TAMPA, Fla. -- The most unique transformation of a ballpark in Major League Baseball history launched in earnest Sunday at 5 p.m.

That was when the Tampa Bay Rays, after playing a Grapefruit League game against the New York Yankees as the visiting team, were handed the keys to George M. Steinbrenner Field, which will be the Rays' residence for the 2025 season. It began an unprecedented four-day mission to make their rival team's stadium look and feel like their own before Friday's sold-out season opener against the Colorado Rockies.

The Rays will play their entire 81-game home schedule at Steinbrenner Field this season because in October, Hurricane Milton tore through Tropicana Field, their home across the bay in St. Petersburg since their inaugural season in 1998. Winds that reached 120 mph shredded chunks of the building's fiberglass roof. The damage was deemed too extensive to repair in time to play baseball in 2025.

Converting Steinbrenner Field -- the home of the Yankees every spring, and of their Single-A affiliate Tampa Tarpons, since 1996 -- was a massive undertaking. MLB pushed back the Rays' home opener from Thursday to Friday, giving the organization an extra day to prepare. Still, more than 80 Rays staff members and more than 50 contractors from five companies contributed around the clock. The plan included rebranding the property with more than 3,000 signs, big and small, enough to stretch a mile if laid out end to end.

The Rays were free to repaint, but, in a rare break for the franchise during the upheaval, much painting wasn't necessary because the Yankees' navy blue pantone (PMS 289 C) is not far from the Rays' navy blue (PMS 648 C). There was one thing explicitly off limits during the ballpark makeover: the 600-pound bronze statue of George Steinbrenner, the late Yankees owner, standing on a marble pedestal by the main entrance.

The work covered every nook and cranny, obvious and obscure, from the home clubhouse, which was open to the Rays starting Monday at 4:30 p.m., to the two team stores on the property to the massive "Y-A-N-K-E-E-S" lettering above the right- and left-field stands. There were cranes and scissor lifts and cameras to record a time-lapse video of something that has never been done: a major league team moving out of a stadium after spring training and another one moving into it for the summer.

"We're not going to get every single pinstripe gone in the next four days and that's not really the goal," Rays chief business officer Bill Walsh said Sunday, shortly after the Rays were given the green light to take over the ballpark. "The goal is to have this place feel -- when you're walking around, when you're sitting in the seating bowl -- to feel like this is the home of the Rays."

Above all, Walsh noted, is making the stadium feel like home for the players.

On Sunday, they played as the road team against the Yankees. On Wednesday, less than 72 hours later, players walked into the home clubhouse for the first time ahead of a team workout. That gave them 48 hours to become acclimated to their new surroundings after calling Port Charlotte, 90 minutes south, home for the previous six weeks. Rays manager Kevin Cash didn't expect a difficult transition for a team looking forward to the end of the spring training grind and playing games that count.

"I mean, getting out of Port Charlotte," Cash joked, "they'll take f---ing anything."

PLAYING A FULL season in the spring home of a division rival qualifies as less than ideal. Multiple options in the area were considered. Steinbrenner Field was deemed the most major-league-ready choice. A one-year deal between the Rays and Yankees was struck in November giving the Rays full-time use of the stadium and New York more than $15 million in return.

Steinbrenner Field was already undergoing the final phase of a substantial renovation to player and staff facilities with health and wellness upgrades that include a two-story weight room, a kitchen with a dedicated staff and a players' lounge with an arcade.

The project -- which began last offseason with the renovation of the home clubhouse -- made the stadium more of a fit for the Rays, beyond its convenient location. More work was required to bring the building up to MLB regular-season standards, including remodeling the visiting clubhouse and improvements to cabling and broadcast infrastructure.

The Tarpons will play their home games at a field next to the stadium that was upgraded with lights and seating for 1,000 people. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred estimated the entire operation would cost $50 million.

