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Tottenham forward Harry Kane will celebrate a milestone birthday this summer but has talked up the possibility of playing until he is 40 after receiving his latest accolade on Thursday. Kane was officially awarded the Freedom of the City of London during a ceremony at Guildhall alongside wife Kate, his three children and various members of his family. Kane was nominated for one of the city’s most ancient traditions due to his outstanding sporting achievements, with the England captain only 50 goals away from becoming the Premier League’s record goalscorer. While it has been a difficult season for club Tottenham, Kane has netted 28 times in the Premier League ahead of his 30th birthday in July. When reflecting on his own potential longevity, the Spurs academy graduate referenced the ages of Karim Benzema, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who were all in their mid-thirties when celebrating recent Ballon d’Or wins. “I am someone who always wants to push, always wants to get better, so if I am scoring goals at 39, then for sure I probably will play until I’m 40,” Kane told the PA news agency. “I always said I think it depends how your career has gone and what you’ve achieved, what kind of mindset you are in at that stage. “Sometimes there is a perception when you reach 30 that you’re coming to the end but in recent history some of the players who have been Ballon d’Or winners or Champions League winners have been 35, 36, 37. “I think as long as you stay mentally hungry and physically in a good place, which I am, then I feel like you can play as long as possible. “For sure I want to be playing another seven or eight years at the highest level and hopefully I can do that.” There remains uncertainty over Kane’s future with only one year left on his deal at Tottenham, although the club have no intention of selling their star forward this summer. Kane has repeatedly insisted his focus is on finishing another prolific season strongly as Spurs prepare to visit Leeds on Sunday with Europa Conference League qualification up for grabs. Despite Tottenham’s poor campaign, Kane has closed in on Alan Shearer’s record haul of 260 Premier League goals. He added: “This season has been difficult on a whole as a team. It has had its challenges but I always set myself little targets throughout the season, month by month. “To score 28 goals is something I am proud of with one game to go and hopefully I can score a couple more on Sunday and finish strong. “I just have to keep improving and every year I try to do that, finding different ways to score and that is something I will continue to do for the rest of my career. “As I have said before, with any record you are not focused on the record, you are focused on helping the team and scoring goals to do that, so then when the records come, you take them and you’re extremely proud of them. “Yeah, that could be another couple of years away yet but I am feeling in a good place and hopefully I am playing for many more years so it is definitely a target that can be reached.” After Kane added the Freedom of the City of London to the MBE he received in 2019, he joked it would take a major tournament win with England to earn a knighthood. Whatever the future holds, he is determined to help the next generation through The Harry Kane Foundation, which was launched in October with the aim of changing perception about mental health. “I reckon we’d have to win the Euros or World Cup and then it (knighthood) might be in the conversation but these things are incredible,” Kane said after he received the Freedom of the City of London. On his Foundation, Kane explained: “We have had amazing feedback, (taken) amazing steps so far. “I wanted to start the journey to learn more about mental health and especially with younger boys and younger girls, to see what they are going through and to use some of my experiences to help them. “It has been a great journey and is something I want to build year on year. It is something I want to continue after I am finished, (in) 10 years or so. “We’re on a good journey so far and it is not just London, it is for the whole country and the whole world to try to help as many people as possible.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Michael Duff feels ‘good fella’ Darren Moore ‘deserves loads of credit’ On this day in 2015: England hire Trevor Bayliss as head coach England’s Harry Hall takes three-shot lead in Texas with career-best outing

Mark Robins made a Premier League vow just hours after guiding Coventry out of League Two, former captain Michael Doyle has revealed. The ex-Sky Blues midfielder skippered the club to their first promotion in 51 years in 2018 to kick-start their journey to the brink of a top-flight return. Coventry beat Exeter 3-1 in the play-off final with Doyle lifting the trophy at Wembley and the Sky Blues are now dreaming of a repeat in Saturday’s Championship play-off final against Luton. Robins, who signed a new four-year deal this month, took them out of the fourth tier at the first attempt after returning 14 months earlier for a second spell and, even then, outlined his vision to Doyle. He told the PA news agency: “The night we got promoted from League Two we were chatting away at the bar, something came up and he said: ‘we’re going