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Manager determined to depart on a high while Manchester City aim to spoil leaving party on what could be a dramatic final day

Emma Hayes is not having to work hard to keep emotions in check as she prepares for her final game as Chelsea manager – Saturday’s mouthwatering match-up with Manchester United at Old Trafford – because she is used to doing it.

The last drive into work, the last coaching session, the final away trip with the team, watching her family mourn the end of her working relationship with Chelsea as much as she does – there is time to take in the poignancy of these moments properly later.

The German’s nine-year Anfield tenure has contained some unforgettable highs – and a handful of agonising near-misses

Recruiting Jürgen Klopp was a coup for Fenway Sports Group – Liverpool were not what they are now in 2015 – and his willingness to end a planned year-long sabbatical after four months to take the job generated a level of excitement and anticipation among supporters rarely witnessed before. It would not be misplaced. After signing a three-year contract at the city’s Hope Street hotel, and before going for a drink with his family at a bar around the corner, Klopp gave his first interview as Liverpool’s manager. “The message to those Liverpool supporters?” he asks, rhetorically. “We have to change, from doubter to believer. Now.” He had the entire club onside from the word go.

Unusual storylines are growing ever rarer due to the influence of the super-rich and nation states in our national game

Admit it, when Erik ten Hag walked out holding a microphone after Manchester United’s final home game on Wednesday night you also thought he was going to start saying things like “Your job now is to support the new manager”, before marching off to write books containing anecdotes about Richard Branson.

In the event the most notable part of Ten Hag’s speech was how convincing he is when he frowns into a mic and says things. Ten Hag could stab himself in the eye with a kebab skewer and stand there in the centre circle, kebab skewer pyoing-ing up and down, explaining why this is actually a really good thing and a sign of genuine progress and you’d think, yeah, kebab-skewer-eye-guy really is on to something. He just needs time. Maybe with patience and a proper process he can stab himself in the other eye too.

Bournemouth’s manager on Marcelo Bielsa’s lessons, his love for cycling and why Unai Emery should beat him to awards

After an unforgiving start, Andoni Iraola has enjoyed an eye-catching first season in the Premier League, leading Bournemouth to their best points tally in the division, with a top‑half finish a distinct possibility heading into the final day. His work, imposing a breathless, aggressive style on a dynamic team, has earned him a nomination for the manager of the season award, as well as a new contract. As he approaches his first anniversary in charge next month, the closest thing to a grumble – as an avid cyclist – is the dearth of hilly terrain in Dorset. “The longest one is 200m,” he says with a smile, raising and then drooping his right hand. “It stops just as you are getting started.”

Raised in the Basque Country, the cycling heartland of Spain, Iraola has long been fascinated by the endurance and precision at the crux of competing on two wheels. During pre-season in Marbella last summer he was glued to the Tour de France over dinner and it was similar in his playing days, the majority spent at his boyhood club Athletic Bilbao, whom he captained to the Europa League final under Marcelo Bielsa in 2011-12. The pressures have changed since then.

From the rubble to the Ritz? The stirring pre-match reception ­Southampton’s supporters gave their players left a wreckage of flares, smoke bombs, empties and cans but as fans exited a supercharged St Mary’s they departed with a trip to ­Wembley to plan.

Russell Martin’s side were given a heroes’ welcome and now they are one game from returning to the Premier League at the first time of asking, a date with Leeds to prepare for a week on Sunday. Will Smallbone settled any lingering nerves, opening the scoring early in the second half, before Adam Armstrong struck twice late on, firing in with a precise strike before sealing victory from the penalty spot.

Arsenal manager vows to try again should the Gunners fail in their quest for a first Premier League crown in 20 years

Mikel Arteta pondered the question for a split second, then responded. Had he been in touch with Pep Guardiola this week to discuss Sunday’s denouement of the Premier League title race? “No, no,” came the emphatic answer.

The Arsenal manager remains on good terms with his Manchester City counterpart, who gave him his first opportunity in coaching back in 2016 when Arteta turned down offers to earn his stripes in Arsenal’s academy under Arsène Wenger or link up with his old friend Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham. But, make no mistake, when the two Spaniards finally catch up on the phone after the season – as has become tradition since Arteta’s return to manage Arsenal in 2019 – Arteta would prefer not to have finished in second place again. “We talked on the phone, very normal, but it is not analysis,” he said of their most recent conversation last year. “We talk about other stuff.”