"A gentleman from the Yankees said this in one of our first meetings: 'We may not root for you on the field, but we can root for you to have a field,'" Walsh recalled. "We just appreciate the collaborative spirit that they really put forth here."

Still, Steinbrenner Field seats just 11,026. The Rays ranked 28th in attendance across the majors last season, but their 16,515 average was still significantly higher than their new home's capacity. Further complicating the situation, the organization had already renewed their season-ticket base for Tropicana Field in 2025 by September.

Playing in an open-air stadium during a Florida summer will be an issue, too, between the unforgiving heat and constant rain. MLB moved first-pitch times starting in June back from 7:05 p.m. to 7:35 p.m. and gave the Rays more home games before June. Tampa Bay will play 19 of its first 22 games at home and 37 of its first 54 games there.

To prepare for the inevitable elements, director of special projects and field operations Dan Moeller had six of the Rays' eight full-time groundskeepers work Yankees Grapefruit League home games alongside the Yankees' crew, while two stayed behind to maintain the team's 85 acres around Tropicana Field.

Moeller said his crew helped pull out the tarp twice this spring, good practice for when the games matter. Tropicana Field, unsurprisingly, has never housed a tarp. The first one in franchise history will have a Budweiser logo on what is prime advertising real estate.

The work won't be entirely foreign to Moeller and his grounds crew. They maintain the team's six natural fields in Port Charlotte. Moeller, who was hired by the franchise in 1997, also previously worked on the team's five outdoor fields, including Al Lang Stadium, at their former spring training complex in St. Petersburg through 2008.

"I'm not quite sure what to expect," Moeller said. "But we got the best grounds crew in the major leagues and we'll deal with whatever's thrown at us. My guys are up for the task, and they're excited about it."

VETERAN SECOND BASEMAN Brandon Lowe considered Sunday's game against the Yankees at Steinbrenner Field more important than a typical exhibition. For him, it was an opportunity to become more familiar with the ballpark. With ground balls on the playing surface. With the background from the batter's box.

"I feel like baseball players are very resilient and very good at adapting to changes," said Lowe, who lives in Tampa and will have his commute to work cut significantly. (His manager isn't so lucky -- Cash, who lives in St. Petersburg, said his will increase from just eight minutes to 25.)

The afternoon served as a reminder that it wasn't home quite yet. The Rays heard a smattering of cheers, but the loudest ones were for Aaron Judge and the Yankees for a game that ended in a tie and doubled as a dress rehearsal for the organization.

Up in the 29-seat press box, the Rays' public relations team tried to figure out how it would handle large groups of media during the regular season and potentially beyond, while TV and radio broadcast teams adapted themselves to their new workplace.

One problem they encountered: Broadcasters can't see the bullpens from the booths. The Rays would have to install new camera feeds.

Ryan Bass, the team's sideline reporter for Fanduel Sports Network Sun, noted there often might not be enough room for him to sit in the camera wells next to the dugouts during games as he normally does.

"From our perspective, doing TV each and every day, we got to figure out, during the course of the season, what the best method is for making sure we bring Rays baseball to fans," Bass said before Sunday's game. "I think from what you see March 28th to what you see April 27th, will be completely different just from being really able to get a feel with so many home games to start the year."

After the game, Yankees manager Aaron Boone finished packing up his office and left it for Cash.

"I'm getting out of here today," Boone said with a smile, "so I'll leave him something."

For the Rays, the pace was frenetic. Sunday evening, when reached by phone for an interview just 90 minutes after Tampa Bay was given clearance to start the makeover, Walsh kindly asked if he could call back in five minutes.

"Sorry," he said, "I'm hanging up a sign."

Around him, the outfield walls were being power-washed for advertisement installations on Monday, sod featuring ads from Yankees sponsors was being cut out and replaced, one of the team stores was being stocked with Rays gear, and, with help from Walsh, signs were going up everywhere.

