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Fans review the season with one game to play: the stars, the flops and the moments that made them smile

• Part two: Liverpool to Wolves

It’s been a privilege. Yes, it looks destined to end in glorious failure, but we’ll keep faith until the fat lady sings. No matter the outcome, there’s so much pride in the unity of spirit that has sustained our campaign to the final day and given us the sort of exhilarating entertainment we last witnessed a couple of decades back. Some might not agree with all of Mikel’s decisions along the way, but there’s certainly no disputing his achievements. 9.5/10.

The best players, most thrilling games and finest signings – plus the biggest flops and greatest gripes of the eventful season

It has to be Khadija Shaw. Bunny’s output speaks for itself with 21 goals in 18 games, including a run of three hat-tricks in four games at the turn of the year. For a moment it seemed as though Lauren James would match Shaw’s goal tally but the Manchester City striker’s commanding presence has set her apart from anyone else in the WSL this season. Xaymaca Awoyungbo

Champions have become less guardiolista to allow Haaland to flourish and it is telling the best player of late has been Gvardiol

Familiarity inevitably breeds, if not contempt, then at least discernment. When Leicester won the Premier League what mattered was not how they had done it but merely that it had been done.

You could talk about the performances of N’Golo Kanté, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez, pontificate about how Claudio Ranieri had developed Nigel Pearson’s side or dwell on the significance of the discovery of Richard III’s body under a car park, but fundamentally all that mattered was that they had defied the laws of football finance and logic and that they had done it. But as Manchester City edge towards a sixth title in seven years, the manner of the win feels important.

A narrow margin of failure to claim the Premier League will frustrate, Mikel Arteta has moulded a steely team of winners

It was a one-word answer to a question and, at its heart, cut through every variable or imponderable Sunday’s title deciders may throw up. Mikel Arteta was asked whether he believed in miracles: “Yes,” came the response, a smile creeping across his face and laughter quickly cascading around the room.

There is little danger of Arsenal leaving anything to chance against Everton, but no amount of rationalising can alter the fact they are relying on an outcome 160 miles north-west that would thoroughly confound the odds.

No manager has combined heart and soul with details and hard maths like the German, no wonder he has run out of energy

“I am, how can I say it, running out of energy.” It is, in its own way, the saddest of managerial farewells. Not to mention the most decisive. This is Jürgen Klopp’s thing. He’s an energy source. He’s joules, watts, volts, catalytic reactions. His energy is his energy, both in the tactical pattern of his teams and as a sustained feat of personality.

Throughout the Klopp elegies of the past few weeks, the deep-dives and unpeelings, the endless daily Klopp-trap, it is striking how little that decision has been questioned. The idea of an energy-free-Klopp is just so final, like José Mourinho telling you he’s run out of toxic bile, or Pep Guardiola confessing that, actually, he’s starting to find detailed positional strategy a little samey and humdrum these days. Jürgen is tired. And when that happens, it really is time to go.

• Owners undecided on whether to keep Pochettino
• Brighton want McKenna as replacement for De Zerbi

Chelsea have identified Ipswich’s Kieran McKenna as one of the leading  candidates to take over from Mauricio Pochettino, whose future is up in the air before his end-of-season review with the club’s hierarchy.

While some key figures at Stamford Bridge are in favour of Pochettino staying, the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital ownership is yet to reach a consensus on whether a change is required.

• Exhausted Chelsea manager signs off with fifth successive title
• ‘I felt we deserved title,’ says Manchester City’s Gareth Taylor

Emma Hayes said she doesn’t “have another drop to give” after bowing out as Chelsea manager with a fifth Women’s Super League title in a row, while Manchester City’s Gareth Taylor felt his team would have deserved to be champions.

Hayes spoke passionately and emotionally after her side won the league on goal difference with a 6-0 win at Manchester United, her final game before she leaves to take over the US women’s national team in time for the Olympics. “I’d say it’s taken its toll, rather than changed me,” she said of her 12 years at the club. “I categorically cannot carry on. So, I am absolutely leaving at the right time. I don’t have another drop to give it.”

• Club owner Tony Bloom says move ‘suits both parties’
• De Zerbi linked with Bayern and Manchester United

Roberto De Zerbi is to leave Brighton after Sunday’s final match of the season against Manchester United.

The 44-year-old Italian, who has been linked with a number of high-profile jobs including United and Bayern Munich, joined Albion in September 2022 after Graham Potter left for Chelsea and enjoyed immediate success, taking the club to their highest-ever finish of sixth.

