Join Michael Butler for Brighton v Arsenal, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang striking early to give Unai Emery’s side the lead:
Aberdeen 3-4 Celtic
Crystal Palace 0-0 Cardiff
Read Dominic Fifield’s match report:
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Tottenham 5-0 Bournemouth
Read Sachin Nakrani’s match report:
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Liverpool 4-0 Newcastle
Read Andy Hunter’s match report:
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Burnley 1-5 Everton
Read Paul Wilson’s match report:
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Man Utd 3-1 Huddersfield
Read Daniel Taylor’s match report:
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For the first of two evening kick-offs, join Michael Butler:
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Norwich are level at Carrow Road!!!! It’s 3-3. Daniel Farke’s side trailed Nottingham Forest by three goals with 13 minutes to play ... but they have a point. Onel Hernandez has scored twice in stoppage-time, his second goal coming eight minutes into added time, to earn the most unlikely of draws.
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Leicester City 2-1 Manchester City
Read Paul Doyle’s match report:
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A brilliant Christmas for Liverpool, and Leicester – and Leeds! Kemar Roofe has scored a winner for Leeds at home to Blackburn. It’s stoppage-time stuff again for the league leaders, who have turned things around at the death. Staying in the Football League, Sunderland hold on against Bradford, winning 1-0 in front of 46,079, more than the number of fans inside Wembley.
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Premier League full-time results
Burnley 1-5 Everton
Crystal Palace 0-0 Cardiff
Fulham 1-1 Wolves
Leicester 2-1 Man City
Liverpool 4-0 Newcastle
Man Utd 3-1 Huddersfield
Tottenham 5-0 Bournemouth
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Kemar Roofe at the death for Leeds – again! Marcelo Bielsa’s side are level at Elland Road against Blackburn. Roofe scrambles home.
Things have gone from bad to worse for Manchester City – with Fabian Delph sent off! A straight red card. A poor challenge by the England midfielder on Ricardo Pereira, who scored what Leicester hope and pray will be the winning goal. In the Championship, Charlie Mulgrew has scored his – and Blackburn’s – second of the afternoon, with a stunning free-kick from distance. Leeds trail 2-1 at home, though Norwich are still 3-1 down at Carrow Road themselves.
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GOAL! Man Utd 3-1 Huddersfield (Zanka, 88)
Surely nothing more than a consolation strike at Old Trafford. The defender taps a Mounie header into the back of the net from a long free-kick.
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GOAL! Liverpool 4-0 Newcastle (Fabinho, 85)
The Brazilian heads home Salah’s corner. Icing on the cake, and all that. It is not turning out to be a great afternoon for Newcastle. “Some of Rafa’s team selections have been bewildering,” emails Rod Wooden. “The most obvious example being to continue playing a clearly out of form Kenedy at the expense of a decent young English prospect like Jacob Murphy, who is lucky nowadays if he makes the bench. That, plus the constant complaining about the lack of funds to buy new players – how on earth does he think that makes the players he’s currently got feel? – has led me to lose faith in him. Plus, look at how Gayle, Hanley and Mitro are doing since they left.”
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GOAL! Leicester 2-1 Manchester City (Pereira, 81)
Ricardo Pereira with an absolute peach from distance. A thunderbolt. A beauty. It’s a brilliant goal, and one that – as things stand – means City will drop to third in the Premier League table. It stemmed from City’s failure to properly clear a corner. “Its not a two horse-race anymore,” emails Mohamed.
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GOAL! Liverpool 3-0 Newcastle (Shaqiri, 79)
Job done for Jürgen Klopp and co. In the Championship, Norwich trailed by the same scoreline, with Notts Forest adding a third at Carrow Road, but Mario Vrancic has pulled one back for the Canaries.
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GOAL! Man Utd 3-0 Huddersfield (Pogba, 78)
Pogback. The Frenchman nonchalantly fires home his second – and Manchester United’s third – from 25 yards. Ole’s making this management lark look easy.
