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Bournemouth have announced that defender Marcos Senesi is to depart the club when his contract expires in the summer.

The centre-back has spent four seasons with the Cherries since arriving from Feyenoord and there will likely be a scramble for his signature on a free transfer, with Liverpool and Tottenham linked with a move.

Bruno Fernandes

Gabriel

Morgan Gibbs-White

Erling Haaland

David Raya

Declan Rice

Antoine Semenyo

Igor Thiago

Rayan Cherki

Matheus Fernandes

Lewis Hall

Michael Kayode

Eli Junior Kroupi

Kobbie Mainoo

Nico O’Reilly

Alex Scott

Keith Andrews

Mikel Arteta

Michael Carrick

Pep Guardiola

Andoni Iraola

Régis Le Bris

• Carrick has secured Champions League football

• Two-year deal and option of further 12 months

Michael Carrick is close to being appointed Manchester United’s head coach on a permanent basis after being offered a two-year contract. The former midfielder has overseen 10 wins in 15 Premier League matches in interim charge and secured a return to the Champions League.

The deal, which includes the option of a further 12 months, could be concluded before United face Nottingham Forest on Sunday lunchtime, providing the clarity the club desire going into a busy summer. United were sixth when Ruben Amorim was sacked but performances and results improved under Carrick and they sit third, six points above Liverpool with two games remaining.

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While the rest of the known world is humming along to videos of former Bilbo near-hitmaker Colin Chisholm belting out the Hearts song, down south there’s an FA Cup final to be played. The romance of the Cup? About that: private equity Chelsea underdogs versus nation-state owned Manchester City? Be still our beating heart. Sure, there’s narrative to be found. Calum McFarlane getting measured for his Wembley suit when less than 12 months ago he was on Southampton’s coaching staff is one. Though, considering recent ongoing events at Saints, any romance there has probably been squeezed dry. That Chelsea’s players put in such a fine performance in the semi-final against Leeds mere days after not running a leg for Liam Rosenior at Brighton casts long shadows over a squad not exactly beloved by fans.

Spare a thought for us long-suffering Hull City fans (you know, the team you predicted would lose the second leg of the playoff semi-final against Millwall 1-0). Feeling safe in the knowledge we were back at Wembley hoping to make it three playoff final victories out of three, many of us have invested several hundred pounds in non-refundable train and hotel bookings. We’re now told, thanks to Southampton’s Austin Powers escapades, that the game may go ahead, but maybe it won’t. I figured the furtive finger-crossing of the semi-finals was over but with tickets going on sale on Friday (maybe) it’s a case of caveat emptor. And the 4.30pm kick-off only just announced makes it a challenge for folk to get home on the same night. It’s grim up north” – David Burnby.

I understand plans are afoot to have some sort of extravagant Super Bowl-style entertainment at half-time during the Geopolitics World Cup final. Given the time now being taken over VAR adjudication, it’s surely only a matter of time before some entertainment pops up here to keep people engaged. I was wondering if any clubs are already on the case, perhaps some are indulging in a round or two of ‘I spy, with my little eye’?” – Michael Lloyd.

Jonathan Liew ponders why VAR is getting more frequent if the much-reviled technology only generates a constant stream of outrage, debate and engagement. Isn’t that the point?” – Z Snook.

Xabi Alonso will bring essential recent experience to Chelsea – particularly his familiarity with being ushered through the door marked Do One only months into a long-term contract …” – Phil Taverner.

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Manchester City defender led Crystal Palace to Wembley triumph last season and is back to take on Chelsea

Marc Guéhi’s whirlwind 12 months in the FA Cup: captaining Crystal Palace to glory at Wembley last season, experiencing the competition’s greatest shock via the holders’ third-round elimination at sixth-tier Macclesfield and, on Saturday, aiming to claim the trophy again when Manchester City face Chelsea.

In a story-rich competition the defender’s is one of the more intriguing, particularly as Palace’s triumph was their first trophy and City, who he joined nine days after the Macclesfield reverse, were their scalps in the final, beaten 1-0 by Eberechi Eze’s 16th-minute strike.

