Blades have come up short in their four previous attempts to gain promotion via an end-of-season showpiece final When the half-time whistle blows at Wembley on Saturday afternoon, Tom Lockyer will temporarily replace Sheffield United and Sunderland as the centre of attention. It is two years since Lockyer collapsed on England’s most famous pitch after experiencing atrial fibrillation during Luton’s Championship playoff final win against Coventry and almost 18 months since he had a cardiac arrest and almost died while playing for the club at Bournemouth. Continue reading...

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Seb Hutchinson and Dan Bardell as Manchester City move closer to sealing Champions League football with a 3-1 win over Bournemouth Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email. On the podcast today: Omar Marmoush scores a goal of the season contender as Manchester City move into third place in the Premier League, before the race for Champions League football concludes with the final round of fixtures this Sunday. Continue reading...

Manager unhappy leaving multiple players ‘in the freezer’‘Make a shorter squad, I will stay,’ Guardiola says Pep Guardiola has threatened to resign from Manchester City if the club does not reduce the size of the squad over the summer. A number of first-team players did not make the squad for Tuesday night’s 3-1 win over Bournemouth and the head coach is unhappy with leaving so many out. Abdukodir Khusanov, Savinho, James McAtee and Rico Lewis all had to watch on as City secured victory to move up to third in the league. It shows the depth available to Guardiola but he has always preferred to work with a smaller group of players. Continue reading...

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola pays tribute to Kevin de Bruyne following his final game at the Etihad Stadium, a 3-1 win over Bournemouth.

Kevin De Bruyne failed to finish on the personal high he might have craved but Omar Marmoush’s ­tribute act against Bournemouth ensured Manchester City moved up to third to keep the route to Champions League qualification in their own hands. Bernardo Silva and Nico González finished the job after De Bruyne had missed an open net but it was enough to alleviate the tension. The pressure momentarily increased after Mateo Kovacic was dismissed but that ­evaporated as both teams finished with 10 men on the pitch, allowing the City supporters to send De Bruyne on his way in style. Continue reading...

Eighth place in the Premier League could be enough for European qualification, as long as Chelsea lose to Nottingham Forest and then beat Real Betis.

Departing midfielder Kevin de Bruyne will receive a farewell from Manchester City after his final home game against Bournemouth on Tuesday.

Midfielder criticises Fifa for timing of competitionFinal home game on Tuesday is ‘going to be weird’ Kevin De Bruyne has revealed he “probably won’t play” for Manchester City in this summer’s Club World Cup, with the Belgian critical of Fifa for staging the competition when contracts are still running. City’s decision not to offer De Bruyne fresh terms means Bournemouth’s visit to the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday and Sunday’s trip to Fulham on the final day of the Premier League season will be his final games for the club he joined 10 years ago. City play their three Club World Cup Group G games in June and De Bruyne’s deal finishes at the end of that month, so he could participate but has decided not to. Continue reading...

Dean Huijsen will complete a move from Bournemouth to Real Madrid in the summer. BBC Sport looks at his rapid rise.

Madrid meet sought-after 20-year-old’s release clauseDefender had been on radar of a host of top clubs Real Madrid have completed the signing of the Bournemouth centre-back Dean Huijsen. The 20-year-old defender, who has also been targeted by Chelsea, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Newcastle, will join the Spanish club at the end of the season after they agreed to pay a £50m release clause. Real tried to sign Huijsen when he was a youth player at Málaga and have continued to track the former Juventus and Roma defender’s progress. Huijsen’s footballing idol is Sergio Ramos, the former Spain and Madrid defender. Following a loan spell at Roma, Huijsen signed for Bournemouth in July 2024. Continue reading...

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola says he asked for Tuesday's Premier League game against Bournemouth to be moved, feeling it should "definitely" have been played later in the week.

38-year-old to miss away finale and bow out at homeTitle-winning teammates expected for Sunday’s game Jamie Vardy is expected to call time on his Leicester career after his 500th appearance for the club this weekend. Vardy, regarded by many as Leicester’s greatest ever player, has spent 13 years at the club and is poised to make his final appearance for themat home to Ipswich on Sunday and then not feature in their final Premier League match, at Bournemouth. The 38-year-old striker, who is poised to captain Leicester for the final time, announced last month, after relegation to the Championship was confirmed, that he would leave the club at the end of the season. He was central to Leicester winning the Premier League against all odds in 2016 and the FA Cup in 2021 but conceded he wanted to exit on a better note, after a desperate season in the top flight, describing his own campaign as a “total embarrassment”. He will hope to score a 200th goal in a Leicester shirt against Ipswich. Continue reading...

Real Madrid are set to sign Bournemouth centre-back Dean Huijsen after agreeing to pay the defender's £50m release clause.

Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola says Aston Villa "managed" the game better than his side in the visitors' 1-0 Premier League win at Vitality Stadium.