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That’s all from me! I’ll leave you with Tom Garry’s report from the Championship title decider…

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Here’s Suzanne Wrack’s match report from the Manchester Derby…

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Today’s WSL results

Liverpool 0-2 Everton

Manchester United 2-2 Manchester City

Crystal Palace 2-2 Leicester City

Tottenham 0-1 Chelsea

West Ham 2-3 Aston Villa

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Full-time: West Ham 2-3 Aston Villa

Villa come away with another huge WSL victory thanks to Chasity Grant’s second-half winner.

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London City Lionesses owner Michele Kang has just told Sky Sports that she wants the club to be “minimum mid-table” of the WSL next season.

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West Ham 2-3 Aston Villa: Meanwhile over at the Chigwell Construction Stadium, Villa still lead with around 10 minutes left to play.

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That winning moment…

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London City Lionesses promoted to WSL

London City Lionesses have officially earned promotion to the Women’s Super League for the first time in their history! What a moment!

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Updated at 17.32 CEST

Birmingham 2-2 London City Lionesses: What a match! It was a valiant effort from Birmingham to come from 2-0 down, but it wasn’t quite enough to confirm promotion. They came close, but couldn’t find that all-important winner.

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Full-time: Birmingham 2-2 London City Lionesses

It’s over! A draw is enough to see London City Lionesses into the WSL!

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GOAL! West Ham 2-3 Aston Villa (Chasity Grant, 54)

The ball is played through to Grant, who times her run perfectly off the West Ham defensive line. She then makes her way into the box before firing her low-driven shot into the bottom-left corner.

Aston Villa lead again!

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Full-time: Tottenham 0-1 Chelsea

Chelsea’s unbeaten WSL run continues!

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Birmingham 2-2 London City Lionesses: 10 minutes (yes, TEN minutes) have been added on.

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GOAL! Birmingham 2-2 London City Lionesses (Cho So-hyun, 86)

Birmingham are level! Cho So-hyun with the goal! They now need just one more to earn promotion!

Perez crosses the ball into the box and Cho unleashes a thumping volley to equalise! What a goal!

Just a few minutes left to play now – will Birmingham find that all-important winner?

As it stands, London City Lionesses are still on track to be promoted.

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Full-time: Crystal Palace 2-2 Leicester

Following a dramatic end to the match, both teams walk away with a point.

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GOAL! Crystal Palace 2-2 Leicester (Abbie Larkin, 90+8)

O’Brien hasn’t won it for Leicester – Larkin draws Palace level with just moments left to play!

Sharpe receives the ball on the left before sending a dangerous pass across the face of goal. Larkin arrives at the back post in plenty of space to tap in!

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GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-2 Leicester (Shannon O’Brien, 90+4)

O’Brien has surely won it for Leicester!

Thibaud sends a fantastic lofted pass over the Crystal Palace defence and straight to O’Brien in the box, who has plenty of time and space to bring it down before blasting her shot into the top corner!

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Tottenham 0-1 Chelsea: 17-year-old Lola Brown is on for her WSL debut! She replaces Macario in midfield.

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Half-time: West Ham 2-2 Aston Villa

It’s all level at the end of an eventful first half.

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Tottenham 0-1 Chelsea: Just under 20 minutes of normal time left to play at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Chelsea still lead by a one-goal margin.

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GOAL! Birmingham 1-2 London City Lionesses (Emily van Egmond, 63)

Birmingham have one back! This match might not be over just yet!

A cross is sent into the box and London City Lionesses fail to make the clearance. Van Egmond is eventually able to head the ball in from just two yards out.

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GOAL! West Ham 2-2 Aston Villa (Rachel Daly, 37)

In the blink of an eye, it’s level again!

Daly capitalises on a terrible pass-back from Gorry to tap the ball in with her first touch!

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GOAL! Birmingham 0-2 London City Lionesses (Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah, 59)

Boye-Hlorkah makes it two!

A corner is sent into the box and Boye-Hlorkah rises to head the ball in!

That has surely secured London City Lionesses’ place in the WSL.

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GOAL! West Ham 2-1 Aston Villa (Riko Ueki, 34)

Ueki makes it two for West Ham!

A cross is sent into the box and the forward taps the ball around both D’Angelo and Patten with a single touch before placing it into an empty net.

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GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-1 Leicester (Annabel Blanchard, 69)

Blanchard steps up to take the penalty and fires her effort into the top-right corner, sending Leitzig the wrong way.

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Crystal Palace 0-1 Leicester: Penalty to Palace! Green is brought down in the box by Swaby and the referee does not hesitate when giving the spot kick.

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GOAL! Birmingham 0-1 London City Lionesses (Isobel Goodwin, 47)

What a strike from Goodwin!

The striker picks up the ball on the left before cutting inside, making her way past three Birmingham players and unleashing a powerful strike from over 20 yards out. Her effort flies into the top-left corner, giving Franch no chance of making the save.

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Updated at 16.28 CEST

Birmingham 0-0 London City Lionesses: London City Lionesses have been forced into a change at half-time, with Goldie coming off with what appears to be a knee issue. She is replaced by Megan Campbell.

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GOAL! West Ham 1-1 Aston Villa (Shekiera Martinez, 18)

West Ham draw level! Martinez on the scoresheet once again!

Hanshaw receives the ball on the left and lifts a cross into the box. Martinez is there at the back post to head it into the bottom-right corner.

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Half-time: Birmingham 0-0 London City Lionesses

It’s all square at half-time. As things stand, London City Lionesses will be promoted to the WSL.

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GOAL! West Ham 0-1 Aston Villa (Ebony Salmon, 5)

Villa strike early!

Daly plays a great ball through to Salmon on the right, who makes her way into the box before placing her shot into the bottom-left corner!

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Half-time: Tottenham 0-1 Chelsea

Macario’s penalty is all that separates the two teams at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

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Players are starting to come back out for the second half at Borough Sports Ground. Kick-off is in just a few moments.