• Boro say move is ‘only appropriate response’ to scandal

• Australian Hull fan angry over possible postponement

Middlesbrough have demanded that the English Football League expel Southampton from the Championship playoff final against Hull and are furious at being denied a chance to argue their case at an independent disciplinary hearing.

Southampton, who beat Middlesbrough 2-1 on aggregate in the semi-final, are facing EFL misconduct charges after Boro said they had been the victims of training-ground spying.

Eddie Howe admitted Anthony Gordon may have played his final match for Newcastle amid Bayern speculation

Transfer window could include merry-go-round of forwards as division’s top three clubs bid farewell to icons

Saturday’s finale to the Women’s Super League season marks the end of an era, and not only because it is the final time the division will operate with 12 teams before the expansion to 14. A multitude of players synonymous with their clubs in recent years are making end-of-contract departures and the forward lines, in particular, of many of the top sides will not look the same again.

Thursday’s confirmation of Sam Kerr’s exit from Chelsea, added to Monday’s announcement that Beth Mead will leave Arsenal and last week’s news that Khadija “Bunny” Shaw has decided to leave Manchester City, means the division’s top three clubs are saying farewell to forwards who have been modern icons of their clubs. The trio have scored a combined 313 goals for their clubs and will each leave with at least one WSL title under their belts; Kerr has five.

• Captain has been offered coaching role at club

• Coleman may continue playing elsewhere

Séamus Coleman will end his distinguished 17-year career with Everton when his contract expires next month, but he has yet to decide whether his playing days are over.

The Everton captain, famously signed for £60,000 from Sligo Rovers in January 2009, has been hampered by injuries in recent years and has announced that this season will be his last as a player with the club. Everton have offered the 37-year-old a coaching role but he is considering continuing with another club and with the Republic of Ireland.

Bruno Fernandes, Declan Rice, Erling Haaland, David Raya and Rayan Cherki are the leading contenders

By WhoScored

There is a version of this season in which Bruno Fernandes left Manchester United in the summer. “The club wanted me to leave,” he said in December. Thankfully for United fans, he stayed, navigated the tactical ambiguity of playing for Ruben Amorim and led the team back into the Champions League.

Guardiola can claim 17th City trophy, Arteta weighs up another Arsenal reshuffle and Brentford’s European dreams could edge closer

A measure of Pep Guardiola’s greatness is to be found in Saturday’s FA Cup final being a 24th visit to Wembley leading Manchester City. As this born winner could depart in the close season, the meeting with Chelsea may be a third-last outing in charge, in which he seeks the opposite result to the 2021 Champions League final. Yet Chelsea are now in a state of flux – Calum McFarlane is in a second caretaker spell of the season, after Liam Rosenior’s sacking last month, having also filled in when Enzo Maresca walked out on 1 January. This points to a City triumph and the 17th major trophy of Guardiola’s reign. But this is football, so who knows? Jamie Jackson

FA Cup final: Chelsea v Manchester City, Saturday 3pm (all times BST)

Aston Villa v Liverpool, Friday 8pm

Manchester United v Nottingham Forest, Sunday 12.30pm

Brentford v Crystal Palace, Sunday 3pm

Everton v Sunderland, Sunday 3pm

Wolves v Fulham, Sunday 3pm

Here’s how to follow along with our coverage – the finest writing and up-to-the-minute reports

In this exclusive book extract, Rob Draper and Jonathan Northcroft reveal the remarkable process which led to Thomas Tuchel’s appointment as England manager

In 2024, when the Football Association was tasked with finding Gareth Southgate’s successor, Mark Bullingham hired two external data companies who built a profile of what successful international managers looked like then tailored it to mesh with England’s player base.

The top 50 coaches in the world were matched against the criteria and a shortlist emerged. “I joked with the team afterwards, because it came up with a list you and I could have come up with in the pub in 10 minutes,” Bullingham, the FA’s chief executive, says.

