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Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Leeds United (Tel 50′ | Calvert Lewin 74’ pen)

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM – Antonín Kinsky may well have stopped Tottenham Hotspur from facing Lincoln City next season.

Albeit that sentence would have more commitment if it were not for Mathys Tel foolishly kicking Ethan Ampadu in the head, undoing his earlier wondergoal.

Tel controlled a cleared corner on the edge of the penalty area and beautifully threaded his right-footed attempt into the top corner, leaving Karl Darlow helpless as Spurs took the lead. An effortlessly outstanding finish.

Yet just 25 minutes later, after scoring his first goal since January 4, the French attacker attempted to clear Richarlison’s miscued lobbed intervention from a Leeds United free-kick with an overhead kick without checking his surroundings.

Ampadu flew into the penalty area to contest the ball, and Tel’s ridiculously high foot was enough to send referee Jarred Gillett to the monitor to award a penalty.

It was a fatuous decision by Tel. He had no grasp of what was going on around him, no idea that Ampadu was charging into the penalty area.

In a way, Tel’s consequential 25 minutes epitomise his first full season in a Tottenham shirt: glimpses of quality coupled with avoidable errors. Spurs boss Roberto De Zerbi vowed to console Tel with a “big hug and a big kiss” after the 21-year-old’s mistake – which he attributed to inexperience – allowed Leeds back into the game.

De Zerbi refused to say much more about the incident. But Tel was impetuous and cost Spurs two vital points in their hunt for survival, offering West Ham United another chance to climb out of the relegation zone and squandering the opportunity to put daylight between themselves and the bottom three.

The value of the point will not be known until the very end of the season – especially with West Ham still to play Leeds –but with Spurs having tougher fixtures, it appears a missed opportunity.

Although it could have been bleaker if it were not for the unlikely hero Kinsky. Two months on from his catastrophic display against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, the 23-year-old produced one of the saves of the season in stoppage time to ensure Spurs walked away with a point.

Leeds crafted an expansive attack down the right with James Justin finding Sean Longstaff’s well-timed run into the penalty area. Longstaff whacked a left-footed shot goalbound, attempting to smash into the top corner. But an instinctive, rapid reflex save from Kinsky saw him tip it onto the bar and maintain the point. It could prove to be the most definitive moment in Spurs’ season.

Having started all five of De Zerbi’s games in charge since he took the reins in March, Kinsky has admirably put his nightmare in Madrid behind him.

Subbed after two mistakes midway through the first half in Spain, it was a moment capable of destroying the young goalkeeper. Thrust into the global headlines, humiliated and dubbed ‘Slipsky’, it seemed a long way back.

However, he has shown incredible resolve and fortitude to come back and make a material impact on Spurs’ quest for survival. Kinsky had just three saves to make against Leeds, two of which were of the highest quality.

Read more

• Kat Lucas: Tottenham’s modern-day Klinsmann has salvaged their season
• Michael Hincks: West Ham have one man to blame for this mess – and it’s not the VAR

The final save made the first, which he had to claw from behind him, seem easy. It was far from it as he denied Joe Rodon from a short corner routine.

This was a reminder of Kinsky’s potential, and Spurs will be grateful for the timing. Tel, too. Otherwise, Spurs would have slipped to defeat, with the blame pinned on the young Frenchman, making the wait for West Ham’s game on Sunday feel far gloomier.

Spurs could still end up in the relegation zone before they next kick a ball, with West Ham travelling to Newcastle United on Sunday. But the onus is on the Irons to win, otherwise De Zerbi’s side could retain their Premier League status against bitter rivals Chelsea on Tuesday after this weekend’s FA Cup final.

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Defensive players rarely win individual awards. The only pure defender to win the Ballon d’Or in the last 55 years was Fabio Cannavaro and that was largely because he captained 2006 World Cup winners Italy. In the Premier League, two defenders have won the Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year award since 1993 – Virgil van Dijk and John Terry. The only Football Writers Association’ winner since 1989 was Ruben Dias.

Goalkeepers win individual awards even less: often. Peter Shilton was the last for the PFA in 1978 and Lev Yashin is the only goalkeeper ever to win the Ballon d’Or. Is that not strange? Sixty-nine years of an international award being handed out, perhaps eight positions to pick from (goalkeeper, full-back, centre-back, defensive midfielder, central midfielder, No 10, winger/wide forward, striker) and a goalkeeper picked once.