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Kick-off: West Ham v Aston Villa

And for the final time today, we’re under way!

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Birmingham 0-0 London City Lionesses: The visitors are adamant that they should’ve been awarded a goal after Boye-Hlorkah’s attempt was cleared off the line, but the referee says no and play continues.

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GOAL! Tottenham 0-1 Chelsea (Catarina Macario, 35)

Macario converts from the penalty spot!

Neville gives away the spot kick with a clumsy challenge on the USA international, who steps up to take it and fires her effort into the top-left corner.

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Updated at 15.59 CEST

GOAL! Crystal Palace 0-1 Leicester (Hannah Cain, 45+2)

Cain breaks the deadlock on the brink of half-time!

Swaby fails to cut out a cross into the box and Cayman instead latches onto it. She squares it short to Cain who fires home from close range.

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Tottenham 0-0 Chelsea: It’s not been the most entertaining match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium so far – and with nothing left to play for, it’s hardly surprising.

However, Chelsea will be determined to continue their unbeaten run in the league.

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Crystal Palace 0-0 Leicester: It’s still all square at Borough Sports Ground. Leicester are piling on the pressure.

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Birmingham 0-0 London City Lionesses: Goodwin goes for goal from the edge of the box, but her effort curls wide of the post.

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Updated at 15.41 CEST

Birmingham 0-0 London City Lionesses: Birmingham have arguably been the better of the two teams so far. It’s still level, however.

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West Ham v Aston Villa team news

West Ham starting line-up: Kinga Szemik; Anouk Denton, Amber Tysiak, Shelina Zadorsky, Verena Hanshaw; Oona Siren, Katrina Gorry (C); Seraina Piubel, Riko Ueki, Viviane Asseyi; Shekiera Martinez.

Aston Villa starting line-up: Sabrina D’Angelo; Lucy Parker, Anna Patten, Noelle Maritz; Chasity Grant, Jordan Nobbs, Miri Taylor, Maz Pacheco; Missy Bo Kearns; Ebony Salmon, Rachel Daly (C).

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Tottenham 0-0 Chelsea: Following Chelsea’s title win on Wednesday, manager Sonia Bompastor has made a series of changes to her usual starting line-up, with Sjoeke Nüsken and Guro Reiten both starting in defence. Millie Bright, Lucy Bronze and Mayra Ramírez are among those out of the squad completely.

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Kick-off: Tottenham v Chelsea

We’re also up and running at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium!

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Ange Postecoglou says the only cure for the anxiety at Tottenham is for the team to end their 17-year wait for silverware. The manager felt the mood inside the club’s stadium shift sharply on Thursday night when they conceded for 3-1 towards the end of the Europa League semi-final first leg against Bodø/Glimt.

Before that the atmosphere had been excellent, the players responding, but it seemingly does not take much for the fans to begin to fear the worst. The tie finished 3-1, which should be enough for Spurs to navigate Thursday’s return after Sunday’s Premier League trip to West Ham. Yet there has been nervous talk about Bodø’s impressive home record, the perils of their artificial surface and the cold that awaits in the Arctic Circle.

Postecoglou noted that he had also felt a “real nervousness in the stadium” when Spurs conceded at home against AZ in the last 16 and Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-final. The concession against AZ was in the second leg for 2-1 on the night and 2-2 on aggregate. Against Frankfurt, it was the first leg and an early goal that gave the German club a 1-0 lead.

“People are their experiences and Tottenham supporters have had some real near misses for a long time,” Postecoglou said. “So there’s always this safeguard of not getting too excited about what’s happening, but part of creating a winning culture is not to fall into that trap. Winners don’t think about things in that way; they don’t think about what could possibly go wrong.

“I’ve said before that the narrative around the club is not positive at all. That’s existed for a very long time and you need to break through that. I’m trying to create a culture within the group at least that that can’t guide our destiny because that’s almost self-fulfilling. If you expect something to go wrong, it will.

“I don’t know if it’s a culture in the club; it’s a culture around the club. Obviously if you accept that then you are almost self-prophesying what’s going to happen. I don’t accept that. But with all of these things, there’s really only one remedy: win. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

Postecoglou was asked whether he could control what went on outside the squad. “No, I can’t control it,” he said. “It’s fair to say I’ve tried but it’s a losing battle because there’s a lot of stuff that feeds into that and people invariably react to it. If you’re feeling insecure about something and you’ve got 20 people telling you that you should be insecure, you’re going to be insecure. So I can’t change that.

“You’ve got to stay very focused on what you can control and we can’t control how people feel, we can’t control the anxiety of … whether it’s our supporters or whatever narrative is around us. What we can control is our behaviours and our performance.”

Postecoglou said Lucas Bergvall was out for the rest of the season with the ankle ligament injury sustained in training before the Bodø/Glimt game. “He went to turn and his ankle gave way,” the manager said. Dominic Solanke and James Maddison were forced off during Thursday’s game and if the former was nothing “too serious” – in the words of Postecoglou – the latter was “more of a concern because it’s the knee”.

FRIDAY FEELGOOD STORY

Those of a Liverpool persuasion, do look away now. That’s if you’ve sobered up from last Sunday, but even if you’ve had your fun this may annoy: there’s a thought this has been an unsatisfying Premier League season. Brentford’s beating of Nottingham Forest on Thursday night further dulled the romance. It looks as if the Tricky Trees will not now be in Bigger Cup, much to the chagrin of edit producers who had already started working on that Cloughie montage. With zero relegation battle there’s only Manchester City’s fall from grace to, er, fourth to gawp at. Thank goodness for the continent, then, where the Premier League’s brave boys can remind those Eurocrats that ours is the best bloody league in the world. It’s going well, actually, though there is something of a bullies turning up at junior school vibe to such success. That’s to set aside Arsenal, hanging on in Bigger Cup’s semis, a goal down despite the fear North London Forever must have put into PSG at the Emirates.

