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Starting at Manchester City in the FA Cup, Arne Slot must show doubters his plan for a team in transition can succeed

There were more important reasons for Jürgen Klopp’s return to Liverpool last Saturday, but it was apposite his presence reminded Anfield of the unshakable bond and belief they once shared, the joy his football brought. Those pillars of Klopp’s reign are weakening under Arne Slot and April may determine whether they are left standing at all.

Two cup quarter-finals in succession should signal a season on the right track for Liverpool; showpiece occasions such as Manchester City in the FA Cup on Saturday and Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday whetting the appetite for what May could have in store.

• Rosenior: ‘It’s disappointing for Enzo to speak that way’

• ‘You have to protect this club and culture’

Enzo Fernández has been dropped for Chelsea’s next two games, with Liam Rosenior suggesting the club’s vice-captain had “crossed a line” in recent comments over his future.

Following what he described as the worst 10 days of his career, Rosenior insisted he had to punish Fernández, who first questioned whether he would remain at Stamford Bridge beyond this season and then suggested he would like to live in Madrid – a comment widely viewed as courting a move to Real Madrid, a club with which he has frequently been linked.

• Manchester City midfielder can leave if ‘not happy’

• ‘My wish is that Rodri could stay as long as possible’

Pep Guardiola will not stand in Rodri’s way if the midfielder wishes to leave Manchester City for Real Madrid, though the manager believes he will stay at the club beyond this summer.

During the international break Rodri, whose contract expires in June 2027, was asked about reports that Real’s president, Florentino Pérez, wished to sign him. When answering, the 29-year-old referenced how being a former Atlético Madrid player would be no obstacle.

• Arteta claims defeat will haunt him for ‘next 30 years’

• Hincapié and Madueke to miss FA Cup sixth round

Mikel Arteta has admitted that Arsenal’s defeat by title rivals Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final last month left him feeling like he had a “ball of poison” in his stomach but has vowed to use that painful experience to ensure his team ends the season with silverware.

Arsenal were totally outplayed in the second half at Wembley a fortnight ago as two goals for Nico O’Reilly enabled Pep Guardiola’s side to land a psychological blow over the Premier League leaders and end their hopes of an unprecedented quadruple. Arteta refused to confirm whether Kepa Arrizabalaga would start against Southampton in the sixth round of the FA Cup at St Mary’s on Saturday evening after the reserve goalkeeper’s mistake led to O’Reilly’s opener.

Sublime stint at Bayern Munich has made home audiences appreciate a man who isn’t flash or twinkly but is his country’s best footballer

Everyone has their favourite mental comfort food, the stuff that makes you feel good in troubled times. Maybe you like baking bread and listening to history podcasts about Nazi atrocities. Maybe it’s watching Notting Hill in a Hugh Grant mask.

Perhaps you love to unwind by sitting in your walnut-panelled library and reading Catullus, naked, covered in Doritos crumbs, with a plastic bag over your head. Or enjoy nothing better than doomscrolling in a state of late-night brain-death, before accidentally subscribing to a mystery supplement that will rid you of all the horrific writhing parasites inside your body, because the advert had a really convincing animated graphic that made you hate yourself.

• Wrexham rally against West Brom to boost playoff push

• Leicester earn precious point against Preston

Jack Rudoni came off the bench to score twice as Championship leaders Coventry moved 11 points clear of second-placed Millwall with a 3-2 victory against Derby.

The midfielder had been out of action since 28 February but returned to devastating effect as Coventry made it eight wins in nine league outings.

The first Championship match of Roy Hodgson’s half-century-long coaching career was not an easy one to watch but, at the end of it, the Bristol City interim head coach was shrugging his shoulders and smiling. A seesaw second half at Charlton, stuffed full of late chances for both teams, was enough to make even the youngest coach’s heart race.

“There were a few five-minute periods where I thought: ‘This is fantastic.’ And there were a few periods where I was saying: ‘What on earth are you doing here?’” the 78-year-old smiled afterwards, victory secured in his first game back, 44 years after his first stint.

• Italy have missed three consecutive World Cups

• Gattuso: ‘It has been an honour to lead national team’

Italy’s chaotic and miserable week on and off the pitch reached a ­predictable conclusion on Friday with the head coach, Gennaro Gattuso, leaving the role after the Azzurri’s failure to reach the World Cup.

