Football/Soccer 24-Hour Briefing
×Last updated: March 22, 2026, 7:30 AM ET
Premier League & Carabao Cup Showdowns
The weekend’s action centered heavily on the Carabao Cup final, where Arsenal’s contest against Manchester City at Wembley could potentially signal both a shift in domestic dominance and the end of Pep Guardiola’s tenure at City Arsenal winning Carabao Cup could mark end of Man City golden era espn.com. Pundit Paul Merson suggested that a cup victory might imbue Arsenal with the belief necessary to chase the quadruple, while simultaneously determining Guardiola's future Merson: Cup final could give Arsenal quadruple belief skysports.com. Manchester City, however, face defensive issues, as they will reportedly be without a key defender for Sunday's final due to ineligibility issues Can Manchester City's Guehi play in EFL Cup final? bbc.com. Elsewhere in the league, the fight for European spots became increasingly messy, with Everton’s dominant 3-0 routing of Chelsea pushing them up to seventh, making them fringe contenders for Champions League places Everton up to seventh with big win over sorry Chelsea skysports.com.
Major Club Crises & Managerial Woes
Chelsea endured a miserable 10 days, culminating in the chastening 3-0 loss to Everton, which marked their fourth consecutive defeat and left manager Liam Rosenior describing it as “the most disappointing evening so far” Rosenior's most disappointing night yet | 'I'm still learning' skysports.com. This defeat, coupled with prior results, has placed their top-five aspirations in jeopardy, though Rosenior remains outwardly confident that stars like Enzo Fernández and Cole Palmer "love it here" Chelsea boss: Fernández, Palmer 'love it here' espn.com. Meanwhile, Liverpool suffered a setback as Brighton defeated them 2-1, fueled by two goals from Danny Welbeck, leading manager Arne Slot to state that the 10th league defeat of the season should hurt the squad deeply, despite citing injury issues and a fixture pile-up Slot: 10th league defeat of season should hurt Liverpool a lot skysports.com. Furthermore, rumors persist regarding Liverpool’s transfer strategy, with reports suggesting the club is eyeing Newcastle United's Anthony Gordon as a potential replacement should Cody Gakpo depart Liverpool eye Newcastle's Gordon to replace Gakpo espn.com.
EFL Championship Promotion & Relegation Battles
The Sky Bet Championship saw significant movement in the promotion and survival races. Hull secured three important points by defeating relegated Sheffield Wednesday 3-1, tightening their grip on a play-off position Hull beat Sheff Wed to tighten grip on play-off spot skysports.com. Derby County boosted their own play-off ambitions by overcoming Birmingham 1-0, simultaneously dealing a major blow to their opponent's aspirations Brewster steers Derby past Birmingham to boost play-off ambitions skysports.com. In contrast, West Bromwich Albion eased relegation fears with a crucial 1-0 victory at Bristol City, thanks to a priceless winner from George Campbell WBA boost survival bid with win at Bristol City skysports.com. At the other end of the table, QPR delivered a devastating blow to Portsmouth’s survival hopes, thumping six past the struggling side in a 6-1 rout at Loftus Road QPR thump six past dismal Pompey in rout skysports.com.
Scottish Premiership Title Race Heats Up
In Scotland, Rangers leapfrogged Celtic into second place in the Premiership standings following a compelling 4-1 victory over Aberdeen Rangers leapfrog Celtic with confident Aberdeen win to move second skysports.com. Hearts maintained their lead at the summit after Oisin McEntee scored a late winner to secure a scruffy 1-0 win over Dundee Hearts hold on to beat Dundee and extend lead at top skysports.com. The gap at the bottom widened considerably for Livingston, whose 2-0 loss to relegation rivals Kilmarnock left them 12 points adrift at the base of the table with only seven matches remaining Gap grows at the bottom as Livingston lose at relegation rivals Kilmarnock skysports.com.
European Football & Transfer Updates
Across Europe, Christian Pulisic ended a goal drought to help AC Milan secure a vital 3-2 comeback win over Torino, closing the gap on league leaders Inter Milan Pulisic ends drought as Milan close gap to Inter espn.com. In Germany, Serge Gnabry scored a brace as Bayern Munich returned to winning ways with an emphatic 4-0 home triumph over Union Berlin, taking them a step closer to securing the Bundesliga title Gnabry brace takes Bayern step closer to title espn.com. Meanwhile, transfer news suggested a snag in a US international move, as PSV Eindhoven confirmed that United States striker Ricardo Pepi's expected transfer to Fulham is now off due to a failure to agree on a key contractual term late in negotiations U.S. striker Pepi's Fulham move now off, PSV say espn.com.
Women's Football & Player Narratives
In the Women's Super League, Khadija 'Bunny' Shaw continued her phenomenal form, netting the fastest hat-trick in competition history as league leaders Manchester City cruised past Tottenham Shaw nets fastest hat-trick as City's dominance continues skysports.com. Arsenal’s Chloe Kelly was praised as being at her "best version" after helping the team to an emphatic WSL victory over West Ham Kelly back to 'best version' before Arsenal's crucial week bbc.com. Internationally, Japan defeated the Matildas 1-0 in the final to claim the Women's Asian Cup title Japan beat Matildas to win Women's Asian Cup espn.com. On a player narrative front, Leicester forward Alisha Lehmann, the world's most-followed female footballer, addressed public perception, asserting that she actively manages the misconception that her focus is solely on social media content creation They think I just go home and make TikToks - it's not true bbc.com.
Off-Pitch & Other Sports Notes
In non-football news, darts star Luke Littler began the defence of his Belgian Open title with a convincing 6-2 victory, posting an impressive 104.70 average Littler begins Belgian Open defence with 104 average in thumping win skysports.com. In athletics, Josh Kerr captured the gold medal for Great Britain in the men's 3,000m event at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Poland, reclaiming the title he previously won two years ago Kerr wins Worlds Indoor gold for GB as Hodgkinson books spot in final skysports.com. Furthermore, in a surprising turn of events in darts, Beau Greaves’ astonishing 114-match winning streak on the PDC Women's Series circuit was finally halted by Fallon Sherrock Greaves' INCREDIBLE streak of 114 wins ended by Sherrock in Women's Series skysports.com.