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An email: Arsenal fans will have mixed memories of Sean Dyche teams; probably most saliently here his new-manager-bounce inspiration of a previously useless Everton side to a 1-0 win, smashing a 14-game unbeaten Arsenal run,” writes Charles Antaki. “Admittedly Arsenal haven’t been quite that consistently good this year but Forest have certainly been that consistently bad, so there are omens around for those who care to read them.”

Having paid a visit to Dr Tottenham this afternoon and surprised nobody by leaving his North London clinic with three points and a restorative sense of enormous wellbeing, West Ham have closed the gap to Forest to just four points. No pressure Dychey …

On 65 minutes Michael Carrick’s second tenure went electric as Manchester United scored a classic breakaway goal by Bryan Mbeumo that sent the interim head coach berserk in the technical area.

After a clearing Harry Maguire header, the ball evaded Rayan Cherki and Bruno Fernandes galloped forward. He had Amad Diallo to the right and Patrick Dorgu and Mbeumo on the left; United’s streetwise captain delayed the pass, then found the Cameroonian, whose finish beat Gianluigi Donnarumma.

As he watched Cole Palmer smash a penalty past Caoimhín Kelleher to secure his first three points at Chelsea, Liam Rosenior may have briefly wondered why such a fuss is made about Premier League management.

The 41-year-old calmly exchanged low fives on the bench with members of his coaching staff before springing to his feet and pointing to his temple, imploring his players to keep their heads and close out the remaining 15 minutes, which they achieved with minimal trouble.

The fabled magic of the cup is yet to truly cast its spell on the women’s game and London City Lionesses avoided a shock exit with a professional display to win at Sunderland.

Since the WSL kicked off in 2011, no side in the third tier or below has knocked out a top-tier club, and even second-tier clubs doing so has been a rarity.

Arne Slot had made his wishes clear before kick-off. “We want to do better in making more chances from all the ball possession we have. I am waiting for the moment it really clicks,” he had said. Thirty two shots on goal with 11 on target would suggest Liverpool obliged against Burnley, but Anfield still waits for Slot’s side to click.

Liverpool were held to a fourth consecutive Premier League draw as Marcus Edwards stunned the champions by cancelling out Florian Wirtz’s first half opener. Scott Parker’s visitors were far more enterprising after the interval but Edwards’ fine equaliser came from their only shot on target while Liverpool were left to rue a procession of missed opportunities and careless final balls. Boos greeted the final whistle as Liverpool dropped points yet again.

• FSF protests about security and accommodation concerns

• Training facility and insufficient ticket worries also raised

The Senegalese Football Federation (FSF) has accused Morocco’s local organising committee of undermining their preparations for Sunday’s Africa Cup of Nations final against the hosts. In a statement on social media, the FSF protested about a lack of adequate security on arrival, inadequate accommodation, confusion over training facilities and insufficient tickets being provided for Senegal fans.

Having beaten Egypt in Wednesday’s semi-final in Tangier, the Senegal squad made the 75-minute journey south to the capital on the Al-Boraq high-speed train. On arrival in Rabat they were surrounded by fans and local people demanding selfies and videos released on social media show them being jostled as they made their way through the station to the team bus.

It was the chant that had simmered for weeks and there was an inevitability when it was belted out by the Tottenham support at the very last. “Sacked in the morning,” they yelled at Thomas Frank, the frustration unbearable. They have seen enough. In their opinion, the manager has to go.

Whether the club’s board agree is unclear. They know the problems that Frank has faced and continues to face during a season of turmoil and transition. The acid test of nerve is upon them.

When, on Friday, it became clear that Crystal Palace were selling Marc Guéhi to Manchester City and Oliver Glasner announced he would be leaving at the end of the season, Sunderland supporters turned a little nervous.

They fretted that Palace might react to not merely the loss of their best defender and the impending departure of a much-admired manager but the ignominy of last weekend’s FA Cup calamity at non-league Macclesfield by demonstrating that they are not so shabby after all.

