Key events
Let’s have a look at what’s happening in Europe today. You’ll see the central figure in the picture at the top of this live blog is one Harry Kane, who can finally get his hands on some silverware if Bayern Munich defeat Mainz at home today and last season’s champions, Bayer Leverkusen, fail to beat Augsburg at home. It will also be Vincent Kompany’s first top-flight title as a manager (he’s been keen to point out that he won the Championship with Burnley).
Someone is not so impressed by Harry, though:
Was Kane really a better striker than James Vardy though? I don’t think so. Vardy was a one man attack that Kane never could be. Quicker, better runner off the shoulder, good link play,
better carrier.
Kane, He’s gone to Bayern and they’ve become Spurs. He is the worst England attacker in the front 3 since 2020 and he’s holding the attack the time.
Impending Bundesliga title-winners Bayern Munich have become Spurs. Discuss …
We have an email from Gordon Bird. “It’s a huge day in the Isthmian Premier Division,” he roars. “Come on Horsham!” A quick bit of research shows me that, yes, this is another non-league table that is delivering a shot of excitement on the final day. There are three teams going for the title, two of whom will be promoted. The Isthmian Premier Division is the seventh tier of football in England, one step down from the National League South so, if St Albans City do get relegated, their fans can be safe assured they’ll be dropping into a league that also delivers end-of-season thrills. Here’s how the table looks, with second-placed Horsham hosting eighth-place Hashtag United and leaders (by one goal on GD), Billericay, facing Cheshunt at home. Third-placed Dartford host seventh-placed Carshalton United. So, unlike the National League South, those three title-contending teams’ reasonably close proximity means the trophy could be located in, says, Sevenoaks and delivered within an hour of full-time to whoever wins it.
Fantasy football corner
With apologies to those who don’t play the game, here’s what you need to know before the weekend’s deadline for Premier League fantasy football (11am BST). Arsenal, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Manchester City are not in action in Gameweek 34 so if you have any of those teams’ players in your first XI you need to either transfer or bench them. If you still have a Wildcard or Free Hit chip available then now could be the time to activate it.
Player to consider bringing in:
With Newcastle in a fierce race to finish inside the top-five Champions League qualification places, it could be worth stacking up on players from Eddie Howe’s side as they face a home match against sorry Ipswich, who could be relegated this afternoon. Harvey Barnes (£6m), Jacob Murphy (£5.2m), Anthony Gordon (£7.4m) and Sandro Tonali (£5.5m) could all be good value to pitch in with goals and/or assists, while Alexander Isak (£9.6m) is worth considering as captain ahead of Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (£13.8m). On to Liverpool then, and with only a point needed against Tottenham to win the Premier League title again, is it worth bringing Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.2m) back into your team? He’s the most expensive defender out there but, after his winning goal at Leicester, could he be set for a start on what could be a momentous day for the Reds? And Luis Díaz (£7.5m) loves scoring against Tottenham. He’s scored four times against Spurs (it would have been five had it not been for that VAR imbroglio), is in good form and could be a smart choice at the price.
Wolves face relegated Leicester, with Mattheus Cunha (£6.9m) back in favour and looking like a good value buy, while Bryan Mbeumo (£8m) and Yoane Wissa (£6.5m) were back at their telepathic best for Brentford in the 4-2 win over Brighton and could be worth backing to dent Nottingham Forest’s bid to qualify for the Champions League. Bernd Leno (£5m) is a decent option in goal as Fulham travel to Southampton and Reece James (£4.8m) may be a good shout as top-five chasers Chelsea host Everton.
I’m 12th in Guardian Sport’s 26-team league on 2,066 points by the way, so feel free to ignore my advice and post your own BTL. And here’s our team news and predicted lineups for the weekend, which may well inform your thinking.
Blackdogmax has asked for a little bit of focus on the Championship relegation battle. My colleague James Dart has pitched in BTL.
It might be the last weekend for fellow followers of a Plymouth Argyle persuasion to be part of the Championship, so a tip of the hat to all the travelling supporters (3.30am start in places) on their way to Preston. Similar nod to the £5 tickets from North End.
A Luton win at lunch could effectively (if not mathematically) relegate Argyle without them kicking a ball today; given their away record over this and other seasons, they should be able to handle it themselves …
And the best of luck to Truro City (and other five promotion contenders) in NLS. A huge and historic day for Cornish football beckons (or not).
My workings have it that if Cardiff and Plymouth Argyle both lose at home to West Brom and away to Preston, respectively, and Luton avoid defeat at home to Frank Lampard’s Coventry and Derby don’t lose at Hull, then both would be relegated to League One. Hull would be assured of safety if they beat Derby with one game still to play. Portsmouth’s 1-0 win over Watford last Monday means they are now safe.
More about National League south particularly St Albans City FC please.
Here at Guardian Towers, we like to please. Away from the glitz and glamour of the top leagues around Europe, the National League South has made headlines this week, where as many as six teams can still win the title. The league has confirmed that the trophy will have to be presented at a later date because, well, where the hell would they have it on standby? I’m not sure they could afford to rent a helicopter to fly the silverware in. The league table really is a sight to behold.