Italy were beaten by Bosnia and Herzegovina in their World Cup ­playoff on Tuesday, the home side winning on penalties in Zenica, meaning the four-time winners have now missed out on the finals for three successive editions.

Australian manager Jon Brady and New Zealand striker Ben Waine have guided League One strugglers to quarter-finals

The Port Vale manager, Jon Brady, left Australia as a 17-year-old to chase his dream of playing in the United Kingdom. Spells at Brentford, Swansea and Wycombe did not make a first-team debut a reality. The sacrifice would not be wasted as determination to make a career in England grew stronger, becoming a non-league stalwart, but always with an eye on what came next.

Like Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final opponent, Chelsea’s head coach Liam Rosenior, Brady plotted a route to the dugout from early on, earning his B licence at the age of 23. Twenty-eight years later, he has managed more than 500 league games, in charge of Brackley and Northampton before joining League One’s bottom club in January, and embarking on a surprising Cup run.

Chelsea dare not lose, West Ham and Leeds play out a survival dress rehearsal, while Phil Foden urgently needs to make an impact

Phil Foden made two starts for England over the international break as Thomas Tuchel experimented with how the Manchester City attacking midfielder could be used at the World Cup. He played in a couple of positions but was ineffective in two collectively subpar performances from the Three Lions. It means he has one assist and no goals in his past 22 appearances for club and country in what has been an underwhelming campaign for the 25-year-old. He has dropped below Rayan Cherki in Pep Guardiola’s pecking order and has not completed a full 90 minutes since January. In the Carabao Cup final, Foden was permitted a late cameo, and it feels as if this is the time when he should be making a difference in the final stages of the season. There are still trophies to be played for, even if winning the Premier League title would involve a huge turnaround against Arsenal. This means the FA Cup is the most promising prospect and Foden should be desperate to start and remind everyone of the world-class player he could be, especially against a Liverpool side who often struggle against smart No 10s. The next six weeks could be make or break for Foden’s City and international career, so he must seize every opportunity. WU

Manchester City v Liverpool, Saturday 12.45pm (all times BST)

Chelsea v Port Vale, Saturday 5.15pm

Southampton v Arsenal, Saturday 8pm

West Ham v Leeds, Sunday 4.30pm

The Lions of Mesopotamia have waited 40 years to return to the World Cup and they have had to do it the hard way

If anyone deserves the chance to celebrate Iraq’s return to the World Cup it is Aymen Hussein and not just because the striker scored the winning goal in the final intercontinental playoff against Bolivia on Tuesday.

Born and raised in Kirkuk in northern Iraq, a region affected first by war and then by Islamic State, Hussein lost his father in an al-Qaeda attack in 2008. Six years later his brother disappeared and the young footballer was then forced to flee with the remaining members of his family. Football provided Hussein with a way out and hope. Now he has given his country, one that is recovering from recent horrors but still susceptible to the general regional instability as current events show, one of the happiest moments in its recent history.

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Kim Hellberg believes his aptitude for mathematics helps him solve complex tactical problems but the Middlesbrough manager’s on-field equations refused to balance here as two goals from Josh Coburn took Millwall second.

Alex Neil’s resilient team are now one point and one position above Boro in a Championship topped by Coventry.

• Striker expected to return to NWSL and join ambitious new club

• Australian pours doubt on transfer with cryptic social media post

Matildas captain Sam Kerr will reportedly leave Chelsea at the end of the Women’s Super League season to return to the United States and join expansion club Denver Summit.

Kerr’s future at Chelsea has come into doubt in recent weeks with the striker’s contract set to expire at the end of the season and with little talk of a new deal.

• Fifa has not agreed tax exemption with US government

• Burden will fall disproportionately on smaller nations

More than half the countries that have qualified for the World Cup are facing additional costs and potential losses due to Fifa’s failure to agree a blanket tax exemption with the United States government and significant variance in the host country’s international tax treaties.

As a not-for-profit organisation Fifa has had tax-free status in the US since the 1994 World Cup, but that exemption does not apply to all of the 48 qualifiers, whose national associations must pay a range of federal, state and city taxes on their earnings from the tournament this summer.

