PRE-SEASON   CURRENT
City                57          65.5

Arsenal              2.5        27.25

Liverpool           26           2.5
Newcastle            0.5         2.25
United               2           1.25
Tottenham            6           1
Chelsea              5           0.25

Field                1     

                PRE-SEASON   CURRENT
City                96.5        98

Arsenal             37.5        88

Liverpool           87          59

Tottenham           59.5        43
United              30          41
Newcastle           8.5         36

Chelsea             56          19

Brighton            3            4

Field              22            2

                 PRE-SEASON   CURRENT
Forest              41.5        60
Bournemouth         65          59

Wolves              15          48.5

Southampton         24.5        35.5
Everton             22          33

Leeds               30          17.5

Fulham              39           9
Leicester            6.5         8.5
West Ham             3.5         8
Villa                4           7.5
Brentford           24           7
Palace              11.5         5

Brighton            10           1.5

Top 6 + Newcastle    3.5

           remaining               opponents still unplayed                           
        points    games   p/g    

city         56     24    2.33   arsenal, tottenham, chelsea, leeds, everton             *  extra away

liverpool    49     24    2.04   chelsea, villa, leicester, brentford, wolves            *  

arsenal      46     24    1.92   city, newcastle, brighton, west ham, everton            ** extra home

tottenham    40     23    1.74   city, villa, palace, brentford
chelsea      44.5   24    1.85   city, liverpool, fulham, bournemouth, forest            **
united       42     24    1.75   palace, leeds, wolves, bournemouth, forest              **
newcastle    38     23    1.65   arsenal, west ham, leicester, leeds

brighton     35     24    1.46   arsenal, palace, everton, southampton, bournemouth

west ham     30     23    1.30   arsenal, newcastle, brentford, leeds
villa        29     23    1.26   liverpool, tottenham, leicester, wolves
palace       29     24    1.21   tottenham, united, brighton, fulham, bournemouth

leicester    26.5   23    1.15   liverpool, newcastle, villa, fulham
brentford    26     23    1.13   liverpool, tottenham, west ham, southampton
leeds        26     24    1.08   city, united, newcastle, west ham, forest
everton      24.5   23    1.07   city, arsenal, brighton, wolves
wolves       24.5   23    1.07   liverpool, united, villa, everton
fulham       24     23    1.04   chelsea, palace, leicester, southampton
southampton  24     23    1.04   brighton, brentford, fulham, forest

forest       20     23    0.87   united, chelsea, leeds, southampton

bournemouth  15.5   23    0.67   united, chelsea, brighton, palace

His performance has not been lost on the fans, and without the fan support he is completely useless to United and has no leverage. They really need to get rid of him as soon as possible. It would be well worth just eating the rest of his contract in my opinion.

They really need to get rid of him as soon as possible. It would be well worth just eating the rest of his contract in my opinion.

Arsenal and City were supposed to have played earlier this season but the match was postponed for some reason. Was it the death of the queen, maybe? Anyway, that leaves us in a situation in which we don't know when they'll play next, and it may well not be until 26 April, as part of an absolutely brutal stretch where they play City on the road, Chelsea at home, and Newcastle on the road in consecutive weeks. If this thing is still in play by then, that's the gauntlet. There's every chance that even a good team comes away from those three weeks with no points, which would presumably be a dagger in the heart of their season at that point.

obviously every good team has World Cup injury risk, they're not special in that regard, it's just that he's particularly important and has been fairly injury prone over the past few years

It *does* make me wonder what the knock-on effects of this WC will be ... I wouldn't be surprised at all to see a bunch of mid-tier and lower teams, that don't have a lot of internationals in their squads make charges up the various top tier league tables after the break.

Dismemberment United has by far the least exposure among the contenders from players expected to suffer WC stress. Just saying...

I think it'd need to be China

The head of international soccer body FIFA on Tuesday called for a ceasefire in Ukraine during the 2022 World Cup, which will begin next week in Qatar.

Gianni Infantino addressed world leaders at the Group of Twenty (G20) summit in Indonesia, telling them soccer was a “force for good” and could be a “trigger for a positive gesture, for a sign or a message of hope,” according to comments posted on FIFA’s website.

“We are not naïve to believe that football can solve the world’s problems,” Infantino said, but added “maybe the current World Cup starting in five days can really be that positive trigger.”

