William: Hi Phil – when will Arsenal win the Premier League?

Phil: Hi William. I predicted Manchester City to win it this season so I’m sticking with that. So let’s say next season at the earliest, but I genuinely feel Arsenal are moving forward. That was a massive victory against Liverpool yesterday.

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Talking of the Euros...

Kalvin Phillips signed for West Ham on loan from Manchester City in search of more game time to boost his chances of playing for England at this summer's European Championship in Germany.

However, he made a debut to forget in a Premier League draw against Bournemouth with an error that led to a Dominic Solanke goL and he was then named as a substitute on Sunday when the Hammers travelled to Old Trafford.

Things didn't really get any better there for him either, given he lost possession as Alejandro Garnacho scored United's third goal.

Phillips who made just two starts and 16 total Premier League appearances in his 18 months at City, will hope his fortunes turn around quickly.

Meanwhile, could Manchester United's teenage midfielder Kobbie Mainoo come into contention for Gareth Southgate's squad if he continues to impress at Old Trafford?

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England's other pre-Euros opponents, Iceland, are also hoping to seal their place at the tournament through the Path B play-offs. They face Israel in their semi-final.

The last meeting between England and Iceland was in 2020; a 4-0 win for the Three Lions at a behind-closed-doors Wembley in the Uefa Nations League as Declan Rice and Phil Foden scored for their country for the first time.

That's not the most famous meeting of the two countries however - the Euro 2016 last-16 fixture is somewhat more indelibly burned into the memories of England fans...

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England's men will face Bosnia and Herzegovina in their first fixture at St James’ Park since 2005.

That was a 2006 World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan, which England won 2-0 thanks to goals from Steven Gerrard and David Beckham.

This friendly will also be the first-ever meeting between England and the Bosnians, whose place at Euro 2024 rests on the Path B play-off starting with a semi-final against Ukraine in March.

Alex Howell
BBC Sport

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Crystal Palace are in poor form having won just two of their last 12 Premier League matches and manager Roy Hodgson is now clearly a man under pressure.

Saturday's heavy loss at Brighton saw the Eagles fans display a banner sharing their frustrations over the way the club is being run and the performances on the pitch for the second time this season.

While, defender Joachim Andersen and goalkeeper Dean Henderson were involved in animated discussions with fans at the end of the match on Saturday.

In short it is a tense and turbulent time at Palace but if they were to sack Hodgson, how appealing would the job be to a new manager?

Michael Olise limped off after only 10 minutes when he came on as a half time substitute against the Seagulls and Palace also lost Marc Guehi in the same game with a knee injury.

Ebere Eze is also out with injury and Chieck Doucoure is out long term with an Achilles injury.

Those four are arguably Palace’s most important players so any potential new manager would arrive at a club low on confidence and without key players.

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England will play a friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina, and then against Iceland, on the eve of Euro 2024.

The match against the Bosnians will take place at Newcastle United’s St James’ Park on Monday, 3 June before Iceland visit Wembley on Friday 7 June.

Both games will kick off at 19.45 GMT.

England manager Gareth Southgate said: “We’re really looking forward to taking the team back to the North East and to a city that is synonymous with football in this country.

"We will follow that with another special occasion at Wembley allowing our fans the opportunity to give us a final send off before we head to Germany for another exciting summer."

Chris, Newport:I get that newspapers and pundits need to sell a story, but let's not pretend that was anything other than a poor and calamitous performance from Liverpool. Arsenal deserved to win yesterday, but it wasn't the upset the papers are claiming, and certainly hasn't 'blown the title race wide open'.

Phil: It was certainly a very poor performance from Liverpool yesterday, Chris. It was one I wasn’t expecting but maybe they were just due an off day after only losing one Premier League game this season, a very contentious one at Spurs in September. They are still in a magnificent position in the hunt for four trophies.

I don’t agree it has “blown the title race wide open” because Liverpool are still top. It has made it a lot tighter but wasn’t that always going to happen anyway?

