Pep Guardiola has played down the significance of his role in Manchester City’s outstanding season.

Guardiola’s exhilarating side could end the campaign by winning the treble after hitting a hot run of form throughout the spring.

There will be a celebratory feel in the air as the leaders host Chelsea in their final Premier League home game of the season on Sunday while they also have FA Cup and Champions League finals to come.

Guardiola has once again been a huge factor in their success, with little doubt after Wednesday’s ruthless demolition of Real Madrid that he has brought his team to the boil at just the right time.

Yet the inspirational Catalan has no interest in taking all the credit.

The City boss said: “As a manager, I feel part of something but, no confusion, I never think it belongs to me.

“I’m part of it, I don’t deny it, but not without the incredible work and decisions of the sporting director, the board and the players, who are the most important thing.

“I am a part of that and I am really proud but I’m not the only person to achieve the Premier Leagues or Champions League finals and so on. I don’t feel only I am responsible for that.”

Defender Nathan Ake is City’s only fitness doubt for the visit of Chelsea. The Netherlands international has missed the last three games after suffering a recurrence of a hamstring injury.

City are unbeaten in their last 23 games in all competitions since February and have won 19 of them.

They have won 11 Premier League games in a row and have not lost at home since November.

Michael Beale will dig deep into his Rangers squad for the trip to Hibernian on Sunday but he is determined to build on the recent upswing in form.

The Light Blues, guaranteed to finish runners-up to cinch Premiership champions Celtic for a second successive season, go into the game on the back of a morale-boosting 3-0 win over their Old Firm rivals at Ibrox last weekend.

That first win of the season over the Hoops followed a 1-0 home win over Aberdeen, after losing to both of those teams in the previous two matches.

Defender Connor Goldson is a doubt for the Easter Road game and could be added to a lengthy injury list which includes Borna Barisic, Ben Davies, Ryan Kent, Antonio Colak, Kemar Roofe, Tom Lawrence, Steven Davis and Filip Helander while on-loan attacker Malik Tillman is now back at Bayern Munich with a hamstring problem which has ended his season.

The Gers boss said: “In terms of the young players, we’ve lost Bailey Rice and Zak Lovelace to international duty with Scotland and England Under-17s, at the Euros.

“So there will be one or two others get an opportunity.

“There’s players that have been injured for big parts of the season that need an opportunity as well and we are going to need everyone.

“We probably have 16 players to get us through the last three games next week: Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday.

“We want to end the season well. We know the teams we are playing this week are still in the hunt for European places, so they are not slowing down.

“It is important for us that after two home wins against Aberdeen and Celtic that we back that up this weekend.”

However, with changes for next season certain to be made, Beale stressed the need for the comprehensive win over Celtic not to be romanticised.

The former QPR boss said: “When the sun is shining on your face and you get a good result then everything feels better.

“Other times, when the wind is in your face and everything is rubbish – that’s the life of a football manager in this city.

“I’ve always said there’s a core of players that will move forward, you don’t change a whole squad,  you try to improve your squad in certain areas.

“Last week was a decent performance but it is important we don’t get romantic over one result.

“People have had all season to play and perform and to show everyone if they should be involved or not. It was a good day last week.”

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe would have no qualms over handing “big-game player” Elliot Anderson the chance to make a name for himself with late-season heroics for a second time.

Twelve months ago, the 20-year-old midfielder ended a hugely successful loan spell at Bristol Rovers in style when he scored the crucial last goal in a 7-0 final-day drubbing of relegated Scunthorpe to edge them to automatic promotion from Sky Bet League Two at Northampton’s expense.

On Monday evening, he could find himself playing a key role as the Magpies attempt to seal Champions League qualification against struggling Leicester, with fellow midfielder Joe Willock nursing a hamstring injury and Sean Longstaff working his way back from a foot problem.

Asked about Anderson’s readiness, head coach Howe said: “No qualms at all. He would have played more this season if it hadn’t been for the form of the players around him, there’s no doubt about that for me.

