That concludes a busy early afternoon, now for the big one. Thanks for reading.

Pete Lansley was at Turf Moor, to see Nottingham Forest recover from going a goal down.

Full-time: Celtic 6-2 St Mirren. The Bhoys taken to extra time where they laid waste, and now they are in the final for the eighth time in 12 years. They can win it for the 43rd time.

Celtic 6-2 St Mirren: Neil Lennon’s Dunfermline await in the final. Will Michael Stewart be allowed to be there? He’s been locked out of the Hampden car park after broadcasting from his tactics truck on Saturday for the other semi. Big news north of the border, that farrago.

Celtic 6-2 St Mirren: On the BBC Scotland commentary, the second half of extra time has been described as a “non event”.

Andy Hunter was at the Hill Dickinson to see Virgil van Dijk’s winner.

Jonathan Wilson’s report on Aston Villa’s defeat of Sunderland is now live.

Celtic 6-2 St Mirren: Celtic slowed up at the end of that first half of extra time, failing to score after the 102nd minute, the slackers.

Four goals in six minutes at Hampden. These Scottish Cup semis have been nothing but eventful.

Goal! Celtic 6-2 St Mirren: Another! Benjamin Nygren gets his 20th goal of the season.

Goal! Celtic 5-2 St Mirren: Kelechi Iheanacho makes it three goals in four minutes.

Live reaction from the Merseyside derby here:

Goal! Celtic 4-2 St Mirren: Luke McCowan seizes on a loose ball and surely Celtic are headed to the final.

Goal! Celtic 3-2 St Mirren: Kelechi Iheanacho is supplied by James Forrest, and St Mirren must find a way back.

Good afternoon, reports and reaction to come from three highly eventful Premier League games.

My stint on the blog is over but we will keep it running until the conclusion of the Scottish Cup semi-final. John Brewin has the honours for that.

Another late goal, this one at Hill Dickinson:

We’re into added-time now. Will there be any more drama?

Aston Villa 3-1 Sunderland

81mins: Roefs has to be alert to beat away an effort from second-half substitute Emi Buendía’s effort.

Aston Villa 3-1 Sunderland

79mins: McGinn and Watkins go off, Jadon Sancho and Tammy Abraham enter the action.

Aston Villa 3-1 Sunderland

75mins: Great challenge from Ballard probably keeps Sunderland just about in it. Watkins is in and powering towards goal but Ballard gets back as the striker cuts on to his right on the edge of the box to make the only challenge possible, stretching with his right leg. If he gets that wrong Ballard is probably seeing red.

Aston Villa 3-1 Sunderland

67mins: Sunderland have made a couple of changes. A stricken Omar Alderete limps off has had to be replaced by Dan Ballard, while goalscorer Chris Rigg makes way for Trai Hume.

Nottingham Forest 1-1 Burnley

64mins: Sels has to be alert to keep out Foster’s first-time effort at the back post to stop Forest falling behind again. Burnley are fighting here.

Team news is in from the Eithad, Rob Smyth has that and more on our dedicated live blog:

There’s been a goal on Merseyside, but who for Daniel Harris?

Nottingham Forest 0-1 Burnley

53mins: Big chance for Gibbs-White as the ball falls to him on the volley with a bit of space in the box but the Forest skipper cannot do anything with it. Gibbs-White looks angry, but then he always looks quite angry.

Nottingham Forest 0-1 Burnley

51mins: I missed this but Forest brought on Igor Jesus for Dilane Bakwa at the break.

Nottingham Forest 0-1 Burnley

50mins: Burnley have strated the brighter in the second half, Kyle Walker still has something in the tank and gets to the byline but has ball can’t find a teammate.

Aston Villa 2-1 Sunderland

41 mins: Big chance for Sunderland as the ball breaks to Sadiki in the box but his first-time effort hits a defender and goes out for a corner. He should have done better with that.

Nottingham Forest 0-0 Burnley

39 mins: Bad news for Forest. Murillo has gone down clutching his hamstring, Jair Cunha is coming on to replace his fellow Brazilian.

Nottingham Forest 0-0 Burnley

34mins: Forest get a free-kick in a promising position but Williams fires it into the wall. The resulting corner doesn’t beat the first man, typical.

Mo Salah has put Liverpool ahead at Hill Dickinson, follow that one with Daniel Harris here:

Aston Villa 1-1 Sunderland

28min: Sunderland threaten as Xhaka and Rigg work a corner routine, the skipper’s cross is whipped in deep but just a little long and Sadiki can’t quite get on the end of it.

