Last few: Nottingham Forest 3-0 Brighton.
Paul MacInnes was at West Brom 0-2 Crystal Palace:
Stuart James was at Leicester for their 3-1 win over Hull City.
Here come your reports … first up: Stoke City 2-0 Middlesbrough from Nick Miller.
So that’s your lot. For Clockwatch, at any rate. Meanwhile one of the most dependably unpredictable fixtures is about to take place at Anfield: Liverpool v Arsenal. We’re serving up hot MBM action by the spoonful. Rob Smyth is your man. Enjoy!
The Championship full times: Blackburn 1-0 Wigan; Bristol City 0-0 Burton; Derby 2-1 Barnsley; Fulham 3-1 Preston; Ipswich 1-1 Brentford; Forest 3-0 Brighton; QPR 2-1 Cardiff; Reading 2-1 Wolves; Rotherham 0-2 Villa; Wednesday 5-1 Norwich.
Scottish Cup quarter finals: Hibernian 3-1 Ayr; Rangers 6-0 Hamilton Accies.
Scottish Premier League: Kilmarnock 1-2 Motherwell.
La Liga: Eibar 1-4 Real Madrid.
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The Premier League full times
It’s all over. And these results will shake up the Premier League table, with Middlesbrough dropping into the bottom three as Crystal Palace leapfrog them.
Leicester City 3-1 Hull City
Manchester United 1-1 Bournemouth
Stoke City 2-0 Middlesbrough
Swansea City 3-2 Burnley
Watford 3-4 Southampton
West Bromwich Albion 0-2 Crystal Palace.
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GOAL! Watford 3-4 Southampton (Doucoure 90+4)
This is getting old.
GOAL! Swansea City 3-2 Burnley (Llorente 90+2)
Carroll zips down the left and swings a high cross into the box. Llorente. Bang! Paul Clement embarks on a Mourinhoesque skitter along the touchline. And no wonder, what a difference this will make at the bottom!
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GOAL! Leicester City 3-1 Hull City (Huddlestone 90 og)
Hull have been pushing for an equaliser. But Gray skedaddles upfield, nearly finds the bottom left with a fine shot, and from the resulting corner, Huddlestone accidentally flicks a header into the top right of his own net. Manchester City 1938 look like remaining a singular lot a little longer.
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GOAL! Watford 2-4 Southampton (Redmond 86)
Southampton’s recent scorelines: 3-0, 1-0, 0-5, 2-1, 1-3, 4-0, 2-3 and currently they’re 4-2. Unpredictable, yes, but worth the money of the ticket all right.
GOAL! Watford 2-3 Southampton (Gabbiadini 84)
This is six goals in four games for the striker of the moment, Manolo Gabbiadini. He swoops to sweep home a mistake from Gomes in the Watford goal. What a signing! But is this news? Do Southampton make dud signings?
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GOAL! West Bromwich Albion 0-2 Crystal Palace (Townsend 84)
A solo stunner by Andros Townsend. Yes, 370,000,000 pennies for the thoughts of Tony Pulis.
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GOAL! Watford 2-2 Southampton (Okaka 79)
The majestically monickered Isaac Success whips in a cross that’s converted by Stefano Okaka. Yet another goalfest involving the Saints, who are certainly one of the teams to watch in 2017, one way or another.
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Derby have turned it around against Barnsley. Tom Ince’s equaliser has been followed up by a David Nugent goal; they lead 2-1 at Pride Park. Paul McShane has reclaimed the lead for Reading against Wolves, and quite a long way north of the M4, Falkirk are 2-0 up at Queen of the South.
Marco Asensio has made it four for Real Madrid at Eibar. A Will Vaulks own goal has given crack Victorian outfit Aston Villa the lead at Rotherham. And up in Scotland, Zak Jules gives Motherwell a 2-1 lead over Kilmarnock. It. Is. All. Happening.
At the King Power, Danny Drinkwater tries to replicate his Monday-night screamer against Liverpool. Nope! But full marks for ambition.