It suggests one of two things: defensive players are weaker than attacking players or people just prefer attacking players winning awards because we like goalscoring and attacking endeavour. It’s the second of those and it’s time to redress the balance.

I broadly believe that the Player of the Year award should go to an individual involved in the title race, unless there is an extraordinary reason not to do so. Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes comes close to that for the sheer volume of assists and the standard of the Premier League in general, but I don’t believe it quite worthy enough. You can certainly argue that Fernandes makes the biggest difference to one team (although Morgan Gibbs-White has a similar case), but that isn’t my selection criterion.

I’m then ruling out Manchester City players. The only options were Erling Haaland, who has had better Premier League seasons and endured a quiet spell between December and March, and Rayan Cherki. Cherki has been superb since February but has only started 19 league games.

We’re down to two options. The first is Declan Rice, who is likely to rival Fernandes for the PFA award. Rice would be a perfectly reasonable winner, but his excellence lies in consistency over an extended period more than starring over a single season. I think some of Rice’s best work came towards the end of 2024-25. The deliberately controlled nature of Mikel Arteta’s tactical style this season has limited Rice slightly, albeit he has still flourished.

Handily, I think 2025-26 is the perfect campaign for a defensive player to win individual awards. It is the theme of the Premier League season: more 0-0s and 1-0s and almost half a goal down per game from 2023-24. If Arsenal win the league, it is not because of their work in midfield or attack. They have conceded 26 goals.

David Raya has been the difference-maker in this title race above any other player. He has won the Golden Glove already because his 18 clean sheets are four clear of anyone else. He has kept clean sheets in 55 per cent of his appearances in all competitions.

Read more

• Daniel Storey: Yes, it was a foul on David Raya – but that completely misses the point
• Kat Lucas: Arsenal have one hand on title thanks to most controversial VAR call in history

Speak to any Arsenal supporter and they will tell you that Raya has earned them 10 points or more; he has made extraordinary reaction saves throughout this season. Speak to any teammate and they will wax lyrical about his calming impact.

As Mikel Arteta said on Sunday after potentially the defining victory of Arsenal’s season, Raya has produced a series of “magic moments” this season that have pulled his team closer to the title and avoided further pressure from building.

I think he has done so more often than any other player in the title race. Raya was a slightly unpopular replacement – amongst Arsenal supporters, even – for Aaron Ramsdale and he has become one of the best goalkeepers in the world. He defines both their title push this season and their relentless improvement over the last three years. He is my Player of the Year.

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Self-deprecation and football go hand in hand, so no VAR in the Championship is one positive West Ham fans are talking up.

Sunday’s mammoth decision to disallow Callum Wilson’s 95th-minute equaliser propelled Arsenal closer to the Premier League title and left West Ham staring at a first relegation since 2011.

It is not over, but there is a resignation among West Ham fans after VAR Darren England and referee Chris Kavanagh combined for what Gary Neville called the “biggest moment in VAR history in the Premier League”.

Social media has seen a flurry of examples where Arsenal’s players have imeded opposition goalkeepers this season. It has made for a loud 24 hours. But cut through the noise and it is easy to overlook how West Ham landed themselves in this mess.

Fans have been witnessing this demise for years and feel powerless to change it despite numerous protests this season. The defeat to Arsenal fell exactly 10 to the day since after West Ham’s last game at Upton Park. The switch to the London Stadium was meant to signal ambition, but the period has shown just how stuck they are under owner David Sullivan.

Bournemouth, Brentford and Brighton are all competing for Europe with sustainable financial models. That stings West Ham fans, who watched their side finish sixth in 2021 and then win the 2023 Conference League.

That trophy should have been a platform but now reads like an anomaly that glosses over the direction in which West Ham were already going. They are closer to replicating Leicester City than Bournemouth.

Financially, they are a mess. West Ham posted £104m losses for 2024-25 and said player sales were essential this summer “to have sufficient liquidity”. The board added “additional funding” from shareholders could be required.

In terms of personnel, they are a mess too. Baroness Karren Brady stepped down as vice-chair last month. “Her legacy is deeply damaging,” West Ham’s Fan Advisory Board said, noting Brady’s role in moving the club to London Stadium and the subsequent “dilution of identity, atmosphere and belonging”.