“The midfield has been performing as a unit very, very well this year. You look at each of the players in that midfield and you’d say they’re up there as our best-performing players, so Elliot, we believe in him, it’s just been the strength of the group.

“I think he showed last year in his loan spell – it was a brilliant experience for him – he showed that he’s a big-game player. When they needed him, Bristol Rovers, he stood up and made the difference and yes, it could be a chance for him to do that again.”

Anderson returned to Tyneside after his spell in Bristol and forced his way into the first-team picture, although he has had to remain patient.

Twenty-one of his 25 appearances to date have come from the bench, and his only Premier League start against Liverpool in February ended after just 24 minutes when he was replaced by goalkeeper Martin Dubravka following Nick Pope’s dismissal.

Howe said: “I’d say he would consider himself a first-team player now, as in a fully-integrated member of the first-team squad. He’s trained consistently throughout the season.

“It’s very difficult for those lads that haven’t played regularly when the team wins consistently and has performed as well as it has to wait for their chance.

“Now, he’s a young player that has been desperate to play, he’s controlled his emotions really well. I do believe he’s added elements to his game and improved certain parts of his game that needed to improve.

“I’d say he’s ready. He’s versatile – he proved that against Brighton. He came on on the right side of midfield. He’s predominantly been used by me as a left-side player and he’s very much capable, so we believe in him.”

Brian Graham struck a second-half double as Partick Thistle took a major step towards the cinch Premiership play-off final with a 3-0 first-leg victory over Ayr at Firhill.

Graham had other chances following Jack McMillan’s 16th-minute opener as a dominant Thistle continued their impressive form under Kris Doolan in front of a 7,012 crowd.

The Jags have now only lost once in 16 matches since their former striker succeeded Ian McCall and have netted 11 goals in the play-offs so far.

The 2,000 fans in the sold-out visiting section got a shock before kick-off when top goalscorer Dipo Akinyemi was missing from the team lists, apparently with a back injury.

The striker has played in every other game for Ayr this season and hit 24 goals.

Manager Lee Bullen brought in Mark McKenzie, whose fifth goal of the campaign sent Ayr into second place in the Championship in the final moments of the regular campaign at Inverness.

Ayr made a bright start and Chris Maguire saw his well-struck first-time effort from 25 yards acrobatically saved by David Mitchell.

Scott Tiffoney forced a decent stop from Charlie Albinson at the other end and Thistle got on top before taking the lead. Steven Lawless threaded a ball through for McMillan who had sneaked behind the home defence before rifling a shot through Charlie Albinson.

Thistle continued to dominate with their creative players producing some excellent touches, and they should have been further ahead by the break with Graham missing two open goals, although both times the ball flashed at him quickly.

The experienced striker volleyed the first chance wide from outside the box with Albinson stranded after coming out of his box to head a long ball up into the air. Graham then missed from close range following Aidan Fitzpatrick’s driven cross.

The striker, who hit his 50th Thistle goal in the quarter-finals, then saw a header drift wide.

Ayr rarely got forward in the first half following their early pressure but Josh Mullin had a couple of half-chances, heading over before having a shot blocked.

The Jags maintained their dominance after the interval. Fitzpatrick hit the bar from long range before Graham converted from close range in the 50th minute after Tiffoney had played the ball across the face of goal. There was a hint of offside but no flag came.

The hosts continued to create chances. Kyle Turner curled wide from 18 yards and Fitzpatrick blazed over from an excellent opportunity.

Ayr defender Frankie Musonda saw a header blocked in the goalmouth before Thistle patiently worked the ball forward on the break and extended their lead in the 72nd minute as Graham finished first time from six yards following Fitzpatrick’s curling delivery.

Ayr threatened to snatch a late lifeline. Mitchell got down well to make an excellent one-handed stop from Ben Dempsey before substitute Paul Smith hit the bar with a 20-yard free-kick. Thistle went straight up the park and Albinson pulled off a diving stop to prevent Danny Mullen making it 4-0 with the final kick.