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Our editors’ favourite sporting images from the past week, from the spectacular to the powerful, and with a little bit of fun thrown in

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• Arsenal manager weighing up options at right-back

• ‘We’re going to try to get him available as quickly as possible’

Mikel Arteta is crossing his fingers that Jurriën Timber will have a chance of facing Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final as he weighs up his options at right-back.

Arsenal confirmed on Tuesday that Ben White would miss the rest of the season with a knee injury that is expected to rule him out of the World Cup, although Arteta said the defender must “wait and see” regarding the summer. Timber has not played since Arsenal’s win over Everton on 14 March owing to a groin issue. The Netherlands defender is understood to have been close to returning at the end of last month before experiencing a setback.

Researchers warn of a ‘real risk’ of unsafe conditions, with matches in Miami most likely to be affected, but the picture is mixed across the 16 stadiums

It’s set to be hot in North America this summer. The “seasonal temperature outlook” for the US, compiled by the National Weather Service, suggests every part of the country will experience temperatures above the historical average in June and July. It’s into this environment that 48 men’s national teams will arrive, all competing to win the World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico.

As the tournament approaches, the Guardian has taken an in-depth look at the meteorological conditions players could face, how they have changed since the last time the World Cup was held in North America in 1994 (when the US was the sole host nation), and the locations most likely to expose players to stressful levels of heat.

Hearts players and supporters had this much in common; they did not have a clue how to act or react. For eight minutes, with this game already at an end, the scene promised to be a euphoric one. Hearts, having swept Falkirk aside, were staring at the prospect of travelling to Celtic Park on Saturday needing only to avoid a three-goal defeat to win the league.

A twist lay in store. Deep in stoppage time at Motherwell, the controversial awarding of a penalty to Celtic and subsequent conversion materially altered the Hearts position. The whiff of cordite has been added to the mix. Derek McInnes, the Hearts manager, was so enraged by the Celtic call as to label it “disgusting”. He added: “I heard there was a 96th-minute penalty. I didn’t need to ask who for.

Pep Guardiola’s lieutenant gave a performance of understated excellence against Crystal Palace, a trademark during nine seasons in Manchester

There will be plenty that Bernardo Silva will miss about Manchester City but driving rain in May and playing against the lowest of blocks will not be two of them. The midfielder’s penultimate game at the Etihad Stadium after nine years at the club was a reminder of how difficult it will be to replace him.

Amid six changes, as Pep Guardiola rested and rotated, keeping “grandfather” Silva in the team was imperative. Without Rodri, the head coach needed someone he could rely on and no one better fits the category than the 31-year-old.

• Boro to return to training on Friday after semi-final loss

• Southampton analyst accused of spying on training

Middlesbrough are scheduled to return to training on Friday in order to be ready to contest a potential playoff final against Hull at Wembley on Saturday week.

Although Boro lost the semi-final to Southampton, they are pushing for the south-coast side to be expelled from the playoffs after William Salt, one of Tonda Eckert’s analysts, was allegedly caught spying on Kim Hellberg’s team at their Rockliffe Park base near Darlington last Thursday.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jordan Jarrett-Bryan, Will Unwin and Ewan Murray to discuss the title races in England and Scotland

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On today’s podcast: Manchester City did what they had to do, beating Crystal Palace, and are now two points behind Arsenal with two games to play. Palace started brightly, but a couple of glorious assists, one from Phil Foden and one from Rayan Cherki helped Pep Guardiola and co to keep the pressure on.

The real drama, though, was in Scotland. Celtic won and scored a controversial penalty at the death at Motherwell as the title goes down to a final day showdown against Hearts, who beat Falkirk.

Plus, spygate, an FA Cup final preview and your questions answered.

Chapters:

00:00 - Coming up ...

00:44 - City keep up the chase

14:50 - Scotland and the worst VAR call of all?