The next morning, the Yankees packed and moved out of the home clubhouse ahead of a flight to Miami, emptying the room for the next tenants.

As they did so, Yankees reliever Scott Effross asked a clubhouse attendant a question that was on everybody's minds this spring: What are the Rays going to do with the giant Yankees logo light fixture suspended from the ceiling in the middle of the room?

The answer, revealed Wednesday, was covering it with a Rays-branded box. Nearby, a nonslip, Rays-branded rug concealed tiling leading to the showers with "The Bronx" spelled out on it. Down the hall, Rays logos replaced Yankees logos on training tables and whirlpool tiles. In the press box, photos of former Rays and framed media guide covers were hung.

Outside, beyond the center-field wall, on the facade facing Dale Mabry Highway, a billboard was mounted featuring the organization's "Rays Up" tagline, to let every car speeding past the ballpark know George M. Steinbrenner Field is the home of the Rays.

At the bottom, however, is a reminder that it is only temporary:

"THANK YOU, YANKEES!"

"With Bristol we know what we're getting - it's probably a supercharged version of the way we attack," Gloucester director of rugby George Skivington told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"We know it's going to be fast, we know it's going to be a lot of actual minutes of running round.

"I think our attack is closer to Bristol and they do a lot of good stuff at set-pieces as well. I don't think our identity is a million miles away.

"They are very wide-to-wide and they have some great one-off moments and Pat's very sharp with the areas he targets in games."

Gloucester finished ninth last season and were the second-lowest scorers in the league, ahead of only Newcastle.

However, the signings of Wales scrum-half Tomos Williams and fly-half Gareth Anscombe last summer have helped revolutionise their backline.

When the two sides met in September's reverse fixture in round two at Ashton Gate, Gloucester edged an 85-point thriller 44-41.

Lam said they were "shocked" by the Cherry and Whites that day.

"It's fair to say they shocked us in round two - we didn't expect they'd come out playing that way, and having Tomos Williams and Gareth Anscombe and Santi Carreras they certainly played to their strengths," Lam said.

Connacht and Munster welcome back Irish internationals for the United Rugby Championship interprovincial showdown at MacHale Park on Saturday (14:30 GMT).

The hosts bring in Mack Hansen, Bundee Aki, Finlay Bealham and captain Cian Prendergast for what will be the first time a professional Connacht game is held in County Mayo, and the first time rugby is played at the Castlebar venue in its 95-year history.

The Ireland quartet are among seven Connacht changes from the 43-40 defeat by Ospreys in Wales.

Chay Mullins, Jordan Duggan and Sean Jansen also come into the starting XV.

Munster have three Irish internationals back in their side as Tadhg Beirne, Jack Crowley and Calvin Nash return.

The visitors are also boosted by the return of Oli Jager and Craig Casey from injury as they make five changes from the 28-25 defeat by Glasgow Warriors last weekend.

Munster sit sixth in the standings and three points above 12th-placed Connacht.

Connacht: Hansen; Mullins, Gavin, Aki, Treacy; Ioane, Blade; Duggan, Heffernan, Bealham; Joyce, Murray, Prendergast (capt), Hurley-Langton, Jansen.

Replacements: Tierney-Martin, Buckley, Aungier, Murphy, Boyle, Devine, Hanrahan, Cordero.

Munster: O'Connor; Nash, Farrell, Nankivell, O'Brien; Crowley, Casey; Loughman, Barron, Jager; Wycherley, Beirne (capt); Ahern, Hodnett, Coombes.

Replacements: N Scannell, Wycherley, Archer, Kleyn, Quinn, Murray, R Scannell, Kendellen.

