Untung99

Women’s football consortium has made Como its first club and wants a global stable that unlocks game’s commercial potential * Moving the Goalposts: sign up for our free newsletter On a March morning on the shores of Lake Como, a piece of history was made. Mercury/13, a new ownership consortium that focuses purely on women’s football, acquired its first club – FC Como Women, from Serie A Femminile. Mercury/13, founded by Victoire Cogevina Reynal, has pledged $100m (£85.5m) to building up a portfolio of teams across the globe, a “pure play” investor that unlocks clubs’ commercial potential. Reynal and her co-CEO, Mario Malavé, have brought notable figures on board, including the former England international Eni Aluko and Women in Football’s Ebru Koksal. Continue reading...

Attacks against a club president candidate backdrop Sérgio Conceição’s preparations for a possible historic European night Sérgio Conceição’s last stand at Porto does not need any extra needle or drama. But as the manager prepares for Tuesday night’s Champions League last 16 second leg against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, 1-0 up from the first, it has got it all the same. Porto are a club in turmoil. Uncertainty and conflict the watchwords and uncomfortable questions everywhere. The root cause is the presidential elections on 27 April when, at the age of 86, Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa will stand for yet another term. Continue reading...

* Arsenal aim to overturn first-leg defeat in Tuesday’s second leg * ‘We’re going to have to tweak a few things to generate more’ Mikel Arteta has said Arsenal’s ambition to win major trophies is growing as they go into the second leg of their Champions League tie against Porto at the summit of the Premier League. Arsenal can seal a place in the last eight of Europe’s top club competition for the first time since 2010 if they can overturn a 1-0 deficit against the Portuguese side on Tuesday night. Arteta’s side, who have recorded eight successive victories in the Premier League and scored 33 goals in the process, are guaranteed to go into the international break top of the table after Sunday’s draw between Liverpool and Manchester City. Continue reading...

Feyenoord attempted to trick Heracles Almelo's goalkeeper during their Eredivisie game. Two left-footed Feyenoord players appeared to decide who would take a free kick with a game of rock, paper, scissors. The goalkeeper was therefore surprised when right-footed Igor Paixão took the shot instead. The game ultimately ended 3-0 in Feyenoord's favour. Continue reading...

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang cannot stop scoring for new manager Jean-Louis Gasset By Eric Devin for Get French Football News Ligue 1 clubs are being rewarded for making bold choices to change managers this season. Lyon under Pierre Sage are not yet mathematically safe but, with six teams and as many points separating them from the relegation playoff spot, they look set to keep their place in the top flight. Rennes under Julien Stéphan will be chagrined to have conceded stoppage-time equalisers in two of their last three matches, but they are still very much in the running for Europe and are still in the Coupe de France. Nantes are still in a bit of bother, but a win against Strasbourg on Sunday would go a long way towards securing survival for Jocelyn Gourvennec’s team. The recent appointment of Jean-Louis Gasset, seemingly the most desperate of the season in France, is proving the most inspired. Marseille have won all five of their matches under Gasset, scoring 18 goals and conced

Becky Spencer was the hero of Tottenham’s stunning penalty shootout win against Manchester City to send them into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time. Spencer saved two of City’s five spot‑kicks, from the England duo Alex Greenwood and Chloe Kelly, with Spurs converting all but one to seal victory. Amy James-Turner provided the assist for Bethany England’s 96th‑minute equalising goal which forced extra time and took the game to penalties. * Spurs into Women’s FA Cup last four after shootout win over Manchester City Continue reading...

* As it happened: USA 1-0 Brazil * Captain’s goal seals victory for Americans in San Diego Lindsey Horan scored with a header in first-half stoppage time and the United States beat Brazil 1-0 on Sunday to win the Concacaf Women’s Gold Cup. The United States lifted the trophy despite being stunned by a loss to Mexico in the group stage of the tournament. It was the first women’s Gold Cup, with the event created to bring teams in the region more meaningful competition. It was the fourth time that the United States have faced Brazil in a tournament final. The Americans won the previous three, including the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. The game drew a sellout crowd of 31,528 to San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium, a record crowd for a Concacaf women’s match. Continue reading...