The ill-fated spell of Tim Steidten as technical director also deteriorated matters. He arrived straight after the Conference League win, departed in February 2025, and during his one-and-a-half years he merely created division to the point of being banned from the dressing room by then manager David Moyes, whom Steidten was looking to replace.

After Moyes, Julen Lopetegui did not last a year and neither did Graham Potter. Nuno Espirito Santo arrived in September with the club 19th.

Nuno has enjoyed fleeting spells of momentum – they are 10th in the table this calendar year – but the damage was already done when he got there.

It has been misstep after misstep in the transfer market. Gone is the influence and class of Lucas Paqueta. So too Mohammed Kudus. The Declan Rice money (£105m) from 2023 helped fund a £126m backing of Lopetegui on eight players the following summer – somehow, West Ham have still ended up with the third-worst defence in the league.

Read more

• Daniel Storey: Yes, it was a foul on David Raya – but that completely misses the point
• Julian Taylor: West Ham warned of relegation ‘fire sale’ with £100m quartet set for exit

Yet nothing sums up their expensive failures quite like their ongoing search for a striker. Gianluca Scamacca cost £30.5m in 2022 and left a year later. Niclas Fullkrug joined for £27m in 2024 and is currently on loan at Atalanta. Pablo and Taty Castellanos were signed in the winter and have four league goals between them (all Castellanos), while Jarrod Bowen is the top scorer with eight.

In short: it’s one big, dysfunctional mess, and that is down to Sullivan. On his watch, club after club have leapfrogged them.

And when combining the ambition of numerous Championship clubs with West Ham’s need to sell, should they go down then bouncing back will be a challenge. With two games left to go, a dark cloud hangs over a stadium the supporters don’t like. It could be about to pour.

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Xabi Alonso has emerged as the front-runner for the Chelsea job in a move that indicates the club are willing to cede more power to the manager over recruitment.

The i Paper understands that the Blues are showing serious interest in former Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid boss Alonso, who is open to the prospect of a move to Stamford Bridge despite the travails of previous managers Enzo Maresca and Liam Rosenior.

Chelsea have other candidates with Fulham’s Marco Silva and Bournemouth’s soon-to-be free agent Andoni Iraola both of interest, but Alonso has some high-profile backing inside the ownership group and would represent something of a coup given he is one of the hottest managerial properties on the market.

He might also be an option if Arne Slot leaves Liverpool though at the moment they are planning to retain him for next season, despite the club’s apparent regression.

Alonso wants to get back into management this summer so is unlikely to hang on in case that stance changes.

Early indications are that Chelsea want to have an appointment lined up for shortly after the end of the campaign, with a potentially substantial rebuild job ahead of them this summer.

Como’s Cesc Fabregas, whose spell as a player at Stamford Bridge has made him the pick of many supporters, has also been linked with the role but the early indications are that he will stay in Italy for another season.

Interest in Alonso suggests that the “period of reflection” that Chelsea’s owners mentioned in the statement that accompanied Rosenior’s departure has led to them conceding that the manager must be given more influence on the direction of travel with key issues like transfers.

Rosenior was – perhaps unfairly – viewed predominantly as a company hire given his success elsewhere in the BlueCo group of clubs.

That did not help his credibility with certain players and there is a feeling that a stronger voice with a more substantial CV is required to steady a listing ship.

Maresca’s departure came amid reports that his relationship with the club’s hierarchy had broken down and he had clashed with them over transfers.

As reported by The i Paper last week, he is now poised to succeed Pep Guardiola if the Catalan decides to leave Manchester City at the end of the season.

It is highly unlikely that Alonso would even entertain the idea of joining Chelsea if he was to be similarly undermined on recruitment, especially with the Blues facing a huge close season for overhauling their squad.

Read more

• Pete Hall: The first step of Chelsea’s rebuild just became clear
• Daniel Storey: Yes, it was a foul on David Raya – but that completely misses the point

There are question marks over the future of stars such as Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer, with Chelsea’s senior players set to miss out on significant bonuses without Champions League football next season.

The Blues have ambitious transfer targets themselves, including Elliot Anderson, who is being targeted by Manchester City and Manchester United, but those appear unrealistic while the club are perceived to be in turmoil off the field.

Chelsea have a chance to salvage something from an underwhelming campaign in Saturday’s FA Cup final against Manchester City but given their substantial outlay on players and the size of their wage bill, they cannot afford to have a prolonged absence from the Champions League so their next managerial appointment is crucial.