Annan Athletic have been promoted to cinch League One after a 5-2 aggregate win over Clyde in their play-off final.

Benjamin Luissint’s double cancelled out Olly McDonald’s opener to earn a 2-1 second-leg win on Friday and send Peter Murphy’s fourth-tier side up for the first time, while Clyde drop into League Two.

Annan, who finished third in League Two, saw their 3-1 first-leg lead cut 50 seconds after the break when McDonald scrambled in a corner.

But midfielder Luissint converted from close range with 13 minutes left to level and he netted in the third minute of stoppage time to wrap up promotion.

Motherwell goalkeeper Liam Kelly aims to take momentum as well as lessons into next season.

The Steelmen moved up to seventh in the cinch Premiership ahead of Saturday’s visit of Ross County after being joint-bottom when Stuart Kettlewell took charge in early February.

Kelly feels their poor form in the second half of last season carried over into this campaign and he wants to ensure they can roll over into next term with the type of performances that have seen them collect 23 points in three months.

Kelly said: “Seventh is the best we can get so we want to stay there so we can keep improving and hopefully that will stand us in good stead for next season as well.

“You can never call what will happen but the form from the end of last season, we maybe took that into the start of this season.

“If we can finish this season in good form then hopefully that will help us at the start of next season. That’s definitely the plan anyway.”

The Well skipper admits it has seemed a long season, especially given two managers have departed in Graham Alexander and Steven Hammell.

“It’s my first ever time having three different managers,” he said. “That Sligo game seems a long time ago.

“But a good season, a really good learning season, loads of different experiences, highs and lows, ones we will be better for. We know exactly what we don’t want to experience again. I think we will be better for it.

“We have had a mixture of results and performances but since the manager came in we have really steadied and been consistent.

“We knew the feeling from October through to January/February so we don’t want to experience that again, and we know what it takes not to experience that.

“We know what it takes but we also know that if we let our standards drop then we could slip back into our old way. That will not be happening again.”

Tottenham captain Shelina Zadorsky is relishing their “must-win” showdown against fellow Women’s Super League strugglers Reading on Saturday.

Both sides will be desperate for victory in their fight to avoid relegation, with 10th-placed Spurs three points above rock-bottom Reading heading their penultimate game of the season.

Vicky Jepson’s Tottenham have hit a rough patch, picking up only two points from their last five games, while Reading have lost five out of six and were thrashed 5-0 at home by Aston Villa in their last outing.

The match, which is part of a double-header at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with the men’s team kicking off against Brentford at 1230pm in the Premier League before the WSL fixture takes place at 1615pm, could have huge implications for both clubs, but Zadorsky is looking forward to the occasion.

The Canada international told the club website: “We’re all excited, this is a must-win game for us and we’re very cognisant of where we are in the table and taking accountability for that as players.

“But in training there has been good energy and we’re really pushing to get a good result in front of our fans at home.

“We know how important the game is. We need to enjoy it and find a way to win.”

Saturday’s fixture is also huge for a Reading side whose last win was against West Ham at the start of March.

A victory against Tottenham would see the Royals move off the bottom if Leicester lose to West Ham on Sunday, and manager Kelly Chambers knows what is at stake for her team.

She told the club website: “It’s a hard moment, as I see it every day the amount of hard work that goes in from my staff, the players are given me everything during the week, we’re all fighting.

“I think if we’re all brutally honest, many would have predicted us to be in the position we are in, some have said it from the moment we were promoted, but time and time again we’ve proved what we’re about and on Saturday we need to do it again.

“This Saturday there will be no place to hide.”

Liam Scales insists Aberdeen are intent on putting Hearts’ hopes of finishing third in the cinch Premiership “to bed” on Saturday – just four months after the Dons suffered a 5-0 defeat at Tynecastle.