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GOAL! Tottenham 5-0 Bournemouth (Son, 70)
If it was not already, it is a Spurs rout at Wembley.
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GOAL! Burnley 1-4 Everton (Digne, 71)
Lucas Digne has his second of the afternoon. Sean Dyche bounced his way down the tunnel at half-time, and his side are in real trouble at Turf Moor.
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More than 46,000 fans are watching Sunderland take on Bradford – in League One! That’s the biggest third-tier crowd since 1979. That’s more than the number of supporters at Wembley, where Tottenham are breezing beyond Bournemouth. In the Championship, Notts Forest have doubled their lead to 2-0 at Norwich, while Jay Rodriguez has hammered his second goal past Wigan. And, thanks to Birbkamp for this dispatch. “Good news from south London, Dulwich Hamlet 1-0 up at Eastbourne Borough in their first game back at Champion Hill after an eight-month lockout by property developers. Ash Carew the scorer.”
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Aston Villa lead at Swansea, courtesy of Conor Hourihane’s header, while Bolton have retaken the lead against Rotherham. In Italy:
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GOAL! Tottenham 4-0 Bournemouth (Kane, 61)
Harry Kane strikes, and surely Spurs are home and dry.
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GOAL! Man Utd 2-0 Huddersfield (Pogba, 64)
Seconds after a big save by De Gea, United double their lead. Depoitre must have thought he scored, only for the Spaniard to claw his volley away with his right glove. And then Pogba goes up the other end and fires home his first goal in nine games.
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Bournemouth have a goal ruled out for offside! Junior Stanislas puts the ball in the back of the net from Diego Rico’s cross, but the flag is up on the far side. At Old Trafford, a phenomenal save by David de Gea, to somehow deny Depoitre.
“Your previous emailer asked if Rafa Benítez gets an easy ride,” says Shaun Wilkinson. “As a Newcastle fan, let me just say this: this week, Benítez said about his own team who are in 14th – fourteenth – position at Christmas that it would be a miracle if they didn’t get relegated. I have not seen a single word of criticism about this. No defence of Mike Ashley of course, I want rid of him as much as everyone else does, but any other manager than Rafa would have been called out by fans and press alike for his incessant whining months ago.”
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A sluggish start to the second half by Manchester United. Huddersfield have caught United napping a little, with Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side all over the place. The Norwegian has seen enough, with Ander Herrera and Ashley Young coming on for Fred and Diego Dalot just minutes after the restart.
GOAL! Liverpool 2-0 Newcastle (Salah, 47 pen)
Mohamed Salah slots home from the spot, after Paul Dummett’s clumsy challenge on the Egyptian. A nightmarish start to the second half for Rafael Benítez. For a player who was supposed to be having an average season, that’s Salah’s 15th goal of the season. Not bad, eh? Might, just might Liverpool be heading six points clear at the top? And there has been an early second-half penalty in the Championship too, with Charlie Mulgrew pulling Blackburn level from 12 yards after Luke Ayling handled the ball in the box.
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We’re back under way around the grounds, and, to kick things off, Liverpool have a penalty at Anfield ...
Arsenal take on Brighton this evening, though Unai Emery is happy to risk Lucas Torreira, despite the Uruguayan treading a disciplinary tightrope:
We are going to play the next match in Brighton and we are going to play full – not with considered options or playing with more caution. The same three points are in Brighton that are in Liverpool and we are going to play first in Brighton. It’s a tough match and we will need every player with 100% focus to do everything on the pitch to win. I don’t know whether Torreira would even be able to play cautiously but I don’t want him to think about the possibility of a suspension for one yellow card.”