Lukas Nmecha stepped off the bench to fire a stoppage-time winner as Leeds marked their tribute to Terry Yorath with a valuable win The striker, an 81st-minute replacement for Jayden Bogle, latched on to Ethan Ampadu’s cross in the first minute of added time to clinch victory, which keeps Leeds eight points clear of the Premier League’s relegation zone.

Leeds dominated after an even first half, but by failing to take their chances it appeared in-form Fulham would extend their unbeaten run to seven league matches.

Frenetic derby was just the place for the interim manager to roll out Ferguson’s old ‘use the energy of the people’ dictum

For Manchester United’s executives, City are the best-in-class runaway train they wish to emulate and aspire to. Coveted talent like Antoine Semenyo and now Marc Guéhi opt for blue when a generation ago, Old Trafford was the destination of dreams.

United’s myth and legend becomes increasingly sepia-tinged but there may be life in it yet. The list of Sir Alex Ferguson’s boys able to take the reins in times of emergency is being exhausted but Michael Carrick, on his second turn, found a way to feed off it. He has just 17 games though there is a tantalising prize on offer. A return to the Champions League looks possible. Rather than embracing the void, Carrick’s United reminded that sporting directors, analytic departments and strategic reviews may have their place in the eventual restoration of power, but dogged spirit, wanting it more, can win the day.

Ipswich are bottom of WSL2, but have big plans as new management team aim to turn their season around

Ipswich go into their Women’s FA Cup tie on Sunday against fellow WSL2 side Sheffield United with the pressure off and spirits high. The Tractor Girls are having a tough debut season in the second tier in the WSL era.

They are bottom of the league, five points behind Portsmouth and Durham, with Portsmouth having played a game more. They return to their former Felixstowe home for the fourth round tie, having had to make the switch to Colchester to meet the WSL2 ground requirements for league matches.

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• Wangerheim joins from Hammarby on contract to 2029

• WSL2 Birmingham land fellow Swede Leidhammar

Manchester United have signed the Sweden forward Ellen Wangerheim from Hammarby on a contract until June 2029. The 21-year-old becomes the Women’s Super League side’s third signing of the January transfer window, after Hanna Lundkvist and Lea Schüller.

Matt Johnson, United’s director of women’s football, told the club’s media channels that Wangerheim was “one of Europe’s best young talents”, saying: “As a dynamic, invasive and versatile forward Ellen brings variation and a natural scoring instinct to the team. Everyone at the club is excited to have her at Manchester United and the opportunity to help maximise her potential.”

• FA finds 23 of 24 charges against Ryan Hamilton were proven

• Punishment sends ‘a clear message’ misconduct ‘not tolerated’

The former manager of a fourth-tier women’s team has been banned by the Football Association from all involvement in the sport for 12 years after he sent indecent images of himself to players and a member of staff as well as subjecting them to sexually inappropriate behaviour.

Ryan Hamilton, who left his role as Sutton Coldfield Town Women’s manager in November 2024, was found to have sent photographs of his penis to a player and a staff member via social media, as well as to have sent naked or partially naked photographs of himself to two of the other players, and to have sent a player a video of himself masturbating.

• Championship club pull off shock via Chaiwa’s own goal

• Dundee, Dundee United both through, St Mirren win shootout

Dunfermline sent Hibernian tumbling out of the Scottish Cup after the unfortunate Miguel Chaiwa scored an own goal in stoppage time to send the Championship club through. Kieran Ngwenya’s header from a Matty Todd corner hit the back of the Zambia midfielder before rolling into the net to break the stalemate.

Both teams had chances either side of the break, but top-flight Hibs were left to rue two big opportunities that were passed up by Kieron Bowie and Thibault Klidjé. The Dunfermline manager, Neil Lennon, lapped up the full-time celebrations with his players beating the team he managed for two and a half years.

• Goalkeeper has served five matches of the suspension

• Reference to skin colour overheard by club colleagues

The Liverpool goalkeeper Rafaela Borggräfe was given a six-game ban by the Football Association after being found to have made a racist comment that involved reference to skin colour.