The Pittodrie side have enjoyed a remarkable turnaround since that debacle under previous boss Jim Goodwin in January and they currently hold a five-point advantage over the Jambos and a six-point lead over Hibernian with three games to play.

A win in Edinburgh this weekend will ensure Hearts cannot catch the Dons and will all but guarantee Barry Robson’s resurgent side will be playing European group-stage football next term, as long as Hibs do not win their last three games and Championship side Inverness do not beat Celtic in the Scottish Cup final.

“We’re a different team now,” said Dons defender Scales. “A lot’s changed since the last time we went to Tynecastle. But we have to respect that they’re a top side, especially at Tynecastle.

“We know exactly what the challenge will be and we’re going to go there and try and win the game and finish third. To have any chance of finishing third, they have to beat us so there is pressure on them. It’s a massive game and I hope it’s going to be a really good game.

“We’re not going there to try and nick a draw, we want to go there and put it to bed. There’s pressure on both teams. With us being ahead, they need to bridge the gap by winning but we’re also focused on winning.”

The Tynecastle showdown has been billed as a £5 million match given the potential rewards for whoever goes into the European group stages.

“As players we’re not really thinking about what’s at stake financially,” said Scales. “We just want to go there and win and finish third because our aim at the start of the season was to finish as close to the top two as we could.

“If we could finish third by winning at the weekend, that will be our goal achieved.

“It is important for the club to make as much money as possible to keep pushing in the right direction but as players our goal is to finish third, which will give the players who are here next season the opportunity to play European football which is where we want to be.”

It remains unclear whether Scales, who is nearing the end of a season-long loan from Celtic, will be at Pittodrie next term.

“Not really,” said the 24-year-old Irishman when asked if there had been any movement regarding his future. “I’m focusing on playing the next two games for myself – obviously there’s three games for the rest of the lads (Scales is ineligible against his parent club on the last day) – and hopefully finishing third and then we’ll take it from there.

“I’ll have a chat with Celtic and with my agent and see what’s best for myself at the end of the season. I don’t think there’s any point thinking about it right now because there are big games coming up. There’s plenty time to sort things out between Celtic and Aberdeen. It’s not on my mind that much at the moment.

“This has been my first season playing regularly in Scotland and I think from the start to now, I’ve learned a lot and improved a lot. I’ve enjoyed it.

“We started well before the World Cup and that was enjoyable and then we went through a patch that was not so enjoyable but you learn a lot from that.

“The last 10 games or so has been brilliant, winning games, keeping clean sheets, shooting up the table. That’s what every footballer wants to be involved in. I’ve taken so much from this year. I really enjoy playing here.”

AZ Alkmaar have apologised for the violence which marred West Ham’s Europa Conference League semi-final win and labelled it a “pitch-black evening”.

Pablo Fornals’ stoppage-time strike, which earned a 3-1 aggregate victory and sent them to next month’s final in Prague, prompted a gang of black-shirted, hooded AZ ultras to attempt to storm into the area reserved for friends and family behind the dugout.

Players including Michail Antonio, Said Benrahma, Aaron Cresswell and Flynn Downes climbed over the advertising hoardings in a bid to stop the trouble.

An AZ statement read: “While everyone hoped for a historic European match, it turned into a pitch-black evening due to the events occurring at the referee’s final whistle. It turned into a night to reflect on with shame.

“Not because of the football game played, but because of the behaviour of some attending. Unfortunately, we cannot use the word ‘supporters’ for these people.

“What happened is beyond all bounds. The club again sincerely apologises to West Ham and the thousands of well-minded AZ supporters who have also been inconvenienced by the misconduct.

“In the coming period AZ will – together with the police, Public Prosecution Service, and Alkmaar’s municipality – evaluate exactly what happened, how it could have happened and what needs to be improved from now on. It is clear that things need to be improved.

“Part of the evaluation is a thorough review of all available footage so that appropriate consequences may follow for those responsible for this outrageous behaviour.

