Arsenal supporters had almost forgotten what it was like to win without their nerves being shredded. They were reacquainted with the feeling on an occasion when everything felt right from the start and got better and better. It was all over by half-time, Arsenal three goals to the good and the Emirates Stadium purring over a virtuoso Bukayo Saka performance.

The England winger had not been himself before he was forced to take time out at the end of March to rest an achilles problem – and one or two others aches. He was back in the starting XI here and the bang he produced could be heard in Manchester. City do not play until Monday night. They will kick off at Everton six points behind Arsenal at the top, albeit having played two games fewer. Arsenal have turned up the heat inexorably.

It looked as though Saka was immune to the pressure on his club, which has been such a feature of the season and the last few months, especially. When did Arsenal last win in the league with a degree of comfort? It was the 4-1 at Tottenham on 21 February.

Saka made the opening goal for Viktor Gyökeres in the ninth minute, he scored the second himself and he was involved at the beginning of the move for No 3, which was headed home by Gyökeres for his 21st goal of the season in all competitions. Saka set the tone, he calmed and inspired everyone in red, teammates and fans alike. He did not reappear for the second half; it was safe to say his work was done. It was the most devastating of cameos.

Arsenal have looked jaded of late; anxious. Short of creativity and goals. This was a game to restore the collective belief and the plus-three in the goal difference column was very welcome, too. The 22-year wait for the title has pushed the boundaries of obsession. Arsenal can feel it edging closer.

The noise at the outset had been really something; the nervous energy of the Arsenal crowd morphing into tremendous encouragement and their team made the dream start. The breakthrough was all about Saka. When Arsenal isolated him against Raúl Jiménez after working a free-kick short and coming over to the right, the alarm bells rang for Fulham.

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Viktor Gyökeres rises highest to score Arsenal’s third. Photograph: Mark Leech/Offside/Getty Images

Saka went back and then he made his move, jinking up the outside, tying Jiménez in a knot. It was as if the Fulham striker had been freeze-framed; completely taken out of the game. Saka’s low cross was a beauty and Gyökeres, having timed his run, had a tap-in.

Arsenal had gone 1-0 up through Eberechi Eze in exactly the same minute of last Saturday’s game here against Newcastle. It was the prompt for them to sink back, the anxiety to grip. There was a different feel about this occasion. Arsenal were so much more proactive, their tempo was high. They wanted a second goal before the interval and they chased it with conviction. They would get it and then some.

It helped having Saka in this kind of mood. He bristled with assurance on the ball, he was terrifying for everyone in Fulham white. There was a certainty about him when he picked up possession and trained his sights forward. Eze was dangerous in the pockets, Leandro Trossard was very good off the left and it was just an excellent day for Gyökeres.

Arsenal were not disheartened when Gabriel Magalhães was denied at close quarters by Bernd Leno after a Saka corner. Or when the Fulham goalkeeper saved smartly from Gyökeres, Saka dragging the rebound wide. Or when Riccardo Calafiori, who was back after injury, had a goal ruled out for offside in the 27th minute following a Trossard cross. They simply dug deeper, pushed harder. They could feel it was going to be their day. They made it that way.

Saka’s goal for 2-0 was a whipped finish inside Leno’s near post after Gyökeres held up an Eze pass up the inside right and laid it off. Did Leno anticipate a trademark Saka curler for the other corner? Maybe. But this is the thing with Saka. He can hurt you either way.

Arsenal turned the screw and it was 3-0 when Trossard motored up the inside left and hung up a cross for Gyökeres, who looped a fine header home. The move had been sparked when Gabriel stepped up to release Trossard. Before that, it had been Saka retaining the ball with supreme confidence and playing it inside.

Arteta made five changes to the team he sent out at Atlético Madrid on Wednesday in the Champions League semi-final first leg; a high number by his standards. His Atlético counterpart, Diego Simeone, made 11 for his team’s trip to Valencia earlier on Saturday – before Tuesday night’s second leg here. Atlético have little to play for in La Liga. They are fourth and will probably finish there.

Viktor Gyökeres pokes home to open the scoring. Photograph: Marc Atkins/Getty Images

Arteta’s most eye-catching decision was to play Myles Lewis-Skelly in midfield in place of Martín Zubimendi; the 19-year-old has never started an Arsenal game in midfield. He brought plenty of energy and that was the collective theme, really. Arsenal ran all over Fulham, who barely turned up. Marco Silva’s squad have been affected by a virus but they had to be better than this. Fulham have never won away against Arsenal; the run now stands at 33 matches.

Arteta was sufficiently relaxed to withdraw not only Saka but Declan Rice and Gyökeres in the 64th minute and the only question in a more pedestrian second half concerned whether Arsenal could score again. Gyökeres was denied by Leno in a one-on-one while Calafiori watched a header hit the Fulham goalkeeper on the head and come off the crossbar. Leno knew nothing about that. Arsenal know this was a serious statement.

 The Guardian

This summer’s World Cup will be a “bonanza of sportswashing” according to human rights organisations, who claim the Trump administration is using sport as a political tool to “cover up abuses”.

