Simon Stone
BBC Sport

Anon: Hi Simon, who do you think wins the remaining trophies based on what you know as of right now? One shot predictions, Go!

Simon: PL: City - just (been there done it). CL: Real Madrid (Bellingham). FA Cup – Chelsea (after being drawn against Wolves or Coventry in the quarter-finals, semi-finals right after European quarter-finals). Europa League: Liverpool.

Ouch Bill, is this the Get Involved equivalent of a rake down the calf?

There is plenty of evidence on social media and the internet to suggest that players cut holes in their socks to help aid circulation and ward off cramp, external.

I am not sure of the science, but I have played in plenty of park football games where the opposition have been kind enough to cut these holes for me by raking their studs down my calf.

And to think I never had the decency to thank them!

Simon Stone
BBC Sport

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Richard: Good afternoon, with players cutting large chunks out of their socks, wouldn't it better to just wear bigger socks?

Simon: I have thought this as well Richard. In an era of everything being micro-managed, I am surprised there is not a better way of achieving what the player is looking for, which I assume is for their muscles not to be restricted.

For anyone who does not remember, Andrew was referring to Jimmy Bullard's infamous celebration after be scored for Hull City in a 1-1 draw at Manchester City in 2009, when he replicated then manager Phil Brown's equally infamous on-pitch motivational speech.

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Andrew, Edinburgh: If Darmstadt take the lead in their next game, one of them HAS to do a Jimmy Bullard!

Simon Stone
BBC Sport

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Josh: With the six promoted/relegated teams from last season poised (bar Ipswich) to go back the same way they came do you think it’s a one-off or evidence of a trend that shows the Premier League outgrowing the EFL and do you think the deal that's been suggested to distribute Premier League money down the pyramid will help offset the growing divide on/off the pitch?

Simon: The relegated teams have an enormous advantage when they drop into the Championship. All will sell players to some degree but that just gives them a bigger pot of cash. The proposed ‘New Deal’ for EFL clubs, when it eventually gets signed off, will allow the relegated clubs to spend a larger percentage of already higher revenue, which will distort the financial situation even further. EFL chairman Rick Parry is against this but the Premier League are in charge of the purse strings and believe parachute payments encourage spending on promotion, which makes their competition more competitive. Last year – and the season before that – and Ipswich this term are examples of what can be done but, to me, they are increasingly rare examples. I just don’t buy all the talk about how well Leicester, Leeds and Southampton are doing. They should be at the top of the Championship. They have significantly more money than anyone else.

A man was arrested during Sunday's Manchester derby after reports of a gesture mocking the Munich air disaster, Greater Manchester Police have confirmed.

The arrest was made after fans of both Manchester City and United reported the incident at Etihad Stadium.

Twenty-three people, including eight United players, died in the air disaster in 1958, which happened as their plane was trying to take off in snowy conditions in Munich.

Read the full story here.

Manchester United

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Manchester United were "lucky it wasn't more" in their 3-1 derby defeat by Manchester City on Sunday.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast, United fan Matt Massey said: "It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be considering Manchester City had more shots than we had possession. It really says something.

"But in the first half, for 20 minutes, there was some hope because there was a semblance of a gameplan Erik ten Hag had put together - he had Bruno Fernandes playing as a false nine, he had the pace of Marcus Rashford and a couple of times it did catch Manchester City out.

"As the game wore on we got tired. We do have a lot of injuries. I don't want to make too many excuses about it, but we do have a very fractured squad with Rasmus Hojlund missing and no-one to come off the bench. We couldn't sustain that pressure. In the second half, Manchester City just wore United down and maybe we were lucky it wasn't more.

"With Ten Hag's substitutions in the second half - taking Rashford off, taking Mainoo off - they were supposed to give us extra impetus, but they actually made things worse. We looked worse, we just don't have any quality to come off the bench."

BBC Sport has a dedicated Manchester United page packed with news, analysis and fan views - get it here

Simon Stone
BBC Sport

Paul: How far away are Manchester United from being a top-four team? Currently, they sit closer to Fulham in 12th than to Villa in fourth. I personally think there's two possibly three players currently at the club who I'd say I'd definitely keep and would be a loss. Sir Jim Ratcliffe has more than his work cut out and it seems from the outside that he's trying to steal other people from other clubs and copy those models rather than trying to find their own identity and success. Will he just add to the mess?

