In the buildup to Arsenal’s trip to Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night, with his side trailing Liverpool by 11 points, Mikel Arteta was repeatedly prodded with metaphorical sticks by interrogators hoping he would publicly concede that what passed for the title race was over. It was no great surprise that he refused to do so, even if what passed for the title race was clearly over. “Mathematically, it’s possible,” he said of Arsenal’s Hollywood-actor-on-Ozempic slim chances of reeling in Liverpool … and that was before his team fell two further points behind Arne Slot’s side in the title race after failing to beat Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.

While the good news for the Spaniard is that it remains mathematically possible for Arsenal to win the title, it is becoming increasingly improbable with each passing match. Working on what currently looks an entirely misguided presumption that Arsenal will throw caution to the wind, stick a free-scoring Gunnersaurus up front and win all their remaining games, Liverpool can still win the title with three games to spare. As luck would have it, the first of those three dead rubbers would be against – you’ve guessed it – Arsenal, whose players would at least get to applaud the new champions out on to the Anfield sward and experience first hand what it feels like to play in a stadium packed to the rafters with delirious fans whose team has just won the Premier League title. Arteta might be better advised to look down rather than up mind, as even a thicko like Football Daily can tell that on current form, the possibility of his side failing to qualify for next season’s Bigger Cup is far greater than that of them catching Liverpool, whose manager also wisely refused to acknowledge the title race is over as a meaningful contest.

“I don’t know because I don’t think that way,” said Slot, following his side’s fairly tranquil home victory over an Alexander Isak-less Newcastle side who haven’t won at Anfield since the Jurassic era. “I think about Paris Saint-Germain already,” he added, quickly changing the subject to the first leg of next week’s Bigger Cup game against a team who also enjoy a 13-point lead at the top of their table in a competition many English pundits have been known to sniffily dismiss as an uncompetitive Farmers’ League. Meanwhile in another maligned and nearby championship, runaway leaders Celtic also lead their nearest rivals by 13 points, in a state of affairs that is bound to prompt horrified speculation in some quarters that the so-called Best League In The World™ is actually becoming no more competitive than the Scottish Premiership.

… but it’s not Arne.

Join Rob Smyth from 8pm GMT for hot Premier League minute-by-minute coverage of West Ham 3-1 Leicester City.

“If I have one message to our president, it’s lay off the ridiculous rhetoric about Canada being the 51st state. As an American, I’m ashamed of the arrogance and disregard that we’ve shown one of our historically oldest, strongest and most loyal allies” – Jesse Marsch digs out USA USA USA president Donald Trump over recent comments about the nation of his current employers. Roll on the Concacaf Nations League finals next month and a possible match-up.

I too would like to jump on the Tottenham Hotspur nomenclature bandwagon (Football Daily letters passim) and insist that all future mentions of Grafarvogur’s finest include their full name – Ungmennafelagio Fjolnir – as they list towards a mid-table or potential playoff spot in the Icelandic second tier. The first league game, against Knattspyrnudeild Keflavík, is not until 2 May. So, plenty of time for your scribes to prepare” – David Scott.

Alongside Dan Davis’ excellent list of happenings in response to your ‘Beyond wars, what story from the 20th century was bigger than the sinking of the Titanic?’ (yesterday’s Football Daily letters), I’d like to add Micah Richards” – Roger Warner.

Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … David Scott, who gets some Football Weekly merch. We’ll be in touch. Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here.

Ninety minutes on the clock at the Racecouse Ground and Wrexham are bound for a celebrity-filled day out to London in the Freight Rover Trophy final, home fans nervous but already belting out “que sera sera”. Cue Bradley Ihionvien’s added-time intervention for Peterborough United, securing a 2-2 draw and sending the game to penalties, which Posh would go on to win 4-2. “We’ve thrown away the chance to go to Wembley,” fumed Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson. “All we’ve got to do is head the ball out of the box, deal with it and we’re at Wembley.” As for Peterborough, they can look forward to a final against Birmingham City in April. “There will be 70-odd thousand and we will play against the best team in the league and we can look forward to it,” whooped manager Darren Ferguson.

A senior figure in English football allegedly gave an underage girl £150 after raping her, high court documents claim. The man, who works in the Premier League but is protected by a court anonymity order, is being sued for damages by a woman for rape and sexual assault, which allegedly took place at his home in the 1990s when she was 15.

Two Premier League summer transfer windows, Richard? Two? That’s insane!

Sarina Wiegman reckons the Lionesses’ 1-0 Nations League victory over Spain shows they can compete with the world’s best. “We’ve shown that before and it was really good to show that again,” she roared. “Mainly to ourselves, but also of course when you play such an intense game, I think the fans [too].”

Manchester United are back to winning ways, beating Ipswich 3-2, but the post-match discourse still surrounds dramaaaaaaa, what with Alejandro Garnacho stomping down the tunnel on being sacrificed – not literally – by Ruben Amorim following Patrick Dorgu’s first-half red card. “You are making a connection with [Marcus] Rashford, right?” sniffed the Portuguese when quizzed after the match. “I know, I know. What I’m saying is I’m going to obviously talk with Garnacho about that. So I will talk about that if you want in the next press conference.”

In who-could-have-predicted-it news, Arsenal continue to pay for not paying for a striker, drawing 0-0 at second-place rivals Nottingham Forest. “[We showed] unquestionable character, how much we wanted it and tried,” cheered manager Mikel Arteta. “We dominated the game. We tried in many different ways. We persisted but lacked that spark, that final pass to unlock a well-organised team.”

Elsewhere in the Premier League, Manchester City’s 1-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur or Spurs has propelled them back into the top four, while Everton’s David Moyes bounce continues after their 1-1 draw at Brentford.

And Cardiff boss Omer Riza is prioritising their ongoing battle to stay in the second tier over the chance of FA Cup glory as they prepare for a fifth-round clash at Aston Villa. “I’m frustrated if I’m honest,” he sighed. “It should be a good moment for us on Friday, it’s a really big game, but there are a lot of things we need to contend with at the moment. I’d like to put my strongest team out so you can have a real go at it – and if we were 12th in the league I’d have no issues with that. But we have just got too many far more important games coming up, which is about surviving and staying in the Championship.”

Ben Bloom takes a deep dive into the tumult caused by a crypto mogul’s plan to merge Bedford’s two non-league clubs.

Max Rushden on the anti-referee epidemic around Europe.

Norwegian FA chief Lise Klaveness gets her chat on with Philippe Auclair about Fifa reforms, speaking out over Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Gaza, and her bid for a place on for Uefa’s ExCo.

Grace Clinton is England’s future, writes Jonathan Liew, after the Manchester United midfielder’s impressive display in the win over Spain. And Tom Garry reflects on a performance the players described as “proper English”.

Philipp Lahm marks Bayern Munich’s 125th birthday by outlining the simple secret to their success.

And Plymouth Argyle fans salivating over their trip to Manchester City can get in the mood with Steven Pye’s reliving of how they once reached the FA Cup semis.

Looping back to the rooftops of Florence in September 2014 with the Viola’s new signing … Micah Richards … for this interview. “I don’t speak Italian and I don’t really have any mates in Florence,” he explained. “I just thought it was the right thing to move here. It’s a good league, a beautiful place, the lifestyle is unbelievable – just look at the views – and the people here are so friendly.”