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Arsenal thought they had finally ended their Premier League drought when they went eight points clear at the top of the table last season – only for their lead to evaporate as Manchester City stormed to yet another trophy.

Twice they met City in the league and twice they were beaten, 3-1 and 4-1 respectively. In a title race decided by five points, that’s a 12-point swing.

“Simply De Best,” read one back page after Kevin De Bruyne scored two and laid on another for John Stones in the latter result, an April hammer blow that took City top of the table with five games to go.

It topped off a month where Arsenal had dropped points to Liverpool, West Ham and Southampton as their title challenge ran out of puff in the face of Man City’s relentless post-Christmas form.

Will the Gunners fade away again in the face of pressure? We look at the five key games remaining for Mikel Arteta’s side over the last three months of the season.

Manchester City (A), Sunday 31 March, 4.30pm

There were no surprises when this game was moved to the Sunday primetime spot, as once again it feels like a proto-title decider.

In a point of difference from last year, there is the small matter of Liverpool, current leaders, to contend with – and the three-horse nature of this race perhaps makes this more of a title eliminator: victory guarantees nothing, but defeat could fatal.

Arteta at least goes into this one without so much baggage as he did last time around. In perhaps the most significant result of his career, the Spanish manager helped the Gunners bag their first league victory over City for nine years in October thanks to Gabriel Martinelli’s deflected strike. It was all the more impressive for the fact that David Raya was in the midst of a particularly ropy spell, City were lucky to hang on to all 11 men after Mateo Kovacic somehow escaped multiple yellow cards and, most of all, Arsenal were without Bukayo Saka.

Saka remains their talisman, their top scorer, their top assister, their top XGer. There is barely an attacking category he does not top. His absence, enforced after getting kicked off the park in northern France in midweek, was seen as a significant blow the Arsenal’s hopes – but they showed grit and determination not previously associated with that club in the post Arsene Wenger era.

Arteta would much rather have had him of course, and will be begging Gareth Southgate to use him sparingly in the international break that directly precedes this fixture. England have friendlies against Brazil and Belgium at Wembley, and Arsenal fans will be praying to see as little of Saka as possible.

Champions League quarter-final, 9/10 April, 8pm

Arsenal have not yet qualified for the last eight of the Champions League and do have a 1-0 deficit to overturn against Porto on 12 March, but the bookmakers are already giving them a 70 per cent chance of qualification.

It’s a free draw for the last eight, meaning the Gunners could be handed a seismic tie against the likes of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain et al.

And while those fixtures could be seen as a free hit by a side who would be back in the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2010, the intensity of those matches – particularly if they end in defeat – could be enough to derail a title challenge.

How Arteta manages his squad’s emotional and physical challenge over April, the month where it all fell apart last year, will be crucial.

Spurs (A), weekend of 27/28 April, kick-off tbc

Speaking of emotional energy, there can be few more draining fixtures for a player than a north London derby away from home.

Arsenal have only lost one of their last five meetings with Spurs, although that record looks quite different when you only look at the matches away from the Emirates: since the 6-1 drubbing that marked the Gunners’s first visit to the Tottenham Stadium (a relative age ago in 2019), Arsenal have lost three out of four.

That one victory, by two goals to nil in January 2023, will be a bittersweet memory for the squad. A win against rivals is a win, and it took them eight points clear in the title race, but of course it was a lead they would squander.

Man Utd (A), weekend of 11/12 May, kick-off tbc

It wasn’t just the Etihad Stadium that was an unhappy hunting ground for the Gunners last season. Their only league defeat before the mid-season World Cup break came in Manchester, across the city at Old Trafford, and their next one came 30 miles away at Goodison Park to Everton.

So there is a pleasing symmetry to the fact that Arsenal could take an enormous step towards their first title in 20 years against Manchester United in early May, in what will be their penultimate league fixture of the season.

Everton (H), Sunday 19 May, 4pm

Neutrals might suggest that taking a Liverpool driven by a desire to send Jurgen Klopp off with a title and a City side gunning for a sixth title in seven years down to the final day would be an achievement in itself.

Few Arsenal fans will see it that way, but much could rest on the visit of Everton in mid-May. Goodison has proved a tricky hunting ground for the Gunners under Arteta, an Evertonian himself of 209 appearances.

It took him four attempts to secure three points there as a manager, a gruelling 1-0 win in September, but at home it has rarely been so difficult, winning the last two with an aggregate score of 9-1 – and this time, Everton could well already be safe from relegation. (Legal battles notwithstanding.)

Perhaps appropriately, it could end up being a battle of the corners: Arsenal and Everton are the Premier League’s two most successful set-piece takers, although it accounts for a far greater percentage of the Toffees overall output.

City will host West Ham and Liverpool host Wolves on the final day, both games you would expect them to win. The Gunners will hope they are not left relying on a slip-up, and the title is won before then.

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When Erik ten Hag was discussing exactly what he disliked about Manchester United’s home defeat to Fulham last weekend, he did not mention the gaping gaps in midfield, the inability to stop their opponent taking shots or their propensity to concede the first goal of the game at Old Trafford – ten times already this season. “Willingness, spirit and passion” was Ten Hag’s rough diagnosis.

That has been a theme of Ten Hag’s tenure. Last season, after a calamitous 6-3 Manchester derby fixture that arrives again this weekend, Ten Hag accused his team of “failing to fight”. Ahead of the FA Cup tie against Nottingham Forest on Wednesday, Ten Hag stressed that the key was “to give everything possible on the pitch”.

