Phew!
So, that’s it for Clocko today on an afternoon in which Tim Sherwood and Alan Pardew enjoyed the sweetest of away wins and Sunderland’s and Hull’s relegation anxieties deepened, particularly as Leicester came from behind in style to win at West Brom. It’s still tight as you like at the top of the Championship, and commiserations are due to Yeovil, the first side in the top four divisions to have relegation confirmed. Thanks for your company, emails, tweets and general anxious clicking of the refresh button.
Now it’s time to turn our thoughts to Turf Moor, and Burnley v Arsenal, which is being expertly described here, by Nick Miller. So why not head over there and help him do s0?
Bye for now.
Updated
Your full-times in (more or less) full
Premier League: Swansea 1-1 Everton, Southampton 2-0 Hull, Sunderland 1-4 Crystal Palace, Tottenham 0-1 Aston Villa, West Ham 1-1 Stoke
Championship: Birmingham 2-1 Wolves, Bolton 1-2 Norwich, Derby 1-1 Brentford, Ipswich 3-2 Blackpool, Leeds 1 -2 Cardiff, Middlesbrough 2-0 Rotherham, Millwall 0-2 Watford, Nottm Forest 0-1 Huddersfield, Reading 0-0 Blackburn, Sheff Wed 1-1 Charlton
League One: Barnsley 1-1 Chesterfield, Coventry 1-0 Colchester, Crewe 1-1 Leyton Orient, Doncaster 1-1 Rochdale, Gillingham 1-0 Bradford, Oldham 2-2 Sheff Utd, Port Vale 0-0 Milton Keynes Dons, Preston 1-1 Bristol City, Scunthorpe 2-1 Crawley Town, Swindon 1-0 Peterborough, Walsall 1-0 Fleetwood, Yeovil 1-1 Notts County
League Two: Wimbledon 0 Oxford Utd 0, Cambridge Utd 2 Accrington Stanley 2, Carlisle 1 Dag & Red 0, Luton 0 Burton Albion 1, Morecambe 3 Portsmouth 1, Newport County 0 Bury 2, Plymouth 2 Mansfield 1, Shrewsbury 4 Exeter 0, Southend 1 Tranmere 0, Stevenage 2 Northampton 1, Wycombe 2 Cheltenham 1, York 1 Hartlepool 0
Full-time: Bolton 1-2 Norwich, Ipswich 3-2 Blackpool
Big wins for the two East Anglia sides in the Championship, particularly in the latter’s case with Wolves losing and Derby and Brentford drawing earlier.
Full-time: Tottenham 0-1 Aston Villa; West Ham 1-1 Stoke
An afternoon to savour for Tim Sherwood – his Villa side have pulled off a deserved and accomplished victory against his old club.
More full-times: Millwall 0-2 Watford, Birmingham 2-1 Wolves, Crewe 1-1 Leyton Orient, York 1-0 Hartlepool
Goal! West Ham 1-1 Stoke (Arnautovic, 90)
Stoke find the net again, and this time it counts.
In League One, Yeovil are relegated after their draw with Notts County.
Goal! Bolton 1-2 Norwich (Hooper, 90)
A beautiful lobbed finish from Hooper looks to have won it for Alex Neill’s side – their momentum is maintained at the top of the Championship
Updated
Full-time: West Brom 2-3 Leicester
A massive win for Leicester, and an impressive turnaround.
Full-time: Southampton 2-0 Hull
A timely win for Saints, a bad loss for Hull. And a sending off at White Hart Lane – Carlos Sánchez has been dismissed after a second booking. I think that means he misses the Cup semi-final.
Stoke have had a goal disallowed at Upton Park, Arnovic straying offside before putting it in the net.
Full-times coming in: Shrewsbury have beaten Exeter 4-0, and promotion at the first attempt looks increasingly certain.
Goal! West Brom 2-3 Leicester (Vardy, 90)
How important will this be? Leicester’s pressure pays off, Jamie Vardy striking a minute into injury time. Great escape talk suddenly seems less fanciful, and cliched
Updated
Goal! Sunderland 1-4 Crystal Palace
A consolation for Sunderland - Connor Wickham scoring for the benefit of those remaining home fans.