Infantino said his “plea” was for world leaders to “think on a temporary ceasefire for one month for the duration of the FIFA World Cup.”

Manchester United say they have "initiated appropriate steps" following Cristiano Ronaldo's explosive, unsanctioned interview with sources telling ESPN they are seeking to terminate his deal as well as potentially suing for breach of contract.

United have waited until the full extent of Ronaldo's comments were made public before deciding on their response and after the final part of the interview with Piers Morgan was aired on Thursday in the UK, the club, according to sources, are seeking to end the 37-year-old's contract, which runs until June. Sources added that United have appointed lawyers to explore the possibility of suing Ronaldo for breach of contract.

Fifa has confirmed alcohol will be banned for World Cup fans at grounds in a major and unprecedented volte-face just two days before the tournament will kick off in Qatar. The news that it will not be sold inside or around the perimeter of stadiums was confirmed by Fifa in a terse statement on Friday afternoon.

“Following discussions between host country authorities and Fifa, a decision has been made to focus the sale of alcoholic beverages on the Fifa Fan Festival, other fan destinations and licensed venues, removing sales points of beer from Qatar’s World Cup 2022 stadium perimeters.

“There is no impact to the sale of Bud Zero, which will remain available at all Qatar’s World Cup stadiums.”

Serves everyone right.

No, I believe you will find nobody gets served.

Once you start accepting bribes, is anything off the table?

or did Qatar just change the rules right before the tournament because they have leverage now.

Multiple sponsors have raised concerns or issues with Fifa about their contracts at the Qatar World Cup, the Guardian can reveal. It gives football’s governing body another headache hours after it was forced to ban alcohol from stadiums by the Qatari authorities, a decision that complicated its $75m (£63m) contract with the brewer of Budweiser, Anheuser-Busch InBev.

One representative of another major sponsor, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that many partners had felt “let down by Fifa in lots of ways”. They also indicated there had been informal discussions about potential contractual breaches and reneging on deliverables.

“Everyone has a gripe in some way or form,” they added. “There is a lot of ‘regrouping’ going [on] to understand what the options are contractually speaking.”

the players themselves have a LOT of power here, and they COULD use it.

Fans who have travelled to Qatar as part of a controversial paid-for supporters programme have been told by Qatari authorities that their cash has been cut.

The Fan Leader Network is a scheme run by the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, the Qatari agency responsible for the World Cup. It has recruited supporters from around the globe, offering travel and accommodation and a place at the World Cup opening ceremony in return for enthusiasm and positive social media content. But the Guardian can reveal that a per diem payment for food and drink, upon which some supporters were depending, was cancelled just as fans were packing to travel to the Gulf.

Members of the Fan Leader Network from two European countries said their payments had been cancelled three days ago and that authorities had blamed the decision on the bad press which followed the revelation that fans were being paid.

Today I have very strong feelings. Today I feel Qatari. Today I feel Arab. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel a migrant worker.

Later it was pointed out that in his opening monologue, he had missed out half the world’s population. “I feel like a woman too!” Infantino added.

Our rainbow bucket hat. We are so proud of them, BUT news on the ground tonight is our welsh female supporters wearing them in #Qatar are having them taken off them, Not the men, just Women.

FIFA have told Belgium to remove the word 'Love' from their away kit, which also includes rainbow trim.

Belgium say they will wear their red kit for all group-stage games and deal with the situation if they go through.

Pep Guardiola is close to agreeing a new contract at Manchester City with the club now confident he will extend his stay at the Etihad Stadium, sources have told ESPN.

The 51-year-old is set to pen a two-year extension which will keep him at City until 2025. His current deal is due to expire in June. City have so far refused to comment.

The Guardian also understands Fifa is deeply concerned about several incidents around the match, including Welsh FA staff and fans being confronted by security for bringing the hats into the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium and a US fan with a rainbow flag being confronted on the metro.

Cristiano Ronaldo has received a formal proposal from the Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr that would pay him almost €200m (£173m) a season on a contract to 2025.

The 37-year-old is a free agent after leaving Manchester United and a big part of the proposed money is being put up by sponsors so it is unclear whether issues relating to image rights could be a stumbling block if Ronaldo chooses to pursue the move.