ham’s goal against Arsenal was correctly disallowed. The rest is just noise | Jonathan Wilson
The Gunners’ title charge was strengthened by a goal called back, in a perfect encapsulation of what modern soccer has become
A corner. A melee. Bodies everywhere. Blocks and tugs, pulls and shoves. A VAR decision. Fury. Empty noise. A title perhaps decided; a significant impact on the relegation battle. Shouting. Confused pundits ranting. Social media figures rallying to the side they were always going to take. Welcome to modern soccer.
After what looked like an injury-time equaliser for West Ham was ruled out on Sunday, Arsenal now need only to beat Burnley and Crystal Palace to be sure of their first Premier League title in 22 years. In the relegation scrap, West Ham are a point behind Tottenham, who play at home to Leeds, now safe, on Monday evening. But the big issue is a VAR decision. Of course it is: this is 2025-26.
Continue reading...Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action
Jérémy Doku finds the net again, Joshua Zirkzee struggles at Sunderland and Ismaïla Sarr is fulfilling his potential
On Friday when Bruno Fernandes became the Football Writers’ Association player of the year, either Declan Rice or David Raya could have been forgiven for feeling a touch aggrieved. Both have been essential to Arsenal’s bid for a Premier League and Champions League double but it is Raya who showed why he may have been more deserving at the London Stadium as his technically pinpoint one-on-one save gave Arsenal the platform they so desperately needed to secure a vital three points late on. Mikel Arteta’s side were on the ropes as Mateus Fernandes exchanged a one-two with Pablo to run in with the goal at his mercy. Surely this was it for Arsenal: the title slipping again. Raya’s nerve held strong, making the most crucial of saves. Arsenal’s dream of winning a first title in 22 years remains in his hands. Graham Searles
Match report: West Ham 0-1 Arsenal
Barney Ronay: VAR offers up title-deciding moment
Match report: Manchester City 3-0 Brentford
Match report: Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea
Match report: Sunderland 0-0 Manchester United
Match report: Nottingham Forest 1-1 Newcastle
Match report: Burnley 2-2 Aston Villa
Continue reading...West Ham United 0-1 Arsenal: Premier League – as it happened
Leandro Trossard’s late goal – and an even later VAR intervention at the other end – moved Arsenal to the brink of glory
There’s a cracking atmosphere at the London Stadium. Alas, no sign of Danny Dyer yet. The players look ready for action; they jolly well need to be. This is huge.
A quick reminder of the teams
Continue reading...Nottingham Forest 1-1 Newcastle, Burnley 2-2 Aston Villa, Crystal Palace 2-2 Everton – as it happened
The Premier League afternoon got under way with three games, 10 goals and three score draws
4 mins: A tasty cross from the right for Newcastle, but nobody gets on the end of it. Here’s the top of the Scottish Premiership as it stands:
The final whistle has blown in the Old Firm game at Celtic Park, where Celtic came from behind to beat Rangers 3-1 and keep the heat on Hearts. The top two play each other next Saturday in their final game of the season, with both also playing in midweek.
Continue reading...