Borggräfe has served five matches of that suspension. She accepted the sanction and was also ordered to enrol on an education programme after an FA investigation into the language, which was overheard by some staff and teammates.

News from Friday’s press conferences, including updates on Arsenal, Nottingham Forest and West Ham

• Forward due to fly back from Afcon on Sunday

• Slot doesn’t rule out new signings this month

Liverpool are in talks with Mohamed Salah over the forward making an immediate return to Arne Slot’s squad for their Champions League trip to Marseille next week.

Salah is due back at Liverpool after Egypt’s involvement in the Africa Cup of Nations ends on Saturday. Egypt face Nigeria in a third-place play-off in Casablanca after suffering another loss to a Sadio Mané-inspired Senegal in the semi-finals. The 33-year-old Salah travelled to Morocco with uncertainty surrounding his future having accused the club of throwing him “under the bus” after a poor run of results and claiming he no longer had a relationship with Slot. Liverpool are unbeaten in the 11 matches since Slot first dropped Salah at West Ham.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Philippe Auclair, Dan Bardell and Sid Lowe as Xabi Alonso leaves Real Madrid and the Carabao Cup semi-finals begin.

On the podcast today: Arsenal win at Stamford Bridge in their Carabao Cup semi-final first leg, but it was still a decent showing for Liam Rosenior in his first home game in charge at Chelsea.

Elsewhere, in the other semi-final, Manchester City won 2-0 at Newcastle in a game overshadowed by a very, very long VAR check. The panel try to spend less time discussing it than the check itself too.

Plus, the pod discuss the Afcon semi-finals, Xabi Alonso leaving Real Madrid and your questions answered.

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Brentford’s record-breaking Brazilian has overcome a torrid childhood, racism and injuries – but is dreaming of Brazil’s No 9 shirt at the World Cup

Igor Thiago had dreams that seemed impossible. His impoverished childhood and the early death of his father forced him to grow up fast while still a teenager. To eat, he had to start working as a child. He was a bricklayer’s assistant, a fruit carrier at the market and a car washer … so many jobs that could have prevented him from becoming the Brazilian to make Premier League history with the most goals in a single season.

Igor Thiago has 16 goals in 21 games for Brentford. There are still 17 more matches to go, the first against Chelsea on Saturday, but he has already surpassed such Brazilian luminaries as Roberto Firmino, Matheus Cunha and Gabriel Martinelli, all of whom scored 15 league goals in their most prolific season. How to describe this turnaround in his life? Igor Thiago has an easy explanation. “I would describe it as a lot of hard work. I think that everything God has planned for my life, has given me this year at Brentford, is something I hadn’t experienced yet in my career,” he says.

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The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations reaches its big finale in 2026 on Sunday, having rolled on through the annual festive time warp, outlasting Enzo Maresca, Ruben Amorim and Ryan Mason Xabi Alonso. Some Premier League teams will have played games in four different competitions by the time they welcome their players home. Wedged into the domestic calendar’s most crowded months, Afcon can get overlooked and more’s the pity, because the 2025-26 tournament has been a vintage edition. The group stage may have lacked big surprises but was still packed with late twists, ridiculous goals and dramatic storylines. Two different coaches named Cameroon squads amid a pre-tournament power struggle; their first opponents, Gabon, were disbanded by their government after going out early (a decision quietly reversed this week). Sudan and Mozambique earned historic victories, bringing light to fans suffering through conflict. We were introduced to Kuka Mboladinga, the sharply-dressed, statuesque DR Congo fan who we all hope will make it to next summer’s Geopolitics World Cup.

Re: yesterday’s Football Daily. When will the Football League realise that a one-legged Carling Cup semi-final tie at a neutral (non-Wembley) ground would be mint?” – Francis Fowles.

After turning Manchester United into a joke in record time, Big Sir Jim’s now providing moral support for his players (yesterday’s News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition). How about support for the supporters, starting with profuse apologies?” – JJ Zucal.