Aston Villa’s performance is attracting lavish praise from Phil Thompson, in defence, where Vlar has been outstanding, and going forward, but it’s still only 1-0.
Goal! Ipswich 3-2 Blackpool (Berra, 83) - a crucial one for Ipswich that could put them back in the top six As It Stands (the most commonly used phrase on Sky this afternoon). At Deepdale, both sides are going for it, Beckford and Emmanuel-Thomas going close for Preston and Bristol City respectively.
Leicester, having rejigged at half-time, are pressing at West Brom now, as is Nigel Pearson’s way, but it’s still 2-2 at West Brom. Villa are still ahead at Spurs, but not making their dominance count, Delph seeing a shot blocked by Vorm.
In joined-up Europe, Bayern Munich have won 3-0 against Eintracht Frankfurt and Real Madrid are now winning by the same score against Eibar, Jese scoring the third.
Updated
Goal! In League Two, Burton are 1-0 ahead at Luton - promotion moves closer to being in the bag now as Matttew Palmer scores for the Brewers.
Goal! West Brom 2-2 Leicester (Huth, 80); Southampton 2-0 Hull (Pelle, 81)
No sooner do I type “nothing’s happening” than something happens. Huth powers a header in from six yards to bring Leicester level at West Brom, and Southampton double their lead through Graziano Pelle, breaking his goal drought to put this match almost certainly beyond Hull.
And Notts County have levelled at Yeovil, who will be going down as it stands now.
Updated
It’s all quitened down a bit in the Premier League – Leicester labouring to find a way back into it at West Brom, Spurs still losing and Southampton limping to victory against Hull. Another bunch of League One play-off near-certs. Sheffield United have pulled it back to 2-2 at Oldham
Goal! League One play-off near-certs Swindon, who’ve been struggling lately, are 1-0 up against Peterborough through Jermaine Hylton’s first senior goal, a neat turn and shot. Charlton have equalised at Sheffield Wednesday through Gudmundson’s 11th goal of the season.
Many Clouds won the Grand National, for what it’s worth (ie minus a tenner - *Rips up betting slip*)
Updated
Goal! Middlesbrough 2-0 Rotherham (Bamford, 66)
Middlesbrough’s utter dominance against Rotherham is rewarded as the prolific Bamford doubles their lead. And with Norwich being held, this is looking a good afternoon for Aitor Karanka’s team.
As it is for Shrewsbury, two divisions lower, whose promotion looks more and more likely. They lead Exeter 3-0 now, with Akpa-Akpro scoring his second of the afternoon.
Ten-man York lead 1-0 against Hartlepool, through Luke Summerfield, and Blackpool have drawn level at 2-2 against Ipswich, a blow to the home side’s play-off hopes.
German full-time: Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1 Borussia Dortmund
Goal! It’s Birmingham 2-1 Wolves, a cool finish from Demarai Gray delivering a potentially serious blow to Wolves’ play-off hopes. And down at the bottom of League One, Paddy Madden has made it Scunthorpe 2-0 Crawley, which could make Scunny safe and further endanger Crawley
Goal! Sunderland 0-4 Crystal Palace (Bolasie hat-trick, 62)
The carnage continues at the Stadium of Light -a hat-trick goal for Bolasie, capitalising on some awful defending, has Paul Merson hyperventilating.
It’s all happening. Bristol City have equalised at Preston through Aaron Wilbrahim, Rochdale have equalised at Doncaster and Barnsley likewise at home to Chesterfield. It’s 1-1 in b oth.
Updated
Goal! Millwall 0-2 Watford (Guedioura, 56)
Watford double their lead to leave Millwall thinking ever more about trips to Burton and Wycombe next season. Wycombe are 2-1 up against Cheltenham after responding to Cheltenham’s equaliser swiftly by going up the other end and scoring again through Alfie Mawson.
The Grand National is about to start – and a good few thousand Sunderland fans should have made it to a pub in time to watch it. Mood not good in Wearside
In the meantime, big goal in the League One game of the day - it’s Preston 1-0 Bristol City, Jermaine Beckford putting the home side ahead after 59 minutes at Deepdale.
Goal! Middlesbrough 1-0 Rotherham (Tomlin, 50)
An important one at the top of the Championship – Lee Tomlin drives at the Rotherham defence, cuts inside and sends a rasping shot into the corner to put Boro ahead.
