World news

Pretty soon – in a matter of “weeks” rather than months – Newcastle fans are set to get a visible sign of the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s continued commitment to the club.

Confirmation of a further tranche of investment by the club’s majority owners – earmarked to purchase the site of where a new state-of-the-art training ground will be built near the city’s airport – will land in the near future on Companies House, The i Paper understands.

While the impact of leaks and the pace of legal work prevent anyone from giving an absolutely cast-iron timeline, the funding has the green light. With doubts swirling about the club’s direction and Saudi commitment to investing in sport itself, confirmation of the first major infrastructure project of the PIF era cannot come a minute too soon.

The training ground – which may not open its doors until close to the 2030 date that chief executive David Hopkinson has optimistically set for Newcastle to be regularly competing for the Premier League title – will be funded by a combination of PIF investment and capital raised through the club taking on debt.

That last point feels important. While the hope of Newcastle fans (and fear of their rivals) was that the club would be viewed as a trophy asset by a fund with deep pockets, that was never, ever intended to be the reality.

“PIF is acting like an institutional investor because it is an institutional investor,” was how one source put it. No private equity fund in the world would write a blank cheque to fund a stadium or training ground and PIF is no different. Which is why Newcastle, unlike teetering LIV Golf, does not face the prospect of being cut adrift anytime soon.

Are PIF still committed to Newcastle?

Several sources contacted by The i Paper were unequivocal. Despite the speculation around LIV there is “no change” in the long-term plan for Newcastle.

Rumours that they are readying a sale of their stake in the club – which swirled around football circles last week – have been categorically denied by sources, who suspect they are partly the work of opportunistic investors or third parties who would be keen to test the water for a possible Newcastle takeover.

Last week PIF announced a new strategy which split the fund’s investment into three “pots”. The first, “Vision 2030”, is for domestic projects. The second, “financial”, is for investments in equity projects and stocks and shares.

Newcastle sits in the third pot: “strategic”. PIF sources have always said that while the investment is relatively small by the fund’s standards it is important because it is so public-facing. One source went further, referring to it as a PIF “crown jewel” because it gives them a presence in the globally respected Premier League.

Is Newcastle viewed as a good investment by Saudi Arabia?

Quite apart from the steep improvement on the pitch – with the exception of this season – it is also viewed by PIF as a successful investment off the field. Including the sale price of £305m, PIF have invested around £800m in Newcastle so far. According to the fund’s own internal metric the valuation of the club has significantly outstripped that investment.

One source familiar with football acquisitions believes Newcastle are now worth more than £1bn based on the price paid for similar clubs. Contrast that with LIV Golf, which is projected to require further hefty injections of cash to compete with the established golf tours, and you can see why sources describe the two investments as “chalk and cheese”.

Newcastle is still growing. The club have this week advertised for a slew of academy recruitment jobs across the Balkans, Italy and Spain. Key new off-the-field roles, in strategy, data and recruitment, are to be confirmed soon.

For many fans, though, there is a sense of drift about Newcastle. PIF have no intention of challenging the financial rules that have hamstrung the club’s ambitions, which has caused disquiet.

On the ground Eddie Howe’s position has been called into question after a mediocre season began to tailspin while at least one big sale – quite possibly Anthony Gordon, with Bayern Munich interested – is necessary. There is frustration that the issue of St James’ Park expansion is not resolved a year on from a decision being supposedly imminent, although The i Paper has been told that the intention is a call will have been made by the end of the year.

A high-level visit by senior PIF figures next week, then, feels symbolically important.

How do PIF view this season – and Eddie Howe’s future?

Next week’s annual “off-site” meeting at Matfen Hall in Northumberland is important and comes with the club seemingly at a crossroads. The team are 14th and set to miss out on their pre-season target of European qualification, which will have a significant impact on their summer business. Frustration is building on the terraces.

With Yasir Al-Rumayyan expected to jet into the North East to attend it is being viewed as a chance for the chairman to “grill” Howe on this season’s failings. The reality will be different.

The i Paper understands that Al-Rumayyan enjoys a warm relationship with Howe and has regularly enthused about his track record at Newcastle.

It’s been stressed that no one gets a “free pass” at St James’ Park and there is clearly frustration at the way the Premier League campaign has unfolded but as it stands the plan is to continue with Howe next season.

He has been part of all the club’s preparations for the coming campaign and recruitment planning – which has stepped up this week – has been tailored to bringing in players who would operate well in his system and favoured style.

But PIF are, in the words of one source who has worked with them previously, “obsessed with the numbers”. They will want to be across all the data and information and will expect things to change. Insiders suggest lessons of last summer’s fiasco of a transfer window have been learned and work has gone into ensuring there is improvement. The era of signings like Anthony Elanga and Yoane Wissa seems over.

The smart money remains on Howe being in charge – but of a very different looking outfit come August.

from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/aRV49Ag

Perhaps taking the opposite path to Tottenham will become the modus operandi of more clubs in the years to come.

Many have lazily labelled Leeds’ attitude to the transfer market as a “No dickheads” policy, but it is much more methodical than that. As Spurs focused their recent recruitment on young players with the potential to reach for the stars, Leeds went for the tried and tested, especially ones with that crucial knowhow in the relegation dogfight. Like Sean Longstaff’s propensity to pop up with a 97th-minute equaliser.

And as we entered the business end of the season, Spurs have gone one way, with Leeds hurtling in the opposite direction, to put themselves on the verge of safety with games in the bank. They head to Wembley on Sunday looking to book a second FA Cup final appearance in the club’s history.

Leeds looked to be “doing a Leeds” not so long ago, giving supporters a feeling of déjà vu as another season threatened to end in disappointment – the story of most Whites fans’ lives.

Seven games unbeaten later and their sensible summer is paying off. Club insiders highlighted several players who have been crucial to making sure Leeds do not, as their own supporters like to opine, fall apart again.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin was a shrewd acquisition up front. Getting into double figures on the goal front is only half the story. Sources have told The i Paper it is the standards the England striker asks of his teammates that has helped eke out that telling, survival-defining few yards when it has mattered most.

Patrick Struijk is another who gets more from his teammates in training, sources added. Ethan Ampadu provides guidance for anyone who needs it, leading by example on and off the pitch. James Justin is another dressing room influencer. His previous experience of relegation scraps is seen as a big part of Leeds’ resurgence. More surprisingly, Jaka Bijol is another Daniel Farke believes could be a future captain.

Farke himself has impressed those behind the scenes. His position has been called into question with regularity. Sources added that while the German’s position was never under review, worrying results earlier in the campaign caused some to consider looking at alternatives.

“Daniel is a calm leader,” one source said. “It is a huge job getting a club of Leeds’ size, with the pressure the job brings, into the Premier League. People forget that.

“He knows when to put an arm around the shoulder and when to issue a rollicking. He has been key to ensuring morale has stayed high, even in the tough moments.”

Part of the reason those within the club refused to panic was the feeling remained that the performances were there – away at Sunderland, a superb showing in defeat at Manchester City – but Leeds were not getting the points their endeavours deserved.