The real quiz comes in those tournaments where appeal is more selective. Bigger Vase, a repechage of those not good enough for the top tier, offered double helpings of patriotic pride. In north London, in the first leg, billionaire-owned Tottenham faced hipster’s favourites Bodø/Glimt, the Arctic Circle community club who sound like a post-rock outfit on the Thrill Jockey label or a piece of Scandi self-assembly furniture, and won 3-1. Such is the pessimism that surrounds Spurs that much of the focus went on Ulrik Saltnes’s late goal, and the plastic pitch greeting them next week in far-northern Norway. “Look, it is on artificial grass but it’s still a game of football,” roared Ange Postecoglou.

Hurrah also then for Manchester United, football’s grandest crisis club, owned by two separate billionaire factions, for crushing Basque Country jewel Athletic Club, a team collated by cantera – homespun talent – rather than hoofing cash on windy flops, 3-0 in their own stadium. Beaten-down Reds were wiping their eyes in disbelief that Ruben Amorim’s team played so well. Where did that come from? Big Red seem to have developed a welcome habit of getting an opponent sent off. This time, it was Athletic’s Dani Vivian, dismissed for hauling back Rasmus Højlund in the style of a slapstick early-1980s yoof comedy.

To complete the matchbox of England’s glory, Chelsea, also owned by billionaires – of the venture capitalist variety – beat Djurgården 4-1 in Stockholm. A plastic pitch proved no issue for Enzo Maresca’s entertainers as they walloped a team where the fans come first, just the type of minnows that Tin Pot is supposed to bring the best from, like a Scania artic rolling over roadkill. Well done, he’s 13.

LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE

Join Taha Hashim at 8pm (BST) for Manchester City 0-0 Wolves in the Premier League.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

We’ve had some difficult results, we are bottom of the league and we were never going to become solid and be dominant in the game. If we did that when I came in with seven games to go, I’d probably be able to bring world peace as well” – interim manager Simon Rusk on how he would have been worthy of a Nobel prize if he’d managed to coach a bit of backbone into his rock-bottom Southampton side.

The potential Tottenham Hotspur or Spurs v Manchester United Bigger Vase final is going to be that paradox of a clash between one that can’t win and one that doesn’t want to win” – Krishna Moorthy.

As noticed by me and 1,056 others, your Memory Lane (yesterday’s Football Daily, full email edition) photo of Tony Hateley and Emlyn Hughes reminds me of the great Ted Lowe commentary: ‘For those of you watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green’” – Louis Beasley-Suffolk.

Sorry, I disagree with with you, Tom Dowler (yesterday’s Football Daily letters). Riqui Puig was unfortunately injured, and seems to spend most of his time being largely nice, if a bit puppyish and over enthusiastic. John Terry got himself banned from the final by being a divot in the semi. Can we please keep Terry as the epitome of the full-kit celebration? It is the very least he deserves. Plus, I don’t care who wins Bigger Cup now, but I do want someone to slip on their ar$e, c0ck up a penalty and start crying so we can bring that up again too” – Jon Millard.

Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day winner is … Louis Beasley-Suffolk. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, can be viewed here.

Athletic Club v Manchester United

Manchester United travel to the Basque Country for the second time this season. They can expect a tougher test in the semi-finals than they had against Real Sociedad in the last-16. United won that tie 5-2 on aggregate, Bruno Fernandes scoring a fine hat-trick at Old Trafford in one of their best performances of the season. In a season of many lows, the Europa League has given United some solace – and an opportunity to qualify for Europe next season.

Athletic Club are fourth in La Liga, so are well placed to qualify for the Champions League through their league position, but they have the extra motivation of knowing the Europa League final will be played at San Mamés. The stadium’s record attendance was set in a European final – when 52,282 rugby fans squeezed into the ground to watch Leinster beat Racing 92 in the Champions Cup final in 2018. That record may well be broken if Athletic reach the final next month.

The Basque side should be well rested for the first leg on Thursday night, having not played since their 1-0 win over Las Palmas last week in La Liga. They are on a good run, with three wins in their last four, but Oihan Sancet suffered a hamstring injury against Las Palmas, meaning Unai Gómez may deputise in the No 10 role. Fortunately for the manager, Ernesto Valverde, Nico Williams returned from injury in the win against Las Palmas. Having been granted plenty of time to recover, the Spain international is set to start on the left. He has scored five goals in the competition this season (the same as his bother Iñaki) so his return is a big boost.

Williams can expect to come up against Noussair Mazraoui, who should feature at right wing-back with Diogo Dalot absent owing to a calf issue. Dalot is one of a number of United players missing, but Ruben Amorim is expected to have Matthijs de Ligt and Amad Diallo available for the second leg at Old Trafford, with the latter making a quicker recovery than expected.

With Lisandro Martínez and Ayden Heaven missing, Luke Shaw will probably continue on the left of a back three, having started there in United’s 1-1 draw at Bournemouth on Sunday. Rasmus Højlund scored a late equaliser on the south coast at the weekend and is likely to lead the line in the absence of Joshua Zirkzee, who is out for the rest of the season.

United have not lost any of their 12 games in the Europa League this season – in fact, they are the only unbeaten side left in any of Uefa’s three competitions – but they have drawn four of their six away games in Europe. Their unbeaten record will be put to the test against an Athletic Club side who are unbeaten in 10 matches at San Mamés. They have won all six of their home matched in the Europa League this season, with an aggregate scoreline of 14-2. United will need to be at their very best – a rarity this season – to go through. Prediction: Athletic Club to progress

Tottenham v Bodø/Glimt

Tottenham’s eggs are firmly in the Europa League basket, with their only win in their last five matching coming in the competition. Ange Postecoglou made sweeping changes for the 5-1 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday, but he is set to revert to his strongest XI on Thursday night. That means returns for Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Pedro Porro and Lucas Bergvall as Spurs eye their first major silverware since they won the League Cup in 2008 under Juande Ramos.

