Premier

Middlesbrough, who went into the Easter weekend in the top two, still had the opportunity to end it there with victory at Swansea City in the 17:30 BST game.

Alex Bangura set them on their way with a 12th-minute goal but, after two Zan Vipotnik penalties put the Swans in front, Boro needed a Tommy Conway spot-kick to rescue a point.

Boro are floundering with two wins in their past 10 matches and while they scored more than once for the first time in five games, the feeling remains they are a frustrating and inconsistent proposition in front of goal.

Manager Kim Hellberg said after the match there would be more “twists and turns” to come in the fight for promotion – after a day of such similar rollercoaster emotions.

“You’ve got three teams on 72 points – Ipswich have some games in hand, so they’re in a better position than the other two, but we are in a better position than Millwall because of our better goal difference,” he told BBC Radio Tees.

“There will be twists and turns. No team will just go and win games. It’s difficult and you need to just try in this period to get those points and wins.

“We have to keep fighting. It’s tough we didn’t win, because we thought we were good enough in the game to win, but then you have to do it.

“The easy answer at the moment is that we’re not being clinical enough or smart enough in different ways.”

With a four-point deficit to Ipswich, and a vastly inferior goal difference, plus the games in hand the Tractor Boys hold, Hull can be considered the outsiders in this race.

But the Tigers showed against Coventry they can match anyone in the division and once again reaffirmed the fantastic job Sergej Jakirovic has done in his first season in English football under a transfer embargo.

Although when asked about what that point means in terms of the wider context of Hull’s season, Jakirovic was talking more play-offs than automatic promotion.

“Somebody said it is 73, 74, 75 [to reach the play-offs] but God knows how many. Until we are in this position we will just look at ourselves and try to take points in every game,” Jakirovic told BBC Radio Humberside.

“Norwich are coming, Derby is there, Southampton… but, no matter, we must look at ourselves.”

Silva will leave Manchester City after winning the Champions League and six Premier League titles during his nine-year spell.

Manchester City ‌‌captain Bernardo Silva will leave the club ⁠⁠at the ⁠⁠end of the season, assistant manager Pep Lijnders has confirmed.

“Every good story comes to an end,” Lijnders told reporters after City’s 4-0 FA ‌‌Cup quarterfinal victory over Liverpool on Sunday.

“I hope he enjoys the last months – there are only six weeks left – and has a good farewell. He deserves all that attention.”

The 31-year-old Portugal international, who has ⁠⁠won six Premier League titles and the Champions League during nine years at the Etihad ⁠⁠Stadium, will depart as a free agent when his contract expires after the campaign concludes.

Pep Guardiola, who was serving a touchline suspension during the match, has previously described Silva ⁠⁠as “irreplaceable”.

Silva joined City from AS Monaco ⁠⁠in 2017 for a reported fee of about $57.35m and has since made 450 appearances for the club.

Known ⁠⁠for his tactical versatility, superb technique and tireless work rate, the midfielder has ⁠⁠been a cornerstone of City’s ⁠⁠side under Guardiola.

After winning the League Cup last month, City remain in contention for a domestic treble as the 2025-26 campaign enters ‌‌its final weeks, despite trailing Premier League leaders Arsenal by nine points.

The Manchester club have a game ‌‌in ‌‌hand and eight matches remaining to bridge the deficit.

Silva will become the second major player to leave the top four Premier League clubs this season, joining Liverpool legend Mohamed Salah, who confirmed he will exit the defending champions in May.

The 33-year-old Egypt international confirmed the news via a video message on his social media accounts last month.

“Unfortunately, the day has come. This is ‌‌the first part of my farewell,” Salah said. “I will be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season.”

Signed from AS Roma in 2017, Salah established himself as one ⁠⁠of the best players in the club’s ⁠⁠history, helping Liverpool to two Premier League titles, the Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup, FA Cup and two League Cups, as ‌‌well as an FA Community Shield.

He has scored 255 goals in 435 appearances, making him the club’s all-time third ‌‌highest ‌‌goal scorer, during which he won the Premier League Golden Boot on four occasions.

Tottenham Hotspur announced on Sunday that their interim head coach has left by mutual consent after 44 days in charge.

Nine head coaches have either been sacked or have left a Premier League club by mutual consent this season. Can you guess all nine?

There is little prospect of VAR being removed from the Premier League, or having its remit reduced.

In 2024, 19 out of 20 top-flight clubs voted to keep VAR, with only Wolves voting against, having proposed the poll themselves.

In order for VAR to be scrapped, 14 out of the 20 Premier League clubs would have to vote against it following a new proposal for abolition by a club.