to take this club back to the Premier League where it belongs’. “You don’t say things like that lightly and it’s not arrogance because he’s not an arrogant man. He wouldn’t say that openly to a lot of people. “I’ve reminded him of that this week because we were a million miles away from it that night and now we’re on the verge of it. I hope he can do it. “I do think eventually the club will get there, even if it’s not Saturday. The club is in good hands with four more years of him there. He is a god to the people of Coventry. “Like any manager, pressure does come with the job and when he’s p****d off at you, you’re going to know about it. He’s not rolling into the training ground jovial. “But at the same time, when you win a game, he’s not jumping to the ceiling like Larry the Lunatic. “He’s always had a great calmness and it shows in his teams, the way they play. Look at that performance at Middlesbrough (the 1-0 play-off semi-final second-leg win) when no-one gave them a chance. That was a reflection of the coaching staff, Adi (Viveash, assistant) as well.” Doyle made 373 appearances, scoring 26 times, for the Sky Blues and featured in a 2-2 draw against Luton in March 2018 when the teams were in League Two. The 41-year-old first joined the club in 2003 from Celtic, just two years after their relegation from the Premier League, and saw the transition from Highfield Road to what was the Ricoh Arena in 2006. Since then, the club have tumbled from the Championship and back again despite playing at Northampton in 2013-14 after a rent dispute and spending two seasons in Birmingham following a failure to agree a deal with then-stadium owners Wasps. “Coventry were one of the longest-serving clubs in the top division and when they lost that status a lot of people around the city were devastated,” said former Republic of Ireland international Doyle. “There was a lot of negativity around the football club for long periods. “In my first spell, we were always just a middle-of-the-table Championship club. “The tough times of getting relegated has brought some success and some great days to the club. It’s just great to see the club now in the biggest game in football. “I remember playing Forest Green at home and getting beaten and having to drag a fan off the pitch. We were losing 1-0 and he ran on with five minutes to go. “The fans weren’t happy Coventry were playing Forest Green in League Two at home on a Tuesday night and losing 1-0. “We had a lot of young players who were in shock and I ran over because he had the ball. I grabbed him and said: ‘what are you doing? Get off’. It was instinct, I ran over and confronted him. “He was saying it was embarrassing and I said ‘listen, you’re not going to be here at the end of the season when we get promoted. Just get yourself in the stand’. “Forest Green did the double on us, no disrespect to them, and it showed what hard times the club had fallen on. It was hard for the fanbase to fathom. “These moments live with you a little because you end up getting success.”

Roberto De Zerbi is braced for a summer of hard work as Europa League-bound Brighton set about building a squad capable of competing on four fronts. The Seagulls will play continental football for the first time in their 122-year history next term, in addition to their Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup commitments. Albion wrapped up a record-breaking sixth-placed finish ahead of Sunday’s climax at Aston Villa, despite operating with a relatively small player pool, particularly during a congested run-in. Head coach De Zerbi does not believe the club require a raft of new arrivals to be ready for the forthcoming European tour. Yet the former Shakhtar Donetsk boss is determined to add depth and quality to his squad, especially if in-demand pair Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister are sold. “Monday starts the toughest period in my season because without football it is difficult,” he said. “I am looking forward to starting the next pre-season. I think we have to work in this holiday because we have to build a new squad to prepare for the new season. “I think we don’t need so many players. “We have to understand if Caicedo, Mac Allister (are sold) – I don’t know which players can leave – then we have to bring very good players because next season will be tougher than this one.” Brighton defied all expectations during a remarkable campaign by breaking into the top six and reaching the FA Cup semi-finals. Graham Potter oversaw the Seagulls’ strong start before De Zerbi scaled new heights following his predecessor’s departure to Chelsea in September. The Italian is unsure how much financial backing he will receive in the coming months and insists the scale of the summer overhaul will depend on the number of outgoings. “I can speak only about the characteristics, the quality of players,” he said. “Money is not my job. “For sure I can tell you we have to have a stronger squad, a bigger squad because we will play in four competitions. “And we have to be ready to compete in our way in these four competitions because we arrived with 14, 15 players in the crucial part of the season. “The next year will be tougher because in the history of the Premier League it can happen that clubs achieve Europa League and the next year you have to fight to avoid relegation.”