Like United, they have been abysmal in the Premier League this season and are on course to finish closer to the bottom of the table than the top. But a major trophy – and a route back into the Champions League – is within their grasp. The semi-final draw has been relatively kind to Spurs; the population of Bodø (42,831) is considerably smaller than the capacity at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (62,850). This is the furthest that Bodø – or any Norwegian club – have ever gone in Europe.

That said, Spurs may be without Son Heung-Min on Thursday night. The Spurs captain has missed their last four matches with a foot injury he sustained in the first leg of their quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt last month. Radu Dragusin is the only other absentee, which is rare for Spurs given their injury-hit campaign.

The same cannot be said of their opponents Bodø/Glimt. The Norwegian champions secured their place in the semi-finals by beating Lazio on penalties in the last eight but that victory came at a cost for the manager, Kjetil Knutsen, who takes his team to London with Håkon Evjen and the captain Patrick Berg suspended. Both would normally start in the middle of the park for Bodø, with Sondre Fet and Sondre Auklend potentially deputising.

Bodø also have problems in defence. Villads Nielsen is likely to fill in at centre-back after Odin Bjørtuft suffered a groin injury in their 3-0 win over KFUM on Sunday. Isak Määttä will probably deputise for the injured forward Ole Didrik Blomberg.

James Maddison wants to reward Tottenham’s long-suffering supporters by winning the club’s first trophy since 2008 and has said a dismal Premier League campaign has made the players more determined to succeed in the Europa League.

Spurs host the Norwegian side Bodø/Glimt in the first leg of the semi-final on Thursday after suffering a record-equalling 19th league defeat at Liverpool on Sunday. Although Spurs have reached this stage of the Europa League for the first time since they won its predecessor, the Uefa Cup, in 1984, they have beaten only Southampton in the Premier League since the end of February and are on course for their lowest finish since its formation in 1992.

Maddison acknowledged that performances – including the 5-1 hammering at Anfield on Sunday – had not been good enough but he believes Tottenham’s players have the hunger to make up for it by triumphing in Europe.

“It hurts me a lot that we’re having a poor season,” said the England midfielder. “But this is why we’re so motivated for this competition, because the season can still be so special. People talk all the time about Tottenham being without silverware for however many years, but we’re in the last four and we’ve got a great opportunity in a competition we’ve been pretty solid in this year. We want to reward them because we feel the support.”

Maddison added: “At the end of games and you’ve lost again, you go over and you want to thank them for the support and I know they don’t want to hear it from us. Even this press conference and the interview on Sunday, they’re not really that bothered because words are just words. But it hurts and we’re trying to put it right.

“That’s the main thing, that hunger is there. It doesn’t always work how you want it to, but this is a unique situation that we’re in, in the last four in Europe, when we can go and reward them for their support because they do travel everywhere. We are very grateful for that. Even in the league position we’re in and we’ve got nothing to play for, they’re still selling out Liverpool away.”

Tottenham will again be without Son Heung-min, although the captain has returned to light training after a foot injury and could be in contention for next week’s second leg. That will take place on an artificial surface at Bodø’s Aspmyra Stadion – located in the Arctic Circle and with a capacity of just over 8,000. The Norwegian champions overcame the league stage winners, Lazio, in the last round via a penalty shootout and have a strong record at home under Kjetil Knutsen, winning six of their seven European matches there this season. Postecoglou knows all about the likely threat they pose having lost both legs of a Conference League playoff with Celtic in 2021.

“I don’t expect them to be overawed by the occasion, you know, sort of thinking: ‘Wow’,” said the Tottenham manager. “They’ve got a real capacity to be really strong in their mind about what they need to do and the away game is tricky because you’re playing on an artificial surface in difficult conditions. So I think there are still some real parallels there and, having experienced it, I know that they’re going to be a really tough opponent.”

Liverpool’s procession towards a 20th league title prompted an eruption 35 years in the making. Anfield exploded in emotion, passion and noise as its long wait to celebrate a Premier League triumph in unison ended in a style befitting Arne Slot’s new champions. Tottenham were dismantled, just as the rest of the Premier League has been in the head coach’s brilliant debut season, as Liverpool took the crown with a flourish.

Even Slot, the calmest man in the house, cavorted with his coaching staff when the final whistle sounded on Liverpool’s record-equalling title. Alisson fell to the ground in prayer. He and his teammates have answered Anfield’s. A five-star performance – with goals from Luis Díaz, the brilliant Alexis Mac Allister, Cody Cakpo and man of the season Mohamed Salah – sealed the title with four games to spare.

The celebrations started long before the coronation. Denied a mass communal party by the Covid pandemic in 2020, Liverpool fans were determined to make up for lost time. Not since 28 April 1990 had they and their team savoured a championship triumph together. This opportunity would not be missed.

Thousands lined Anfield Road to greet the team coach before kick off, many with ‘Champions 20’ printed on the back of their new club shirts. The air around Anfield was filled with an overwhelming smell of sulphur from flares that added to the sense of expectation. Someone didn’t get the memo and let off a blue one. Tottenham’s coach was diverted away from crowd and dropped the squad off behind the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand, requiring Ange Postecoglou and his players to walk around the pitch to their changing room. The Courteeners’ Not Nineteen Forever blared from the PA system as Liverpool warmed up. Such was the expectation even principal owner John W Henry made an appearance from Boston.

The possibility of Spurs spoiling the fun had not been given a second thought. It was seemingly a matter of how Liverpool would win the league, not if, and so Anfield was briefly stunned into silence when Dominic Solanke headed the visitors in front. The former Liverpool striker towered above Ryan Gravenberch to convert a James Maddison corner with Alisson rooted to the spot. Spurs had started brightly but are not a team to ruin a script, however.