Is this not a little unexpected? Perhaps it’s our own fault for generating inherent stereotypes about managers, forcing them into pigeonholes and warping them into caricatures, but the whole passion, blood and thunder stuff is considered the domain of the ageing British firefighter, not the man hailed as the tactical mastermind who flourished at the cathedral of Totaalvoetbal. When Johan Cruyff took on a new role at Ajax in 2012, it was to oversee a “technical revolution”. Criticise the pressing and the passing and the showing for the ball, sure. But raw fight?

There are times, we have to accept, when you can make a case for Ten Hag’s explanation. There’s Marcus Rashford, the new persona non grata, jogging when we think he should be busting a lung. There are the moments when everybody seems to stand still for no good reason. There’s Adama Traore, who apparently no United player has seen play before because he is running with the ball and nobody tries to stop him.

But mostly we are surely looking at this all wrong. A lack of effort is the simplistic explanation, but it’s almost always the symptom of tactical disorganisation rather than the disease itself.

Elite footballers very, very rarely don’t try. The margins at their level – the speed, the technique, the constant movement – merely misrepresents uncertainty as listlessness.

At Manchester United, that is an evident problem. Only six Premier League managers have been in charge for longer than Ten Hag, and yet identifying the tactical plan is like playing battleships with a moving board. Jamie Carragher, looking at the gaps in midfield on Monday Night Football, had a face like a stepdad watching a toddler try and unpeel a satsuma with skin in one hand and a pulpy mush in the other.

We already know what Andoni Iraola does and what Roberto De Zerbi does and what Unai Emery does. But Ten Hag? It’s a big hmmmm.

If it isn’t getting worse, it sure feels that way. Manchester United need 31 points from the 36 still available to match last season’s points total. They have allowed 15 or more shots in each of their last eight matches in all competitions, have played none of the current top three during that run and the list of opponents includes Nottingham Forest, Luton Town and Newport County.

This tactical muddle may not end with Manchester United’s treatment of possession, but it probably starts there. At Ajax, Ten Hag used possession as his means of control. That team didn’t record a possession lower than 55 per cent in the Eredivisie during Ten Hag’s final season.

Even in the Champions League, with less natural dominance, Ajax beat Borussia Dortmund with 69 per cent possession and Besiktas with 71 per cent. Cut to pre-season 2022 with Manchester United, and Ten Hag screaming at his players in an open training session: ”Keep the ball on the floor! Keep the ball! F***ing rubbish!”

Somewhere, that got lost along the way. Last September, against Burnley, Manchester United had just 39 per cent of the ball and allowed more shots than they took. It was their lowest possession in a Premier League match against a non-Big Six team since March 2017 under Jose Mourinho. Before then, you have to go back until at least 2010 (when data became readily available). In their final three years under Sir Alex Ferguson, the lowest possession United had in any league game was 43 per cent.

“You don’t always need to have so much possession to have control on the game,” was Ten Hag’s reasoning post-Burnley, and that’s clearly true – counter-attacking teams deliberately sacrifice the ball.

But the point is this: United are a blurry collection of half-images. The defence stays deep. The attack presses high. A collection of successful midfielders (at other clubs or here) drown in the vast abyss in between. Ten Hag says he can’t replicate Ajax, so what is he building?

Instead, United seem to play with anti-tactics, a see-what-happens-this-week free-for-all. This season alone, they have been involved in three 3-2s, a 3-3, a 4-2 and three 4-3s. They score out of nowhere and concede out of nowhere too, a sea of incompatibilities and imponderables. Where is the control under a manager who Daley Blind, his former player, described as utterly obsessed with that concept?

This weekend, Ten Hag goes back to the Etihad, 17 months on from that deep expose of his early reign. Then, they were broken by the vast spaces between defence and attack, with two central midfielders left standing like a single traffic officer in the middle of chaotic crossroads at rush hour, unable of which snarl-up to deal with first as three more occurred.

We are allowed to ask what has improved since. We are allowed to wonder at what stage in the rebuild Ten Hag has reached. Manchester United supporters are allowed to expect more than this. The same result would be damning for this regime.

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Declan Rice has been named Premier League Player of the Year 2024 at the London Football Awards, while Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou was awarded Manager of the Year.

London’s finest footballing talent was celebrated in a ceremony at Camden’s Roundhouse, which also included awards for Guglielmo Vicario, Crystal Palace’s Michael Olise and Harry Redknapp.

Arsenal midfielder Rice, who was previously named Premier League Player of the Year in 2022, has enjoyed a stellar year in which he captained West Ham to the Europa Conference League title before earning a record £100m move to north London.

As the new fulcrum of Mikel Arteta’s Gunners, Rice has gone from strength to strength, scoring key goals in big matches and providing the driving force for their title charge.

This is the second season in a row an Arsenal player has won the LFA’s top men’s title, with Martin Odegaard victorious in 2023, and Rice beat out competition from former teammate Jarrod Bowen, current teammate William Saliba and Spurs pair Vicario and Pedro Porro.

Meanwhile, Chelsea’s summer signing Cole Palmer won the Men’s Young Player of the Year, following in the footsteps of teammate and 2022 winner Conor Gallagher.

Former Manchester City academy product Palmer has been the undisputed shining light in an otherwise turbulent season at Stamford Bridge, scoring 14 goals and creating a further nine in all competitions since moving to the capital.

And in the dugout, Spurs boss Postecoglou beat outgoing Chelsea maestro Emma Hayes to Manager of the Year in an incredibly competitive field which also included Mikel Arteta, David Moyes and Leyton Orient’s Richie Wellens.

Since moving from Glasgow to north London, “Big Ange” has become an instant fans’ favourite, implementing his bold attacking style and guiding Spurs through an injury crisis to fifth in the Premier League.