Bath: De Glanville; Cokanasiga, Ojomoh, Redpath, Muir; Russell, Spencer; Obano, Dunn, Stuart, Molony, Ewells, Hill, Read, Barbeary

Replacements: Annett, Van Wyk, Du Toit, Pepper, Underhill, Carr-Smith, Butt, Coetzee

Harlequins: T Green; Isgro, Beard, Northmore, David; Smith, Porter; Baxter, Walker, Lamositele, Herbst, Lewies, Kenningham, Lawday, Cunningham-South

Replacements: Riley, Els, Jones, Launchbury, Hammond, Schmid, Care, Benson

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe

Carlo Ancelotti hit out at Javier Tebas on Friday, saying the LaLiga president is "obsessed" with Real Madrid and "lacked respect" for coaches after Tebas' latest comments in the row over players' rest between games.

Ancelotti has said his team will refuse to play in future if they are given fewer than 72 hours' break, after Madrid were unhappy with LaLiga's scheduling of their 2-1 win at Villarreal on March 15.

Tebas appeared to indirectly criticise Ancelotti's management of his players when asked about the issue at a conference on Thursday, saying "since COVID, you can make five substitutions, but then you make three substitutions in the 85th minute, and you complain."

"I knew [Tebas] was obsessed with Real Madrid, but I didn't know he wanted to be a coach," Ancelotti responded, when asked about the comments in a news conference on Friday. "[Tebas] should focus more on his own things. He lacked a bit of respect, to Real Madrid and to coaches."

The scheduling row is the latest in a series of clashes between Madrid and the league on a number of issues.

Speaking ahead of Madrid's game with Leganés at the Santiago Bernabéu, Ancelotti sought to add some nuance to his threat.

"I must add something: we won't play [with under 72 hours' rest] without justification," he said. "It might be that nobody can change [the time], there might not be enough time, for many reasons.

"But for [the] Villarreal [game], it could have been changed. Villarreal and the television companies wanted to. Only LaLiga didn't. There was no justifiable reason."

Ancelotti categorically denied that the Brazil Football Confederation (CBF) had contacted him in recent days over coaching the national team, following Brazil 4-1 defeat to Argentina in World Cup qualifying.

The Italian has previously been strongly linked with the position, but has a contract at the Bernabéu until June 2026.

"My contract speaks for itself," Ancelotti said. "I don't have anything to add. I have a lot of affection for the Brazil team, its players and fans. But I have a contract at Real Madrid."

On Thursday, UEFA announced that it was investigating four Madrid players -- Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior, Antonio Rüdiger and Dani Ceballos -- over their behaviour following their penalty shootout victory over Atlético Madrid in the Champions League round of 16 on March 12.

Real play Arsenal in the quarterfinals next month.

"We trust UEFA to do what they have to," Ancelotti said. "We believe [their behaviour] was all correct. The players celebrated. We'll wait for UEFA to say something. We're confident it will all turn out OK."

Antoine Griezmann is likely to stay at Atlético Madrid next season, sources have told ESPN, despite his longstanding interest in playing in MLS, and links with a move to LAFC.

Forward Griezmann, 34 -- whose contract expires in 2026 -- remains a key player for Atlético, making 28 appearances in LaLiga this season.

The former France international has spoken frequently about his desire to end his career in the United States, calling it a "target" fuelled partly by his love of U.S. sports.

Sources told ESPN that Griezmann is now likely to continue at Atlético in 2025-26, rather than seek a move to MLS at this stage.

However, if Atlético were to ask high-earner Griezmann to consider a move in order to free up space on their wage bill, the player would be willing to consider it, sources said.

Griezmann has been frequently linked with joining LAFC, whose squad includes his former international teammates Hugo Lloris and Olivier Giroud.

"I've always said it, my target is to end up [in MLS]," Griezmann told ESPN in 2023. "It's my objective, to be there and end my career there, to be able to enjoy the sports there. I'm a big fan."

Atlético strengthened their forward line last summer by signing Julián Álvarez and Alexander Sørloth, leading to speculation that a departure for Griezmann could be imminent.

"Antoine is a fantastic player, a great person and an Atlético Madrid man," Atlético president Enrique Cerezo said on Thursday. "We have a great friendship and relationship with Griezmann. He'll do what he wants to do. It's him who has to take the decision to be here or be elsewhere."