Goal! Southampton 1-0 Hull (Ward-Prowse, 54pen)
A first Premier League goal for James Ward-Prowse has lifted the mood at St Mary’s, and possibly slightly eased the pain of the Sunderland fans now drifting out of the Stadium of Light in their thousands. Ground half-empty already, apparently.
Updated
Another goal! Sunderland 0-3 Crystal Palace (Bolasie, 53)
Palace are running amok and Bolasie has scored again – three goals in six minutes have made this one suddenly safe for the visitors.
Updated
Goal! Sunderland 0-2 Crystal Palace
And another! Yannick Bolasie stabs the ball home after a flick-on from Glenn Murray, and Sunderland are in a bit of serious bother. A few over-reactions from the Palace perspective though:
Southampton are struggling to make an impression going forward against Hull, both Pelle and Long struggling. “Genuinely poor,” sighs Alan McInally.
Bayern Munich are now 3-0 up against Eintracht Frankfurt
Goal! Sunderland 0-1 Crystal Palace (Murray, 48)
Glenn Murray’s Indian summer continues, converting from close range at the far post for a sixth goal in as many games while Sunderland’s defence is caught napping. Hairy times for Sunderland now.
West Brom’s Craig Gardner is booked early on at The Hawthorns
Updated
Peep!
Welcome back. We’re back underway at most places.
Elsewhere … Real Madrid are now 2-0 up against Eibar, Javier Hernández doubling their lead, Dortmund still trail 0-2 at Mönchengladbach, Bayern Munich lead Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0, Leverkusen are 2-0 up at Mainz and Schalke v Freiburg is goalless. There have been no goals in the Scottish Premiership in this afternoon’s 3pm starts.
All your scores and scorers are here: I’ll be back in a few minutes
Updated
Your half-times in (almost) full
Premier League: Southampton 0-0 Hull; Sunderland 0-0 Palace; Tottenham 0-1 Aston Villa 1; West Brom 2-1 Leicester; West Ham 1-0 Stoke
Championship: Birmingham 1-1 Wolves, Bolton 1-1 Norwich, Ipswich 2-1 Blackpool, Leeds 1-1 Cardiff, Middlesbrough 0-0 Rotherham, Millwall 0-1 Watford, Nottingham Forest 0-1 Huddersfield, Reading 0-0 Blackburn, Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Charlton
League One: Barnsley 0-1 Chesterfield, Coventry 1-0 Colchester, Crewe 1-1 Leyton Orient, Doncaster 1-0 Rochdale, Gillingham 0-0 Bradford, Oldhm 2-0 Sheffield United.
League Two: AFC Wimbledon 0 Oxford Utd 0 , Cambridge Utd 1 Accrington Stanley 1, Carlisle 0 Dag & Red 0, Luton 0 Burton Albion 0, Morecambe 1 Portsmouth 0, Newport County 0 Bury 1, Plymouth 1 Mansfield 0, Shrewsbury 1 Exeter 0, Southend 1 Tranmere 0, Stevenage 0 Northampton 1, Wycombe 1 Cheltenham 0, York 0 Hartlepool 0
Half-time whistles are beginning to blow
It’s Spurs 0-1 Aston Villa; West Brom 2-1 Leicester; Southampton 0-0 Hull; Preston 0-0 Bristol City. Full half-times to follow
Off the post! Agbonlahor sends a shot against the inside of the bar as Villa continue to press at White Hart Lane
Red card in the biggie at York. The home side are down to 10 men, John McCoombe sent off in the match against Hartlepool for a serious foul. Sheffield United are 0-2 down at Oldham.
Meaningless match goals: Nottingham Forest 0-1 Huddersfield (Scannell, 43) and Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Charlton (Lavery, 41).
Pressure but not goals news: Leicester are applying some pressure at West Brom now, but are profligate. As are Hull – they’ve had nine attempts on goal but not really come close with them. Puncheon and Fletcher have just come close for Palace and Sunderland respectively at the Stadium of Light.
There’s much talk on the internets about Christian Benteke’s renaissance under Tim Sherwood:
Relegation-battle goals! Southend 1-0 Tranmere – a significant one, particularly for the shake-up at the bottom of League Two. A division higher, it’s Coventry 1-0 Colchester, Jim O’Brien putting Tony Mowbray’s side ahead with a firm right-foot shot from the edge of the area.
