Key events
And that concludes my coverage for today. I appreciate you following Matchday Live, and I wish you a wonderful remainder of your day.
To summarize today’s action, Mansfield will take on Arsenal at 12:15, followed by Wrexham versus Chelsea at 17:45, and then Newcastle will host Manchester City (once more) at 20:00. What are your forecasts for these FA Cup matches?
On Sunday, Fulham is scheduled to meet Southampton in the FA Cup. Tonda Eckert’s team, currently trailing Championship rivals Wrexham by four points, is eager for the opportunity to challenge Premier League opponents. Below, you can find Ben Fisher’s interview with Eckert.
In less than an hour, the Lionesses will kick off their World Cup qualifier against Iceland. Here’s a look at the confirmed team lineups:
England starting XI: Hannah Hampton; Lucy Bronze, Leah Williamson, Esme Morgan, Taylor Hinds; Keira Walsh, Georgia Stanway; Jess Park, Lauren James, Lauren Hemp; Alessia Russo
Subs: Anna Moorhouse, Ellie Roebuck, Maya Le Tissier, Lucia Kendall, Lotte Wubben-Moy, Poppy Pattinson, Chloe Kelly, Grace Clinton, Aggie Beever-Jones, Laura Blindkilde Brown, Jess Carter, Freya Godfrey
Iceland starting XI: Cecilía Rán Rúnarsdóttir; Guðrún Arnardóttir, Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir, Ingibjörg Sigurðardóttir, Sædís Rún Heiðarsdóttir; Ída Marín Hermannsdóttir, Hildur Antonsdóttir, Karólína Lea Vilhjálmsdóttir; Hlín Eiríksdóttir, Sveindís Jane Jónsdóttir, Sandra María Jessen
Subs: Telma Ívarsdóttir, Fanney Inga Birkisdóttir, Berglind Ágústsdóttir, Emilía Kiær Ásgeirsdóttir, Karitas Tómasdóttir, Alexandra Jóhannsdóttir, Diljá Ýr Zomers, Birta Georgsdóttir, María Catharína Ólafsdóttir Grós, Thelma Pálmadóttir, Hafrún Rakel Halldórsdóttir, Elín Helena Karlsdóttir
Mansfield Town delivered a surprising upset in the FA Cup’s fourth round, defeating Burnley 2-1. This triumph means League One Mansfield has now overcome more Premier League teams in 2026 than Tottenham. The question remains: can they conquer a team 59 positions higher in the football hierarchy today?
Let’s turn our attention to Tottenham now… as a growing number of individuals are suggesting that relegation might be a real possibility.
It’s actually the Arsenal fans I feel sorry for. Three years of nearly but not quite is why they’re being served up this NFL style nonsense – ball in play for 50mins a game on average is a disgrace and if Arteta gets any joy out of winning the title this way he should consider a position up the road with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Which brings me to …Tottenham fans saying they’re too good to down have totally misunderstood what goes on upstairs at The Hotspur; Relegation will cost them £100m, winning the Champions League (I know) will earn them £150m. Work it out…
Personally, I find it hard to sympathize with Arsenal supporters. Should they ultimately clinch the title, I suspect the manner of their victory will be secondary to the fact that they’ve ended a 22-year Premier League drought.
It’s been a great week for Arsenal thus far. They secured a 1-0 victory over Brighton while Manchester City stumbled against Nottingham Forest. Furthermore, their North London rivals suffered another defeat, an embarrassing 3-1 loss to Crystal Palace.
Although social media has been abuzz with premature parade discussions, Mikel Arteta’s squad is focused on staying grounded. Read David Hytner’s analysis on the critical importance of Arsenal maintaining their concentration ahead of the Mansfield clash.
Thank you, Emillia. Stick with me for the next hour or so as we countdown to the lunchtime kick offs.
Alright, I’ll now pass the reins of this blog over to Xaymaca Awoyungbo, who will guide you through the final moments before today’s early kick-offs.
Recent financial disclosures indicate that Liverpool’s directors received higher remuneration than the collective salaries of all 49 players and staff within their Women’s Super League team, latest accounts reveal. For the fiscal year concluding May 31, 2025, Liverpool Women saw their overall operating budget increase by 36%, a period during which they secured a seventh-place finish in the WSL and advanced to the Women’s FA Cup semi-finals.