Last week James Maddison enjoyed going head to head against his Tottenham teammate Micky van de Ven in a darts challenge with the elite players Michael Smith and Nathan Aspinall and the Spurs No 10 stepped up to the oche here to twist a cagey contest in their favour. By the end, ­however, Spurs were able to revel in an evisceration of 10-man Aston Villa. When the fourth official, ­Darren Bond, indicated 10 minutes of ­second-half stoppage time, it spelled bad news for Villa, who had just gone 3-0 down after Son Heung-min rifled in Dejan Kulusevki’s cutback in consummate style. Then the substitute Timo Werner completed the rout with a cute finish. Continue reading...

* Reading say talks with potential new owners are ‘progressing’ * Dai hoping to find buyers for Bearwood Park training complex The Reading owner, Dai Yongge, is “open to the sale” of the club’s Bearwood Park training complex to raise short-term funds for the club. The crisis-hit League One side have had six points deducted this season due to financial issues. The English Football League has previously urged Dai to “fund the club adequately” or make “immediate arrangements” to sell. The Royals said in a statement on Sunday that talks with potential new owners were “progressing”. Continue reading...

* Updates from the Gaughan Group Stadium (3pm GMT) * Get in touch! Email Emillia with your thoughts on the game While we count down to kick-off, take a look at Kelly Simmons’ latest column discussing the Women’s FA Cup and how the competition can be improved. Elsewhere in the Women’s FA Cup Liverpool 0-2 Leicester City Brighton 0-4 Manchester United Everton 0-1 Chelsea (still being played) Continue reading...

* FA perform U-turn with forward set to remain with Liverpool * Salah has struggled with setbacks since injury during Afcon Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has been left out of the Egypt squad for a forthcoming friendly tournament during the international break towards the end of March. The 31-year-old left the Africa Cup of Nations early when he picked up a hamstring injury on January 18 against Ghana and suffered another injury during a substitute appearance against Brentford on his return. Continue reading...

A dominant Manchester United eased their league woes as they surged into the semi-finals of the Women’s FA Cup with a comfortable victory over Brighton. First-half goals from Millie Turner, Nikita Parris and Lucía García and a sensational finish from Lisa Naalsund in the second took last year’s finalists into the last four again. Continue reading...

Neil Warnock has stepped down as Aberdeen manager after guiding the club into the Scottish Cup semi-finals. A 3-1 quarter-final victory over Kilmarnock proved to be the final match of the 75-year-old’s short spell in charge. Jamie McGrath’s double set up a trip to Hampden Park, but Warnock will not be in the dugout. Continue reading...

A brilliant free-kick from former Japan international Yuya Osako made up for his eye-poppingly dreadful penalty for Vissel Kobe against FC Tokyo. Osako, last season's joint-top scorer in J.League slipped at the point of impact from the spot, kicking the ball against his standing foot and sending the ball looping well wide. However, he later scored superbly from just outside Tokyo's area to help the reigning champions to a 2-1 victory. It is the 33-year-old forward's first goal of the season, having scored 22 last year. Continue reading...

Having loyalty picks near England’s starting 11 would show validity in criticism of the manager’s single-mindedness Earlier this week Ajax’s social media feed released some haunting video footage of Jordan Henderson closing down the Utrecht goalkeeper. The clip lasts 16 seconds. It shows Henderson running in an entirely straight line from the centre circle, never slowing or breaking stride, alone in all that green space, gripped with an unrelenting fury. If you’ve ever wondered what it might look like if someone were to strap an improvised explosive device to Jordan Henderson, primed to detonate if he slows down, stops, or turns left or right, then the answer is, it would probably look like this. Continue reading...