“AZ is a civilised club where sportsmanship and norms and values are paramount. The club will do everything possible, together with the authorities involved, to identify these persons and to take appropriate measures.”

UEFA is expected to launch an investigation into the trouble.

The governing body’s disciplinary panel will wait for the relevant reports before deciding on any action, but the PA news agency understands that given the severity of the disorder, it could follow previous cases and an inspector may be appointed to investigate more thoroughly.

Given the extensive video footage of the ugly scenes the Dutch club could face heavy sanctions.

Hammers boss David Moyes, whose 87-year-old father David Snr was at the match, said: “I can’t explain what happened and why it happened.

“I can only say the players were involved because it was the family section and most of their family and friends were in there. That was probably the reason for the reaction.

“Was I worried? Yeah, my family were there and I had friends in that section. You’re hoping they would try and get themselves away from it.

“I didn’t recognise it because I’d gone onto the pitch. Security wanted to take me inside, but I had to make sure my players weren’t involved.”

Dundee United left-back Aziz Behich will use his positive experience of fighting relegation to try to seize the initiative against Livingston in a game he is treating like a cup final.

United sit bottom of the cinch Premiership with three games left and defeat in West Lothian could see them staring into the abyss depending on results elsewhere.

“We all know what’s at stake here,” the former Bursaspor and Istanbul Basaksehir player said. “We are bottom of the table. We can’t look ahead of this week and we are treating this game as a final. That’s the mentality we need to go in with.

“A lot of players maybe haven’t been in this situation before. Personally I have, two or three times over in Turkey, and come out on top of it.

“This is a new situation for a lot and it’s just how you deal with it. You either take it by the scruff of the neck or you roll over. I don’t think we have got players here that want to roll over.

“We have got good characters in the changing room and us older guys have to push that leading into Saturday.”

Behich’s season has veered between huge highs and massive lows, from conceding seven goals on his United debut against AZ Alkmaar to playing for Australia against Argentina in the last 16 of the World Cup and nearly scoring a sensational late equaliser.

The ups and downs continued. After a strong return from the World Cup, United went 11 league games without a win before claiming three consecutive victories going into the split.

But they have still not been able to kick on and successive defeats against St Johnstone and Ross County have left them in the mire.

“It has been a bit of a roller coaster but that’s part of football, part of the journey,” the 32-year-old defender said.

“But I’m happy to be at this club. It’s a great football club, a great fanbase.

“Obviously we have to look at ourselves, why we are in this situation, as individuals.

“But it’s not the time for that now because we still have three final games to play and we still have to have that belief within the four walls, in that changing room, that we are going to get out of this.

“We are the only ones that can do that. Not the coaching staff, not the people on the outside – it’s us players on the pitch that, at the end of the day, define the outcome really.”

Celtic assistant manager John Kennedy believes last weekend’s tough experience at Ibrox can ultimately be of benefit to some of the younger players in the team.

The likes of Yuki Kobayashi, Alexandro Bernabei and Oh Hyeon-gyu were handed derby starts but were on the wrong end of a 3-0 defeat.

Celtic had already wrapped up the cinch Premiership title and beaten Rangers in both cup competitions but the first derby defeat of the season still stung Ange Postecoglou’s side and supporters.

However, Kennedy believes there was plenty to take from the game which can help treble-chasing Celtic continue to move forward.

“There is learning in every game for us, individually and collectively,” he said.

“If we go out and win 5-0 we will always pick the holes in it and the positives and feed that back to the players as a group and individually.

“It’s the same process when we suffer a defeat or a poor performance. The players are very comfortable with that, they know that.

“But sometimes in terms of going through that tough experience, you do get a lot of learning from that.

“When you are winning every week you get in a mindset and that becomes the norm, and sometimes it just shakes you up a little bit and gives you a reminder that if part of your game is not quite on it or if you don’t attack the game in the right intent, it gives us a reminder.

“Even the way we started the game wasn’t to our normal standards. Rangers came on to us, we lost a lot of duels, missed a lot of passes. And straight away that put us under pressure.