The independent key match incident (KMI) review panel estimates there has been an accuracy rate of 96-97% for refereeing decisions made in Premier League matches since the introduction of VAR, while time delays caused by VAR have dropped by 25% in the past two seasons.

This year an FA Cup tie between Aston Villa and Newcastle United, which did not have VAR, featured three significant refereeing errors, leading it to being labelled the best advert yet for the technology.

The Premier League said: “VAR delivers more correct decisions.

“In recent seasons, there have been around 100 correct VAR overturns per season – instances where goals would otherwise have been incorrectly awarded or disallowed, or red cards or penalties missed or wrongly given.

“The league applies a high threshold for VAR intervention, with the referee’s call taking precedence. As a result, VAR is less intrusive in the Premier League than in other European leagues, including the Champions League, where VAR intervenes almost twice as often.”

But the FSA believes the results of its survey should be listened to and acted upon.

“Supporters naturally raise their concerns and they fall on deaf ears far too much,” Concannon says.

“That’s really disappointing, especially when all we hear is that the fans are the lifeblood of the game.

“Don’t just ignore what supporters are telling you in great numbers – that the enjoyment of football isn’t there any more in comparison to what it used to be.”

Balendra Shah, 35, and his three-year-old Rastriya Swatantra Party won a landslide after Gen-Z protests toppled the former government.

Balendra Shah, Nepal’s youngest prime minister, has been sworn in after his party’s landslide election victory following protests led by young people that toppled the government in September.

A rapper-turned politician, Shah was appointed prime minister by President Ram Chandra Paudel on Friday, after his three-year-old Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) won 182 seats in the 275-member parliament in the March 5 vote, the first election since anticorruption Gen Z-led protests in which 76 people were killed.

The 35-year-old wore black trousers, a matching jacket, his signature black Nepali cloth cap and sunglasses as he was sworn in at the President House, in the presence of diplomats and senior government officials.

A day earlier, the new premier, better known as Balen, released his first public statement since the historic vote with a rap song shared on social media.

“Nepal is not scared this time, the heart is full of red blood … Laughter and happiness will reach every household this time,” Shah raps in the song titled Jay Mahakaali (Victory to Goddess Mahakali).

His music video, which features visuals of large crowds cheering him during his election campaign, has racked up nearly three million views.

“The strength of unity is my national power,” his lyrics continue.

A former mayor of the capital, Kathmandu, Shah is Nepal’s first Madhesi premier – people of the southern plains bordering India – to lead the Himalayan nation.

China extended its congratulations to Nepal on the swearing-in of Shah, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday, adding it will support its Himalayan neighbour in safeguarding its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Protests had raged over a lack of jobs and endemic corruption in the country of 30 million, where a fifth of the population lives in poverty and an estimated 1,500 people leave the country daily for work abroad.

Although he did not directly participate in the protests, Shah publicly expressed support for the largely Generation Z demonstrators who led the movement.

Political instability has been an uphill challenge for Nepal, with 32 governments taking office since 1990 and none of them completing a five-year term.

The Nepali Congress party, the country’s oldest party, became a distant second group in parliament with just 38 seats. The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) of KP Sharma Oli, who was forced to resign after the Gen Z unrest, controls 25 members.

Former Chief Justice Sushila Karki led the nation through the interim period up to the parliamentary election.

So much has happened over the past seven days, including the Carabao Cup final, World Indoor Athletics Championships and possibly the most clinical performance of all time in football’s Championship.

That last one’s still up for debate, but what isn’t is 4% of quizzers getting full marks in last week’s edition. Will you make the grade this week?

After more quizzes? Go to our dedicated Football Quizzes and Sports Quizzes pages and sign up for notifications to get the latest quizzes sent straight to your device.

In May of last year, former Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca said: “We are not good enough for transition games. If you see our worst moments of the season, or games we struggled, they were all games where the game became transition.”

This quote helps explain why Chelsea may have run less on purpose, particularly in the first part of the season. Instructing his team to play slower while dominating possession would have created fewer turnovers and transitions leading to Chelsea needing to run big distances less often.

Playing more slowly on the ball in theory may have helped Chelsea’s players rest during the game before then pressing more intensely for shorter periods.

This season, Manchester City are top in terms of the average distance run per Premier League game.

Although this appears to be a positive stat, after their 3-0 win against West Ham earlier this season, Guardiola said: “I love [how much we run], last season we didn’t have that. But it’s not enough, we have to play better [so] we could run less.”