Strikers are both enjoying fine seasons, but don’t expect every chance to be taken when Manchester City visit Liverpool There will be smoke, noise and a sense of authentic event glamour. People will shout at a bus. The TV graphics will woosh and sparkle. In due course a skinny-legged man will perform high-speed tactical mime on the touchline, revolving both hands and yanking at invisible levers, as though reversing an imaginary submarine. There will surely be goals too. Liverpool and Manchester City have mustered 50 between them in their past 14 games before their bravura meeting at Anfield on Sunday afternoon. But this also feels like a game that might just be marked by misses too, by shanks, muffs, scuffs, crossbar-wobbling hoicks. Chances will be taken. And in between, chances – Big Chances – will also be missed. Continue reading...

* Kirk will not be on touchline for FA Cup tie at Liverpool * Leicester say Kirk ‘is assisting the club with an internal process’ Leicester City Women are investigating their manager, Willie Kirk, over allegations of a relationship with one of their players and he will not be on the touchline for their game at ­Liverpool on Saturday. It is understood that Kirk has been suspended pending the investigation into the allegations. Continue reading...

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! You’ll Never Walk Alone. Superbia In Proelio. This Means More. Blue Moon Rising. Red v Blue. Kopites v Cityzens. For the last time in Our League, Jürgen Klopp will take on Pep Guardiola. Cue intro: the Liverpool poet, celebrating Jürg via the medium of folksy verse, and sound-clash that with a braggadocio Manc rapper in big coat employing a groin-led swagger. Next: zoom in on Anfield. (Any TV execs looking for a freelance director, get in touch with Football Daily.) Cliche aside, this is a big one. It’s way too early in the season to be the title decider, not least because Arsenal are racking up big wins as the Third Way, but it holds historical significance. It has been the most glorious Liverpool era since Bobby and Sheila Grant were household names, and yet, even if they win the title come May, the Klopp era will conclude with two titles compared to Guardiola’s five. And from one of Liverpool’s greatest teams. Re: FFP issues (y

* Zambia forward joins NWSL side for $740,000 * Banda says chance to play in US is ‘very humbling’ Orlando Pride have completed a deal to sign Zambia forward Barbra Banda for the second-highest transfer fee in women’s football. Recruited from Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shengli for $740,000 (£582,128), Banda has signed a four-year contract with the NWSL side. The price tag makes her the second most expensive player in the history of women’s football, following Bay FC’s recruitment of Banda’s international teammate Racheal Kundananji from Liga F side Madrid CFF for $787,600 in February. Continue reading...

* FSG have held talks with club’s former sporting director * Liverpool want to secure Xabi Alonso as replacement for Klopp Liverpool’s owners met Michael Edwards in Boston on Sunday in their attempts to convince the club’s former sporting director to shape the post-Jürgen Klopp era at Anfield. Fenway Sports Group’s principal owner, John W Henry, and president, Mike Gordon, were among the senior executives who held talks with Edwards about returning to the club he left in 2022. The 44-year-old, a consultant at the sports advisory business Ludonautics, is regarded by FSG as the ideal candidate to lead Liverpool’s transition when Klopp steps down after nine hugely successful years as manager this summer. However, the club’s owners will need to offer a more powerful role than sporting director to tempt Edwards back. Continue reading...

The burning sense of injustice that coursed through West Ham after being denied the chance to wipe out Freiburg’s slender advantage should not make them look past the failings that left their hopes of salvaging a draw from the first leg of this last-16 tie dependent on the whims of a referee with a curious interpretation of the handball law. Admittedly the fury that greeted Alejandro Hernández not awarding a penalty after Noah Weisshaupt blocked Tomas Soucek’s attempted shot with an outstretched arm deep into stoppage time was understandable. The home crowd roared, perhaps as much out of disbelief as jubilation, and David Moyes fumed. The initial check by the VAR had taken an age and it seemed inevitable that the decision would go against Freiburg when the Spanish official ran over to the pitchside monitor. Continue reading...

* Continental Cup semi-final: Manchester City 0-1 Chelsea * Emma Hayes’ side set up final showdown with Arsenal Chelsea reached the Women’s League Cup final for the fifth time in succession with a slender ­victory over ­Manchester City. Lauren James’ early goal was enough to see them set up a meeting with Arsenal on 31 March despite coming under significant pressure from their title rivals. It was a dogged performance from Emma Hayes’ side that ended City’s scintillating run of 12 wins in all competitions and hopes of lifting the treble. The Chelsea manager praised her side’s “gutsy” performance as they reached yet another domestic final. “I felt like that was a Chelsea standard,” she said. “If you’re going to suffer without the ball, we had to make it difficult … I think the team as a whole deserve credit for just digging in. We weren’t at our best, but we know how to do this.” Continue reading...