“It’s important for us to always remember that we play a style that we look to impose on the opposition.

“When the game is more challenging, there is certainly more things to look at.

“In hindsight, a lot of the boys will look back at that and learn a lot from that, especially the younger lads, who hopefully will be able to go into the next games and correct some of the errors that happened.”

Celtic had two-thirds of the ball at Ibrox but only one shot on target compared to Rangers’ eight.

Kennedy said: “I think that was Rangers’ strategy, they had two quick players at the top end, they gave up possession at times, but we were probably as wasteful with it as we have been in most of our games.

“In terms of decision-making, execution and the technical side of the game, we missed too many passes and made too many bad decisions.

“And that led to a lot of turnovers and gave Rangers the opportunity to hit us on counter-attacks and catch us when we weren’t quite organised.

“There was certainly a lot to look into on the game. As much as it was a bad result and poor performance, it’s a good reminder for us as a group that we have constantly got to be on it. You can’t drop 10 per cent because we know how much that affects our game.”

Celtic bid to bounce back at home to St Mirren on Saturday and Kennedy is sure there will be an edge to his team’s game, especially with the Scottish Cup final against Inverness to come on June 3.

The former Scotland international said: “There’s always that drive. Players are stimulated by playing for the club and you want to perform in every game. They are competitors and there is always that motivation.

“The fact we have the cup final to go, it gives us that stimulant right through to the end of the season.

“We are not just playing games out, we want to finish as strong as we can and it’s important we get the right form and conditioning going into the cup final because on the day you have to put in a performance that merits the win.”

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes believes there are “not enough words” to describe the impact that departing duo Magdalena Eriksson and Pernille Harder have had.

The duo announced on Thursday that they will both leave the club at the end of the season.

Captain Eriksson joined Chelsea in 2017 and has made 149 appearances as well as lifting four WSL trophies, while Harder is aiming to win her third WSL title with the club this year since arriving at Kingsmeadow in 2020.

The Blues have two games remaining in the race for the Women’s Super League title, starting with a clash against rivals Arsenal on Sunday, and Hayes paid tribute to Eriksson and Harder’s contributions.

Hayes told a pre-match press conference: “There’s not enough words to describe the impact, Magda particularly because she’s been here longer, they have had on the club.

“We had a chat about it today and people don’t really realise what this culture is unless you’re in it and it’s a culture that Magda, especially alongside me, has driven the standards, I’d say Millie Bright too, the three of us have been the standard bearers.

“I know how emotional Mags will get with things, that was a really tough day for her yesterday and I know she’s probably also glad it’s out there.

“For us as a football club we choose to manage things like this, we don’t believe there has to be bad endings, we think our experiences together have been positive and they’ve been worthwhile and meaningful, so we don’t have to be cynical about it, we don’t part in bad ways.

“I think also, for Pernille, she’s one of the most eccentric characters I’ve ever coached.

“I will miss her eccentricity, no question, her attention to detail, her thirst for winning, the both of them are going to provide their next club with an absolute lot of quality and we’ve lost a lot, no doubt, but we’re equally happy for both of them and we’re very proud of both of them for everything they’ve done here.”

Hayes provided an update on Millie Bright, who has been out with a knee injury sustained in the Champions League quarter-final first leg against Lyon.

Although the England defender remains sidelined, the Chelsea manager is optimistic Bright may make the upcoming World Cup in the summer.

Hayes said: “Millie’s still on crutches. I think she’ll be okay for this summer’s World Cup but when you have surgery, the reality is she’s had her knee cleaned out and sometimes you give or take a week or two.

“It might be a little bit earlier, it might be a little bit later, so I expect Millie to make the World Cup, but there’s no guarantees of anything in life.

“I know she saw the surgeon a couple of days ago and they were really happy with it so I have no reason to believe she won’t make it.”

Hayes also confirmed Fran Kirby has had successful surgery, with the England midfielder already ruled out of the World Cup.