Celtic 0-0 St Mirren

26min: More keeper drama at Hampden. Grant Tamosevicius, St Mirren’s 17-year-old third choice, has had to come on to replace an injured Mullen. Tamosevicius has just made a great stop from Maeda to keep it at 1-0.

Nottingham Forest 0-0 Burnley

24mins: Ward-Prowse stands over a free-kick that looks a little far out to shoot and Burnley line up as if he’s going to cross but the midfielder whips it in low and forces Sels to shovel away. That’s the closest we’ve come to a goal.

Earlier on, it ended all square at Portman Road in an entertaining 2-2 draw between Ipswich and Middlesbrough. Here’s the report:

Nottingham Forest 0-0 Burnley

20min: Not much going on here. Ball pinging around midfield but things breaking down in the final third. Forest perhaps a bit tired after their midweek exploits and Burnley are, well, Burnley.

Aston Villa 1-1 Sunderland

17min: Another McGinn set-piece from the right but Villa waste this one by going short. Whatever routine they had planned was snuffed out and Sunderland win a throw-in.

Aston Villa 1-1 Sunderland

14min: Onana hits the bar! The midfielder gets on the end of McGinn’s corner but can’t keep his header down, Brobbey is able to hack clear off the line from the rebound.

Celtic 1-0 St Mirren

8mins: Arne Engels comes within inches of doubling Celtic’s lead at Hampden as his effort from the edge of the box comes back off the post.

Nottingham Forest 0-0 Burnley

7min: Forest making the early running at the City Ground and they get an early chance from a corner but Nico Willams’s corner flies over everyone and goes out of play.

And we have eight minutes of added time at Portman Road!

The last time St Mirren played Celtic at Hampden the Paisley Saints won the Scottish League Cup with Stephen Robinson in charge. That was back in December and Robinson has departed for Aberdeen. For their part, Celtic are now much more resolute under Martin O’Neill and beat St Mirren eight days ago at Celtic Park. Anyone give Craig McLeish’s side a chance?

Jeremy Boyce has emailed in with some gastronomic flair:

You’ve certainly got a very tasty looking menu lined up for this afternoon, did you have to book early ? Villa v Sunderland will hopefully provide an amuse-bouche that we can all enjoy as we wait for the main course later. Forest v Burnley will see a mix of flavours, Vitor’s spicy European nuances and Scott’s stodge. Then we’re into the main, the Iberian fusion of Catalan and Basque influences that has been watering mouths all week. Will the hot Mediterranean-Catalan flavour dominate the cool Atlantic-Basque style ? Or vice versa? Or will it actually turn out to be a case of “what was that supposed to be ?” How much do you normally tip?

Get in touch via matchday.live@guardian.co.uk.

We’re coming up to the 55 minute mark at Portman Road, it’s still 1-1 but David Strelec has just tested the palms of Ipswich keeper Christian Walton. The Tractor Boys are having better posession but Boro are threatening and Alex Gilbert has also had an effort cleared off the line since re-start.

Half time at Portman Road, where it remains Ipswich 1-1 Middlesbrough.

Championship: Two promotion hopefuls clash at Portman Road as Ipswich face Middlesbrough. We’re half an hour in and Kasey McAteer has just levelled for the hosts, soon after David Strelec’s opener on the break for Boro.

You can join Daniel Harris for all the Merseyside derby buildup and match action here.

The bad news is that matchday live is being curtailed for now, but the good news is that I will be back in an hour for a 2pm kick-off clockwatch covering Aston Villa v Sunderland, Nottingham Forest v Burnley and Celtic v St. Mirren in the Scottish Cup semi-final. See you then for team news.

Do you agree with cman?

cman

19 April 2026 8:57am

This comment has been chosen by Guardian staff because it contributes to the debate

Today feels like an important day for Slots future. Although the dysfunction at Stamford Bride means that qualifying for Europe in at least 5th spot is more likely than not, good performances (as well as results) in this match, and the one at Old Trafford in two weeks, are needed to shift the mood at the club in a postive direction.

There is of course a Merseyside derby today…

Moyes stirs up rivalry as Everton eye Europe and a derby debut to remember

David Moyes extended sympathy and support for Arne Slot – which may not be what any Liverpool manager wishes to hear from an Everton counterpart before a Merseyside derby – yet could not resist the temptation to stir up some local rivalry in the same breath. There was a gleam in the eye and a barely suppressed grin on Moyes’s face as he ridiculed one of the reasons Slot has presented for the champions’ decline this season.