Postecoglou had complained about the negative narrative that surrounds Spurs in his pre-match press conference. It was a bit rich given how often his team have fed the narrative this season, and they duly succumbed to an 11th away defeat of a dreadful Premier League campaign. Their subsequent performance suggested that Solanke’s surprise opening goal, and defying expectations only briefly, was enough. There was a gulf in hunger and desire between the new champions and the visitors. Each one of Liverpool’s three first-half goals would result in Spurs’ players arguing among themselves over their weak defending in the buildup.

Liverpool levelled four minutes later when Mohamed Salah released Dominik Szoboszlai behind Archie Gray with a superbly weighted pass. The midfielder squared for Díaz to slide home but his celebrations were curtailed by an offside flag against Szoboszlai. The video assistant referee confirmed the Hungary captain had timed his run to perfection, however, and Liverpool players swarmed over Díaz when the equaliser was given. A draw was enough for Slot’s side to seal the deal but of course they wanted more, as the Mac Allister demonstrated throughout.

The World Cup-winner fired Liverpool ahead from 20 yards after Destiny Udogie played a dangerous pass across his own area towards Gray, who was beaten to the ball by the more determined Gravenberch. Mac Allister gave Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario no chance with an emphatic drive into the roof of the net. No doubts now. This would be the day.

Comfort came in the form of a third goal from Gakpo. Lucas Bergvall failed to deal with a Mac Allister corner to the near post and steered his attempted headed clearance straight to the Netherlands international. Gakpo collected, stepped easily away from Brennan Johnson and Solanke, and swept a shot into Vicario’s bottom right-hand corner.

Liverpool performed with a freedom and style their superiority allowed. The players were as determined to enjoy themselves as the fans. All that was missing from a perfect afternoon for Liverpool was a goal for Salah, the remarkable driving force behind title number 20. It arrived at the end of a move that underlined why Slot’s team have been a class apart. The immovable force that was Mac Allister halted Bergvall on the edge of the Liverpool area and released Szoboszlai, who swept half the length of the pitch before finding Salah in space on the right. Liverpool’s leading marksman cut inside Udogie and sent an unerring finish into the bottom corner. Salah celebrated his 28th league goal of the season by accepting a fan’s offer of their mobile phone to take a selfie in front of the Kop.

It was soon five when the hapless Udogie, attempting to stop Salah reaching Trent Alexander-Arnold’s flick across the Spurs goal, bundled the ball into his own net. It was the cue for a resounding version of “Champions” to reverberate from the Kop. The party is underway.

Liverpool have won a record-equalling 20th league title in a stunning debut season for Arne Slot after beating Tottenham 5-1 at Anfield. The 46-year-old, who took on the seemingly unenviable task of succeeding Jürgen Klopp last summer, becomes the first man in Liverpool’s illustrious history to win the championship in his debut season with the club.

Anfield was ready to celebrate at kick-off, but there was an early setback when Dominic Solanke unexpectedly headed Spurs in front after 12 minutes. Liverpool hit back quickly, Luis Díaz’s equaliser awarded after a VAR review, before Alexis Mac Allister smashed home in the 23rd minute to put the hosts in front. Cody Gakpo struck from a corner before half-time to leave the outcome all but guaranteed.

The second half was a sun-kissed title party, crowned when Mohamed Salah swept in for Liverpool’s fourth – and the Egyptian’s 28th league goal of an extraordinary season. Salah was poised to add another with 20 minutes left, but Destiny Udogie reached the ball first for an unfortunate own goal.

Liverpool’s triumph and the end of Manchester City’s four-season reign as Premier League champions has appeared inevitable for some time with the club building a commanding lead over their nearest challengers, Arsenal, since the turn of the year. Arsenal’s draw with Crystal Palace on Wednesday left Slot’s side needing one point from their final five matches and they sealed the title with four games remaining.

Victory brings Liverpool level with their fallen rivals, Manchester United, on 20 league championships. It is their second Premier League title in five years but unlike in 2019-20, when Klopp’s team ended the club’s 30-year wait for a 19th league crown behind closed doors, their latest triumph was celebrated in front of jubilant supporters. Liverpool were unable to hold a trophy parade five years ago because of the Covid pandemic but one will be staged in the city on Monday 26 May. Klopp may be in attendance, having assembled the supremely talented squad that Slot inherited.

The charismatic German’s shock departure last season signalled the end of an era but Slot, lured from Feyenoord by the club’s new sporting director, Richard Hughes, made a seamless transition. The head coach, as he is officially titled, became the first Liverpool manager to win 11 of his first 12 matches in all competitions. After a home defeat by Nottingham Forest in the fourth game, Liverpool embarked on a 26-match unbeaten run in the Premier League that lasted almost seven months.

Slot’s side have topped the table since the defining date of 2 November. Arsenal lost at Newcastle that day, City were beaten at Bournemouth, part of their astonishing collapse of one win in 13 matches in all competitions, and Liverpool came from behind to beat Brighton 2-1 at Anfield. Mohamed Salah struck the late winner and has been the driving force behind the title success.

Liverpool’s campaign was played against a backdrop of uncertainty over the futures of Salah, the captain, Virgil van Dijk, and Trent Alexander-Arnold. All three were in the final years of their contracts and involved in protracted negotiations over extending their glittering Anfield careers. Salah and Van Dijk have recently signed new two-year contracts but Alexander-Arnold could join Real Madrid on a free transfer this summer.

Slot’s faith in the mentality and ability of the squad bequeathed by Klopp has been vindicated. Liverpool made only one signing last summer, the rarely used Federico Chiesa, as Slot assessed the talent at his disposal. The club also agreed a €35m deal to sign the Georgia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili from Valencia this summer, when Liverpool are also expected to be in the market for a centre-forward and a young left-back.

