And with that, this Saturday afternoon is over. I’ll be back to see how many goals Manchester City can score against Fulham later. Bye!
Ed Aarons has filed his match report from Selhurst Park:
There were former managers everywhere you looked at Selhurst Park. Unfortunately for Sam Allardyce and his hopes of preserving a record of never being relegated from the Premier League, it was the man he succeeded with England who came away with the points courtesy of Luka Milivojevic’s first-half penalty.
While Roy Hodgson looked delighted with a victory against his old employers that takes Crystal Palace to 37 points and virtual safety, it was another disappointing afternoon for Allardyce on his return to south London as defeat leaves West Brom eight points from safety and staring down the barrel of an instant return to the Championship.
Much more here:
Scott Murray is your man for Everton v Burnley, which kicks off in 20 minutes or so:
All the full-time scores
Here’s a full run-down of the final scores, with league tables and everything:
Premier League
Crystal Palace 1-0 West Brom
Everton v Burnley (5.30pm)
Fulham v Man City (8pm)
Leeds 0-0 Chelsea (FT)
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man City | 29 | 40 | 68 |
| 2 | Man Utd | 28 | 23 | 54 |
| 3 | Leicester | 28 | 16 | 53 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 29 | 19 | 51 |
| 5 | West Ham | 27 | 11 | 48 |
| 6 | Everton | 27 | 4 | 46 |
| 7 | Tottenham Hotspur | 27 | 18 | 45 |
| 8 | Liverpool | 28 | 11 | 43 |
| 9 | Aston Villa | 27 | 11 | 41 |
| 10 | Arsenal | 27 | 7 | 38 |
| 11 | Crystal Palace | 29 | -16 | 37 |
| 12 | Leeds | 28 | -3 | 36 |
| 13 | Wolverhampton | 28 | -9 | 35 |
| 14 | Southampton | 28 | -14 | 33 |
| 15 | Burnley | 28 | -16 | 30 |
| 16 | Newcastle | 28 | -17 | 28 |
| 17 | Brighton | 27 | -8 | 26 |
| 18 | Fulham | 28 | -11 | 26 |
| 19 | West Brom | 29 | -37 | 18 |
| 20 | Sheff Utd | 28 | -29 | 14 |
Championship
Birmingham 0-3 Bristol City
Bournemouth 2-3 Barnsley
Cardiff 1-2 Watford
Derby 0-1 Millwall
Luton 0-1 Swansea
Middlesbrough 3-0 Stoke
Nottm Forest 1-1 Reading
QPR 0-1 Huddersfield
Rotherham v Coventry (postponed because of Covid outbreak at Rotherham)
Wycombe 1-0 Preston North End
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norwich | 35 | 26 | 76 |
| 2 | Watford | 36 | 23 | 69 |
| 3 | Swansea | 35 | 20 | 69 |
| 4 | Brentford | 35 | 26 | 66 |
| 5 | Reading | 36 | 12 | 61 |
| 6 | Barnsley | 36 | 6 | 61 |
| 7 | AFC Bournemouth | 36 | 15 | 56 |
| 8 | Cardiff | 36 | 17 | 54 |
| 9 | Middlesbrough | 36 | 6 | 53 |
| 10 | Millwall | 36 | 2 | 49 |
| 11 | Stoke | 36 | -1 | 48 |
| 12 | Bristol City | 36 | -9 | 48 |
| 13 | QPR | 35 | -5 | 46 |
| 14 | Blackburn | 36 | 8 | 44 |
| 15 | Preston North End | 36 | -7 | 44 |
| 16 | Luton | 35 | -13 | 44 |
| 17 | Nottm Forest | 36 | -6 | 41 |
| 18 | Huddersfield | 36 | -11 | 41 |
| 19 | Derby | 36 | -14 | 39 |
| 20 | Coventry | 35 | -14 | 38 |
| 21 | Birmingham | 36 | -20 | 35 |
| 22 | Rotherham | 32 | -8 | 32 |
| 23 | Sheff Wed | 34 | -19 | 28 |
| 24 | Wycombe | 36 | -34 | 26 |
League One
Blackpool 0-0 Fleetwood Town
Bristol Rovers 0-0 Wimbledon
Charlton 1-1 Shrewsbury
Crewe 0-3 Burton Albion
Doncaster 0-0 Northampton
Hull 2-0 Oxford Utd
Ipswich 1-0 Plymouth