“Absolutely,” said the Everton manager when asked whether he sympathised with Slot’s predicament, just 12 months after he was on the verge of winning the Premier League title in his debut season. “Arne Slot has done a brilliant job and, I have got to say, he is really good coach. That is from a neutral point of view.

“But I’m not having him saying they are getting bad decisions at Anfield because if you ask any Premier League manager over football history, they will tell you that if there is one club that gets all the decisions it is Liverpool Football Club. If they are getting a few bad ones at the moment, well, we have had to put up with them for years. There are very few decisions that go against Liverpool at Anfield. Very few. I actually think Liverpool supporters would agree with that if they were being honest as well. But as a coach, I think he’s a top coach.”

Read Andy Hunter’s full-preview:

A prediction from Chris in Corfu via email:

Arsenal will win the match and City will take the league! You heard it here first.

In the noon kick-off at Portman Road, there’s a huge clash in the Championship promotion race…

Ipswich in promotion driving seat but little is ever as it seems with Championship

At the end of July, Ipswich and Middlesbrough reached an agreement. If the Boro midfielder Hayden Hackney agreed personal terms he could join the Suffolk club, freshly relegated and awash with ready funds, for a Championship record fee of around £20m. Kieran McKenna knew he would be getting the best schemer in the division if his target said yes; a player who could make the difference in a 46-game grind. Perhaps with half an eye on Premier League interest, Hackney heard Ipswich out but turned the transfer down. He would end up staying on Teesside and propelling an often exhilarating promotion chase.

There is little chance of a mutually beneficial outcome when the sides meet at Portman Road on Sunday. Hackney has missed the past four games with a calf injury and it is unclear whether he will be ready in time for a game of potentially seismic consequence.

Boro, out at the front with Coventry for so much of the season, have faded without their talisman and drifted to fifth. Their hosts, slow starters but menacingly consistent since September, occupy second place and have played a game less. Goal difference also works in Ipswich’s favour and the equation is simple: Boro must become one of vanishingly few visiting sides to win in Suffolk if they are to retain realistic hopes of going up automatically.

Read Nick Ames’s full preview here:

There is a of course another big game today…

We’ve had a couple more emails in, not many are feeling positive about Arsenal. Jeff Sax writes:

The anxiety and tension Arteta experiences will spill over to the team as usual, and they will choke up.

Joshua Keeling

I could easily see a scenario where City win today but Arsenal win the league. That said, you’d have to say that City are favourites now.

Any Arsenal fans feeling positive? Let me know on matchday.live@guardian.co.uk.

Mikel Arteta has been accused of taking a negative approach to winning the title and a draw would be positive result for Arsenal at the Etihad. Speaking ahead of the weekend, the Arsenal manager said his team would not be playing for just a point:

We’re going to play the game in the circumstances and the context in the best possible way to win it, and the outcome? We don’t know.

We’re not going to propose a game like this [parking the bus] because we never do that. Sometimes, the opponent is that good that forces you to be there, and in City’s case you’re going to have moments that you do the same – deep in your box for periods of time. That’s the reality.

Pep Guardiola repeated his belief on Friday that “if we lose, it’s over” and said emphatically that his team would not be playing for a point:

We want to win the game. We are there to win the game. We haven’t talked about that [the draw]. We need to win the game. And we are preparing to win the game. There’s no difference to any stadium we have been to in the last five years.

I’m not going to spend one second talking about that. We prepare every game to win. That’s why we are where we are and we’re going to continue to do the same. We see it as a big opportunity for us.

More from both managers here:

Alex Milner has emailed in with a ‘rebuke’ to LukakusFirstTouch:

LukakusFirstTouch has shown Foreign Office Background checks level of sloppiness. City won six on the trot across Nov-Dec 2026.

Current win streak is currently ‘one’, so not outrageous to suggest we win five more.

Also given Arsenal’s fragile state, if City win 4-1 I’m fairly sure we wouldn’t need to win all remaining games - theyd be too busy working on their 1000-yard stares to win much more.

Keep your emails coming in via the link at the top of the page.

If this is Guardiola’s last City season he will be as hard to replace as Ferguson at United

Manchester City versus Arsenal on Sunday is a showdown for the ages. Second hosting first at what is likely to be a febrile Etihad Stadium might well be scripted by a Hollywood studio. Enter Pep Guardiola and the box‑office subplot of whether this could be his swansong season and, as such, a farewell tilt at the championship of an epoch-defining period piloting City.