She added: “Fran’s had a successful surgery, the piece of bone’s been taken out of her knee, and she will be back in with the group in pre-season.

“I think she will need that pre-season, something she didn’t get last year.

“I’m excited, without that knee problem we would have had her back, but it was one that unfortunately we couldn’t avoid the surgery in the end.”

Rangers incoming chief executive James Bisgrove has suggested away fans could return to Old Firm derbies next season albeit a full allocation of visiting supporters is “highly unlikely”.

The two most recent cinch Premiership Glasgow derbies were played in front of home supporters only due to “safety and security” issues.

Previous to that around 800 away supporters were allowed, which in itself was vastly reduced from the approximately 7,500 tickets which were once allocated to visitors.

However, Bisgrove – who will officially take over the role on July 31 – said: “It’s definitely an area we are going to look at.

“We are going to have dialogue with all the right stakeholders and authorities, be that Police Scotland, be that Celtic, and we recognise all the different viewpoints on that and we will see where those discussions go for next season.

“There’s no specific date in the diary for those talks but I would imagine that during the summer and before the next Old Firm game that the dialogue would take place.

“For next season, the season tickets have not been sold in the corner of the Govan stand, where the allocation was previously.

“So for next season we do have the opportunity should we decide to restore that allocation of about 700-800, that’s our maximum for next season.

“Beyond that it’s a broader conversation. We need to have that dialogue with those stakeholders because there’s a lot of different views on it.”

Celtic fans had traditionally occupied the Broomloan Stand at Ibrox for Old Firm clashes, with Rangers supporters housed in the corner of the Main Stand and Jock Stein Stand at Celtic Park.

Bisgrove said: “We’ll take the decision that is right for Rangers and is right for our supporters.

“I think the question was, ‘is there the chance to go back to the traditional allocation of 8,000?’ I think that’s very unlikely at the moment.

“We need to see where the conversations go. But I don’t think that is imminent at the moment.”

The Viaplay Cup final and the Scottish Cup semi-final between Rangers and Celtic this season were played at Hampden Park with a 50-50 split of tickets.

Marco Silva praised Roy Hodgson’s impact at Crystal Palace since his return, which has seen the Eagles find their feet in front of goal and climb the Premier League table.

Hodgson, who took over from Patrick Vieira in March, has steered the Eagles to safety with five wins in eight matches. There has also been an upturn in attacking output, with the south London club scoring 15 goals since their 4-1 defeat to Arsenal two months ago.

Fulham boss Silva talked up Palace’s improved attacking form, attributing it to the confidence former England boss Hodgson has instilled in his squad since his arrival.

https://twitter.com/FulhamFC/status/1659151853245038593?s=20

“The new manager impact for sure (has helped them in front of goal) because they are in a good moment,” Silva said ahead of Saturday’s clash between the teams at Craven Cottage.

“It was a matter of confidence for them to find goals because they have the quality, the talent up front, to punish any team in this league.

“When they won the first game under Roy (Hodgson) and then the second, the confidence came again on different levels and they’re now expressing themselves, you can feel during the matches.

“The way some of their players are playing right now you can feel they are full of confidence.”

Silva’s side dismantled Palace 3-0 at Selhurst Park in December but the Fulham boss admitted he expects a different challenge on Saturday as he highlighted the form of their young players.

Eagles top goalscorer Eberechi Eze has netted six goals in eight games, including a brace in last week’s 2-0 victory over Bournemouth, and Silva is aware of their attacking threat.

Silva added: “They also have the quality there, (Michael) Olise, Eze, (Wilfried) Zaha, (Odsonne) Edouard, the support they have from the midfielders.

“With the players they have they can go on, I think they have a lot of individual quality in the attacking line.

“You can see the young talents who have the experience already in the Premier League to create many problems for the opposition every time.

“They have some very good connections, the players link (with) each other very well and of course some players in the back line too.