Slot follows José Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Manuel Pellegrini and Antonio Conte in winning the Premier League in their first season. He is the fourth Liverpool manager to win the championship at the first attempt, after Matt McQueen in 1922-23, Joe Fagan in 1983-84 and Kenny Dalglish in 1985-86, all of whom were established figures at Anfield before stepping into the role. Slot is the only one to win the league in his first season at the club, rather than being promoted from within.

Football is an unstoppable continuum, a whirling dervish of love and hate, life and death, frequent tedium and the greatest excitement known to humanity. Because we care so much for it it feels like it cares for us back, but the painful truth is this is our imagination and self-respect saving us from acknowledging that actually, football was there before us, it’ll be there after us, and while we’re there it exists as though we don’t.

Occasionally, though, we have bestowed upon us an event that grabs us by the lapels and shrieks indelibly into our souls, the entirety of the cosmos consumed by the wonder of the game. “It tells us something we’ll always remember,” wrote director-screenwriter Randall Wallace when considering what makes something epic. “It makes us walk out of a theatre and whisper into our own hearts, ‘I’m changed.’”

In the mid-80s, English football was stuck, its supporters despised by the government and its clubs banned from European competition; attendances were down,quality was variable and tragedies were a fact of life. The best side, Liverpool, were known as the Red Machine because they were an effective collective lacking attitude and glamour, while the best player, Bryan Robson, was superhero but not superstar.

Which is where Paul Gascoigne comes in. To watch Gazza was to experience the physical become the metaphysical, time and space no longer as we previously understood them. On the one hand he was a throwback, an entertainer of purity and honesty who competed with and for joy, yet on the other he was a gift from the future exploding into the present, an unseen original demanding we perceive our world differently.

Rarely has a midfielder been so silky but so strong, crocodile-wrestler’s torso elevated by Fred Astaire’s feet elevated by the imagination of an infant – assuming that infant was the offspring of Wolfgang Mozart and Johnny Fartpants. And to this Gazza brought exhibition chutzpah that was all his own, ragdolling experienced professionals with inspiring prejudice and disrespect. Alex Ferguson, a man unrenowned for offering unwarranted praise, takes up the story:

“In ‘87 we played Newcastle in a game and they were just bordering above relegation and he’d been injured. And he’d come back and he’d won their two previous games and we’d got them in a league game. And my three centre-midfield players were: Robson, Whiteside and Moses, three very competitive footballers, great footballers … and he absolutely tore them apart. Tore them apart. Ended up with one situation, he nutmegged Remi Moses right in front of me in the dugout … and went up to Remi after he did it and patted him on the head. And after the game I says to the chairman ‘Don’t leave here, get on to that chairman of Newcastle, we’ve gotta get this boy. He’s the best I’ve seen for years and years.”

So Gazza promised to join United before plumping for Spurs – a snub Fergie absorbed with typical levity – arriving at White Hart Lane in the summer of 1988. His first two seasons were decent, his first goal for the club encapsulating him so perfectly it remains barely believable more than three decades on: against Arsenal and having lost his right boot in a challenge, he showed the composure, desire and impudence to slot home with his sock. Spurs being Spurs, they still lost – some maladies are too profoundly ensconced even for an epochal legend – but Gazza was hearty enough to swerve infection, a typically cheeky goal at Luton also garnishing his campaign.

Then, in 1990, he forced himself into England’s World Cup squad. What happened next is relatively well-known, his tears resonating to such extent he became the physical embodiment of football, reinvigorating the domestic game to such extent that the Premier League is now the vehicle of choice for bad-faith actors looking to propagandise across all conceivable difference in pursuit of nefarious geopolitical aims.

Yet Gazza had still done nothing definitive but cry: he didn’t score in Italy and the two goals he created came from free-kicks chipped into the box – cleverly done but hardly indelible marks of greatness. Missing was what the Talmud – he’s a Gateshead boy after all – terms “tachlis”: essential, unarguable substance. But then came the 1990-91 FA Cup.

Spurs began away at Blackpool, Gazza helping create the only goal for returning hero and non-scoring-striker-now-midfielder, Paul Stewart. For only the second time in four years under Terry Venables, they were into round four.

A home tie with Oxford arrived amid boardroom unrest – both Robert Maxwell and Alan Sugar were attempting to buy the club from Irving Scholar. On the pitch, though, Gazza’s stepover, drive, one-two and block helped facilitate Gary Mabbutt’s opener and his header put Lineker in to blast home a second. Then, when the visitors halved the deficit, he confiscated possession from Terry Fenwick to revive a floundering attack, playing and following a pass into the box before beating both centre-backs to slide home a beauty from a narrow angle. And with things getting edgy after Oxford again closed to within one, he again invented space in the box to punish home another terrific finish.

In round five came a trip to Portsmouth, Spurs trailing until, on the hour, Gazza pounded through rutted terrain and spread the play so that when the cross came in, he was able to lunge at a back-post leap and personality home a monstrous equaliser; “Gascoigne … YES!” shrieked John Motson, vocalising the thoughts of almost everyone in the country. And of course, just six minutes from the end, he collected a long punt, exaggeratedly threw foot over ball, beat his man, and slotted the winner.

The quarter-finals followed more boardroom turmoil along with rumours of Gazza being hurt and moving to Italy; Spurs duly went behind at home to Notts County. But an own-goal drew them level before Gazza, grabbed from behind, accidentally clattered Paul Harding’s coupon with an elbow; the ref opted against sending him off and, with six minutes to go, he held his run on the edge of the box so that, when the ball broke to him as he knew it would, his finish was as definitive as everyone knew it would be.

The goals, though, were only part of things – the performances were equally magical, a rare mix of transcendent talent and competitive charisma allowing Gazza to seize contests involving 22 players and make them solely about him. “We all know he’s struggling a bit with an injury” said Lineker, proud owner of 10 World Cup goals and one World Cup golden boot. “I wish I could struggle like that”.

To reach the last four, Spurs had not defeated a high calibre list of opponents. But next for them came Arsenal, champions-elect and playing a season in which they would concede only 18 league goals; for context, next lowest was 40.