Borussia Dortmund, in full “oh well, there’s always next season” mode now, go 2-0 down at Mönchengladbach, Raffael doubling the home side’s lead. Christian Eriksen has just almost cracked a presentable chance over the stand at White Hart Lane. League Two play-off hopefuls Stevenage go 0-1 down at home to Northampton, Zander Diamond scoring.
Goal! Tottenham 0-1 Aston Villa (Benteke, 35)
The suddenly rampant Christian Benteke has done it again, converting with a fine glancing header from Bacuna’s ball in.
Stoke are enjoying a good spell at West Ham, but are still trailing to Aaron Creswell’s fine early goal.
Leyton Orient are level at Crewe, the up-and-down Darius Henderson converting at the near post for his eighth goal of the season.
Updated
Ipswich are now 2-1 up against Blackpool, Freddy Sears scoring his and his team’s second goal in the space of four minutes. In the Scottish Premiership, St Johnstone lead Dundee 1-0.
From Toronto, Nigel disputes the description of the Real Madrid goal:
Hi Tom, I disagree. The wall didn’t jump so it was easy for cr7 to get it over. it then bounced in front of the ‘keeper - not a chance of saving it
Nigel (toronto)
“We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology,
in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.”
Carl Sagan
Carl has me bang to rights, anyway.
Goal! West Brom 2-1 Leicester (Gardner, 26)
Craig Gardner’s deflected right-footed has restored Albion’s lead. Deserved, by all accounts.
Goal! And a big one, in the Championship. Watford are 1-0 up at Millwall - Vyrdra’s 14th goal of the season, while Birmingham have drawn swiftly level against Wolves.
Updated
Goal! It’s Birmingham 0-1 Wolves. Benik Afobe has put the visitors ahead in the West Midlands derby at St Andrew’s. Bacuna is down for treatment at White Hart Lane. It’s now Ipswich 1-1 Blackpool, Freddie Sears scoring after 24 minutes.
La Liga goal! Ronaldo scores, Real lead against Eibar, with the goal reportedly owing much to a goalkeeping blunder:
Goal! Bolton 1-1 Norwich (Le Fondre, 18)
The winger Tom Walker gets out wide and delivers a fantastic cross for Adam Le Fondre to sidefoot in to curb Norwich’s promotion enthusiasm.
Back to the bottom of League One, Scunthorpe are 1-0 up against Crawley
Goal! West Brom 1-1 Leicester (Nugent, 20)
Against the run of play, Nugent equalises for the Premier League’s bottom club, latching onto Cambiasso’s free-kick, nudging past his man and finishing neatly.
Leeds are level at 1-1 against Cardiff now, through Kalvin Phillips, and in League Two promotion-chasing Shrewsbury are 1-0 ahead against Exeter through Jean-Louis Akpa-Akpro.
Updated
A kerfuffle at the Stadium of Light, as Rodwell is perhaps lucky to stay on the pitch for a crunching foul on McArthur, but Palace can’t make the free-kick count.
Cardiff have scored at Leeds, through Sean Morrison, but they have no fans at Elland Road to celebrate it - none are there in a protest against what they say is a derisory ticket allocation.
League One latest: Crewe are ahead against Leyton Orient in the key relegation tussle at Gresty Road, Lauri Dalla Valle putting the Railwaymen ahead. At the top of the same division, it’s tense, even and goalless at Deepdale between Preston and Bristol City.
Goal! Bolton 0-1 Norwich (Dorrans, 9)
Graham Dorrans, on loan from West Brom, has put Norwich ahead at Bolton, while Yeovil have taken the lead against Notts County. In Germany, Bayern are now 2-0 up against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Updated
Goal! West Brom 1-0 Leicester City (Fletcher, 8)
West Brom’s bright start is rewarded. A corner comes in from Chris Brunt, Darren Fletcher’s glancing header is well saved by Schmeichel but it’s ruled to have crossed the line before the save is made. “Technology works,” shrieks Charlie Nicholas, in the manner of a naive great uncle who can’t get his head round the marvels of SatNav.