Fellow Spurs summer arrival Vicario was awarded Goalkeeper of the Year thanks to his similarly transformative effect at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, leading the league in an array of key statistics and reintroducing stability into his side’s defence.

In the WSL, 2023 Women’s Young Player of the Year Lauren James has graduated to Player of the Year, beating fellow blues Guro Reiten and Niamh Charles in the process.

Aside from taking on a starring role for England in their World Cup final run last summer, James has become Chelsea’s crowning jewel, scoring 12 goals in just 13 league games this season. Still just 22, the former Manchester United forward seems set to vie for this title for years to come.

Full list of London Football Awards 2024 winners

• Premier League Player of the Year – Declan Rice (Arsenal)
• EFL Player of the Year – Alfie May (Charlton)
• Men’s Young Player of the Year – Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
• Goalkeeper of the Year – Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham)
• WSL Player of the Year – Lauren James (Chelsea)
• Women’s Young Player of the Year – Agnes Beevor-Jones (Chelsea)
• Manager of the Year – Ange Postecoglou (Tottenham)
• Goal of the Season – Michael Olise (Crystal Palace vs Luton Town)
• Outstanding Contribution to London Football – Harry Redknapp
• Power of Football Award – John Berylson (Millwall)
• Community Project of the Year – Sutton United Foundation

And taking on teammate James’ title as Women’s Young Player of the Year is 20-year-old Aggie Beevor-Jones, who has scored five WSL goals for Chelsea in a breakout season at Kingsmeadow, alongside being named in her first England squad.

Outside the top tiers, Charlton striker Alfie May saw off opposition from Leyton Orient, AFC Wimbledon and Millwall to be named EFL Player of the Year.

May has added to 20 League One goals last season with another 17 this season, attempting to single-handedly drag the relegation-threatened Addicks from their unfortunate downturn in form.

The title for LFA Goal of the Season goes to Olise for his stunning individual effort against Luton last November, in which he jinked down the right-hand side before curling into the top corner with his left foot.

Away from the pitch, former West Ham, Spurs and QPR boss Redknapp was awarded the LFA’s Outstanding Contribution to London Football Award.

Born in Poplar in 1947, Redknapp’s affiliation with London football has existed since birth, winding through an academy stint with Tottenham before breaking through at West Ham, one senior game for Brentford in 1976, and taking the reins of three London clubs across a 34-year managerial career.

The Power of Football award went to the late Millwall owner John Berylson, who passed away aged 70 last June. In nearly 20 years of involvement with Millwall, the American oversaw and facilitated some of the club’s greatest moments and his death was a sudden tragedy which rocked football.

And the Community Project of the Year went to Sutton United Foundation’s Pan-Disability Football, which remains a flag-bearer for inclusive football in London and beyond.

The awards were judged by an extensive panel which included Carlton Cole, Tony Cottee and Bobby Zamora and the ceremony was attended by the best and the brightest of London’s footballing scene, past and present.

All money raised by the LFA will go to Willow, the only national charity which helps make memories and provide special days for seriously ill young adults, founded by former Arsenal goalkeeper and TV presenter Bob Wilson in 1999 following the death of his daughter.

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The curse of the most transferred-in Fantasy Premier League player could strike again after Dominic Solanke missed Bournemouth‘s FA Cup fifth-round defeat to Leicester on Tuesday due to a knee injury.

At the time of writing Solanke has been bought by over 300,000 FPL managers this week ahead of Bournemouth’s promising fixtures against Burnley (a) in Gameweek 28 and both Sheffield United (h) and Luton (h) in 29.

Those who moved early for the Cherries frontman will hope that he doesn’t suffer a similar fate to last week’s top signing Rasmus Hojlund who was ruled out for “two to three weeks” by Erik ten Hag and missed Saturday’s defeat to Fulham.

Here’s what we know about Solanke’s availability ahead of Bournemouth’s meeting with Burnley.

What Andoni Iraola has said

“Dom wasn’t feeling well in his knee,” Bournemouth’s head coach Andoni Iraola said after their 1-0 loss to the Championship leaders.

“We have to assess him and we hope it’s not something big and he can help us this weekend.”

Solanke has been virtually ever-present for Bournemouth this season, featuring in 29 of their 31 matches in all competitions including all 25 of their Premier League fixtures.

To compound matters Solanke’s replacement Enes Unal, a January signing from Getafe, had to come off at half-time against Leicester due to a collarbone injury and is set to miss the trip to Turf Moor.

“Enes has gone to the hospital because he felt something in the clavicle,” Iraola said.

“We have to see if it’s something worse but I think it will be more difficult to have Enes for the weekend.”

Iraola will be asked about Solanke’s availability when he addresses the media again on Friday.

Potential FPL replacements

If Solanke is only ruled out against Burnley it is probably worth sticking him on your bench and hoping he is able to recover in time for Bournemouth’s double gameweek. If he is unavailable for all three games, though, FPL managers should look to move him on.

Solanke is at an awkward price point meaning you may have to make multiple transfers in order to upgrade him to a more expensive asset like Ollie Watkins (£8.9m) or Ivan Toney (£8.2m).

If you have the available funds and don’t currently possess Watkins, it is a no-brainer. The Villa frontman has enjoyed the best campaign of his career, combining 14 goals with 15 assists to soar to the top of the FPL leaderboard.

He faces Luton (a) next followed by Spurs (h) and West Ham (a) in Gameweek 29, which could feature less than a handful of matches due to the FA Cup quarter-final taking place over the same weekend.

Brentford’s short-term run is less appealing which reduces Toney’s appeal, although they arguably have the stronger fixture in 29. The Bees play Chelsea (h), Arsenal (a) and Burnley (a) in their next three.

