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Salah to miss Old Trafford trip; Newcastle ‘supportive’ of Howe; World Cup latest: football – live | Premier League
Key events
Some fans have been let loose on Sky Sports News to talk about the Premier League title race and other matters.
The Arsenal fan has surrendered, at this point:
“I’ve had four years of this and I can’t take another let-down,” he says.
“I’ve had my cry. I’ve broken down. If we win it now, I’ll be happy.”
Thanks Tom, hi everyone.
Here’s a line off Reuters about a former Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and England legend:
Raheem Sterling was meant to be a marquee signing for Feyenoord as they battled for supremacy in the Netherlands, but with three games left in the season, the Dutch club are still waiting for the 31-year-old to make an impact.
Feyenoord continue their quest for second place in the league, and qualification for the Champions League, with a trip to 12th-placed Fortuna Sittard on Sunday, but it is not certain Sterling will be in the team.
The former England international, signed on a short-term contract in February, has started four league games and made three substitute appearances, and is yet to score.
He seemed a frustrated figure when left on the bench for the key clash against third-placed NEC Nijmegen last month, and came on for the final 15 minutes in last weekend’s win against Groningen.
Feyenoord cannot win the league, sitting 19 points behind the champions PSV Eindhoven, but still have much to play for, with a tenuous three-point lead over third-placed NEC Nijmegen in the battle for second place.
Coach Robin van Persie called Sterling’s signing “one of the biggest transfers in the history of the club” but his form has not lived up to the hype.
Van Persie, however, backed him despite criticism in the Dutch media and some scorn from disappointed supporters.
The coach said last week he had a positive conversation with Sterling, who he felt was getting better and fitter, but said any decision on whether the former Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City attacker would stay next season would come later.
Sterling’s move to Feyenoord was something of a surprise but was seen as a genuine effort to resurrect his career after being sidelined at Chelsea.
Sterling had not played for nine months before his first appearance for Feyenoord, where fans gave him a rapturous reception, but he has since been jeered by supporters. Reuters
And with that, I’m handing over to Luke McLaughlin, who’ll take you through to lunchtime. Laters.
One of the biggest games of the bank holiday weekend doesn’t come until Monday night, when Hearts host Rangers knowing they could practically end the visitors’ title hopes – and massively boost theirs – with a win, turning the title race into a two-way fight with Celtic (IF the Hoops beat Hibs on Sunday). The Jambos’ manager, Derek McInnes, is trying not to think about it: “Every team in with a chance of the title will see themselves as right in it, which makes it even more exciting. We’ve got a good enough record in this fixture but we need to concentrate on ourselves and not focus too much about what the opposition are thinking.”
All sorts of rivalry-distortions are in play too – Hearts fans willing their Edinburgh foes Hibs against Celtic? Celtic fans preferring a draw for Rangers at Hearts rather than a defeat?
In case you missed it yesterday, a spot of early-summer transfer whispering with Manchester United chasing West Ham’s El Hadji Malick Diouf as possible left-back competition for Luke Shaw.
Just perusing the weekend’s Premier League and EFL fixtures, a huge number of matches have something at stake for at least one of the teams playing in them, and here’s a list:
Premier League
Leeds v Burnley
Brentford v West Ham
Arsenal v Fulham
Bournemouth v Palace
Man Utd v Liverpool
Aston Villa v Spurs
Chelsea v Forest
Everton v Man City
Championship
Derby v Sheffield Utd
Hull v Norwich
Ipswich v QPR
Millwall v Oxford
Wrexham v Middlesbrough
League One
Barnsley v Stockport
Bolton v Luton
Exeter v Bradford
Leyton Orient v Burton
Northampton v Plymouth
Stevenage v Wigan
League Two
Barrow v Newport
Bromley v Walsall
Crawley v Salford
Crewe v Cambridge
Fleetwood v MK Dons
Harrogate v Barnet
Notts County v Bristol Rovers
Swindon v Chesterfield
Tranmere v Grimsby
Gianni Infantino’s “football heals the world” schtick came off worse in an encounter with reality when his attempt to orchestrate a handshake between the Palestinian and Israeli delegates at Fifa’s congress backfired.