Lose to Arsenal and Guardiola’s hope of a seventh crown will be all but extinguished. He would have “only” the FA Cup left to add to 16 major honours won while in charge at City, the last being last month’s fifth League Cup triumph – over Arsenal. Defeat the visitors, however, and you would not bet against Guardiola leading his team home for a grandstand finish to the campaign – and his tenure. City would be only three points behind Arsenal with an extra match to play.

Either scenario, though, may not affect Guardiola’s future. The Catalan has a recently-signed contract until summer 2027, yet there are numerous signs he may exit 12 months early. Asked a fortnight ago whether City’s hierarchy had asked him for clarification regarding his future, Guardiola stonewalled. “I spoke about that in the past many, many times,” he said.

Read Jamie Jackson’s full analysis:

Arteta’s desire for complete control may derail Arsenal’s wobbling title drive

At half-time in the Carabao Cup final, Arsenal’s hopes of a quadruple remained strong. They were unbeaten in 14, 11 of them won. They were drawing 0-0 against Manchester City and it wasn’t unreasonable to think that if the second half carried on as the first half had, they would eventually find a winner – quite possibly from a corner.

They had drawn a Championship side in the sixth round of the FA Cup and a Portuguese side in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. They held a nine-point lead in the Premier League. This was shaping up to be the greatest season in Arsenal’s history.

That was four weeks ago. There remains a possibility of a Premier League and Champions League double, which would be remarkable enough, but the mood is very different now. This could become the most disappointing season in Arsenal’s history, if only because they came so close to winning it all.

Something changed at half-time at Wembley: Pep Guardiola stopped his City side pressing so high. Arsenal’s defenders found themselves with time on the ball but only each other to pass to. Jérémy Doku, Erling Haaland, Rayan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo formed a sky-blue line across the pitch, denying easy passes into midfield. Bernardo Silva and Matheus Nunes sat a little deeper, poised to pressure any ball out to the full-backs. Rodri controlled everything from the centre. And Arsenal couldn’t get out. City kept regaining possession and, with Nico O’Reilly encouraged to surge forward and infield from left-back to create an extra man in attack, Arsenal wobbled.

Read more of Jonathan Wilson’s tactical analysis here:

Premier League shootout arrives with odd twist for ‘feelings guy’ Guardiola

OK, so it was all building to this, then. The slow‑burn plotlines. The room‑temperature action sequences. The winter afternoons on the sofa watching men wrestle unhappily, staring out of the window as the frigid wind tousles the clouds, wondering about the death of all things, and also why referees not only have to speak now but speak in the same awkward Yorkshire bingo‑caller voice.

All of this. It’s all actually fine. Because it turns out this was just delayed resolution, cinematic build, the sporting equivalent of a really long closeup of a man in a wide-brimmed Mexican hat narrowing his eyes and chewing a cigar. And now we get the payoff. The Etihad on Sunday afternoon. The clink of spurs. The tick of the clocktower. Townsfolk huddled at the saloon-bar shutters. Get ready for an old-school shootout.

Read the rest of Barney Ronay preview to Manchester City v Arsenal:

Alright, I guess it’s time to turn our attention to today’s action. There has been a lot written about Manchester City v Arsenal and it’s good stuff (I’ll be sharing some shortly), but I’d like to hear from you on how you think this goes down.

Fire over your thoughts to matchday.live@guardian.co.uk and I’ll get them in the blog. Here’s LukakusFirstTouch to start us off:

LukakusFirstTouch

19 April 2026 9:07am

Here is a prediction. Arsenal will lose this match, probably with a big margin (4 -1 or similar). Given their performances, no one will say that they did not see that coming. However, they will win the league title. Man city do not have the consistency to win all their remaining matches. I don't think that they have won more than 4 matches in a row in the league since the season before last.

Snow-capped mountains provided an idyllic backdrop to a less impressive performance, but England’s 1-0 win over Iceland ensured they maintained a three-point gap over Spain in their bid to earn an automatic place at the 2027 World Cup.

Only the four League A teams who top their groups will avoid the playoffs and qualify automatically, and with the European and world champions drawn in the same group, one will be left frustrated and with more games required to book their trip to Brazil.

Sarina Wiegman praised the performance of goalkeeper Hannah Hampton, whose critical stops in the second half kept England ahead when Iceland were pushing for an equaliser after Alessia Russo’s slick first-half opener.

