It’s FA Cup and WCL semi-final time, plus mighty London Marathon feats – follow with us
Footballing Saturdays don’t come much bigger: an FA Cup semi-final, key clashes in the Premier League relegation battle, the hunt for European places, and a late game that will have a telling impact on the title race,In the Championship, with Millwall having played on Friday evening, Ipswich and Middlesbrough are running for the second automatic promotion spot,In League Two, MK Dons would be promoted with a win against Tranmere,So there’s no better place to start by joining Emillia Hawkins as she helms our unbeatable rolling football blog, offering breaking news and updates from around the grounds plus readers’ thoughts and queries,Why not join the conversation? Email matchday.
live@theguardian.com Tanya Aldred keeps the updates flowing, keeping a keen eye on Jimmy Anderson’s progress as Division Two table-toppers Lancashire face Durham.At Headingley, Yorkshire offer a warm embrace to their returning England luminaries Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow as they seek a first win of the season against Paul Farbrace’s in-form Sussex.Surrey can call on their international teammate as Gus Atkinson appears for the first time this season in their match against Essex at the Oval.With Aston Villa – alongside Manchester United and Liverpool – on course to secure Champions League football next season, the side that finish sixth could still qualify for Europe’s top club competition.
This gives extra incentive to a clutch of clubs from Brighton, in sixth spot, all the way down to Fulham, in 12th.For that to happen, Villa would need to win the Europa League and finish fifth in the Premier League.That said, the home side have failed to score in four of their past five Premier League matches, while Unai Emery’s visitors are still buzzing from their 4-3 win over Sunderland.Tim de Lisle keeps track of the action, while Ben Bloom reports from Craven Cottage.The signs are bleak for visitors Wales at Ashton Gate: last time out, the world champions set aside the absence of 10 players due to injury or pregnancy to run in 12 tries en route to a 35th consecutive Test victory.
The 84-7 demolition of Scotland at Murrayfield set an ominous tone for the Red Roses’ title defence.Wales, by stark contrast, are without a win in 10 starts after losing to France 38-7 last weekend at the Arms Park.Daniel Gallan hosts the blog as Sarah Rendell reports from Bristol.Tottenham desperately need a win at relegated Wolves to restore hope that they can avoid dropping down to the second tier for the first time in nearly 50 years.Now under Roberto De Zerbi, Spurs are still winless in the Premier League since December after conceding a late goal in last weekend’s draw with Brighton.
At 18th in the table, they are two points from safety with five games left,In 17th spot, West Ham host Everton, whose hopes of booking a European place dealt a blow after losing the derby to Liverpool,There’s the added frisson at the London Stadium as David Moyes returns to his former patch, and the Hammers must wonder how different their outlook would be now had the Scot not departed two years ago,Barry Glendenning keeps the updates flowing,In-form Southampton will temporarily set aside their promotion push to upset the Premier League leaders at the national stadium following a shock 2-1 quarter-final success over Arsenal.
Southampton’s trip to Wembley comes 50 years after the club lifted the FA Cup thanks to a 1-0 victory over Manchester United in the 1976 final.Tonda Eckert has helped propel the Saints to fourth in the Championship after succeeding Will Still in November when the south-coast club were 21st, having won only two of 13 matches.Scott Murray is at the controls of our live blog with Jamie Jackson and John Brewin our reporting team at Wembley.Arsenal can reclaim the Premier League summit this weekend as Manchester City focus on the FA Cup.Mikel Arteta’s Gunners have watched their imposing nine-point lead evaporate, with Pep Guardiola’s City top on goals scored.
The sceptics are proclaiming this match as Arsenal’s last chance, with the two frontrunners locked together on 70 points with five games left.City, who have scored three more goals than Arsenal, have never failed to win the title having led after 33 games or more in the Premier League.The Gunners, who lost 2-1 at the Etihad last weekend, can return to the top with a win or a draw at home against Newcastle.Serial runners-up Arsenal have the easier run-in on paper but must shrug off their recent collapse to put the pressure back on City.Newcastle have lost eight of their past 11 top-flight matches.
Rob Smyth hosts the live blog with David Hytner reporting from the Emirates Stadium.Our compelling blog looks forward to another big day of football action, with John Brewin, fresh from Wembley, at the wheel.Top of the bill is the FA Cup semi-final between Chelsea and Leeds (anyone still remember their gigantic, replayed tussle of 1970?).Plus in the Championship, freshly crowned Coventry meet north Wales arrivistes Wrexham.In the Scottish Premiership, there’s the latest instalment in a thrilling title race in the Edinburgh derby as Hibs host Hearts.
In the women’s game, the Champions League semi-final first leg pits Arsenal against OL Lyonnes and a full Women’s Super League programme,Yara El-Shaboury has commentary on the elite races and the rest as more than 59,000 runners lace up for the 46th edition of the race,Besides the established pro athletes, thousands of runners of all shapes and sizes hope to raise funds for charities and post a PB over the gruelling 26,2-mile schlep from Greenwich to the Mall,The oldest athlete in this Sunday’s London Marathon is 88-year-old Harry Newton – whose remarkable running journey only started by chance when he was 57.