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Given that we can’t agree on anything else without getting angry, let’s at least agree on this: Sunday was the perfect denouement to this Premier League season. What better way to embody the title race and relegation battle’s defining moment than us all staring at super-slow-motion replays for five minutes and trying to work out which of the physical grapples might count as an offence. You get the Totaalvoetbal you deserve.

My personal view – does that matter? Ah well – is that it was a foul on David Raya. There were a lot of other moving parts – grabbing, jostling, holding – that occur at virtually every set-piece situation in the Premier League, but holding a goalkeeper’s arm with that same arm across him is an offence that goes above and beyond and becomes relevant when that goalkeeper drops the ball. I think. Don’t find all those other times I said different.

Should it have taken five minutes? Ideally not. Does the time taken mean that it can’t meet the “clear and obvious” bar? Also no. The repeated replays are to ensure that nothing else more pertinent has been missed. It doesn’t make it less of a foul because you’ve watched it 10 or 20 times.

But what about all those goals that Arsenal were awarded when their players did the same? Well, maybe, although seeing a still of a hand resting on an arm or an arm across a goalkeeper that isn’t grabbing anything isn’t enough to convince me of that. But yes, officials making subjective decisions on slightly different incidents and coming to slightly different conclusions is a thing that can happen.

At this point it’s worth taking several deep breaths, several more steps backwards and work out how we got here: the water cooler moment of this Premier League season being a VAR check and the subsequent ragefest. Is this not objectively quite bleak? And here’s the real kicker: I don’t think anything can be done.

This is a VAR-inspired issue. Before its introduction – which I’ve always hated, yay – the referee giving a decision or not at least became the end of the process. It may have still caused arguments, but there was no mechanism to establish a replay loop during which football could be hyper-examined in freeze frame, unless you wanted to do it in your own time. The overanalysis was not a part of the sport; and then it was.

VAR’s biggest impact, other than making people scream on the internet, is to offer a magnified view of grey areas that we were never ready to see in such granular detail. By devoting more time and oxygen to the coverage of those grey areas, it started a culture war in which conspiratorial thinking was already rife. Like football, like life.

Some people will make grand statements such as “Referees just need to start giving penalties for holding in the box”; there are others. Which is lovely in theory, but take this example: both teams hold at the same time, at every set piece and there are multiple instances occurring at the same time. Do you give the first one, the most heinous one, the one that happens closest to the ball or the one that makes the biggest difference to play?

If you don’t want VAR – like me – then you can’t simultaneously expect referees to get all of this right because, as we have said, there is so much physical contact in a confined space with moving parts that it is impossible to see it all with the naked eye. If anything, that’s an argument for more intrusion from technology.

You can’t just say “Erm maybe the refs should just get every decision right” and pretend that is a solution because most of this stuff is subjective and even if it wasn’t perfection is impossible. And (and this doesn’t get said enough): we are all being subjective too. We are allowed to disagree with each other, with officials, with everything; that’s what subjectivity is. It’s completely our choice to let that anger us.

Finally, back to the culture war, can you honestly say that Premier League referees giving six penalties a game, or disallowing goals at every set piece, is going to make you more chilled out and stop sending stills of live action on social media? Is it suddenly going to make fans of rival clubs shake hands and agree that, thank god, this is a far better experience. Or would everybody just lose their minds more?

Read more

• Daniel Storey: My verdict on every Premier League team after Gameweek 36
• Kat Lucas: This was the most controversial VAR call in history

There are small fixes. There will be a new initiative this summer. Football goes in cycles and will revert closer to the mean. But the general aesthetics and PR of this Premier League season have been dismal. The dominance of set pieces is not a pleasant aesthetic experience for most, and especially for casual viewers. The dominance of VAR is worse still, a part-solution to an impossible problem that inadvertently promised perfection.

Or maybe I’ve got it all wrong. If football is a mirror of society, perhaps this is simply the inevitable end game: changing the framework in the Sisyphean pursuit of a constructed notion of “rightness” that is actually a shapeless mass. Analysing every moment for controversy because it all came to matter too much and put too much at stake. Cannibalising something that used to exist for enjoyment and entertainment thanks to its slow dance with hyper-capitalism.

Ah well, at least the Fifa World Cup starts soon.