• Kerr’s court case on charges of racial harassment delayed until 2025
• Matildas striker facing charges after alleged abuse of police officer

Sam Kerr’s fight to clear her name has hit a serious hurdle after her court case on charges of racially aggravated harassment was delayed until February 2025.

The Matildas and Chelsea striker was set to appear at London’s Kingston Crown Court on Monday in a bid to have the criminal charges thrown out. However the presiding judge has cancelled her preliminary hearing, ruling it is “no longer needed”.

• Chelsea manager was in ‘lonely place’ after loss at home
• Europa League ‘is not enough for the club, owners or players’

Mauricio Pochettino has admitted he could have been sacked after Chelsea’s humiliating 4-2 defeat at home to Wolves in February.

The manager, whose future remains uncertain before a pivotal end-of-season review next week, said he was in a lonely place after a game that left his team well off the pace in the hunt for European football.

• Conduct ‘incompatible with values of Juventus’, say club
• Manager was sent off late in 1-0 victory over Atalanta

Juventus have confirmed that Massimiliano Allegri has been dismissed as head coach. The 56-year-old was appointed in 2021 for his second spell in charge of the club having previously guided them to five Serie A titles.

However, Juve confirmed on Friday that Allegri had been dismissed after three years at the helm due to “certain behaviours” at the Coppa Italia final that were deemed “incompatible with the values of Juventus”.

• Spurs manager admits he misread the atmosphere in City match
• ‘If we’re in that situation again we would approach it differently’

Ange Postecoglou has described Tottenham’s defeat by Manchester City on Tuesday as “probably the worst experience I’ve had as a football manager” as he sought to smooth the waters following a stormy aftermath to the match.

That City’s 2-0 win, which prevented Arsenal from going top, was pleasing to an audible section of Spurs fans had enraged Postecoglou. His post-match comments, pinpointing “fragile foundations” and problems “inside, outside and everywhere”, had drawn comparisons to the complaints of predecessors as Tottenham manager.

Leaders Manchester City host West Ham while title contenders Arsenal face Everton at the Emirates Stadium

Sunday 4pm TNT Sports 1 Venue Emirates Stadium

Leadership of the Premier League has never changed hands on the final day, but there have been plenty of nail-biting finishes

Kenny Dalglish’s Blackburn had led since November but went into the final weekend on a jittery run of form as they attempted to be crowned champions for the first time since 1914, whereas Manchester United had picked up 17 points from their previous seven games before heading to Upton Park. Michael Hughes gave West Ham the lead in the first half as Alan Shearer scored his 34th goal of the season at Anfield but when Brian McClair and then John Barnes equalised, suddenly United had hope. Jamie Redknapp fulfilled Liverpool’s end of the bargain by scoring from a late free-kick that was greeted with silence from the home crowd. Yet an inspired Ludek Miklosko performance in goal denied United and meant Dalglish could celebrate.

As the Women’s Super League’s most decorated coach leaves west London to manage the USWNT, we take a look back at Emma Hayes’s trophy-laden 12 years in charge of Chelsea

The forward on growing up fast in Bristol, her surprised delight at World Cup call and the lure of new challenges

The Brighton forward Katie Robinson has had a big 12 months, but it has not always been straightforward. There was the high of making Sarina Wiegman’s England squad for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, but there have also been lows, as Brighton have dealt with managerial upheaval.

Despite this tumult, the 21‑year‑old has caught the eye of several clubs and with one game remaining in the Women’s Super League season, against Arsenal, a big summer lies ahead.

Arsenal have been impressive challengers but a unique fourth English title in a row is there for the taking at the Etihad

The Manchester City fanbase like it to be known that they’re “not really here”. But as the club stand on the verge of history, it is a line from Pep Guardiola which offers the clarity, the explanation; a sense of wonder, too.

“We are there,” City’s manager has said repeatedly over the course of this season and those that have gone before. His team are pushing yet again to secure the Premier League title and he has often posited that the very act of being there and competing, the sheer consistency, is the real measure of them, the thing that must be celebrated.

• Klopp says ‘these people are not able to use it properly’
• Liverpool manager may not give Sunday’s pre-game team talk

Jürgen Klopp has said he would scrap video assistant referees for the simple reason that Professional Game Match Officials Ltd is “not able to use it properly”.

The Liverpool manager gave a damning assessment of the referees’ body at his final pre-match press conference, when asked whether he would vote to keep or scrap VAR at next month’s Premier League annual general meeting. Liverpool are understood to be in favour of retaining VAR but their outgoing manager has a differing view owing to how it has been implemented in the Premier League.