The Palestinian Football Association’s president, Jibril Rajoub, refused to stand alongside the Israel FA’s vice-president, Basim Sheikh Suliman, towards the end of the congress after both men had been called to the stage in Vancouver by Infantino.
Asked what Rajoub said when he refused, the Palestinian FA’s vice-president, Susan Shalabi, told Reuters: “I cannot shake the hand of someone the Israelis have brought to whitewash their fascism and genocide. We are suffering.”
Matt Hughes has the story here:
Given the horror-show of a season Leicester fans have endured, the 10th anniversary of their sensational Premier League title triumph might feel a tad bittersweet, but what a season 2015-16 was, and what a team they were. Ben Fisher has been talking to some of the key participants, including Claudio Ranieri …
It changed the lives of everybody. For my players, who can say: “I won the Premier League.” I’m a very shy man, I don’t say: “I won the title!” But I’m very proud, very happy. In Leicester there is a big Indian community and some Indian people told me: “Thank you, Claudio, because now we link more with the Leicester people, the English people. When we go to the stadium, we push together.” And that is very, very special for me. It’s bigger than football.
It’s a big weekend in the Women’s Super League too and Manchester City can move closer to the title with a home win over Liverpool tomorrow, though they have been wobbling lately. Their main challengers, Arsenal, are otherwise engaged – in WCL semi-final action against OL Lyonnes.
But as the season draws to an end, fixture scheduling remains a sore point in the women’s game, as Tom Garry reports:
Waiting for men’s broadcast picks, dodging local fun runs and even having to avoid clashing with nearby comedy gigs: welcome to the quagmire of trying to arrange the Women’s Super League and WSL 2 schedule.
The fixture list is often a bone of contention for supporters, and organisers face a painstaking task in trying to organise games in venues where other teams get first dibs.
“Stadium availability is led by the men’s game and then broadcast is led by the men’s game, so it can be really hard,” Zarah Al-Kudcy, chief revenue officer at WSL Football, says. “Some of the reasons we are given as to why fixtures have to change, you just have to laugh or you’d cry.”
Howe: Newcastle owners remain ‘supportive’
Eddie Howe says Newcastle’s Saudi Arabian owners remain supportive after meetings with PIF representatives on their trip over to the north-east this week. “I saw the owners and their representatives; it was constructive” said the manager before tomorrow’s home game against in-form Brighton. “It’s always constructive because they clearly care so much about the football club.
“There are exciting times ahead regardless of what happens in the short term. There’s no change in the level of support I’m receiving and the infrastructure but there is still an understanding of how football works and we need results.”
Howe was fairly non-commital about Anthony Gordon’s prospects of being fit to face Brighton. “He did a session on Wednesday, it was great to see him back on the pitch we’ll make an assessment closer to the game.”
Slot: Salah not fit enough to face Manchester United
Arne Slot has been up early for the press conference to preview Liverpool’s game at Manchester United and Mohamed Salah, who has scored 16 goals for the Reds against their biggest rivals, is not fit enough to make a final appearance at Old Trafford in a Liverpool shirt as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury.
Mo is always working incredibly hard during the season when he is fit and when he is injured to get back as soon as possible. Usually he is back earlier fit than other players. He has a minor injury and we expect and need him back for the final part of the season, but not for Sunday. It is a big relief that his injury is minor and he is able to play for us and at the World Cup. If a player deserves a big send off then it is Mo.”
Slot also said that Alisson is close to a return.
Preamble
Morning everyone and welcome. We’re at that stage of the season where clubs are either on the beach or deep in a world of stress/pain/excitement, each casting envious glances at the other. A hugely consequential weekend looms, starting tonight with Leeds having another opportunity to distance themselves from the relegation rabble when they host managerless and relegated Burnley. By around 3pm tomorrow we’ll know the identity of one more of the clubs replacing the Clarets, with Ipswich, Millwall and Middlesbrough duking it out for second place in the Championship, while ups, downs and playoff places in the rest of the EFL will be sorted by teatime, when everyone can chill out watching Arsenal’s bid to keep their creaking title bid on the road when they face Fulham.