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Set pieces, VAR drama and everybody arguing about rights and wrongs until we all fall out. The final minutes of West Ham vs Arsenal probably determined the destination of the Premier League title and fitted the narrative of this season perfectly.

That result also gave Tottenham Hotspur a huge advantage for avoiding relegation and it’s perfectly possible that everything is sorted out before the final weekend there.

Still, we will always have the Champions League race. There may be five teams or six. It may be any one of the “B” teams or none of them. Aston Villa may qualify via two routes or none at all. What great fun.

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

• Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea
• Brighton 3-0 Wolves
• Fulham 0-1 Bournemouth
• Sunderland 0-0 Man Utd
• Man City 3-0 Brentford
• Burnley 2-2 Aston Villa
• Crystal Palace 2-2 Everton
• Nott’m Forest 1-1 Newcastle
• West Ham 0-1 Arsenal

Edwards is feeling the strain at Wolves

Rob Edwards has had a funny old week. It started with him being called a “w–ker” by large swathes of Molineux, continued with a pre-match press conference in which he stressed that the current situation is not his fault and ended it with him telling a number of players that they had to leave the club because they were “embarrassing” and didn’t value their jobs.

Edwards is broadly right about the attitude and aptitude of certain players, but this is swallowing him whole too.

I’m not sure whether you get to call out everybody else with your 12 per cent win ratio and hope to still be the guy everybody trusts over the summer. Which makes the decision to leave Middlesbrough as foolish as we always feared it might.

Burnley’s rare gem

Liam Delap scored 12 goals for a relegated club last season and got a £30m move to Chelsea. Zian Flemming has scored 10 goals in a dreadful Burnley team that has spent too much of this season failing to attack with purpose.

These are different things, obviously: age, nationality, physical prowess. But it’s worth pointing out that Flemming is a rare case at Burnley, an individual who deserves to have no shade thrown at him for his performances this season.

Zian Flemming with an emphatic equaliser for relegated Burnley against Champions League-chasing Villa! pic.twitter.com/AnGgsz0zbK

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 10, 2026

It would be a smart piece of business for one of the promoted clubs to make Burnley an offer this summer.

West Ham’s perfect denouement

The sheer controversy and messiness of the whole thing was perfection. What better way to mark the likely defining moment in both the title race and relegation battle than a six-minute examination of slow-motion replays to determine the legitimacy of a goal from a set piece while everybody in the stadium waits and is further indoctrinated not to celebrate goals.

I think the decision was right – plenty will disagree and that’s fine. I agree that there was a lot else going on and probably other offences by both teams, but the foul on the goalkeeper went above and beyond them.

"Football is a physical game… if you're going to give it, give it week-in, week-out"

Jarrod Bowen reacts to West Ham's late disallowed equaliser against Arsenal. pic.twitter.com/n1fKhKsDfE

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 10, 2026

But that’s not the point. This season has been a slog because of the set-piece aesthetics and the long VAR delays and we’re in serious danger of ruining the entertainment of the product. Sunday was the perfect denouement.

Tottenham

Play Leeds United on Monday night.

Leeds

Play Tottenham on Monday night.

Now the fun begins for Nottingham Forest

Two months ago, it seemed vaguely unthinkable to Forest supporters that they would avoid final-day drama. They had escaped that fate in 2022-23 and 2023-24; they have done so again.

That is the only certainty here. Forest need a new recruitment structure led by a new sporting director. They will need a host of new players with high-profile names linked elsewhere, starting with Elliot Anderson. I’m still not convinced that Vitor Pereira will stay, if he is not Evangelos Marinakis’s long-term option.

Elliot Anderson with a HUGE goal for Nottingham Forest! pic.twitter.com/hwy5Wx9ls0

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 10, 2026

Supporters must take a leap of faith that Forest get this summer right having made so many mistakes in 2025. Right now, I don’t think there is a Premier League club whose league position next season is harder to predict.

Crystal Palace’s January recruitment raises questions

Towards the end of August, Matt Hobbs was appointed by Crystal Palace as their sporting director. To say that Hobbs’ previous work at Wolves was questioned by supporters would be understating it. Hobbs was replacing Dougie Freedman, who did a brilliant job in finding bargains from abroad and in the EFL.

In January, Hobbs’ first window, Palace signed two forward players for approximately £75m. Those players have since provided three league goals and an assist.