If the first 11 have presented a problem, the greater warning came on page 11. Page 11, that is, of Everton’s annual financial report. “Conditions indicate the existence of a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt about the group’s ability to continue as a going concern,” it read. Those conditions, in the curious way Everton phrased it, were “if the assumptions in the relegation scenario were not achieved”. Their assumptions were that a storied club, founder members of the Football League and the club who have played more top-division games than any other in England, would stay up. With one game to go, they are one place above the relegation zone, their fate in their hands but dicing with disaster. A win against Bournemouth will keep Everton up. Anything else would doom them if Leicester win; lose and Leeds would leapfrog Everton with a victory of their own. Clubs in such positions are often imperilled; but not with an existential threat. As it is, Everton’s majority shareholder, Farhad Moshiri, has provided assurances of his intention to fund the club if they go down. But, as was noted in the annual report, they are not legally binding. There is a separate question of whether Moshiri could afford to: certainly both his and Everton’s finances appear slighter since his long-time business partner Alisher Usmanov was sanctioned by the British government amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Uzbek-Russian billionaire’s company, USM, had sponsored Everton’s Finch Farm training ground; he had paid for the first option to the naming rights of their new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock. And Everton have needed money: even with Premier League revenues, they lost £44m in the last financial year; although that was dramatically better than losing £371m in the previous three years, albeit partly due to Covid. They face a Premier League investigation into alleged Financial Fair Play breaches, though they are adamant all recent deals have been run past the league to ensure they are compliant. But Everton may be staring into the abyss. Manager Sean Dyche said recently that livelihoods were on the line. So is much more. Everton have enjoyed 120 years of top-flight football, the last 69 of them unbroken. But Goodison Park, where Pele and Eusebio scored in the 1966 World Cup, could host its last Premier League game against Bournemouth on Sunday. Everton are due to move to Bramley-Moore Dock in 2024; finishing that requires money and they are in an exclusivity period for negotiations with the American firm MSP Sports Capital to invest in the club. An announcement could be forthcoming in the next weeks if Everton stay up; go down, however, and the context changes dramatically. Such funding, or indeed such a reliance on last-day results, may not be required had Everton not spent so much so badly in the Moshiri years. Their outlay on signings has topped £600m and yet the team was in such a state of disrepair that, for much of last week’s match against Wolves, their team, with the exception of Jordan Pickford, consisted solely of centre-backs, central midfielders and wingers. It was not an innovative tactical ploy. They did not have a fit full-back or, after Dominic Calvert-Lewin went off with his latest injury, a striker trusted to take the field. Which highlights one of the fundamental flaws in Everton’s thinking. Last season, Calvert-Lewin scored the goal that kept them up, but only after Richarlison had struck five others in the run-in. Richarlison had to be sold to bring in £60m before 30 June, the end of the Premier League’s financial year. Since then, Everton have banked on the fitness of an unfit player, who may now miss what could be billed as one of the biggest games in their long history. Meanwhile, Neal Maupay, the summer striking signing, is on a run of 27 games without a goal; he may count as former manager Frank Lampard’s greatest error, although that is a competitive list. Yet Everton have been prisoners of their past. Their summer deals tended to be for players with low up-front fees, signing those who they could get rather than, in some cases, who they ideally wanted. It means they still owe much of the cost of Dwight McNeil and Amadou Onana, who should at least command sizeable fees if they have to be sold, and Maupay, who may join the list of Everton buys who are unsellable. If other clubs can at least compensate for relegation by selling Premier League performers, Everton have fewer who would bring in large amounts – Calvert-Lewin could be a £50m forward if fit, but not otherwise, so that may only leave Pickford, McNeil and Onana – and still owe plenty. Relegation could be attributed to their past financial mismanagement. They were unable to buy in January until Anthony Gordon was sold, seeing targets such as Danny Ings go elsewhere (somewhat farcically, Arnaut Danjuma, who could have been a high-class loanee, got off a train at Crewe when he learned of Tottenham’s interest, switched platforms and hopped on one back down to London). They botched the end of the window and, if they were keen not to repeat past mistakes by overpaying for undistinguished players, the eventual verdict may be that the lack of another forward cost them their Premier League status; they enter the last game of the campaign with a mere four goals from specialist strikers all season. They face Bournemouth, who beat them twice in a week before the World Cup, scoring seven goals. Hindsight suggests Lampard perhaps should have been dismissed then, but he engineered a memorable escape from relegation last season. Perhaps, though, he just delayed it by a year. And if so, Moshiri’s seven years of clueless transfer-market excess might render it the most expensive relegation of all. And, considering the potential consequences to the club, among the most damaging. Read More ‘It is theatre’: Inside the emotional chaos of a final-day Premier League relegation battle Premier League relegation: What do Leeds, Everton and Leicester need to survive?

