A quick look at the top end of the Premier League and that battle for fourth. Suddenly, fifth looks no good with Germany stealing a march in the coeffecient rankings although there’s still hope. Spurs fans certainly need to cheer Villa on in Europe.

Former Arsenal chairman Sir Chips Keswick has died aged 84, the club have announced. Keswick spent seven years in the role until he stepped down in 2020, having initially joined the Gunners’ board of directors in 2005.

Arsenal said: “It is with great sadness that the club reports the death of former chairman, Sir Chips Keswick. A lifelong Arsenal supporter, he was a regular at Highbury after first standing in the boys’ enclosure in 1949 and listed his early heroes as the Compton brothers and Jimmy Logie but, above all, goalkeeper – and later manager – George Swindin, as young Chips was a budding schoolboy keeper himself.”

O’Shea could stay on as Ireland boss

Thanks John. Let’s go back to the title race. Trent Alexander-Arnold made his first start since mid-February in Liverpool’s ultimately futile 1-0 win away to Atalanta last night, pinging a few trademark long passes early doors before understandably running out of gas after the break. Now his focus is on one last push in the Premier League.

“After the game we spoke quite positively about the rest of the season. We’ve got a month left and we need to give it everything. That’s what we are going to do, we are going to throw everything at it and try to do all that we can,” he told the club’s website.

“We know it’s not in our hands any more but we need to be as good as possible and just be in the best position that we can to capitalise if teams do slip up.”

Liverpool now face a trio of away matches, starting with Fulham on Sunday before trips to Everton and West Ham. He added: “We have got a very difficult week ahead of us, three away games that we need to win and get results in and that’s our aim now.”

That’s me for the next hour. Can I hand you back to David Tindall? I think I can.

Huge game tomorrow at 12.30pm UK time. Chelsea play Barcelona in the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, the Spanish giants’ temporary home, and come up against many a world champion.

Chelsea are top of the WSL but the Champions League is what Hayes would like most to sign off with.

Mark Robins has been speaking ahead of the semi-final between Coventry and his old club Manchester United: “We know it’s a really difficult challenge. I hear people saying Manchester United are this or that. The truth is they have top players. We have got to be able to deal with the situation and the threat they pose.

“You have to go into this game understanding what the threats are. For people who are talking about United conceding a lot of shots, you are talking about a team which is full of talented top players. Most of them are international players, if not all of them, with a lot of really positive attributes. We know they are favourites to win this game by a million miles. We have to understand what this game is going to be, what the occasion is and the fact there shouldn’t be any fear.

“Manchester United are the biggest club in the world, we know they have got top talents. If you cannot go and enjoy that, you shouldn’t be playing.”

Erik ten Hag has been speaking about Jadon Sancho, the problem child now playing rather well for Borussia Dortmund: “A great performance from Dortmund and also for Jadon it’s good news. He made his contribution to the result for Dortmund. We know Jadon Sancho is a fantastic football player, so that is not a surprise for us. That is not the issue.”

Liverpool are still in the title race, but there is an end of term feel about them these days.

Talking of Mark Robins. Where were you? I was watching in my grandparents’ front room in Sale, in glorious Trafford.

Will Unwin spoke to a few of Robins’ teammates.

Erik ten Hag has had his say on the FA Cup, the competition that may just save his bacon: “It’s very sad for the British football culture but I also think it is also inevitable, and no-one can do anything for it. It’s due to the overload in the schedule, and that’s dictated by Fifa and Uefa.

“We are a big competition, and we have a big influence and a big impact, but there are so many other countries and there is so much overload on the players and it has to stop. As I said, I feel really sorry and sad for the clubs in England but, for top players, we have to make some space in the schedule.”

He won’t think that when he’s managing Northampton in a few years.

John Brewin

Time to hand over to John Brewin for the second leg. He always runs a great bend.

Hereford will be forever linked with the FA Cup and that famous Ronnie Radford goal in a replay against Newcastle. Like many down the pyramid, they’re not happy with the FA’s decision to change the format and have released this statement.

“We would like to express our disappointment at the announcement from the Premier League and Football Association that the format of the FA Cup will be changing, including the scrapping of replays from the First Round onwards.

“It is clear this decision has been taken with the views of a small minority of clubs to the fore, placing little or no importance on how significant and special the FA Cup is to hundreds of others – both financially and through the additional interest that is often created in local communities.

“Our city was catapulted onto the football map thanks to the exploits of Colin Addison’s Southern League Hereford United team in the 1970s, and his side’s FA Cup Third Round Replay win over First Division Newcastle United in February 1972 remains one of the greatest upsets in the competition’s history. No-one will ever forget the late, great Ronnie Radford.

“Under the FA Cup’s new rules, a giantkilling exactly like this will no longer be possible, as the match would have to be settled at St James’ Park, without the added drama of a second game at Edgar Street.

“We would join the huge number of EFL and non-league clubs in asking the Football Association to suspend this decision until a full consultation has taken place with all the affected stakeholders in the game we love.”

Can Emma Hayes wave goodbye to Chelsea by winning the only trophy to have eluded her during a highly-successful 12-year reign? Ahead of the Women’s Champions League semi-final, first leg in Spain, Suzanne Wrack says Barcelona represent intimidating opposition.

Magdalena Eriksson, a former five-time WSL winner with Chelsea, runs the rule over the Women’s Champions League semi-finals. The first legs are on Saturday.