Supporters understand their club is on an upward trajectory on and off the field and are determined to enjoy the ride

Manchester City under Pep Guardiola can carry an air of inevitability at this time of year. For Son Heung-min’s rare one-on-one miss this week, see Vincent Kompany’s collector’s item goal against Leicester in 2019. So as Arsenal prepare for Sunday, knowing only a slip by the serial winners could open the door to a title win, how do their fans assess the season?

Pride would best capture the prevailing mood. Faisal Khan, who hosts the YouTube channel Latte Firm, says Arsenal “are on a steep upward trajectory” and is refusing to give up hope that his team will win at home to Everton and City will fail to match that against West Ham at the Etihad Stadium.

• ‘I will become the trainer there,’ says Feyenoord coach
• Liverpool expected to announce appointment next week

Feyenoord’s coach, Arne Slot, has confirmed for the first time that he will succeed Jürgen Klopp as Liverpool’s manager.

An agreement for Slot to replace Klopp has been in place for three weeks but there has been no official announcement while Liverpool prepare to give their legendary manager a fitting send-off at Anfield on Sunday. However, at a press conference on Friday for Sunday’s match against Excelsior, Slot said: “I can confirm that I will become the trainer there next year.

• Deliberate headers to become punishable with a free-kick
• Decision comes after two-year Ifab trial to ‘reduce potential risk’

Deliberate heading is to be banned in matches at under-11 level and below in England, the Football Association has confirmed, as it continues a process of “reviewing and improving the safety of our game”.

Heading will be phased out from games involving children of primary school age over the next three years, a move that follows a two-year trial period. Deliberate headers will become an offence punishable with a free-kick and there will also be an end to throw-ins, with the traditional restart replaced by “pass-in/dribble-ins”.

• Manchester City manager expects battle against West Ham
• Kevin De Bruyne facing a late fitness test for final day

Pep Guardiola will remind his Manchester City players how good they are and inform them what is required to defeat West Ham on Sunday and ensure a historic fourth consecutive title.

City start the final day two points ahead of Arsenal, who are at home to Everton. Guardiola said he planned to inspire his players during their preparation on Friday. “There is something that belongs to us – I’m going to show them how good they are and what they have to do,” the manager said. “As simple as that.”

The title race reaches the finish line, it’s the end of an era at Liverpool and Spurs face two trips in quick succession

Only the most grim-faced of churls would refuse to recognise the progress Mikel Arteta’s outstanding Arsenal side have made this season. The very fact a title win is on the table this weekend says more than enough and now they must make sure that, just in case West Ham cause an almighty stir at the Etihad, they do not taint it with unnecessary regrets. When Everton pitched up in London on the final day two years ago the home side cruised to a 5-1 win; nostalgia buffs among the support might prefer the 4-3 rip-roarer in 2002 that rubber-stamped the double winners’ season and ended with a Premier League trophy presentation. Even if the latter scenario is an outside bet this time, Arteta will expect his players to block out any noise – including dispatches from Manchester – and put an opponent to the sword one last time, making sure they at least do their bit. An opportunity to make dreams come true may yet present itself. Nick Ames

Arsenal v Everton (all games Sunday 4pm BST)

Brentford v Newcastle

Brighton v Manchester United

Burnley v Nottingham Forest

Before his final game, the manager reflects on an Anfield career that delivered seven major trophies and made him a club legend

First, how do you reflect on the past eight and a half years? It is so rare in this industry that you can create this kind of relationship to a club and to a city because, in the beginning, what did we know? It is not that we can lie. In the 15 years before I arrived I watched loads of football, but did I watch a lot of Liverpool? No. So coming here and living the life I did, dedicating everything to it, which is what I had to do for the people, is really special. The way people in England see it, you either love Liverpool or hate Liverpool. Obviously it was very easy for me to fall in love with the club and the people. It is a super-special story. Could it have been more successful? Yes. With me? I don’t know. We did absolutely everything. I am very self-critical but I do not reflect on this in a critical way. We had really good times with super football moments, real development, tough moments, overcoming all of them. OK, maybe not always in time, but I look back with a smile.

You made several predictions at your first press conference – telling fans to turn from doubters to believers and saying you’d have to work in Switzerland if you didn’t win a trophy in four years … That went down well in Switzerland! My skiing holiday will not be there. I’m sure people think I planned to say those things. I just wanted to survive the press conference. My English was not that great.

