That was fun! Today’s hijinks featured goalkeeping and refereeing ineptitude and some team rousing performances. The Premier League relegation brawl is getting mighty interesting, and West Ham need to wise up sharpish if they’re to avoid getting dragged down. The title is heading to Stamford Bridge but Spurs are putting up an honourable chase, whereas Liverpool stumbled again. The performance of the night was, of course, Partick Thistle’s draw at Celtic.
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John Stones has just missed a sitter for City! from six yards out he sliced the ball over the bar. Hats off to Spurs for their comeback today, but Chelsea will win the title by at least 10 points.
GOAL! Liverpool 2-2 Bournemouth (King 87)
You might have heard this one before: Liverpool have succumbed to late pressure from Bournemouth. King was allowed to control the ball in the box and turn to lash it past Mignolet.
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A near-fatal night for Middlesbrough and a deeply ominous won for West Ham and Swansea. But an encouraging one for Spurs. Here are all the results (and latest scores).
Premier League Arsenal 3-0 West Ham
Hull 4-2 Middlesbrough
Southampton 3-1 Crystal Palace
Swansea 1-3 Spurs
Liverpool 2-1 Bournemouth (Latest)
Chelsea 2-1 Man City (Latest)
Championship:
Newcastle 1-0 Burton Albion
Huddersfield 3-0 Norwich
League One:
Sheffield Utd 2-0 Coventry (Latest)
Oxford Utd 1-2 Fleetwood
SPL
Celtic 1-1 Partick Thistle
Kilmarnock 0-0 Rangers
Motherwell 0-0 Hamilton
St Johnstone 1-0 Hearts
GOAL! Swansea 1-3 Spurs (Alli 90+4)
Spurs top off their comeback in style, Alli ending a sweeping move by notching his second goal of the evening. Spurs have a big gap to make up, no Harry Kane and a mighty tough run-in but they’re certainly not throwing in the towel. Impressive!
GOAL! Swansea 1-2 Spurs (Son 90)
How’s that for ‘Spursy’?! They were headed for a season-ending defeat but Mauricio Pochettino’s tea have rebelled against that prospect and struck two goals in the last three minutes to snatch a thrilling win!
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GOAL! Sheffield United 1-0 Coventry (Clarke 70)
The Blades break the deadlock and close in on promotion.
GOAL! Swansea 1-1 Spurs (Alli 88)
What sort of fool would ever doubt Spurs?! They’ve drawn level thanks to Dele Alli, putting Swansea back in the relegation zone and reviving their own faint title chances: can they go on to nab a late winner?
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GOAL Southampton 3-1 Palace (Ward-Prowse 86)
Three points in the bag.
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GOAL! Arsenal 3-0 West Ham (Giroud 83)
Speaking of the stench of relegation, fill your nostrils, West Ham! Slaven Bilic’s team are stumbling into a swamp. Everything is smelling of roses for Arsenal today, though, as Olivier Giroud scores a beautiful third goal for them. Did I say everything? OK, that was an exaggeration. But this is a good win. And Spurs are blowing their title chances.
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GOAL! Southampton 2-1 Palace (Yoshida 84)
That’s a fine goal to reward Saints’ powerful surge in the last few minutes. And it looks to have sealed a very significant result: if this score stays the same, Southampton will breathe easy while Palace will be sniffing the stench of relegation again.
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Here’s Steven Hughes with news of a plausible theory. “Regarding the Newcatle penalty, someone on the radio, on hearing about the incident, suggests that the referee gave the penalty; that the fourth official disagreed but suffered a breakdown in the radio link to the man in the middle. The penalty got scored and only then was the referee informed that it was, and should have been, a free-kick to Burton all along.” I’d suggest that even if that is not what happened, referee Keith Stroud should say it is.
St Johnstone 1-0 Hearts (Shaughnessey 76)
Oxford 1-2 Fleetwood (Eastham 76)
GOAL! Liverpool 2-1 Bournemouth (Origi 59)
Atonement for Wijnaldum! HIs bad backpass led to the opening goal for Bournemouth but the Dutchman has just helped put his own team in front by delivering a lovely cross to Origi, who finished well.
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Hudderfield 3-0 Norwich (Wells 73)
Another swish move is rewarded with a goal, but Norwich’s keeper should have done much better.
GOALS! Newcastle 1-0 Burton (Ritchie 68) Huddersfield 2-0 Norwich (Mooy 68)
Ritchie puts Newcastle in front with a terrific curling shot from 20 yards. Mooy’s finish for Huddersfield was far more scruffy but came at the end of a very tidy move.