12.30pm: Barcelona v Chelsea
6pm: Lyon v PSG

As the FA double down on their decision to get rid of replays, other managers are giving their opinions in today’s press conferences.

Here’s West Ham boss David Moyes. “I think the football schedule is too full, I think there are too many games. Something has to give in football somewhere or you may find it’s going to be very difficult. I’m not saying that this was the thing that had to give, but somewhere along the line, I think something will have to loosen up a little bit to give the players a little bit more room.”

Coventry boss Mark Robins has given his thoughts on the FA’s move to scrap FA Cup replays. The former Manchester United frontman faces his old club in the FA Cup semi-final this weekend.

“You look at the grassroots and the EFL, below, they’re all part of the pyramid that needs to feed each other and eventually feeds the Premier League. We’ve all played our part in developing them and that should never be underestimated or forgotten about.

“I think there are other things that may have happened – like replays up until the third round, which doesn’t impact the bigger clubs that have made this decision.

“At the end of the day it does kick everybody in the teeth below that level, there’s no doubt about it, but there’s nothing we can do about that apart from voice concerns. Maybe there’s a rethink for those clubs, but it’s really difficult for them to come to terms with.”

And some further detail here from PA Media as this story takes further twists.

On Friday morning Bradford joined a group of EFL clubs condemning the move, which also includes Accrington, Crawley, Grimsby, Peterborough, Tranmere and AFC Wimbledon. The Bantams statement said that although retrospective consultation from the FA was still necessary, it would now be “nothing more than an insult”.

Sources close to the EFL say that although approval was given at Professional Game Board level, the changes were presented there as a fait accompli. Sources add that the EFL was sidelined from discussions about how its clubs would be compensated for the loss of replays, and that Thursday’s announcement containing details of extra funding for the grassroots game came out of the blue.

Nagelsmann signs new deal with German national team

FA release statement in response to FA Cup changes

Back to some FA Cup memories. With Luke Garrard about to take charge of his final game for non-league Boreham Wood, Steven Pye says thankyou in this personal account of a memorable nine-year reign.

Meanwhile in the Championship, a host of former Premier League sides are nervously peering down rather than optimistically looking up. Here’s Will Unwin on how short-term approaches are holding clubs back.

Those FA Cup semi-finals and this weekend’s round of Premier League matches are all under the microscope in everyone’s favourite double digit looking-ahead column.

“Facing Chelsea three days after going out to Real Madrid is not ideal. Chelsea have already given City a tough time in the league, drawing twice and unsettling their defence with their pace on the break. Guardiola will be wary. But the title race remains tight and City have to think about a tricky midweek trip to Brighton. How many regulars does Guardiola leave out at Wembley?”

From the famous Giggs semi-final to the this year’s last-four showdowns. How will it all pan out? An all-Manchester FA Cup final for the second year running? Can Coventry cause a massive shock? Will Cole Palmer cause further seller’s regret?

Saturday 5.15pm: Manchester City v Chelsea
Sunday 3.30pm: Coventry v Manchester United

In creating a world with no FA Cup replays, you don’t get these. Take it away Motty…

Third round, 1972: Hereford United 2-1 Newcastle
Ronnie Radford’s famous 30-yard strike helps Hereford become the first non-league club to beat a top-flight side since 1949.

Semi final, 1999: Manchester United 2-1 Arsenal
Level at 1-1 after goals from David Beckham and Dennis Bergkamp, Ryan Giggs produces one of the FA Cup’s iconic moments, weaving his way through the Arsenal defence and blasting past David Seaman. Off comes the shirt and away he goes.

Fourth round, 2004: Tottenham 3-4 Manchester City
City produce an incredible comeback to beat Spurs at White Hart Lane with 10 men having trailed 3-0 at half-time.

Third round, 2015: West Ham 2-2 Everton (West Ham win 9-8 on penalties)
Perhaps most memorable for West Ham’s goalkeeper Adrián taking centre stage, throwing his gloves to the ground before converting the winning penalty at the end of a marathon shootout and a topsy-turvy 120 minutes at the Boleyn Ground

There’s been an amusing stat doing the rounds this week that Eric Dier has reached more Champions League semi-finals than Arsenal have in their entire history. With that in mind, Max Rushden asks a question…

Hot on the heels of their Champions League exits, Manchester City and Arsenal are inevitably being linked with major moves in the summer transfer market.

The decision to scrap FA Cup replays from the first round next season has caused much outrage. As I write this, Mark Palios, former chief executive of the FA and executive chair of Tranmere Rovers, is venting his spleen on TalkSport. He’s also quoted in the story below. This is very much a hot topic.

An equation to cause alarm for those with eyes on fifth place in the Premier League. European exits for Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool + progress for Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen = Germany > England in the race for the extra Champions League spot. The Premier League looked almost a shoe-in but this week’s results have seen a dramatic flip in favour of the Bundesliga. David Hytner explains all.

“After Thursday’s ties, Germany have 125.5 points for a coefficient of 17.929 from their seven clubs while England have 139 points for 17.375 from their eight. France have 96.5 points for 16.083 from their six.”

Let’s start with reaction from last night. Disappointment for Liverpool and West Ham but not so for Aston Villa with goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez taking shithousery to new levels by somehow being booked twice and still emerging as a crowd-shushing hero in a penalty shootout.

Preamble