Ismaïla Sarr smashes home and Palace are level!

His 20th goal in all competitions this season pic.twitter.com/J4ZwJsdC0W

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 10, 2026

On Sunday they looked unfit for purpose and desperately short of confidence. Hobbs will get this summer to prove himself, but it’s a terrible start.

Newcastle’s big regret

When Newcastle United sold Elliot Anderson to Forest in July 2024, paying £20m for a third-choice goalkeeper who has never made a league appearance for them, it was widely regarded as necessary to avoid a points deduction for breaching PSR rules.

As they watched Anderson score an equaliser against them at the City Ground, ahead of summer during which he may well move for more than £90m, you wonder whether Newcastle’s decision makers rue that call. Would a deduction of several points have been worth it to keep a local lad around whom they could have built an entire team?

Harvey Barnes puts Newcastle ahead! pic.twitter.com/IFPnhzt8w0

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 10, 2026

Also, Newcastle effectively sold their stadium to themselves to record a profit in their most recent annual accounts. Rather than sell Anderson for Odysseas Vlachodimos, why was that not their strategy before?

Sunderland’s season of goalless draws

This clearly isn’t all on Sunderland, who were the better team against Manchester United for almost all of the match, but this was their fourth 0-0 of the season. Again, that’s fine; Sunderland grinding out draws demonstrates competence.

But this particular goalless draw was statistically significant because it was the 27th of this Premier League season. Which is as many 0-0s as there were in the last two seasons combined.

The good news: we’re a long way from 1998-99, when goalless draws (49 in total) made up 13 per cent of all Premier League matches. Which is absolute filth.

Andersen costs Fulham a shot at Europe

Fulham are not entirely out of the European equation, given they face Wolves away and Newcastle at home in their final two fixtures. But they missed a glorious chance to jump into the top half and it’s mainly Joachim Andersen’s fault.

All Fulham had to do was to keep their heads, pull Bournemouth around the pitch and bank on them tiring. Instead, Andersen jumped two-footed into a wild challenge before half-time. He had the temerity to complain about the yellow card he received on the field but looked a little more sheepish after the upgraded red.

It was thick, it was nonsensical and it potentially cost Fulham three points. Andersen’s £30m move from Crystal Palace was already fairly unpopular amongst supporters. Not sure this will help.

Everton have thrown away Europe

David Moyes had a chance to take Everton into Europe and it is being frittered away. Everton have gone five games with a league win at the worst possible time. They have hit the worst form of their season in the home straight.

The weirdest aspect of this run is how loose Everton have become defensively. We would ordinarily expect his teams to tighten up when the pressure increased, shutting down matches and perhaps playing low-margin football.

Beto with a moment of individual brilliance! pic.twitter.com/nG8nUnVefq

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 10, 2026

Instead, the opposite. Everton have conceded two or more goals in each of their last five league games having done so four times in 15 league games immediately prior. After the Manchester City draw, Moyes described Everton’s defending as “shit”. More of the same this weekend.

Early goals kill Chelsea’s spirit

A true surprise: Chelsea were forced to claw their way back into a Premier League match after conceding an early goal. It has been the pattern of their entire season.

The top four clubs in the Premier League, Chelsea’s intended peers before the start of the season, have conceded nine goals in the first 10 minutes of their league matches this season combined – that’s nine goals in 143 matches. Chelsea have conceded nine goals in the first 10 minutes on their own (36 matches).

Enzo Fernandez's free-kick goes all the way through and Chelsea are level

TNT Sports and HBO Max pic.twitter.com/VVZJMhgO4a

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 9, 2026

It gets worse. Chelsea’s goal difference in the first 10 minutes of their games this season (-7) is better only than Burnley in the Premier League. That should be a cause of deep embarrassment.

Brentford’s summer homework

Simply beaten by a more expensive, better team on Saturday evening, and no shame in that. But there is one interesting aspect of Brentford’s season that we can take the chance to point out: they need a dominant creator.

Igor Thiago has scored 22 league goals because a wide variety of teammates have created chances for him. No Brentford player has more than four league assists and no Brentford player ranks in the top 30 for chances created. Five players have created between 25 and 40 chances: Damsgaard, Kayode, Jensen, Schade and Ouattara.

If Brentford can improve the consistency of chance creation from one or both of their wingers, and keep Thiago, there is no reason to think that they can’t maintain a top-half position next season under Andrews.