The club’s owners have to take some credit for the turnaround. Supporters rounded on club officials to splash the cash on a striker in January. Leeds were interested in Jorgen Strand Larsen, before he elected to join Crystal Palace.

The Norwegian was interested in a move to Elland Road, but the ownership refused to meet Wolves’ valuation, as it would have pushed them perilously close to punishment for breach of Profitability and Sustainability Rules.

Read more

• Daniel Storey: How Hull City made the data nerds look silly
• Michael Hincks: Aston Villa are being unfairly punished

Leeds understand that the lessons of spending beyond their means need to be learned – especially when there is real optimism that things are also heading in the right direction off the pitch too.  

Elland Road’s much-needed revamp is underway. The initial phase of its upgrade will take capacity up to 48,000. The same architects who have completed Anfield’s expansion have been brought in, to ensure construction will be carried out on top of the current structure, without any disruption to their current schedule. Sources added the hope is that it will take two to three seasons to finish.

With Chelsea in disarray, Leeds travel south to Wembley – roared on by a support that could have sold out their section two or three times over – with confidence their impressive season could have any even more memorable finale yet.

from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/D6YNFiV

Hull City have been one of the most fascinating teams in England this season.

Predicted by many to finish in the Championship’s bottom three back in August after surviving relegation on goal difference, Hull still have a decent shot at promotion.

The Tigers entered the top six on 10 December and have largely stayed there ever since.

But here’s the rub: Hull are a remarkable statistical outlier. Their expected goals differential, a measure of how many goals we would have expected them to score minus how many we would have expected them to concede, has them above only Sheffield Wednesday. 

So are Hull City the luckiest team in the country this season, or is the model itself that judges this overperformance failing to properly assess their greatest strengths?

The numbers are indeed silly…

Hull rank 19th for shots in the Championship and fourth for goals scored. They have had fewer touches in the opposition penalty area this season than Leicester City, their opponents on Tuesday night who have been relegated.

Fine, you say, they’re probably a very good defensive team. Well, not according to the raw numbers. Hull have allowed 653 shots – only Charlton Athletic and Sheffield Wednesday have allowed more. They have conceded the fourth most goals in the division too, so it’s not like they aren’t being punished.

And we have to refer back to that xG differential: not only would it have Hull 23rd in the Championship, they would be five goals worse off than 22nd on that particular measure. This is weird.

…but remember what xG really is

Expected goals is a measure of chances according to averages taken across vast swathes of data. It provides a useful level by which we can judge overperformance or underperformance over a period of time. For those who say “well this player is better than average,” yes! If xG accounted for every variable then it would not need to exist. You’d simply have the final score.

Hull have indeed been quite fortunate, in isolation and across a whole season. There is a wonderful homemade compilation of all the missed chances against them that I urge you to watch below. Many of those misses came at crucial times of crucial matches and them not being taken allowed Hull to generate momentum and belief that began to feel unshakeable.

Hull City Opposition Miss of the Season #hcafc pic.twitter.com/zTs4cM9WGk

— Nathaniel (@NathanielWhitto) April 20, 2026

But Hull are also good; you tend to generate your own luck when you play to your strengths, minimise your weaknesses and maximise the impact of your best players. And that’s exactly what Sergej Jakirovic has done.

Counter-attacking kings

Hull might concede an awful lot of shots, but that is a deliberate strategy. They sacrifice possession (ranking 20th by that measure) and territory, allowing opponents into their own penalty area and even to shoot (from low-value areas, ideally). They aim to win possession and, when they do, aim to attack at speed.

And they’re really good at it. Hull might rank 19th for shots but they rank sixth for shots from counter attacks and ninth for total shots on target. And when they choose to, the high press works too: only Ipswich have scored more goals from winning the ball in their final third of the pitch.

When you counter attack efficiently, the chances you create tend to be better because opposition defences are not set. Before Tuesday evening, 95 of Hull’s 480 shots were classified as big chances by Opta. By way of comparison, Middlesbrough’s total was 96 big chances from 694 shots.

A magnificent front two

We have shown that Hull have a strategy for allowing lots of shots and taking far less, maximising quality and forgetting about quantity. Their goals per shot is the second best in the league; their goals per touches in the box is the best.

But last summer they also signed the perfect strike partnership for the plan: Joe Gelhardt and Oli McBurnie, a retro little and large pair. To understand how efficiently Hull have serviced both strikers, know this; McBurnie and Gelhardt both rank in the top five players for individual xG in the Championship.

To supercharge that service, the two strikers have also outperformed expectations. McBurnie and Gelhardt have a combined 29 league goals from 22 xG. Jakirovic has found something that works and that few opposition managers have been able to stop.

Read more

• Daniel Storey: There is a weird feeling at Cardiff City
• Daniel Storey: Coventry City’s promotion is a monumental victory for resilience

Game state is a thing

There is another explanation for Hull’s regular overperformance: they need to attack less than most other teams. Jakirovic’s side have scored first in 26 league games this season, second only to Coventry City.

Also look at when Hull score their goals. No team in the Championship has scored more in the first 30 minutes of matches and only Southampton and Coventry have spent a higher proportion of their matches leading.

If you score first and do not have vast strength in depth, you tend to sit back and your opponents will have more shots than you. That isn’t a reason for criticism, it’s a logical progression.

from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/e1tkhz6

Chelsea have drawn up a shortlist of possible managerial candidates to replace Liam Rosenior as the club’s hierarchy consider calling time on his disastrous reign, The i Paper understands.

Sources say the club are “considering their options” after a run of five straight Premier League defeats without scoring a goal, with the possibility of an interim head coach leading the team for the rest of the season.

That would represent a major change from previous backing for Rosenior but the situation is viewed by some as untenable after Chelsea conceded ground in the race for the Champions League.

Missing out on a return to Europe’s top tier competition could cost the club as much as £90m.

The players were on a scheduled day off on Wednesday but the club’s leadership were locked in talks about their future direction.

Rosenior was viewed by BlueCo executives as the obvious choice after Enzo Maresca’s departure given his fine work at Strasbourg, but despite the club reaching the FA Cup semi-finals, they are worse off in the Premier League and could miss out on Europe entirely.

Rosenior was only appointed in January but fans turned on him during Tuesday’s dismal 3-0 defeat at Brighton, during which he was barracked by large sections of the visiting support, who also called out the club’s ownership.

Ominously for Rosenior, co-owner Behdad Eghbali was in attendance at the Amex Stadium.

It has now emerged that they are looking into alternatives to Rosenior, with uncertainty over whether he will be in charge for this weekend’s FA Cup semi-final against Leeds United.

Quite where Chelsea go next is unclear. The club’s former defender Filipe Luis was interviewed to replace Rosenior at Strasbourg and has admirers at Stamford Bridge but it feels inconceivable that they would go with another inexperienced coach to lead a project in danger of veering off the rails.

Former player Cesc Fabregas, who has Como in the European places in only his second season as manager, is an obvious choice but there are other options to take over permanently in the summer, with increasing uncertainty over Marco Silva’s future at Fulham.

Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola will also be a free agent but some who work in the Premier League believe the way the club operates – with influential sporting directors and a hands on ownership – will put off truly elite managers from taking the role.

