Manchester City's trip to Chelsea on Sunday afternoon came into a more intense spotlight than anticipated after Saturday's set of Premier League results. Table-topping Arsenal surprisingly lost at home to Bournemouth to open the door to Pep Guardiola's side in the title race, while fifth-placed Liverpool avoided another slip-up against Fulham to put pressure on the Blues, who are chasing Champions League qualification.

Manchester City are breathing down Arsenal's necks after a dominant second-half display propelled them to a 3-0 win at Chelsea to close the gap on the Gunners and leave the title race in their own hands. Nico O'Reilly broke the deadlock with another crucial header in London just three weeks after his match-winning double in the Carabao Cup final before Marc Guehi and Jeremy Doku struck to clinch the win.

England's final two games on home soil before the 2026 World Cup were supposed to give Thomas Tuchel's men the perfect send-off for North America. However, instead of being waved off with flowers, the Three Lions left the Wembley pitch to the sound of boos following their 1-0 defeat to Japan on Tuesday, which followed their uninspiring draw against Uruguay four days earlier.

The 12 games of the Thomas Tuchel era have yielded mixed results and performances from England. They remain one of the best sides in international football, even if they haven't played particularly well for extended stretches since the Sir Gareth Southgate era. That said, they are among the favourites to win the 2026 World Cup for several reasons.

It's never easy with the England men's national team. On paper, they should have enough quality, experience and firepower to blow most sides on this planet to smithereens. Then you sit down, watch them and wonder whether they are actually a team of total strangers assembled purely out of spite to mildly annoy the fans who had hoped so much of them. On the basis of their March friendlies, it would be a fair assumption to make.

Manchester City beat Arsenal in the first final of the English football season, with Pep Guardiola schooling former apprentice Mikel Arteta to secure the Carabao Cup at Wembley on Sunday. The contest was decided by two second-half goals from Nico O’Reilly, who twice crept into the Gunners’ box effectively unmarked to score from a pair of almost identical crosses.