• United, in eighth place, could miss European qualification
• ‘We have more high-quality players in the squad now’

Erik ten Hag believes Manchester United are in a better position than a year ago despite missing out on Champions League qualification and potentially failing to secure any European football next season.

United head into their final day trip to Brighton sitting in eighth and need to better Newcastle’s result at Brentford to finish seventh and guarantee a place in the Europa Conference League, while defeating Manchester City in the FA Cup final next week would earn a spot in the Europa League. It is a long way from coming third in Ten Hag’s first season at Old Trafford.

• Russo scores twice as Gunners thrash Brighton
• Liverpool seal fourth with Kiernan hat-trick

Vivianne Miedema scored in her final appearance for Arsenal as the third-placed Gunners claimed a comprehensive 5-0 home victory over Brighton.

The Women’s Super League’s all-time record goalscorer, with 80, who will leave the club when her contract expires this summer, came off the bench after Alessia Russo’s first‑half double had put the hosts in charge, with Frida Maanum and a Jorelyn Carabalí own goal completing the scoring. An emotional Miedema, whose 22 goals helped Arsenal win the WSL title in 2018‑19, was given a guard of honour at Meadow Park after the match.

• Leverkusen beat Augsburg 2-1 on final day
• Atalanta secure Champions League spot by beating Lecce

Bayer Leverkusen edged past Augsburg 2-1 to become the first team in the history of the Bundesliga to complete a full season without a loss.

Xabi Alonso’s treble-chasing side also stretched their European record unbeaten run across all competitions this season to 51 matches in a perfect dress rehearsal for Wednesday’s Europa League final against Atalanta.

Fans review the season with one game to play: the stars, the flops and the moments that made them smile

• Part one: Arsenal to Fulham

Back at Wembley winning a trophy, and we’ve made it back to the Champions League, so it’s pretty good. It was a season of two halves really. At New Year we were flying, then came the injuries and then came the dip. The manager has given everything, again, and today will be an outpouring of love and thanks to him. In Germany he is known as a Menschenfanger, a people catcher, someone who has a positive effect on those around him. For us, he’s been a dream catcher, too. He gave us belief and he gave us the best of times. He made us happy. 8/10.

Spaniard has added individual flourish to collective duty in an evolution that is key to Manchester City’s success

Rodri was pretty young when he realised that he saw football in a different way to others. It wasn’t just his ability to pick a pass on the field, but the way he conceived the game off it. When he watched, he instinctively saw spaces and movement and only later realised that everyone else was simply following the ball. Football became not so much a pastime as a puzzle: a mechanism to be decrypted and understood.

As a child, making his way through the youth teams of Atlético Madrid, his father would urge him to get forward more, to score goals and make assists, to be more selfish. But Rodri always demurred. It was not that he was entirely selfless or free of ego. He understood freedom and fun, responsibility and reciprocity in a different way to most other players. Watching him today, seeing the trajectory his career has taken, allows us to do the same.

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

• Luis Palma’s 86th minute goal secures 3-2 comeback win
• Tagawa strikes as Hearts share 3-3 draw with Rangers

Luis Palma scored a late winner as the champions Celtic twice fought back from a goal behind to complete another successful Premiership campaign with a 3-2 victory over St Mirren on trophy presentation day at Celtic Park.

The St Mirren captain, Mark O’Hara, twice gave the visitors the lead but goals from Matt O’Riley and Kyogo Furuhashi had Celtic level at the half-time interval.

Revenge, as Oxford would swear, truly is a main course best dished out in front of a 30,000-strong ­yellow wall at Wembley, while contesting a Championship spot. Sixty-seven days might be footballing light years, but that Bolton swatted Des Buckingham’s team aside by five clear goals so recently did not bode well for Oxford. Yet the only point of clarity here was, courtesy of a pair of Josh Murphy goals, how deserving United were of victory.

Buckingham insists he has never rewatched that March defeat, but did use it to recalibrate. On Saturday, he implemented a plan that cackled in the face of Bolton’s “clear favourites” billing.

Manager’s job had been in jeopardy but the team’s improved recent form looks likely to salvage a European place

It shouldn’t be a debate. When Chelsea conduct their end-of-season review this coming week, it would be ridiculous if they convince themselves that the right call would be to get rid of Mauricio Pochettino and begin yet another search for a head coach.

The good news is that prominent figures inside Stamford Bridge are backing Pochettino. Why change now? Why start over when the players want the manager to stay? Why not recognise that Pochettino, who has dealt with a massive injury list, made sense of a dizzying transfer strategy and built a team that stand close securing European football before hosting Bournemouth on Sunday afternoon?