GOAL! Swansea City 2-2 Burnley (Olsson 70)
A little bit of karmic justice done at the Liberty? Sigurdsson exquisitely tees up the rampaging Olsson for the equaliser. Is Sigurdsson the greatest creative force to come out of Iceland since Björk, Friðrik Þór Friðriksson or Jóhann Jóhannsson? It’s a toss-up, isn’t it.
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Josh Koroma has completed his hat-trick for Leyton Orient at Newport. A penalty on 64 minutes. They’re 4-0 up.
Middlesbrough have just had a goal disallowed at Stoke. Gibson tucks the ball away, but Bernardo is penalised for use of an arm. Meanwhile in the Championship, Forest lead Brighton at the City Ground through a controversial Zach Clough goal - shades of offside - while Marvin Emnes has put Blackburn ahead against Wigan in their relegation scrap.
GOAL! Swansea City 1-2 Burnley (Gray 61)
Swansea have hit the woodwork three times, and already conceded a goal from a penalty kick awarded for a hand ball by the opposition. Now they’re trailing to Andre Gray’s second strike of the match. They’ll be seething all right, and the fact that this one is legit is unlikely to simmer them down.
GOAL! Leicester City 2-1 Hull City (Mahrez 59)
This is a fine goal, and it’s not just Jamie Vardy who has relocated the source of his genius! Mahrez twists and turns on the right-hand edge of the Hull D, before lashing a shot into the bottom right! Truth be told, Jakupovic in the Hull goal should have turned the ball round the post, but that was still some fancy football from Mahrez. And the resurgence of the champions is back on!
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GOAL! West Bromwich Albion 0-1 Crystal Palace (Zaha 55)
Is the Sam Allardyce effect finally taking ... er ... effect? The relegation-swerving expert looked to have lost his mojo, but Palace beat Boro last weekend, and now look! Zaha latches onto a spectacular crossfield Zaha pass to put the struggling Eagles into the lead at the Hawthorns. 370,000,000 pennies for the thoughts of Tony Pulis.
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A half-time score from Spain: Eibar trail Real Madrid by the three goals. Carl McHugh has equalised for Motherwell at Kilmarnock. And Matthew James has put Barnsley 1-0 up at Steve McClaren’s Derby County.
Championship play-off hopefuls Reading have taken the lead at home to Wolves. Yann Kermorgant with that one. Ah hold on, Wolves have come straight back at their hosts, Ben Marshall putting the old gold on terms. “After that news from the Shrewsbury-Coventry match, maybe Mings and Ibrahimovic should take a look at themselves,” opines Simon McMahon. “Grown men both.”
Hull have come out for the second half at Leicester with great purpose! Two early chances to reclaim the lead. Maguire shaved the left-hand post with a close-range header from a corner. And the same man guided a powerful header into Schmeichel’s hands from a tight angle on the left.
In case you missed the lunchtime match, ten-man Bournemouth earned a 1-1 draw at Manchester United in a tempestuous affair. Tyrone Mings has denied stamping on Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s head; Ibrahimovic has insisted Mings jumped into his innocently flying elbow. That’s all sorted, then! No need for anyone to harp on about it for the rest of the week!
Some worrying news from the match between Shrewsbury and Coventry. The Sky Blues midfielder Andy Rose was stretchered off after a sickening clash of heads early in the game. Play was stopped for nearly 20 minutes as Rose received treatment. God speed, young man.
So here are the Premier League half-time scores: Leicester City 1-1 Hull City; Stoke City 2-0 Middlesbrough; Swansea 1-1 Burnley; Watford 1-2 Southampton; WBA 0-0 Crystal Palace.
Here’s what’s going on in the Championship, though I warn you it’s not very exciting: Blackburn 0-0 Wigan; Bristol City 0-0 Burton; Derby 0-0 Barnsley; Fulham 1-0 Preston; Ipswich 1-1 Brentford; Forest 0-0 Brighton; QPR 0-1 Cardiff; Reading 0-0 Wolves; Rotherham 0-0 Villa; Wednesday 3-1 Norwich.
