Hold the back page: the battle for third, fourth and fifth is on!
Sadly, with six rounds of fixtures left to go and nothing else left to play for in the Best League In The World™, the eight(ish)-team rumble for the three remaining places in next season's Bigger Cup that won't be occupied by Liverpool or Arsenal is the only remaining source of jeopardy in a top-flight campaign that isn't so much ending with a bang as with an uncontrollable, contagious yawn Match of the Day viewers will have seen Newcastle substitute Anthony Gordon make no attempt to disguise as his side heaped more embarrassment on Manchester United. Surfing a tidal wave of confidence against a side who look marooned at sea in a rowboat without any oars, Newcastle's easy win leaves them with a midweek game in hand and in pole position to take third place behind Arsenal, unless they happen to overtake a Gunners side whose largesse in the face of victory has now seen them cough up 16 points from winning positions in a title 'race' they are currently losing by 13. Still, though … refs!
Still in third with their top-five destiny very much in their own hands, Nottingham Forest have chosen a bad time to wobble, although it is a measure of how surprisingly good they've been this season that losing twice in a row – for only the third time in a campaign many predicted to be a struggle against the drop – has prompted overwrought talk of a crisis at the City Ground. Making up the top five, Manchester City somehow contrived to make very heavy and light work of their match against Crystal Palace, due in no small part to the heroic efforts of a player the club has deemed surplus to requirements, even if his can-do attitude was instrumental in snatching an easy victory from the jaws of what initially looked like ending in another ignominious defeat. 'My job is to play good football and help this team win games,' said Kevin De Bruyne, who may be forced to sit out City's next match with the back-knack incurred from carrying his teammates for long periods of Saturday afternoon.
Still knocking on the door of qualification for next season's Bigger Cup with varying degrees of volume, both Chelsea and Brighton had to settle for underwhelming draws, with the charisma vacuum that is Enzo Maresca further incurring the wrath of an already sceptical Stamford Bridge faithful by appearing to blame them for the two goals scored against his side by Ipswich Town. Meanwhile at Southampton, Aston Villa, a team currently knocking on more doors than a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses, maintained their hopes of making the top five with the obligatory win over Southampton. Lose their crunch match on Monday night and either Bournemouth or Fulham can probably kiss their faint hopes of Bigger Cup football next season goodbye. Make no mistake, with just 62 games of the season remaining, the battle for fourth place down to ninth is really starting to hot up.
Please enjoy this beautiful segue into our live offering: join Rob Smyth for piping hot MBM coverage of Bournemouth 1-1 Fulham, with kick-off at 8pm BST.
'Every time' – When asked if he would celebrate Wolves' fourth consecutive Premier League victory with Tin, Old Gold manager Vítor Pereira was all-too-happy to live up to his 'first the points, then the pints' flag at Molineux. 'Work is work, but after the work we need to celebrate together. I need to feel the energy of these people and be part of the family,' added the Portuguese, who was later spotted in a Wolverhampton Wetherspoons pub, hugging and backslapping locals before getting stuck into some old-fashioned japes in front of the fruit machine.
'Is Football Daily, or whatever you are now called, losing its touch? I'm familiar with Barrrrrl, Basle and Baaaarl from previous Fivers but you referenced Basel four times on Friday. Where is this mythical place?' – Neale Redington.
'Regarding Conmebol's suggestion to expand the men's World Cup finals to 64 teams, I have an idea. Why stop there? How about 211 teams qualify for the finals? Now, that would be unwieldy, and I don't know what country could host a tournament that large. So they could hold the round-robin stages locally, with teams from, I don't know, perhaps the same continent grouped together. And then the top finishers from each local group, maybe 16 total, could all meet somewhere for the final rounds. Then, no one would suffer the pain and humiliation of missing out' – Dave Kramer (and 1,056 others).
'In Ben Fisher's excellent article on Truro City, he quoted a potential 868-mile round-trip to Carlisle should the Tinners get promoted and the Cumbrians return to the National League. That journey is relatively easy, traffic congestion permitting, once you hit the M5 then the M6. A longer and more difficult round trip of 902 miles – M5, M42, M1 and A1(M) – would face Truro should Gateshead fail to secure promotion to the EFL via the playoffs' – Deryck Hall.
Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today's prizeless letter o' the day winner is … Deryck Hall. Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here.
The latest Football Weekly pod: Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Mark Pougatch and Sam Dalling to talk about Manchester United, Swindon players being very mean to a Bradford City defender and Tranmere turning into Brazil 1970 for 12 minutes.
Eddie Howe remains under watchful eyes in hospital, but his assistant Jason Tindall trilled that his boss has texted congratulations after Newcastle humped Manchester United on Sunday. 'I'm sure it has lifted his spirits,' the stand-in beamed. Under-fire keeper André Onana was rested for that game.