The Football League chief, Trevor Birch, on the record numbers below the Premier League, even if financial losses are a concern

It’s the time of year for celebrations. Up and down England and Wales, from Fratton Park to the Racecourse Ground (AKA STōK Cae Ras), Pride Park to Portman Road, mass jubilation has burst from the terraces as the structure of the football pyramid shifts once more. It’s a unique celebration and Trevor Birch, the former striker, accountant and administrator who is now the chief executive of the English Football League, has witnessed more than most.

“I think I’m qualified to comment, given I’m probably averaging about 75 to 80 games a season,” says Birch, whose life in football has led him to be present at many of the moments that have shaped the modern game. “Derby, I was there for that. There were 30-odd thousand people there which was extraordinary, and over 20 thousand at Portsmouth. Both of those clubs have been in administration so it was great to see these clubs vibrant again, with brilliant supporters. It’s a rejuvenation that the pyramid makes possible.”

As the Premier League’s final day looms with Manchester City top we look at the key results and controversy that may cost Gunners

Arsenal played three games between 23 and 31 December and did not win any. At the time a 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield seemed a decent result: Mo Salah cancelled out Gabriel Magalhães’s early goal, but the Gunners weathered the storm in an intense game and the result meant they were top for Christmas. Five days later Arsenal enjoyed 74% of possession against West Ham at the Emirates and had 30 shots to the visitors’ five, including Bukayo Saka’s strike against a post – but the Hammers won 2-0. Some suggested the ball went out of play before Tomas Soucek opened the scoring but there was no conclusive VAR evidence. Konstantinos Mavropanos’s goal meant Hammers had scored from two of only three shots on target. Three days later Arsenal were defeated 2-1 by a Fulham side who had lost their previous three league games by an aggregate score of 8-0. Saka gave Arsenal the lead but Raúl Jiménez and Bobby De Cordova-Reid got the goals that prompted Arteta to call it “the worst performance we’ve had this season, that’s for sure”. Eight points dropped in a week.

From fixing kit issues to dealing with visa problems, the former Brisbane Roar boss faces myriad challenges in trying to realise a World Cup dream

It sounds like the script of a Hollywood movie – a Western coach is parachuted into a small country in the Pacific, given a terrible football team and charged with the impossible goal of getting them to the World Cup. Hijinks ensue, as the coach attempts to improve the ragtag bunch of players.

It sounds like a film because it is; Next Goal Wins stars Michael Fassbender and was directed by Taika Waititi. The 2023 movie was based on the real-life exploits of Dutchman Thomas Rongen, who coached American Samoa.

Not watching the television when rivals were in action helped in focusing on promotion for a club – and town – that is reborn

Three weeks from the end of a Championship promotion race whose pace and tension were almost unparalleled, Ipswich held meetings across all their departments. They were close to an achievement that, to most outsiders, seemed unthinkable and it was time to brainstorm for the smallest possible gains that could push them over the line. One of the ideas implemented was simple but effective: turn off televisions around the club whenever Leicester, Leeds and Southampton, the parachute-funded clubs battling to supplant Kieran McKenna’s team, were playing. Nobody needed to waste emotional energy on rivals’ fortunes when Ipswich had control of their own destiny.

Ipswich did not blink. Their staff resisted temptation to obsess over what they could not control and, having confirmed second place, they will spend the summer preparing for a first Premier League season in 22 years. There will be plenty of goodwill towards a club where the air still feels a little bit different; an institution whose historical achievements still linger in the consciousness, and whose manager has become one of Europe’s rising stars. They now face their biggest challenge of all: ensuring a smooth-sailing ship does not run aground on rocks that are crueller and more jagged than in their last top-flight spell.

Jürgen Klopp paid tribute to the city of Liverpool and said he 'couldn't have done more' as he reflected on his time at the club in his final Liverpool pre-match press conference. Klopp leaves Anfield after eight and a half years having won seven major trophies, including one Premier League title and the club's sixth Champions League. 'I know we could have won more but I cannot change that. We could have won less, that's possible as well,' he said. 'Nothing is perfect nowadays, but the majority of people in [Liverpool] are as close as possible.'

• ‘We get punched hard, get up and go again’: Jürgen Klopp on love, leadership and Liverpool

Jürgen Klopp has given the media plenty to work with during his nine years at Liverpool, including poking fun at them during press conferences. From complimenting a translator's "erotic voice" to being unaware of his own player's child being born, here are a few of his most memorable moments.

• For good and bad, Jürgen Klopp gave Liverpool fans the time of their lives

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou raged over the 'fragile foundations' he said had been revealed at the club over the last 48 hours. Large sections of the fans cheered their 2-0 defeat to Manchester City which dented the title hopes of arch-rivals Arsenal. Postecoglous admitted that 'the last 48 hours revealed a fair bit, and that's all right. That's just means I’ve got to go back to the drawing board with some things'.

