Right, that’s all from me. What a day for Leicester. But also, what a huge day for Norwich. Maybe this time the Canaries can cut the string on the yo-yo and stay in the Premier League. They’ll be happy to see a draw in the Tyne-Wear derby tomorrow. You can join Rob Smyth for Swansea v Aston Villa here. And you can read the match reports from today’s Premier League games under the full-time scores below. Thanks for your emails. Bye.
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“Since Leicester seem to winning every game 1-0, is it possible that if you rip off Ranieri’s face there is Tottenham’s favourite Scotsman lurking underneath?” ponders Johan Claesson.
Chelsea’s late goal prevented a clean sweep of Premier League away wins today. “Would this season be the worst season ever for home team results?” asks Raymond Reardon. That’s one for the Knowledge, Ray.
“Re: footballers with full names - Jonny Evans is another. The Guardian went as far as to list his first name in the NI team sheet in the Euros, when everyone else was left with their surname,” offers Tom Adams. “Maybe it’s an elusive and exciting club, but then again maybe not because Michael Owen is also a member.”
Boring, boring Leicester!
Leicester are going to win this before the end of April. They're the PSG of the Premier League
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) March 19, 2016
Some key Championship scores
Burnley conceded a late, late goal to Wolves. They’re still comfortably top but they’ve given themselves a little bit more work to do yet before they can create the space they’ll need to score all that TV cash at Turf Moor. It ended 1-1. Brighton go second after beating MK Dons 2-1 and Bolton were walloped 6-0 by Bristol City. The very definition of a good hiding. Charlton were also hammered, 3-0 by Sheffield Wednesday. So they’re in a heap load of trouble and look doomed too.
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Full-time: Chelsea 2-2 West Ham
And that’s that. A breathless, highly entertaining second half ends with West Ham missing out on the chance to do a rare double over Chelsea. They also stay fifth. Chelsea did enough to deserve a point in my opinion though. And Fabregas was excellent. He was Chelsea’s driving force.
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Full-time: Watford 1-2 Stoke City
Stoke have the Europa League in their sights.
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Full-time: West Brom 0-1 Norwich
Norwich keep a clean sheet. They also win three very valuable points. They’re three points clear of Sunderland and four clear of Newcastle before tomorrow’s Tyne-Wear derby. I think they’d take a draw there don’t you?
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West Ham win a free-kick. Uh-oh. Payet, obviously, stands over it. He curls it around the wall … but Courtois saves. Chelsea break and Loftus-Cheek has a good chance to score as he spins in the box, 15 yards out, but he drags his shot wide.
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Full-time: Crystal Palace 0-1 Leicester City
They’ve done it again. Remarkable. Incredible (other superlatives are available). They’re eight points clear at the top.
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Goal! Sporting Gijon 2-1 Atlético (Castro 90)
Well I didn’t expect that. And there’s the final whistle too.
Atlético Madrid conceded 2 goals in a La Liga game for only the 3rd time this season:
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) March 19, 2016
1-2 Barcelona
1-2 Barcelona
1-2 Sporting Gijon
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Norwich still lead West Brom 1-0 and are closing on their first win since 1897.
Goal! Chelsea 2-2 West Ham (Fabregas 88 pen)
Fabregas does the John Aldridge stutter, lets Adrian go down to his right, and slots to the keeper’s left. Fabregas has been Chelsea’s best player by a long way.
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Penalty to Chelsea!
Traoré clears off the line from Carroll, Chelsea break, Willian plays in Loftus-Cheek and Antonio appears to clip the Chelsea player’s heels. It’s minimal contact, though.
Simon McMahon's Scottish fitba corner
“Afternoon Gregg. Game of the day in Scotland is, eh, tomorrow when Dundee United play noisy neighbours Dundee. United will have been buoyed by Celtic’s last minute winner against Kilmarnock in the early kick off today, meaning that they can cut the gap at the bottom to just five points (and have a game in hand) with a win tomorrow. Motherwell have turned things round with two goals in as many minutes to lead Aberdeen 2-1, it’s Hamilton 1 Partick 2, and in the Highland derby its Ross County 0 Inverness 3.”
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Leicester are hanging on to their 1-0 lead against Palace. You can follow the final moments here …
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Goal! Watford 1-2 Stoke City (Deeney 86)
Deeney’s forehead has nodded Watford back into the game.
In the Championship, Brighton lead MK Dons 2-1, Bristol City are battering Bolton 4-0, Sheffield Wednesday are 3-0 up and cruising against Charlton and Burnley still lead Wolves 1-0.