Here’s how Simon Burnton teed up the six-way title tussle:
The final day dawns for National League South with fully 25% of its teams capable of winning it. Truro City go into it above Torquay at the top because their goal difference is better by two (they have scored one more goal), Eastbourne Borough and Worthing are a further point back, and Boreham Wood and Dorking Wanderers are two behind them (with the division’s best and second-best goal difference respectively). Disappointingly none of the teams play any of the others on the last day, with the pick of the fixtures Truro’s against St Albans City, who need to do better than Salisbury (the two are level on points but Salisbury’s goal difference is better by one) to stay up. A few weeks ago it looked as if the title was Worthing’s to win: on 15 March they had won their past five, led the league by four and had a game in hand on every other side in the top 10. “We’re very hard to play against at the moment and I think we’re improving, we’re getting better,” their manager, Chris Agutter, said after they beat Hemel Hempstead Town that day. “We’re becoming more ruthless as well. We just need to keep working hard, and the results touch wood should keep going in the right direction.” Since then: two wins, two draws, three defeats. They end their season at Enfield, who could go down if Salisbury and St Albans win.
If you are at any of the potentially title-defining games later, do let us know which team’s scarf you’ll be wearing and what your plans are.
There was a minor shock in Ligue 1 last night, when already-crowned champions PSG’s hopes of completing an unbeaten league season went up in smoke as they were beaten 3-1 at home by Champions League-chasing Nice. A quick look at the starting lineup suggests that the Parisians did not rest a host of players before their trip to the Emirates on Tuesday for the first leg of the Champions League semi-final. Many would rank them as they best team in Europe right now. Are the wheels coming off, or were they just on low-power mode? Surely it gives Arsenal fans some hope though, no?
Crystal Palace v Aston Villa: FA Cup semi-final (5.15pm)
Let’s shift the focus to Wembley then, where Oliver Glasner’s much-improved side are hoping to cause a (kind of) upset by defeating Aston Villa and booking their place in the FA Cup final. They’ve never won a major honour, but with a team that are tuned expertly under the impressive Austrian, could this be their best chance of finally landing a big trophy? Ed Aarons has taken a deep dive into the club’s hunt for the holy grail.
On the other side of the centre-circle at Wembley today, will be Aston Villa. Ben Fisher has explored the restorative powers of Unai Emery at Aston Villa, and how his off-the-cuff decisions, tinkering and snap calls have kept his team on an upward trajectory. His emotional methods have certainly got the best out of key players – most notably the rejuvenated Marcus Rashford.
A headline that certainly grabbed my attention this morning was David Moyes’s analogy of what it is like to manage Everton under new owners TFG.
We’ve got a new lover coming in and we have to make sure we like them and it all goes well. People have been brought in to do it before and it didn’t work [with Farhad Moshiri]. We need to hope that we can say: ‘This is how it should be going, this is what Everton are required to do and this is how we need to do it.’”
Too much? Yes, probably. Though I think we can all agree he’s keeping his new lover happy. Look out Chelsea! That one kicks off at 12.30pm today, and as mentioned earlier, Yara El-Shaboury will bring us the mood from Stamford Bridge later this morning.
So, let’s have a look at some of the headlines this morning. Ange Postecoglou has been in siege mode for quite some time at Tottenham, and with his side 16th in the Premier League table and facing a trip to Anfield where Liverpool can win the title tomorrow, he’s been bemoaning the negative narrative around Spurs – particularly last season when they finished fifth.
I love the frenzy around finishing fifth this year … they’re all brilliant, aren’t they? We finished fifth last year. Why is it such a disaster that we finished fifth? Around this time last year, I was asked to lose a game [against City]. And I was wrong for wanting to win it. We finished fifth but it’s not a good story. A better story is my tenure has been a disaster and it continues to be. I just think that the kind of hysteria that is surrounding what’s happening at the moment is all premeditated for a certain outcome. Hopefully we can defy that.”
Welcome to matchday live!
Good morning! Welcome to our brand new live blog running on Saturdays and Sundays that will signpost the football matches and stories to look out for each day. Coming up on a stacked Saturday we’ll be talking to Crystal Palace and Aston Villa fans about their hopes (and fears) before this afternoon’s FA Cup semi-final. We’re hoping to involve you in the conversation, too, so if you happen to be heading to Wembley get in touch below the line or email us with your thoughts on the match. If you’re heading off to watch any match today, let us know why it matters to you and what rituals you’ll be carrying out in advance?
We’ll be hearing from some of our correspondents, too, with Ewan Murray teeing up Dundee United v Celtic, who are set to win a record-equalling 55th Scottish league title and we hope to have snippets from reporters elsewhere, too. Yara El-Shaboury is at Stamford Bridge for the early kick-off between Chelsea and Everton – she’ll assess the mood before that one. But if you have any thoughts on Enzo Maresca and David Moyes, do let us know. Dominic Booth will be at Wrexham v Charlton at 5.30pm, with the Hollywood darlings potentially being promoted from League One this evening, and he’ll send us a missive later to tee that one up. And Harry Kane could finally get his hands on some silverware if Bayern Munich defeat Mainz. Surely he deserves some honours doesn’t he? I’ll bring you some fantasy football tips too – they might not be useful but they will at least remind you not to miss the deadline.