29:35 - Southampton and spygate

41:12 - FA Cup preview

44:17 - Prem preview

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In generating a constant stream of outrage, debate and engagement, much-reviled tech has become its own spectacle

“Just keep delaying,” Darren England tells the referee, Chris Kavanagh, at West Ham on Sunday afternoon. The title is on the line, possibly relegation too, and as replay after replay queues up on the tape machine, who could blame a humble video assistant for wanting to savour the moment?

To survey it from all the relevant angles, consider all contingencies. To feel the sensation of all that awesome power at his fingertips. They’re calling it the most important VAR review in Premier League history. Stuart Attwell, you’ll never sing that.

Wreathed with more than 150 years of hopes, dreams and drama, the FA Cup reflects sporting heritage and mystique

Footballing physiques have changed a great deal over the decades, but when Chelsea meet Manchester City on Saturday there’s one outline we’ll all recognise. While the average shape has got leaner and more toned, this body has stayed comfortable in its old-school proportions. A modest waist gives on to surprisingly wide hips. Arms that have never lifted weights remain a little skinny for the frame. And yet none of this has been a hindrance in the modern game: every year, the FA Cup trophy still ends up on the winning team.

This is one of sport’s most iconic pieces of silverware, wreathed with more than 150 years of hopes, dreams and drama. It’s a far more emotive sight than the cartoonishly crowned Premier League trophy, or even the stylishly minimalist Champions League trophy. And this makes it even more extraordinary to remember that the object itself is still not out of its tween years. This weekend it will make its 13th Cup final appearance.

Six years ago interim manager was working for a charity in south London. On Saturday he leads Chelsea out at the FA Cup final

As meteoric rises go, Calum McFarlane’s takes some beating. Six years after he and his assistants Harry Hudson and Dan Hogan were working for a south London charity that provides football and education for disadvantaged children, they will lead out Chelsea to face Manchester City in Saturday’s FA Cup final.

There have been accusations of cronyism given they have connections to Joe Shields, Chelsea’s co‑head of recruitment, that go back years, to when McFarlane, Hudson and Hogan were at the charity, the Kinetic Foundation, or beyond. But James Fotheringham, Kinetic’s co-founder, is dismissive of that.

Pierre Sage has done a great job at Lens and the Coupe de France final next Friday offers them another shot at glory

By Get French Football News

By the time Paris Saint-Germain finally travelled to Lens on Wednesday evening, they had all but wrapped up their fifth consecutive Ligue 1 title. Their six-point advantage, bolstered by a clear lead in goal difference, was already insurmountable with two matches remaining.

The match at the Stade Bollaert was billed as a top-of-the-table clash but the decision to push it back until the midweek before the final day of the campaign had devalued the occasion. Had the match been played when it was initially scheduled, at the start of April, a win for the hosts could have closed the gap to just one point with five matches remaining.

A stoppage-time eruption and a crying Manolo González means the Catalan club’s long-awaited victory changes everything

After 143 days and many more sleepless nights Manolo González was liberated, if only for a little while. In the 92nd minute of the 19th game of 2026, something amazing happened: Espanyol won and Espanyol went wild. A goal up against Athletic Club, a late Gorka Guruzeta header had shaken them more than the post it hit, a familiar fatalism refusing to leave, and they were desperately hanging on to what they had now and had lost too many times before, whistling for this suffering to finally end, when at last they could let go. “You have to be strong in life but, bloody hell, we all have limits,” González said, and they had reached theirs but now, on a Wednesday evening in May, they were released.

Ramon Terrats, a boyhood Espanyol, nodded the ball on. Kike García, the only member of the squad born in the 80s and a man with a bit of the 80s about him, a 36-year-old, 6ft 1in, 12-stone striker they call the “labourer of goals”, a sub who had only been out there six minutes, ran on to it. Keeping his head, he guided a shot past Unai Simón so everyone else could lose theirs. The clock said 91.06. The scoreboard said 2-0. The table said: 14th, 42 points, 11 wins. And 29,943 people said: argrhjrfujhkngsafkjhfskljdzrogjdgixjkgjhlkbxcfh. As for González, he broke down and cried.