Still awake? To Spain! James Rodriguez has put Real Madrid 3-0 up at Eibar.
In Scotland: Hibs are 2-1 up in the cup quarter-final against Ayr, while Killie lead Motherwell 1-0 in the Scottish Premier.
And back in England, right at the bottom of the Football League, Leyton Orient are 3-0 up at fellow relegation strugglers Newport! Steven Alzate opened the scoring, Josh Koroma helped himself to a couple more.
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GOAL! Watford 1-2 Southampton (Redmond 45)
Pass, pass, pass, passity, pass. Tadic to Redmond, and Saints have come from behind to lead at half time!
Llorente sends another towering header towards the Burnley goal. This one hits the crossbar, which means Swansea have bothered the woodwork on three occasions this afternoon. Burnley seriously need to mix up their travelling routine. Maybe pack rolls instead of sandwiches, or fill up with petrol at a different service station.
GOAL! Stoke City 2-0 Middlesbrough (Arnautovic 42)
Boro are beginning to look like serious relegation candidates. This one was far too easy for Stoke, Crouch teeing up Arnautovic for his second. Meanwhile in Spain there’s another for Benzema! Real are 2-0 up after 25 minutes, and surely heading back towards the top of the table, at least for a while, depending on the Barcelona-Celta Vigo game tonight.
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In the Scottish top division, Kris Boyd has given Kilmarnock the lead at home against Motherwell. Meanwhile Craig McGuffie has pulled one back for Ayr at Hibs in the cup. And in Spain, Karim Benzema gives Real Madrid the lead at Eibar. Real were an utter shambles at the Bernabeu against Las Palmas during the week - salvaging a 3-3 draw was all good and well, but they could easily have been 5-1 down at one point - so this represents something of an upturn in form.
Leicester are beginning to turn the screw against Hull. Vardy is all over the place, in a good way. He storms down the right and very nearly sets up Albrighton in the middle. Then he makes off down the left and nearly turns the last man to scoot free on goal. Not quite. But he’s very much back on his game after a long barren spell. I wonder what Claudio Ranieri is thinking right now? More to the point, I wonder what Sevilla are thinking right now?
GOAL! Stoke City 1-0 Middlesbrough (Arnautovic 29)
Stoke finally get their reward for being on top pretty much from the get-go. Arnautovic dances his way around Friend and Valdes to open the scoring in the Potteries.
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GOAL! Watford 1-1 Southampton (Tadic 28)
Saints had responded well to falling behind, and here’s their reward. Meanwhile Hibs are now 2-0 up against Ayr in the Scottish Cup.
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GOAL! Leicester City 1-1 Hull City (Fuchs 28)
Hull had been looking comfortable since taking the lead. But there’s no stopping the irresistible Jamie Vardy, who tears down the left yet again, reaches the byline, and pulls one back for marauding full back Fuchs. He slaps a sidefoot into the net, and the champions have regained their momentum!
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Up in Scotland, John McGinn has given Hibernian the lead in the cup quarter-final against Ayr. Meanwhile at Stoke, Ramadan Sobhi has twanged the crossbar against Middlesbrough. No goals yet there, or between West Brom and Palace.
GOAL! Swansea City 1-1 Burnley (Gray 19 pen)
Maybe it’s a rare day of on-the-road luck for Burnley after all! They’re awarded a penalty, which Andre Gray tucks away without fuss. Problem was, it was awarded for a handball by their own player, Sam Vokes!
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GOAL! Leicester City 0-1 Hull City (Clucas 15)
The champions are still in relegation bother! Ndidi gives the ball away in the middle of his own half, with team-mates committed to attack, and Leicester are short at the back. Clucas Beckenbauers his way upfield, lays off to Niasse on the left, and bundles in the low return! That’s a fine counter attack!
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GOAL! Swansea City 1-0 Burnley (Llorente 12)
Is there a better header of a ball than Fernando Llorente? He John Toshacked one into the net at Anfield, crashed another past Chelsea last weekend, and now he’s converted a Fer cross against Burnley, who really should consider selling their bus.