Lincoln City 1-2 Rochdale
Milton Keynes Dons 3-2 Accrington Stanley
Swindon 1-3 Gillingham
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hull | 36 | 32 | 68 |
| 2 | Peterborough | 33 | 22 | 62 |
| 3 | Lincoln City | 34 | 19 | 61 |
| 4 | Sunderland | 33 | 25 | 60 |
| 5 | Doncaster | 32 | 12 | 56 |
| 6 | Ipswich | 33 | 5 | 54 |
| 7 | Portsmouth | 33 | 13 | 52 |
| 8 | Charlton | 35 | 3 | 52 |
| 9 | Oxford Utd | 33 | 7 | 50 |
| 10 | Accrington Stanley | 33 | 5 | 50 |
| 11 | Gillingham | 35 | 1 | 50 |
| 12 | Blackpool | 31 | 8 | 49 |
| 13 | Crewe | 35 | -3 | 48 |
| 14 | Fleetwood Town | 35 | 9 | 47 |
| 15 | Milton Keynes Dons | 35 | 0 | 45 |
| 16 | Plymouth | 35 | -12 | 45 |
| 17 | Shrewsbury | 32 | -1 | 42 |
| 18 | Burton Albion | 33 | -13 | 40 |
| 19 | Bristol Rovers | 34 | -19 | 34 |
| 20 | Northampton | 35 | -21 | 33 |
| 21 | Wigan | 34 | -23 | 33 |
| 22 | Rochdale | 35 | -21 | 31 |
| 23 | Swindon | 35 | -24 | 31 |
| 24 | AFC Wimbledon | 33 | -24 | 31 |
League Two
Carlisle 3-1 Bradford
Crawley Town 1-0 Mansfield
Exeter 0-1 Cheltenham
Forest Green 2-1 Harrogate Town
Grimsby v Colchester (5.30pm)
Leyton Orient 1-1 Scunthorpe
Morecambe 1-3 Newport County
Oldham 2-4 Cambridge Utd
Port Vale 0-1 Bolton
Southend 0-0 Stevenage
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cheltenham | 34 | 15 | 62 |
| 2 | Cambridge Utd | 36 | 20 | 61 |
| 3 | Forest Green | 34 | 13 | 61 |
| 4 | Newport County | 34 | 11 | 57 |
| 5 | Tranmere | 33 | 8 | 57 |
| 6 | Bolton | 35 | 3 | 57 |
| 7 | Morecambe | 35 | 1 | 56 |
| 8 | Exeter | 33 | 19 | 53 |
| 9 | Salford City | 33 | 14 | 50 |
| 10 | Crawley Town | 33 | 4 | 50 |
| 11 | Harrogate Town | 35 | 0 | 48 |
| 12 | Carlisle | 31 | 7 | 47 |
| 13 | Bradford | 33 | 0 | 47 |
| 14 | Leyton Orient | 34 | -1 | 44 |
| 15 | Stevenage | 36 | -3 | 43 |
| 16 | Mansfield | 34 | -4 | 40 |
| 17 | Oldham | 34 | -9 | 40 |
| 18 | Scunthorpe | 33 | -9 | 40 |
| 19 | Walsall | 33 | -6 | 38 |
| 20 | Colchester | 33 | -15 | 36 |
| 21 | Port Vale | 35 | -7 | 35 |
| 22 | Barrow | 32 | -5 | 32 |
| 23 | Southend | 35 | -28 | 30 |
| 24 | Grimsby | 32 | -28 | 25 |
Papa John’s Trophy Final
Portsmouth 0-0 Salford City (extra time being played)
That was a terrible free-kick from Masina. It was on target, and hit cleanly enough, but it was straight down the middle of goal. That is wildly inexplicable goalkeeping, but Watford bank the three points and overtake Swansea to go second in the Championship!
A remarkable stoppage-time winner for Watford at Cardiff! Adam Masina, the left-back, has sent a free-kick straight down the middle of goal and Dillon Phillips, the Cardiff keeper, has dived full-length out of the way!
I’m not sure what’s going on with the weather at the Vitality Stadium, but you can hardly see the players as they trudge from the field after Barnsley secure a 3-2 away win to continue their remarkable recent run.
Final score: Crystal Palace 1-0 West Brom
It’s all over at Selhurst Park, and defeat leaves West Brom’s Premier League future dangling by a rapidly fraying thread!
Into stoppage time at Selhurst Park, and there’ll be three minutes of it. Middlesbrough meanwhile score a third goal at home to Stoke, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing with a lovely dinked finish after a sharp break.