Reading between the lines, Guardiola appeared pleased at the increase in commitment but likely wanted his side to play in a less end-to-end fashion, instead looking for more control.

Brazil defender Gabriel Magalhaes has become the latest player from title-chasing Arsenal to withdraw from international duty with injury.

Six of the Arsenal first-team squad have now pulled out or been determined to be unavailable to represent their country in the international window that begins this week.

The Brazil Football Federation (CBF) said that Gabriel will miss the friendlies against France and Croatia, which will take place in the United States, because of “pain in his right knee”.

The CBF says that imaging tests confirmed the 28-year-old’s injury.

Gabriel played the full 90 minutes as Arsenal lost 2-0 to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday.

His fellow Arsenal centre-back William Saliba has withdrawn from the France squad, with Les Bleus also travelling to the US for their friendly matches against Brazil and Colombia.

England midfielder Eberechi Eze was called up to Thomas Tuchel’s 35-man squad for friendlies against Uruguay and Japan but withdrew with a calf problem.

He suffered that blow in Arsenal‘s 2-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in their Champions League last-16 second leg and missed the Wembley defeat on Sunday.

Arsenal team-mate Ben White has since been called up by Tuchel to fortify the England squad.

Gunners manager Mikel Arteta has confirmed the club are waiting for Eze to undergo another scan to find out the severity of his injury.

Arsenal winger Leandro Trossard is out of the Belgium squad for their matches against the USA and Mexico because of an injury issue.

Club captain Martin Odegaard was already ruled out of Norway duty because of a knee injury, while Dutch defender Jurrien Timber is also out of action at the moment.

Arsenal are competing to win their first Premier League title for 22 years and lead second-placed Manchester City, who have a game in hand, by nine points.

They are next in action when they take on Southampton in the FA Cup quarter-finals on April 4, before they play the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Sporting on April 7.

The Gunners resume their league campaign on April 11 when they play Bournemouth at Emirates Stadium.

People have been panning Tottenham boss Igor Tudor but they will look upon him in a different light if his side win this game.

Maybe he just needs to identify the opposition’s threat a little bit better than he does opposing managers – that clip of him mistaking someone else for Arne Slot at Anfield last week did make me chuckle.

Nottingham Forest‘s issue is that they don’t score enough goals, and that lack of attacking threat might just cost them here.

I know I keep mentioning it, but Forest manager Vitor Pereira has still not won a Premier League game all season, after 12 attempts with Wolves and Forest.

I don’t think he will win this week, either, although this is going to be an extremely tight game.

Spurs’ first aim will be to avoid any calamities like their red card against Crystal Palace in their previous home league game.

They have a few injuries, but they still have a fair bit of quality in their team.

Tottenham also have a bit of positivity and momentum after Wednesday’s home win over Atletico Madrid, even though it wasn’t enough to turn around their Champions League tie. Now they need to build on that.

Sutton’s prediction: 1-0

Amari’s prediction: If we play like we did against Liverpool and we get some players back from injury too, then we can do this. Forest have got some good players but we just need to get a result, it doesn’t matter how. 3-2

Amari on why he supports Spurs, and his favourite players: It’s down to my dad – every single person on my dad’s side is a Spurs fan. When I was kid, my heroes were Gareth Bale and then Dele Alli – when he first came to us, he was incredible.

Amari on whether Spurs will stay up or not? It’s been such a frustrating time because I don’t know what’s been going wrong. We can say it’s because of injuries but every team has those. We have been missing lots of players, but we still have a good squad.

I’ve been stressed about it before, but I am not stressed about it right now. If we are still in this situation with three games left then it is different, we might be going down. Now? I do believe we can get out of this.

Genesis’ prediction: I am going to give you a strange one here – I think Forest will surprise people. 1-3

AI’s prediction: 2-1

Chelsea were handed a nine-month academy transfer ban and a £750,000 fine over the registration of academy players between 2019 and 2022.

But compare this case with Everton and Nottingham Forest in 2024, when both clubs received points deductions for PSR breaches that appear much less serious.

So what relevance, if any, does all this have on the Premier League’s other major disciplinary case?

Fifteen months after the end of an independent commission hearing into more than 100 alleged breaches of financial rules by Manchester City, the club is still waiting to discover its fate.

Unlike Chelsea, City deny wrongdoing and are contesting the case. And unlike at Stamford Bridge, there has been no change of ownership at the Etihad to provide mitigation.

But City fans will surely be encouraged that the Premier League board did not appear to even consider a points deduction in the case of Chelsea, despite the “deception and concealment”. Indeed, it referred to a two-window transfer ban as an “appropriate” punishment, had the club not self-reported and co-operated.