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! “Long-term growth”, “profit and sustainability’, “investment for the future”, “rising costs of goods and services”: the language of modern football has become interchangeable with the halting guff coughed out by UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt in Wednesday’s budget. Indeed, football finance is such big news that recent years have witnessed the growth of a new subset, the “football finance expert”. It can be a broad church, from Gianni Infantino rolling in Saudi money, to Big Sir Jim’s Manchester United revolution, via more parochial stuff like the running costs of Neasden FC since Buffy Cohen flounced out. It can be a vital service, as spreadsheets, balance sheets and profit and loss accounts strain the eyes of those not blessed with accountant-standard numeracy. As a Jane-come-lately to the world of tribal support, I’m utterly delighted by yesterday’s Football Daily on the Championship. I have no erudite analysis and neither do I want

In an exclusive interview the Zambia forward talks about the challenges she has faced on her way to reach the top * Moving the Goalposts: sign up for our free newsletter The pressure is on and Racheal Kundananji is not denying it. The Zambia forward became the most expensive female player ever last month when she joined Bay FC from Madrid CFF for $788,000 (£620,000) and she is only 23 years old. It is a lot to take in. “There is so much pressure on me [as a result of the world-record transfer fee] but I just have to calm down, focus on my work and continue playing football,” the striker tells the Guardian from Ndola. Continue reading...

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes says Australia star has the club’s ‘full support’ as she faces trial for racially aggravated harassment over what was allegedly said to a police officer. The racial slur Matildas superstar Sam Kerr is alleged to have used against a British police officer was “stupid white bastard”, according to sources with knowledge of the case. The 30-year-old appeared by video link at Kingston crown court this week accused of using insulting, threatening or abusive words that caused alarm or distress to a police officer in January 2023. She entered a not guilty plea. Continue reading...

‘Genius’ manager is back in his homeland as his side’s remarkable progress leads them to Rome Brighton’s European adventure will once again tread new ground this week but not Roberto De Zerbi. While the chairman, Tony Bloom, was among the 3,500 fans who have made the pilgrimage to the Eternal City for Thursday’s Europa League tie against Roma, a first meeting with Serie A opposition, their manager is no stranger to Italian stadiums and returns to his homeland with his stock higher than ever. No matter that Brighton have gone three games without a win and come into the Europa League last‑16 tie with several absences through injury including their star winger Kaoru Mitoma. It is their manager who is the visitors’ main attraction, although De Zerbi rejected his opposite number Daniele De Rossi’s description of him as “a genius” when he held court at the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday evening. Continue reading...

* Club could face points deduction if found to be in breach * Financial pressures likely to lead to player sales in summer Leicester City are at serious risk of breaking the English Football League’s profit and sustainability regulations, raising concerns about the club’s financial picture and a possible points deduction. The financial pressures are likely to result in the need to sell players this summer. If found in breach, it is unclear when any punishment would come into effect. Continue reading...

* Jürgen Klopp’s side in Europa League action on Thursday * Premier League leaders host Manchester City on Sunday Liverpool were given a huge boost when Mohamed Salah returned to training on Wednesday after spending more than two weeks out due to a hamstring injury. The Egypt attacker’s return comes a day before Liverpool’s Europa League meeting with Sparta Prague, and four days before the Premier League leaders host the defending champions, Manchester City, on Sunday. Continue reading...

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Fadugba and Nicky Bandini as Bayern Munich and PSG book their places in the Champions League quarter-finals Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email. On the podcast today; Harry Kane does what Harry Kane does best and twice appears in the right place at the right time to score his 32nd and 33rd goals of the season, helping Bayern overturn their first leg defeat to Lazio and progress in the Champions League. Can they go on to win it? Continue reading...