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Swansea bother the woodwork against Burnley, not once but twice. From a Sigurdsson free kick, a header’s glanced off the crossbar, then in the resulting melee, Mawson sticks out a boot and clatters a shot off a post.
Leicester City have come back at Hull in the champion style. First Wes Morgan should get a close-range header at the right-hand post on target from a free kick, but fails to connect. Then Shinji Okazaki nearly gets on the end of a left-wing Jamie Vardy cross. And finally a complete sitter is missed, Vardy again romping down the left and rolling a ball across the face of goal. Marc Albrighton must tap in, but somehow pulls a sidefoot wide right from a couple of yards. What a miss! Three misses, really, but that last one was a doozy.
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GOAL! Watford 1-0 Southampton (Deeney 4)
Troy Deeney has whistled his 99th League goal for Watford into the top corner of the Southampton net. Saints suffering a League Cup hangover already.
And we’re off! Hull get the ball rolling at the King Power, and hog the ball during the opening exchanges. In fact it’s all Hull for the first couple of minutes. They’ve not allowed Leicester to make any early statements, as they did against Liverpool the other night, Jamie Vardy introducing himself to Sadio Mane in uncompromising style.
It won’t be long before whistles are whistled all across the country. Everyone’s in position. Are you in position? Sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin!
And here’s Simon McMahon telling us what’s what north of the border: “It’s Scottish Cup quarter-final weekend up here, and as promotion-chasing Dundee United sensibly got thrashed in an earlier round, they have the weekend off to prepare for the visit of league leaders Hibs to Tannadice next Friday night. The Edinburgh team are not so clever, so play Ayr United for a place in the last four today. Rangers beat Hamilton 6-0 in the early kick off and tomorrow it’s Celtic v St Mirren and Aberdeen v Partick. There’s still some league matches today - in the Scottish Premier there’s an ‘interim manager derby’ as Kilmarnock host Motherwell, in the Scottish Championship it’s Queen of the South v Falkirk and Dunfermline v Dumbarton, and in League Two it’s last chance saloon for Cowdenbeath as they continue their descent from the Championship towards non-league football in three seasons at home to Stirling.”
Speaking of Bournemouth, they’ve just come away with a 1-1 draw at Manchester United in a match described by MBM poet Rob Smyth as “one of the oddest games of football you will ever see.” Here’s how it all unfolded at Old Trafford:
It’s as you were for the champions Leicester, who name the same starting XI that spooked Liverpool within 0.00000001 seconds of kick-off last Monday night. Hull City make three changes to the team who drew against Burnley last weekend. Lazar Marković, Sam Clucas and Oumar Niasse come in for Shaun Maloney, Omar Elabdellaoui and Dieumerci Mbokani.
Stoke City make two alterations to the team-sheet handed in at Spurs last Sunday. Phil Bardsley and Charlie Adam make way for Glen Johnson and Geoff Cameron. Middlesbrough, who lost to Palace last time round, ring-a-ding-ding the changes: George Friend, Grant Leadbitter, Adam Clayton, Adama Traore and Rudy Gestede come in for Bernardo, Stewart Downing, Adam Forshaw, Alvaro Negredo and Cristhian Stuani.
Swansea City swap one player from the team sent out to give Chelsea a small fright last weekend. Luciano Narsingh comes in for Wayne Routledge. Burnley recall Paul Robinson, Sam Vokes and Jeff Hendrick, with Tom Heaton, Ashley Westwood and Ashley Barnes making way.
Watford make two changes to the team named against West Ham. Darryl Janmaat and Mauro Zarate are out; Sebastien Prodl and Stefano Okaka come in. Saints allow the XI so unlucky in the League Cup final against Manchester United to run it out of their system.
And consistency is very much the watchword at the Hawthorns. West Brom and Crystal Palace both name unchanged sides, from their recent wins over Bournemouth and Middlesbrough respectively.
This afternoon's Premier League teams
Leicester City: Schmeichel, Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs, Mahrez, Drinkwater, Ndidi, Albrighton, Okazaki, Vardy.