Carlton Morris has put Barnsley back in front at Bournemouth, heading in a free-kick to make it 2-3 there. Barnsley had had twice as many shots (17-9), and twice as many on target (6-3), and as it stands Bournemouth will end the day 13 points off second place, having played a game more, with 10 to play, out of form and with the play-offs their only remaining hope of promotion.
The sky has unleashed hell on Selhurst Park, where it’s now hailing hard cats and icy dogs.
It’s now Oldham 2-4 Cambridge, and an afternoon the started so well for Keith Curle’s new side has gone horribly downhill. Luka Hannant has been credited with the fourth, a corner that was punched into his own net by the Oldham keeper.
Updated
West Brom continue to push forwards. Yokuslu lifts the ball into the area, where Guaita comes out and Diagne runs in and the striker ends up on the turf, screaming in agony. The Baggies want a penalty, but they don’t get one because it was an absolutely shameless dive and Diagne deserves to be arrested for crimes against decency more than he deserves to win a spot-kick.
Crystal Palace threaten to score a second, but Benteke’s shot from the right of goal is blocked.
Palace and West Brom's managers and assistant managers today are a combined 265 years old @RichJolly (Roy Hodgson, 73. Ray Lewington , 64; Sam Allardyce 66, Sammy Lee, 62)
— Ed Aarons (@ed_aarons) March 13, 2021
Updated
Barnsley have equalised at Bournemouth, Dominik Frieser making it 2-2. Meanwhile Antoine Semenyo has “scored” a second for Bristol City at Birmingham, the home keeper thrashing a clearance into him and the ball rebounding into the net.
Pereira shoots wide from 20 yards, and West Brom seem to be fairly keen on scoring a goal at the moment - now all they need is enough quality to break through the home defence.
Chance for West Brom! A cross from the left drops to Phillips beyond the far post, and he could tap it back infield to give Gallagher an easy chance, or take it down, or volley it in. He opts to attempt the latter but makes a complete hash of it, shinning over the bar.
Nottingham Forest are a goal up at home to Reading, though it remains to be seen whether Glenn Murray turned it into the net or whether it will end up as a Tom Holmes own goal. Either way, credit to Sammy Ameobi for bringing the ball in from the right and laying it on a plate for Murray/Holmes to turn in from little more than a foot.
Updated
Save! Palace hump the ball long to Benteke on the right, who nods down to Eze and runs infield to collect the return pass and, from the edge of the area, hammer a shot towards the top corner that Johnstone diverts to safety!
The second half is under way at Crystal Palace, and pretty much everywhere else.
I have been completely ignoring Scotland, but fortunately Simon McMahon is here with a halftimely Scottish Premiership update: “Afternoon Simon,” he writes. “Only two games in the SPL today, but vital ones for clubs at the bottom. Hamilton, currently in the relegation play off place, are 2-1 down at Livingston, and Ross County, one place above the Accies, are goalless against Hibs.”
All your half-timely scores are here. You will notice that the Keith Curle effect, which carried Oldham to an early 2-0 lead over Cambridge, no longer seems to be working - they go in 2-3 down.
Premier League
Crystal Palace 1-0 West Brom
Everton v Burnley (5.30pm)
Fulham v Man City (8pm)
Leeds 0-0 Chelsea (FT)
Championship
Birmingham 0-1 Bristol City
Bournemouth 2-1 Barnsley
Cardiff 1-1 Watford
Derby 0-1 Millwall
Luton 0-1 Swansea (FT)
Middlesbrough 2-0 Stoke
Nottm Forest 0-0 Reading
QPR 0-0 Huddersfield
Rotherham v Coventry (postponed because of Covid outbreak at Rotherham)
Wycombe 1-0 Preston North End
League One
Blackpool 0-0 Fleetwood Town
Bristol Rovers 0-0 Wimbledon
Charlton 0-0 Shrewsbury
Crewe 0-3 Burton Albion
Doncaster 0-0 Northampton
Hull 1-0 Oxford Utd
Ipswich 1-0 Plymouth
Lincoln City 0-1 Rochdale
Milton Keynes Dons 1-0 Accrington Stanley
Swindon 1-3 Gillingham (1pm)
League Two
Carlisle 2-0 Bradford
Crawley Town 0-0 Mansfield
Exeter 0-0 Cheltenham
Forest Green 1-0 Harrogate Town
Grimsby v Colchester (5.30pm)
Leyton Orient 1-1 Scunthorpe (FT)
Morecambe 1-2 Newport County
Oldham 2-3 Cambridge Utd
Port Vale 0-0 Bolton
Southend 0-0 Stevenage
Papa John’s Trophy Final
Portsmouth 0-0 Salford City
Bournemouth have really got it in for the Barnsley juggernaut - they will take a 2-1 lead into the break thanks to Dominic Solanke’s stoppage-time goal. Barnsley’s defence seemed to think the break had already started, because they weren’t paying much attention as a simple ball over the top released three Bournemouth players, and Danjuma rolled the ball across from the left for Solanke to score.