Matildas captain pleaded not guilty in UK this week to racially aggravated harassment of a police officer Lawyers for Matildas captain Sam Kerr will attempt to have a criminal charge of racially aggravated harassment thrown out in a UK court hearing in April. The 30-year-old appeared in Kingston crown court on Monday accused of using insulting, threatening or abusive words that caused alarm or distress to a police officer in January 2023. Continue reading...

The drummers in the Südkurve beat out a tribal rhythm. Out on the pitch the players of Bayern Munich were unleashing wave after wave of feral attack, the crowd at the Allianz Arena swaying and baying along with them. And if you closed your eyes and tried not to think too hard, it was possible to imagine that these were other times, better times. That everything was going to be all right in the end. They’re not, of course. Bayer Lever­kusen are running away with the Bundesliga, coach Thomas Tuchel is off in the summer, and there’s a sound case for swilling out around a third of his underperforming squad with him. But still, the ­stolen glance at a truncated dream that dares to return their gaze. Bayern are still in the Champions League. They still have unfinished business and a front four you would wade through thick snow to watch. And they still have Harry Kane. Continue reading...

* Fans said to have ‘felt unsafe’ before WSL game at Emirates * Arsenal say they assessed situation and could not stop protest Arsenal have been criticised for failing to stop a pro-Palestine rally after Jewish fans said they had felt intimidated into walking away before the Women’s Super League game against Tottenham last Sunday. One supporter, who regularly attends women’s matches, spoke of feeling “betrayed” by Arsenal after seeing the anti-Israel demonstration outside the Emirates Stadium. The fan decided to leave without entering the ground and is likely to stay away from Wednesday night’s League Cup semi-final against Aston Villa at Boreham Wood. Continue reading...

Football Australia say they only found out about the allegation of racially aggravated harassment against captain and striker Sam Kerr in the UK. The striker appeared in court on Monday in the UK and pleaded not guilty to charges of using insulting, threatening or abusive words that caused alarm or distress to a police officer in an incident in January 2023. Football Australia CEO James Johnson said: 'We are trying to get to the bottom of it at the moment. We have got our own questions that we’d like to know, we have got to find out what actually happened'. He urged people to be respectful of Kerr however, adding 'Sam has rights as an individual. She's pleaded not guilty. I think we need to remember that and we need to respect that' * Sam Kerr: Football Australia says it was blindsided by player’s UK harassment charge and court appearance * Sam Kerr: what’s at stake for Australia’s golden girl after UK court appearance? Continue reading...

The 27-year-old has had to overcome obstacles to reach the French top flight with Guingamp. Now she wants change On a bleak Monday in February, Sabitra Bhandari set off to warm up as soon as the coach made the sign. The clock was nearing the hour mark at the Stade Jean-Pierre Delhomme in the outskirts of Bordeaux and, just two days after signing for Guingamp, Bhandari was set to make history. And so it happened. Samba, as she’s called by everyone back home, became the first Nepalese player – male or female – to play a European top-flight fixture, coming on in the 76th minute. It was a giant leap for the South Asian nation, whose direct footballing connection with Europe is limited to a few managerial tenures, youth trials, and reported interest in young footballers who ultimately do not make the move. “I always had that dream to play in Europe,” the 27-year-old tells Moving the Goalposts. “Now is the time to prove myself, put those dreams to reality by doing well at the level that

Fear stalks club’s first home game since warning £2m is needed to avoid threat of liquidation but there is also plenty of fight “The existence of Rochdale AFC is at stake,” were the stark words of the club’s chairman, Simon Gauge. As with most things in life, the matter boils down to money. The Greater Manchester club require £2m of investment in the coming weeks or face the prospect of liquidation. In the shadow of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s £1.3bn purchase of little more than a quarter of Manchester United, the need for comparative pocket change up the road in Rochdale is a matter of life and death. The town, 14 miles north of Manchester, struggles for positive PR and to lose its one professional sports club would be a considerable blow. Continue reading...