It would be foolish of the club to undo a winning, entertaining formula by turning elsewhere for a permanent head coach

These days, we have a strong desire to complicate football, particularly in how we talk about it. Often, we are saying the same stuff we always were, just calling things by different names – styles are philosophies, contributions are actions, players earn minutes, not appearances – and the game can still be as simple as it ever was. This is something Michael Carrick understands well, and is one reason Manchester United’s next move is also simple: they have no choice but to appoint him as permanent head coach.

Under Carrick, United’s 33 points from 15 games puts them top of the form table for a period in which rivals have been beaten and Champions League qualification guaranteed, with a third-place finish highly likely. Had Ruben Amorim delivered these results, he’d be secure; were Luis Enrique responsible, they’d be further evidence of his generational – outstanding – brilliance. Yet there remains equivocation.

Under the knowledgeable guidance of Babett Peter, the Frauen-Bundesliga club have their country’s big two, and the Champions League, in their sights

Frankfurt remains one of the most prominent and historic names in women’s football in Germany. The old 1. FFC Frankfurt ruled the nation for almost a decade, winning the Frauen-Bundesliga seven times between 1999 and 2008, including five in six seasons, and secured four European titles between 2002 and 2015.

The best of Germany, and sometimes beyond, represented Frankfurt before clubs such as Wolfsburg, and subsequently Bayern Munich, took charge, but now the city’s name is back challenging at the business end of the table.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s rampage hurts Marseille, Strasbourg struggle and Bastia hit a new low

By Get French Football News

It was a dramatic weekend of football in France. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Emanuel Emegha played starring roles; so too did the Bastia fans, as the club exited the stage kicking and screaming.

The word “fire” has been used a lot in Marseille this season, because it has been blazing or because Habib Beye has sought to extinguish it. Such talk was purely figurative – until this week. Aubameyang was not on the teamsheet when Marseille travelled to Le Havre hoping to end a run of three games without a win. Their recent slump has not only ensured they will fail to qualify for the Champions League, but it has put them in danger of missing out on European football altogether.

Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt among teams facing a nervy Saturday with their managers precariously placed

Not the end, perhaps, but certainly the denouement. After the penultimate weekend of the Bundesliga season some big issues remain open; the confirmation of the fourth team to qualify for the Champions League, the two teams to drop to the second tier and which side will get a two-leg opportunity to reprieve themselves.

Yet the German game is nothing if not reliably businesslike in having some of next season’s key parameters set before the current exercise is done. There was no need for official announcements, though, with the results doing the explaining for us. Or, in a few cases, the performances. There has been considerable doubt, for example, whether Kasper Hjulmand would continue as Bayer Leverkusen coach next season. Now, there is none.

The tiny Italian club are flying high with the help of the former Arsenal player, ambitious owners and a scouting guru inspired by Football Manager

The serene sound of lapping water is broken only by the whir of a seaplane engine swooping to land. Outside the hangar to which the aircraft will soon return, a crowd has gathered well before kick-off. Later, most will scale the steep steps of the adjacent Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia.

To the right sits Villa Carminati, a new private members’ club that also houses hospitality guests on matchdays. It is a unique setting for a unique football club. When bathed in sunshine, as was the case for last Sunday’s goalless draw with Napoli, Como 1907 is a waterside paradise. Or, as their president, Mirwan Suwarso, puts it when drawing parallels between the club and Disney, it is the “theme park” division of the “main brand … Lake Como”.

Aston Villa and Crystal Palace’s runs to European finals are historic achievements, but symptomatic of a worrying trend

There will be no doubting Unai Emery’s supremacy in the Europa League if he is reacquainted with the trophy in Istanbul this month. A fifth title would add to the Aston Villa manager’s legend and it would show he can do it with an English club. The latter achievement, though, may be diminished in value. A greater concern lies in the way that Premier League clubs, gradually but discernibly, are dominating Europe’s smaller competitions in a way Uefa surely could never have intended.