Updated
West Brom want a penalty now, after Diagne turns on the ball in the penalty area and promptly collapses, but he was offside when Bartley knocked it down, and I’m not sure Ward fouled him anyway.
Middlesbrough are 2-0 up at home to Stoke, Paddy McNair scoring their second, rather nicely, running into the left side of the penalty area, cutting onto his right foot, and curling a low shot across goal and in at the back stick.
At Cardiff, the Watford goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann comes out of his area to intercept a long ball but then takes a terrible touch, gives it away, and given that he is by now way out of his penalty area has little option but to foul the nearest Cardiff player. He does so, and is booked.
Updated
GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-0 West Brom (Milivojevic, 37 mins)
That’s an excellent penalty from Luka Milivojevic, who sidefoots it to his right as Johnstone dives the other way!
Updated
PENALTY TO CRYSTAL PALACE! None of the potential offsides is actually offside, and a penalty it must be. Furlong very obviously leaned into the ball, after Zaha put it into the area.
VAR is checking for a penalty at Selhurst Park. There was a handball, Furlong using his arm inside the penalty area, but first they’ve got to check for various wafer-thin offside calls.
A really good thing at Palace! Milivojevic hits a 25-yard dipping volley that is turned over the bar by Johnstone!
West Brom are pushing, admittedly gently, at Selhurst Park, where they came close from a corner a couple of minutes ago and just had another effort from another corner, though this time it wasn’t close.
Updated
On Sky Soccer Saturday, Paul Merson holds up the piece of paper on which he is noting all the significant incidents that happen at Selhurst Park. It is completely blank.
The Barnsley juggernaut has been slowed a bit, Arnaut Danjuma scoring a well-made and easily converted equaliser.
Twenty-one minutes into Crystal Palace v West Brom, and there has been one shot on target. A thriller it is not (yet).
The Barnsley juggernaut rumbles on. On the morning of Valentine’s Day they were 15th in the league and 10 points behind Bournemouth (albeit with a couple of games in hand on most teams in the division). Now they’re in the top six, and as the table stands five points clear of the Cherries, who they are now beating 1-0, away from home to boot, thanks to Michal Helik’s header from a flicked-on corner.
It’s 1-1 at Cardiff, where Watford have scored two goals in a minute. The first, from Francisco Sierralta, was turned into their own net; the second was a lovely effort from Nathaniel Chalobah, who is wearing the captain’s armband today.
The Keith Curle effect continues to be felt, with Kellior-Dunn scoring his second of the day in the 11th minute to put Oldham 2-0 up against Cambridge. Here he is celebrating his first with an excellent facial expression.
Thirteen goals in 34 appearances is a very decent return for Cameron Jerome, who has just put MK Dons a goal to the good at home to Accrington.
Nearly a chance for West Brom to take the lead, as a cross from the right is headed down to Gallagher, whose first touch was a bit strong and took the ball wide of goal. He could have shifted his weight a little, allowed the ball to drop and volleyed in a shot, but, um, he didn’t.
Oldham, in their first match under Keith Curle, take the lead against second-placed Cambridge, Davis Kellior-Dunn with the first goal of the English 3pm kick-offs.
BONG! The clock has struck three, and kick-off has been kicked!
The players are on their way out at Selhurst Park, and presumably at lots of other grounds where games are not being televised.
Roy Hodgson takes umbrage at the idea that this afternoon’s game isn’t as vital for Crystal Palace as it is for West Brom:
It’s a huge day for us as well. Every time you play in the Premier League it’s a huge day. We fully realise what a huge game this is for West Brom but by the same token we need points as well, and furthermore every game you play you want to win. We are fully primed for the type of challenge we’re going to face today, but it won’t be an easy one.
Here’s some pre-match reading courtesy of Ben Fisher, who has attempted to explain how on earth Barnsley became brilliant:
Faith in a Moneyball-like model is yielding results at Barnsley, where Billy Beane, who transformed Oakland Athletics’ trajectory with the use of statistical analysis, is a shareholder. They have won seven of their past eight matches and are unbeaten in 10 before visiting Bournemouth on Saturday. Fans have not clunked through Oakwell’s turnstiles for 12 months but might they return to the terraces supporting a Premier League club? Valérien Ismaël, who took charge of the club in October when Barnsley had three points from their first six matches, affords himself a wry smile.