Sean Ingle reports.Tanya Aldred is back at her post to provide updates on day three of the latest round of County Championship fixtures.After a torrid week, Chelsea will be desperate for some uplift after sacking Liam Rosenior just four days before facing Leeds.Yet another head coach was sent packing at Stamford Bridge a day after Tuesday’s 3-0 surrender at Brighton sent them spiralling to a fifth straight Premier League defeat and their worst run without scoring since 1912.The west London club are in disarray, managerless for the second time this season having parted company with the 41-year-old Rosenior less than four months after he signed a six-and-a-half-year contract.
The Blues’ first-team coach, Calum McFarlane, will take charge until the end of the seasonthough Leeds’s manager, Daniel Farke, suspects that “it could feel like a fresh start for the players”.The Yorkshire club have fared well against Chelsea this season, beating them 3-1 at Elland Road in December before fighting back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at Stamford Bridge in February.Rob Smyth buckles up with minute-by-minute coverage as Ed Aarons and Jonathan Wilson report.The defending champions – emboldened by their quarter-final victory over Chelsea – meet the eight-times winners in a repeat of last season’s semi-final.The Gunners claimed that with a 5-3 win on aggregate.
The French club have not won a trophy since 2022 but are a tougher proposition under Jonatan Giráldez and Arsenal, for all their attacking brio, understand they have to raise their game further against the “Queens of Lyon” to have any chance of repeating last season’s stunning triumph,Will Unwin hosts the live blog with Suzanne Wrack reporting from the Emirates Stadium,
‘Silent assassin’ Sabastian Sawe targets world record with supershoe in London Marathon
They call Sabastian Sawe the silent assassin. And, whisper it, but the Kenyan may just take down the men’s world marathon record in London on Sunday.It is an imposing target, set by Kelvin Kiptum in 2023, which stands at two hours and 35 seconds. But Sawe believes he is in similar shape to when he went for the world record in Berlin last September, only to be thwarted by temperatures in the mid-20s centigrade.Intriguingly, this time he also comes armed with Adidas’s new Pro Evo 3 supershoe, which weighs in at an astonishingly light 96 grams, and he says is even faster than its predecessor
Expect divine rugby and more epic drama when Northampton and Bath meet again
Was this the greatest game ever played, people were asking in the aftermath of that quarter-final of the Champions Cup a fortnight ago in Bath. Victory by the odd try in 11; home team roared on to successful comeback victory with that 11th try in the last five minutes; Northampton, the away team, 28-7 up after barely 20 minutes, playing rugby of the gods.A personal opinion is that it certainly was the greatest game ever played … this month. Without wanting to prick any bubbles of enthusiasm that may have swelled in the moments after the latest epic, yes, the match was incredible – and if it had happened in the amateur era would have been consecrated as legend long ago – but have we already forgotten France v England not even a month earlier? What about Scotland v France a week before that? We could go on.These are special times to be watching rugby
Paige Shiver says ex-Michigan coach Moore ‘controlled’ her, reveals she was pregnant
Paige Shiver said former University of Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore “had complete control over me” and characterized their relationship as an “open secret” in the school’s athletic department in an interview that aired Friday on ABC’s Good Morning America, her first public appearance since Moore’s high-profile firing and sentencing.Shiver, 32, said Moore controlled “my emotions, my career … and he knew that, and he used it against me”. She also said she became pregnant with Moore’s child during their relationship but was advised by doctors to have an abortion to avoid complications from a rare disorder.Shiver, who began as an intern at Michigan and later became Moore’s executive assistant, spoke publicly for the first time since the case that led to Moore’s dismissal in December and his sentencing this month. Moore, then 39, was fired for what the university said was an “inappropriate relationship with a staff member”, then arrested shortly after following an altercation at Shiver’s apartment
NFL draft 2026 takeaways: Rams reach, Cowboys retool and Jets add juice
The win-now Rams shocked by picking a QB and the Cowboys addressed their disastrous defense as a faster-paced first round reshaped the NFL draft’s opening nightThe Rams delivered the biggest shock of the night, sticking at pick No 13 and selecting Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson. It was a stunner that seemed to take even their head coach by surprise. Sean McVay seemed less than enthusiastic at the Rams’ post-pick press conference, and Simpson said in an interview that he’s never met McVay.Maybe it shouldn’t have been a shock. Simpson, who started just 15 games in college, hemmed and hawed about whether to enter the draft at all
England’s Millie David: ‘Ellie Kildunne is so nice. The first time I met her I cried’
New wing star, nicknamed Millie Whizz, is about to make her Red Roses debut alongside one of her heroesMillie David was almost speechless when the England head coach, John Mitchell, called to say she would start for the Red Roses against Wales. All the wing could get out was “thank you so much” over and over, despite having more she wanted to say. On Saturday, the 20-year-old will realise her England dream at a sold-out Ashton Gate, the home ground of her club, Bristol Bears.The first thing David did after the call was jump in her car to tell her No 1 fan, her dad. “Bless him, he started crying straight away,” she says
Alcaraz must heed injury wake-up call as absence leaves hole in clay-court season | Tumaini Carayol
Carlos Alcaraz’s title defence at the Monte Carlo Masters ended two Sundays ago in an intense two-set final loss to his arch-rival Jannik Sinner. While some players would have been desperate for a break after a gruelling week, Alcaraz had other plans. Less than 24 hours later, he landed back home in Spain to compete at the Barcelona ATP 500 event, immediately undertaking promotional duties. A few hours after his first practice, the following day, Alcaraz walked on to Pista Rafa Nadal for his opening match.By the next day Alcaraz was out
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