Liverpool Poised for Premier League Coronation, Leicester, Ipswich for Relegation

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk extended his contract on Thursday. Paul ELLIS / AFP/File
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk extended his contract on Thursday. Paul ELLIS / AFP/File
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Liverpool Poised for Premier League Coronation, Leicester, Ipswich for Relegation

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk extended his contract on Thursday. Paul ELLIS / AFP/File
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk extended his contract on Thursday. Paul ELLIS / AFP/File

Liverpool could seal the Premier League on Sunday should the runaway leaders condemn Leicester to relegation and Arsenal suffer a Champions League hangover by losing at Ipswich.
Victory for the Gunners at Portman Road could also see Ipswich mathematically relegated should West Ham and Wolves win.

Unlike the battles for the league title and to avoid the drop, the race for a place in next season's Champions League is set to go down to the wire.

Just five points separate Newcastle in third from seventh-placed Aston Villa ahead of their clash at Villa Park.

AFP Sports looks at the major talking points ahead of this weekend's action.

Liverpool's Super Sunday?

Thirteen points clear at the top of the table with six games to go, it is only a question of when not if Liverpool will move level with Manchester United on a record 20 English top-flight titles.

Two more wins will finish the job for Arne Slot's men and they could not ask for more obliging fixtures as a trip to beleaguered Leicester is followed by struggling Tottenham's trip to Anfield.

However, the title race may not even go beyond Easter Sunday should Ipswich inflict Arsenal's first league defeat since February.

The focus of attention for Mikel Arteta's men has been switched to Champions League glory after an emphatic 5-1 aggregate win over holders Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.

Three up, three down concern
Southampton's return to the Championship at the first time of asking was confirmed in record time with seven games remaining.

Leicester and Ipswich have not fared much better to spark concerns over the growing chasm between the Premier League and the second tier.

For the second consecutive season all three promoted clubs are set to be relegated.

Leicester, who shocked the world to win the title less than a decade ago, have endured a miserable campaign, especially since Ruud van Nistelrooy was installed as manager.

The Foxes have taken just four points from their last 17 matches to fall 17 points adrift of safety.

Ipswich's approach has earned more admirers but they have also won only four league games all season to sit just three points better off than Leicester.

Villa crave Champions League return
Both Villa and Newcastle are hungry for more after having a taste of the Champions League for the first time in decades over the past two seasons.

Villa's first foray into European football's elite level for the first time since 1983 finally came to an end in a thrilling 5-4 aggregate defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals on Tuesday.

Unai Emery, who also led the Birmingham club to the Europa Conference League semi-finals last season, is determined to take the 1982 European champions even further.

Four consecutive Premier League wins have propelled Emery's men back into contention for a top-five finish, that will be enough for Champions League qualification.

"The more demanding objective we can have is to get again Champions League," said Emery.

"The challenge we have now is for the last six matches we are going to play, try to get Europe and try to get Champions League."

Villa face a daunting run in with their next four games against competitors for the European places in Newcastle, Manchester City, Bournemouth and Fulham.

Newcastle are flying as five consecutive league wins either side of lifting the League Cup has taken the Magpies into third.

Eddie Howe is set to miss a third match due to pneumonia, but Newcastle showed little sign of missing their manager in scoring nine goals in dominant wins over Manchester United and Crystal Palace in the past week.



David Beckham: Inter Miami Not Rushing to Replace Head Coach

Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham attends a training session at the MLS soccer team's training facility, Wednesday, April 15, 2026, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris Arjoon)
Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham attends a training session at the MLS soccer team's training facility, Wednesday, April 15, 2026, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris Arjoon)
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David Beckham: Inter Miami Not Rushing to Replace Head Coach

Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham attends a training session at the MLS soccer team's training facility, Wednesday, April 15, 2026, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris Arjoon)
Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham attends a training session at the MLS soccer team's training facility, Wednesday, April 15, 2026, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris Arjoon)

Co-owner David Beckham said Inter Miami have to "let things settle down" before hiring a head coach after the sudden, early-season departure of Javier Mascherano on Tuesday.

Mascherano stepped down due to what he called personal reasons in a statement, with ESPN reporting that he made the decision over the weekend after a 2-2 draw with the New York Red Bulls.

Sporting director Guillermo Hoyos took over as interim manager for the Herons (3-1-3, 12 points), who return to action on ⁠Saturday against the ⁠Colorado Rapids in Commerce City, Colo.