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GOAL! Hull 4-2 Boro (Maguire 70)
That should seal the points for Hull.
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PENALTY MISS!
Moments after falling behind, Celtic won an opportunity to help themselves to the lead again - but Sinclair’s penalty was saved!
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GOAL! Huddersfield 1-0 Norwich (Kachunga 66)
The German sidefoots past the out-rushing keeper to put David Wagner’s team into the lead and reinforce their promotion push.
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GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 West Ham (Walcott 60)
Ozil was the creator, Walcott the finisher. The deserved that goal, too, as he’s performed very well today.
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GOAL! Celtic 1-1 Partick (Azeez 64)
The champions are pegged back by Ade Azeez.
Should a penguin really be considered a bird if it can’t fly? Should Shane Long really be considered a striker if he can’t convert simple chances? He’s brilliant at everything except finishing and has missed two great opportunities so far today.
Nathaniel Clyne roars down the right, cuts in-field and smashes a flaming shot off the crossbar!
Martin Kelly rattles the post at St Mary’s, where Palace remain level with Southampton at 1-1.
Mustafi mows down Snodgrass and escapes with a yellow card. Lanzini blazes the freekick over.
Goalkeeping howlers, bewildering refereeing and slapdash attacking. Playing two rounds of league matches within a few days straight after international is always guaranteed to generate laughs.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 West Ham (Ozil 59)
Who says Ozil doesn’t turn up in bid games?! He’s opened the scoring for Arsenal by, er, sending in a feeble trickler that somehow found a way past Darren Randolph, who looks utterly mortified.
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Buoyed by their unjust second goal, Middlesbrough have been the better team in the second half at Hull. But the hosts still lead 3-2.
GOAL! Celtic 1-0 Partick Thistle (Sinclair)
The excellent Patrick Roberts tees up Sinclair for the opening goal for Celtic, whose pursuit of records continues apace even though the team have seemed a touch groggy from post-title festivities.
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Play is under way again at the Liberty, where Spurs are appealing in vain for a penalty after an accidental handball by Fernandez.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 Bournemouth (Coutinho 40)
Another fine finish by Coutinho after cute work by Firmino! Just seven more goals and Liverpool will leapfrog Spurs into second place if Spurs don’t come back from behind at Swansea.
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Latest scores:
Arsenal 0-0 West Ham HT
Chelsea 2-1 Man City L
Hull 3-2 Boro HT
Liverpool 0-1 Bournemouth L
Southampton 1-1 Palace HT
Swansea 1-0 Spurs HT
Championship:
Newcastle 0-0 Burton Albion
Huddersfield 0-0 Norwich
SPL
Celtic 0-0 Partick Thistle
Kilmarnock 0-0 Rangers
Motherwell 0-0 Hamilton
St Johnstone 0-0 Hearts
“I’m glad to see a Liverpool alumnus (Benteke) and an on-loan player (Markovic) banging in the goals, but I would much prefer one of their current players to follow suit in the next few minutes,” groans Peter Oh. But still nothing doing on that front at Anfield.
The half-time entertainment at St James’ Park consists of Newcastle players imploring referee Keith Stroud to explain why he overturned Matt Ritchie goal from a penalty kick and awarded Burton a freekick instead.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-1 Man City
Cabellero saved Hazard’s penalty but the rebound came back to the Belgian, who stroked it home gratefully.
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PENALTY!
Another blunder at the back by City presents Chelsea with a chance to re-establish their lead. Fernandinho fouled Pedro.
GOAL! Hull 3-2 Boro (De Roon 45)
I say, I say, I say, what’s going on here? Boro have scored two away goals? Yes, it’s true, although the most recent one should not have stood, as De Roon was way offside when he netted. Could that be the change of fortune that will transform Boro’s season? Help them get back into this game? Make those half-time oranges taste a smidgin sweeter? Or provoke an enraged response from Hull?
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GOAL! Southampton 1-1 Palace (Redmond 45)
Cedric crosses from the right. Redmond collects it about 10 yards out and bangs a low shot through a slew of bodies and into the net. Sam Allardyce is furious, seemingly convinced that Cedric committed a foul before the cross.
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GOAL! Chelsea 1-1 Man City (Aguero 26)
First Cabellero goofed to allow Chelsea to open the scoring, now Courtois has done likewise to help Aguero equalise. It’s a top of the table Premier League clash, alright.