Hurzeler contract marks Brighton’s shift in mood

When Brighton lost 1-0 at Villa Park on 11 February, they were 14th in the Premier League, seven points off the bottom three, hadn’t won in six games and had scored four goals in the process.

Fabian Hurzeler had been booed by home fans after a defeat against Palace and booed by away fans at Villa. Such was the disconnect, players picked out of position and Hurzeler looking a little scared to take risks in search of victory, many – me included – wondered whether this might be his last season.

Hurzeler signed a new three-year contract last week, Brighton have lost twice since Villa Park and are a decent shot to finish in the Premier League’s top six. Silly game, silly to try to predict it.

Rayan and Kroupi lead the way for Bournemouth

It’s a slightly tenuous statistic, granted, but fascinating anyway. According to Opta, Rayan’s goal against Fulham meant that two different teenagers had scored in three consecutive Premier League matches for Bournemouth this season. It’s the first time in Premier League history that’s happened.

Isn’t that just the perfect embodiment of Bournemouth’s recruitment work?

They are heading for European football, have their new manager appointed and ready to start as soon as the season ends and have elite clubs sniffing around players who are yet to reach the age of 20 because they’re Premier League regulars. It is deeply annoying for everyone else.

All or nothing remains a possibility for Aston Villa

No Aston Villa fan would argue that Unai Emery did the wrong thing against Tottenham now, given their dominant victory over Forest on Thursday night. But taking only one point from their previous two league matches against sides in the bottom four creates fragility around the rest of the season.

Villa play Liverpool immediately before the Europa League final – having rested against Tottenham, they surely have to do the same. They then travel to Manchester City on the final weekend, four days after the final. Taking one point from those two games is a perfectly reasonable outcome and would give Bournemouth a sniff of fifth. Lose them both and Brighton could overtake them.

Aston Villa go direct and Ollie Watkins pounces! pic.twitter.com/JuTyCrmWrx

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 10, 2026

Which puts a vast amount of pressure on the final: Champions League football, trophy, Emery’s legacy. How are the nerves, Villa supporters?

Liverpool fans vent their anger at Slot

If you assumed that the anger from Liverpool supporters towards Arne Slot was restricted to caterwauling on social media, Saturday proved you wrong. Such was Liverpool’s continued stumbling, sluggish performance, Slot was booed on three separate occasions: half-time, full-time and when Rio Ngumoha was substituted.

In his pre-match press conference, Slot conceded that next season may also be a year of transition. I think that’s a dangerous PR line to settle on, given the evident impatience at how this team has declined so quickly and how much the new signings have struggled for form.

Ryan Gravenberch opens the scoring with an absolute screamer

TNT Sports and HBO Max pic.twitter.com/CTiF8YD3ko

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 9, 2026

There is no personality within this team. They defend poorly, they attack in piecemeal patterns and they rely upon exceptional individual moments that are usually overshadowed by the flaws within the collective. And that’s not good enough.

Man Utd’s relevant concern

There was no secret to Manchester United’s drop in quality against Sunderland, where they managed a single shot on target and it came in second-half stoppage time. Michael Carrick made five changes and none of the players who came in impressed. Manuel Ugarte, Mason Mount and Joshua Zirkzee were the biggest disappointments; what’s new there.

This is interesting because of what next season brings. Carrick has succeeded so far at United, but on a diet of a single match every week; he hasn’t had to make many changes to the first team and that will surely change next season.

In fact, Carrick has faced more than one match a week three times since taking over. The second fixture in each case: West Ham (a), Newcastle (a) and Leeds (h). United lost two of those games and drew the other. It’s a relevant concern.

Man City’s weird substitute anomaly

Omar Marmoush scoring Manchester City’s third goal against Brentford was significant, and not just because you’d basically forgotten that Marmoush existed. It was the first time that a Manchester City substitute had scored since the opening day of the league season.

Given City’s squad depth, that seems extraordinary. Guardiola’s substitutes have scored as many as Sean Dyche and Liam Rosenior’s did (in 18 and 13 games respectively) and three fewer than Michael Carrick’s in 15 matches.

Omar Marmoush makes it 3-0 to Manchester City and Pep is loving it pic.twitter.com/ptWWq1NlVY

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 9, 2026

Guardiola does wait a little later than most to make changes – although his 133 in total ranks midway – but it’s still interesting to see that decline in numbers. In 2021-22, City made just 79 substitutions and those subs scored 10 times, more than any other team in the division.