• Xavi Hernández made a U-turn on decision to resign in April
• ‘We have the same enthusiasm to take on this season and next’

Xavi Hernández insists “nothing has changed” and that he still has the “same enthusiasm and ambition” amid reports that Barcelona have decided to sack him – just three weeks after celebrating his decision to perform a U-turn and continue as coach.

The Catalan, who resigned on 27 January only to change his mind on 24 April, said that no one had told him he would not be in the post next season, and that the message from the club had been one of “calm”.

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.

Manchester City’s hopes of winning the Barclays WSL for the first time in eight years ended in despair at Villa Park. Despite this final-day victory they fell at the final hurdle as Chelsea clinched their fifth consecutive league title on goal difference. Mary Fowler opened the scoring before Rachel Daly equalised in the second half. Lauren Hemp poked home the winner late on but it was too little too late as far as the winning the league was concerned.

Manchester City have impressed this season with their notable consistency and goalscoring prowess. Those eye-catching winning streaks, however, will do little to console Gareth Taylor, who was full of “mixed emotions” after the final whistle. “I feel really proud of the team’s performance,” he said. “The mad thing is we could have scored double  figures.”

Victories over Arsenal and Manchester City were highlights of season that has produced club’s highest finish for 28 years

The Sky Sports cameras on celebrity watch as Aston Villa homed in on booking their Champions League place with the 3-3 draw against Liverpool on Monday eventually looked beyond Hollywood and royalty. “It’s only taken them 30 years to recognise me,” says Gary Shaw, a 1982 European Cup winner and Villa Park press-box regular, with a chuckle. “They’ll be panning up saying: ‘There’s Tom Hanks’ or ‘There’s Prince William.’ Finally, they noticed I’m there.”

So are Villa. Back among the continent’s elite for the first time since Tony Barton’s European champions subsequently reached the quarter-finals, bowing out to Juventus in March 1983. “I’m a Villa supporter since I was a kid and to have won the biggest club trophy you can as a player was incredible,” Shaw says. “Now, to qualify for the competition – you wouldn’t have dreamed it at the start of this season. Unai Emery should be manager of the year, no question.”

League Two playoff finalists’ American owners endured the jeers but beating Crewe would prompt tears not triumphalism

Preston Johnson has been to Wembley before. “I saw Coldplay in concert once,” the American says. But the former professional gambler and NFT (non-fungible token) enthusiast will be attending in a new capacity on Sunday as Crawley, the club he co-owns, attempt to seal promotion to League One.

“I have some family and friends that are flying over and I’m going to spend some time with them Saturday,” he says. “On Sunday, the schedule is pretty much set. We have a meal before the game. Sky Sports asked me to do an interview at midday. So if I wasn’t already really nervous, now I get to do a TV hit. But it’s part of the experience. I will not complain.”

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.

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.

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 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

Emma Hayes has left her role as Chelsea Women’s manager after 12 years as she gets set to become the head coach of the USWNT. Hayes is widely regarded as one of the most influential managers in the women’s game. Her 12-year tenure at Chelsea has brought unprecedented success. After taking the job in 2012, she can be credited with transforming the club’s fortunes, building a winning structure on and off the pitch. Over more than a decade, she has led her team to six WSL titles, five Women’s FA Cups, two Continental Cups, the Spring Series, a Community Shield victory and a Champions League final. She was awarded an MBE and OBE in 2016 and 2022 respectively, while she was named the Best Fifa women’s football coach in 2021 and the WSL manager of the season on six occasions.

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.

• Mariners reach second straight title decider with 2-1 (agg) win
• Victory beat Wellington Phoenix 2-1 after extra-time

The Central Coast Mariners have booked a spot in a second straight grand final after edging past Sydney FC in one of the most contentious A-League Men games in recent memory.

The Mariners, who drew 0-0 in Saturday’s semi-final second leg at Industree Group Stadium in Gosford, won the tie 2-1 on aggregate to set a date with Melbourne Victory in next week’s title decider.

• 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.

• 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.

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).

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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• Meet the judges | Best female footballers to launch in January

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.

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First up, an apology to Arsenal fans and any others desperately wishing for a final-day Premier League upset. We just can’t see it happening. We’ve crunched the numbers, weighed up the matchups, scoured the history books for precedent – right from when football began 32 years ago – and can’t find any legitimate reasons to suggest Manchester City won’t claim a fourth consecutive league title this weekend. Their relentlessness over the last two months has been somewhat of a kill-joy to what, for a while, seemed to be a genuinely compelling conclusion. They’ve won eight league games on the bounce. They haven’t lost since early December. They are, once more, annoyingly great.

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

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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

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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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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.