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John Terry legends a header just over from a corner. West Ham shoot up the other end and win a corner of their own from which Andy Carroll goes ever so close with a header of his own. It’s turning into a right rumble this.
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Goal! Sporting Gijon 1-1 Atlético (Sanabria 80)
Stop the clocks! Simeone’s defensive wall has been breached. Literally. Sanabria’s free-kick is deflected in off the Atlético wall. What a sickener for Atlético, not that anyone really thought they could win the league, mind.
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Goal! Burnley 1-0 Wolves (Vokes 68)
That’s another toe in the Premier League for the Clarets. Alastair Campbell has probably just showered the Turf Moor posh seats with Bovril.
Fabregas has gone all Stevie G on this game. He’s everywhere. He’s just slammed an overhead kick narrowly over the bar. No, I didn’t know Fabregas could do overhead kicks either.
“TV commentators say “Fabregas,” “Carroll,” “Cahill” but always say “John Terry.” Is there another Terry out there who might confuse us?” asks Rick McGahey. Hmmm. What you mean you don’t think he deserves to be referred to in full at all times Rick? It’s the least his legending deserves. Ahem. Meanwhile, Chelsea have just gone close. Fabregas headed over. He perhaps should have scored there. If he was referred to as Cesc Fabregas as he jumped he would have scored.
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Championship action!
Brighton have scored two goals in quick succession against MK Dons. They’re 2-0 up and heading for second place. And Sheffield Wednesday have scored against Charlton. They lead 1-0. Tom Lees’s header is going to keep Wednesday in the playoff places and push Charlton even further down among the dead men.
Bayern have beaten Cologne 1-0. Nothing more to say about that. They’ll win the league again. They used all their dramatic juice up in midweek. This was a snorefest. One that they won.
Goal! Chelsea 1-2 West Ham (Carroll 61)
He’s done it again! Incredible substitution from Bilic. But it was a goal crafted by Payet and assisted by Ivanovic’s brain dead positional sense. Payet slips the ball behind Ivanovic, Carroll runs on to it, and slots into the bottom left corner. West Ham are heading for fourth place.
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Andy Carroll is on for West Ham. It was 1-1 at Upton Park earlier in the season and we know what happened after Carroll galloped on … this!
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Oh come on! You can’t give an assist for a missed swipe that should have been accompanied by a comedy honk.
1 - Matt Jarvis provided his first assist in the Premier League since January 2014. Wait.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 19, 2016
Goal! Bristol City 3-0 Bolton (Odemwingie 53)
The car-park bothering Stoke loanee knocks another nail in Bolton’s Championship coffin.
Chelsea are turning this game in their favour now. They’re getting forward in greater numbers now. They win two corners in a row. Terry gets excited, briefly, but Willian can’t beat the first man with either of them. Back you trot John.
@GreggBakowski Ah that fine old Irish play, Waiting for Pato.
— Hubert O'Hearn (@BTBReviews) March 19, 2016
Norwich’s Twitter Controller saw that Jarvis missed swipe very differently.
50 - ONE NIL! Mbokani to Jarvis, who breaks free in the box and passes to Brady, who slots home! #WBANOR [0-1]
— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) March 19, 2016
Goal! Watford 0-2 Stoke City (Joselu 50)
Stoke might just qualify for the Europa League at this rate. Do they really want to do that? I suppose this season it’s been the place to be. In the match within a match that goal makes it Old Stoke 1-1 New Stoke.
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Goal! West Brom 0-1 Norwich (Brady 50)
Jarvis miskicks horrifically and inadvertently sets Brady up. He slots home. The north-east sighs. That Tyne-Wear derby could be very interesting tomorrow.
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Chelsea have made a change at half-time. Kenedy has been brought off. Pedro is on in his place. Pedro … do you remember when people got mildly excited about him coming to the Premier League? Short-lived that excitement wasn’t it? Why won’t Hiddink bring Pato on? Even if it’s just for a laugh.
Barney’s been able to see enough of the match at Selhurst Park to notice something …
Wonder if Alan Pardew still thinks Leicester are a lucky team. I suppose Mahrez is lucky to be so much better than anyone else on the pitch
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) March 19, 2016
This was Griezmann’s free-kick for Atlético today. Fabregas’s was pretty much the same but on the other side. Both wonderfully delivered, postage-stamp pearlers.