A delay in the diagnosis of a rare heart infection 'did not more than minimally contribute' to the death of Kevin Campbell, a coroner has found. The former Arsenal striker died aged 54 last year.
Matildas star Mary Fowler is a doubt for her side's Asian Cup campaign after suffering knee knack for Manchester City in the Women's FA Cup. More pain followed for her side as they went down 2-0 to local rivals United, who are through to defend their trinkets against Chelsea, who pipped Liverpool at the last in the other semi, next month.
Virgil van Dijk is keeping fingers on lips about any potential new deal he might have cooking on a low heat on Merseyside, but the Dutchman, whose header lengthened Liverpool's lead in the title race, tooted that he was proud to be 'closer to our dreams' yet 'emotional because of the Hillsborough anniversary'. Tuesday marks the 36th anniversary of the disaster.
Real Madrid's Luka Modric turns 40 in September. What next for the Croatia maestro? Five more years? Coaching badges? Punditry? Bespoke line of hairbands? Or did your tea leaves somehow have minority owner of Swansea in there?
Unai Emery, unsurprisingly, wants Aston Villa to muster a comeback for the ages against PSG. 'We want to write here the history,' roared the Spaniard. 'We need to use Villa Park like a fortress. We have felt it a lot of times. We have to believe.'
Uh oh Ange. More pressure on Mr Postecoglou may be on the way after fifth-bottom Wolves hopped to just two points behind Spurs with an ever-more-comprehensive-than-scoreline-suggests 4-2 victory.
Put the Fizzy Vimto down, Brendan … Ianis Hagi offered Rangers fans rare delight as his 96th-minute equaliser at Aberdeen meant Celtic had to put the title-winning tea set back in the cupboard for at least another round of league games.
Kylian Mbappé's innovative flying stamp on Antonio Blanco resulted in a massively deserved first-half red card against Alavés. Manu Sánchez then evened up the available manpower with a rake down the back of Vinícius Jr's calf as Real Madrid were relieved to emerge with a 1-0 win.
Enzo Maresca didn't like the 'environment' swirling around Stamford Bridge as his side could only manage a draw – and may have done well to get that much – against nearly-doomed Ipswich. Jacob Steinberg reckons picking a scrap with Chelsea fans may not bode well.
Bayern Munich warmed up for Wednesday's Champions League barn-burner at Inter by passing up the spoils late on in Der Klassiker. Andy Brassell assesses the State of the München.
Are Manchester City back? No, but maybe they are just another very good team, writes Jonathan Wilson.
Claudio Ranieri's unbeaten record in Rome derbies was salvaged by Matias Soulé's second-half leveller for Roma against Lazio … even though it was the first derby the retiring manager has failed to win. Nicky Bandini salutes Ranieri and the (provisional) end of an era.
Mohamed Salah was a lively old sock in Liverpool's victory over West Ham after a few recent semi-anonymous displays. And his new contract will make Arne Slot's expected rebuilding job over the summer a lot less fraught, Jonathan Wilson chinstrokes.
More from Mr Wilson: in praise of Vítor Pereira's current mood music at Wolves … until the next time it all goes pear-shaped at Molineux.
USA USA USA MLS MLS MLS talking points talking points talking points.
There were nine Premier League games over the weekend. And yet here are 10 talking points from them.
Culture corner: here's Matt Barton's review of a new hoity-toit thee-ay-tarrrr production of David Peace's brilliant Bill Shankly-based 2013 novel, Red or Dead.
Ruben Amorim trains with the rest of the Portugal squad at the Ponte Preta training camp in Campinas, Brazil before the 2014 World Cup. Amorim made the last of his 14 international caps at the tournament, in a 2-1 win over Ghana, but Portugal never made it past the group stage and were eliminated on goal difference.