Sarina Wiegman anticipates a “highly challenging” match for England when they face Iceland today. Prior to the game, she commented: “They constitute a formidable side – very disciplined, exceptionally physical, and quite direct with significant speed. Having observed their previous displays, particularly against Spain, we understand they will be incredibly difficult to overcome. We expect to dominate possession, yet penetrating their defense will be arduous. We acknowledge this will be an extremely tough fixture. They possess some potent attacking threats. They’re hard to defeat, and we must perform at our absolute peak.”
Additionally, the Lionesses will return to the field in slightly over two hours today. They are set to play Iceland at the City Ground as part of their World Cup qualifying efforts. England commenced their qualification journey on Tuesday with an emphatic 6-1 victory against Ukraine. Relive that match with Tom Garry’s report below…
As I see it, for the past three seasons, Arsenal has been urged to “discover a method” to win the Premier League after falling short in previous title races. Now, they appear to have found a successful approach to winning games, particularly through well-executed set pieces. Opposing teams often counter their free-flowing football with deep defensive setups. Given the difficulty of breaking down such sides in open play, it’s understandable why Mikel Arteta – and Nicolas Jover – have increasingly relied on corners, throw-ins, and free kicks.
Discussions have taken place among the Premier League’s sporting directors regarding the prevalence of set-piece goals and defensive holding within the penalty box, as worries grow that these developments are diminishing the game’s overall entertainment value.
The topic of set-piece utilization has been a hot point of contention throughout the past week. What are your opinions on this?
I imagine supporters of Arsenal, in particular, might hold a perspective quite different from other football enthusiasts…
Spurs fans, if you could have any available manager take over from now until the end of the season, who would you want in charge?
Spurs are in a situation where the penny still hasn’t dropped. Pragmatic coach replaces pragmatic coach to work with a team whose main characteristic is proactive attacking football. Even the signings in the summer (Kudus/Simons/Tel) were primarily for a front foot approach and style. As I’ve mentioned before – Romero/Vdv are not box defenders, Porro/Udogie/Spence are inverting/ high touchline WBs. That’s a defence completely unsuited to how Frank/Tudor want their teams to defend. Basics.
Frank knew before the summer window closed he wouldn’t have Kulusevski/Maddison for the bulk of the season – the only real progressive passers in this team. But he and the genius DOF didn’t address this because they were not interested in having a player to deliver progressive passes. Frank was interested in second balls and transitions and set pieces – not a possession heavy game which this current Spurs squad was built for. I mean Frank ignored Tel and played Bergvall on the wings (big red flag that one). Tudor seems to specialise in playing players out of position. What a time to experiment.
This is just a sample size of the mis-profiling of coaches the chuckle brothers Vinai and Lange have managed to inflict on Spurs. Spurs only chance of survival this season is to let the handbrake off. It’s the only time this collection of players have looked remotely convincing this season – those stirring 2nd halves against Bournemouth, City, Villa etc. any of the winning CL displays. That’s why Dyche is a no, Tudor is wrong, Big Sam a joke suggestion and Frank was always wrong. Spurs have repeatedly got away with mis-profiling coaches to the needs to the squad. They spent two years building a front foot team for Ange and threw that all that planning away with the pragmatic Frank.
This cluelessness is why the club will be relegated. Waited too long to sack Frank – a coach who was too small minded and found the Spurs job too big for him. Frank was replaced by Tudor – a recommendation by the former director of football Paratici – who left the club in January as he was frustrated at being ignored by Vinai and Lange. Vinai and Lange are the absolute villains of this relegation – a parting kiss-off from Levy. As studies in bringing down a very big football club – the Spurs 25/26 season will be studied for years to come.
There is an available coach that could turn this around – that this group of players would run through brick walls for. But Vinai and Lange will never approach that coach as it would be an admittance that they got it wrong to fire him in the first place. Absolute cowards.
Let’s turn our attention to Tottenham now… as a growing number of individuals are suggesting that relegation might be a real possibility.
Just looking at the fixtures of some of those at the bottom. (I’m assuming Wolves and Burnley have too much to do.)
West Ham: v City (H), Villa (A), Wolves (H) – next 3
Forest:Fulham (H), Spurs (A), Villa (H)
Spurs:Liverpool (A), Forest (H), Sunderland (A)
Leeds:Palace (A), Brentford (H), Man Utd (A)
Spurs are going to find it tough going at Anfield against a Champions League-hungry Liverpool, so then that game v Forest is starting to take on epic proportions.