There was plenty to chew on last night too. Nottingham Forest just about edged their all-English Europa League semi-final first leg against Aston Villa, but not without the inevitable VAR blow-up, Unai Emery fuming at the failure to punish Elliott Anderson for a dangerous tackle on Ollie Watkins. In the Conference League, Oliver Glasner’s chances of bowing out at Crystal Palace with a second trophy in two years were substantially enhanced in a 3-1 semi-final first leg win against Shakhtar Donetsk. The Europa League place denied them last year is now in sight.
Anyway, we’ll be across all the buildup and news going into the weekend, with pressers due at Newcastle, Liverpool and Manchester City this morning and pre-match chat from Arsenal, Spurs, Manchester United and Chelsea around lunchtime. And to get you in the mood, here’s 10 Premier League things to look out for, in time-honoured fashion.
Essa Suleiman, 45, is accused of attacking Shloime Rand, 34, and Moshe Shine, 76.
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The US president said he would lift restrictions on Scotland’s ability to work with the state of Kentucky on whisky and bourbon.
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UK News
UK house prices in surprise increase; NatWest braces for slowing economy – business live | Business
Key events
Mark Sweney
Here’s more on NatWest’s economic modelling in response to the Iran war: the bank said the economic fallout from the conflict in the Middle East could cost it £140m amid slowing growth and rising inflation even as it reported profits ahead of expectations.
Overall, the FTSE 100 lender booked a £283m impairment charge and said that almost half of that was because of a reassessment of its economic forecast to “reflect increased geopolitical risk and weaker equity markets”.
The bank said it expects its base case for UK gross domestic product growth to be only 0.4% this year, half that forecast by the International Monetary Fund earlier this month.
You can read more here:
Oil prices up with no end of Iran blockade in sight
Donald Trump has said he will stick with the US’s “incredible” blockade of the strait of Hormuz, with little sign that talks over reopening it are likely. Yet oil prices look like they are off their two-year peak of more than $126 per barrel of Brent crude on Thursday.
Brent crude futures are trading at $110 today, but that does not actually mean prices have dropped. Futures prices refer to a specific month of delivery, and the contract watched by financial markets changes at the end of each month. The price of crude for the new front month, July, is up by about 1% on Friday.
The US-Israeli war on Iran has triggered a global energy crisis, as Iran responded by closing the strait and strangling about a fifth of global oil supplies. Yet despite the electoral risks to Trump from surging gasoline prices (not to mention a potential global food crisis), there appears to be little sign of movement to reopen the strait.
“Their economy is crashing, the blockade is incredible, the power of the blockade is incredible,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday. “Their economy is a disaster. So we’ll see how long they hold out.”
Jim Reid, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, wrote in a note to clients:
Oil prices have continued to creep higher overnight, with no sign that the US and Iran are moving closer to a deal. Given the month-end, there’s been a contract roll, but if we stick with the July 2026 contract for consistency, Brent crude is up +1.07% this morning to $111.58/bbl. Moreover, Trump showed no sign of backing down […]
Meanwhile, there’s been no sign of comprise from the Iranian side, with new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issuing a statement that Iran would maintain its missile and nuclear capabilities and suggesting that Iran would implement “new legal frameworks” over the Strait of Hormuz.
NatWest is now the biggest faller on the FTSE 100, down 3.7% after analysts suggested that its underlying profits were slightly weaker than expected.
Gary Greenwood, banks analyst at Shore Capital, said that profits before tax benefited from “stronger-than-expected notable items in income and slightly lower costs”, but once those were stripped out “underlying performance was a touch weaker than expected”. In a note to clients, Greenwood wrote:
While management has upgraded [2026] income guidance to the top end of the £17.2bn to £17.6bn range, this remains below current consensus of £18.0bn and may therefore disappoint, especially given the first quarter miss on this metric.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at interactive investor, an investment platform, said:
With high performance comes high expectations, and NatWest has slipped today in terms of outlook rather than delivery. The slightly bearish reaction to the numbers reflects the disappointment, although in context it does little to derail the group’s onward march. The shares have risen by 22% over the last year, as has the wider FTSE100, and by 90% over the last two years.