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Arsenal star in talks to leave after being left out of squad against Man Utd
Jakub Kiwior is in talks to leave Arsenal and join Portuguese giants Porto before the summer transfer window closes. The Poland international was left out of the Gunners squad that took on Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday. A goal after 13 minutes from Riccardo Calafiori was enough to seal all three points for Mikel Arteta's side in their opening game of the new Premier League season. Kiwior has been repeatedly linked with a move away from north London during the summer with interest from Porto emerging earlier this month. Reports in Portugal suggested Porto had given up on a prospective move after learning of Arsenal's huge £26m asking price. Metro's new weekly football newsletter: In The Mixer. Exclusive analysis, FPL tips and transfer talk sent straight to your inbox every Friday – sign up, it's an open goal. The club have since signed Jan Bednarek in a €7.5m (£6.5m) deal from Southampton but latest reports suggest Porto have not given up on a move and are back in talks with the player. Polish outlet Meczyki claim a deal is being discussed with hope of an agreement being reached next week. Kiwior's preference is to join a club away from the Premier League if Arsenal decide to cash in. More Trending William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes are the firm first-choice pairing in north London with Jurrien Timber, Ben White and Riccardo Calafiori all capable of operating at centre-half. While he has been a backup option since joining from Spezia in a deal worth £20m in January 2023, Kiwior proved his worth last season after Arsenal lost Gabriel to a hamstring injury. 'He deserves a lot of credit because he hasn't played too much throughout many months, and suddenly he's been thrown into the most difficult context, at the highest level, playing against the best opponents, when you haven't had the physical rhythm or the confidence to do it, and I think he's been exceptional,' Arteta said. Oleksandr Zinchenko, Reiss Nelson and Fabio Viera were also left out of the squad with Arsenal sanctioning exits for the trio. MORE: Ian Wright names Man Utd star who was 'nowhere near good enough' against Arsenal MORE: Shocking stats behind Viktor Gyokeres debut as Mikel Arteta offers explanation MORE: Xavi Simons makes decision over Chelsea transfer after Manchester City and Bayern Munich talks
North Wales Chronicle
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Ruben Amorim defends Altay Bayindir after Man Utd keeper blunder boosts Arsenal
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BBC News
2 hours ago
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How 'desperately unlucky' Man Utd showed signs of progress
Sometimes as a pundit you can still be really positive about a team's performance even when they lose, and Manchester United's 1-0 defeat by Arsenal is a good example of conceding a silly early goal that ultimately proved decisive, United showed on Sunday that their system works and also demonstrated the difference their new signings will make to I said on Match of the Day, they were more dynamic and more direct. Physically, they looked really strong they were able to be much braver when they tried to win the ball back because they have got much more quality higher up the they still lost and did not score, but United were the better team at Old Trafford and will feel desperately unlucky they did not get anything out of the game. The same shape, so what was different? We know United boss Ruben Amorim is not going to deviate from his 3-4-2-1 formation, and they were in the same shape again was different about United this time was they were much more positive in the way they were set up, whether they were in or out of a start, their wing-backs Diogo Dalot and Patrick Dorgu were really high up the pitch, and Amad Diallo was even more attack-minded when he replaced Dalot early in the second took a risk by pressing a team as good as Arsenal like that, and in the first half they got caught on the break a few times, when the Gunners beat their press and had overloads that they did not make the most United were at home, so they should be on the front foot and what I really liked about them was how they took the game to Arsenal, in a way they rarely did against the top teams last season - even when they United occasionally looked a bit ragged but, overall, the balance of the team was right and their energy was extremely they are to progress, they have to play with this kind of positivity all the time, and trust that their front players will eventually turn the great positions they find themselves in into goals. Arsenal were not allowed to take control United's new signings who started the game played a huge part in their improved performance.I know it is only one game, but Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo looked like the players United hope they will be.I am a big fan of what Mikel Arteta has done at Arsenal and for many seasons now one of their strengths has been that, in most of the games they play, they control possession and dictate the tempo to the did not have that control at Old Trafford, however, because of United's energy, bravery and willingness to try to go after them. All of that helped Amorim's side defensively of times last season when United tried to play out from the back, they were constantly caught in possession. We hardly saw that happen on Cunha and Mbeumo, there was a more physical presence at the top of the pitch, with lots of pace and runners who wanted to get behind Arsenal's defence. Last season, United's front line was pretty non-existent. Teams were not scared of them so they would just run all over now have quality players in attack who are full of confidence, who can frighten opposition defenders. That gives them respect straight could see that against the Gunners. With United looking to get the ball forward quickly, Arsenal's defenders were worried about Cunha and Mbeumo so they sat in rather than trying to get forward to kill the game United wing-backs were always willing to get forward in support too, knowing Cunha and Mbeumo were going to keep the ball. Mason Mount had an excellent game too, which was another big it went on, you felt more and more like a United equaliser was having 22 shots, it did not quite happen for them, but it still felt like their attack is more dangerous - and when Benjamin Sesko is fully fit he will add even more firepower. Not perfect, but plenty of signs of progress Of course there are still some question marks over United - they clearly were not perfect because they may need a new central midfielder to replace Manuel Ugarte or Casemiro, because I know not everyone thinks they are the ideal fit alongside Bruno Fernandes, who might need someone more powerful to do a bit more running for are doubts over their goalkeeper situation too, which cost them again here with Altay Bayindir's mistake for Riccardo Calafiori's is frustrating to lose to a goal like that anyway, but especially because it is something that has happened to them while there was disappointment on the day, this was still a game that gives United plenty to build course you always want results, but you also want to see some progress - especially at this extremely early stage of the season - and United's display showed plenty of now progress means the team getting better and more used to the manager's system, with the players becoming comfortable in their relationships on the pitch, and the new signings bedding is also about them putting their struggles of last season behind them, and playing with some confidence and of that happened against Arsenal. Although they lost, they played like they thought they could win, and every team who plays against them now is going to be Murphy was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.