“I think it will be a very good game against a good side who will want to keep the same capacity to get points – and we want to do the same.”

The Cottagers have avoided any threat of relegation on their return to the top flight, spending the majority of the campaign in the top half.

Silva, who stated in the summer that his squad “was not ready” for the league, credited his players for their efforts – they are currently only two points off their record Premier League points tally of 53.

He added: “We showed the capacity to adapt in any moment of the season in  what the season demands of ourselves…some moments without our full squad, without some important players for us.”

Frank Lampard has revealed he tried to sign Erling Haaland for Chelsea during his first spell as the manager at Stamford Bridge.

The Manchester City striker came up against Lampard’s team in a pre-season friendly in 2019 while he was playing for RB Salzburg in Austria.

He scored 28 goals in 22 matches that season before signing for Borussia Dortmund the following summer, but Lampard said he attempted to bring him to west London instead during his 18-month spell in charge between 2019 and 2021.

Ultimately competition for the Norway international’s signature, together with the fact not everybody at Chelsea was convinced that a bid for Haaland would have been the right move, meant that Lampard was left frustrated.

His 36 Premier League goals for title-chasing City this season mean he has scored as many times in the league as the entire Chelsea squad have, with the two teams meeting at the Etihad on Sunday as City look for the victory they need to seal the title.

Chelsea by contrast remain in the bottom half of the table, with their struggles in front of goal this season having shown no sign of easing in recent weeks.

“I’ve got huge respect for him as a player, he’s a player I tried to bring to Chelsea the first time I was here,” said Lampard. “I was really keen to get him here but obviously that couldn’t happen. His level at that point was very clear, we played against him in a pre-season game for Salzburg.

“Credit to him, I love seeing players of that level, I love seeing players of that personality and hunger to play and be the best which he’s proved himself to be. In terms of having to deal with him you have to have obviously a plan and an idea, but players of that level can make anything happen at any moment.

“I think he’s special, I thought he’d adapt straight away just (because of) his level. I think with the level of players and his record of scoring, firstly in Austria then for his country and in the Bundesliga – which is not an easy league – to come into a really good unit already.

“The rest is just credit to himself and the team around him. I did expect that, it’s not just an easy hindsight answer, I’ve got real respect for the player.

“I don’t know whether he would have decided to come here anyway but I was a big fan. There are some of those that happen that people don’t know about that could have been this way, people talk a lot about mistakes and the things that could have been in football.

“Whether he would have come I don’t know, but I was pushing big, and for a couple of other players as well. But he was the outstanding one.

“From our point I was pushing it, I’m not sure what the appetite everywhere else in the club was to do it. The competition was big to take him because he was an outstanding player. I think there was a buyout clause at the time which I think was relatively reasonable given the player (he joined Dortmund for around £17million). I don’t have enough detail to say how close it was.”

Lampard has two matches left of his interim spell in charge, with Manchester United at Old Trafford and Newcastle at Stamford Bridge to come after City.

He has won only once during his eight games in the job, a 3-1 victory at Bournemouth earlier in May, with six defeats having come in that time including a Champions League exit to Real Madrid.

Mauricio Pochettino is expected to be confirmed as the permanent successor to Graham Potter, who was sacked on April 2, in the coming days, and he will have a huge rebuild on his hands after a disastrous season for the club.

Despite the poor form, Lampard said he has no regrets about agreeing to take over in the short-term from Potter.

“I have enjoyed it, I get asked it a lot,” he said. “You want to always get results but you have to be realistic in football.  When I came into this, the Champions League dream that everyone talked to me about, (saying) it’s been done before, can we do it again?

“The realistic answer was we were where we were in the league for a reason. Our view was to try and beat Real Madrid then possible City to get to a final. In terms of the rest of the job, it’s been how many small wins can I try and impact behind the scenes. You can’t always impact results.

“Generally there’s a lot of work to do here. I can have a certain impact with certain individuals within the group because I have a big feeling for the club.”