What the papers say Real Madrid have reportedly been given an opportunity to sign Tottenham striker Harry Kane. The Daily Mail, citing Spanish radio station Cadena Ser, says the Spanish giants have been offered the chance to pick up the 29-year-old in a player-plus-cash deal. Kane’s contract at Tottenham expires next summer and any transfer would give Spurs the chance to cash in before risking him leaving as a free agent. Staying with Tottenham, The Sun reports the club’s search for a new manager has taken a blow, with Paris St Germain linked with a move for top target Luis Enrique. Citing Marca, the paper says the French powerhouses are likely to sack boss Christophe Galtier and enter the race for the former Spain coach. Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror says 24-year-old France defender Jules Kounde is set to snub a rumoured approach from Chelsea to stay at Barcelona. Social media round-up Players to watch Samuel Umtiti: The Daily Mirror says the Barcelona and France defender, on loan at Italian side Lecce, is eager to find a permanent deal in Italy. Keylor Navas: Chelsea and Tottenham are among the clubs keeping tabs on the Nottingham Forest goalkeeper, according to Foot Mercato. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah insists there can be no excuse for missing out on Champions League football. The 30-year-old admits the team has failed and let fans down this season with a fifth-placed finish. Manchester United’s 4-1 win over Chelsea means fourth place is now out of reach for last season’s beaten finalists. Jurgen Klopp’s side have underperformed all season and it was only their current 10-match unbeaten run – which included a sequence of seven victories – which gave them a remote chance of qualifying for Europe’s elite club competition. But their participation in the Europa League, the first time Klopp has not made the top four in a full season at the club, has left Salah frustrated. “I’m totally devastated. There’s absolutely no excuse for this,” the Egypt international, who rarely makes public statements, wrote in a strongly-worded post on Twitter. We let you and ourselves down Mohamed Salah “We had everything we needed to make it to next year’s Champions League and we failed. “We are Liverpool and qualifying to the competition is the bare minimum. “I am sorry but it’s too soon for an uplifting or optimistic post. “We let you and ourselves down.” In a disappointing season Salah has still scored 30 goals and is only one away from becoming the first player in Premier League history to provide 20 goals and 10 assists in three seasons, which would surpass the record he shares with Thierry Henry. He is one short of reaching 20 league goals in a season for the fifth time in six years at Liverpool (he scored 19 in the other) and if he manages to score at Southampton on Sunday he will become the first Liverpool player since Roger Hunt in 1965-66 to score 20 league goals for a third successive season. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Erik ten Hag fears Antony suffered ‘serious’ injury with FA Cup final in doubt Michael van Gerwen creates Premier League history by winning seventh title Fleetwood owner Andy Pilley loses civil court fight with council

Erik ten Hag fears winger Antony suffered a “serious” injury as Manchester United fulfilled the “main objective” of Champions League qualification by thrashing Chelsea. The Red Devils sealed their return to European football’s top table with a game to spare by thrashing Frank Lampard’s wasteful Blues 4-1 at Old Trafford on Thursday evening. Casemiro, Anthony Martial, Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford scored before Joao Felix struck a late consolation on a night that saw Antony leave on a stretcher in the first half. Asked for an update on the Brazil international, Ten Hag said: “I don’t know. Everyone has seen he came off. “I can tell you that it’s serious but we have to wait minimum 24 hours and then we know probably more about the status of his injury.” Ten Hag’s comments suggest Antony is in danger of missing the FA Cup final against Manchester City on June 3, with Luke Shaw also requiring assessment after being substituted with a reported back issue. “We have to wait,” he said. “Antony looks serious but we don’t know what it is. With Shaw, we have to wait as well. After tomorrow we know more.” Their absence would be big blows for a United side that are already without Lisandro Martinez, Marcel Sabitzer and Donny van de Beek for the FA Cup final. Beating City would be the cherry on top of what Ten Hag believes has already been a “successful season”. “I have always high expectations of myself and I think this club belongs in the Champions League, so you have to qualify in the first four,” he said. “But this league is very strong, and there are many teams, many clubs, who are competing for the position and they all can do it because they have high budgets, good squads. “We see Chelsea, they have