I read Kachilapo Mulongoti’s letter (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) with great interest, complaining about the ‘many jokes’ in the publication. As a long-time subscriber, I fear I’ve been reading a different tea-timely football-related email. There’s a version with jokes? Please sign me up” – Mike Wilner (and 1,056 others).

Positioning one letter starting with the word ‘congratulations’ after another signed off from Harry Webb (yesterday’s letters)? And on the day when you’re certain to be bombarded with 1,057 letters asking where the jokes are? Chapeau” – Tim Grey.

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

Real Madrid and Manchester United put their faith in familiarity but the lesson of Ferguson is dynastic greatness rests not in tradition but ditching principles

“It is all too easy to make mistaken inferences unless the process involved is already very well understood.” Francis Crick, molecular biologist

“This club is about winning, winning and winning again. It’s in our DNA.” Álvaro Arbeloa

Amid grumbles, a winless run and negative banners, there are signs of life for Köln despite a 3-1 loss to the champions

We didn’t see this coming, and not only because of the fog of pyro lingering over the RheinEnergieSTADION field that furnished us with 11 minutes of first-half stoppage time. In October’s equivalent fixture in the DFB Pokal, Köln had really rattled Bayern Munich in the first half and even taken the lead through Ragnar Ache – and still ended up on the wrong end of a 4-1 scoreline.

The world around Geißbockheim has not been a particularly happy place since. Effzeh came into this Englische Woche on a run of seven games without a win, which was even harder to swallow after an extremely promising start. Worse still, head coach Lukas Kwasniok – who started this season embracing the city and the club’s spirit with his wearing of replica shirts on the touchline – was recently targeted by Köln fans in Saturday’s draw at Heidenheim, with a banner reading “Kwasni Yok” (“yok” being no in Turkish), credited to the Wilde Horde ultras group.

The teenager was at non-league Rochdale two years ago. Now he is the star attraction for a Premier League club

By WhoScored

Wolves were not supposed to find hope this season, certainly not from an 18-year-old who was at a non-league club two years ago. But on what many expected to be another drab afternoon for Wolves, with relegation seemingly inevitable after a run of 19 games without a win, Mateus Mané – starting a league game at Molineux for the first time – became the unlikely catalyst for the narrative to shift.

Mané made the difference as Wolves beat West Ham 3-0 in early January. He slipped a decisive ball to Hwang Hee-chan, who released Jhon Arias to score Wolves’ opener, then he won the penalty that doubled the lead. And, just when it seemed the game was settled, he spun away from Soungoutou Magassa and drilled a low shot past Alphonse Areola to score his first senior goal, completing a personal hat-trick of influence on Wolves’ first league win of the season.

Manager’s decision is no surprise having fought to keep Marc Guéhi in the summer and amid doubts over futures of a host of Palace’s FA Cup-winning stars

It was the day Crystal Palace supporters had dreaded but feared was inevitable. Oliver Glasner, having confirmed that the captain Marc Guéhi’s move to Manchester City is poised to go ahead, had another bombshell prepared for his press conference to preview Saturday’s trip to Sunderland.

Nearly eight months to the day since the Austrian led the club to their first major trophy by beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final, his announcement that he will leave Selhurst Park at the end of the season came as no surprise. It rounds off one of the worst weeks in the club’s history after the humiliating defeat by non-league Macclesfield that will be for ever an unwanted postscript to their victory.

Australia’s top women’s football league does not have dedicated data or research to explore why so many players continue to suffer a serious knee injury

Cannon Clough didn’t realise what had happened when she first hit the ground.

After leaping up to defend a high ball, the Central Coast Mariners defender felt a kick through her leg. As she landed, her foot went in one direction and her body in another. She heard a pop.

• Sydney-born striker heads equaliser in Coppa Italia tie

• Teenager comes off bench to level score before Torino hit late winner

Australian football has a dazzling new star to follow, with teenager Antonio Arena making a stunning – and immediate – impact for Italian side Roma.

The 16-year-old was brought off the bench to make his club debut in the 80th minute of Roma’s Italian Cup clash against Torino, and scored with his first touch for the Serie A side.