• ‘He saves us – otherwise Arsenal are champions’: Guardiola hails Ortega

• Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs project is a magnificent act of misdirection

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland scored twice in the second half against Tottenham to send the three-time defending champions two points clear of second-place Arsenal with one game left to play. Reserve goalkeeper Stefan Ortega was the unexpected hero, coming on to replace Ederson before making two big saves. In Sunday's final round of matches, Guardiola's side host West Ham, while Arsenal entertain Everton. City's win also meant Aston Villa secured fourth place and qualification for the Champions League ahead of Tottenham in fifth

• Manchester City edge towards Premier League title after Haaland sinks Spurs

Old Trafford flooded with water at the end of Manchester United's game with Arsenal on Sunday, leaking through the roof and cascading through the stands. Footage also shows the roof in Arsenal's dressing room leaking water on to the players. The Glazers, Manchester United's long-time owners, have often been criticised by fans for their apparent reluctance to invest in updating and adequately maintaining the increasingly ageing stadium.

After losing to Chelsea in last year's FA Cup final, Manchester United Women stormed to a 4-0 win against Tottenham this time around to claim their first major trophy. The team celebrated on and off the pitch with the usual singing and champagne spraying.

• Victory outlast Phoenix in extra-time after late exchange of goals
• Melbourne to face Sydney FC or Central Coast in grand final

Melbourne Victory are into the A-League Men grand final after a semi-final win for the ages, with Chris Ikonomidis’ extra-time goal defying Wellington Phoenix.

Victory emerged triumphant from a titanic struggle at Sky Stadium on Saturday, where a best-ever Phoenix crowd of 33,297 willed the league minnows into a first grand final.

• Brazil gets 119 votes to 78 for Belgium-Netherlands-Germany
• Infantino says legal threats over Club World Cup are ‘futile’

Brazil was declared the host of the 2027 Women’s World Cup at the Fifa congress, beating the joint bid of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany to become the first South American country to hold the tournament. Brazil’s bid received to host the 10th edition of the competition the backing of 119 member associations, compared with 78 votes for the European bid.

“We knew we would be celebrating a victory for South American women’s soccer and for women,” said the president of the Brazilian Football Confederation, Ednaldo Rodrigues. “You can be sure, with no vanity, we will accomplish the best World Cup for women.”

The managerial merry-go-round has started to spin, there are concerns in Atlanta and the rich keep getting richer in Miami

Welcome back to the Guardian’s MLS Power Rankings, where I have a beef with your specific team and your specific team alone.

Now, as a reminder, these aren’t your standard, run-of-the-mill power rankings. We’re still ranking teams from worst to first. But along with the rankings, we’re diving deep into a handful of teams from around the league who are doing particularly interesting things.

Fans started their preparations four days before games and would release pigeons to celebrate goals, this book extract reveals

Football in Albania is a national obsession. Yet between the late 1960s and Stalinism’s slow, lingering death in 1991, it became more than mere fixation. In a country where the 1967 rewriting of the constitution denied people their freedom of faith, football became the new religion, with pilgrims from Gjirokastër to Shkodër, Lezhë to Sarandë, filling stadiums every Sunday afternoon in worship of their new, auxiliary gods.

In those moments of ordered chaos, Albanians appeared free from the trials and injustices of their moribund, regime-subscribed lives, transported – via the vehicles of football and shared human experience – to a higher plain; a vista of harmony and liberty.

• Bruce Mwape accused of touching female worker’s breast
• Incident said to have happened at last year’s World Cup

Zambia’s coach, Bruce Mwape, has been accused of intentionally touching a Fifa contractor on the breast during last year’s Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. A few days before that, similar claims were made against him by a player, the Guardian can reveal.

Fifa is investigating allegations made in August that Mwape – who remains in charge of Zambia and is expected to lead them at this summer’s Olympic Games – rubbed his hands over the chest of a player after a training session before their historic victory over Costa Rica at the end of July in Hamilton. It has been revealed that before the tournament Mwape – who has previously denied the accusations – was the subject of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by a number of players in the squad that had been referred to world football’s governing body by the Zambian Football Association (FAZ).

• Miami lead MLS in payroll with $41.7 on salaries
• Argentinian also has estimated endorsements of $70m

Lionel Messi’s annualized pay from his MLS contract with Inter Miami is just over $20.4m in his first full season, exceeding the payrolls of all but four teams in the league.