There are some intriguing options at the lower scale of the transfer market to consider too.

Luton are the only other team to have a double gameweek in 28 and Carlton Morris (£5.1m) will spearhead their attack with Elijah Adebayo currently sidelined. Morris’s form has flown under the radar of late considering he has scored four goals and set up a further two in his previous six outings.

Fulham’s Rodrigo Muniz (£4.4m) is also in good form having seized his chance to impress in Raul Jimenez’s injury-enforced absence by scoring four goals in his last four matches. The young Brazilian has attempted 18 shots on goal since Gameweek 23, a total that only Erling Haaland (with 26) can better among forwards.

Finally, if you are eager to add a Bournemouth attacker to your ranks for their upcoming run, the budget-friendly Antoine Semenyo (£4.5m) could be a shrewd punt. The Ghanaian has combined four goals with three assists this season and may be moved into a central position if both Solanke and Unal are unavailable.

How important is Solanke to Bournemouth?

Solanke is one of Bournemouth’s longest-serving players having joined from Liverpool for £19m in January 2019 and after enduring a difficult start on the south coast has gradually evolved to become their talisman.

The 26-year-old has finally dispelled doubts over his ability to score in the Premier League this campaign by scoring a career-high 14 goals in the top-flight, a total that only Erling Haaland (17) and Mo Salah (15) can top.

Solanke has also weighed in with three assists, meaning he has had a direct hand in 17 of Bournemouth’s 33 league goals in 2023-24. No player in the league has been involved in a greater share of their team’s goals than Solanke.

His form for the Cherries has led to reported interest from Arsenal, Newcastle, Tottenham and West Ham and whispers that he could force his way into Gareth Southgate’s reckoning for England’s Euro 2026 squad.

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Liverpool 3-0 Southampton (Koumas 44′, Danns 73′, 88′)

ANFIELD — Three days after their Wembley heroics, Liverpool’s kids produced another rabbit from the hat at Anfield, beating Southampton 3-0 to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals.

In keeping with the recent narrative surrounding Jurgen Klopp’s side, it was a pair of teenagers who did the damage for the Reds, debutant Lewis Koumas scoring in the first half before another home-grown hero, Jayden Danns, added two more in front of the Kop after the break.

With no fewer than 13 players absent due to injury, this was yet more evidence of both the talent at Klopp’s disposal beyond his established first team, and the manager’s ability to extract big performances from it. The Liverpool boss was beaming at the final whistle, and rightly so.

His youngsters, once again, delivered.

Klopp’s selection showed six changes from Sunday, with Bobby Clark and James McConnell rewarded for their Wembley efforts with a start here, while Koumas, son of former Wales midfielder Jason, was handed his professional bow.

Southampton rang the changes too, eight of them from the side beaten by Millwall on Saturday.

The visitors dominated the early exchanges, Sekou Mara having a goal ruled out inside a minute and Kamaldeen Sulemana hitting the post after a giveaway in midfield by Harvey Elliott.

Mara forced a fine save from Caoimhin Kelleher after dispossessing McConnell on the edge of the Liverpool box, Joe Rothwell curled an effort wide and Kelleher was needed again to save from Sulemana after the Saints winger skinned Jarell Quansah.

Liverpool lacked punch to that point, but they exploded into life on 44 minutes, as Koumas marked his big day in style.

Clark was the provider, rapping the ball into his fellow academy graduate’s feet, and after Koumas had shifted inside from the left, his 18-yard shot took a nick off Jan Bednarek and wrong-footed Joe Lumley in the Saints goal.

After the break the excellent Kelleher denied Sulemana at the back post before Gakpo dragged a good chance wide after a flowing move involving Elliott and Clark.

Southampton should have levelled on 68 minutes, but Shea Charles sent his effort into the side-netting at the far post.

That proved a costly miss, as five minutes later Elliott fed Danns, who clipped a beautiful finish past Lumley.

And the young Scouser was there again, two minutes from time, following up after Conor Bradley was denied by Lumley to seal another remarkable Reds win, one achieved at Anfield but which was very much made in Kirkby.

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Nottingham Forest 0-1 Manchester United (Casemiro 89′)

CITY GROUND — Manchester United can always rely upon history when the present makes them feel a little glum.

They have reached their 48th FA Cup quarter-final, the most of any club in the competition’s history and drawing them ahead of Everton. Perhaps they are a cup team now. Or is that just an easy excuse for the rest?

The game flowed easily early on, helped by two sides against whom it is possible to find large spaces in midfield when they lose the ball. The first half became a series of breaks in such circumstances, the recalled Antony and Alejandro Garnacho attacking down Nottingham Forest‘s flanks and Divock Origi and Anthony Elanga doing the same to United.

Origi has been used sparingly during his loan spell from Milan, to the extent that some wondered if the deal may be cut short. We know this: he is more of a right winger than Sofyan Amrabat is a left-back. Origi seemed determined to get all his shots in for the season and Forest repeatedly fed him the ball.

Both of these two had been out of form and out of touch defensively on occasion of late, but they were more than prepared to miss chances as well as allow them.

Taiwo Awoniyi leant back on his left foot, Casemiro with his right. Antony hitting the bar was as close as anyone came without scoring; even then he had space and time and clear opportunity.

That reflects not necessarily a lack of talent on the part of any guilty party, but a desperation to succeed. Some matches are played at a frantic tempo because seamless efficiency and technique allows for complex actions to be complete at that pace.

Some offer the same impression because nobody can get a foot on the ball for five or six seconds at a time and keep hitting the ball high and wide.