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Liverpool come close to falling further behind at home to Bournemouth, while Arsenal are looking increasingly ponderous at home to West Ham.
Play has resumed at St James’ Park after prolonged head-scratching: the referee, Keith Stroud, has stuck to his decision to quash Newcastle’s goal from a penalty and replace it with a freekick to Burton. It’ll be fascinating to here how he arrived at that ruling.
GOAL! Hull 3-1 Boro (Hernandez 33)
Hull are storming to victory but here’s the thing: as things stand, with Swansea and Palace both winning, a win won’t be enough to lift Hull out of the relegation zone. But it could drag West Ham and even Southampton into a world of bother.
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EH?
Well here’s an oddity: Newcastle were awarded a penalty for a foul on Dwight Gale; Matt Ritchie fired into the net and began celebrating ... until the referee announced the goal did not stand and he was giving Burton a freekick outside the area. Newcastle players are baffled, and Rafa Benitez looks around as if checking to see whether there’s some kind of prank afoot.
GOAL! Southampton 0-1 Palace (Benteke 31)
That’s a sumptuous goal. Benteke crowned a wonderful move by powering the ball past the keeper and into the net.
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GOAL! Hull 2-1 Boro (Niasse 27)
Hull have been absolutely battering Boro and have finally translated their supremacy into a lead thanks to Oumar Niasse. It’s been an excellent display so far by Silva’s team and it’s going to take a highly improbable transformation for Boro to avoid conceding more goals, let alone regain parity.
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GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 City (Hazard 9)
A defensive mess by City gifts Chelsea the lead. Find out more with Jacob Steinberg here.
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GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Bournemouth (Afobe 7)
Crumbs, is it happening again, Liverpool! Wijnaldum must have an exceptionally high opinion of Simon Mignolet if he thought the goalkeeper had any chance of reaching a dreadfully soft backpass. Benik Afobe had a more realistic understanding of matters and snuck in to accept the ball and score with ease.
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In case anyone was wondering why I haven’t yet given any updates from the Scottish Premier League, here’s how things stand at the moment:
Celtic 0-0 Partick Thistle
Kilmarnock 0-0 Rangers
Motherwell 0-0 Hamilton
St Johnstone 0-0 Hearts
Actually, that Celtic scoreline is quite remarkable. No goals after 17 minutes? Rodgers out!
GOAL! Hull 1-1 Boro (Markovic 14)
Hull are on the comeback thanks to Lazar(us) Markovic! In fairness, the whole team have been in cracking form despite their shock concession of an early goal to Boro and this equaliser is richly deserved. Grosiki did most of the donkey work, Markovic took the glory. But can Hull go on to win?
GOAL! Swansea 1-0 Spurs (Routledge 11)
The wannabe title-chasers have fallen behind to a goal scored by a player they (rightly) let go! After a fine run by Jordan Ayew, Wayne Routledge converted from close range. This could do a power of good to Swansea’s campaign against relegation as well as declutter Chelsea’s path to the title.
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GOAL! Oxford 1-1 Fleetwood (Nelson 6)
It’s turning into the match of the night! I’d like to think Nelson said “Haha” after scoring, in the manner of his namesake from the Simpsons.
Nervous moments at the Emirates: Antonio was fouled at the edge of the area and Lanzini lined up a freekick. It’s a terrific chance to see what the spare keeper is made of: Lanzini curls a reasonable effort over the wall ... but it flutters on over the bar, too.
GOAL! Oxford United 0-1 Fleetwood (Grant 6, pen)
I forgot to mention this match earlier on, but only because I knew Bobby Grant would give me an early opportunity to bring it to your attention.
GOAL! Hull 0-1 Boro (Negredo 5)
Well there’s a turn-up! Traoré caused chaos with one of his anarchic runs and then had a bash with a long-range shot. It ended up at Negredo, who swept it into the net to give the visitors a rare away goal and a precious lead!
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Hull and Spurs both made dominant starts to their matches, meanwhile Sanchez has had a lash for Arsenal, firing way wide from 20 yards.
It’s been a frenetic start at the Emirates, where West Ham are seemingly under orders to to go at Arsenal with gusto. But Wenger’s men look well up for a fight, too, so far.