From Algeria to Uzbekistan, our writers and contributors from around the world assess the state of the 48 nations to qualify for the tournament

“There’s more talent and potential than in 2022,” Kylian Mbappé said ominously this week after France had beaten Brazil 2-1 despite having Dayot Upamecano sent off after 55 minutes. He may well be right. For the second game of this window, against Colombia, Didier Deschamps changed the entire starting XI but was still able to field an attack of Marcus Thuram, Désiré Doué, Rayan Cherki and Maghnes Akliouche. Doué scored two in a comfortable 3-1 victory. “I’m well aware that there are some very good players that I won’t be bringing because, in my opinion, there are even better ones,” Deschamps said. Marcus Christenson

Mauricio Pochettino faces several tough decisions to name a squad for the 2026 World Cup hosts

A full 24 matches into the Mauricio Pochettino era, we have arrived at the moment of truth. The US men’s national team’s 2026 World Cup roster will be named on 26 May, and the team’s two recent friendlies (a 5-2 loss to Belgium and a 2-0 loss to Portgual) have given Pochettino plenty to think about as he makes his selection.

We here at the Guardian have made our picks as well – based a little on our own preference, but still within the realm of what Pochettino may do. Separately, the three of us made our 26-man rosters. Any player who we agreed on got the “on the squad” designation. Anyone we differed on is listed as “up for debate”, with other notable exclusions listed as “out of the picture”.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nick Ames and Jordan Jarrett-Bryan to preview the weekend’s action.

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Chapters:

00:00 - Chapters
00:56 - FA Cup quarter-final preview
01:12 - Where do Slot’s priorities lie?
05:16 - Have Manchester City had a good season?
06:49 - Southampton v Arsenal
10:35 - Would defeat rattle Arsenal?
16:03 - Marc Cucurella comments
21:52 - West Ham v Leeds United

25.43 - Ad break
25:46 - EFL preview
28:26 - Nigel Farage photoshoot at Portman Road

36.49 - Ad break
36:49 - WCL roundup
40:15 - Nick Ames spends time in Kosovo
44:35 - Answering listener correspondence

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Rival fans have raged after 11 of Mikel Arteta’s players withdrew from action with their countries before the season finale

With the benefit of hindsight, Mikel Arteta’s response to a question before Arsenal’s victory over Everton last month about how the forthcoming international break might affect his squad was revealing. “We have really good communication with most of them,” Arteta replied when asked whether he was planning to speak to the various international managers that were expected to call up his players. “We’ll wait and see how everybody is and have those conversations and make the right decisions.”

Considering that Arsenal were still pursuing an unprecedented quadruple at the time, was this the most nervous he had ever felt going into an international break? “It’s a period that I don’t enjoy a lot,” admitted Arteta. “Especially when we have 18, 19 players playing. And especially with what happened in our recent history with very important players. But that is part of the calendar and we have to accept that.”

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The Championship – a league so chaotic it makes a piano falling down some stairs resemble a Zen garden – resumes with an old-fashioned Easter weekend double header. Automatic promotion, playoff places and the drop into the abyss all remain up for grabs, with only beleaguered Sheffield Wednesday’s relegation rubber-stamped as the contenders jockey for position on entering the home straight. Not a Stone Island jacket will go unworn as fans of all 24 clubs proudly get the badge in before heading off to support their teams over a hectic bank holiday schedule. At the top, Frank Lampard’s Coventry City are in the box seat for automatic promotion, with an 11-point cushion between them and Ipswich Town in third. They will fancy their chances of at least maintaining the gap in tomorrow night’s televised Geographically Quite Near Each Other But Not Really A Derby derby against, er, Derby County. With no Good Friday game due to Southampton’s weekend FA Cup appointment with Arsenal, Ipswich will have additional time to de-Farage Portman Road for Monday’s visit of Birmingham.

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NWSL newcomers attracted more than 60,000 fans to Mile High Stadium for landmark fixture against Washington

On Saturday in Denver, the NWSL set a new single-game attendance record for the second time in less than a year. This time, it was the league’s 16th franchise, Denver Summit, who did the honors in their first home game, hosting 63,004 fans at Empower Field at Mile High Stadium (home to the Denver Broncos). The league’s new milestone eclipses the previous record by about 23,000.