Beckham said on CBS Sports that losing Mascherano at this time was "a difficult one." Mascherano, 41, was hired as the club's coach on Nov. 26, 2024. He guided the Lionel Messi-led squad to an MLS ⁠Cup title in 2025.

"He came off the back of last season by winning our first championship," Reuters quoted Beckham as saying. "He's an amazing person, a great coach, the players loved him, but obviously, these things happen in football clubs and we have to move on. We have to find a new coach at some point. But at the moment, we have to let things settle down. But, like ⁠I said, ⁠with owning a team, there are always challenges."

Mascherano replaced Gerardo "Tata" Martino. Inter Miami also reached the Leagues Cup final and CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinal last year.

This was the first club coaching job for Mascherano, who began coaching Argentina's youth national teams in 2021. His squads reached the Round of 16 at the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina and the quarterfinals of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Inter Miami's chief soccer officer Alberto Marrero will assume sporting director duties for Hoyos.


Iran Participating in World Cup, FIFA President Confirms

FIFA President Gianni Infantino attends an economic conference in Washington. Kent NISHIMURA / AFP
FIFA President Gianni Infantino attends an economic conference in Washington. Kent NISHIMURA / AFP
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Iran Participating in World Cup, FIFA President Confirms

FIFA President Gianni Infantino attends an economic conference in Washington. Kent NISHIMURA / AFP
FIFA President Gianni Infantino attends an economic conference in Washington. Kent NISHIMURA / AFP

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said Wednesday that Iran will "for sure" participate in the 2026 World Cup despite the Middle East war.

"Iran is coming for sure. We hope that by then the situation will be a peaceful situation, that would definitely help," Infantino told an economic conference organized by broadcaster CNBC.

"But Iran has to come, they represent their people, they have qualified, the players want to play," he said of the team's upcoming matches scheduled in the United States in June.

Infantino had made similar comments in March, when he attended an Iran-Costa Rica friendly in Antalya, Türkiye, even though US President Donald Trump had previously suggested that Iranian players might not be "safe" in the United States, said AFP.

Iran is scheduled to play its three Group G matches in the United States -- two in Los Angeles, one in Seattle -- with their base for the tournament in Tucson, Arizona.

- 'Outside of politics' -

Iran's participation in the global tournament being co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico had been thrown into doubt by the conflict launched by the United States and Israel on February 28.

Iran raised the prospect of a "boycott" of the competition before asking FIFA to move its matches from the United States to Mexico, a request the world governing body rejected.

After several weeks of air strikes on Iran and Iranian reprisals against Israel and other countries in the region, a fragile truce came into effect on April 8.

But Tehran has sealed off the strategic Strait of Hormuz and since Monday Washington has imposed a blockade on ships coming from or heading to Iranian ports.

"Sports should be outside of politics," Infantino said on Wednesday.

"If there's nobody else that believes in building bridges and keeping them intact and together, we are doing the job," he said.

The World Cup, the first to feature 48 teams, starts on June 11.


Report: France’s Ekitike Out of World Cup with Ruptured Achilles

 Liverpool's Hugo Ekitike lies injured during the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP)
Liverpool's Hugo Ekitike lies injured during the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP)
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Report: France’s Ekitike Out of World Cup with Ruptured Achilles

 Liverpool's Hugo Ekitike lies injured during the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP)
Liverpool's Hugo Ekitike lies injured during the Champions League quarterfinal second leg soccer match between Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP)

France forward Hugo Ekitike suffered a ruptured Achilles during Liverpool's Champions League clash against Paris St Germain on Tuesday and will miss the World Cup, French newspapers Le Parisien ‌and L'Equipe ‌reported on Wednesday.

The ‌23-year-old ⁠pointed to his ⁠Achilles tendon as medical staff attended to him before he was carried off on a stretcher at Anfield, ⁠where Liverpool lost ‌2-0 ‌in their quarter-final second leg, ‌exiting the competition with ‌a 4-0 aggregate defeat.

The French football federation (FFF) was not immediately available for ‌comment.

Ekitike has 17 goals in all competitions this ⁠season ⁠since Liverpool signed him from Eintracht Frankfurt for 69 million pounds ($93.58 million) in July.

The World Cup is being held in the United States, Mexico and Canada from June 11-July 19.