* Club unlikely to be rash but pressure is growing on head coach * Liverpool also interested in Sporting and Brighton managers Chelsea’s desire to wait until the end of the season before reviewing Mauricio Pochettino’s position has not stopped the club from identifying Rúben Amorim and Roberto De Zerbi as potential replacements for the Argentinian. Pochettino, who was handed a two-year deal after arriving at Stamford Bridge last summer, faces an uncertain future after a mixed run of results. Supporters turned on the head coach during Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with Brentford last Saturday and there are doubts over whether the 52-year-old will be in charge next season. Continue reading...

The 23-year-old striker was playing in the fourth tier in December but has inspired Sevilla and now is the team’s ‘soul’ December 2023, the day before a game, and the manager of a team in Spain’s fourth tier gathers his squad. He reminds them of the plan – the bus will leave at 6am for an 11.30am kick off 230km away, stopping to pick up players en route – and puts on a video. It includes every goal the opposition’s striker has scored: there are 11 from 13 games and, the centre back watching soon realises, not one is a tap in. Instead, Isaac Romero, the Sevilla B forward up there on the screen, makes them all himself. “Unreal, absolutely unreal,” the defender recalls. “You could tell he had to be in the first team, and that’s what happened. He’s on fire.” That makes it sound easy, but it wasn’t. “I never imagined this,” Isaac says. That morning he played before a few hundred people and didn’t score. The next time he got a goal, there were 12,581 there. The time after that, 13,092. A

* City’s ‘individual quality’ was too much, admits United captain * United trail fourth-placed Aston Villa by 11 points Bruno Fernandes admits it is “going to be hard” for Manchester United to qualify for the Champions League after Manchester City’s “individual quality” led to an 11th Premier League loss of the season. United sit sixth, 11 points off fourth-placed Aston Villa and six points behind Tottenham – who have a game in hand – in fifth spot, which could yet be enough for Champions League qualification. United next play at home to Everton on Saturday. Continue reading...

Spaniard’s side have opened up a 10-point lead and, remarkably, appear to have wrapped up the title race before spring The race for the Bundesliga being over before spring has sprung? Of course. Plus ça change, wake me up when it’s summer and all the rest. This time, though, it’s not Bayern Munich calling time at the inn but of all teams, Bayer Leverkusen. Sunday’s win just down the road at Köln for Leverkusen did what Harry Kane’s stoppage-time winner for Bayern prevented against Leipzig in the previous weekend. Still-unbeaten Leverkusen now have a 10-point cushion over the perpetual champions at the top with only 10 games left. Granit Xhaka, a hugely influential presence for the (we can say it, even if they can’t) champions-elect all season, warned afterwards of his experience of a big lead being reeled in by the division’s superpower at Arsenal last season. “I explain to them what happened,” he told ESPN’s Archie Rhind-Tutt of his discourse to his teammates, “but you can’t expla

Rashford displays his best and most frustrating qualities while Watkins and Eze lay down Euro 2024 markers Manchester City are inevitable. It’s the quality that struck such fear into Manchester United in a derby that rarely seemed destined to be anything other than victory for the champions. And that includes the 48 minutes United were a goal ahead. Liverpool and Arsenal could only look on in vain hope, even when Erling Haaland delivered one of the greatest misses in Premier League history. City kept their cool. United’s latest derby humbling reminded there is so much more to Pep Guardiola’s team than the Kevin De Bruyne-Haaland partnership. At 23, it can feel like there are no more worlds to conquer for Phil Foden, the match-winner. And Rodri, who performs the same safety-catch service Sergio Busquets supplied for Guardiola’s Barcelona team, remained switched on in the dying seconds to rob Sofyan Amrabat and set up a cleansing goal for Haaland. United players left the field exhauste

From Rashford’s screamer to Chelsea’s struggles, we hand out honors (and dishonors) from the top-flight weekend Phil Foden is in the middle of the biggest heat check since Mark Ruffalo in Poor Things. He was the best player on the pitch in City’s 3-1 win in the Manchester derby, finishing with two goals, including a now trademark stunner from the edge of the box. Continue reading...