Denver’s entry into the NWSL has been a fast-paced and ambitious whirlwind. They were officially announced as the league’s 16th team in January 2025. Three days later, they became the fastest expansion franchise to sell 5,000 season tickets, with 5,280 sold in three days. They went on to sell out their 8,500 season-ticket allotment in short order, adding thousands to a waitlist.

Thomas Tuchel played down the significance of latest friendlies and history suggests team lineups can have little bearing on actual tournament

“It’s just March,” Thomas Tuchel said after a winless international break. March doesn’t matter. March is for winding up the Wembley crowd by playing Ben White. For Phil Foden as a false 9. For Dominic Calvert-Lewin agonising over narrow misses. For Jason Steele in the crucial emergency fifth goalkeeper spot.

Will any of this matter when England head to Miami for their World Cup training camp on 1 June? History suggests the answer is yes … but also no. The last camps before a tournament can be odd. For Tuchel, comparisons with the past are awkward. The modern calendar has been squeezed by the club game and it is not surprising that his players are exhausted when the physical demands on Premier League teams are so extreme.

The pressure is on Football Australia to sustain interest in the national sides but luring elite opposition to play friendlies at home is ‘bloody difficult’

The memories flow freely: John Aloisi’s penalty, James Troisi’s Asian Cup winning-goal. There was Mile Jedinak’s hat-trick against Honduras, Cortnee Vine from the spot, or Sam Kerr’s World Cup semi-final goal.

Unfortunately, this era – of unmissable football blockbusters played in front of packed Australian stadiums that brought a nation together – is now at an end.

Manager and team had hit rock bottom, but together they found redemption and are heading to North America

A manager down on his luck after a second failure in quick succession, wondering what the future would hold. A national team struggling at the bottom of their qualifying group given a second chance through the vagaries of the Nations League. That national team happens to be the country where the manager made his name, inspiring a team from a town with a population of 50,000 to win the Swedish Cup.

So the two get together, doubting manager and doubting country, and somehow, less than six months after the nadir, they are going to the World Cup finals.

The American star hasn’t scored since 2024 for the US, but he and manager Mauricio Pochettino are taking it in stride

Nobody on the US men’s national team is worried about Christian Pulisic’s severe lack of goalscoring form.

At least, nobody is saying they are.

Rasmus Højlund is back among the goals at Napoli while Jakub Kiwior has helped make Porto solid in defence and Largie Ramazani has given Valencia a creative spark

The Dane, like many others, struggled under Ruben Amorim at Old Trafford and was packed off to Naples. He scored on his debut, a 3-1 win over Fiorentina, and has been consistent since, netting 10 goals in 26 games for Serie A’s third-placed team. “Now it’s portrayed as if I’m back and just doing really well,” Højlund, who cost United £72m when they signed him from Atalanta in August 2023, said to Denmark’s TV2 last week. “But inside myself my thoughts are in a completely different place. I’m self-critical. I still want to be even better, more involved in the games and score more goals, but it’s fun to observe how the image of me is constantly changing.”

Minnows have all but sewn up the Swiss Super League title with seven games to go having been favourites to go down

The FC Thun heroes do not hide their amusement and amazement when speaking about what has been an incredible season. They giggle when asked if they could possibly have expected such a scenario. They know that the situation is surreal and illogical. The words “incredible” and “unbelievable” are used frequently.

When Thun were promoted in May to the Swiss Super League, they were predicted to struggle. The Berner Zeitung journalist Adrian Horn says: “A lot of pundits identified them as No 1 relegation candidates. Expectations were very low, and fans thought that avoiding relegation would be a major success.”

Roberto Baggio proposed an overhaul of talent pathway in 2011 but it was never acted on and the national team’s approach now is just not working

The decline of Italy’s footballing expectations can be read in the headlines that greeted their third consecutive failure to qualify for a men’s World Cup. When the Azzurri lost their playoff against Sweden in November 2017, La Gazzetta dello Sport defined it as “The End” and an “Apocalypse”. After defeat by North Macedonia in 2022, Il Corriere dello Sport saw a country sinking “Into Hell”.

On Wednesday both newspapers led coverage of elimination by Bosnia and Herzegovina with a simpler, perhaps sadder, “Tutti A Casa” – Everybody Go Home. What else is there left to say? Italians understood long ago that 2018 was not some aberration but the continuation of a trend, their team having failed to reach the tournament’s knockout stage in 2010 or 2014.