Read more

• Kat Lucas: The unstoppable rise of Chelsea’s ‘little Messi’
• Daniel Storey: Liam Rosenior epitomises everything wrong with Chelsea

Rosenior was meant to be the compromise; a highly promising coach who bought into the overall strategy.

However, it has unravelled at frightening pace and his criticism of the players after Tuesday’s loss makes it difficult to see how he continues from here.

Previously the club had publicly backed Rosenior with the intention of reviewing his position at the end of the season. But news of the meeting of senior figures suggests Rosenior is far from safe.

from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/NypvEPo

Liam Rosenior is not the only problem at Chelsea; he is not even the biggest problem. The BlueCo model is broken. Some non-football private equity folk stormed in and believed that they could rewrite the rulebook on how an elite football club can maintain success. What happened next will shock you: they were wrong.

It’s all about player trading, you see. You buy very young (and very expensively), develop, win trophies, sell for profit and have more money than when you started to reinvest (or take out those profits yourself). You try to take a structure from another club, even though that rarely works. You double down on things that aren’t working for some reason. Maybe it’s because you aren’t spending enough and the contracts aren’t long enough?

Still, Rosenior is a problem because he epitomises the misguided fallacy of the model. Chelsea hand out long-term contracts to spread out their cost through amortisation; it allows them to buy more. That is one of the tenets of the project.

Long-term contracts for employees inevitably reduce accountability, even subconsciously. Why does it matter how you play now if your wage is guaranteed for the next six years? That’s the complication of long-term projects at elite clubs: they require shorter-term results otherwise everyone drifts.

In those circumstances, you need a manager who generates accountability on their own. They do so through instilling discipline. Or through their past record at similarly-sized clubs. Or through their tactics. Or through inspirational man management.

And, sorry, but Rosenior had none of the four that made him a fit for this position, with these players, in these circumstances. If that weren’t enough, he also played into the fears of Chelsea supporters about the direction of travel under BlueCo because he was a nepo-baby hire from within their multi-club system. Rosenior became the personification of BlueCo. The hard job got harder.

All the while, Rosenior’s media persona has generated deeply unhelpful scrutiny because it has become its own self-fulfilling prophecy: the sillier the soundbites, the worse the performance.

Former Rosenior's teammate at Hull City, Kevin Kilbane:

"I played with Liam at Hull, and I got on well with Liam; he used to tell some great stories of Roy Keane when he was his manager at Ipswich.

And you see the way he is now, to me, he’s unrecognisable to the player and… pic.twitter.com/Ogt4nX5SHQ

— Vince (@Blue_Footy) March 24, 2026

Kevin Kilbane, Rosenior’s former teammate, may have sounded a little mean when he said Rosenior sounds “like he’s swallowed a psychologist’s manual”, but this stuff matters. Players see it; supporters see it too. Rosenior sounds like he learnt motivational management at evening classes and that doesn’t help. He needed to prove that he was big enough for this challenge and his own words made that work more difficult.

It’s hard to fathom just how quickly this has got toxic. Chelsea have now lost five matches in a row without scoring for the first time since the Titanic sank; just the metaphor they need. There was a desperate switch of formation against Brighton that made no sense and didn’t work. Senior players have talked up their chances of leaving the club. One of them, Enzo Fernandez, was suspended for two games and yet was made captain on Tuesday evening. The club that outclassed them was the same one they took the structure wholesale from.

The biggest problem of all: Chelsea couldn’t afford to get this one wrong. Last month they announced the largest annual losses in English football history. The women’s team and the buildings have been sold. They need Champions League revenue next season and even finishing in the top half seems doubtful now. In those circumstances, appointing Rosenior might just have been the worst mid-season appointment at an elite club in decades.

“Liam has the ability to get the best out of this squad quickly and joins us with the responsibility and the backing to ensure Chelsea continues to compete at the top level in all competitions this season and in seasons to come,” read Chelsea’s welcome statement 107 days ago. It sounds like a bad joke now, or some inadvertent harbinger of doom.

But the real punchline? Chelsea followed the pattern of their own model by giving Rosenior a contract until 2032. There is a real chance that he fails to reach six months in charge of a club that agreed to pay him for six years. Ain’t that just the BlueCo way.

from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/QSWv6TB

Fulham are a club approaching a crossroads.

Amid uncertainty over the future of head coach Marco Silva, whose contract expires at the end of June, the Cottagers are now obliged to weigh up options ahead of next season.

Those include the possibility of sourcing a replacement for the Portuguese, who has been at Fulham for five years, or enticing Silva with a new deal and strengthening the squad.

The west London outfit are currently 12th in the Premier League and still have an outside chance of European football in 2026-27.

However, with a squad perceived to be lacking in sufficient depth and a surprising FA Cup exit to Southampton last month, Silva has faced some supporter criticism.

As such, talks between the club hierarchy and the manager need to be resolved as quickly as possible.

Fulham are also looking at contingency plans, should Silva – previously linked with Tottenham Hotspur – choose to depart.

“If Fulham finish strongly between now and the end of the season, he may stay but the club is at a crossroads,” a club insider told The i Paper.

“The club has ensured investment is there and Marco Silva is good at blending in players to the squad, but some fans suggest he is not looking enough at academy prospects.

“Silva is very guarded at the moment. He thought he might be in for the Tottenham job earlier in the season and there was interest from Brighton, too. In terms of his ambition, he wants to manage in Europe and that’s what makes the last part of the season so important for Fulham as they try and reach a qualification stage.

“If Marco stays then expect the backroom team to be bolstered. I think he feels it is a bit thin at the moment, compared to other clubs, but things like that are getting closer in discussions around his future.

“However, if Marco does go, Tony Khan [Fulham sporting director] has a contingency plan. Any replacement manager would have to be Premier League ready, with a similar profile to Silva. Someone who also knows European leagues and is a tracksuit manager.”

Intriguingly, someone who is available and broadly fits the bill in the event of Silva leaving Fulham is Thomas Frank.

The Dane left Brentford for Tottenham last June, only to become a managerial casualty of a fraught season after just eight months in north London.

Frank attended the scoreless derby between Brentford and Fulham on Saturday, fuelling speculation that he could be a potential new boss at Craven Cottage.

“He [Frank] lives in Sheen, south west London and would be a good fit for Fulham, but Crystal Palace are also interested,” the source explained.

“The Khan family are big on someone nice to deal with in and around the club, and Thomas Frank is a really decent guy.

“Older and younger Fulham fans may have different views on the idea of him, but he is a good fit for younger player development which worked well at Brentford.

“This has obvious appeal for the Khans. I’m not sure he would be the top choice if Marco left, but he is a choice. He was at the Brentford-Fulham game for something, maybe he was looking at Fulham?

“He knows the Premier League very well so would certainly be a consideration if things were to change.”

Read more

• Julian Taylor: Tottenham are running out of time and hope
• Mark Douglas: Mikel Arteta only has himself to blame for giving Man City the advantage

With conversations ongoing over Silva, it should be noted that the majority of Fulham fans would prefer the former Everton and Sporting Lisbon coach to remain. 

Harry Wilson may leave the club shortly too, which is another concern in relation to summer rebuilding and reinvestment.