Griezmann is Atlético's all-time leading goalscorer, but is yet to win either LaLiga or the Champions League with the club.

The team are third in LaLiga -- seven points behind leaders Barcelona -- and face Barça next week in their Copa del Rey semifinal second leg, having been eliminated from the Champions League by Real Madrid in the round of 16.

Is Marcus Rashford really on the way back to his best form at Aston Villa? Or has his recall to the England team given a false impression of the forward's form since escaping his Manchester United misery on loan in January? It is a 40 million question that Villa must answer over the next two months.

If Villa are convinced, a permanent transfer from United for a pre-agreed 40m fee will happen this summer. But if question marks remain, Rashford will be sent back to Old Trafford with three years left on his 325,000-a-week contract and little hope of resurrecting his career at his boyhood club, where coach Ruben Amorim has repeatedly made clear that the player has no place in his future plans.

Rashford, 27, is set to make his 10th appearance for Villa in their FA Cup quarterfinal away to EFL Championship team Preston North End on Sunday (stream LIVE, 8:25 a.m. ET, ESPN+) and it will be another opportunity for him to give a clear indication as to whether he really is back on an upwards trajectory, or if the positive spin on his recent performances is nothing more than deflection from a harsher reality.

Few players divide opinion as much as Rashford. If there are doubters and believers, Amorim and his Old Trafford predecessor, Erik ten Hag, are firmly in the "doubters" camp; Villa coach Unai Emery and England's new boss Thomas Tuchel are in the latter, with both men showing faith in him in recent months.

United supporters, frustrated by Rashford's failure to justify his huge salary, would point to his lack of consistency, goal threat or team-play prior to his move to Villa, almost two months after his last appearance under Amorim. Though his new fans at Villa Park would cite his blossoming partnership with fellow loanee Marco Asensio as proof that Emery is reigniting his dormant career.

Precisely where Rashford is right now comes down to interpretation and subjectivity. Are four assists and no goals in nine appearances for Villa a positive return, or an underwhelming contribution? Did his England recall for the World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia, a year after his last international appearance, prove that Villa were right to gamble on a player whose career had ground to a halt at United?

Rashford's performance data this season, for both United and Villa, is inconclusive and only allows the doubters and believers to cherry-pick evidence to suit their respective arguments.

According to ESPN Global Sports Research, Rashford averaged more sprints per 90 minutes for United this season (21.33) than he has at Villa (17.01). But paradoxically, he has covered more metres per 90 minutes (10,745.9) for Villa than he managed at United (10,204.3) before being dropped by Amorim.

So is he working smarter under Emery, or did Amorim not see the work-rate Rashford was producing at United?

Rashford was also more productive in front of goal for United than he has been at Villa, for whom he still hasn't scored. In 23 appearances for United, Rashford recorded an Expected Goals (xG) tally of 3.88, with seven goals in all competitions. At Villa, his xG is 1.59, with no goals in 9 games. But, perhaps because of Rashford's fruitful partnership with Asensio -- for whom Rashford has laid on four assists -- his Expected Assists (xA) figure is higher at Villa (3.26) than it was at United (2.11).

England coach Tuchel urged Rashford to show "more dribbling and more aggressive runs towards the box" during his underwhelming return to the international scene, when he failed to score or assist in two games against Albania and Latvia and registered an xG of 0.03 and xA of 1.

Former England and Arsenal forward Ian Wright said after those two games that Rashford's reluctance to take on and beat his defender could cost him a place in future squads.

"The ball gets to him and I'm thinking 'right, yes, go,' and it feels like he's going to do it, then he stops and then he comes back," he said. "There's something that's stopping him, but he's got to play like he's going to fail. If I take this guy on and he tackles me, he tackles me -- but I might get past him; and then when he does get past people, the actual decision is not great."