Messi joined Inter Miami last summer and has a base salary of $10.4m and annualized compensation of $20,446,667, the MLS Players Association said on Thursday in its first salary release of 2024.

Efforts to cut down on time-wasting are laudable. But there are flaws in the new scheme that need to be tweaked before a worldwide rollout

Lionel Messi was not happy. It was a little over 40 minutes into Inter Miami’s trip to Quebec to take on CF Montréal this past Saturday and the star-studded Eastern Conference leaders were 2-0 down. But it was not that Miami were losing that had vexed Messi. He just wanted to be on the pitch.

Miami had won a free kick 30-yards from goal, slightly right of centre – prime Messi territory. Yet he was not allowed to take it. He’d received treatment on the pitch a minute earlier after being fouled by Montréal defender George Campbell. Due to a new set of rules adopted this season to crack down on time-wasting, Messi had to wait on the sideline for two minutes before being allowed to re-enter the game.

• Atalanta 0-1 Juventus
• Serbian’s early goal sets up Turin club to lift trophy for 15th time

Juventus beat Atalanta 1-0 to win a record-extending 15th Coppa Italia as an early strike by Dusan Vlahovic earned Massimiliano Allegri’s side their first trophy in three years.

Juve, who hold both the record for most Italian Cup finals played (22) and won (15), had not lifted any silverware since they won the competition in 2020-21, when they also beat Atalanta in the final. Allegri became the first coach to win the Coppa Italia five times, after Sven-Göran Eriksson and Roberto Mancini lifted the trophy on four occasions.

• NSW, Queensland and Western Australia to host all matches
• 2023 Women’s World Cup co-hosts placed only a bid for tournament

The Matildas will get another chance to thrill local football fans on home soil with Australia named as the host nation for the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup. The decision was confirmed at a meeting of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) executive committee in Bangkok on Wednesday, after Australia was the only member nation to submit a bid to host the tournament.

The 2023 Women’s World Cup, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, was a huge success with the Matildas making it all the way to the semi-finals before losing the third-place playoff to Sweden. The AFC’s women’s football committee made a strong recommendation for the 12-nation Asian Cup to also be held down under for the second time, and the executive committee agreed.

Erling Haaland has been voted the best player in the world for 2023 by our 218-strong panel, with Jude Bellingham finishing second

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Aitana Bonmatí, Sam Kerr and Salma Paralluelo top the list of female footballers in the world in 2023 according to our judges

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The Norwegian is only 23 but his devastating goal record has seen him voted as the No 1 player in the world by the Guardian’s expert panel

When Pep Guardiola tearfully claimed Manchester City could not replace the departing Sergio Agüero in May 2021, he didn’t just create a meme. Guardiola was soft-launching a global audition for his team’s new attacking talisman. An unsuccessful pursuit of Harry Kane in the summer of 2021 came between two title-winning seasons where Ilkay Gündogan (13) and Kevin De Bruyne (15) were the club’s top league goalscorers. Guardiola’s slick creative machine needed a new front man, and they found him in Erling Haaland.

Like Agüero before him – and in contrast to many of City’s most successful Pep-era signings – Haaland arrived as a bona fide superstar, a plug-and-play addition to an already stellar lineup. Whether he was a bargain is another question. The release clause paid was €60m (£51.2m), but some reports suggest Haaland’s five-year deal could cost the club in the region of £300m. And while there was an ominous logic to the move for City’s rivals, questions remained.

Aitana Bonmatí the clear winner of the Guardian’s best 100 female footballers in the world with 15 Spaniards on the list

• The 100 best female footballers in the world 2023

After Alexia Putellas reigned in 2021 and 2022, her Barcelona and Spain teammate Aitana Bonmatí has been crowned the top female footballer of 2023 by the Guardian’s panel of 112 experts. The World Cup winner triumphed by a clear margin, finishing more than 500 points ahead of second-placed Sam Kerr.

Injuries and a World Cup meant there was a definite changing of the guard feel to this year’s list, sadly emphasised by the fact last year’s top two – Putellas and Beth Mead – missed a large chunk of our 12-month voting period with ACL injuries.

Former La Liga winners have been languishing in Spain’s third tier but, led by their devoted captain, hope is returning

There was a moment late in Deportivo de La Coruña’s win over Barcelona on Sunday in which they got a corner and Lucas Pérez went to take it, gazing up at Riazor en route. When he got there, bouncing the ball before laying it down by the flag, he held out his arm for the linesman to inspect and leant in to whisper something. The linesman leant back, looked at the evidence presented and nodded. Then he smiled. It was true what Depor’s captain said: the hairs on his arm really were standing on end.

