Elijah Adebayo’s return boosts Luton, Wolves seek another City shock and Alexander Isak eyes golden boot Friday night’s clash between deeply imperilled Luton and newly safe Everton ought to mean contrasting moods among the two sets of supporters at Kenilworth Road. Still, off-field alarms at Everton are likely to dampen the mood in the away end despite the impressive three straight wins that have delivered safety for Sean Dyche’s side. Luton’s much-admired campaign against the drop, by contrast, looks as if it is running out of road yet this well-run club have less to fear from relegation than ..read more

Sheffield United are presumably relieved that their next League assignment in the north-east will be at Sunderland or Middlesbrough. Long before the final whistle brought confirmation of a relegation to the Championship that Chris Wilder had already deemed inevitable, his players had seen more than enough of Newcastle and the excellent and electric Alexander Isak in particular. Thirteen of the Premier League goals scored by Newcastle this season have arrived against the Blades and the latest quintet, with two registered by Isak, enhanced their hopes of hosting European nights this autumn ..read more

Liverpool await a dead-ball salvo, Luton have to keep their chins up and things could get spicy at City Ground David Moyes will surely have taken note of Liverpool’s struggle to defend set pieces against Everton. Jürgen Klopp, who must be delighted with a 12.30pm kick-off on Saturday, should prepare his team for another bruising test when they visit West Ham. For Moyes, this is a chance to repair the sizeable damage to his reputation caused by last weekend’s collapse at Selhurst Park. West Ham were 4-0 down to Palace after 31 minutes and are preparing to part company with Moyes at the end of t ..read more

With 81 minutes gone Bruno Fernandes collected a Kobbie Mainoo pass and with a swish of his left foot fired a laser past Wes Foderingham and Manchester United were 3-2 ahead. The question now was could they, at last, hang on to a lead. This was answered emphatically by Rasmus Højlund, whose strike as the end of regulation time neared gave Erik ten Hag’s team security and was the best way to close before a watching Jason Wilcox, the new technical director, who will lead the football department until Dan Ashworth joins from Newcastle ..read more

For the teams at the bottom of the food chain, England’s top flight has come to resemble an abusive relationship And you may ask yourself: how do I work this? And you may ask yourself: what happened to that three-man midfield ..read more

Manchester United snatch chaos from jaws of serenity, Nicolas Jackson misfires and Liverpool stay in hunt Jammy, jammy Man United. To be fair, they did find a new way to be hopeless. Instead of the usual mayhem, they were in total control for 70 minutes, barely letting Coventry have a shot. But then, somehow, they snatched chaos from the jaws of serenity. ITV, and all their teatime viewers, couldn’t believe their luck as a cakewalk turned into a classic. United threw away a 3-0 lead, and for a minute, right at the end of extra time, they were 4-3 down – only for the VAR to come to their rescue ..read more

“Painful” is the word Chris Wilder routinely chooses to describe this season but it turned positively agonising as Burnley inflicted more unsightly wounds on his Championship-bound Sheffield United side. No metaphorical plaster is likely to be large enough to hide the psychological damage gleefully delivered as the visitors recovered from a shaky start to play with the newfound belief befitting a side that has lost one of its past seven Premier League games ..read more

High prices, rescheduled kick-offs, glaring inequality, PSR confusion – all are riling supporters, yet their loyalty abides It is about an hour before kick-off at Stamford Bridge and Everton fans are milling outside the gate that leads to the away end. It’s a Monday night and people look tired, having just been dispatched from their coaches at the end of a five-hour journey. Some are waiting for friends, clasping cups of coffee, others are looking for spare tickets. The consistent topic of conversation, meanwhile, is the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules. “As a ..read more

Two big Wembley meetings await in the Cup, while a desperation derby looks to be in store at Goodison Park There was a distinct end-of-season vibe at the Gtech Community Stadium following Brentford’s recent win over Sheffield United, with Thomas Frank and his players performing what amounted to a lap of honour as they took plaudits from fans relieved that the spectre of relegation had finally been banished from their small corner of west London. Of course only time will tell if the Bees become the first Premier League team to decamp to the metaphorical beach this season and this weekend’s matc ..read more

Adam Wharton shines on Merseyside, Mateo Kovacic displays City’s depth and Erik ten Hag gets tetchy Joachim Andersen was named Sky’s man of the match at Anfield and with good reason. But while the Danish centre-back won header after header and made clearance after clearance, and while the front three of Jean-Philippe Mateta, Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise caused repeated problems on the break, there was one figure who stood out in midfield for his calmness: Adam Wharton, perhaps the brightest of the hugely promising generation brought through by Tony Mowbray at Blackburn. The 20-year-old moved ..read more