massive, good squad with outstanding players. “So, we are happy we are in the first four. I think we played a good season in the Premier League. I would say, a very good season.” Put to Ten Hag that former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said finishing in the top four was the equivalent of winning a trophy, Ten Hag said: “Oh, I think in the Premier League, yeah, it’s something like that. “That is, I think, the main objective of the season, to get in the Champions League. “So, therefore you have to see yourself in the top four and, as I just tried to respond, the competition is tough. “It’s many teams with really good squads, good managers, so when you are in there you’re doing a good job and your team is playing well and performing well. “I think this is for this moment the maximum, but we want more.” That hunger for more means backing is required in the summer transfer window, whoever United’s owners are. “You have to see how you come out of the transfer window,” Ten Hag added. “But if I see now I think we need more, so I don’t have so much patience. And that is one of my mistakes.” Chelsea were already guaranteed to finish in bottom half for the first time in 27 years before this club record 16th defeat in a 38-game Premier League season. Interim boss Frank Lampard was understandably downtrodden in the press conference that followed his eighth loss in 10 matches in charge. “My personal feeling? I don’t think it’s about my personal feeling, I think it’s probably about the reality of where we’re at,” he said. “I’ve said it a lot going into the game, when things are off for a period, which has been the season for us – you can trace it back to probably pre-season – and then it’s not easy to turn it. “Then when you get into a run-in against top clubs that are going for something, nothing’s a given in this game. “Mixed feelings. We played OK in parts today, there was some individual performances within the game, which I think can be nice shoots for the future if they’re worked on. “But of course the reality is when you come to Manchester United and how clinical they are in front of goal and how non-clinical we were, how we defended individually poorly in the second half, then the result can come.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Michael van Gerwen creates Premier League history by winning seventh title Fleetwood owner Andy Pilley loses civil court fight with council Chiedozie Ogbene and Alan Browne in race to make Ireland’s Euro 2024 clashes

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah said there is “no excuse” for the club missing out on the Champions League this season after Manchester United thrashed Chelsea to confirm to place in the Premier League’s top-four. The Reds will be without Champions League football for the first time since the 2016-17 campaign next season, with Newcastle United also beating Jurgen Klopp’s side to a top-four spot - joining champions Manchester City and runners-up Arsenal. Salah has reached the Champion League final three times since moving to Liverpool in 2017 and said the club had “failed” by only reaching the Europa League. Liverpool were defeated finalists last year and Salah said the club had “everything” they needed to qualify again this campaign. The Egyptian posted a tweet immediately after United’s 4-1 win over Chelsea on Thursday, the result which confirmed Liverpool’s fifth-place finish this season, which read: “I’m totally devastated. “There’s absolutely no excuse for this. We had everything we needed to make it to next year’s Champions League and we failed. “We are Liverpool and qualifying to the competition is the bare minimum. “I am sorry but it’s too soon for an uplifting or optimistic post. We let you and ourselves down.” Liverpool went on a nine-game winning run to revive their hopes of Champions League qualification but Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Aston Villa at Anfield left United needing only a point from their final two fixtures against Chelsea and Fulham. Afterwards, Liverpool manager Klopp accepted his side have not been good enough to qualify for the Champions League this season. “I think the whole season is rather a season where we qualify for Europa League than for Champions League,” he said. “We were for too long not good enough or ourselves.” Read More Liverpool thought they’d bought the future – but two wrong moves left them counting the cost Jurgen Klopp admits Liverpool have not been good enough for top-four finish Jurgen Klopp open to strengthening Liverpool defence during summer window