Arsenal’s defining player

There was a good deal of fevered reaction to Bruno Fernandes winning the Football Writers Association Player of the Year award last week, with Arsenal players overlooked. Declan Rice came second, with Erling Haaland third.

I don’t even think that Rice has been Arsenal’s most defining player this season. That honour goes to David Raya, who has won Arsenal countless points with phenomenal saves, excellent decision-making and distribution that has improved markedly since joining the club.

LEANDRO TROSSARD!

A massive goal in the title race for Arsenal! pic.twitter.com/l5RxiJuzxj

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 10, 2026

Goalkeepers hardly ever win awards. The campaign starts here.

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Boreham Wood 2-2 Rochdale (Rush 22′, Abdulmalik 69′ | Smith 78′, Dieseruvwe 90’+7) – Rochdale win 3-1 on penalties

WEMBLEY — In Wembley Stadium, a young child stands holding his mum’s hand. He is wearing a blue-and-white shirt and is simply shouting the word “Please” over and over again. He can watch Rochdale play for another 80 years, if he’s lucky, and it’s all downhill from here. Rochdale are back in the Football League. At some point in his 30s, that lad will work out how. Let us know.

Thirty seconds later and the urges have worked. Ian Henderson is Rochdale’s record goalscorer, older than Wayne Rooney and ready to take a penalty. His services aren’t required. Instead he stands on the top of an advertising hoarding as half a northern town calls him their king.

Of course it was penalties – it could never be anything else. Rochdale were so intertwined with despair and glory, one naturally following the other and back on a mad loop. They could only be pulled apart when all other options had been exhausted. It had to lurch one way.

There is Greenwich Mean Time. There is British Summer Time. There are lines of longitude that run up and down this planet. And then there is Rochdale time. This football club has rewritten the rules on quite how much nonsense you can fit into the dying embers of football matches.

ROCHDALE HAVE DONE IT!

THEY'RE PROMOTED TO THE EFL pic.twitter.com/YsZ5xOCvcN

— National League on DAZN (@DAZN_NationalLg) May 10, 2026

The basic figures, as if that does any of this justice: Rochdale have scored injury-time goals in their last five matches of the season, all three turned the promotion race on its head and one of them caused a pitch invasion and wasn’t even the final goal of the game. The “You couldn’t script it” principle is sport’s most overused cliche, but this one does feel a little too much.

Mani Dieseruvwe is the shark-jumper in chief. Ninety-six minutes were up, just like at Spotland against York City. Two headers from him, ludicrously composed given the circumstances. Two extraordinary reactions, sucking the air out of the lungs of half a stadium and provoking wild screams from the other. What power it is to conduct happiness and despair like this.

A word for Boreham Wood, inadvertent joint protagonists in this great chaos. They were the dominant team almost throughout at Wembley. Abdul Abdulmalik was the best player at Wembley by such a distance that they might as well have given him his own ball to let everyone else have a go. He will surely be in the EFL next season.

Luke Garrard has done wonders here and could barely hold back the tears as he wandered the pitch forlornly watching someone else’s party. He left because he was weary and he returned to take Boreham Wood to the very border of their promised land. You control everything and you pray that fate doesn’t kick you. Garrard will be bruised but should be proud.

But history is written by the victors and Rochdale deserve it because they made it – nothing else counts. The psychological wound of the regular season’s final day could have broken them – still they came back for more.

Read more

• Daniel Storey: My love affair with Grimsby Town
• Daniel Storey: If you hate Millwall, I have two things to say to you

Rochdale went toe-to-toe with York City until the final seconds and missed out. They stormed their own pitch to celebrate an automatic promotion that never quite came. They travelled down the country and back to Wembley and almost ended where they started, a National League club. And still they found reserves of strength when everyone else had given up on them.

Fatalism doesn’t exist. Karma is nothing in sport. But Rochdale have been to the depths and stared their own extinction in the face. They have fought when the tide should have dragged them under, on and off the pitch. They are back in the Football League.

Football’s great truth is that you risk the worst day or your year for a shot at the best. For the last fortnight, Rochdale have known that more than any other club in any land you care to pick. And still they were the last ones smiling. It may get even better than this, some other day. But it will never feel the same.

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