Club furious after being sanctioned for paperwork error regarding Canada international Florianne Jourde

Paris Saint-Germain have lost only one league game all season yet are still only fifth in the Première Ligue. How is that possible?

On Monday 22 December, just after the final league game of 2025, the French Football Federation issued a bombshell statement: three of PSG’s wins this season had been turned into defeats (0-3) because of a licensing issue regarding the Canada international Florianne Jourde.

Hired as a systems coach, the manager was undermined at a club where players – and Florentino Pérez – call the shots

Pep Guardiola sat in the press room at the Santiago Bernabéu and told Xabi Alonso to do it his way but around here, he knows, it tends not to work out like that, which is precisely why he said so. Saying it is one thing, doing it another, doing it successfully something else entirely and a month and day after being offered that advice, handed that defence, Alonso was gone. On Monday afternoon, not long after landing from Saudi Arabia, a meeting was held at Valdebebas and then came the statement, short and unsentimental. He was a “legend” as a player, but no longer coach at Real Madrid.

Alonso is the 11th manager to last less than a year in two decades under the president, Florentino Pérez. He had begun work only seven months before, and that was earlier than he intended. It had started with the Club World Cup in the US, his first big decision to accept the demand to take over sooner than he wanted, and it ended with the Spanish Super Cup in Jeddah, where it was an open secret that final judgment awaited. For a month it had been impossible to avoid the feeling of a manager on borrowed time, especially for the manager himself, exposed and undermined, and you cannot go on like that. There will be hurt pride, regret, but release too.

Former England midfielder needs to avoid the same pitfalls as Ruben Amorim, but he showed a dogmatic streak at Boro

In many ways Michael Carrick is the antithesis of Ruben Amorim but Manchester United’s soon-to-be-appointed interim head coach does have something significant in common with his Portuguese predecessor.

Like Amorim, Carrick has proved remarkably resistant to tactical change. So much so that at Middlesbrough the former United and England midfielder’s determination not to compromise a philosophy constructed around a patient, possession-heavy passing game arguably cost him his job.

We can relate to the struggles their club has experienced in recent years so can only wish them well in the FA Cup

By The Football Mine

“And that is the last kick of the match. One of the greatest FA Cup giantkillings has happened here in the sunshine at the Moss Rose. The holders, Crystal Palace, have been knocked out. What a turnaround of fortunes for Crystal Palace: winners at Wembley in May, losers in Macclesfield in January.” John Murray, speaking on BBC radio, provided the epitaph to Palace’s dismal, desperate defeat by a mid-table team from the National League North.

As everyone now knows, the gap of 117 places in the football pyramid is the largest ever to be overcome by a lower-placed club in 155 years of the oldest competition in the football world. The fact that the last kick was propelled into the sky by the Silkmen’s captain Paul Dawson was apposite. Dawson had set the tone from the outset. Within 10 seconds of kick-off he had put in the first of countless robust challenges, which ended up with him and Palace centre-back Jaydee Canvot requiring treatment after an accidental clash of heads.

Football has to be held to account: we cannot have another generation of qualified black coaches being ignored

Football’s start to 2026 has been seismic, with the festive season soon replaced by sacking season. At times this week it has been hard to keep up. The lifetime of a head coach or a manager seems to be getting shorter, with pressure for positive results apparently never greater.

In among the churn came a landmark moment, with Liam Rosenior taking on the head coach role at Chelsea, making him the first permanent black English manager at a big-six club.

Bournemouth will find it hard to replace a player at the peak of his powers, an attacker polished up perfectly for the elite

Antoine Semenyo’s rise is a reminder the big clubs’ scouting systems are not infallible, that not all players will flower at the same time. Fulham, Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Millwall, Reading and Tottenham rejected the schoolboy Semenyo. At 15, he took a year’s absence from the game.