The i Paper understands Silva has significant concerns over the right-back and forward positions.

“I think a lot of fans are still in the camp of wanting Marco Silva to stay,” the source noted.

“The Premier League has been a bit stale this season. Look at Chelsea in sixth down to Crystal Palace in 13th place. They are all much of a muchness. Fulham’s inconsistency is a concern as is the squad depth.

“While it pays for Silva to assess options, would he be seen as a strong option for Newcastle United if Eddie Howe leaves? I’m not so sure. The club have been good to him.

“Ideally he would like to stay – he knows from previous jobs that the grass isn’t always greener.

“From the club’s perspective they want him to stay, but they also want the team to finish the season in style. So these weeks are very important in terms of Silva staying or going. I do feel he owes some loyalty to Fulham. The players love him. It’s ‘do or die’ time for Fulham, really.”

from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/KRS03gx

With their hands tied, Aston Villa are outperforming a club who spent £446m in the summer and another who have splashed out £1.6bn in the last five years.

Liverpool, the Premier League champions who got recruitment badly wrong last summer, could yet catch Villa in the table, but both clubs are still primed to secure Champions League football next season.

That is in part thanks to Chelsea, who have slipped from contention after a torrid run, ensuring the Blues are no closer to where they want to be under BlueCo despite another £295m spent on players this season.

Villa meanwhile spent the least among Premier League clubs, while they are also 17th for net spend the last three years, a period in which they have juggled the restraints of profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) while playing European football.

You only have six guesses for the six clubs topping net spend in that time. It is of course the Big Six, with Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool all north of £320m and Chelsea £188m.

Premier League net spend

• 1. Arsenal – £409m
• 2. Tottenham – £405m
• 3. Man Utd – £392m
• 4. Man City – £367m
• 5. Liverpool – £322m
• 6. Chelsea – £188m
• —
• 17. Aston Villa – £42m

Last three years per Transfermarkt

Villa’s £42m is more than four times lower than Chelsea, and almost 10 times less than relegation-threatened Spurs, an indication of how much the Midlands club have had to rein it in after a £130m net spend the previous three years (their outlay was helped significantly by selling Jack Grealish for £100m in 2021).

Now the Big Six in all-but name given Villa and Newcastle United have both disrupted the established order in recent seasons, Tottenham’s plight is a particular reminder that money is no guarantee of success.

And yet it stings Villa to know they could not have spent as freely, nor as they would have hoped, more wisely, without being punished.

The rules are there to stop this league from becoming a state-owned or multi-billionaire’s playground, but the fact this door only closed after Chelsea and City reached the summit is why theories abound about the league protecting its wealthiest assets while inflicting pain on others.

Only Everton and Nottingham Forest have been deducted points in the Premier League for breaches in the PSR era, while in March Chelsea were fined £10.75m after admitting to secret payments over a seven-year period when owned by Roman Abramovich.

Chelsea’s “proactive self-reporting” and “exceptional cooperation” were noted by the Premier League as it considered various sanctions.

Few would argue against a £10.75m fine being short change for billionaires, while ever fewer need reminding that 130 charges still loom over Manchester City, all of which they strongly deny.

Co-operating has led to drastic measures. Last year both Chelsea and Villa were fined for breaching Uefa’s financial rules. They also both sold their women’s teams to their respective parent companies in order to comply with PSR.

But despite those similarities, Chelsea and Villa are on either side of the door, with the latter’s ambition shackled because they were not owned by a person or entity with vast wealth early enough.

Villa head coach Unai Emery has been vocal about such restrictions. Ahead of their season opener against Newcastle, the Spaniard noted both sides are “clubs doing good management, who will never be allowed to dream” in his programme notes.

Defender Ezri Konsa said PSR “killed” Villa last year, while both Tyrone Mings and John McGinn bemoaned the loss of boyhood Villan Jacob Ramsey to Newcastle.

“It seems to be the way football is set up these days,” McGinn said.

Related stories

• Daniel Storey: Chelsea’s gross rule-bending must make Everton and Forest feel like fools
• Mark Douglas: ‘The Premier League has a problem’: What Chelsea’s £10m fine means for Man City

Frustrations have been tempered and words carefully chosen, but really Villa should be angrier.

They are fourth with PSR in place. They pushed Arsenal and Manchester City close in the winter, and though their title ambitions faded, they are edging closer to a second Champions League campaign in three years and are three games away from winning the Europa League.

All this while being held back, thus underlining both the strength of their greatest asset, Emery, and the reality that we will never truly know what heights they could have reached under his watch had they been freer to strengthen where he saw fit.

from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/DPLEX7F

SELHURST PARK — The wait for Brennan Johnson to fulfil the expectations of his £35m move to Crystal Palace continues.

Since arriving as Palace’s club-record signing in January, before being trumped in the same window by Jorgen Strand Larsen, Johnson’s attacking account has been flimsy. 

There has been a consistent absence of end product from the Welshman, who ventures into promising positions but stops short of delivering the final ball or applying the finishing touch. That lack of quality has been a thread running through his nearly four-month stay at Palace, with the forward failing to score in 19 appearances and registering just two assists.

Against West Ham on Monday night, he should have netted his first Palace goal. An exquisite cross from Jefferson Lerma offered Johnson a free header less than 10 yards from goal, but the 24-year-old got his angles carelessly wrong and guided extremely wide of the target. It was the best chance of a relatively drab affair, as Johnson’s panicked header epitomised the disappointment of his early career in red and blue.

A foolish yellow card on El Hadji Malick Diouf followed. Although there was a hint of his quality, receiving the ball from Yeremy Pino before taking a touch and releasing a prompt effort narrowly wide of the post. On the whole, however, he struggled to have the desired impact.

His manager, Oliver Glasner, papered over the cracks in his post-match press conference — insisting Johnson’s performance marked progress as he attacked areas and occupied spaces he had previously struggled to, while demonstrating a better grasp of Palace’s defensive habits.

“He was a constant threat,” Glasner said. “It was his best performance out of possession; the job he did was amazing. In the last games, he didn’t come into great situations, so it was a great step in the right direction. The first step is getting into good areas and getting chances, then the next is to convert. When I see how he finishes in training, I am pretty sure he will score a few goals before the end of the season.”

In some ways, Glasner was right. This was an improvement, although it is more of an indictment of Johnson’s sluggish start than a glowing endorsement of his display against West Ham. Notwithstanding that Palace paid a hefty sum for attacking results, not defensive traits. 

There is little invention, he is not overly progressive, has little flair to beat a man and does not carry the ball — making him appear like a passenger. He has crossing ability, which he demonstrated at times against West Ham, but there must be a more concerted effort to find him in those wide areas to get the best out of him. 

There is merit in the argument that Johnson requires time to adjust to Glasner’s system, which utilises narrower attackers rather than wingers, with his experience coming out wide. But that is why it beggars belief that Palace spent £35m on him midway through the season when there is little time to bed in a new signing who is essentially learning on the job. The time to adjust – especially within a hectic European schedule – is non-existent. 

