Key events
The Premier League table
If Newcastle draw with Chelsea and Nottingham Forest win at Leicester, there will be only two points separating third and seventh. The phrase “Spandex-tight” was literally invented for this scenario.
Iraola unhappy after Mings’ ‘very violent’ elbow on Scott
Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola disagreed with Jacob Ramsey’s sending-off but felt Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings was fortunate to escape an early red card following a “very violent elbow” on Alex Scott, who was later caught in the face by Amadou Onana.
“We’ve sent Alex for an MRI (scan) because he was really feeling it,” said Iraola, whose side were beaten 1-0 at the Vitality Stadium. “I think it is a very violent elbow – very violent. Tyrone Mings sees that Alex is coming and it’s a very violent one.
“The second yellow for Ramsey, I don’t think is a second yellow. Obviously a red card in the sixth minute (Mings) or a red card the 80th minute, the value is very, very different. But we cannot change this.” PA Media
Newcastle v Chelsea (12pm)
Big game, this, with both sides part of the ongoing Champions League Royal Rumble. Louise Taylor and Jacob Steinberg have answered the key questions ahead of the game.
What would missing out on the Champions League mean?
Newcastle: Europa or Conference League involvement would also increase the probability of Howe losing at least one leading player and quite possibly unsettle his star striker, Alexander Isak. Conversely, rubbing shoulders with Europe’s elite would enable Newcastle to keep not only Isak but Bruno Guimarães too. It would also make it easier to acquire a number of high-profile targets, including Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo, Crystal Palace’s Marc Guéhi, Burnley’s James Trafford, Ipswich’s Liam Delap and RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko. Finishing sixth or seventh would mean Howe had failed to trigger a contractual £3m Champions League bonus clause that would boost his salary to around £9m per year.
In other news, Tottingham won’t be recording a Europa League final song. Truly, the game hath gone.
Liverpool v Arsenal (4.30pm)
“Today’s match at Anfield may mean little, but personally I hope Liverpool humiliate Arsenal,” writes Tim Woods. “Michael Thomas and 1989 has not been forgotten, and given it’s now 36 years ago, safe to assume it will never be fully forgiven. So a healthy 6-0 home win would help to add a little more salve to an old wound.”
Crikey, not even Tony Soprano held a grudge that long.
Sid Lowe’s clasico preview
Football’s greatest rivals have played each other 260 times since 1902, one newspaper describing the scene then as one of “little ladies in wasp-waist dresses, rice flower on pretty faces; grave solemn gentlemen, dark colours brightened by a carnation through the buttonhole; dandies in sparkling uniforms; military men corseted into tight waistcoats and trousers like bullfighters; and playboys who have sneaked in, top hats and walking sticks with marble handles”, and every meeting seems to define the season. Rarely though has it so clearly been a title decider.
League Two playoffs: Chesterfield v Walsall (3.30pm)
My thoughts today are with the Walsall fans and their team, at the beginning of the year they looked a shooing for Promotion, now they have the playoffs, I wish them well today, as with every other side in the Play-Offs especially our friends at Sunderland, us Norwich fans have a long standing friendship with the Sunderland fans, thanks to the 1985 Milk Cup Final, so they’d be My preference in the Premier League next season.
FA Vase final (Whyteleafe v Whitstable, 12.15pm)
“I was both in Whitstable 70 years ago tomorrow, as it happens,” writes John Wyver. “My dad and my nncle Dick both played for Whitstable FC, and it’s so great that the club is at Wembley today. Wish I could be there, but I’ll be watching with the family on a stream in the south of France. Come on the Oystermen.”
I think around 10,000 Whitstable fans are going to Wembley. In the best traditions of Southeastern rail, there’s a bus replacement service for the first part of the journey. When you’ve been waiting 135 years to see your team play at Wembley, I guess an extra half an hour won’t hurt.
Man Utd change shirt sponsor for West Ham match
Manchester United have changed their usual shirts this weekend in a show of support for the fight against Aids, wearing one-off (RED) front-of-shirt sponsors in their matches against West Ham (men) and Arsenal (women).
The limited-edition shirts will be auctioned off on MatchWornShirt after the games to raise money for (RED), the global health charity co-founded by Bono.
Net proceeds from the auction will go to support the fight against health injustice and provide life-saving programmes in vulnerable communities. To date (RED) has generated more than $785m (£590m) for the Global Fund, helping 320 million people.
On this day
Liverpool v Arsenal (4.30pm)
Will Unwin
Arne Slot is planning to turn Trent Alexander-Arnold’s Anfield departure into a positive for Liverpool, the head coach has said. The right-back will leave Merseyside this summer for Real Madrid on a free transfer, meaning the Dutchman will need to find a way of replacing him.
Conor Bradley is set to start Sunday’s Premier League meeting with Arsenal at Anfield as preparations continue for next season with the title secured. Slot might have to look outside the club for someone to challenge the Northern Ireland international for the right-back berth.
The reader interview Duncan Ferguson
Look, if you don’t love Big Dunc, I’m not sure we can be friends. This is so good.