In July 2023, Uefa fined the club £8m over the same case. And the FA is expected to take similar action when it announces the conclusion of its disciplinary process into the affair in the coming weeks.

But there are clear signs that Chelsea feared it could have been worse. In 2024, it was revealed that owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali held back £150m of their purchase price for the club to cover potential fines relating to the Abramovich era. So far this episode has cost the club about £18m.

Some of their rivals may feel the cost may have been greater in the form of trophies and prize money they could potentially have won. And also to the integrity and credibility of a competition that relies on everyone following the rules.

Arsenal beat Everton 2-0 in a nervy match in the Premier League as they continue their pursuit of the title.

Max Dowman, a 16-year-old Arsenal winger, became the Premier League’s youngest goalscorer with a remarkable stoppage-time strike in his team’s 2-0 win over Everton.

Dowman collected the ball midway in his own half, dribbled around two Everton players and raced clear unchallenged from the halfway line to tap into an empty net, with Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford stranded upfield having gone forward for a corner.

An English football prodigy, Dowman — at 16 years, 73 days — was playing just his third Premier League match after two previous substitute appearances at the start of the season.

He broke the record of former Everton player James Vaughan, who was 16 years, 270 days when he scored against Crystal Palace in 2005.

In November, Dowman became the youngest player in Champions League history at 15 years, 308 days when he entered as a second-half substitute against Slavia Prague.

Dowman is still in school. He was 14 when he was asked by Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta to train with the senior team in December last year, and he starred on the club’s preseason tour of Asia in matches against AC Milan and Newcastle.

To abide by Premier League regulations for players under 18, Dowman has to change into his Arsenal kit for training sessions and matches in a separate locker room from his senior teammates.

Who: Manchester United vs Aston Villa
What: English football’s Premier League
Where: Old Trafford, Manchester, United Kingdom
When: Sunday March 15, at 2pm (14:00 GMT)
How to follow: Al Jazeera’s live coverage begins at 11:00 GMT

Manchester United and Aston Villa face a crunch clash on Sunday in the race for UEFA Champions League qualification.

The pair hold third and fourth spots respectively in the Premier League, with United edging Villa on goal difference, while Chelsea and Liverpool sit three points behind the pair in fifth and sixth.

With only the top four being guaranteed a place at the top table of European football, the encounter at Old Trafford holds huge value to both with nine games to go of the season.

Al Jazeera Sport takes a closer look at the match.

Man Utd look to bounce back from first defeat under Carrick

Manchester United’s ⁠interim manager Michael Carrick on Friday said his players were “itching to get going” again, after suffering their first ⁠defeat under his leadership.

Last week, 10-man Newcastle United ended Carrick’s unbeaten run since he replaced Ruben ⁠Amorim in January.

“I understand the first defeat feels different but it was going to come at ‌some point. Most teams have suffered that at some point,” Carrick told reporters.

“It has been a really good week in some ways, we have put ourselves in a position where there is a lot to play for.”

Carrick brushes off Scholes dig at Man Utd

United’s ⁠defeat by Newcastle prompted a dig from former player Paul Scholes, ⁠who wrote on Instagram: “Michael has definitely got something special about him … cos Utd have been crap last four games.”

Asked about his former teammate’s comment, Carrick said: “It was nothing really, nothing to say about it really.

“I think that is just where we are in terms of social media and things, and captions and quotes. It can be taken in different ways, so just be calm about it and understand the real meaning of things.

“Listen, there are different opinions out there and it’s fine. People can have different opinions.

“It’s just things get taken from one extreme to another. It is what it is. I am not worried about it and don’t make a big deal of it either.

“There’s nothing to say about it, really,” he said.

How have Aston Villa fared in the Premier League this season?

Villa had a turbulent start to the campaign, as they failed to register a win in their first five league matches – losing two. A run of 12 league wins in 13, however, propelled them into a title challenge by the turn of the year.

A 4-1 defeat at Arsenal on New Year’s Eve marked the start of another downturn, though, with only three wins recorded in 11 games starting with the defeat in London.

The midlands club have lost three of their last five on the road in the league, recording only one win in that time.

Last up for Man Utd

United suffered their first defeat under Carrick in their match at Newcastle United on March 4.

The home side were reduced to 10 men when Jacob Ramsey was sent off on the stroke of half-time.

It came in a frantic end to the first half that saw Anthony Gorden give Newcastle an injury-time lead from the penalty spot, only for Casemiro to head home an equaliser to send the sides in level.