Spurs, though, were confident. Both previous matches between the sides had ended scoreless, the second only because David Seaman had a blinder and Lineker was uncharacteristically profligate, while Venables was a rare English manager able to formulate then inculcate a smart strategy.

Interest in north London’s first semi-derby – a description Gazza might’ve deployed – was intense. The previous year was the first in which the ties had been played on Sunday not Saturday, consecutively not concurrently, and on telly rather than not. For better and for worse, two matches of stupefying intensity and excitement ensured the change became a permanent one.

With Highbury and White Hart Lane unusable, it was decided to compromise the prize of taking over a third team’s ground while keeping Wembley special for the final – for one year only. The world being the world, it marked the start of the avaricious and myopic process that leaves fans paying, financially and emotionally, for the FA’s inability to rebuild the national stadium to time and to budget, but just that once it seemed just about fair.

Though no one needs another paean to the world’s greatest cup competition, it’s worth noting that in 1991, its mystical, mythical quality remained intact. The quantity of live, televised football was improving but still relatively low, while a mere four channels in the UK meant engaging with the game was almost unavoidable – even before factoring in the presence of Gazza, by now half-man, half-mononym and the most talked-about person in England.

The problem was because there’d never been another him, no one knew how to alleviate the pressure of being him nor how to handle the unique challenges he presented, the intricacies of neurodiversity and mental health well beyond the collective grasp at the time – never mind in the hyperreal world of football. So Gazza was indulged and incited, excoriated and extolled, often simultaneously, a blur of fantastical thoughts and unresolved energy with no capacity to calculate consequences.

He actually almost missed the game recovering from a stomach operation, returning for a half at Norwich in midweek, and the night before was so inflamed by its prospect he managed only an hour’s sleep, eventually given injections to calm down. Then, as the teams walk down the tunnel, what to others is ceremonial to him is temptation, leaving him no choice but to offer the camera a gurn more Haçienda than hallowed turf.

A second follows shortly afterwards before the camera zooms in on him because there’s nowhere else it wants to be, should be, could be. “If that man there is fit,” intones Jimmy Hill as Gazza completed his hat-trick, “Spurs have a chance”.

And inside three minutes he’s at the centre of things, shooting narrowly wide and sharing some thoughts with the ref when a goal-kick not a corner is awarded. Within seconds, though, he’s back on the ball like he’s its proud father and the rest are awkwardly loitering relatives. Head up – head always up – he moves it between his feet with Cruyff turn and stepover in a manner not really seen in this country until him, picking a clever pass before a late challenge on Stewart is punished with a free-kick a distant 35 yards from goal, fractionally left of centre.

Forward trot the Spurs centre-backs, Barry Davies speculating as to what’s coming next. “Is Gascoigne gonna have a crack?” he wonders, as if any other option is feasible. “He is you know!” By which point Gazza is catapulting into a shot, the entirety of his corporeality focused into a brutal, spiteful curler which booms around the charging Kevin Campbell and past Seaman, whose self-declared “Safe Hands” can only help the ball into net.

“Ohhhh I say!” shouts Bazza as Gazza charges towards the mayhem in the stands. “Brilliant! That – is – schoolboy’s own stuff! Ohhhh I bet even he can’t believe it!” (he can). “Is there anything left from this man to surprise us?!” (Yes, plenty).

Perhaps Seaman should’ve saved it – he later said his studs stuck in the turf and it’s unfortunate that so fine a keeper is best remembered for avoidable errors in the biggest games (see also: Koeman, Nayim, Ronaldinho). But sometimes the confluence of genius and circumstance are irresistible.

Nor was that it; in Gazza’s reality, “it” didn’t exist. So, five minutes later, he helped create a goal for Lineker with two visionary, disguised touches and, though he went off injured after Alan Smith pulled one back, a(nother) Seaman blunder helped Lineker make it 3-1 which was how the game finished; “You’ve lost that double feeling!” sung the Spurs fans, who’ve celebrated St Hotspur Day every 14 April since.

Ange Postecoglou has railed against what he says is a well-worn narrative around Tottenham – the club must always be set up for a fall, negative interpretations at every turn. And yet the manager still believes they can break the cycle of frustration, leaning on the words of Jacob Riis, a journalist and social reformer in late 19th and early 20th century New York, to inspire his players.

Postecoglou has endured a miserable Premier League season, losing 18 matches. He takes his team to Liverpool on Sunday admitting that some of his work has gone “disastrously wrong”. It is why he may not remain in his post beyond the end of the season even if he wins the Europa League. Spurs are into the semi-finals, where they take on Norwegian club Bodø/Glimt.

What has got to Postecoglou is his sense that all of the challenges he has faced have been overlooked – chiefly, how he has been asked to overhaul the squad, placing an emphasis on youth, and reimagine the playing style. In his first season, he led the team to a fifth-placed finish; an improvement on eighth from 2022-23.

Postecoglou felt the achievement was poorly received. Spurs had been in pole position to finish fourth, which would have guaranteed a return to the Champions League, until they lost five of their final seven games, including the penultimate one at home to Manchester City. Most of their fans had wanted them to lose that night to ensure Arsenal did not win the title. Fifth place will be enough for Champions League qualification this season. Spurs are 16th.

“I love the frenzy around finishing fifth this year … they’re all brilliant, aren’t they?” Postecoglou said. “We finished fifth last year. Why is it such a disaster that we finished fifth? Around this time last year, I was asked to lose a game [against City]. And I was wrong for wanting to win it.

“We finished fifth but it’s not a good story. A better story is my tenure has been a disaster and it continues to be. I just think that the kind of hysteria that is surrounding what’s happening at the moment is all premeditated for a certain outcome. Hopefully we can defy that.”

Postecoglou said the Spurs fans he met were very supportive; he has never felt it was them against him. His impression, though, is that there is a tension between people and the club.