Villa will be the eighth English finalists from the last 22 teams to reach the Europa League’s showpiece. Should they win, it would be the first time since the first two years of the Uefa Cup, its predecessor with the same trophy, that sides from England have won the secondary tournament in consecutive seasons. They would build on Tottenham’s haphazard triumph of last May and while neither consistency nor relative excellence should be sniffed at their progress contributes to a concerning broader trend.

The eggheads can argue the head coach is merely an interchangeable cog in a team’s fortunes – but emotion counts in an ever-changing game

Your manager has fallen out with the sporting director and results have gone awry, so you replace him. Easily done, it happens. But then it turns out that the new manager could not be more ill-suited to the squad, results go awry and so you replace him.

A bad leader would hesitate and hope things worked out, but you are ruthless and decisive and turn to a manager who was once a youth player at the club and has some anecdotes about the old days. But it turns out some people think his methods are old‑fashioned and results go awry, so you replace him.

Footballer has 664 million followers but his boring presence is a reminder of how reel-life destroys what it touches

Buy the backpack airlines hate. Fawn strangely at a child athlete. This TV presenter drank olive oil for a month and absolutely nothing happened. The streets (no actual streets involved) won’t forget (robots can’t forget) Paul Pogba (or equivalent coding).

Nineties dance hits. Ruben Amorim loyalists. Argue with fake fans over a fake photo of fake empty seats. Buy a backpack that hates you because you once thought about buying a backpack, and like a Hungarian grandmother it will never, ever forget and you will be punished.

Something of an obsessive with tidiness, the interim coach has beaten all the club’s closest rivals in his short time in charge

We’ll get on to the more pressing business of whether Michael Carrick deserves the full-time Manchester United job in a moment. There’s plenty to discuss: tactics and philosophy, character and comportment, the squad he inherited from Ruben Amorim and how United might strengthen it in the summer window. But first: I want you to imagine eating an entire dover sole with the bones left in, while under the gaze of the former England international Trevor Francis.

You’re in a fancy restaurant in Birmingham. You’re 18 years old, and have ordered the fish with potatoes on the assumption that it will essentially be a posh chippy supper. The sole arrives, the waiter asks whether you want it filleted, and because you don’t know what that means, you say no. Immediately you feel the painful prickles on your tongue, the unsatisfying gnash of skeletal marine matter between your teeth. Naturally, you don’t want to look rude or foolish in front of your new manager. So you put on a brave face, and keep chewing. Meanwhile, Trevor Francis keeps watching.

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The much-loved football sticker album is to be discontinued after 2030. Guardian writers recall their thrills and frustrations

With this summer’s World Cup already mired in controversy over politicisation, potential travel bans and rows over ticket prices, fans were dealt another piece of sad news this week: the tournament’s much-loved Panini sticker album will be discontinued after 2030.

Guardian writers recall their Panini memories from years gone by.

Striker reflects on the ultimate high with Leicester and the role of the self-titled ‘Inbetweeners’ in his success

“I was just a little freak in the works.” Jamie Vardy is reflecting on his career with the usual levels of self-deprecation and pondering whether anyone could possibly board the same rollercoaster. “It’s not the common way of doing things, is it? I don’t think it will probably happen again, but it did happen for me and it was hard work. It really was tough, but all worth it.”

Humour has always been a preferred Vardy tool for removing the sting from a serious point. He is speaking to mark a new documentary about his rise, which brought him from warehouse work making walking frames and crutches to scarcely credible levels of Premier League success.

After 10 years without a Women’s Super League title, City are champions once more – here’s how they did it

The sight of Rebecca Knaak fighting back tears on hearing the full-time whistle last Sunday summed up what this means. The Manchester City defender had sustained a painful shoulder injury during a victory over Liverpool snatched by her late header so probably had her own reasons for finding the combination of relief, soreness and joy a little overwhelming. But her emotions could have been felt by any of the longer-serving season-ticket holders in the stands after a decade-long wait for a Women’s Super League title.