Simon: I understand your comments but United finished in the top four last season with many of the same players, so it is not as if they lack talent, even if, by Erik ten Hag’s admission, they overachieved. There is also an element of them needing key players to stay fit. But the more often players like Luke Shaw and Lisandro Martinez get injured, the more you start to wonder if they will ever stay fit for any length of time. There is no doubt they need a clear out. But, as has been proved frequently, saying it and doing it are too entirely different things. Players have contracts and they need to be honoured. It is clear United’s recruitment has not been good enough – in and out – for quite a long time.

Simon Stone
BBC Sport

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Dan: With Tuchel set to leave Bayern Munich at the end of the season, do you think they'll try and make a move for Xabi Alonso, considering his Bayern Leverkusen team are still unbeaten in the Bundesliga?

Simon: Is that ‘try to make a move for him as a last attempt to destabilise Bayer Leverkusen’s title charge?’. I would be surprised if Alonso wasn’t on Bayern’s radar but the same must surely be the case for Liverpool. Bayern have a reputation for being a super stable club but just looking back, if you take out Pep Guardiola and Jupp Heynckes, their turnover of coaches since 2007 has been amazing. It will be fascinating, if they don’t get Alonso, to see where they go because they have already tried and discarded a lot of the promising young German coaches and the Bayern legend I would have thought would be perfect, Phillip Lahm, has said numerous times he has no interest in pursuing that post-playing career plan.

Simon Stone
BBC Sport

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Anon: Simon - are you surprised that neither Sheffield United nor Burnley have switched mangers. Have they already priced relegation in and will make decisions on any changes at the end of the season?

Simon: Sheffield United did switch their manager in bringing Chris Wilder back for Paul Heckingbottom but I had a feeling that was half with an eye to next season and a potential promotion fight. Burnley have been a disappointment, certainly compared to Luton. But they did so well last season and their football was so good to watch, Vincent Kompany might have bought himself some time. I suspect he will be OK – if he wants to stay – but will be under pressure to get Burnley straight back up.

Simon Stone
BBC Sport

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Michael: As we approach the business end of the season, who would be your pick as the breakout prospect of the season?

Simon: We do tend to get dragged into focussing on the bigger clubs with questions like this because if, by definition, a young player forces their way into one of those teams, they have to be pretty good. On that basis, Oscar Bobb, Conor Bradley and Kobbie Mainoo would be the obvious ones. Harvey Elliot and Levi Colwill have had good seasons and whilst Evan Ferguson broke through last term, the Brighton forward is clearly a young player with a huge amount of talent. I am not including Rasmus Hojlund because he cost a fortune but he is also young and extremely talented. I really like the look of Alex Scott at Bournemouth, but he also cost a lot and injuries have hampered him. Newcastle’s Lewis Miley has to be in the conversation as well. This list is by no means definitive but there are some fabulously promising players in there.

Tell us what you think of the Darmstadt supporter using the contact details above.

Right, let's return to Simon Stone's Q&A...next up, he assesses the Premier League's most promising young players...

To give you a better flavour of what was an incredible moment in the Bundesliga, click on the video above of the Darmstadt fan giving an Oscar-winning performance full of passion and verve as he tells his team exactly what he thinks of their display in a 6-0 defeat to Augsburg.

Cue close-ups of players angrily chewing as they take their public dressing down.

To provide a bit of context, Darmstadt are bottom of the league on 13 points from 24 games, 12 points adrift of safety, with RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich to come in their next two games.

Good shout Dan, here is a picture of said Darmstadt fan giving his side's players a talking to...

Image source, Getty Images

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Pep Guardiola sparked today's debate on the best players in the Premier League by heaping praise on England and Manchester City midfielder Phil Foden.

But where would City's lynchpin Rodri sit in that debate?

Sunday's win over Manchester United was his 59th consecutive game unbeaten in a City shirt.

Rodri has not lost a game he has played for City since a 1-0 defeat to Tottenham in February 2023.

Since then, City have played 11 times without the Spain midfielder in their ranks - and lost five of those games.

Here are Manchester City's stats, with and without Rodri, since the start of his unbeaten run:

Image source, .

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Missed this one over the weekend?

Los Angeles FC manager Steve Cherundolo said it was an "absolute joke" his team played in heavy snow in their 3-0 Major League Soccer defeat at Real Salt Lake.

The weather caused a two-hour delay - then four minutes after kick-off, play was suspended because of lightning.

When play resumed an hour later, the pitch was covered in snow, which fell heavily throughout the match in Utah.

Hugo Lloris looked like a snowman by the end of the fixture!

Read more here.