You and everyone else, Lucas.

German’s tenure has been littered with big lows but supporters will always cherish the big highs and a unique connection

It was a lovely spring afternoon in Liverpool. The sun was out, the temperature was high and, around Anfield, so were spirits. There were smiles and laughter among the thousands in the nearby streets, cafes and pubs that they carried into the stadium, where soon there were also chants and songs from the masses, rising to a pitch during an enthralling encounter with Tottenham the hosts ultimately won. All in all a great day and, being among it, the very real sense that this, then, is what the fifth stage of grief looks like.

Because acceptance is very much the mood among most Liverpool supporters when it comes to Jürgen Klopp’s impending departure. All were shocked when, in January, he announced he was going at the end of the season and each, in their own way, has gone through the various phases of losing a loved one in the following four months. It has been tough but it’s safe to say that collective emotions have centred on recognising that Klopp wasn’t kidding when he said he was running out of energy. The big German with the big grin is, quite clearly, not the man he once was.

Angst suffered by Spurs supporters about doing Arsenal a favour was a rarity. It’s already time to move on

Son Heung-min is running through in the 87th minute at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. A draw does virtually nothing for Spurs, but it hands Arsenal a great advantage in the title race. Did I, a Spurs supporter, want him to score? The honest answer is – with apologies to Ange Postecoglou – that I’m not totally sure.

Most of my natural instincts were willing him to slot it into the gaping chasm to Stefan Ortega’s left. But it wasn’t categoric, and after the Manchester City substitute keeper blocked Son’s effort, I didn’t have that empty sensation normally reserved for missed one-on-ones.

What makes the situation most striking is Arsenal’s apparent willingness to allow the Dutch star’s contract to run out

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“Miedema … still Miedema … magnificent Miedema.” A line of commentary that could be used to sum up most of Vivianne Miedema’s 125 goals in an Arsenal shirt. In her seven-year career in north London in which she appeared 172 times, the Dutch international has broken records left, right and centre, unstoppable on the pitch and a quiet, determined force off it.

In this instance, the commentator was describing a strike against Everton in 2022. Having turned Karen Holmgaard inside out, she instinctively unleashed her wand of a right foot to send the ball nestling into the back of the net. It was not the first time, nor the last, a defender would be undone in this fashion.

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Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nedum Onuoha and John Brewin as Manchester United and Chelsea get important wins in their hunt for European football next season

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: the race for fifth/sixth and Europa League football next season is still alive – Chelsea could still catch Spurs and only Manchester United winning the FA Cup would earn Newcastle a spot.

Plus: serial runners-up, long gaps between winning the same competition, terrible penalty shootouts and more

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“Granit Xhaka is unbeaten in his first 47 games for Bayer Leverkusen,” notes Scott Campbell. “Have any players attained a longer unbeaten streak upon joining a new club?”

At first Bayer Leverkusen’s success was one of the stories of the season. It’s fast becoming one of the stories of the century: they are 50 not out, three games away from completing an unbeaten season in all competitions. Granit Xhaka, their summer signing from Arsenal, has played in 47 of those 50 matches. The last time he lost at club level was last May, when Nottingham Forest officially ended Arsenal’s title challenge.

I have been forced to adjust to a reality where I can no longer be an elite athlete but I have tried to find something positive in it

• Moving the Goalposts: sign up for our free newsletter

Everyone goes through change in life. It is just about how you respond. They can be big changes; they can be small, but it is about how you handle it yourself.

Over the last few months, I have been through the biggest change of all. Since being diagnosed with a heart condition – arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy or ARVC, a disease that causes irregular heartbeats – last year at just 27, I have had to learn to navigate a world where I can no longer be a professional footballer. I have been forced to adjust to a reality where I can no longer be an elite athlete and where I can’t play a sport I have been a part of since I was three. I have had to accept the reality of my condition and everything that comes with it.

Our pick of the best rants, musings and carefully worded statements from the Premier League and beyond this term

Our cartoonist on the Premier League doing strange things to mascots (and people) as it nears its finale

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Manchester United’s Aoife Mannion joins Faye Carruthers and Suzanne Wrack to discuss her team’s 4-0 FA Cup final win over Spurs and more

A big weekend of football calls for a star guest. This week, Faye Carruthers and Suzanne Wrack are joined by Manchester United’s Aoife Mannion to discuss her team’s 4-0 Wembley win over Tottenham. Then Chris Pauros joins Faye and Suzy to preview the final weekend in the WSL and the league’s record scorer, Vivianne Miedema, saying goodbye to Arsenal. They also look at the England squad announced by Sarina Weigman.