Ok Griezmann #SPOATM pic.twitter.com/aU2x77neyZ
— Pablo (@PabloUdr) March 19, 2016
Over in the Bundesliga, Bayern have made hard work of their game at Cologne since going 1-0 up after nine minutes. The home side have dropped very deep and are frustrating the visitors. I’m sure Pep has a plan up his sleeve to put the game to bed, though. A plan that is too clever for mere mortals like me to understand. Perhaps he’ll switch Neuer and Lewandowski.
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Premier League half-time scores
Crystal Palace 0-1 Leicester City
Chelsea 1-1 West Ham
Watford 0-1 Stoke City
West Brom 0-0 Norwich
This is how it makes the table look at half-time. Makes for lovely viewing if you’re a Leicester fan.
Goal! Chelsea 1-1 West Ham (Fabregas 45)
Wow! That wasn’t odd, that was majestic. The Spaniard trots up to the ball and whips it, right-footed, into the left-hand top corner. That was a perfect hit. All level. And deserved.
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Another free-kick for Chelsea, 25 yards out. Fabregas, not Willian, stands over it. Odd?
Chelsea are finishing the second half strongly against West Ham. Willian goes close with a free-kick and then Azpilicueta almost takes a cross on his chest that would have given him a free shot on goal from six yards out at the back post, but it bounces off him and goes out for a goal-kick.
Busy little fella’ isn’t he?
27 - Riyad Mahrez has been involved in more PL goals this season than anyone else (16 goals, 11 assists), two more than Vardy (25). Foxy.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 19, 2016
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In League One the leaders, Burton, have taken the lead against Port Vale thanks to a strike by Akins. Clough is taking them up isn’t he?
Crystal Palace almost equalise immediately. Bolasie’s shot from 15 yards deflects off one of Morgan’s bulging thighs and forces Schmeichel to alter his position and palm the ball away with some fine reflexes.
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Goal! Crystal Palace 0-1 Leicester (Mahrez 34)
It’s those two again! Vardy drops his shoulder and slams a low cross to Mahrez, who finishes sidefooted from eight yards. They’re unshakeable. Incredible. They’re Leicester City.
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Cresswell almost makes it 2-0 to West Ham against the run of play as his shot is deflected wide after a good move involving Lanzini, Payet and Sakho. Hang on, what’s happened at Selhurst Park?
Sporting Gijon 0-1 Atlético (Griezmann 30)
So that’s the game wrapped up then. Atlético don’t concede goals. A lovely free-kick. Griezmann finds the postage stamp from 20 yards. That’s his 23rd goal of the season.
What’s happening at The Hawthorns you ask? West Brom are bossing the game and Norwich are treating the ball carelessly when they do fleetingly see it.
Up in northern Spain, Atlético and Sporting Gijon are involved in an attritional battle that will continue into around 85 minutes, when Atlético will nick a goal and keep another clean sheet.
West Ham are doing a fine impression of first-half PSG at Stamford Bridge here. They’re dominating possession at the moment. A Payet corner finds Kouyate’s head – and he should get his effort on target but it skids off his forehead and runs away to safety.
Goal! Watford 0-1 Stoke (Walters 18)
Hughes’s decision to stick with Walters instead of Bojan is justified. Walters fires home on the back post after Bardsley’s cross. Old Stoke can be just as effective as New Stoke.
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Goal! Chelsea 0-1 West Ham (Lanzini 17)
An incredible strike. Payet is tackled by Mikel on the edge of the box, the ball arrives at Lanzini’s feet. He takes a touch inside and whips a beautiful right-footed shot over Courtois and into the top corner. West Ham have throughly deserved that.
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Goal! Bristol City 2-0 Bolton (Tomlin 10)
The Trotters appear to have raised the white flag at Ashton Gate.
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Adrian has just shown some silky footwork in goal for West Ham, taking a tricky packpass with a feather-touched volley, doing a couple of keep-ups and hoofing clear just before he was closed down. Big Sam would never have encouraged that kind of flamboyance.
Goal! Bristol City 1-0 Bolton (Wilbrahim 4)
Oh Bolton! They’re doomed aren’t they? There’ll be some colourful language from Reid at half-time.
West Ham have made a decent start against Chelsea. They look confident. And so they should after their recent performances. Payet is starting to make an impression and some sharp passing leads to a corner for the Hammers and some concern in the Chelsea box, with Cahill cutting out Payet’s attempted cross to Cresswell. The corner comes to nothing, mind.
There was a touching round of applause at The Hawthorns for Dave Walsh, who scored 100 goals in 174 games for West Brom. A fine goalscoring rate. He died this week, aged 92.
