FA Cup, Premier League, EFL and Old Firm game: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action

Rodgers reaches his first English final, Spurs wait on Harry Kane’s ankle and Norwich make a welcome return

Brendan Rodgers’ previous FA Cup semi-final visit, in April 2015, ended in disaster, a deserved 2-1 loss with Liverpool to an Aston Villa team inspired by a teenage Jack Grealish. That was an afternoon when Liverpool froze but six years on, Rodgers is a manager with considerably more chops. His Leicester team approached their Sunday night visit to Wembley with poise, confidence and patience. On the sidelines, and even above the 4,000 fans in the stadium as part of a post-Covid experiment, Rodgers’s baritone was audible, talking his players through each passage of play. His suit is always reassuringly expensive but Rodgers remains a tracksuit manager, someone who mucks in with his players on the training field, and the revival of Kelechi Iheanacho, the winning goalscorer, is another example of his ability to improve talent. And a first final in English football is a mark of Rodgers’ continued growth as a manager. John Brewin

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