The big winners from Rashford's return to the England team might be United, whose desperation to offload their one-time boy wonder was given a boost by Tuchel's decision to restore him to the Three Lions squad. Rashford may have been fortunate to be recalled, but from a United perspective it was only a positive that can increase the player's transfer value.

Yet Rashford's failure to make a compelling case that he is on the path to redemption is perhaps the clearest indicator that he still needs to do more. Lucky for him: this is the time of the season to do it.

Villa are just three games from winning the FA Cup for the first time since 1957 and are dreaming of emulating the club's 1982 European Cup winners by going all the way in the UEFA Champions League, with Paris Saint-Germain to overcome in the quarterfinals.

Despite his critics and detractors, Rashford has a good record of delivering in the big games and he has plenty of those in the weeks ahead. How he performs will decide whether he really is on the way back or if his best days are firmly in the past.

In a Premier League season that has almost defied logic and predictions, this campaign could end with Nottingham Forest, Brighton & Hove Albion and Fulham qualified for next season's Champions League, and Manchester City missing out on European competition altogether.

Anyone making such a prediction last August would have had their sanity questioned, but that shocking scenario remains a firm possibility as the season boils toward a climax following this international break.

At least the title race looks settled. Liverpool will surely be crowned champions, as they hold a 12-point lead over Arsenal with only nine games to play.

The Gunners can cling to the hope that Liverpool might be running out of energy if their lifeless Wembley display against Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup final is any indicator. But that is almost certainly clutching at straws. Even if Arsenal win every remaining game, including a trip to Anfield on May 10, Liverpool can still afford to lose three times -- and they've only been beaten once all season in league play.

Arsenal's run-in includes home games against Fulham, Brentford, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Newcastle -- all talented teams. It is a good bet that the Gunners will not win all of those, even if the much-missed Bukayo Saka's return from a long-term injury is reportedly imminent. Not bringing in another striker in January was a costly error for Arsenal -- Mikel Merino is doing his best as an emergency No. 9, but it is far from ideal.

My guess is that this international break will have given Liverpool a chance to reset after a nasty few days in which manager Arne Slot suffered his first back-to back defeats since joining the club -- losing against Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle -- and the squad was perhaps emotionally drained. Their next assignment, a Merseyside derby against Everton, will concentrate their minds, but will be no formality given the Toffees' excellent form since David Moyes returned as their manager.

There is no doubt Liverpool and Arsenal will clinch two of a probable five English places in next season's Champions League -- but who gets the other three slots is a puzzle even harder to solve than a Rubik's Cube while blindfolded. The entire top half of the table is involved in this drama, and it's impossible to know who will be sitting in the posh seats when the music stops in May.

Nottingham Forest -- European champions twice under Brian Clough in the 1970s, but strugglers for the last decade or so -- have been the surprise team of the season. But their lofty third position in the Premier League table is no fluke, and they look unlikely to blow their chance of returning to Europe's elite competition as Nuno Espirito Santo's astute management has taken Forest seven points clear of sixth place. A top-five spot looks nailed on unless nerves paralyze them during the final lap, which includes five games at the atmospheric City Ground and only four matches away.

This Forest team has no real weakness -- they boast a good goalkeeper in Matz Sels, a top defensive pairing of Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic, two flying wingers in Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi, a classy No. 10 in Morgan Gibbs-White, and the goal-scoring virtuoso that is Chris Wood.

By contrast, Manchester City's implosion has given the season an unexpected twist of a different kind. As manager Pep Guardiola puts it: "We are not what we were, but will be next season." That sounds like a warning to the rest of the Premier League.

The fact is City's nine defeats so far are more than in their previous two seasons combined. There's no telling if they can even hold on to a top-five position, though a home game with doomed Leicester next in league play should calm any nerves.