“It is always a team effort and a team performance but it’s really nice to have a goalkeeper that stops the ball going in – especially when it’s really hard for the team and they are struggling. That’s called team work. But she showed again that she is a world-class goalkeeper,” said the England manager.

Read Suzanne Wrack’s full report from at the Laugardalsvöllur in Reykjavík:

Hard to disagree with lester48, here. I do think sometimes people forget these things are cyclical. Leicester dropped into League One in 2008 before getting back to the Premier League in 2014, sometimes you need a reset.

lester48

19 April 2026 8:46am

In the Championship, you have to say Leicester look relegated, they are 8 points adrift with 9 to play for, since the death of the Owner of Leicester City Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha in 2018 some 8 yrs ago, it really didn't seem that long ago they've been treading water. It's such a shame for all their fans, including one of my Favourite people in the World Gary Lineker, I hope they bounce back soon. Leicester winning the Premier League under Ranieri, was a fabulous moment for all us neutrals, so good luck Leicester City next season.

Looking to Europe, there were two great stories yesterday as Marie-Louise Eta created a landmark in her as she became the woman appointed as head coach of a men’s team has taken charge of a fixture in one of continent’s top five leagues as she took charge of Union Berlin. Her side lost 2-1 to relegation-threatened Wolfsburg, here’s our European roundup:

In Spain, Real Sociedad won the Copa del Rey thanks to a remarkable performance from Unai Marrero, their 24-year-old backup goalkeeper. Read Sid Lowe’s piece from the Estadio de La Cartuja:

If you want to get in touch about anything and everything from the weekend’s football, you can via matchday.live@guardian.co.uk or in the comments section below the line.

At the Bridge, Liam Rosenior admitted that Chelsea have a mountain to climb after a 1-0 defeat by Manchester United put another dent in their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.

Matheus Cunha scored the only goal as United tightened their grip on third place by overcoming their defensive problems at home, heaping the pressure on Rosenior after a dismal run.

Chelsea are four points off fifth-placed Liverpool, who have a chance to pull clear when they face Everton on Sunday afternoon, and were toothless against a makeshift defence. They need a response when they visit Brighton on Tuesday but have lost four straight league games without scoring for the first time since 1998.

“It gives us a mountain to climb,” Rosenior said. “It’s not insurmountable but it gives us a mountain to climb and we have to go into Brighton with an idea that we have to win that game and kickstart the rest of our season.”

Read all the reaction from Jacob Steinberg at Stamford Bridge:

On Spurs, Roberto De Zerbi has warned he has “no time to see negative people” among his Tottenham players after they were denied the chance to climb out of the relegation zone by an injury-time equaliser from his former club Brighton.

Georginio Rutter’s strike made it 15 games without a victory for Spurs after they had twice led, first through Pedro Porro then Xavi Simons. The draw left Tottenham in the bottom three and a point behind West Ham who travel to Crystal Palace on Monday night. Nottingham Forest, one point ahead of the Hammers, host Burnley on Sunday.

De Zerbi could not hide his disappointment with the result but was enthused by his side’s performance. He made the bold prediction that they were capable of winning their last five matches but admitted that would require his players to continue to show the belief that they can prevent Spurs being relegated for the first time since 1977.

“I always thought and believed in the quality of the players. In this moment we need this spirit, this attitude, this mentality. It’s not finished yet,” the Spurs head coach said. “Every one of us knows it’s a tough moment, it’s a difficult situation. Now it’s difficult to hear my words. But if you watch the players, if you analyse the level of the players, I think we can win five games in a row. Not to be arrogant, because I’m not arrogant now, especially now. But we have the qualities enough to fight and to win games in a row.”

Read all the reaction from Ed Aarons, who was at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium yesterday:

Before we get into what’s coming up today, let’s run through a few of the headlines from yesterday:

• Tottenham conceded a 95th minute goal to draw 2-2 with Brighton, a result that puts Spurs deeper into the relegation mire

• Chelsea’s grip on a Champions League slipped further after a 1-0 defeat to Manchester United at Stamford Bridge

• The Lionesses edged to a 1-0 win over Iceland with Hannah Hampton having to be in fine form

• Leeds took another step towards survival with a 3-0 win over Wolves

• Pressure is mounting on Eddie Howe after Newcastle slumped to a 2-1 defeat at home against Bournemouth

• Cardiff were promoted to the Championship as Bromley secured League One football next season

• Leicester look increasingly likely to be relegated as defeat against Portsmouth left the Foxes eight points from safety