William Osula netted the winner in the 90th minute to give Eddie Howe’s side all three points despite their numerical disadvantage.

“It was disappointing the way the game ended (against Newcastle) but we have digested that, looked at it and learned from it,” Carrick said ahead of the Villa match.

“We have trained really well this week and the boys are itching to get going.”

Last up for Aston Villa

Villa were 1-0 winners at Lille in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday, ending a four-game winless streak that included three defeats.

Ollie Watkins scored the only goal of the game in the 61st minute.

The return leg will be played at Villa Park on Thursday.

What happened the last time Man Utd played Aston Villa?

Villa recorded a 2-1 win in the reverse Premier League fixture at Villa Park in November, despite an encouraging display for Ruben Amorim’s United.

Morgan Rogers scored both goals for Villa – his first was scored in the 45th minute but United were level in first-half stoppage time through Matheus Cunha.

What happened in the corresponding fixture between Man Utd and Villa last season?

United were 2-1 winners in the Premier League match at Old Trafford last season.

The Red Devils were greatly aided by the sending off of Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez just before the break.

Amad Diallo and an 87th minute Christian Eriksen penalty sealed the win for the home side.

Head-to-head

This will be the 202nd meeting between the clubs with Manchester United winning 107 of the matches. Aston Villa have won 52 of the encounters, which date back to November 1892 and a 2-0 home win for United in the old Division One.

Manchester United team news

Carrick said Mason Mount had taken a “big step” and could return from a two-month absence against Villa this weekend.

The ‌midfielder missed their last six league games due to injury.

“He is an important player for us,” he said.

“He is not 100 percent and he has only trained for a small period of time. ‌But ‌he is back and that’s good for us. We will see if he is involved on Sunday. That is it in terms of the players coming back.”

Matthijs de Ligt, Patrick Dorgu and Mason Mount all remain absent though, and Lisandro Martinez has been added to that list with a calf injury, while there remains an injury doubt over Luke Shaw.

The defender was forced off with injury in the defeat by Newcastle, but Noussair Mazraoui, who also came off injured in that game, is set to be available.

Aston Villa team news

Midfielder John McGinn returned to action at Lille on Thursday night and could be in line for a start at Old Trafford.

Youri Tielemans and Boubacar Kamara remain absent through injury, leaving a gaping hole in the middle of the Villa lineup.

Right-back Matty Cash is also a doubt having missed the Lille match after picking up a knock in Villa’s last Premier League outting.

Manchester United predicted starting lineup

Lammens; Mazraoui, Yoro, Maguire, Shaw; Casemiro, Mainoo, Mbeumo, Fernandes, Cunha; Sesko

Aston Villa predicted starting lineup

Martinez; Bogarde, Konsa, Torres, Maatsen; Luiz, Onana, Sancho, Rogers, Buendia; Watkins

The Premier League’s power was supposedly emphasised by having six teams in the last 16 following the league stage, but this was something of a cold shower hosed on talk of its supremacy as City and Chelsea were heavily beaten, following on from defeats for Liverpool and Spurs on Tuesday.

Premier League leaders Arsenal needed Kai Havertz’s last-minute penalty to scrape a draw at Bayer Leverkusen, sixth in the Bundesliga, after winning eight from eight in the league phase.

Spurs were humiliated by Atletico, Liverpool lost to Galatasaray – although Newcastle United can take credit as they were only denied victory by Barcelona’s last-gasp penalty at St James’ Park.

Some big performances are required in the second leg if boasts about the supposed superpower of the Premier League are not to be rendered hollow.

Five of those teams had first legs away from home. Chelsea, Manchester City and Spurs must all turn around three-goal deficits, although Arsenal and Liverpool are the best hopes of going through.

It was an unexpected downturn. Could it be that the heavy workload and intensity of the Premier League has taken the edge off performances when the Champions League comes around?

Taken on this evidence, the Premier League picture is not as rosy as some would suggest in the Champions League context.

It all looked so different from the newer league table format, which led to a clean sweep of Premier League teams, giving rise to suggestions they could dominate the latter stages.

Not so, as teams that made their way through the play-offs such as Bodo/Glimt, Atletico, Real, PSG and Galatasaray all impressed.

Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson, who was at the Bernabeu, told BBC Radio 5 Live: “We spoke about the England teams and dominance in Europe. Look at how easily they qualified, in the Europa and Conference leagues as well. But in the Champions League, not one English team has won.

“Manchester City were in a better place than Real Madrid. They were injury-ravaged. It looked like an under-23 side with a scattering of experience for Real. But they were clinical and well-coached and hit City on the counter-attack.”