Mark Doyle

We reached the midway point of the Premier League season on Thursday night, with Arsenal holding a very promising four-point advantage at the top of the table as the Gunners look to end an agonising, 22-year title drought, and their chances of doing so have only increased after Saturday's hard-fought win at Bournemouth. Of course, Manchester City are very dangerous chasers - as Arsenal know to their considerable cost - and Aston Villa will obviously be hoping to stay in touch even after their chastening 4-1 defeat at the Emirates on Tuesday.

After Napoli beat Bologna on December 22 to win the Supercoppa Italiana, Rasmus Hojlund posted a picture of him holding the trophy, accompanied by the words, "What a great decision looks like." Unsurprisingly, some Manchester United fans didn't react well to the perceived slight on their club. One comment on Hojlund's Instagram photo with more than 14,000 likes sarcastically congratulated the Dane for finding his 'level' before adding, "[The] Premier League is too difficult for amateurs."

We're only halfway through the season but Chelsea are looking for a new manager, after parting company with Enzo Maresca on New Year's Day. On the one hand, the Italian's exit is a surprise, given he won both the Conference League and Club World Cup during his first season at Stamford Bridge. However, it had been clear for some time that Maresca wasn't entirely happy in west London, with the former Leicester City boss sensationally going public with a perceived lack of support within the club after last month's Champions League loss to Atalanta.

Liverpool extended their unbeaten run in the Premier League to seven games on New Year's Day but Arne Slot's ragged Reds continued to flatter to deceive in a drab 0-0 draw with Leeds United at Anfield. Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz had looked lively in the opening half hour on Merseyside, with both going close to breaking the deadlock. However, the English champions had run out of ideas by the final quarter of a largely uneventful game and Leeds looked to have nicked all three points through in-form forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin - only for the former Everton striker to be flagged for offside after hooking the ball into the net.

Liverpool host Leeds United on Thursday, less than a month since their last meeting at Elland Road. An awful lot has changed in the interim, though. Back on December 6, it appeared as if the wheels had well and truly come off Liverpool's season, with Mohamed Salah sensationally accusing Arne Slot of throwing him under the boss by once again benching him for a 3-3 draw that saw the Reds twice throw away the lead with more woeful defending from Ibrahima Konate & Co.

New Year's Eve is almost upon us, meaning 2025 is about to be consigned to the past - but how will it be remembered by the football world? It was certainly an unforgettable year for some players, coaches and clubs. Paris Saint-Germain, for example, finally got their hands on the trophy they craved above all others, the Champions League, thus vindicating a sensible change in recruitment strategy by the club's owners, who went from signing superstars to investing millions in youth.

A lot of leagues and competitions take the festive period off but there was no break for players in England, Italy and Portugal over the weekend, while the action at the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco resumed on December 26. The Premier League's top two, Arsenal and Manchester City, both picked up hard-fought wins on Saturday but Aston Villa remain very much in the title race after a massive win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

In Europe, much of the build-up to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations has unfortunately - but inevitably - focused on which clubs will be most affected by the tournament's scheduling slap-bang in the middle of the season. As an incredibly prestigious tournament that rarely fails to deliver a barely-believable amount of drama, the AFCON deserves so much better.

After Chelsea's hard-fought Carabao Cup win in Cardiff on Tuesday, Enzo Maresca went to applaud the travelling support. They responded by singing the Italian's name. At most clubs, there would be nothing remotely remarkable about a pretty perfunctory display of mutual affection between a fan base and a trophy-winning manager. Chelsea are not most clubs, though.

Things are really heating up in the run-up to Christmas across Europe's top leagues, with Inter reclaiming top spot in Serie A, Lens surprisingly leading the way in Ligue 1 and Barcelona continuing to pile pressure on Xabi Alonso's Real Madrid. Over in Germany, though, it seems that nobody is really capable of dethroning Bayern Munich, but Premier League leaders Arsenal are looking more and more nervous with each passing week.

With Christmas approaching, there are still two winless teams in Europe's 'Big 5' leagues. That one of them is Wolves is arguably unsurprising. The Fosun International-owned Premier League club sold two of their best players during the summer and squandered the proceeds on sub-standard signings. However, the fact that Fiorentina have yet to win a single game in Serie A is shocking.

Is this it, then? Is this how Mohamed Salah's Liverpool love story ends? No fond farewell at an adoring Anfield? Just an embarrassing, back-door exit for the fallen Kop idol? This weekend's Premier League clash with Brighton was only meant to be Salah's final game for Liverpool before heading off to Morocco to represent Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations - but there's now every chance that he'll never play for the club again.

It's fair to say that not even Arsenal fans were convinced by the club's decision to pay Chelsea £50 million for Noni Madueke during the summer transfer window - but it's starting to look like a masterstroke, with the winger having produced another stellar performance on the game's grandest stage in Wednesday's Champions League win over Club Brugge.

It just had to be Dominik Szoboszlai! With Mohamed Salah sitting at home after his remarkable Elland Road outburst, Liverpool's true talisman right now slotted home an 88th-minute penalty to earn a 1-0 victory over Inter on Tuesday that greatly eases the pressure on manager Arne Slot.

On April 11 of this year, Liverpool posted a video on their social media channels accompanied by the words 'The story continues' and a crown emoji. Nobody had to press play to understand what it all meant: after months and months of incessant speculation over Mohamed Salah's future, Anfield's Egyptian King had finally agreed a new contract with the club.

The draw for the 2026 World Cup is finally over! After what seemed like an eternity, the real business finally got underway in Friday's ceremony in Washington DC, with Rio Ferdinand leading the way and sporting icons such as Tom Brady, Shaquille O'Neal and Wayne Gretzky teaming up to throw up some intriguing groups for next summer's tournament in North America.

Steven Heighway knew when Steven Gerrard was still only 14 years of age that the midfielder was going to "make it" as a footballer. The man himself, though, was less convinced of his quality - at least when he took his first tentative steps in the professional ranks. When Gerrard warmed up in front of the Kop for the first time ahead of his Liverpool debut on November 29, 1998, the nerve-racked teenager "could almost hear them saying, 'Who's this skinny tw*t?!'"

When Wrexham lost 3-1 at home to Queens Park Rangers on September 13, they were 21st in the 24-team Championship, with just four points from their opening five games. It felt like a brutal reality check for fans dreaming of promotion to the Premier League just two years after getting out of the National League. Manager Phil Parkinson refused to panic, though.