The FA Cup could also provide salvation as the winner gets a Europa League place, but even here City have a tricky tie at Bournemouth on Sunday (stream LIVE, 12:25 p.m. ET, ESPN+) to negotiate in the quarterfinals. Either way, this is a City team in transition and you can expect major summer surgery with some big-name exits.

Chelsea, meanwhile, are in fourth place, and according to a bizarre claim by Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, they have the "best attack in the country." That might be news even to the most devout fans at Stamford Bridge.

Of the teams in the top five, Enzo Maresca's Chelsea look the most flaky and vulnerable, especially as the injured Cole Palmer is going through a dip in form. Unconvincing since Christmas, Chelsea still have to play Liverpool and a resurgent Manchester United at home, a feisty grudge match against Tottenham, and draining trips to Newcastle and Forest. Any slip could open the door for Newcastle, where the party to celebrate their first domestic trophy in 70 years might last forever.

The international break has been good news for manager Eddie Howe, who has the job of getting Newcastle players off cloud nine and into next season's Champions League. The lift in morale and confidence, plus the form of their key starters Bruno Guimaraes and Dan Burns, make the Magpies dangerous contenders now. Apart from a trip to Arsenal, their run-in looks manageable if Alexander Isak continues his lethal striking form.

Waiting in the wings -- and definitely close enough to strike -- are Brighton and Fulham.

The Seagulls had their wings clipped 7-0 at Forest, but Brighton since reeled off six wins and battled to a very decent 2-2 draw at Manchester City. They are a slick outfit with good options all over the pitch and are fueled by the midfield power of young Carlos Baleba, another player who will surely be transferred at a huge profit sometime soon.

Home games against Aston Villa, Newcastle and Liverpool might decide Brighton's fate. They also have the welcome excitement of the FA Cup quarterfinals, in which they face Forest this weekend.

Fulham are only three points off the Champions League places after their win over Spurs before the international break, and Crystal Palace await them in the FA Cup on Saturday (stream LIVE, 8:10 a.m. ET, ESPN+). Silverware and a return to Europe are definite possibilities for a Cottagers team featuring the pacey creative work of U.S. international Antonee Robinson, who has most assists of any defender in the league. The only fly in the ointment at Craven Cottage is a difficult end to the season that includes games against six teams in the top half.

Of course, Aston Villa -- buoyed by the flying form of seven-goal duo Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford since they arrived -- are still very much involved in the race for European places for next season. Given their brilliant run to the quarterfinals of this season's Champions League, a return to the competition feels even more important now. A mountainously tough tie against Liverpool's conquerors, Paris Saint-Germain, awaits, and Asensio can play against his parent club under UEFA guidelines. One problem for Villa is an injury to striker Ollie Watkins.

The FA Cup is also very much on Villa's radar, too, and they will certainly be favorites to beat Championship team Preston away to advance to the semifinals. A treble-hunting Villa will keep big fan Prince William on tenterhooks this spring.

Bournemouth, who have been so good to watch, have lost a little momentum of late while Brentford, despite five successive away wins, have forgotten how to win at their smart home ground at Kew Bridge. Still, don't rule out either good side when it comes to making a late run.

Even Spurs and Manchester United, both in the bottom half after desperate seasons, can sneak into Europe's elite completion next season through the back door by winning this season's Europa League, though Spurs will have to be at their every best to cope with Eintracht Frankfurt. I like Man United's chances better against Lyon after their recent improvement.

Then there's the relegation debate. What debate? All settled. Southampton, Leicester City and Ipswich Town will surely be making an instant return to the Championship. Wolves are nine points clear of the drop zone now and look safe. It is a concern that the three promoted clubs will almost certainly be relegated for the second season in a row, though hard to know what can be done to ease the pathway in future. Teams like Brighton, Brentford and Bournemouth have shown the transition is possible with smart management and recruitment.

That non-race at the bottom of the table means this season's Premier League movie will not get an Oscar nomination, though there is still drama left to unfold, and plenty to be decided in the final reel.