With supporter groups warning they have “absolutely no clue” what will happen to fans if they do “stupid stuff” in the US during the tournament, the Sport and Rights Alliance (SRA), which includes Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International, has called for more to be done to ensure the protection of individual rights at the World Cup, which begins in six weeks.

HRW’s Minky Worden defined sportswashing as the “practice of using a beloved sporting event to attract fans and positive coverage that might also serve to cover up serious human rights abuses” and argued the term – previously used in relation to autocracies or non-democratic regimes – should be applied to the current US administration. The US is co-hosting the tournament with Mexico and Canada.

“This was supposed to be the first ever World Cup with a human rights framework: key protections for workers, fans, players and communities,” Worden said. “Instead, the US administration’s brutal immigration crackdown, discriminatory policies and threats to press freedom mean the tournament risks being defined by exclusion and fear. I think we are here to say that the problem of sportswashing is alive and well and this World Cup will be a bonanza for sportswashing.”

Worden, citing the administration’s use of the World Cup and Winter Olympics to promote its political messages, said: “In the United States, Donald Trump has made a singular effort to weaponise sports, both to cover up the aggressive immigration enforcement campaign and also to present the impression that this [World Cup] is a safe and fun event. Our message today is it’s neither safe nor particularly fun and probably quite unprecedented in the challenges that we’re seeing.”

This month HRW reported that of the 16 host cities only four – Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Vancouver – had published mandatory “Host City Human Rights Action Plans”. There are also concerns over US travel restrictions on a number of nations, including four World Cup qualifiers, and the potential response to any protest in or around host cities in the country.

Martin Endemann, the head of policy at Football Supporters Europe, another SRA member, said his organisation was experiencing less engagement from US authorities than it had with their Qatari counterparts four years ago.

“People don’t really know what to expect,” he said. “Normally we have some expectations, but I have absolutely no clue. I have no clue what happens after the first protest in the stadium. I have no clue what happens at the first protest outside the stadium, maybe from civil society, maybe from the community, maybe from fans. And I have no clue how the police in the US reacts on misdemeanours. Let’s be honest, there will always be fans who do stupid stuff. What will be the response of the American police?”

Fifa and the Department for Homeland Security have been approached for comment.

Fifa’s annual congress takes place in Vancouver on Thursday and Norway’s Lise Klaveness will be among a number of federation presidents seeking assurances that the World Cup poses minimal risk to travelling supporters. The US portion is of particular concern given the prospect of raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operatives.

“We are very concerned that it should be inclusive and safe for everybody regardless of ethnicity, which country you come from, your sexual orientation,” she said. “This is something we know Fifa agrees with us on and we want to address to Fifa leadership how they are working to prevent, for example, ICE actions to make sure all fans can come to the stadiums safely. We hope to speak to Fifa leadership both in the congress and after it to address this issue and support their work in these matters.”

The Guardian

The Iranian men’s national soccer team was one of the first teams to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America, an event shaping up to be FIFA’s largest yet, not only in terms of footprint and participating teams but also commercially, projected to generate upwards of $11 billion in revenue.

But amid the U.S.-Iran war, Iran’s participation in the tournament has remained a question mark.

Last month, Iran’s sports minister made his position clear: “Considering that this corrupt regime has assassinated our leader, under no circumstances can we participate in the World Cup,” he stated.

In a post on Truth Social in March, U.S. President Donald Trump said that while Iran’s team would be “welcome” at the World Cup, “I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety.”

But FIFA President Gianni Infantino says Iran will be “coming for sure.”

“We hope that by then, of course, the situation will be a peaceful situation, that would definitely help,” Infantino told CNBC’s Sara Eisen at CNBC’s Invest in America Forum on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. “But Iran has to come, of course. They represent their people. They have qualified. The players want to play.”

Infantino said that he recently visited with the Iranian team at their training camp in Antalya, Turkey, where he said the team indicated they wanted to play.

“They should play – sports should be outside of politics,” Infantino said. “Now, okay – we don’t live on the moon, we live on planet Earth, but if there is nobody else that believes in building bridges and in keeping them intact and together, well we are doing that.”

Iran is scheduled to play all three of its group stage matches in the U.S.: against New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15, against Belgium in Los Angeles on June 21, and against Egypt in Seattle on June 26. If Iran were to advance in the tournament, its future games would likely be held in the U.S.

The Iranian football federation had previously stated it made a request to FIFA to move its team’s games to Mexico, which is co-hosting the World Cup alongside the U.S. and Canada. However, that request was denied.

The last time a national team withdrew from a FIFA World Cup was 1950, when multiple teams did not participate in the first tournament held post-World War II.

The 2026 World Cup has been facing two other major fan concerns: the cost of tickets, and the safety and security of the millions of international fans expected to attend.

Infantino said that there has been “an unprecedented demand for tickets,” saying that there were more than 500 million ticket requests.

“Security is obviously key, it’s crucial, it’s important,” he said. “You can, of course, always hear and read there are bans or this and that, but the fact is, we received ticket requests from all 211 countries. Everybody’s coming and everybody wants to come.”

With 57 days until the 2026 World Cup begins, Eisen asked Infantino what a successful tournament would look like.

“A win would be that we have a successful World Cup from a security point of view, so no incidents. And from a football point of view, great matches, great games, excitement for the people,” he said.

CNBC