The Hawthorns stands in ovation to salute Albion great Dave Walsh who died earlier this week at the age of 92 #WBA pic.twitter.com/lLs2rgy5Vq
— West Bromwich Albion (@WBAFCofficial) March 19, 2016
Peep!
It’s time for football! The game’s kick-off in England, Spain and in many other places too, I’m sure.
Well, Barney Ronay’s report from Selhurst Park is going to be interesting. Here’s his view …
Catch all the action in tomorrow's observer. As long as there are no goals incidents events or actual things pic.twitter.com/5Da8tGeUns
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) March 19, 2016
It’s a good job he’s creative with his prose.
Here’s James Riach’s report from the iPro Stadium, where Derby beat Nottingham Forest 1-0.
Stat!
7 - Chelsea have won seven and lost none of their last nine Premier League games against West Ham at Stamford Bridge. Fortress.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 19, 2016
But that wasn’t the fortified Bilic Hammers or the post car-crash Mourinho Pensioners.
Goal! Cologne 0-1 Bayern (Lewandowski 9)
Well, that’s that then. Cologne do a fine impression of some Villa defending. Lewandowski pounces and the ball is in the bottom corner before you can say ‘ja’.
Full-time: Everton 0-2 Arsenal
Arsenal are still – just about – in the title race. Everton were poor, second best all afternoon. The boos tells you how happy Everton fans were with that performance. Although some Arsenal fans are still calling for Wenger to go. Modern football eh?
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Peep! Cologne v Bayern Munich has kicked off. Kingsley Coman is rewarded with a Bayern start after his match-winning cameo in the Champions League defeat of Juventus. Five changes for Bayern. So Pep’s obviously confident his side has enough in the tank. Still not a bad starting XI eh?
5 changes from #FCBJuve: Rafinha, Rode, Thiago, Coman & Bernat in for Lahm, Vidal, Müller, Ribéry & Benatia. pic.twitter.com/QxyXsdIPEv
— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) March 19, 2016
Derby have beaten Nottingham Forest 1-0. They win the Brian Clough trophy but, more importantly, they pull seven points clear of seventh and look much more comfortable in the Championship playoff places going into the international break.
Premier League teams news
Chelsea v West Ham
Chelsea: Courtois, Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill, Azpilicueta, Fabregas, Mikel, Willian, Oscar, Kenedy, Remy. Subs: Begovic, Baba, Alexandre Pato, Traore, Pedro, Matic, Loftus-Cheek.
West Ham: Adrian, Antonio, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Kouyate, Noble, Valencia, Lanzini, Payet, Sakho. Subs: Randolph, Song, Carroll, Obiang, O’Brien, Emenike, Oxford.
Referee: Robert Madley (West Yorkshire)
Remy starts for Chelsea. A rare chance. And Pato is on the bench. The Duck himself. He couldn’t could he? No, he probably won’t.
As for West Ham, Carroll is on the bench. He’ll be off it on 70 minutes and causing havoc in the Chelsea penalty area a few minutes after that. Mark my words.
Crystal Palace v Leicester
Crystal Palace: Hennessey, Ward, Dann, Delaney, Souare, Zaha, Cabaye, Jedinak, Ledley, Bolasie, Adebayor. Subs: Speroni, Campbell, Gayle, Mutch, Sako, Kelly, Puncheon.
Leicester: Schmeichel, Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs, Mahrez, Kante, Drinkwater, Albrighton, Okazaki, Vardy. Subs: Amartey, Schlupp, Gray, Ulloa, Wasilewski, Schwarzer, Inler.
Referee: Mike Jones (Cheshire)
Leicester line up exactly as you’d expect them to. Palace start with both Zaha and Bolasie, so pace on both flanks. How will Leicester handle that?
West Brom v Norwich
West Brom: Foster, Dawson, McAuley, Olsson, Evans, Yacob, Fletcher, Sessegnon, Berahino, Gardner, Rondon. Subs: Chester, Anichebe, Myhill, McClean, Lambert, Pritchard, Sandro.
Norwich: Ruddy, Martin, Bassong, Klose, Olsson, Brady, O’Neil, Howson, Jarvis, Bamford, Mbokani. Subs: Naismith, Jerome, Rudd, Hoolahan, Dorrans, Ivo Pinto, Odjidja-Ofoe.
Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire)
Bamford starts in attack for Norwich. But they may have more to worry about in defence, where Rondon, Berahino and Sessegnon will probably be a handful.