At the other end of the FTSE 100, AstraZeneca is among the biggest fallers after US regulators voted against recommending its new breast cancer drug. Its shares were down 1.9% in early trading.
A US Food and Drug Administration committee voted against recommending the pharmaceutical company’s camizestrant by six votes to three.
Susan Galbraith, executive vice president of oncology haematology R&D at AstraZeneca, said:
We are disappointed with the mixed outcome of today’s [committee] meeting. We strongly believe in the results of the SERENA-6 trial, and are encouraged that the committee saw camizestrant as a safe and effective potential new medicine. We remain confident in the clinical benefit the combination can bring to patients by changing therapeutic strategy at the earliest opportunity, and are committed to challenging the status quo in the pursuit of innovation that optimises outcomes for patients.
Diageo shares rise after Trump removes whisky tariffs
And we’re off, in London at least. Top of the FTSE 100 this morning is Diageo, the drinks maker. It makes brands including Guinness but also, more pertinently this morning, a bevy of Scotch bevvies.
Diageo executives will be raising a glass to King Charles, after Donald Trump last night announced that the US would drop all tariffs on Scotch whisky in the royal family’s honour.
Trump said in a post on social media:
In Honor of the King and Queen of the United Kingdom, who have just left the White House, soon headed back to their wonderful Country, I will be removing the Tariffs and Restrictions on Whiskey having to do with Scotland’s ability to work with the Commonwealth of Kentucky on Whiskey and Bourbon.
The King and Queen got me to do something nobody else was able to do, without hardly even asking!
Shares in Diageo rose by 2% in early trading above £15. Its whisky brands include Johnnie Walker, Lagavulin, Talisker, the Singleton and Mortlach. Whisky and most other UK exports had been subject to 10% tariffs.
It is likely to be a quiet morning on equity markets, as most of the major indices around Europe are closed – and on that note, happy May Day!
But London is still open for trading (and closed on Monday). Futures prices suggest the FTSE 100 is due to dip by 0.3%.
UK house prices up surprise 0.4% in April; NatWest profits up
British homebuyers defied a bleak economic mood and the Iran war to push house prices up by 0.4% in April, surprising economists who had on average expected a decline.
Annual house price growth picked up to 3.0% in April, from 2.2% in March, according to data published on Friday by Nationwide, the UK’s largest building society. That put the average price at £278,880.
Nationwide said the increase in prices reflected resilience in the housing market, despite measures of economic sentiment declining, and the backdrop of the US-Israeli war in Iran threatening inflation because of higher oil prices.
Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said:
Despite the uncertainty caused by developments in the Middle East and the subsequent rise in energy prices, the UK housing market has continued to regain momentum following the slowdown recorded around the turn of the year.
This is somewhat surprising given that indicators of consumer confidence have weakened noticeably. GfK’s headline index has fallen to its lowest level since late‑2023, reflecting households’ more pessimistic views of the economic outlook and their own financial position over the year ahead.
Ashley Webb, senior UK economist at Capital Economics, a consultancy, said:
The surprisingly strong rise in the Nationwide measure of house prices in April shows that house prices have continued to gain momentum despite the falls in consumer confidence and the rise in mortgage rates since the start of the Iran war. But the growing upside risks to our mortgage rate forecast from the most recent rise in oil prices suggests this strength is unlikely to last.
NatWest Group reports higher profits despite economic gloom
NatWest reported higher profits of £1.4bn in the first quarter of the year, despite the UK banking group setting aside an extra £140m in case of the economy worsening.
The bank, formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland, said that it expects income for the year to reach the top end of its expected range of between £17.2bn and £17.6bn.
Paul Thwaite, NatWest’s chief executive, said it was a “strong performance in the first quarter of 2026”.
We have started the year with positive momentum, underpinned by healthy customer activity – growing all of our three businesses, expanding our capabilities to meet more of our customers’ needs and further improving productivity as we use AI at scale across the bank.
The agenda
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9:30am BST: Bank of England consumer credit (March; previous: £1.9bn; consensus: £1.8bn)
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9:30am BST: Bank of England mortgage approvals (March; previous: 62,580; consensus: 60,000)
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1:15pm BST: Bank of England – speech by Huw Pill, chief economist
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