When City lifted this trophy in 2016, the landscape of the English women’s game was wholly different. The club, then managed by Nick Cushing, completed the 16-game campaign unbeaten and clinched the title on a day when they deployed a starting XI featuring nine English and two Scottish players from a squad that included only six non-English players. It was a time before the wider, full-time professionalism of the league and the influx of overseas talent.

It was an honour to be asked to help find talent for the men’s team and I am enjoying and benefiting from the responsibility

The buzz after I mentioned doing some scouting in the men’s game for Bayern Munich, during my appearance as an analyst on Swedish broadcaster SVT for the men’s team’s Champions League match against Real Madrid, is a bit of a double-edged sword.

On the one hand, I thought: ‘Why is this such big news? It shouldn’t be.’ On the other hand, I understand it and I’m happy there has been so much positivity and encouragement around it. I hope it widens people’s perspectives and helps break barriers for women working in men’s football, because I think we’re ready for that, men’s football is ready for it and it needs it. I hope it inspires other clubs to see it as a good idea. Why not give these opportunities to someone who wants them and wants to prepare for their career after football?

Having viewed the incident that led to Celtic being awarded a spot-kick against Motherwell more often than we’ve put on socks, Football Daily still can’t understand how referee John Beaton arrived at his decision. Of course we’ve seen all the freeze-frame stills on Social Media Disgrace that suggest the ball probably did hit Sam Nicholson’s forehead-adjacent paw, but even then it doesn’t automatically follow that it was a foul. The power and trajectory with which the ball was sent back out over the touchline was clearly generated by the Motherwell defender’s big slab-head and not some overarm serve borrowed from the volleyball court. More crucially, what has also become abundantly clear in the ensuing frenzy of hysterical debate over whether or not Nicholson handled the ball, is that in initially declining to award Celtic a penalty the referee definitively did not make a clear-and-obvious error. It was not until he was sent to his screen by the curtain-twitchers in McStockley Park that Beaton messed up, by electing to re-referee an incident he’d already adjudicated in a perfectly satisfactory manner.

Seagulls are in their first Women’s FA Cup final but their coach, Dario Vidosic, is determined to keep aiming higher

As Brighton’s old song goes, “Hark to the merry bugles”, because there is something in the air in Sussex by the sea. A purpose-built women’s team stadium is in the offing, a second consecutive top-half Women’s Super League finish is on the cards and the women’s side are heading to Wembley for the first time. The fans have never had it this good.

It took something special for Brighton to overturn a two-goal deficit in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final victory at Liverpool and they left it late – very late – as Nadine Noordam settled a classic, five-goal thriller with her 95th-minute winner, but reaching this final is something the club have been building towards. In 2022, Brighton set out a bold vision to become a “top-four WSL club” and last summer the head coach, Dario Vidosic, was unafraid to discuss even higher targets, speaking in a determined, bullish and unwaveringly ambitious tone during an interview with the Guardian.

Sunday’s edition of the famous rivalry felt like the least important in years, except for the uncertain futures of both managers

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It’s been a long time since a Manchester United v Liverpool game felt of less consequence. These are the two most successful sides in English league history, hailing from neighbouring cities and they have a rivalry that stretches back well over a century. Yet it felt perhaps only the seventh-most significant fixture of the weekend, behind the games involving the two title contenders, Arsenal and Manchester City, and the four sides still scrapping to avoid joining Wolves and Burnley in being relegated this season – Leeds, Nottingham Forest, West Ham and Tottenham.

United’s 3-2 win sealed their place in next season’s Champions League while, barring very odd swings of goal difference, Liverpool need just three points from their remaining three games to be certain of their own qualification. For both, the biggest issue now is deciding who manages them next season – and this was a ragged enough game to cast doubts over the suitability of Michael Carrick and Arne Slot for their respective sides.

