Football
Welcome to another weekend and two days of enthralling action. There’s no better place to get things underway as the season reaches its climax than our rolling football blog. Coming up are five Premier League fixtures, both the Championship and League One play-off semi-finals, a Scottish Premiership title-cruncher, plus the best of Europe’s top games to monitor. Co-hosts Emillia Hawkins and Barry Glendenning will offer breaking news and updates from around the grounds, plus readers’ thoughts and queries. Why not join the conversation? Email matchday.live@theguardian.com.
Cricket
Tanya Aldred keeps the updates flowing from around nine county grounds with day two of her blog. There’s bound to be more from Ben Stokes’ county comeback, with Durham unleashing the England captain as a new-ball strike bowler. Stokes was making his first appearance since the Ashes against Worcestershire on Friday, his return to action had been delayed after a stray ball to the face left him needing reconstructive surgery. England’s white-ball captain, Harry Brook, also made his first county appearance of the season on Friday in Yorkshire’s clash at Warwickshire.
Premier League
Monday’s 3-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest extended Chelsea’s desperate run. It marked a sixth Premier League defeat in a row for the Blues — the first time since 1993 — meaning it is now impossible for them, the World Club Champions, to finish in the top five and qualify automatically for the Champions League. There is also the increasing likelihood that they will struggle to finish high enough to make either of the other two European competitions, after the Forest defeat saw them drop to ninth, with a visit to Anfield to play Liverpool up next. Scott Murray helms the blog with Andy Hunter reporting from the ground.
Championship playoff semi-final
Tonda Eckert’s Saints are the form team following a 19-match league unbeaten run which pushed them up into fourth place, a run that saw them almost gatecrash the top two with a late surge. Middlesbrough saw their automatic promotion hopes checked after managing just two wins from the final 10 games. Yet Southampton slumped to a 4-0 defeat on Teesside back in January, so Eckert will not underestimate the challenge posed by Kim Hellberg’s team. With the second leg at St Mary’s on Tuesday night, Saints could be forgiven for thinking that heading back down south with a draw would not be a bad result. Billy Munday has the blog covered, with Louise Taylor at the Riverside.
Women’s Six Nations
There appears to be no stopping the Red Roses juggernaut but Saturday’s opponents are at least heading in the right direction. Le Azzurre’s most recent Women’s Six Nations encounters have seen the losing margin cut from 74 in 2022 to 33 in 2025. Italy lost their opening two matches of the tournament to France and Ireland, but thumped the Scots 41-14 last time out. England, meanwhile, chalked up a 36th successive win with with their 62-24 victory over Wales in round three. Ellie Kildun9ne returns to the left wing in Parma with Emma Sing restored at full-back and Mia Venner appearing on the right wing for her fourth cap. Zoe Harrison replaces Holly Aitchison at fly-half. Lee Calvert buckles up as blog host, with Sarah Rendell reporting.
Premier League
Barry Glendenning is back for his second stint of the day and focuses on two of the three 3pm kickoffs. Interim head coach Michael Carrick returns to the scene of one of his worst days as a Manchester United player. It is 14 years since final-day delight at the Stadium of Light turned into a nightmare when Sergio Agüero’s late strike against QPR saw Manchester City snatch the Premier League title from Sir Alex Ferguson’s side. United were waiting for news of the final whistle from the Etihad Stadium after completing a 1-0 win at Sunderland. There is no possibility of such a painful setback on Saturday afternoon, the Premier League title is well beyond United and Champions League qualification is secured with three games to play. Bournemouth are looking to clinch European qualification against Fulham after climbing to sixth. While the Europa League or the Conference League are more realistic targets, the Cherries retain an outside chance of scraping into the Champions League if Aston Villa win the Europa League.
Premier League
City will not be easing off the gas in their title pursuit of Arsenal despite Monday’s slip at Everton that required a 97th-minute equaliser by an inspired Jérémy Doku to make it 3-3. That draw left Pep Guardiola’s serial winners five points behind the Gunners with just one game in hand and they must now rely on favours from Arsenal’s upcoming opponents if they are to pip them to the title. Four straight victories is the bare minimum for City since Mikel Arteta’s side have recovered from their recent blip. Blog host Rob Smyth keeps the updates flowing, with Jamie Jackson reporting.