Updated
Goal! West Ham 1-0 Stoke (Cresswell)
Brilliant effort – Aaron Creswell curling in a brilliant free-kick to put the Hammers ahead after seven minutes.
Updated
Early exchanges: Southampton almost score early on against Hull, Shane Long rounding the keeper, Harper, but running the ball out. Lively start by West Brom against Leicester. Fletcher heads over Sunderland’s first chance against Palace.
First goal of the day: Blackpool, would you believe it, have scored it, at Ipswich. Andrea Orlandi scoring for the relegated side in the fourth minute. According to Sky’s man at Portman Road, there are only 50 Seasiders fans there to see it.
Peep!
Whistles are blowing up and down the country. And we start with some important news from White Hart Lane.
Match report: Read all about Swansea’s draw with Everton in the lunchtime kick-off here. Back on sartorial standards, those West Brom retro-kits are looking mighty fine at the Hawthorns.
The dress code of the doomed: Paul Sturrock takes charge of Yeovil for the first time today, at home to Notts County. They’ll be down to League Two if they lose, but Sturrock is insisting some sartorial, er, standards must be maintained:
The big Lewandowski: The Pole has scored something of a stunner for Bayern to put them 1-0 up against Eintracht Frankfurt:
Full-time in the Scottish Premiership: Inverness 1-1 Celtic. Inverness’s third placing and Celtic’s position at the top not really affected. Leigh Griffiths put the Hoops ahead after three minutes, Edward Ofere equalised a minute later, and that was it.
Some Championship team news
From a few of the big games in the second tier:
Millwall v Watford
Millwall: Forde; Cummings, Nelson, Beevers, Harding, Upson, Abdou, Williams, Woolford, Gregory, O’Brien. Subs: Dunne, Martin, Bailey, Gueye, Archer, Taylor-Fletcher, Maierhofer.
Watford: Gomes; Connolly, Angella, Hoban, Paredes, Guedioura, Tozser, Watson, Anya, Deeney, Vydra. Subs: Munari, Layun, Pudil, Abdi, Ighalo, Bond, Motta.
Referee: Simon Hooper
Bolton v Norwich
Bolton: Bogdan; Vela, Dervite, Ream, Moxey, Bannan, Feeney, Walker, Gudjohnsen, Heskey, Le Fondre. Subs: Mark Davies, Trotter, Danns, Rochinha, Lonergan, McCarthy, Janko.
Norwich: Ruddy; Whittaker, Martin, Bassong, Olsson, Tettey, Dorrans, Redmond, Howson, Hoolahan, Jerome. Subs: Grabban, Hooper, Elliott Bennett, Ryan Bennett, Rudd, O’Neil, Odjidja-Ofoe.
Referee: James Adcock
Birmingham v Wolverhampton
Birmingham: Randolph; Caddis, Morrison, Kiernan, Grounds, Gleeson, Tesche, Cotterill, Fabbrini, Gray, Donaldson. Subs: Thomas, Novak, Doyle, Spector, Dyer, Davis, Shinnie.
Wolverhampton: Ikeme, Iorfa, Batth, Stearman, Golbourne, Henry, McDonald, Price, Sako, Afobe, Dicko. Subs: Edwards, Doyle, Van La Parra, Ebanks-Landell, Kuszczak, Hause, Jacobs.
Referee: Eddie Ilderton
Full-time: Swansea City 1-1 Everton – probably a fair result, is the consensus. Sham 69 bellow “We’re going down the pub” over the PA system at the Liberty Stadium, and well they might.
Goal in the Bundesliga: Borussia Dortmund are already behind, 1-o at Borussia Mönchengladbach, Oscar Wendt scoring in the first minute
Match report: Read more on Derby 1-1 Brentford.
Back to the Hawthorns, another aspect of the club’s admirable Jeff Astle day is that they appear to be playing the popular beat combo music of the day over the PA system:
More team news
Hull have arranged for every seat in the away end at St Mary’s to be covered by black t-shirts bearing the words ‘Steve Bruce’s Black & Amber army’. Underneath is a picture of a tiger. The latest manoeuvrings in the whole sorry “Hull Tigers” farrago? Or just a gesture of bounteous generosity by a beneficent owner? Hmm. All a bit North Korean anyway, this top-down choreographed crowd-dressing lark.