Teams are on pitches all over the land: kickoff are imminent. Here, for the sheer hell of it, are my forecasts:
Arsenal 2-3 West Ham (Xhaka sent off)
Hull 1-0 Boro
Liverpool 2-1 Bournemouth
Swansea 0-1 Spurs
Southampton 1-1 Palace
Chelsea 1-1 Man City
Newcastle 2-0 Burton
Huddersfield 2-1 Norwich
Sheffield United 3-1 Coventry
Here is the best team news you will here today: Jonathan Hogg is starting for Huddersfield - yes, just three weeks after undergoing surgery on a broken neck! There’s just one more reasons to hope the Terriers don’t drop out of the playoff places during what is shaping up to be a dramatic end to the Championship season.
Huddersfield: Ward; Smith, Schindler, Heffele, Hogg, Lowe, Billing, Mooy, Van La Parra, Wells, Kachunga
Norwich: McGovern; Martin (c), Bennett, Klose, Whittaker; Tettey, Howson; Wildschut, Pritchard, Naismith; Jerome.
More team news
Liverpool: Mignolet; Clyne, Lovren, Klavan, Milner; Can, Lucas, Wijnaldum; Coutinho, Firmino, Origi
Bournemouth: Boruc; Smith, Francis, Cook, aniels; Ibe, Arter, Wilshere, Pugh; King, Afobe
In other news, Barcelona are currently giving a right spanking to Sevilla, who obviously still haven’t recovered from that belting by Craig Shakespeare’s New/Old Leicester. You can follow Barça-Sevilla here if that you want.
TEAM NEWS
David Ospinna has reportedly come a cropper in training so Arsenal have to resort to their third-choice keeper, Emilian Martinz, whose last appearance for Arsenal (if I’m not mistaken) was in a 3-2 defeat at Stoke back in December 2014. You might recall that after that match Arsene Wenger was abused by a group of Arsenal fans at Stoke-on-Trent train station. How times have changed, eh?
Arsenal: Martinez; Bellerin, Mustafi, Gabriel, Monreal; Elneny, Xhaka; Walcott, Özil, Sanchez; Welbeck
West Ham: Randolph; Byram, Collins, Fonte, Masuaku; Kouyate, Noble; Antonio, Lanzini, Ayew; Carroll.
Swansea v Spurs
Spurs have goalkeeper trouble, too, with Hugo Lloris absent. Michiel Vorm comes into their team at his old stomping ground.
Swansea: Fabianski; Naughton, Fernández, Mawson, Olsson; Carroll, Fer, Cork; Routledge, Ayew, Sigurdsson.
Spurs: Vorm; Walker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Davies; Dier, Dembele; Sissoko, Dele, Eriksen; Son.
Southampton v Palace
Southampton: Forster; Cédric, Stephens, Yoshida, McQueen; Romeu, Davis, Ward-Prowse; Tadic, Redmond, Long.
Crystal Palace: Hennessey; Ward, Kelly, Sakho, Schlupp; Milivojevic, Cabaye; Zaha, Puncheon, Townsend; Benteke.
Hull v Boro
Hull: Jakupovic; Elmohamady, Ranocchia, Maguire, Robertson; Grosicki, N’Diaye, Clucas, Markovic; Niasse, Hernández.
Middlesbrough: Valdes; Barragan, Ayala, Gibson, Husband; Traoré, Clayton, de Roon, Downing; Negredo, Gestede.
Preamble
Hello. This is no time to be a cyclops. It’s all very well having an eye on events at Stamford Bridge today but you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t also keep track of the goings-on elsewhere. Because today’s bill also features:
- A clash between Hull and Middlesbrough that is both a relegation showdown and a Yorkshire derby (lots Riding on it, you might say);
- Tottenham’s attempt win at Swansea and keep heavy breathing down Chelsea’s necks;
- Liverpool’s attempt to do likewise by avenging the ridiculous defeat they suffered at Bournemouth earlier this season; Jürgen Klopp’s team have the most favourable run-on of all the top teams and might still be in contention if their injuries turn out to be less serious than feared and, of course, they stop flopping to absurd defeats like that one at Bournemouth;
- Arsène Wenger’s attempt to actually beat a league team so that he can announce that he has selflessly agreed to devote himself to Arsenal for at least two more years;
- Newcastle’s bid to dispatch Burton Albion and return to the top of the Championship;
- Sheffield United’s attempt to extend their lead at the top of League One by bringing those 45,000 Coventry fans who cavorted around Wembley last weekend back to reality;
- Plenty more.
Here, check out these fixtures:
Premier League
Arsenal v West Ham
Hull v Middlesbrough
Liverpool v Bournemouth
Southampton v Crystal Palace
Swansea v Spurs
Chelsea v Man City
Championship:
Newcastle v Burton
Huddersfield v Norwich
League One
Sheffield United v Coventry
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