At least it was not another abject humiliation. That was the crumb of comfort from the Manchester United point of view. In four of the previous six derbies – and that did not include the FA Cup final at the end of last ­season, which Manchester City won 2-1 – United had been taken apart in grisly fashion. Their supporters even had the thrill of seeing Marcus ­Rashford blast them into an early lead with a furious long-range drive. It was still another defeat, another occasion when the gap to the top was mapped out in painful detail – as it was always likely to be. United’s ambition was limited to battling to stay compact and trying to nick ­something on the counterattack. Continue reading...

The rumbling drum that signals the growth of women’s football is ­getting louder by the week. A crowd of 60,050 – the second highest in Women’s Super League history – at a sold-out Emirates Stadium watched Arsenal’s defeat of Tottenham. It was Arsenal’s second back‑to-back full house at the club’s main stadium and the club now have the top six WSL attendances – and, of UK crowd figures across the ­weekend, bettered only by the 61,339 that watched Tottenham men’s team beat Crystal Palace on Saturday. Continue reading...

Hearts profited from Yang Hyun-jun’s early red card to inflict a second 2-0 defeat on title-chasing Celtic within the space of three months in an incident-packed cinch Premiership showdown at Tynecastle. The visitors arrived in Edinburgh knowing a victory would have taken them back to the top of the league after Rangers suffered a surprise 2-1 loss at home to Motherwell on Saturday. Continue reading...

Marco Silva believes Rodrigo Muniz is getting “better and better” after the Brazilian forward inspired Fulham to an impressive win over Brighton. Muniz claimed his fifth Premier League goal in five games with a clinical header which came after his assist for Harry Wilson’s long-range strike had given Fulham a deserved lead at Craven Cottage. Continue reading...

Manchester City moved to the top of the Women’s Super League table after defeating Everton 2-1. City picked up where they left off in their first match since defeating Chelsea last month, with goals from Khadija Shaw and Lauren Hemp taking them three points clear of Emma Hayes’ side, who visit Leicester on Sunday. Continue reading...

Manchester United’s swoop for City’s chief operating officer is seen as a coup but how much influence will Berrada have? Omar Berrada and John Lennon: Manchester United’s incoming chief executive and the late Beatles superstar are, seemingly, kindred spirits. This is according to Berrada himself, the Paris-born Moroccan who was a boyhood Barcelona fan. His poaching from Manchester City by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the 27.7% United owner and controller of football policy, has been a shock to the champions’ hierarchy and is viewed as a coup in the industry. Continue reading...

* Chelsea manager needs to ‘be in my place’ regarding transfers * Reece James returns to light training but will not be rushed back Mauricio Pochettino refused to comment on whether managers should have more power at Chelsea amid growing questions over Conor Gallagher’s future at the club. Pochettino said that “I am the coach that needs to be in my place” when asked whether he would try to persuade Gallagher, whose contract expires next year, to stay. The Argentinian, who wants to keep the midfielder, said it was down to the player and Chelsea’s owners, who have handed responsibility for recruitment to the co-sporting directors, Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley. Continue reading...

* Injuries also a constant disruption in stop-start season * ‘To have a strong squad you need consistent games’ Ange Postecoglou feels his Tottenham team would benefit from playing more matches as he lamented the stop-start nature of their season and the difficulty in generating momentum. Spurs played only seven times in January and February and their home game against Crystal Palace on Saturday is the first of four in March. Some of the reasons have been self-inflicted: they failed to qualify for Europe and suffered early exits in the domestic cups. Continue reading...

Ben White’s reputation for ambivalence towards football cannot hide a burning desire to help Arsenal win the Premier League title Mikel Arteta uses deep meditation or a good book to escape from the intensity of the title race but things are much simpler for Ben White. “That’s one of the best things I’m able to do,” the Arsenal defender says. “I know people say I don’t like football, but I go home and football is not on my mind. I can just be a normal person, relax. When I’m in here it is intense.” So rather than watching Manchester City and Liverpool this weekend before Arsenal enter the fray again on Monday night at Sheffield United, White is more likely to get away from it all with a game of bat and ball or Uno against his wife. Just don’t expect him to make it easy for her. Continue reading...