To sign up for our bi-weekly women’s football newsletter – all you need to do is search ‘Moving the Goalposts sign up’ or follow that link. Here’s an extract from the latest edition.

With facilities destroyed and lives cut short, the conflict has brought destruction to a previously thriving sporting scene

Mohammed Abu-Hujair was booked on a flight to Spain last October. A scout from Real Madrid had visited Gaza in August and invited Mohammed, a 17-year-old who plays on the left wing, to join a football academy with the hope that, if he did well, he would stay in Spain. Mohammed also had the promise of a contract with Gaza Sport Club, making him one of the youngest players to sign with the team.

Then came the 7 October attacks on Israel, and the war in Gaza. Mohammed didn’t make that flight. “My life has turned upside down in a blink of an eye,” he says.

Manager, who is leaving Chelsea after 12 years, remains a fearless advocate of the women’s game but never lost her human touch

It was a rainy Saturday evening a few weeks ago and Chelsea were playing Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final. I made the journey from east to west London and emerged out of Fulham Broadway station to join my friends outside the Kona Kai cocktail bar opposite a busy Stamford Bridge.

Once we had squeezed past some punters and climbed up to assume our position in the Matthew Harding Stand, it hit me: I was sitting in a sold-out stadium. All around me fans were chanting and waving blue flags in support of Emma Hayes and the Chelsea team she had built brick by brick. If ever there was a moment when I fully appreciated her impact, it was then.

There is no shame in losing to the champions and Tottenham manager has made the same failure taste much better

The open-top bus parade begins at Monday lunchtime. Thousands of fans are expected to line the streets to pay tribute to Ange Postecoglou and his team as they wind their way down the High Road, before a civic reception at Tottenham town hall. There, captain Son Heung-min will end 16 long years of silverware famine by hoisting aloft the Denying Arsenal The League Trophy, and frankly few men have done more to earn it.

Of course Spurs have never made things easy for themselves and there were plenty of heart-stopping moments during that crucial defeat by Manchester City on Tuesday when it looked like they might salvage a draw, or even a disastrous win. To come through in the end was a genuine team effort, key players standing down when it mattered most: that reliably unreliable defence, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg failing to plug the gaps in midfield, Son gloriously fluffing that one-on-one chance in the closing stages.

League of Ireland club welcome women’s national team over for their first match in Europe which carries great significance

“We have a reason to tell the people that we are human beings,” says Mira Natour, a defender for the Palestine women’s national team, as she reflects on their friendly against Bohemians in Dublin on Wednesday night. “We have rights the same as you, to play, we have the right to express our feelings, we have the right to be recognised by the world. With this event, we’re telling them we exist.”

It will be the first time the Palestine team have played in Europe and their League of Ireland hosts have sold out, with a 4,500 crowd expected at Dalymount Park. Bohemians are fan-owned and their membership’s strong allegiance with the Palestinian cause mirrors a sentiment shared by many in Irish football and the country as a whole.

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

We pick the best youngsters at each club born between 1 September 2006 and 31 August 2007, an age band known as first-year scholars. Check the progress of our classes of 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 … and look at the editions from further back

• Next Generation 2023: 60 of the best talents around the world

Five years ago we picked 80 of the most talented players in the world to follow their progress in a cut-throat business

It is the time of year when we check in on the Next Generation players we picked in 2018 to follow for five years, to assess their progress amid success, setbacks, injuries, trophies won and transfers made.

Next Generation started in 2014 with the aim of showing the difficulties that even the best prospects in the Premier League (we pick one from each club at first-year scholar age) and the rest of the world (we choose 60 born in a specific calendar year) face on their way towards the top.

A defensively minded midfielder who is incredibly strong (he used to be a wrestler) but with an excellent touch to go with his physicality. Made his debut in the Swedish top flight as a 16-year-old last year and captained Sweden as they reached the quarter-finals of the Euro Under-17 tournament in England this summer. Has taken an unusual path to the top. He left the top-flight side IFK Göteborg for sixth division Angered MBIK as a 14-year-old as he felt that he was not getting the right support for his football education. Another Gothenburg club, Häcken, snapped him up in 2017 and he made his senior debut that season. Has signed a new contract with the club from Hisingen until 2021 despite interest from Real Madrid and Benfica and trials at both Manchester clubs.