A mid-season fix, especially when making a club-record outlay, should be compatible with the style of play to improve the chances of an expeditious impact. After all, Johnson was signed as Palace had a shortfall in attack from the start of the campaign. Midway through the season, the recruitment should have been much more considered, with a quick result in mind. Instead, the discourse is whether Palace have wasted £35m.

Johnson may benefit from Glasner’s departure in the summer, should Palace opt for a manager who prefers wingers to inside attackers. He is more accustomed to playing out wide and timing his blistering runs to the back post, losing his man to finish clinically. There have been very few opportunities to demonstrate that efficient part of his game, which enabled him to score 18 goals in 51 appearances under Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham Hotspur last season. 

That may still come in a Palace shirt, and a reset in the summer, accompanied by a full pre-season, could serve him well. But the signs have been uninspiring. 

As Palace continue to contend in Europe, Glasner is intent on using his attacking options in the squad to keep it fresh: starting Johnson in the last two Premier League games, with Ismaila Sarr having played in Europe. With Shakhtar Donetsk on the horizon, opportunities are likely to continue as Palace seek Conference League glory – the onus is on Johnson to start taking his chances.

from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/MBcAzDt

A year can change the direction of your whole life. On 18 April 2025, manager Omar Riza first apologised for calling Cardiff City supporters clueless and was then sacked after a defeat that effectively relegated the club to the third tier.

On 18 April 2026, Cardiff City confirmed their promotion back to the Championship. So much of this club’s recent existence has felt fated by its own incompetence. A little jolt of positive serendipity is to be welcomed. What is this weird feeling? Is it excitement?

A cynic might remark that the pre-season title favourites have finished second; beware celebrating the achievement of meeting expectations But only a fool could make that conclusion here. A year or so ago, Cardiff City were broken.

When I came here in December 2024, a 2-0 home defeat to Preston North End devoid of any modicum of seasonal cheer, it was one of the most depressing live football experiences I could remember: half-empty stadium, fully empty bank of goodwill.

The Vincent Tan experience had reached its nadir. Cardiff fell into the bottom three and would end the season as the third best team in Wales.

It could easily have got worse still; League One offered no guarantees. In that context, promotion at a canter – Cardiff have been in the top two since the start of December and scored three or more in 14 league games – has become an unlikely cleansing detox.

If this is any one person’s triumph, it is Brian Barry-Murphy’s. Cardiff don’t do well with managers: you have to go back to Neil Warnock in 2016 for the last time they appointed one that reached 70 matches in charge.

For all that the hierarchy here is rightly scrutinised, they took an educated gamble on a man with no first-team management experience bar at Rochdale for two years until 2021. It has paid off double.

Barry-Murphy has done everything right. His man-management has been exemplary, his tactics relatively simple and effective, his use of substitutes improved all season and his sense to buy into the fan culture smart given the obvious disconnect between supporters and club when he arrived.

But his greatest trick was to understand that there was a USP within the fabric of this club that had been abandoned far too readily by his predecessors. The most basic geography lesson: this is the only professional club in a capital city with a wider population of almost 500,000 people.

It wasn’t being utilised. Last season, only two of Cardiff’s 24 most regular starters were Welsh. Of all the wastage here then and before, it was the degradation of that connection between place and club that made the least sense.

Inevitably, many players left after relegation. But rather than replacing with like-for-like on a sliding scale of quality, Cardiff chose to sign only three players (two of them on loan). Barry-Murphy, with his history of youth development, was happy to promote from within.

This season, 26 players have appeared for Cardiff in the league. Nine of them are Welsh and none of those are older than 24. In the four latest Wales squads from Under-17 to senior, Cardiff had 19 players. No wonder that Craig Bellamy says that Barry-Murphy’s management is “like a dream to me”.

In doing so, Barry-Murphy has overhauled the squad without demanding investment. The ninth oldest team in the Championship last season has become the second youngest in the EFL in 2025-26. It is a remarkable turnaround to combine with consistent performance.

Newsflash: football supporters like this stuff and like it even more when the team is winning. Most of it is subconscious, but not all: you see a young man score a winner who grew up around the corner; your kid sees a role model and a pathway every time that badge gets kissed. How can they not inspire you to want more of the same and want to see it happen? Cardiff’s attendances have gone up in the third tier.

It doesn’t take much to fall back in love. Supporters don’t want to fight with each other, whatever social media tells you. They don’t want to walk down Leckwith Road full of fear for what they might see or full of dread because they already know. They don’t want to live on the edge of mutiny about how the club is being run.

Read more

• Daniel Storey: Coventry City’s promotion is a monumental victory for resilience
• Daniel Storey: I experienced football as a blind fan – it was harder than I ever imagined

But when your club has been mistreated and allowed to rot before, trust eternally remains fragile as a means of emotional self-preservation and an early warning system. Cardiff City supporters aren’t necessarily waiting for things to go wrong, but they understandably require a drip feed of reasons to believe that things are still going right.

So here’s the thing: this has to be only the start. Barry-Murphy has to get his way, to continue this project as he sees fit, to play an active role in recruitment that avoids the magpie-style shopping of previous years that got Cardiff into their mess.

Get that right, and this can absolutely be a new era in which the club is representative of its location and its people, is helping the national team and is standing on its own two feet rather than being forced to its knees by self-inflicted blows. Cardiff can stand for something again beyond Tan’s misguided broken dream.

from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/SNcXyKs

Manchester City are the neutrals’ pick to win the Premier League title apparently, with a complicated concoction of reasons only strengthened by Arsenal having more rivals and objectors to their style of play.

But on Sunday, City made it harder for the neutral to have a favourite.

The water bottles being sold as “Arsenal tears” ahead of kick-off may have been one person’s idea of fun, but it spoke of a wider pandering to the Football Twitter brigade that has made this race nauseating with a month still to go.

Television cameras showing the City bottle fan at Chelsea the weekend prior kickstarted this little sideshow, but the arrogance merely ramped up after the 2-1 win over Arsenal.

The “Panic on the Streets of London” banner, unfurled at full-time, came just as Erling Haaland was giving side-eye to the camera, the glance and smug smile saying more than any interview could – all before he broke into a rendition of Flo Rida’s “Good Feeling”.

Given the importance of this match, and given Haaland had just won the match-defining battle against a rattled Gabriel, it was a justified response, and a continuation of the Norwegian’s belief that Arsenal need to “stay humble” given their silverware to bravado ratio is heavily skewed.

It was also further proof cockiness is earned. Bottles, banners and songs are only allowed with a month to go if you have won six of the last eight Premier League campaigns and a treble in that time. They will do it again because they have done it before, and the idea this is now City’s to lose is difficult to argue against based on momentum and recent history.

And it hits even harder because of what Arsenal have to show for their efforts under Mikel Arteta. The Gunners have topped the table for almost 100 more days than City since the Spaniard took charge in 2019, and yet they have never topped it at the right time, adding to this reputation as bottlers.

Never change, @ErlingHaaland pic.twitter.com/QtqYkq5F5P

— Premier League (@premierleague) April 20, 2026

The players will be more than aware. “It’s not done,” Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice declared from the Etihad turf, and all this – the hate, City’s arrogance, the belief it is now in their rivals’ hands – must now be their fuel to get over the line. It has to be.