Anyway, out on the pitch in Southampton and Hull strips, will be the following:
Southampton v Hull
Southampton: Kelvin Davis; Alderweireld, Fonte, Yoshida, Bertrand, Wanyama, Schneiderlin, Long, Steven Davis, Mane, Pelle. Subs: Clyne, Tadic, Ward-Prowse, Elia, Gazzaniga, Reed, Targett.
Hull: Harper; Chester, Dawson, Bruce, McShane, Elmohamady, Livermore, Huddlestone, Quinn, N’Doye, Aluko. Subs: McGregor, Rosenior, Hernandez, Brady, Diame, Sagbo, Robertson.
Referee: Kevin Friend.
So anyway, the Grand National: From a football fans’ perspective, it’s a source of profound frustration that the National no longer takes place – at least in part – during half-time intervals at matches, the 4.15pm start time a confusing (or perhaps welcome) distraction for people stuck inside football grounds. Mind, I once saw someone get chucked out of a ground by the police for celebrating a Grand National win with excessive zeal. It was the late 80s. That was how it was.
First email of the day – and wouldn’t you know, it’s our old mucker Simon McMahon:
Game of the day in Scotland is at Tannadice where Dundee United take on Hamilton, the one team in the league on a worse run of form than ourselves, United having not won in 10, Hamilton in 12. Consistent if nothing else. Celtic and Inverness are currently 1-1 in the early kick-off, and Partick Thistle face Motherwell in a match that could go a long way to deciding who has to face a relegation play-off.
I was just about to say all that, pretty much to the letter, so thanks Simon for saving me the bother.
Goal! It’s Swansea 1-1 Everton. Jonjo Shelvey has equalised with a penalty. Let Nick Miller tell you all about it here.
Full-time at Derby: It did indeed finish Derby 1-1 Brentford, relief for Derby but Marc Warburton’s side, superior on the day, will be disappointed. They’ll stay outside the top six tonight if Wolves get a point at Birmingham.
Premier League team news
Not one, but four teamsheets to run your eyes over:
Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa
Tottenham Hotspur: Vorm; Dier, Fazio, Chiriches, Rose, Mason, Bentaleb, Townsend, Eriksen, Chadli, Kane. Subs: Paulinho, Soldado, Lamela, Yedlin, Friedel, Stambouli, Davies.
Aston Villa: Guzan; Bacuna, Clark, Vlaar, Richardson, Sánchez, Cleverley, Delph, Agbonlahor, Benteke, Grealish. Subs: Baker, Okore, Weimann, Cole, N’Zogbia, Given, Lowton.
Referee: Lee Probert (Wiltshire)
Sunderland v Crystal Palace
Sunderland: Pantilimon; Jones, Vergini, O’Shea, Van Aanholt, Rodwell, Cattermole, Gomez, Defoe, Fletcher, Wickham. Subs: Bridcutt, Johnson, Reveillere, Graham, Coates, Mannone, Buckley.
Crystal Palace: Speroni, Ward, Dann, Delaney, Souare, McArthur, Jedinak, Zaha, Puncheon, Bolasie, Murray. Subs: Hangeland, Sanogo, Hennessey, Gayle, Ameobi, Ledley, Kelly.
Referee: Anthony Taylor
West Brom v Leicester
West Brom: Myhill; Dawson, McAuley, Lescott, Brunt, Morrison, Fletcher, Yacob, Gardner, Ideye, Berahino. Subs: Wisdom, Olsson, Baird, Anichebe, McManaman, Sessegnon, Rose.
Leicester: Schmeichel; De Laet, Morgan, Huth, Schlupp, Vardy, James, Cambiasso, Albrighton, Nugent, Ulloa. Subs: Konchesky, Drinkwater, King, Mahrez, Wasilewski, Schwarzer, Kramaric.
Referee: Martin Atkinson
West Ham v Stoke
West Ham: Adrian; Jenkinson, Collins, Reid, Cresswell, Song, Kouyate, Noble, Downing, Sakho, Valencia. Subs: Nolan, Jarvis, Nene, O’Brien, Amalfitano, Jaaskelainen, Cole.