“There is this narrative of trying to set this club up for some sort of fall – consistently,” Postecoglou said. “There is no allowance for any kind of building of foundations, for something a bit different than before.

“The one thing you do know is what doesn’t work here. Yes, I’m trying to do things very, very differently. It hasn’t all worked out, some of it has gone disastrously wrong. I accept that. I said from the start: ‘We need to chart a different course if we are ever going to break the cycle this club has been in.’

“But I think there is a narrative around that this club has been on some sort of downward spiral again or is going down the same rabbit hole that it has in the past. Whereas I think this is totally different and there has been very little acknowledgment of that.”

Postecoglou has previously said that winning a first trophy for Spurs since 2008 would not change everything but he is now all-in on Europa League glory. He brought up a quotation from Riis about the endeavours of a stonecutter and he clearly sees the parallels.

“I talk to the players a lot about the stonecutters’ creed – only the 101st blow cracks the rock,” he said. “No one sees the other 100 blows and they think it’s the last one that does it. It’s not. So time will tell … whether what I’ve tried to do over the last two years gets us to crack that stone.”

If Postecoglou reaches the Europa League final, it would be his 100th game for Spurs – with one league match to follow before the end of the season. “You won’t know how much I’ve had an impact until we get to that place,” he said of the final. “We need to take the opportunity that’s before us and that won’t happen because we’re good for the next two to three weeks. That will only happen if what’s got us to this place gets us what we want.

“What it [the Riis quotation] says is that if you keep doing the right thing, the impact it has is unseen. You won’t break it with the 101st blow unless you’ve done a lot of things which, to the naked eye, seem like you’re doing nothing or maybe the wrong thing. But the stonecutter knows you need to keep doing it because it’ll come.”

When the manager cannot crack it at Spurs, it is invariably him who pays the price. But Postecoglou continued to brush off the swirl of speculation about his future. “If you asked any Tottenham supporter what’s the most important thing for them right now – who is going to be the manager next year or whether they win this thing [the Europa League] – 100% of them would say: ‘Just make sure we give ourselves the best opportunity to make some history,’” Postecoglou said. “The rest of it doesn’t matter. It will all take care of itself.”

Postecoglou reported that Son Heung-min would not play at Liverpool as he recovers from a foot injury. The captain returned to training on the grass on Friday and will be monitored before Thursday’s first leg at home to Bodø/Glimt.

As the old adage goes, never go back. Unless your opponents are Tottenham Hotspur and your name is Nuno Espírito Santo that is.

On a night when Nottingham Forest desperately needed to get their Champions League challenge back on the rails, Ange Postecoglou’s side could hardly have been more obliging opponents until they finally mounted a late flurry after Richarlison had pulled a goal back with three minutes to play.

Dr Tottenham had already helped Crystal Palace end their search for a first win of the season at the ninth attempt back in October and then allowed relegated Leicester to record their solitary victory in a run of 15 straight defeats. So watching the manager who lasted only 124 days in north London before being sacked in November 2021 guide Forest to their first double over his former club since 1997 has to go down as one of the more predictable results of the season.

Nuno had said beforehand that revenge was not on his agenda on only his second return to this stadium since he became the shortest reigning permanent manager in Tottenham’s history. But you could tell this meant so much more as he celebrated Elliot Anderson’s opener after just five minutes and Chris Wood’s 19th goal of the Premier League campaign not long afterwards.

In fact, the only time Nuno or any of his players showed the slightest sign of nerves against an underwhelming Tottenham side came as Forest ran down the clock during an agonising five minutes of stoppage time. After a few bear hugs for his players and a quick wave to the travelling supporters, he was back down the tunnel within 60 seconds of the final whistle to leave the stage clear for his players.

This was classic Nuno-ball: score two quick goals on the break and then defend for your lives. Yet it is a trap that numerous opponents have fallen into this season and why he will deservedly feature highly on the contenders for manager of the year, even if Forest do not end up finishing in the top five.

Of course it is tempting to wonder at this point what might have happened if Nuno hadn’t been sacked by Tottenham after a home defeat to Manchester United only 17 games into his tenure in October 2021. Spurs were eighth at the time having scored only nine goals from their opening 10 league matches, with Harry Kane still trying to get over the disappointment of failing to force a move away.

Despite winning August’s manager of the month award thanks to a victory over Manchester City, it always felt as if he was on borrowed time in north London after Daniel Levy had initially been more interested in appointing Hansi Flick, Erik ten Hag, Antonio Conte, Paulo Fonseca, Gennaro Gattuso or even bringing back Mauricio Pochettino before settling on the former goalkeeper.

After José Mourinho’s ill-fated reign the previous season, Daniel Levy had promised to appoint someone who would bring back “free-flowing, attacking and entertaining” football to the club, whose motto is basically a variation on Del Boy’s “he who dares wins”. Postecoglou seemed to fit that bill during his first season in charge as Spurs entertained on their way to fifth place yet the early promise has given way to disappointment, even if the Europa League could yet offer unlikely salvation.

After an uncharacteristically robust defensive display in the second leg of their quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt in midweek, Postecoglou attempted to channel his inner Nuno by selecting a combative midfield trio and leaving James Maddison on the bench along with the increasingly influential Lucas Bergvall. However, as early as the fourth minute when Morgan Gibbs-White produced a wonderful pirouette to take the ball away from Pape Matar Sarr before shooting in the same movement, it was Forest who undoubtedly looked more up for the fight.

Anderson thumped in the opening goal from the resulting corner and after some more slapstick defending prompted by Rodrigo Bentancur, Wood’s goal – shortly having another disallowed for offside by VAR – was the prompt for another group hug on the Forest bench as Postecoglou scowled in the direction of his. One of the complaints about Nuno during his brief spell at Spurs was that he had been too quiet or uncommunicative at the training ground but the same cannot be said at his present club, where he seems to have formed a close bond since replacing the popular Steve Cooper last season.