And Arsenal beating Liverpool at Emirates Stadium should never be regarded as an “upset”, no more than Liverpool beating Arsenal there should be regarded as an “upset” either. Any result can happen in those games.

Two very contrasting view points, with one area of agreement - someone is being pathetic.

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Former Arsenal player Ian Wright has made a rather passionate defence of Arsenal’s celebrations following Sunday’s thrilling victory over Liverpool, with the former England striker asking: “Why is everybody trying to kill the joy."

In a post on social media, external Wright said: "The negativity towards Mikel Arteta… what has he done apart from celebrating a goal and his team that is trying to beat these juggernauts Liverpool and Manchester City?

"Because Martin Odegaard is taking a picture with the photographer, a lifelong Gunner…what is wrong with the captain doing that? It has nothing do with the fact we have beaten Liverpool, it is just an opportunity. Why is everyone trying to kill the joy? Don’t kill the joy there is so much of the season to go.

"As soon as Arsenal do anything there is a pile on. It’s like England at a World Cup or Euros everyone is jumping on them and the same thing is happening with Arsenal. Don’t let them spoil the joy, keep doing what you are doing, what will be, will be.

"My manager celebrate with passion, like you do because that is what it is about. People are expecting Arsenal to bottle it and lose these games and we are getting ourselves through with injuries and everything and the hatred is so intense. Just leave us alone man. You lot can take the mick if it doesn’t happen like you normally do.

"Enjoy it Arsenal fans, enjoy our moments because that is all this game is, moments and we had one beating the great Liverpool who are top of the league. Up the Gunners."

Scott in NI: Hi Phil. Why were Arsenal’s celebration so OTT? Is it genuine or just part of the 'underdog' thing that Arteta wants to portray? Like everyone hates us etc. I think it's a bit much and very easy to dislike him and Arsenal as a result.

Phil: Hello Scott. I didn’t think Arsenal’s celebrations were OTT quite frankly.

It was a big win so why not celebrate it? Celebrations at the whistle are now part of football. We see it when Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp fist pumps in front of the Liverpool fans. I have no problem with it at all.

I don’t think it was an underdog or “everyone hates us” thing. Arsenal had a huge win and celebrated. That’s it as far as I’m concerned.

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"I hope someone gets hold of him when he runs down the touchline and trips him up," was the reaction of Liverpool fan Mark, on BBC Radio 5 Live when he called BBC Radio 5 Live on Sunday evening, far from amused by Mikel Arteta's post-match celebrations at the Emirates.

Former Reds defender Jamie Carragher was also unhappy with Martin Odegaard's photography antics, albeit Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has previously sprinted on to the pitch to express his joy at Anfield.

So is there actually a point here around over celebrating?

Or igiven it feels like clubs and players are posting dressing-room celebration pictures every other week, is that just part and parcel of football these days?

The 2026 World Cup will last 10 more days than the 2022 edition in Qatar, and teams are likely to face a large amount of travel between games.

The shortest distance between a quarter-final and a semi-final venue is just over 500 miles from Kansas City to Dallas while the longest - between Los Angeles and Atlanta - is just under 2,200 miles.

Fifa says teams will have three days of rest for 103 of the tournament's record 104 matches.

The new format will feature 12 four-team groups and a last-32 knockout round for the first time.

The tournament hosts will play the group stage in their own countries, with the US staying on the West Coast with two games in LA and one in Seattle.

Canada will play one group stage game in Toronto followed by two in Vancouver while Mexico will play twice at the Azteca and once in Guadalajara.

Azteca Stadium in Mexico City will stage the opening group game of the 2026 World Cup on 11 June.

The Azteca was the venue for Argentina striker Diego Maradona's famous 'Hand of God' goal in the 2-1 win against England in the 1986 quarter-finals and has a capacity of 83,000.

In total, 16 cities have been chosen including Monterrey and Guadalajara in Mexico, and Vancouver in Canada.

Only Guadalajara will not host a knockout game.

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Last night, it was announced that the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey will host the 2026 World Cup final on 19 July.