And it is therefore worth remembering the title is still in Arsenal’s hands in equal measure. If City win at Burnley on Wednesday, both sides will be tied on 70 points with five games to go. The goal difference will be close, and it then becomes a straight shootout based not only on wins but the scorelines as well.

Two home games await Arsenal, against two out-of-form sides in Newcastle United and Fulham, and as well another home game against Burnley, it could be the two trips closer to home, against West Ham United and Crystal Palace, that decide the Gunners’ fate.

Remaining Premier League fixtures

Arsenal                             Man City

• Newcastle (H)             Burnley (A)
• Fulham (H)                   Everton (A)
• West Ham (A)              Brentford (H)
• Burnley (H)                   Bournemouth (A)
• Crystal Palace (A)       Aston Villa (H)
•                                          TBC: Crystal Palace (H)

City, meanwhile, head to Everton and Bournemouth either side of hosting Brentford. All three teams very much have Europe in their sights, with seven teams separated by just three points from sixth (Chelsea) down to Fulham (12th).

Opposition with something to play for could therefore have a bearing on this title race, but overall it comes to down to performances and mentality.

This Saturday’s hosting of Newcastle will show us whether Rice’s words ring true, or whether the fear of another trophyless season is eclipsing the belief that Arsenal can finally end the wait.

from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/0cCjypS

The unofficial line is that Newcastle United will review Eddie Howe‘s position at the end of the season.

A warts-and-all review, overseen by chief executive David Hopkinson and director of football Ross Wilson, was always planned at the end of the season but given the paucity of Premier League performances it suddenly feels make-or-break for under-fire Howe.

The i Paper was told recently that Newcastle “simply don’t have enough information” to make a definitive call right now. Hopkinson’s recent remarks at an accounts briefing raised eyebrows but, all told, were an accurate reflection of his position.

Howe retains plenty of support at St James’ Park but questions are being asked – and past achievements are “no free pass” for the current underachievement. A board meeting in two weeks, with PIF governer and Newcastle chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, may quicken things but no one really knows. In short: this is a moment of genuine peril for Howe, and suddenly no one is talking in absolutes about him being in charge in August.

But it is also a moment of real danger for Newcastle, too. Slipping out of European contention – barring an unexpected shift in momentum at Arsenal next weekend – will be financially costly but not nearly as damaging as letting the season drift into toxicity.

That feels like a huge threat now. There have been boos at each of Newcastle’s last two home games and the commitment of some inside the Magpies’ dressing room is now coming under close scrutiny. You suspect that will only get worse as the uncertainty around Howe increases. Better to lance it within weeks – decide definitively one way or the other – than let it limp into the early weeks of the close season, when other clubs will have made their moves.

The club is begging for change and it is coming. Recruitment is already pivoting under Wilson, whose relationship with Howe and conviction in the manager is his best protection against flat-lining form. I hear optimistic noises about the profile of player they are attempting to sign this summer, even if there will be painful sales to absorb. An optimistic take is that Howe comes along on that journey, chastened by poor form and convinced by Wilson that a part-data, part-global recruitment policy will arm his team better.

The version of events that lays the blame for Newcastle’s problems at the feet of the players negates to mention that Howe has had more influence than almost any manager over the composition of the squad. The chaos that saw a director of football quit and a chief executive out of action wasn’t his fault but Anthony Elanga, Aaron Ramsdale and Yoane Wissa were his picks.

Howe’s tendency to opt for tried and tested in the transfer market brought Newcastle to Ramsdale, who isn’t good enough. Sunderland plucked Robin Roefs from the Eredivise while Manchester United took Senne Lammens from the Belgian Pro League. Newcastle should have been shopping in those sort of markets.

One Premier League rival summed Newcastle up in one word this weekend: tired. Making a decision on Howe’s future now is the first step to re-energising a club on the brink of crisis.

from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/pF20luT

This is The Score with Daniel Storey, a subscriber-only newsletter from The i Paper. If you’d like to get this direct to your inbox, every single week, you can sign up here.

I think Sunday might have been one of the best days in Premier League history: a title tussle with the post hit on repeat, a team winning 4-3 after almost fudging it up, a captain scoring a first career hat-trick when his team needed it most and a Merseyside derby won in as the clock ticked over to 100 minutes.

The end result is that Manchester City and Arsenal now have a title shootout that could come down to goal difference, Tottenham must win next weekend or they are surely down, there is ludicrous race for European football that goes all the way down to 13th and Chelsea are still foolish and broken.

Here is one piece of analysis on each of the top flight clubs who played this weekend (in reverse table order)…

This weekend’s results

• Brentford 0-0 Fulham
• Leeds 3-0 Wolves
• Newcastle 1-2 Bournemouth
• Tottenham 2-2 Brighton
• Chelsea 0-1 Man United
• Everton 1-2 Liverpool
• Aston Villa 4-3 Sunderland
• Nottingham Forest 4-1 Burnley
• Man City 2-1 Arsenal

Edwards’ safety isn’t guaranteed at Wolves

I feel pretty uncomfortable writing this, but I think this weekend confirmed that there is a clear route through which Rob Edwards isn’t Wolves’ manager on the opening day of next season.

We wrote last week about the end of this season setting the tone for the future, but Wolves were rotten again against Leeds.

The nagging doubt: Edwards entered the Championship last season as the manager of a relegated team and, unfortunately, was unable to turn around the mood at a club that had grown far too used to losing. That didn’t indicate a desperate flaw on his part; Luton simply needed a change. I wonder whether Wolves might be the same.

Protest is growing at Burnley

To say that Burnley supporters are sick of Scott Parker’s post-match interviews, where he talks up attitude and effort for most of a match, rather ignoring the inability to improve upon the consistent periods of shambolic performance, is an understatement.

But something has changed recently. Rather than simply expressing their annoyance that Parker continues to be backed despite this tepid attempt at surviving relegation, focus has switched to Alan Pace’s ownership and the lack of action that has soundtracked this dismal campaign.

And here’s a piece on exactly that. Burnley have wasted this season. And if they do not start next season at an electric pace in the Championship, the protests will grow in intensity.

Well, at least Tottenham’s players care…

Whether this was a step forwards or backwards, with another chance missed, probably depends upon your own perception of how this Tottenham season will end.

Roberto De Zerbi taking a single point from his first two games in charge is evidently not ideal, but then if Spurs play like this against Wolves, Everton and Leeds they could feasibly win each of those games. That was the point De Zerbi made post-match.

XAVI SIMONS!

What a goal for Spurs! pic.twitter.com/SoJSgoUpXJ

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 18, 2026

One thing we can agree upon is that these players care. Some supporters accused the playing staff of acquiescing to the fate of relegation, but on Saturday evening they pressed hard and won the ball high. The celebrations after Xavi Simons’s goal, intense jubilation and passion to match the fans in the stands, proved that there is still fight.

That fight can mean something, but only if Spurs now win at Wolves in a manner that suggests the accrual of momentum and the learning of De Zerbi’s tactical demands. It’s certainly not done yet.

Read more: Tottenham are running out of time and hope

West Ham

Play Crystal Palace on Monday night.