It’s almost impossible to predict points tallies really, but if West Ham keep their up their current resurgence and Forest play like they did for a lot of the game v Liverpool and at City, and if Spurs as they did v Palace (I never saw Fulham but the reports weren’t positive), Spurs could well be sitting in the bottom 3 very soon.
If I was a Spurs fan, all the fixtures would concern me but the way they’ve been playing would concern me more from what I’ve seen recently.
Spanish club Celta Vigo has launched an urgent appeal to Madonna, hoping to locate a 36-year-old football shirt she famously donned during her 1990 concert at their Balaidos stadium.
Madonna appeared on stage wearing the club’s blue colours during her Blonde Ambition tour in July 1990. She delighted locals who claimed the ‘Material Girl’ as one of their own and brought unforeseen spotlight to defender Jose Manuel Espinosa, whose No.5 shirt she wore.
Despite extensive and unsuccessful searches over several decades, the whereabouts of this treasured item remain a mystery. Celta is now formally requesting the 67-year-old pop icon’s assistance in recovering it for their club archive. “While you wore other football shirts on stage, this particular image has gained unique significance over the years,” wrote Celta president Marián Mouriño Terrazo in an open letter to the American star.
“With time, we’ve come to appreciate your stance against established norms and your advocacy for individual freedom – values our club deeply identifies with. This is why we continue to hold onto the hope of finding the garment you once wore.”
“Do you possess it? Should you know its location, or wish to collaborate in our search to retrieve it, please reach out to us via private message.”
The club’s unusual request generated considerable buzz on social media after its release on Wednesday. Celta further amplified their campaign before Friday’s 2-1 home league defeat against Real Madrid by playing Madonna’s songs before kickoff and displaying her image both on the pitch and across their social media platforms.
Mouriño Terrazo informed local media of his optimism that the appeal would reach the pop star. “I anticipate that the letter has reached Madonna and that she will respond,” he stated. AP
European football summary
Monaco reignited the Ligue 1 title chase on Friday evening by handing defending champions Paris Saint-Germain their first home loss of the season. Maghnes Akliouche put Monaco in front by halftime, with Aleksandr Golovin and Folarin Balogun extending the lead after the interval for the visiting side, while Bradley Barcola netted a consolation for PSG. Despite the loss, PSG maintains a four-point advantage over second-placed Lens, who have an opportunity to reduce the deficit when they host struggling Metz on Sunday.
In La Liga action, Federico Valverde’s fortunate 95th-minute deflected shot secured a 2-1 victory for injury-plagued Real Madrid at Celta Vigo. The Uruguayan midfielder’s late strike, aided by a deflection, brought his team within a single point of league leaders Barcelona, who are scheduled to visit Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.
Napoli finally secured their first Serie A home win since late January, defeating Torino 2-1 to solidify their hold on third place and a Champions League qualification spot. The reigning champions clinched the win with goals from Alisson Santos in the seventh minute and Eljif Elmas in the 68th, before Cesare Casadei scored a late consolation for Torino.
Meanwhile, in Germany, Bayern Munich comfortably triumphed over 10-man Borussia Mönchengladbach with a 4-1 scoreline, extending their Bundesliga lead to a commanding 14 points. Even without their injured star striker Harry Kane, Bayern dominated from the outset, with four different players contributing to their goal tally.
This week, Peter Lansley conducted an interview with Mansfield Town manager Nigel Clough in anticipation of today’s fixture. You can read the full conversation below…
Arsenal journey to Field Mill to face Mansfield Town in today’s opening fixture. Mikel Arteta indicated yesterday that the state of the playing surface might influence his squad choices.
He commented: “This can certainly be a factor, particularly if a player is managing injuries, as the pitch might exacerbate certain muscle issues. However, we anticipate having the necessary players fit and ready.”
He further elaborated: “It’s quite typical. This is also part of the charm of this competition. You have to visit these venues, adjust to them. From a young age, we’ve all played on such pitches, or even worse, so adapting to the environment and making the most of it is essential.”
Wrexham’s recent five matches:
With their current run of form, Wrexham harbor strong hopes of pulling off a major upset this afternoon.