The United States is one of three countries co-hosting the expanded 48-team tournament along with Mexico and Canada, which will last a record 39 days.

Mexico have hosted two World Cups in 1970 and 1986, while the US hosted in 1994.

MetLife Stadium, home to American football teams the New York Giants and New York Jets, is based in New Jersey's East Rutherford and can hold 82,500 fans. It was one of the host stadiums for the 1994 World Cup.

Fifa president Gianni Infantino, alongside comedian and actor Kevin Hart, rapper Drake and celebrity Kim Kardashian, announced the plans on Sunday and also revealed the third-place play-off match will take place in Miami.

The quarter-finals onwards will be held in US cities, with Los Angeles, Kansas City, Miami and Boston hosting last-eight matches, while the semi-finals will be in Dallas and Atlanta. Dallas will host a record nine matches.

The draw for the World Cup is expected to take place towards the end of 2025.

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Chelsea

Former Liverpool and England winger Stewart Downing says some of Chelsea's players are struggling to "block out" the supporter disappointment.

"You can't manage it," Downing told the Football Daily podcast. "It's up to the players to block it out and only a change in results can help really.

"I was there [Stamford Bridge] a couple of weeks ago in the second-leg of the cup against Middlesbrough and you wouldn't have thought it was a semi-final as it was so quiet.

"The issue is that fans expect them to win the Premier League and the Champions League, and the reality is that it isn't going to happen for a good few years.

"For Chelsea, it's about progressing and I think if they do finish in a European spot then that's a very good season for them.

"A lot of players are suffering with confidence, but when you play for a team like Chelsea you need to have the mental ability to play through the criticism and there are a few players struggling with that."

Simon Stone
BBC Sport

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was incredulous when he was asked before tonight's Premier League encounter with Brentford whether he wanted Erling Haaland to remain at the club,

The question was triggered by talk in Spain that Haaland is unsettled and doesn't like the lifestyle in Manchester.

Guardiola implied the story had been tracked down to one random account on the social media platform X and he couldn't really believe he was being asked about the merits of someone who has scored 71 goals in 76 appearances for the Blues since his arrival from Borussia Dortmund 18 months ago.

"What do you think?" he said. "That we don’t want Erling to stay here for one decade? Honestly?

"Yes, we want him (to stay) for a long, long time in this club. We are in love with him.

"For one report, for one journalist or twitter account or Instagram account, is that going change?

"Today one guy on Twitter makes a comment and that is big news worldwide because it is going to happen?

"It’s not going to happen. It’s going to happen when Erling decides to extend the contract or not, when the club decides to extend the contract or not and when we have potential offers for him or not.

"If someone wants Erling it’s easy – phone, call Man City and ask. That is what we do when we want to sign someone. It’s not complicated."

Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish is reported to have seriously contemplated dismissing Roy Hodgson after Saturday's loss to Brighton but is struggling to find a replacement willing to take over at this stage of the season.

The Guardian reports, external that Parish has been sounding out replacements amid a dire run for Palace of four wins in 17 league matches.

Pressure has increased on Hodgson following a 4-1 defeat to rivals Brighton on Saturday, following a 5-0 loss at Arsenal last month.

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Caught Offside report that Manchester United have contacted former Wolves manager Julen Lopetegui and ex-Chelsea and Tottenham boss Antonio Conte, should they decide to replace Erik ten Hag at the end of the season.

There is reportedly no immediate desire from United to sack ten Hag, but contingency plans are in place unless results improve.

Former Spain and Real Madrid manager Lopetegui left Wolves earlier this season, while Conte was most recently in charge of Spurs.

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino is in serious danger of being sacked after the 4-2 defeat by Wolves on Sunday, according to Teamtalk.

A hat-trick from Matheus Cunha and an Axel Disasi own goal condemned Chelsea to defeat at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea have now won just one of their last four Premier League matches and have dropped to 11th place in the table, 15 points adrift from the top four.

Pochettino has only been in charge of Chelsea for seven months but is under severe pressure due to the club's underwhelming performances.

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