Watford v Stoke
Watford: Gomes, Nyom, Cathcart, Ake, Britos, Behrami, Mario Suarez, Capoue, Jurado, Ighalo, Deeney. Subs: Prodl, Amrabat, Guedioura, Pantilimon, Anya, Abdi, Watson.
Stoke: Butland, Bardsley, Cameron, Wollscheid, Muniesa, Whelan, Imbula, Walters, Afellay, Arnautovic, Joselu. Subs: Ireland, Adam, Diouf, Teixeira, Crouch, Krkic, Haugaard.
Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire)
So Mark Hughes leaves Bojan Krcic on the bench, with Jon Walters’ old-school attributes getting the nod ahead of the former Barça schemer’s trickier qualities. Perhaps that’s not a bad decision against Watford, who are very strong team. Talented too. Ighalo and Deeney start up front for the Hornets, also known in some parts of north London as ‘A Handful’.
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What was that I said? Derby are 1-0 up. Derby made the most of a sleepy Forest defence to slide Marcus Olsson in on the left. He curled a low and lovely finish into the bottom corner. Derby will nipping at Hull’s heels in fourth place.
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Seventy-two minutes have passed in the Brian Clough derby. Seventy-two minutes in which next to nothing has happened. It’s Derby 0-0 Nottingham Forest.
Derby have a very good chance to make themselves feel a little more comfortable in the playoffs too.
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Hello. I know it’s been said a thousand times already but what a barmy season eh? Today Leicester have the chance to go eight points clear at the top of the Premier League while West Ham are looking to do the double over mid-table champions Chelsea to boost their chances of finishing in the top four. West Ham would be getting much more praise if it wasn’t for pesky Leicester City.
Slaven Bilic has done a remarkable job. The Hammers have had a terrible run of injuuries this season yet Bilic has kept them solid when necessary and also encouraged them to be feisty on the road against teams they would previously have been loath to attack. Yes, Arsenal, Liverpool, Everton and Manchester City, we’re looking at you. He’s utilising Dimitri Payet wonderfully well too. One point: if Payet gets a free-kick more than 20 yards out, Chelsea should remove the wall. I mentioned in Football Weekly recently that this is the way to stop him scoring longer-range free-kicks. He relies on the cover of the wall to calibrate his kicks and unsight the keeper. Given that he always bends them, if there was no wall, it would be merely catching practice for the goalkeeper. Chelsea won’t do this, no team ever does. But they should.
You can keep an eye on Everton v Arsenal at Goodison Park with Rob Smyth here …
There are just four 3pm kick-offs in the Premier League today (blame the Europa League). Bryan Graham is covering the Leicester game in full so I won’t dwell too much on it here. But you can read what ‘The Sausageman’ had to say in the buildup to it to get you in the mood. I’ll be keeping a keen eye on events at Stamford Bridge but I’ll also have goal updates from West Bromwich Albion v Norwich, where Alex Neil’s Canaries really, really, really need to win to get any kind of momentum going if they’re going to prove themselves to be anything more than a big yellow yo-yo. And then there’s Watford v Stoke, which may well be phoned-in from both sets of players such is the mid-table safety being enjoyed by both sides.
I’ll also have an eye on the Football League, specifically the Championship were there are key games at the top and the bottom. League-leaders Burnley can pull up to seven points clear if they beat Wolves this afternoon, while Brighton visit MK Dons with the chance to move clear in second place if they can win there. At the bottom, Charlton will probably be grateful to be playing away from the Unhappy Valley, but not so pleased that they face Sheffield Wednesday, who are desperately fighting to keep their spot in the last playoff place. We’ll also get the chance to see if f***in’ Peter Reid’s f***in’ feisty approach to coaching has had any f***in’ effect on bottom-of-the-table Bolton’s players since he was appointed to help Jimmy Phillips try to keep the Trotters in the second tier and away from Bury, their traditional rivals, whose fans would greet them in League One with a huge grin.
The continent
Atlético Madrid travel to Sporting Gijon in La Liga. A win there will take them to within five points of Barcelona. It’s incredible that they are anywhere near them considering they have scored 39 fewer goals than the reigning champions. But their defence is a thing to behold. They’ve conceded just 12 goals in 29 games. Diego Simeone has built a wall. I expect them to win 1-0 from behind it again today.
Pep takes his farewell tour with Bayern Munich to Cologne. If they cock things up there then Dortmund would have the chance to close the gap at the top of Bundesliga to just two points tomorrow. They won’t cock things up, mind. Their serotonin levels will be at Everest-like heights after that midweek Champions League win.
I’ll be back with team news shortly. In the meantime, here’s some interlude music from Beirut.
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