Last May, Casemiro won the Champions League. This May, he has qualified for it. It sounds the lesser achievement. A player who played in four Champions League final victories is now mathematically assured of a top-four finish. As Manchester United returned to the top table of European football, it owed much to Casemiro. Over the season, he has been a catalytic force. On the night when they condemned Chelsea to defeat and Liverpool to the Europa League, he was again. United had been short of goals of late but Casemiro started a rout of the 2021 Champions League winners. Erik ten Hag bought a defensive midfielder, but Casemiro has contributed much in attack. He scored the opening goal and helped set up the second with a sand wedge of a pass. Anthony Martial scored it, Bruno Fernandes added a third from the penalty spot before the substitute Marcus Rashford became the first player to score 30 goals in a season for United since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement. But the name that echoed most around Old Trafford, unsurprisingly, was Casemiro’s. He signed in August after the embarrassment of the 4-0 demolition at Brentford; undeterred, Casemiro has helped lead a revival. United’s season, which began disastrously, will end with Ten Hag in credit. With a trophy in the cabinet and a top-four finish, there is a sense his mission has been accomplished, even if the mood will partly be affected by whether United end Manchester City’s treble hopes in the FA Cup final. There was a pragmatic element to buying Casemiro, paying £63m for a player in his thirties. There was a need for a short-term return on their investment, but United have got it. As Ten Hag had noted on Wednesday, and in relation to Chelsea, money is not enough without strategy. Some £600m later, the Londoners played some enterprising football at Old Trafford but departed with an eighth defeat in 10 matches under Frank Lampard. United instead showed the flair to get four goals and, with Chelsea’s defence disintegrating, could have had twice as many. A third successive win took their tally to 40 victories this season and 29 games unbeaten at Old Trafford. Casemiro is the serial winner who has assumed a symbolic importance. Ten Hag revamped and upgraded United’s midfield last summer and his signings combined effectively. Casemiro’s aerial ability at set-pieces has proved a welcome benefit and he headed in Christian Eriksen’s free kick. Until the Dane was injured in January, he ranked second only to Kevin De Bruyne for assists in the Premier League, and the quality of his delivery has added another dimension. Casemiro had opened his United account against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Bought to give ballast to the midfield, he has proved more prolific than most expected; a seventh goal of the season equalled the best haul of his career. It is a moot point if this was his most important goal for United – he did score in the Carabao Cup final – but the significance of Champions League football means it could be. Jadon Sancho and Martial were particular culprits as United’s attackers took poor decisions and bad touches until, in a moment of redemption, the winger sprang the offside trap to meet Casemiro’s pass and centre for the striker to have a tap-in. Thereafter, Fernandes hit the post after being found by Sancho. Eriksen ought to have added a third from about three yards but was denied by that rarity, a wondrous save by Kepa Arrizabalaga. Fernandes did when tripped by Wesley Fofana, scoring the spot kick himself. Fofana’s traumatic afternoon continued as he gifted the ball to Fernandes. He found Rashford, who ended up rolling the ball in to become the first United player to reach 30 since Robin van Persie. Rashford had come on when Antony was stretchered off, his chances of appearing in the FA Cup final presumably over, head in hands after an innocuous challenge by Trevoh Chalobah. Luke Shaw came off at half-time with a minor back injury that is less likely to rule him out. For Chelsea, the relief may be that there is only one more game to go in a harrowing season. Frank Lampard named Chelsea’s youngest ever team in the Premier League. The youngest of them acquitted himself well: for the second time in five days in Manchester, Lewis Hall was their best player. He twice could have had an assist, inviting crosses bringing an awful miss from Mykhailo Mudryk and a header wide by Kai Havertz, and had a shot parried by David de Gea. Carney Chukwuemeka showed glimpses of talent, too, and the substitute Joao Felix drilled in a consolation goal. But, when Alejandro Garnacho hit the bar, they came perilously close to conceding a fifth. It is little over a year since they faced Casemiro, then with Real Madrid in a Champions League quarter-final. He will be in the competition again next year. Chelsea certainly won’t be. Read More Erling Haaland aims to cap stunning debut season with Man City by winning treble Manchester United vs Chelsea LIVE: Latest Premier League updates Pep Guardiola: Disallowed Haaland ‘goal’ proves Man City success is on own merit Chelsea the title favourites as Leicester look to survive – WSL talking points How Chelsea match is pivotal to Man Utd’s hopes of signing Mason Mount Rumours: Man Utd in £55m Mount bid as Arsenal consider Smith-Rowe sale