Subs: Chilwell, King, Amartey, Slimani, Zieler, Gray, Ulloa.
Hull City: Jakupovic, Elmohamady, Ranocchia, Maguire, Robertson, Huddlestone, Markovic, N’Diaye, Clucas, Grosicki, Niasse.
Subs: Meyler, Hernandez, Elabdellaoui, Maloney, Diomande, Marshall, Tymon.
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral).
Stoke City: Grant, Johnson, Shawcross, Martins Indi, Pieters, Cameron, Whelan, Sobhi, Allen, Arnautovic, Crouch.
Subs: Bardsley, Berahino, Afellay, Adam, Diouf, Walters, Given.
Middlesbrough: Valdes, Da Silva, Ayala, Gibson, Friend, Leadbitter, de Roon, Clayton, Traore, Gestede, Ramirez.
Subs: Bernardo, Negredo, Guzan, Barragan, Stuani, Guedioura, Forshaw.
Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire).
Swansea City: Fabianski, Naughton, Fernandez, Mawson, Olsson, Fer, Cork, Carroll, Narsingh, Llorente, Sigurdsson.
Subs: Amat, Ayew, Britton, Borja Baston, Nordfeldt, Routledge, Rangel.
Burnley: Robinson, Lowton, Keane, Mee, Ward, Boyd, Hendrick, Barton, Brady, Vokes, Gray.
Subs: Flanagan, Westwood, Tarkowski, Darikwa, Pope, Agyei, Arfield.
Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire).
Watford: Gomes, Holebas, Kaboul, Prodl, Britos, Capoue, Behrami, Cleverley, Niang, Deeney, Okaka.
Subs: Mariappa, Success, Cathcart, Doucoure, Zuniga, Arlauskis, Stewart.
Southampton: Forster, Cedric, Yoshida, Stephens, Bertrand, Davis, Romeu, Ward-Prowse, Tadic, Gabbiadini, Redmond.
Subs: Clasie, Long, Rodriguez, Caceres, Boufal, McQueen, Hassen.
Referee: Jonathan Moss (County Durham).
West Bromwich Albion: Foster, Dawson, McAuley, Evans, Nyom, Livermore,
Brunt, Fletcher, Morrison, Chadli, Rondon.
Subs: Olsson, Robson-Kanu, Yacob, Marc Wilson, Myhill, McClean, Leko.
Crystal Palace: Hennessey, Ward, Tomkins, Sakho, Van Aanholt, Cabaye, Milivojevic, Zaha, Puncheon, Townsend, Benteke.
Subs: Speroni, Dann, Campbell, McArthur, Sako, Delaney, Schlupp.
Referee: Mike Jones (Cheshire).
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Preamble
Good afternoon! That’s a lovely looking 3pm Premier League card today. Not a self-styled Big Club in sight, which is just how Clocko likes it. But the fixture list still has cachet, baby. It’s got cachet up the yin yang!
Leicester City v Hull City
Stoke City v Middlesbrough
Swansea City v Burnley
Watford v Southampton
West Bromwich Albion v Crystal Palace
For starters, the champions still have one or two things to prove. They might have rolled Liverpool over the other night, but that story got old months ago. Can they unlock a proper defence? Fellow strugglers Hull City, high on confidence these days, may prove a sterner test.
Others are fretting over relegation too. Shot-shy Middlesbrough could do with a result at Stoke, who have shipped four goals on six occasions this season. Improving Swansea City will surely consider the visit of Burnley a potential lifeline, the Clarets being nothing short of appalling on the road. And Crystal Palace visit West Brom in desperate need of a positive result, though they’ll be facing misrepresentation’s Tony Pulis, who has 3.77 million reasons to stick one over on his old employers.
And while Watford versus Southampton might appear a mid-table irrelevance, who doesn’t like watching this Manolo Gabbiadini play? Huh?
Traditional kick-offs are at 3pm. News from elsewhere will also be delivered piping hot. Or at least lukewarm. No need to thank us. OK, let’s go! Team news as we have it!
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