WSL season reaches finish, Premier League, playoffs and more – matchday live | Football
Key events
Who will finish in the Premier League's top eight?
The PL title race never really happened after City had their mid-season wobble, and Arsenal failed to seize the opportunity by realising they would need to bring a striker in during the January window. City did exactly that and while Marmoush hasn't been prolific, he has given the team a lot more energy and provided back up to the injured Haaland. With Arsenal with their tails between their legs after their Champions League exit and having to go to Anfield with Liverpool smarting from losing at Chelsea last time out I fear it will be another bad day at the office for Mikel Arteta. City are finishing the season very strongly and it is hard to see them failing to win their remaining games and finish second, which if they win the FA Cup will be a very good season by anyone else's standards and more to the point make them favourites to take the title next season.
Main game today is Bournemouth v Villa. A must win for the Cherries to keep their Europa League qualification chances alive, and a must win for Villa to have the chance to squeeze into 5th if Newcastle or Chelsea falter. As those teams meet tomorrow Villa could if they win come out of the weekend just a point behind 5th place with two games to play.
Villa's next game is home to Spurs who have nothing to play for but avoiding injuries ahead of the Europa League final, while Chelsea are home to United who are probably better placed with the return of Amad, Mount, Mainoo and Shaw over the last few weeks and might prove a bit more difficult for the Blues.
Newcastle have to go to Arsenal, so they seem the more likely to drop points.
The last game of the season comes after the Europa League final so hard to see either United or Spurs having much left in the tank or even caring. That may well be excellent news for Villa who have to finish their season at Old Trafford, while Chelsea go to Forest who are still in the CL race but seem to have run out of steam. Newcastle's last match is home to Everton who are unlikely to have more than pride to play for.
My prediction for the final top 8 is Liverpool Manchester City Arsenal Chelsea Villa Newcastle Forest Brentford
Mine, and I know you didn’t ask but I’ve got the keys to this car so pipe down, would probably be:
Liverpool
Arsenal
Manchester City
Newcastle
Nottingham Forest
Chelsea
Aston Villa
Brentford
Don’t know why – and it could just be nostalgia – but I have a feeling Forest might win their last three games.
Bristol Pity
yep, that is indeed the worst pun in the Guardian’s history
Predictably we got slashed at Ashton Gate on Thursday night by Sheffield United and our faint hopes of getting to Wembley are over with the return game on Monday night at Bramall Lane a mere formality.
Why is it that none of these deep pocket billionaires see any potential in Bristol City? I mean we are streets ahead of Wrexham and Bristol is a great city with a strong maritime and aerospace history so you would have thought that someone would have taken a punt.
Looks like we just continue to be a mid-table Championship side with the occasional sniff of the play-offs or the bad season relegation fight.
I had exactly the same thought while watching Thursday’s game. With pre-emptive apologies for any ignorance, it does feel like both Bristol clubs have enormous potential. I know the concept of ‘cool’ is a load of nonsense in many ways but Bristol is arguably Bristol’s coolest city and that alone should generate more interest.
Forty years ago tomorrow, 56 football supporters lost their lives at Bradford’s Valley Parade and hundreds more were injured. The city came together that day and its unity since has been a constant source of pride.
Oliver Evans will lead his seventh memorial service as Bradford City’s club chaplain. He was due to attend the game against Lincoln, but was unable to go. “I’d been to every home game that season,” he says. “I used to cut the grass for my dad and that day I’d not done it. My mates all turned up to go to the game, but Dad said I couldn’t because I hadn’t cut the grass.”
Evans’s memories of that day do not end there. His father was a clergyman and faced a devastating task. “He was asked by the head of the ambulance service to receive the bodies at North Parade. I’d never heard him cry before. I heard him cry through the bedroom wall as he told my mum what happened.”
Women's Super League Q&A
At 11am, our award-winning correspondent Suzanne Wrack will be here to answer your questions about all things WSL. You can email them to matchday.live@theguardian.com or post below the line.
On this day in 1995… Nayim.
Championship playoffs
Sunderland are favourites to meet Sheffield United* at Wembley after a terrific 2-1 win at Coventry last night. Eliezer Mayenda scored a clinical winner in the 88th minute after a bad mistake from Coventry defender Milan van Ewijk.
* Or Bristol City. Anything can happen, but we won’t be putting the farm on City after their 3-0 defeat in the first leg at Ashton Gate.
What’s at stake in the Premier League
Today’s matches – see below, or click here – all involve teams hunting a European place.
Manchester City and Aston Villa aiming for the Champions League.
Bournemouth, Brentford, Brighton and Fulham are in a four-team battle for eighth place. That will be enough for a place in the Conference League if Manchester City beat Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final.
It’s 20 years since the Glazers got their grubby hands on Manchester United. Jonathan Liew revisits their takeover in 2005.
Sir Alex Ferguson, perhaps the one figure capable of stopping the takeover dead in its tracks, repeatedly refused to do so, telling a bunch of disgruntled fans on a trip to Budapest to “go and support Chelsea” if they were dissatisfied with the way United were being run.
Ferguson would continue not simply to tolerate the Glazers but to defend them at every opportunity. Seven years later, on a pre-season tour of South Africa, he rounded on United fans who still opposed the regime. “There are a whole lot of factions at United that think they own the club,” he said. “The majority of the real fans will look at it realistically and say it’s not affecting the team.”
What's at stake on the WSL's final day
Chelsea will become the first team to go through a 22-game WSL season unbeaten if they win or draw at home to Liverpool.
Arsenal and Manchester United are battling for second place, which would mean a later start in Champions League qualifying. They meet at the Emirates with Arsenal needing a draw to stay in second.
Those are the main things. Crystal Palace have already been relegated so there’s no jeopardy at the bottom of the table. Arsenal’s Alessia Russo will win the golden boot unless West Ham’s Shekiera Martinez scores at least a hat-trick at Leicester.
And on this day in 1986, Liverpool did the Double by beating Everton in the FA Cup final. Thanks to the wonders of technology, Scott Murray was able to cover it on the information superhighway.
On this day in 1978… Liverpool retain the European Cup. Here’s David Lacey’s report from that night at Wembley. And if you don’t want to click on anything – anything – written by David Lacey, I’m afraid I can’t help you.
Nick Ames, our European sport correspondent, tells some fascinating stories from across the continent. This one, on a town and football club that were devastated by a volcanic eruption in 2023, is particularly good.
Nobody would dream of using the hall for football now. Its pitch is cleaved in two by a fissure up to 25 metres deep; one of the most striking images in a settlement that has been ripped apart. A chasm has destroyed their outdoor practice pitch too. But something remarkable will happen in Grindavík on Saturday: football will lead the way in a recovery few could have foreseen over the past 18 months. Grindavík will play at their Stakkavíkurvöllur home for the first time since the town’s abandonment, hosting Fjölnir in a second-tier fixture whose outcome feels distinctly secondary.
The morning headlines
Preamble
Good morning my dear football friends. Welcome to our Saturday build-up blog, known in Guardian Towers as matchday live (lower case).
This is our home for all the latest news and previews ahead of today’s action, which for our purposes begins at 12.30pm with the final day of the WSL season. Then we’ll have EFL playoffs, five Premier League games, a Bayern Munich title party and much else besdies.
At 11am we’ll have a WSL Q&A with Suzanne Wrack, so please send in any questions for that. You can contact us at matchday.live@theguardian.com or post below the line.
Before we get cracking, these are some of the key matches we’ll be following today.