Japan’s goal wasn’t Palmer’s fault and Mainoo couldn’t track back, but Tuchel will now see the scale of what faces him

To see a world in a grain of meaningless friendly. It has become a habit to say you don’t learn anything from these games. This isn’t strictly true. You just don’t learn anything new. But it’s all still there, ready to be decoded like a set of sporting tea leaves.

On a strangely empty night at Wembley Stadium – also known as “a night at Wembley Stadium” – the opening half-hour of this 1-0 England defeat against Japan was fluffy, formless and free from any real edge. But that half-hour was also hugely telling, packed with echoes, ghosts and patterns. Another March friendly: another note in the never-ending story of England footballdom, an epic poem in 1,080 parts.

With controversy stalking football on the continent, the Caf president has a huge challenge on his hands

It has been a miserable few months for the Confederation of African Football (Caf) and its South African billionaire president, Patrice Motsepe. On Sunday, he had the chance to clarify a few things, to set the record straight. The decision by Caf’s appeal board to strip Senegal of the Afcon trophy and hand it to Morocco has led to Motsepe facing the most treacherous and, without question, the most challenging period in his five-year presidency of the continent’s football governing body.

“It is very clear to me Motsepe will have to show leadership to find a solution to a problem I think cannot be solved by legal means alone,” a member told me after the CAF executive committee meeting at the Giza Palace hotel in Cairo.

Players are not covering the distances of old – they are not being lazy but adapting to demands of an arduous campaign

There is nothing English football admires more than honest endeavour, which is perhaps a consequence of the league’s origins in the industrial cities of the north and Midlands. “He put in a shift.” “She did her job.” “He gave his all.” The language of football is the language of the pit or the factory floor.

All top-level players these days are supremely skilled, but still we demand that they be exhausted by the final whistle, legs leaden with effort, hair soaked with sweat. Which was why it seemed to cause such consternation when Alan Shearer mentioned on Match of the Day last Saturday that Chelsea have run less than their opponents in every Premier League game they have played this season.

Our cartoonist on the 78-year-old’s shock move to Bristol and his attempts to connect with the young ‘uns

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Relegation battle has exposed Spurs’ institutional flaws with the stupidity of the interim hire still startling

Probably Tim Sherwood put it best, speaking on Sky Sports about the through-the-looking-glass world of Tottenham Hotspur and magic bean relegation remedies. “They need an arm round the shoulder,” Sherwood said. “I’d tell Xavi Simons he’s the new Luka Modric. Obviously he’s not but I’d tell him he was. I’d tell him: ‘Save us from relegation and you can go to Real Madrid next season.’ Obviously he won’t but I’d tell him that.”

Sherwood has had a good Tottenham crisis period. “The Premier League has smacked him in the mouth,” was his verdict on Igor Tudor, pre-sacking. While every proper football man will like the sound of this, of the Premier League being large and unassailable, Tudor deserves a little sympathy.

Portugal head coach, who describes the country as a ‘football school’, explains why he is ready to take risks in pursuit of World Cup glory

‘You get there and the mountain is so big, you have no objective other than survive.” It was summer 1995, Roberto Martínez was 21, he had made one brief appearance for Real Zaragoza and just completed military service while playing regional football back in his home town of Balaguer. A complete unknown, he was heading to Wigan, wherever that was, and didn’t speak a word of English. He was also heading to the Third Division, where whatever they played it wasn’t football, not as he knew it. “There is fear: ‘No,’” he says. “But my attitude was always: ‘Why not?’”.

Martínez now stands in the hallway at the Portuguese federations’s base in Oeiras near Lisbon, arms out in a warm welcome. Trophies sit in cases, the Nations League the latest addition. Only one cup is not there, which is why Martínez is. Seventy-five days until the World Cup starts, he takes Portugal into their final pre-tournament international break with matches against two of the co-hosts, Mexico and the United States. The man whose favourite goal was against Scunthorpe at Springfield Park leads a team who are among the favourites to triumph this summer, willing to dream precisely because he never dreamed any of this.

Dutchman who succeeded Dick Advocaat was once offered assistant’s role to Ten Hag at Manchester United

Soon after the news broke last month that Fred Rutten would lead Curaçao at the World Cup, he received a text from one of the players. “Hey boss, welcome to the family,” read the message from the goalkeeper Eloy Room. It was a warm greeting for the coach called in to replace Dick Advocaat, who had led the small island to that historic qualification but stepped down to be with his ill daughter.