“We have three games until the international break and after we will see a clear picture in the table and maybe we will see what’s going on for us, if we can push for more or if it was a nice trip,” Ismael says. “We deserve to be here, we don’t have any big pressure and must stay hungry. We want to continue to move forward to finish this great season as high as we can.”
Much more here:
In League One Swindon, 1-0 up at home to Gillingham in the 59th minute, are 3-1 down in the 68th.
Meanwhile the early Premier League game, between Leeds and Chelsea, has ended 0-0. Scott Murray’s liveblog is still running:
Swansea have beaten Luton 1-0 in the day’s early Championship kick-off. The Swans have had three shots on target in their last two matches combined, but still emerged with two goals and four points. As it stands they are in second place, three points clear of Brentford and Watford, with every team in the top 11 having played the same number of games.
Crystal Palace v West Brom teams
The starting line-ups for our one top-flight fixture are these. Just the one change, with West Brom sticking with the side that drew with Newcastle last week while Zaha comes back into Palace’s starting XI with Townsend dropping to the bench:
Crystal Palace: Guaita, Ward, Kouyate, Cahill, Van Aanholt, Zaha, Milivojevic, Riedewald, Eze, Benteke, Ayew. Subs: Butland, Dann, Townsend, Mateta, Schlupp, Wickham, Batshuayi, Kelly, Hannam.
West Brom: Johnstone, Furlong, O’Shea, Bartley, Townsend, Yokuslu, Matheus Pereira, Gallagher, Maitland-Niles, Phillips, Diagne. Subs: Robson-Kanu, Ajayi, Robinson, Livermore, Diangana, Peltier, Snodgrass, Button, Ahearne-Grant.
Referee: Simon Hooper.
COME ON YOU PALACE#CPFC | #CRYWBA
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) March 13, 2021
📋 Team news is in at Selhurst Park. Sam Allardyce names an unchanged side to take on @CPFC. COYB! 🟢🟡@MonsterEnergy | #CRYWBA
— West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) March 13, 2021
Preamble
The weekly Saturday afternoon soccer smorgasbord brings just the one Premier League game today, with West Brom’s survival hopes very badly needing a three-point transfusion of optimism at Crystal Palace. Elsewhere Cardiff (six wins and two draws in their last eight games) host Watford (six wins and one draw in their last eight games) in a clash of two of the Championship’s most in-form teams (the actual No1 in-form team, Barnsley, have seven wins and a draw in their last eight, and travel to Bournemouth). The best of the League One games is towards the bottom, with Bristol Rovers in 19th hosting Wimbledon in 23rd - the Dons would overtake Rovers if they win by three or more goals - while League Two leaders Cheltenham head to Exeter in eighth - there are only six points between them, and Exeter have a game in hand. Bolton are the in-form team in that division, and they can extend their current run (eight wins and no defeats in their last 10, since you ask) at struggling Port Vale.
Today’s English football league fixtures in full:
Premier League
Crystal Palace v West Brom
Everton v Burnley (5.30pm)
Fulham v Man City (8pm)
Leeds v Chelsea (12.30pm)
Championship
Birmingham v Bristol City
Bournemouth v Barnsley
Cardiff v Watford
Derby v Millwall
Luton v Swansea (12.15pm)
Middlesbrough v Stoke
Nottm Forest v Reading
QPR v Huddersfield
Rotherham v Coventry (postponed because of Covid outbreak at Rotherham)
Wycombe v Preston North End
League One
Blackpool v Fleetwood Town
Bristol Rovers v Wimbledon
Charlton v Shrewsbury
Crewe v Burton Albion
Doncaster v Northampton
Hull v Oxford Utd
Ipswich v Plymouth
Lincoln City v Rochdale
Milton Keynes Dons v Accrington Stanley
Swindon v Gillingham (1pm)
League Two
Carlisle v Bradford
Crawley Town v Mansfield
Exeter v Cheltenham
Forest Green v Harrogate Town
Grimsby v Colchester (5.30pm)
Leyton Orient v Scunthorpe (1pm)
Morecambe v Newport County
Oldham v Cambridge Utd
Port Vale v Bolton
Southend v Stevenage
Papa John’s Trophy Final
Portsmouth v Salford City
Updated