Stoke: Begovic; Wilson, Shawcross, Wollscheid, Cameron, Whelan, Adam, Nzonzi, Moses, Walters, Arnautovic. Subs: Bardsley, Pieters, Ireland, Diouf, Sidwell, Butland, Crouch.
Referee: Roger East
Updated
Late goal at Derby! Darren Bent has stolen in at the far post to bring Derby level against Brentford in injury-time. It’s 1-1.
Preamble
Good afternoon everyone. And on a day absurdly overloaded with top-level sport, it almost feels like one of those rare occasions when football has to jostle a bit for a look-in. But there’s plenty of football action worth jostling for today, in our top four divisions and beyond.
Premier League: Tim Sherwood returns to the scene of his gilet-hurling histrionics last year when his new side Aston Villa visit Tottenham needing to build on their recent improvement to drag themselves further clear of trouble. Is he still bitter at his removal last summer? Who knows, but according to his former assistant Les Ferdinand there was a method to what some called his madness. He only went rogue once he knew he was on the way out, reckons Sir Les in this interview with David Hytner. Spurs have only a Thursday night Europa League slot to play for now, a predicament shared by Southampton. You’d fancy Ronald Koeman’s side to see off struggling Hull at St Mary’s though, even if the stakes may be higher for the fourth-bottom visitors.
An emotional afternoon is in prospect at the Hawthorns, where West Brom honour Jeff Astle by turning out in the kit in which their former striker scored the FA Cup final winner in 1968, as part of their campaign to raise awareness of the sort of head injuries from which Astle died, prolonged experience of heading footballs having contributed to the chronic traumatic encephalopathy which proved fatal. The Jeff Astle Foundation will be launched at today’s game against Leicester.
Elsewhere, Alan Pardew is back in the north-east, with Crystal Palace at Sunderland, both sides buoyed by fine Easter victories, and West Ham and Stoke will battle like mad to make the coveted ninth spot their own. Intermittent speculation continues around Sam Allardyce’s future with the Hammers, speculation to which Barney Ronay has mischievously added with his musings on whether art-punk BoHo type Marcelo Bielsa might fit in at Upton Park/the Olympic Stadium.
Championship: If I had a penny for every time I’d heard someone – including myself – lazily muse that it’s “going to the wire” at the top of the second tier, I’d have five pounds sixty-three. Still, going to the wire it is, though the leaders Bournemouth laid down a considerable gauntlet (other sized gauntlets are also available) with their hard-earned 2-0 win at Brighton last night, when really lovely goals from Yann Kermorgant and Callum Wilson stretched the Cherries’ lead to four points. You’d expect hot pursuers Norwich to win at Bolton, and Middlesbrough to beat visitors Rotherham. While Derby and Brentford are slugging it out right now. Third-placed Watford will also be fancied to win at Millwall, though Neil Harris’s side need to win really to maintain slim hopes of avoiding the drop.
League One: A huge day in the third tier, with the top two, Preston and Bristol City, meeting at Deepdale. City are pretty much up already, though a win for Preston would bring them a step closer to joining them, and leave the five or six teams below them duking it out for play-off positions. But it’s at the bottom where the real anxiety will be today, with three key six-pointers: improving Coventry take on improving (but still second-bottom) Colchester, fourth-bottom Crewe are at home to fifth-bottom Leyton Orient, and Scunthorpe and Crawley – both nervously hovering just above the drop zone – meet at Glanford Park. Only four points separate the nine teams between 15th and 23rd. You want tension? That’s tension.
League Two: Leaders Burton can smell, see and even perhaps touch, at a stretch, the third tier for the first time ever, but face a tricky match at Luton, who need a win to revive their play-off ambitions. Shrewsbury and Wycombe look like sealing the other two automatic spots, and both are at home today, against play-off chasing Exeter and bottom club Cheltenham respectively. And can Hartlepool continue their great escape, at also-imperilled York? Their manager, Ronnie Moore, is up for it, as he explains to Louise Taylor here.
Further afield, Real Madrid can close the gap to leaders Barcelona, for a few hours at least, if they beat Eibar at the Bernabéu, and we’ve got five Bundesliga matches kicking off at 2.30pm BST, including Bayern Munich v Eintracht Frankfurt.
Boat race? What boat race? There’s loads going on here.