Rutten’s appointment may have been a surprise to the outside world – he has not held a coaching role for almost three years and has never led a national team – but his appointment did not come out of the blue.

As well as being one of the team’s best performers, midfielder has become a talisman who is aware of the club’s spirit and traditions

The video of Bruno Fernandes kicking in the door is very good, if you haven’t already seen it. In a way, it explains a lot. His Sporting team are drawing 1‑1 at Boavista in 2019 and Fernandes has just been sent off for a fully deserved second yellow. As he stalks down the tunnel he takes furious aim at the two doors, the sheer force of the kick knocking him off his feet.

The doors make a magnificent shotgun sound, but do not yield. “Fuck you!” Fernandes shouts as Boavista security guards try to intervene. “I’ll pay for the fucking doors! Go fuck yourselves!”

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Pass the paracetamol because Football Daily’s neck is in absolute bits. Two penalty shootouts at the same time will do that to you, eyes bouncing from Wales’s heartbreak in Cardiff to the Republic of Ireland’s agony in Prague. Alas, neither will feature at the Geopolitics World Cup after their playoff semi-final defeats. For Ireland, it’ll be a minimum of 28 years between appearances at the big show. At least they’ll always have Troy Parrott’s glorious week in November. For Wales, it’s … ah, the long wait ended at the Human Rights World Cup in 2022. Never mind.

We spend a day with the surprise package of the Première Ligue to find out how they have taken the top flight by storm

There is one video that is on repeat on the Nantes players’ phones: Lucie Calba’s goal in last weekend’s 3-0 win against Strasbourg, an exceptional passage of play in which eight players touched the ball to move it up the entire pitch in only 18 seconds.

“It’s very satisfying because we’re able to reproduce everything we work on in training in matches,” says Camille Robillard, the team’s No 10 and a product of the club’s academy, clearly fascinated by the goal getting so much attention. A goal “in the Nantes style”, referring to the men’s team of the 1990s, known for their attacking, fluid play and constant movement.

Only existing since 2024, the team, who came fourth at the world championship, has changed its players’ lives

“We are the first, but we will not be the last.” The rallying cry came from Eliane Gonçalves, a 39-year-old midfielder of the Brazilian women’s blind football national team during one of their training camps. The team’s psychologist had suggested the team come up with something to shout before matches. Gonçalves offered that line – and it stuck.

The team had existed for less than a year when they landed in Kochi, India, in October 2025. In their opening game of the world championship, Brazil beat the host nation 1-0 – and Gonçalves scored the goal. She had started playing only two years earlier after gradually losing her sight to a hereditary condition called retinitis pigmentosa. Sport had pulled her through the hardest period. “When I started losing my vision, I was very lost. Everything was completely different,” she says. “Sport took me out of depression. It gave me a better perspective on life, new dreams.”

The Gunners have a nine-point lead in the Premier League. But recent run-ins, and their loss to City on Sunday, will keep them wary

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Some day, probably quite soon, Arsenal will win something again. Quite probably something much bigger than the Carabao Cup. But until then, there is only going to be anxiety, and it is going to get worse after Sunday’s second-half freeze against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final, which City won 2-0. Wembley could have seen the start of the Arsenal era, perhaps even the first leg of an unprecedented Quadruple; instead it was City celebrating, and with a gusto that suggested the past couple of years of dearth have served as a useful reminder that these occasions can never be taken for granted.

Claims that victory in this final could be a huge psychological blow in the title race are perhaps a little fanciful. One game is one game. Professional athletes, robust self-belief integral to their existence, recover from defeats. But still, that flatness in the second half, the way Arsenal were pinned back and unable to break forward, has to be a concern. City were able to use the way Arsenal like to control the pace of the game against them, the short passes out from the goalkeeper used as a way of penning them in as they closed down passing lanes, allowing their defenders to have the ball and denying them options. What was that? A tactical triumph for Pep Guardiola? Exhaustion from Arsenal? Or the familiar mental fragility returning?