Nottingham Forest’s saviour must go to the World Cup

Last Friday, I wrote a piece after Morgan Gibbs-White starred for Nottingham Forest as they progressed past Porto to reach the Europa League semi-final. A quote from that piece:

“Since the turn of the year, Gibbs-White has scored eight times. More often than not, he is Forest’s one-man band: scorer, creator, captain, leader by example. For all the mistakes made by this club last summer, keeping hold of him might just save them.”

Morgan Gibbs-White, TAKE A BOW!

It's a second half hat-trick for the Nottingham Forest star! pic.twitter.com/qdVeyA6wnW

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 19, 2026

Make that 11 goals. With a 15-minute hat-trick against Burnley, his first career treble, Gibbs-White continues to drag Forest further out of trouble almost on his own.

I don’t care which out-of-form star you need to drop to make it happen; you cannot leave a player in this mood and making this great a difference to his club side out of England’s World Cup squad.

Okafor a brilliant call by Leeds

When Leeds signed Noah Okafor on 21 August last year, it quelled some of the desperate noise that supporters were making about the lack of firepower in a squad they feared would succumb to the stresses of life in the Premier League. Even then, it was a gamble: Okafor had scored 14 league goals across three years in the Austrian Bundesliga and Serie A.

Since settling in, he has been a revelation. Only one player in the Premier League has scored more goals than Okafor’s five since the beginning of February, and that’s despite the Swiss international missing four of Leeds’ nine matches during that time through injury. He is capable of drifting wide and taking on defenders or finding space in the box with his movement to finish chances.

Between him and 11-goal striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Leeds signed one of the most low-key yet effective forward combinations in the Premier League for £18m in total.

No response, no point for Newcastle

There are a couple of Newcastle United-adjacent journalists who believe that Eddie Howe is the best man to lead the club forward next season, but the fanbase is turning and it’s beginning to feel irretrievable.

Howe said that he would only stay if he believed that he was capable of inspiring the players to be at their best. Those players must know that the manager is under extraordinary pressure to improve the current form, which has seen them take the same number of points as Wolves over their last 10 games. On Saturday, they produced even worse than they had before.

The best way forward here, I think, is for Newcastle to work on their replacement; Andoni Iraola would be a fine appointment. Then, in a week or two, announce that Howe will be leaving at the end of the season. That undercuts the current negativity and gives supporters the chance to give Howe the send-off his previous work here justifies.

Crystal Palace

Play West Ham on Monday night.

Fulham’s attack is now broken

Fulham have now scored in just one of their last six matches in all competitions.

Before 15 March, they failed to muster a shot on target in two Premier League matches in almost three years: Crystal Palace in February 2025 and Arsenal in October 2025. In two of their four matches since 15 March, the Cottagers managed a combined one effort on target: against Forest, before drawing a blank against Brentford on Saturday.

The lack of intensity is worrying anyway, but such a distinct absence of drive in a local derby will be viewed as unforgivable by a fanbase getting quite sick of this current funk.

Fulham have failed to score in the first half during nine of their last 10 games. They start games at half pace and are unable to switch up the tempo, so the chances they do create for their forwards typically leave them crowded by defenders.

Sunderland’s overperformance kings (almost) do it again

Sunderland are one of the most fascinating Premier League teams, not least because they bought most of a new team and immediately hit the ground running.

They haven’t won more than two games in a row all season and they haven’t lost more than two in a row either. So of course they went 3-0 down, got back to 3-3 should have won the game and then lost it.

The overperformance in attack is ludicrous. Sunderland rank 19th in the Premier League for touches in the box per match, 16th for big chances created, 18th for expected goals and 18th for shots on target per match. And yet there are periods of matches where they look like one of the most inevitable teams in the division, such is the danger that they create.

New home, same sickening feeling for Everton

They filled the Hill Dickinson Stadium with hope that this new place might mark the start of a new future, too. European football was on the agenda; it still might be. More immediately, they aimed to set the tone against the neighbours.

Everton were the better team for all of this Merseyside derby’s first half and some of its second; that doesn’t matter at all now. There have been too many sickening late moments for this fanbase in this fixture. As the Liverpool end sang and danced for 15 minutes after full-time, we add this one to that list.

Until Virgil van Dijk’s cruel late blow, this was an afternoon to conclude that there is little to separate Liverpool and Everton for quality and endeavour. Beto, a striker transformed, was the perfect leader of an attack designed by David Moyes. He occupied both Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate, won headers, pressed from the front, laid the ball off to teammates and scored Everton’s equaliser.

Beto equalises for Everton! pic.twitter.com/LeVwNlZ6dx

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 19, 2026

Injured after colliding heads with Konate, Beto was given a standing ovation and had his name chanted as a player who exemplifies everything good about this team: industry, self-improvement, squeezing the most out of his strengths and an ability to shut out the mistakes. His is a genuinely heartwarming tale.

There are, however, psychological headaches and hangovers that exist in this fixture and punish those who lack courage. Everton were guilty of sitting on a draw in the game’s final throes, 11 added minutes allowing Liverpool to accrue a little momentum. The European dream can still happen. Everton can still be great under Moyes ahead of schedule. But this one will hurt for a while.

Do Brighton have this summer’s big target?

Jan Paul van Hecke has now been at Brighton for almost six years. He’s had two loans, broken into the first team, become able to play in multiple positions and established himself internationally for the Netherlands, too.

Given his form over the last few months, I wonder whether Van Hecke might become the big central defender transfer story of this upcoming summer. He’s 25, there were leaked reports in April of him “being interested” in a move to a big English club this summer and we know from experience that Brighton will not stand in a player’s way if the fee works for them.

Liverpool need a centre-back; maybe two. Newcastle need a centre-back; maybe two. One of Arsenal and Manchester City always buy a centre-back. Manchester United might well need one. Chelsea need a good one. Let a bidding war commence.

Iraola shows humility and class as Bournemouth swansong begins

Although Bournemouth have announced that Iraola will be leaving at the end of this season, there is no suggestion that it will derail the end of their campaign.

All reports suggest that discussions were amicable and that Iraola is grateful for the manner in which the club accepted his decision. The response, winning away at Newcastle, suggests a ‘business as usual’ mood that epitomises how Iraola has gone about his business. And now, he has the chance to leave as a legend.

Bournemouth boast the longest unbeaten run of any Premier League team this season, a remarkable record now standing at 13 games and counting. European qualification is absolutely a possibility, but there’s a perfectly reasonable chance that Aston Villa win the Europa League and finish fifth. That creates a Champions League opportunity for anyone better than Chelsea and, right now, that certainly includes Bournemouth.

Brentford’s drawing run shows what might have been

Who wants a painfully obvious statement?

There is no difference between drawing three games and winning one by two goals while losing the other two by one. The unbeaten nature of the former record might generate more momentum psychologically, but in the final weeks of the season only the results matter.

"We're on a really exciting journey"

Keith Andrews reflects on Brentford's draw with Fulham and European aspirations…

@julesbreach

TNT Sports and HBO Max pic.twitter.com/7QivwuSBzd

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 18, 2026

This is absolutely not a criticism of Keith Andrews, who has been magnificent all season, but Brentford have now drawn five consecutive league matches. They have lost three league games since 6 December. But those draws – Bournemouth, Wolves, Leeds, Everton, Fulham – provide good reasons for wondering “what might have been”.