A decade on, a circuitous route to the top alights at Manchester City, who beat a queue of big hitters to his signature. Bournemouth’s ability to find talent the elite passed over continues to prove profitable. Pep Guardiola’s squad has another player who pairs physical power with a high skill level. It also adds a long-throw specialist to the armoury; City are towards the bottom of the metrics in that voguish category.

Our cartoonist looks back on a glorious day for the non-league side as they knocked out the FA Cup holders

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Part-time team’s victory over Crystal Palace caps phoenix-like revival after club was wound up and sold on Rightmove

When Macclesfield FC players return to their day jobs on Monday, the part-time squad of PE teachers, podcasters and property developers will add one more title: giant-killers.

The Cheshire market town club pulled off the greatest shock in FA Cup history, knocking out the Premier League team Crystal Palace and becoming the first non-league opposition to beat the cupholders since 1909.

League One club offered behind-the-scenes access for FA Cup tie and manager Gary Caldwell will not let crushing loss at Manchester City define them

“The team to win today, lads” begins Gary Caldwell. Exeter City are two hours from kicking off against Manchester City in the FA Cup third round, and their manager is addressing his players at a hotel shortly before they travel to the Etihad.

“You know why I said that?” he continues, his thick Scottish accent filling the room. No one knows. He explains the phrase is borrowed from Roberto Martínez, under whom Caldwell won the competition with Wigan in 2013. It was used to bring humour and break tension when his team were inevitably written off.

Why is the film of Ireland’s 2002 World Cup falling-out not a documentary but a drama that takes liberties with events?

All history is to some extent narrative. You cannot tell a story without in some way editing it, reducing it, compressing it. Which means that anybody telling a story about a historical event, particularly one from the relatively recent past, risks outraging those who have studied it or who remember it. Often those complaints are pedantic, trivial, but sometimes they are not. It’s one thing to elide two minor characters or to tweak the timeline to simplify a story, quite another to imply misleading motivations.

Saipan, Glenn Leyburn’s and Lisa Barros D’Sa’s film about the cataclysmic row between Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy shortly before the 2002 World Cup, came out in Ireland on Boxing Day and will be released in the UK on 23 January. It is obsessed by detail: the tracksuits, the sweatshirts, the kits are all right. It’s startling when the film cuts between reproductions of interviews and press conferences and actual footage to realise just how accurately these scenes have been recreated. Which raises two questions. What is the point? And how can such care have been taken over the look of the film when there are such grotesque inventions and inaccuracies in the plotting and motivation?

England defender publicly confronted racist abuse at the Euros and ended 2025 a title winner with club and country

The Guardian Footballer of the Year is an award given to a player who has done something remarkable, whether by overcoming adversity, helping others or setting a sporting example by acting with exceptional honesty.

Jess Carter has spent her life grappling with when to hold back and when to speak up; wrestling with being naturally herself, embodying the characteristics her parents instilled in her of being open, honest, vocal and confident, and subduing herself because, while society values those traits, in a black woman they can be viewed negatively.

The arrival at Toluca of another France favourite adds to Liga MX Femenil’s claim of being among the world’s top five

“The league for me is top is five or six leagues in the world,” says Eugénie Le Sommer, speaking about Mexico’s Liga MX Femenil, where she’s just started the second half of her first full season in Latin America.

The OL Lyonnes and France great became the latest big name to join the league last summer, following former teammate Amandine Henry to Toluca, coached by another Frenchman in Patrice Lair, but others have gone before the pair of former internationals to a league that has everything going for it.

The Africa Cup of Nations has been a brilliant display for a continent carrying no doubt about quality on the pitch

More than any other continental tournament, there is always a sense with the Africa Cup of Nations that it is a referendum on the continent’s football generally. Perhaps it’s because so many of the players are familiar to those who habitually watch the European leagues or the Champions League, but the question is less about individual quality of players – that is a given – than it is about organisation and structures. Somewhere in the background, perhaps, lurks Pelé’s notorious prediction, made in 1977, that an African team would win the World Cup by the end of the 20th century. Is a World Cup win for Africa any closer than it was half a century ago?