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Like a Christmas day can of John West tuna chunks for one with an accompanying bottle of champagne and war movie triple-bill chez Richard Keys, Tottenham Hotspur Football Club is the gift that keeps on giving. Like Gregory Peck’s crack commando unit attempting to silence the eponymous guns of Navarone, Spurs currently find themselves in an extremely high-stakes race against time only to be repeatedly thwarted at every turn by a mixture of internal sabotage, the at times unbearable burden of leadership and immense dissatisfaction among the rank and file. The mission? To escape an ignominious, financially ruinous slide into the Championship. The plan? A chaotic improvisation that suggests the club hierarchy are just making things up as they go along, one ill-judged managerial appointment at a time.

I’m delighted to hear of Mr Roy’s return to the touchline but it raises a question for me. As a philistine who only learned of his TBOF (two banks or four) in Friday’s Football Daily, I’m compelled to ask how it differs from fellow England alumnus Mike Bassett’s FFFR (four, four, flippin’ two)“ – Simon Riley.

A double doff of the cap to Big Paper’s Jonathan Wilson this weekend. Firstly, for pointing out that ‘in the 2018 World Cup semi-final, the clearest signal England were done for was Jordan Henderson gamely running shuttles as Luka Modric, Marcelo Brozovic and Ivan Rakitic knocked the ball round him’ a whole eight years before Tommy Tuchel picked him for the game against Uruguay. And, secondly, for hoping that most readers would know, or could be bothered to Google, what the ‘Gaia hypothesis’ is, in the very same piece. Never change, Wilson, never change” – Noble Francis.

So Tudor lasted 44 days at Spurs (with some compassionate extension). Bloody hell, that was shorter than Liz Truss’s tenure in charge of the government. At least he didn’t spaff £65bn in the process, so the experiment might be deemed a success if one sets the bar very very low” – Nigel Sanders.

I was playing Football Manager earlier today when I got offered the Tottenham job. I thanked them but declined the offer, hung up the phone and then returned to playing my game” – James Vortkamp-Tong.

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Marc Skinner laments City’s advantage after Vivianne Miedema shines and Brighton welcome back Kiko Seike

With her hat-trick in Arsenal’s 5-2 win over Tottenham, Alessia Russo took her tally to 25 goal contributions in 31 games this campaign. It is a notable return from a player in her prime, not just in her buildup play, but also her finishing. Arsenal’s attacking dominance – they have scored 18 goals in their past five games – is down to the fact that many of their attacking players are in form. Stina Blackstenius has three goals in her past four games while Caitlin Foord also scored on Saturday, her first appearance since returning from the Asian Cup. Renée Slegers has spoken about the versatility in the type of goals her side produces and the need to be ruthless in both penalty areas. Spurs’ two goals meant an end to Arsenal’s 106-day streak of not conceding in the WSL. While all runs must come to an end, Arsenal still boast the meanest defence in the league. Sophie Downey

Plus: qualifying for the World Cup with no more than two wins, a 20-0 victory and scratching a 34-year itch

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“The Bundesliga table shows Bayern Munich on 70 points with an eye-popping goal difference of +72,” pops Chris Fryer. “Has any club won the league with a greater goal difference than points tally?”

Bayern Munich have won 22 and lost one in the Bundesliga this season. That was a 2-1 defeat against Augsburg, which means their 22 victories have produced a goal difference of +73. In other words, their average margin of victory is an absurd 3.32 goals.

0.388 Rangers 1898-99 (Scottish First Division)

0.353 Hearts 1957-58 (Scottish First Division)

0.200 Liverpool 1895-96 (Second Division)

0.176 Ajax 1966-67 (Eredivisie)

0.09 Birmingham 1892-93 (Second Division)

The defender, a sole link between the past and present, is focused on nurturing young talent to help her country realise its 50-year plan

“Ranking!?” Saki Kumagai says with a laugh. In the afterglow of her team’s Asian Cup triumph in Australia, the veteran Japan defender is asked about where this trophy sits among the many other titles she has won throughout her staggering 17-year career.

But she just smiles and shakes her head. “I never compare my titles,” she says. “Yes, I won some trophies in my career. But this team is from a different generation, so [winning] a trophy in this tournament, that was the really impressive thing for me.

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

• Premier League dominates list | How every judge voted | Our methodology | The top 100 female players for 2025

• 2024 edition | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012

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

• 2024 list | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018

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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