Even that foolishness faded into tepid mediocrity. That’s easy to explain because it’s the same explanation. Add fatigue to chaotic mess and awry finishing and, inevitably, a decent spectacle gets a little messy.

There were a selection of televised matches available to terrestrial viewers in the UK on Wednesday evening. Anyone who flicked over to another option deserves no blame.

If so, they missed a scruffy goal to win a scruffy tie. Forest’s secret weapon this season is an ability to concede set pieces and then concede goals from them. Bruno Fernandes’ late free-kick looked under-hit and low, but it allowed Casemiro to stoop and get a glancing touch that did for Matt Turner, until then impeccable.

And so Manchester United will face Liverpool with the aim of keeping those trophy hopes alive. One club is pursuing trophies under a great manager taking his farewell tour in front of an adoring congregation.

The other club once did that too. Sir Alex Ferguson’s job was saved with a 1-0 FA Cup win at Nottingham Forest. Erik ten Hag will hope that this is the start of something. Quite frankly, it doesn’t feel like it.

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Chelsea 3-2 Leeds United (Jackson 15′, Mudryk 37′, Gallagher 90′ | Fernandez 8′, 59′)

STAMFORD BRIDGE — Chelsea‘s big-money signings finally lived up to their billing to ease the pressure on Mauricio Pochettino and edge their side into the quarter-final of the FA Cup.

Pochettino’s side will now host Leicester next month after this nervy victory, thanks to Conor Gallagher’s last-minute strike against a vibrant Leeds United side who had not tasted defeat in 2024 and are looking well set for an immediate return to the Premier League.

Heavily criticised after Sunday’s Carabao Cup extra-time defeat to Liverpool, Pochettino made five changes to his side with Mykhailo Mudryk and Noni Madueke – who cost £80m and £29m respectively – among the starters.

Leeds, who had not advanced past this stage of the competition since 2003, also made five changes for the first meeting between these two old rivals in the FA Cup since the infamous 1970 final replay.

Roared on by over 6,000 away fans, Daniel Farke’s team showed their attacking intent within the first seven minutes when Dan James nipped in front of a panicked Alfie Gilchrist, but the Welsh winger could only divert Connor Roberts’ long ball forward wide of the goal.

But seconds later Leeds went in front from the resulting goal-kick through 20-year-old Spanish-born, England Under-20 striker Mateo Joseph.

Moises Caicedo was sold short by a poor Axel Disasi pass on the edge of his own box and Archie Gray – great nephew of Leeds great Eddie – diverted the ball into the path of Joseph who smashed in his first senior goal.

That early setback immediately sparked Chelsea back into life with Raheem Sterling snatching a shot wide and Madueke firing over from the edge of the box before Nicolas Jackson levelled the score with a smart finish after exchanging passes with Caicedo on the edge of the box.

Mudryk put his side in front seven minutes before half-time to cap off a sweeping Chelsea move started by Madueke with Malo Gusto and Sterling combining to tee up the Ukrainian for an excellent first-time finish.

The second half was a somewhat frantic affair but Leeds deservedly grabbed an equaliser on the hour mark when Joseph ghosted in behind Disasi to nod home a superb Jaidon Anthony cross after good work from the impressive Gray.

Mudryk should have done better when he latched on to an Enzo Fernandez pass but his touch let him down as he advanced on goal.

With an absorbing contest looking destined for extra-time, Fernandez, handed the Chelsea captaincy for the first time, showed the quality that prompted Chelsea to shell out £105million for his services with a superb driving run and pass that picked out the advancing Gallagher.

The England international, introduced as a second-half substitute, kept his cool after taking a touch to blast past Meslier much to the relief of the Chelsea bench and the home crowd.

By Ian McCullough.

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Everton’s punishment for breaching financial rules being reduced from 10 points to six on appeal has at least given the Premier League season some clarity.

But the 61-page verdict explaining the decision points to a chaotic, confusing and, at times, contradictory process that risks unravelling.

Why does it feel like the future of Premier League clubs, one that is intertwined with that of staff, fans, coaches, players and communities, businesses worth hundreds of millions of pounds, is being decided upon by people groping around in the dark wearing blindfolds?

Everton climbed four points and two places higher in the Premier League table – moving five clear of the relegation places. That was for certain.

What is less clear is how and why that conclusion was reached and what it means for the future of Everton, facing a second charge, and Nottingham Forest, whose hearing for a first breach will begin on 7 March. And any of the clubs who may well face this process in seasons to come. Fans of every club should be wary of what lies ahead.

What are the consequences?

The consequences could be years – more than a decade, even – of legal wrangling, decreased spending in the transfer market, mirroring the January transfer window, and league places determined, in part, by court cases.

Legal experts have questioned why the appeal board criticised Everton for providing “materially wrong” information to the Premier League, yet also criticised the original commission for accusing Everton of having not acted with “utmost good faith”.

Why, too, was the EFL’s sanctioning guidelines taken into consideration by the appeal, when they govern an entirely different competition and carry no legal weight?

“The appeal board’s decision very much paves the way for other clubs to take action against Everton — because the decision makes it clear that Everton obtained a sporting advantage from breaking the rules,” Simon Leaf, one of the country’s leading sports lawyers, told i.

“So I would expect to see claims from the likes of Burnley, Leeds and Southampton, in particular, over the coming months. This may lead to a further snowballing effect if other clubs, such as Manchester City and Chelsea, are found to be in breach.”

As the Premier League’s financial fair play snowball careens down the pyramid it may well take the game’s integrity and fairness with it, carving a jagged pathway through what is supposed to be a level playing field.

How will it affect Forest?