In Morocco at this year’s edition of the tournament, there has been an extra element: the country’s status as World Cup co-hosts with Spain and Portugal in 2030. What are facilities like? Is the infrastructure there? This question is readily answered: in terms of stadiums, pitches and hotels, Morocco is already well on the way to being able to stage the World Cup. All six cities hosting games at this Cup of Nations are candidates for 2030.

‘She has everything to be a world-class striker – fast, two great feet, good with the head and strong,’ says the coach who set the forward’s career rolling

Since they were promoted to the Women’s Super League in 2019, no Manchester United player has managed to score more than 10 league goals in a single season. In Lea Schüller they have signed someone who has surpassed that mark seven seasons in a row in Germany’s Frauen Bundesliga, so it is easy to understand why United are so enamoured with their new striker.

With a formidable 54 goals in 82 internationals, the Germany forward arrives at Carrington with a prolific record and the match-winner profile the club have been craving. At 28 years old she could spend the best years of her career at United, where she has signed a contract until June 2029.

Chelsea need to avoid long-throw blues, plus: a vacant spot for Liverpool and West Ham’s best hope for survival

• Race for the golden boot: Premier League top scorers

Can the 198th derby be any spicier for Manchester United and their latest interim manager, Michael Carrick? This is his second caretaker tenure, though the three games of November-December 2021 (beating Villarreal and Arsenal, drawing with Chelsea) hardly compares with sending out an XI to try to beat Manchester City in Saturday’s early kick-off. Pep Guardiola’s high-performing unit remain in contention on all fronts. Carrick takes charge of a United suffering the aftershocks of a latest manager sacking, hoping to salvage the season via European qualification. The lad from Wallsend has 17 games to do so – his new team are in seventh place on 32 points, so victory over City would be a fine start. But you wonder if the match might end with Carrick and United humbled or, even worse, humiliated. Jamie Jackson

Manchester United v Manchester City, Saturday 12.30pm (all times GMT)

Chelsea v Brentford, Saturday 3pm

Leeds v Fulham, Saturday 3pm

Liverpool v Burnley, Saturday 3pm

Today’s rumours might even get home one day

This year, as with last year, Aston Villa are eyeing the January market to bolster their forward line. For Marcus Rashford in 2025, read Tammy Abraham in 2026. Roma own his registration, though he is now on loan at Besiktas. He was a fan favourite when on loan from Chelsea in Villa’s Championship days, so such a move would be something of a homecoming. Another Villa target is Dani Ceballos, the midfielder once of Arsenal, and a useful Real Madrid squad player for years now.

To compound Crystal Palace’s FA Cup misery, and the unsettling tidings on Oliver Glasner’s future, there’s the rumour that Jean-Philippe Mateta is a target for Juventus.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Philippe Auclair, Dan Bardell and Sid Lowe as Xabi Alonso leaves Real Madrid and the Carabao Cup semi-finals begin

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On the podcast today: Arsenal win at Stamford Bridge in their Carabao Cup semi-final first leg, but it was still a decent showing for Liam Rosenior in his first home game in charge at Chelsea.

Earring-gate prevents Estelle Cascarino from making her West Ham debut while City continue to lead the pack

The sight of coaches issuing a tactical team talk while their goalkeeper receives medical treatment has become increasingly common in the WSL but it became particularly controversial after the goalless draw between Arsenal and Manchester United, especially when the visiting defender Dominique Janssen appeared to admit in an interview with Sky Sports that they had orchestrated it on purpose. Janssen said: “Phallon [Tullis-Joyce] went down for us to discuss tactical changes,” when asked about how United adapted to going down to 10 players. Marc Skinner later said that Tullis-Joyce had felt something and needed treatment, but Renée Slegers said perceived time-wasting was “frustrating for the players”, adding: “There’s so many people investing so much to come and watch us, in the stadium, on TV. I think the product needs to be attractive and I think this is probably one of the areas that brings the entertainment down a little bit.” Tom Garry

Match report: Arsenal 0-0 Manchester United

Match report: Chelsea 5-0 West Ham

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