Any regrets from the Rangers years? Denny
Oh Christ, aye. I never gave myself the best chance to break through at Rangers. I wasn’t training. An amateur player would have been training harder than me. I just wasn’t dedicated enough. I thought I’d made it. Football was easy to me. I’d never had an injury, I came through at Dundee United and I was ripping it up. But then you start to get injured. You’re going on nights out, you’re not playing and it all starts to mount up. There’s a wee bit of trouble creeping into my life now. I’ve got massive regrets that I never gave myself the best crack at it because I was a Rangers boy, I supported Rangers when I was younger, but there is always a silver lining. If I’d cracked it at Rangers I wouldn’t have come to Everton.
Napoli are three wins away from only the fourth Scudetto in their history. But the relationship between fanbase and manager feels coldly transactional.
Assessing Antonio Conte is difficult. On the one hand, his career has been a story of consistent success. If Napoli do win Serie A it will be his sixth league title with four clubs in two countries in 13 years, a period in which he also transformed an unremarkable Italy into a dynamic side who beat Spain at Euro 2016 before going out to Germany in an 18-penalty shootout. On the other, it’s a tale of strife and constant tension. For club directors, he is a permanent migraine.
“With the clear proviso that all fanbases have a level of entitlement and very vocal idiots, it has been entertaining hearing (some) Arsenal fans explain furiously how Liverpool don’t deserve the league, and Arsenal have been better, and so on and so on,” writes Matt Dony. “It’s enormously childish, but I almost hope Arsenal win today, purely to see the frothing-at-the-mouth on Twitter later on. Arteta’s post-match comments would be for the ages.”
Are Arteta’s Arsenal becoming a cult? I don’t say that pejoratively – plenty of great teams are – but it does feel like something has changed in the past few weeks. All managers present a distorted reality when it comes to refereeing decisions, but when that extends to performance I think it’s a dangerous sign.
One example. In his first year at Man Utd, Erik ten Hag was a Dutchman to the core, bracingly honest, happy to admit when United were crap. But in his second season, as the pressure mounted, he started defending the indefensible. Whatever happens with Mikel Arteta, and he probably just needs a holiday, he’s still massively in credit overall. When he took over, Arsenal were an irrelevance. The existence of this entry shows that’s not the case any more.
The next big thing
Nothing in sport stirs the soul quite like the emergence of a brilliant young talent. Which relatively unknown teenagers have caught your eye this season? Let us know BTL or by emailing matchday.live@theguardian.com.
The first person to say ‘Lamine Yamal’ gets a life ban.
The next superstar of European football?
Miguel Dantas profiles Porto prodigy Rodrigo Mora, whose release clause of £59.5m already looks like value for money.
Mora is a creative playmaker, directing attacks and connecting the midfield to the forward line. He links up well with his back to goal, often playing quick one-touch passes to connect with an advancing midfielder. He rotates fluidly in tight spaces and shows confidence when driving forward.
“He sees the game like no one I’ve ever coached,” says Nuno Pimentel, the former Porto under-15 manager.
Portuguese title race goes to the final day
A 1-1 draw between Benfica and Sporting means the Portuguese title race will go the final day. Francisco Trincao’s early goal for the leaders Sporting was cancelled out in the second half by Kerim Aktürkoğlu.
Both teams have 79 points after 33 games – but Sporting, who won the return fixture 1-0, are top by virtue of the head-to-head record. If they win their last game at home to Vitoria de Guimaraes on Saturday, they will be champions. Benfica play away to Braga knowing they need to better Sporting’s result.
Saturday’s action
Plenty go get through this morning. Let’s start with the fallout from an exceedingly busy Saturday.
Premier League
Women’s Super League
Elsewhere
Preamble
Hello and welcome to matchday live, our Ronseal-inspired weekend blog. For the next few hours we’ll have all the build-up to a big day of action in England, Spain, Italy and beyond.
There are five Premier League matches, including Newcastle v Chelsea and Liverpool v Arsenal, as well as a clásico that could decide who wins La Liga. And the top two in Italy, Napoli and Internazionale, play this evening. Nicky Bandini will join us later to discuss the Serie A title race.
We’ll also reflect on yesterday’s action, including Chelsea completing an unbeaten WSL season and Manchester City failing to score at the Premier League’s bottom club Southampton. And we’ll hear from Simon Burnton, who is at Wembley for Non-League Finals Day. Whitstable, my local team if you’re into that sort of thing, meet AFC Whyteleafe in the FA Vase final at 12.15pm; Aldershot and Spennymoor contest the FA Trophy final at 4.15pm.
These are some of today’s key matches.
Premier League (2.15pm kick-off unless stated)
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Newcastle v Chelsea (12pm)
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Man Utd v West Ham
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Nottm Forest v Leicester
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Tottenham v Crystal Palace
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Liverpool v Arsenal (4.30pm)
La Liga
Serie A
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Torino v Inter (5pm)
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Napoli v Genoa (7.45pm)
EFL playoffs
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Wycombe v Charlton (League One, 6.30pm)
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Chesterfield v Walsall (League Two, 3.30pm)
Let us know your thoughts on the clásico, the Premier League top five race or anything else by emailing matchday.live@theguardian.com or posting BTL.