One thing made clear was that clever legal arguments will be given short shrift when it comes to defending breaking profit and sustainability rules (PSR), whereby clubs can lose a maximum of £105m over a three-year period. A breach is a breach – and a points deduction, the appeal confirmed, is the appropriate punishment.

It will be a blow for Nottingham Forest, who intend to argue that the £47.5m sale of Brennan Johnson to Tottenham Hotspur fell out of the financial window in question due to the club seeking maximum value for a player they developed through their academy. Their hope is it is backdated.

i first revealed that rival clubs were adamant that Forest will face a points deduction and Everton’s appeal verdict confirmed it.

“We consider that a six point deduction is the minimum but sufficient sanction required to achieve the aims of the PSR,” the verdict read. “It is reasonable and proportionate.”

Leaf adds: “One got a sense that Everton were scrabbling to find something that it could throw at the original decision.

“The fact that so many of these arguments [seven of Everton’s nine in defence] were rejected confirms that breaches of the PSR are what is known as a ‘strict liability’ offence – so even if you have good arguments as to why you ended up in breach, a future commission is unlikely to be sympathetic.

“This means that we could see more depressed spending in transfer windows going forwards – as we saw in January – as clubs will not want to fall foul of the rules given they are unlikely to get much sympathy from the Premier League or any commission that is constituted to decide their fate.”

Why did Everton’s appeal only partially succeed?

Less certain was how the individuals overseeing the appeal came to some of the decisions.

“The appeal board on the one hand criticised Everton for providing ‘materially wrong’ information and therefore led them to conclude that a significant points deduction was required but on the other hand they criticised the original independent commission for inferring that Everton had not acted with ‘utmost good faith’, and believed that that is what persuaded them to levy a 10-point deduction,” Leaf, whose chapter he co-authored on financial regulation in the legal textbook Football and the Law was twice referenced in the verdict, says.

“This may encourage clubs to be less than frank with the responses that they give to the Premier League in future investigations.”

He added: “The suggestion that the EFL’s sanctioning guidelines should have been taken into account is also odd. Not only are these guidelines for a completely different competition and set of rules, they also are only guidelines and have no legal weight.”

What does it mean for the future?

The Premier League’s new rules, agreed by its 20 members, state that any PSR charges are dealt with in the season the charge is issued. Given Everton’s degree of success on appeal – four points could be the difference between them staying up or going down – clubs are unlikely to accept an initial punishment.

“The appeal decision will further embolden clubs to not accept an initial outcome from an initial commission,” Leaf says.

What does that mean for this season and the two remaining outstanding cases? 24 May is the last date that any appeal verdict can be issued. The last game of the Premier League season is 19 May.

We may find ourselves in the unprecedented territory of a group of nervous clubs waiting five days to find out the outcome of Everton and Nottingham Forest’s appeals to any PSR punishments to know who will be playing in the Championship next season. It is a deeply unappetising prospect.

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Blackburn 1-1 Newcastle (Szmodics 79′ | Gordon 71′)

EWOOD PARK — The alarm bells continue to ring for lethargic Newcastle United and Eddie Howe.

Throwing the big guns at Championship side Blackburn Rovers was supposed to be a win back into a season that is veering badly off course for last season’s insurgents. But they made heavy weather of this FA Cup fifth round tie, lacking authority and fluency in a game that was viewed as season-defining. The manner of Sammie Szmodics’ late leveller summed up their recent work: too many of their problems are self-inflicted.

Kick-off was delayed 15 minutes and so too was Newcastle’s response to Saturday’s shellacking at Arsenal. More than 7,400 visiting supporters crammed into the Darwen End looking for signs of evolution but rhythm is proving elusive, even against a side in the lower third of the Championship.

Blackburn is a club that is ill at ease with itself. A 16th minute tennis ball protest against owners Venky’s, whose questionable 14 year reign has alienated supporters and seen the club slide into mediocrity, was proof of continued off the field tumult but on it the appointment of John Eustace has arrested the slide in form at least.

They certainly looked the more dynamic of the two teams in a first half that was further proof of Newcastle’s alarming recent decline. Last term they looked electric, a team with presence who attack with purpose. Lately it feels like the switch has tripped and this was another underpowered display.

Their build-up play was laboured, runs lacked zip and their “swarm” – the intense pressing that was their trademark last season – had no buzz.

By contrast Blackburn’s counters carried real threat. The returning Martin Dubravka made a superb save to deny Tyrhys Dolan after Sam Gallagher cannoned against the side netting.

Just before the break Szmodics drew another fine save from the Newcastle goalkeeper. They worked out what too many of Newcastle’s opponents have sensed this season: Howe’s side are there to be got at.

Credit to Eustace, so unfairly sacked by Birmingham City earlier in the season, because he had clearly done his homework. Blackburn sat deep in defence, posing questions Newcastle’s underwhelming midfield couldn’t answer. And when the visitors gave the ball away – which they did with alarming regularity for most of the first half – they were poised to pounce at pace.

Howe tried to tinker, switching Alexander Isak to the wing and moving Anthony Gordon into a central role early on. But little was shaking them out of their lethargy and it was a sign of how worried the Newcastle manager was that he made a triple substitution on the hour mark. Isak, Newcastle’s best forward but who has clearly been rushed back to plug the club’s bewildering striker gap, was withdrawn as Gordon moved into the number nine role and Miguel Almiron entered the fray.

It was the spark they needed. Almiron has his detractors and struggles, at times, for composure in key moments but he breathed fresh life into Newcastle’s attack. It was his run and cut back that teed up Gordon for an instinctive finish.