Manchester United secured qualification for next season’s Champions League as Erik ten Hag’s men roared to a comprehensive 4-1 victory against wasteful Chelsea. The Dutchman has led the Red Devils to Carabao Cup glory and next month’s FA Cup final during a promising first season that looked certain to end in a top-four finish until a recent wobble. But Ten Hag has righted the ship and United secured a return to European football’s top table with a game to spare as Casemiro, Anthony Martial, Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford scored against toothless Chelsea. This was a club record 16th defeat in a 38-match Premier League season for Frank Lampard’s Blues, who saw a bad early Mykhailo Mudryk miss punished by a sixth minute Casemiro header. Further Chelsea chances went begging across the evening, including the miss by Conor Gallagher in first half stoppage time that was followed by Martial scoring. Bruno Fernandes’ penalty and substitute Marcus Rashford’s goal – his 30th of the season in all competitions – wrapped up a victory that was only dampened by Antony’s exit on a stretcher and a late Joao Felix consolation. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Follow live coverage as Manchester United face Chelsea in the Premier League today. The hosts only need a point to make certain of Champions League qualification, which would ensure the club finish ahead of Liverpool in the Premier League’s top four. Ten Hag named an unchanged side and stuck with the same team that beat Bournemouth at the weekend, with top scorer Marcus Rashford returning to the bench after missing recent games. Noni Madueke, Mykhailo Mudryk and Carney Chukwuemeka came in for Chelsea as Thiago Silva, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Raheem Sterling dropped out. The latter was absent from the squad entirely due to a hamstring injury. We will bring you all the action and updates from today's game in the live blog below: Read More How Erik ten Hag survived stunning lows to lead Manchester United’s unconventional revival Premier League 2022/23 season awards: Best player, manager, transfer flop and breakthrough act How Chelsea match is pivotal to Man Utd’s hopes of signing Mason Mount

Chiedozie Ogbene and Alan Browne are facing a race against time to be fit for the Republic of Ireland’s Euro 2024 qualifiers against Greece and Gibraltar next month. Frontman Ogbene is working his way back from a hamstring injury suffered during Rotherham’s 1-0 Sky Bet Championship win over Middlesbrough on May 1, while Preston midfielder Browne is continuing his rehabilitation from medial ligament damage sustained at QPR on April 7. Speaking after a four-day training camp with his EFL and League of Ireland-based players in Bristol, manager Stephen Kenny said: “Chiedozie Ogbene had a hamstring tear with Rotherham and hasn’t been able to participate this week, so we’ll have to see how that is. Alan Browne as well, [is] coming back from a medial injury, so these are dilemmas for us.” Ogbene in particular has become a key member of Kenny’s team – he started the 1-0 defeat by World Cup finalists France at the Aviva Stadium in March as Ireland opened their Group B campaign – while Browne has scored against Belgium, Scotland and Norway in the last year or so. The squad is due to be finalised next week – Atletico Madrid defender Matt Doherty will join up after his club’s final LaLiga fixture at Villarreal on June 4 – before preparations begin in earnest. Despite a resilient display against Didier Deschamps’ men, the Republic know they may need to take maximum points from June’s double-header – they face Greece in Athens on Friday, June 16 and Gibraltar in Dublin three days later – if they are to force their way out of a difficult group which also includes the Netherlands. That, however, may prove easier said than done in the heat of the Greek capital – Ireland will spend nine days training in the Turkish resort of Antalya in a bid to acclimatise – and with the hosts having topped their group in Nations League C. Hopefully some of the players can come through some of their injury difficulties and if so, we want to make sure we're ready Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny Kenny said: “Greece are a good team, they won their Nations League group so we’re going to have to really perform to a high level. We need to make sure we are absolutely 100 per cent, and going to Turkey will help us, training in similar conditions, get ourselves ready. “We go to Athens on the Wednesday and play on the Friday against Greece before we come back and play, and I heard that 42,00 have already been sold for Gibraltar, which is fantastic. It would be great to have a full house there if we could on the Monday night. “But at the moment, we’re firmly focused on our preparations for that, and I think that will give us a chance, our preparations here, coming to Bristol, going to Turkey. “Hopefully some of the players can come through some of their injury difficulties and if so, we want to make sure we’re ready.”