Football
Emillia Hawkins clocks on to offer news, previews and reader comments as well as keeping tabs on Sunday’s Premier League fixtures, culminating with one of the biggest games of the season: West Ham facing Arsenal at the London Stadium. Plus, there’s build-up to the National League promotion playoff final at Wembley, the Women’s FA Cup semi-finals, an Old Firm derby and, perhaps best of all, an intriguing clásico.
Women’s cricket
Daniel Harris and James Wallace have over-by-over coverage of the first ODI as the hosts face New Zealand at Durham without their skipper. Nat Sciver-Brunt has been ruled out as a precautionary measure after sustaining a minor left calf tear while playing for the Blaze against Warwickshire. Vice-captain Charlie Dean will join the squad and captain the side for the three matches. The loss of their captain will concern England as they build towards their T20 World Cup campaign, which kicks off against Sri Lanka on 12 June at Edgbaston. Raf Nicholson reports on their first big game of the summer
Cricket
Tanya Aldred returns to her post will updates and reader comments on day three of the latest round of Championship fixtures.
Scottish Premiership
Before Hearts faced Motherwell on Saturday night, Martin O’Neill’s Celtic trailed the leaders by three points, their goal difference five inferior to Derek McInnes’ side with just three games remaining. Celtic are in no mood the give up the defence of their title just yet, and meet their bitter Glasgow rivals on a run of four straight wins. Back-to-back defeats by Motherwell and Hearts have ensured Rangers’ season is ending on another anticlimax, but they would take take great pleasure in a win to bust the Hoops’ bubble. Billy Munday steers the blog, with Ewan Murray reporting from Celtic Park.
Premier League
Simon Burnton hones in on two of Sunday’s three 2pm kickoffs. At the City Ground, Vítor Pereira’s hosts will seek an instant rebound from their Europa League ejection on Thursday evening. Nottingham Forest’s 3-1 defeat of Chelsea on Monday restored their six-point gap to the bottom three, and they could secure their top-flight status with a win against Newcastle. Eddie Howe’s side are refreshed after beating Brighton last weekend, ending their four-game losing run to move into 13th in the table. Newcastle have three games left, starting with this trip to Forest, followed by matches against West Ham and Fulham. Aston Villa’s sparkling European form, which has seen them progress to the Europa League final later this month, contrasts sharply with their recent league performances. Picking up seven points in their last eight matches is an underwhelming return, but relegated Burnley are hardly a daunting prospect.
Women’s FA Cup semi-final
The freshlycrowned champions confront the dominant club of the past six seasons. Manchester City claimed their first title in 10 years after Arsenal’s draw at Brighton on Wednesday night meant they could not be caught at the top of the WSL. Chelsea have been the club to beat in the English women’s game for so long that City’s triumph feels like the end of an era. Andrée Jeglertz could now lead City to a domestic double and their 5-1 drubbing of Chelsea in February remains fresh in the memory, though the holders remain formidable after three Cup triumphs in the past four seasons. John Brewin is blog host, with Suzanne Wrack on reporting duties.
Premier League
After seeing off Atlético Madrid to reach the Champions League final, Arsenal next take on relegation-threatened West Ham at the London Stadium in what could prove the pivotal fixture in their pursuit of a first Premier League title in 22 years. Following City’s draw at Everton – which puts the title race in Arsenal’s hands – and their triumph over Diego Simeone’s side just 24 hours later, Mikel Arteta’s pacesetters are now four matches away from completing a momentous double and securing the greatest campaign in the club’s 140-year history. West Ham, meanwhile, will be scrapping for vital survival points after slipping back into the drop zone following the 3-0 defeat by Brentford. The Hammers are unbeaten in their past six home games, and three of those were vital three-point wins. Rob Smyth brings the minute-by-minute magic with our reporting team of David Hytner and Barney Ronay at the ground.
La Liga
Clásico time to cap off the weekend, with John Brewin keeping the updates flowing. Barcelona will clinch the title if they avoid defeat. Arch-rivals Real, meanwhile, are a troubled lot. Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni are the subjects of disciplinary proceedings over a training-ground spat. It is the latest in a string of controversies at the club, with Antonio Rüdiger reportedly apologising to the squad for another training-ground bust up. Kylian Mbappé was then reported to have been involved in an angry exchange with a member of the club’s coaching staff. The French star, who is recovering from a hamstring injury and is a doubt for this game, also faced criticism for a trip to Italy with his partner. Sid Lowe brings the noise from Camp Nou.
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