Player of the match: Sammie Szmodics

• The forward was lively, full of spark and the man who drew Rovers deservedly with a smart finish

Game over? Far from it. This is Newcastle’s class of 2024 – there is always a way back into things.

This time it was skipper Jamaal Lascelles whose attempt to head the ball out of play was a horrific misjudgement and let in Dilan Markanday. Dubravka tipped his effort onto the bar but Szmodics reacted quickest to convert the rebound.

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CBS ARENA — Snap back to reality. Maidstone United have enjoyed the most unthinkable FA Cup run, one that started at Steyning Town Community Football Club in West Sussex in mid-September, but they did not enjoy being sent to Coventry. Three Kasey Palmer assists, three Ellis Simms goals. Two players with Premier League experience pulling apart those who must now go back to English football’s sixth tier semi-permanently.

Mark Robins, Coventry City’s manager, admitted that his team were in a no-win position thanks to the 95 places between the two teams in the football pyramid. Crucially, he also had a pre-written team talk. One Championship peer had already been humbled on their own patch by Maidstone. Complacency would be unforgivable, mercy ill-advised.

They offered precious little of either. Palmer, once of Chelsea and still harbouring Premier League ambitions, was a class apart. He sat in the space between Maidstone’s midfield and defence like a shark in shallow water, acutely aware that pace was the strength most lacking as you get nearer to Lucas Covolan’s goal. Do you go with Palmer and risk him leaving you behind or back off him and let him arrive at you at a sprinter’s pace?

There were hints that this may be one mountain too many, one river too wide to cross. Maidstone had taken a single point from their last two National League South games, against Hemel Hempstead Town and Aveley. A promotion charge had been put on hold and now it too may suffer. These are part-time players who have had an exceptional workload. Signs of fatigue are showing.

Coventry were never likely to suffer Ipswich’s fate, then. They played the final two-thirds of the match at walking pace and none of Simms, Palmer or Haji Wright played the tie’s final quarter. It allowed Maidstone some moments of attacking cheer, the odd corner and raised heartbeat. The one frustration from the away end was the tendency to overplay rather than shoot. They know more than most about winning the lottery by buying a ticket.

In that context, it is of some regret that Maidstone missed out on the trip to the elite Premier League club and succumbed to an opponent lower-ranked than the one they beat previously. But you make the best of everything. Fifteen minutes before kick-off, the players huddled together for a final chat. Then they walked around the circumference of the pitch and in front of their 4,800 supporters, manager George Elokobi and his assistant Craig Fagan following behind. The reception was glorious.

The beauty of these cup runs is that they do make a difference beyond their own context: the money, the national media coverage, the representation of what the club stands for that will stick in the mind of potential signings and, hopefully, the next generation of Maidstone supporter. They had double their average home attendance in the away end on Monday. Some of them must stick with the club now.

A fortnight ago, Maidstone released their annual accounts and recorded a loss for the first time in 11 years, the result of unexpected relegation from the National League and salary increases. In prize money alone, Maidstone have almost doubled that annual loss with their FA Cup participation. Television revenue will only add to that.

Focusing on money may sound gauche, but it’s only the privileged who can afford not to dwell upon it and the National League South is no cosseted enclave. They may not count more than memories, but then these are not mutual exclusives. They will remember Ipswich and Barrow and Stevenage, the winter afternoons when they faced clubs from all three EFL divisions and won each time. League life may feel comparatively mundane for a while. But it has also been future-proofed by their class of 2023-24, George Elokobi’s mini-miracle men.

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The dust was not yet settled at Wembley when Liverpool staff carefully arranged 11 of their academy players who had contributed in some way to their Carabao Cup triumph over Chelsea for a photograph.

Many had medals dangling from necks they were recently placed over while pundits and commentators were celebrating “Klopp’s Kids” for defeating Chelsea’s billion-pound project. Conor Bradley, 20, started and for 72 minutes played right-back and then on the right of the front three. He was replaced by 19-year-old Bobby Clark. Harvey Elliott, 20, was also in the starting line-up. Jayden Danns, 18, and James McConnell, 19, came on in the 87th minute. Jarell Quansah, 21, joined them in extra time.

It was a heart-warming story, but how many of those players will still be at Liverpool in five years’ time? Sadly, in the shifting sands of football finance, chances are slim they survive the brutal reality of the game’s economics.

Clubs have long used academies as a factory farm to train players knowing full well the vast majority will never make it in the first team – even though that carrot is dangled throughout players’ childhood and formative teenage years. It is a system led by Manchester City and Chelsea. Only, now the game finds itself in a position where even those rare gems that do shine through are seen as first in line for sale due to the sheer spending power they generate.

In basic terms, a simple formula explains why. Only the profit on players bought and sold is banked in profit and sustainability rules calculations. With academy products, because no transfer fee was involved – or, in cases where teenagers join from another academy late, a minimal one – the sale fee is considered “pure profit”.

With amortisation rules allowing clubs to split the cost of a transfer over a player’s contract, up to five seasons, if Conor Gallagher is sold for £50m that is £50m x 5 = £250m. That kind of revenue is hard to ignore, especially if you have overspent already.

Still, it’s a sad indictment of where the game currently finds itself, and the insidious power of economics and accountancy, that a manager is in charge at Chelsea who loves the hard-working, box-to-box, supremely gifted young academy graduate, but may see him sold by owners looking to maximise an asset’s value.

In the current economic climate, what would have happened at Liverpool when big bets on Andy Carroll (£35m) and Stewart Downing (£20m) didn’t come off in those fallow years between 2009 and 2016, when the highest Liverpool finished in six out of seven Premier League seasons was sixth? Do the executives start looking at the balance sheets and decide that, while we love Steven Gerrard, if we sell him we can fund the next four transfer windows?