The Wellington Phoenix coach reflects on the aftermath of the Olympic spying scandal and leading her team into a first A-League Women’s finals campaign

Football is not the kind of profession that lends itself to time off for birthdays and the like. Especially when you’re preparing to lead Wellington Phoenix into their first A-League women’s finals campaign, as Bev Priestman was last week. Yet, especially when contrasted with last year, when she was still in the midst of a one-year Fifa ban after the spying scandal that engulfed Canada’s women’s football team during the Paris Olympics, being among “her people” turned out to be a gift in and of itself.

“It was my 40th birthday [last week],” Priestman says. “And it’s those moments I think to a year ago, and how I felt.

Jérémy Doku finds the net again, Joshua Zirkzee struggles at Sunderland and Ismaïla Sarr is fulfilling his potential

When Bruno Fernandes became the Football Writers’ Association player of the year on Friday, Declan Rice and David Raya could have been forgiven for feeling a touch aggrieved. They have been essential to Arsenal’s push for a Premier League and Champions League double, but Raya showed why he might have been more deserving at the London Stadium as his technically pinpoint one-on-one save gave Arsenal the platform they so desperately needed to secure a vital three points late on. Mikel Arteta’s side were on the ropes as Mateus Fernandes exchanged a one-two with Pablo to run in with the goal at his mercy. Surely this was it for Arsenal: the title slipping again. Raya’s nerve held strong, making the most crucial of saves. Arsenal’s dream of winning a first title in 22 years remains in his hands. Graham Searles

Match report: West Ham 0-1 Arsenal

Barney Ronay: VAR offers up title-deciding moment

Match report: Manchester City 3-0 Brentford

Match report: Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea

Match report: Sunderland 0-0 Manchester United

Match report: Nottingham Forest 1-1 Newcastle

Match report: Burnley 2-2 Aston Villa

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Robyn Cowen and Philippe Auclair to discuss all the weekend’s football

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On today’s pod: Arsenal are two wins from the title after a dramatic late VAR call denies West Ham an injury-time equaliser. Was Pablo fouling David Raya? Were Arsenal lucky, or did Chris Kavanagh get the biggest VAR call of the season right? The panel ask whether Arsenal have simply been hoisted by their own set-piece petard, and how many replays are too many replays?

Elsewhere, Manchester City keep the pressure on with a 3-0 win over Brentford, while Liverpool fans boo Arne Slot after another frustrating draw against Chelsea. Bournemouth continue their unlikely push for a Champions League place, Brighton bounce back emphatically, and Spurs’ survival hopes remain alive ahead of Leeds away.

Plus: advantage Celtic after the Old Firm, Championship play-off Spygate 2.0 as Southampton are charged over alleged playoff spying, Rochdale’s dramatic return to the EFL, the Women’s FA Cup semi-finals, and Philippe questions the kick-out Kylian Mbappé petition, which has been gathering pace.

Plus: youngest players to score a trophy-clinching goal, an apology to Albert Kidd and keepers seeing red

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“Sheffield Wednesday finished their Championship season on zero points, accumulating 18 points throughout their 46-game season after being handed an 18-point deduction for severe financial mismanagement,” notes Michael Butler. “But has any team finished on zero points simply because they lost every league game?”

There are many instances of teams finishing on zero points (with deductions), but one really has to delve deep to find those teams unfortunate enough to lose every single match in a full season. Even Fort William, famously branded as the “worst football team in Britain” after going 840 days and 73 matches without a win in 2019, managed to dig out a couple of draws in those seasons.

OL Lyonnes ended Arsenal’s Champions League hopes while Rebecca Knaak puts Man City on the brink of WSL title glory

Who is the best female player in the world right now? Melchie Dumornay continues to make a strong claim for that accolade after her starring role in OL Lyonnes’ comeback to beat Arsenal in the Champions League semi-finals. The fearless Haiti international won a first-half penalty and provided a superb assist for Jule Brand’s late winner in the second leg, as well as being a constant thorn in Arsenal’s side with her pace, trickery and energy. The attacking midfielder, having missed the first leg through injury, helped the French side come from 2-1 down to win 4-3 on aggregate. Tom Garry

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.

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