Brentford’s highest-ever top-flight finish was fifth in 1935-36, in the old First Division. It’s no exaggeration to say that they absolutely could have matched it, which is a ridiculous thing to write with a straight face.

How much have Chelsea ballsed this up?

You have to take a step back to appreciate just how much Chelsea have got wrong this season. Last summer, they were crowned literal world champions. Their creative accounting had allowed another huge spend. They had just finished fourth in the Premier League and looked set to get stronger.

On Saturday evening, Chelsea lost their fourth league game in a row without scoring for the first time since 1998. Liam Rosenior, who actually looked capable of generating some momentum during his early weeks, is now overseeing a period of such painful decline that it may well cause the club to miss out on next season’s Champions League.

"I can only say what I saw. I felt we were the dominant team from minute one to the end of the game."

Liam Rosenior offers his assessment of Chelsea's 1-0 home defeat to Manchester Utd.

@julesbreach

TNT Sports and HBO Max pic.twitter.com/urGystWOHL

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 18, 2026

Chelsea cannot afford to miss out on Europe’s premier competition without some significant financial questions. All they needed to do was appoint an experienced, capable manager to oversee mid-season uncertainty. They took an enormous gamble and it is blowing up in their face.

Salah leaves one last Liverpool legacy moment

Roughly 60 seconds before Mohamed Salah opened the scoring, the stadium announcer in the Hill Dickinson Stadium lauded Iliman Ndiaye – whose effort VAR ruled out for an offside call – as the first Merseyside derby goalscorer in this new Everton home, etching his name in history.

Salah did not get the same treatment, unsurprisingly. He will not care.

Moments after Iliman Ndiaye's goal was ruled out, Mohamed Salah gives Liverpool the lead in the Merseyside derby pic.twitter.com/UgNLj0l8cq

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 19, 2026

Liverpool’s wavering form and Champions League exit, combined with questions over Arne Slot’s future, have rendered Salah’s farewell tour a little unhelpful. The only way for him to flip that narrative is to contribute in the final third. Remarkably, this was only Salah’s second league goal away from Anfield since October.

Thanks to the events of the 100th minute, you suspect that Salah will always remember this one. Liverpool have a grip on a Champions League place again and the Egyptian is theirs for another five months at least.

Aston Villa’s striker is reborn

Ollie Watkins has a trophy to win, a top-four finish to aim for and a World Cup place to save. He might just be able to achieve all three if he keeps up his current form.

A brace against Sunderland means Watkins now has six goals in his last five Villa appearances between the Premier League and the Europa League; he had two in 15 directly beforehand.

It's Ollie Watkins, AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/hA5rXvJZqZ

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 19, 2026

The difference might just be confidence, but Watkins also seems to be competing physically with more impetus rather than simply running the channels and looking for space. He is occupying central defenders, creating more space for Morgan Rogers and in doing so increasing the chances of receiving the service he requires.

With Dominic Solanke – in the last England squad – hardly prolific at Tottenham, Watkins has the major tournament experience and is surely likely to be back in Thomas Tuchel’s thoughts. Timing is everything.

Man Utd’s talisman flourishes again in his rightful role

Picking faults with Ruben Amorim’s management and tactical prowess is like shooting a blue whale in a barrel. But of all his foolish decisions, the call to play Bruno Fernandes in a deeper central midfield position was the stupidest.

Amorim’s 3-4-3 formation dictated that there was no central attacking midfielder required, even though Manchester United had the most productive central attacking midfielder in the division.

Manchester Utd make the breakthrough at Stamford Bridge through Matheus Cunha

Bruno Fernandes gets his 18th Premier League assist this season in the process!

TNT Sports and HBO Max pic.twitter.com/1eKF8RUNm5

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 18, 2026

That is Michael Carrick’s gain. The interim boss has pushed Bruno further forward, given him the central midfield cover that allows him to stay higher up the pitch and has reaped the rewards. Bruno has 18 assists, two off the all-time Premier League record; 11 of those have come in his last 13 appearances.

Sometimes, football management involves putting the best players in their best role and getting the best out of them.

Read more: Man Utd’s talisman is about to eclipse Henry and De Bruyne

Beware Man City in the springtime

By Mark Douglas

The big moments of Sunday’s heavyweight clash belonged to Manchester City, and none more so than the decisive one when Erling Haaland hooked the winning goal past David Raya mid-way through the second half.

It was a move started by Gianluigi Donnarumma hurling the ball to the outstanding Nico O’Reilly, whose combination with Jeremy Doku was superb before the ball skimmed across the penalty area for Haaland to finish.

"Manchester City in charge, again!"

Erling Haaland powers through to find the back of the net pic.twitter.com/tt04wbQnaz

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 19, 2026

How the big Norwegian relished that moment, the high point of a brutish running battle with Gabriel. The pair engaged in a skirmish that was a throwback to a bygone era, right down to Haaland resisting the urge to sprawl to the floor when the Brazilian thrust his head at him.

"He's very lucky"

Should Gabriel have seen red? pic.twitter.com/pDjN7OfvFB

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 19, 2026

Haaland was the headline-grabber, but not the game changer; Bernardo Silva and O’Reilly vied for that title while Rayan Cherki was a joy to watch. His slaloming run and impudent finish on 16 minutes felt like a liberty in a game of the magnitude, setting the tone for a game played at breakneck speed.

Rayan Cherki doing his thing pic.twitter.com/VsOlkpjcnu

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 19, 2026

Sure enough their lead lasted no more than two minutes. Much has been made about Arsenal’s inability to score goals but here they were presented with one: Donnarumma dawdling before being charged down by Kai Havertz for a gift-wrapped equaliser.

"WOAHHHHH!!"

Kai Havertz pulls Arsenal level in chaotic fashion! pic.twitter.com/A4ZjjDF921

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 19, 2026

At that point, Arsenal were edging it. But, as Arteta is finding out, the last thing you want is to tussle with Guardiola and City in springtime.

Have gritty Arsenal left it too late?

By Mark Douglas

Where has this version of Arsenal been since the clocks went forward?

Forget dejection, Mikel Arteta’s biggest emotion this morning should be regret. Had they been this liberated against Bournemouth, Brentford or Wolves, they would still be in charge of their own destiny.

They still are, to an extent and there’s a deep irony that the contest might now go down to goal difference. An Arsenal side so reliant on set pieces to grind things out earlier in the season now need goals and for things to flow freely in their remaining fixtures. They not only need to win, they need to run up the score against the likes of Newcastle, Burnley and Palace.

Eberechi Eze rattles the post! pic.twitter.com/aipB9QSJCO

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 19, 2026

The chances they created at the Etihad should given them hope. Twice they clattered the woodwork – Eberechi Eze’s shot squirming agonisingly off the inside of the post – and they breached City’s defence on enough occasions to give them hope.

It’s not over yet. But if the bell tolls for Arteta’s team, the regret will gnaw away at him. Why couldn’t they have done this a couple of weeks before?

from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/OeXuZT9