As clubs push spending to the limits – and, increasingly, go over them – none are immune from the dangers of a couple of bad windows leaving them in trouble and having to root around the back of the sofa for a couple of academy players to bail them out.

And now that the current financial system is setting in, the number crunchers will be plotting future windows knowing that selling the latest young talents to emerge in the first team can fund transfers for players such as Jude Bellingham or Kylian Mbappe.

Aston Villa have already found that the best way to super-charge an assault on Champions League qualification is to sell raw academy players to buy ready-made replacements. Maybe not better than them in five years’ time, but better than them now. Villa’s youth team won the FA Cup three years ago and from that team they have sold Carney Chukwuemeka to Chelsea for £18m, Cameron Archer to Sheffield United for £18m and Aaron Ramsey to Burnley for £12m. Individually they are modest fees in the world of elite football transfers, but collectively that trio of academy pure profit is realistically worth more to Aston Villa spent elsewhere.

According to a recent Uefa report into the state of finances in European football, last year Villa had a wage-to-revenue ratio of 92 per cent. In the club’s aggressive pursuit of Champions League football, it represented an increase of 38 per cent on the previous year. To comply with Uefa’s rules, next season clubs must have a wage-to-revenue ratio of 80 per cent.

So in the summer there’s a good chance Villa will have to sell Jacob Ramsey, the 22-year-old midfielder who Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur are interested in, to make the sums add up.

Indeed, at clubs everywhere calculators are being excitedly thumbed and everywhere the same answer emerges: that selling academy players, however good, is worth more than keeping them.

For a while, Mason Mount had seemed destined to become Chelsea’s next John Terry – an academy graduate who goes on to captain the club to vast success for most of his career. When Mount signed a five-year contract in summer 2019 he said, “I’ve been at the club for a long time already and hopefully I’ll stay for a long time to come.” Four years later he was gone. It still doesn’t feel quite right seeing him in the red shirt of Manchester United.

Even Manchester City, whose revenues mean they will rarely be in a position to have to sell, see the value. People scratch their heads at why Manchester City let Cole Palmer go to Chelsea for £42.5m. But Palmer buys you an amortised Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku with almost enough spare change to sign Jack Grealish.

However great Palmer, 21, has been for Chelsea, it’s a no-brainer. But there go the chances of a Wythenshawe lad spending his entire career at City. Manchester United are also said to be considering selling Marcus Rashford, and were actively seeking buyers for Scott McTominay last summer.

Is there a way to stop this worrying trend, a way to incentivise clubs to keep hold of their most talented academy stars? A bonus pot, made up of a portion of television rights money, for clubs whose academy graduates play a certain amount of first team games: £50m for 100, £100m for 200. All of it “pure profit” – the two words football club owners most like to hear.

Football needs spending restrictions to curb the unstoppable race to spend the most. But if it doesn’t start looking for solutions to a by-product of the current rules then money and accountants will kill off one of the game’s few remaining endearing traits.

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In a weird kind of way, Manchester United needed that on Saturday.

Like any new incoming ruler, Sir Jim Ratcliffe has promised Mancunians the world – a new stadium to better anything London has to offer, a hierarchical structure fit for purpose and the prospect of knocking Liverpool and Manchester City off their perch.

After hearing the Ratcliffe manifesto delivered in the billionaire’s wide-ranging interviews last week – revealing more less than 24 hours into the job than the Glazers have in 18 years – Old Trafford was brimming with excitement.

A Fulham team without a win in the red half of Manchester since 2003, taking on a club stoking the fires to roar back to the top of English football – the visitors would surely be no match.

But what transpired was a rather familiar story. Ratcliffe’s buoyant serfs, however, should have almost been celebrating Alex Iwobi’s 97th-minute winner themselves, as it gave the red knight in shining armour the starkest reminder of where his toughest renovation work is needed.

Whenever United suffer even just a handful of injuries to key players, what lies beneath is not of sufficient standard for a club of United’s grandeur. Not even close.

Without Lisandro Martinez and Luke Shaw at the back, a backline that cost north of £150m could not produce one pass that broke the lines between Fulham’s attack and midfield on Saturday. It went sideways, backwards or waywards instead.

Ahead of them, Casemiro looked dazed and confused at times before departing injured early in the second half, Bruno Fernandes spent more time gesticulating than shooting and Marcus Rashford may as well not have been there such was his anonymity.

Erik ten Hag has been similarly engulfed by the Ineos positivity bubble too, which should be more worrying than anything else.

“Today we could have won this game,” he said. “I have to credit the team – they showed great character. But after one defeat you have to see the bigger picture and the bigger picture looks very good.”

To Trafford property developers, perhaps. Not to Manchester United the football team. It isn’t one defeat, it is eight at home this season.

Fulham outplayed United from start to finish and should have been out of sight before Harry Maguire netted a late equaliser.

But Iwobi’s smart finish was nothing Marco Silva’s side did not deserve.

There can be no sympathy for Ten Hag, who again pointed to key injuries in the aftermath of another damaging defeat.

Such is the lack of trust in Antony, teenager Omari Forson was blooded instead. That the Brazilian only came on in the 99th minute is rather telling.

Profligacy with the company purse has been endemic at Old Trafford, but to splurge that sort of cash on a wide forward, rather than another central option has been perhaps the most epic error of all.

It is this kind of inappropriate signing that Ratcliffe and his shiny new recruitment team are going to have to eradicate if that colossal “Wembley of the North” is to get a populated trophy room.

A defeat, against a team without an away league win since August, tells a true picture of where this team is at. And the monumental task that awaits Ratcliffe.

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