Premier League half-time scores
Burnley 1-3 Everton
Crystal Palace 0-0 Cardiff
Leicester 1-1 Man City
Liverpool 1-0 Newcastle
Man Utd 1-0 Huddersfield
Tottenham 3-0 Bournemouth
“The Spurs v Bournemouth game is clearly not over,” emails John Tumbridge. “Because, one: it’s a Boxing Day match and all sort of silly scores are almost guaranteed. Two: it is Spurs and all sorts of silly scores are possible if they go all Spursy. And, three: assuming Man City draw today, Spurs only need to accrue 14 more goals difference to climb into second place.”
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And now Leicester have Manchester City on the ropes! Ederson is forced to pull off a string of stops, denying Jamie Vardy and then Hamza Choudhury in the next breath, before twice preventing James Maddison from striking. In the second-tier, Birmingham deservedly lead at home to Stoke through Jacques Maghoma. And a thriller north of the border, with Celtic now 4-3 up at Aberdeen, where they are into three minutes of second-half stoppage-time.
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Two big chances go begging for the Manchester clubs! De Bruyne finds Leroy Sane down the left, and he picks out Sergio Aguero but the Argentine struck over the bar from point-blank range for City. At Old Trafford, Diego Dalot should have doubled United’s lead but after a neat nutmeg and cross by Marcus Rashford.
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GOAL! Burnley 1-3 Everton (Gibson, 36)
Ben Gibson wheels away after prodding home his first goal for the club. Westwood whipped the ball in and, via Ashley Barnes and then Gibson, Burnley have a lifeline.
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GOAL! Tottenham 3-0 Bournemouth (Moura, 35)
Lucas Moura adds a third at Wembley. Kyle Walker-Peters, in for Kieran Trippier this afternoon, was involved once more, completing his hat-trick of assists after laying the ball on for the Brazilian once more. Is that game over?
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Leeds lead! Blackburn defender Derrick Williams has put the ball past his own goalkeeper at Elland Road. Staying in the Championship, Joel Lynch has doubled QPR’s advantage over bottom club Ipswich, while Bolton have poked themselves in front against Rotherham. In League One, Sunderland have gone ahead in front of 40,000+ against Bradford, thanks to Aiden McGeady.
“Does Benítez get too much of an easy ride at Newcastle?” asks David Wall, via email. “There’s no question he’s not well supported by Ashley but his squad this season is better than last, adding a striker better suited to the style he wants to play, and certainly better than at least three other teams in the division. It’s not Ashley’s fault that Benítez hasn’t been able to get forward players who performed well last season, like Kenedy, to do similar so far this year.” Thoughts? Away from Anfield, where Liverpool lead, a couple of goals in the Championship to get stuck into: Hull lead at Preston and QPR are 1-0 up at home to Ipswich. North of the border, Celtic have retaken the lead against Aberdeen, with Scott Sinclair scoring his second of the afternoon.
GOAL! Man Utd 1-0 Huddersfield (Matic, 28)
Give Ole the job now! Nemanja Matic taps home a corner from all of a yard out. “Ole, Ole, Ole,” rings around Old Trafford.
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GOAL! Tottenham 2-0 Bournemouth (Son, 23)
Son Heung-min steers a clever strike beyond Begovic. Kyle Walker-Peters tees up Son, who finds the net from the edge of the box. Spurs are looking good, though have not been at their purring best. But they have been clinical: two shots on target, two goals.
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GOAL! Burnley 0-3 Everton (Sigurdsson, 22 pen)
Gylfi Sigurdsson hammers home from 12 yards after Ben Mee was pulled up for a silly handball at Turf Moor. Marco Silva’s side are – already – in cruise control.
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GOAL! Leicester 1-1 Manchester City (Albrighton, 19)
A brilliant cross by Vardy, and a superb header across goal by Marc Albrighton, who scored a stunner against City in the Carabao Cup this month. Food for thought for Pep Guardiola and co.
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GOAL! Tottenham 1-0 Bournemouth (Eriksen, 15)
Spurs are not going anywhere. Three goals in three league games for the Dane. This one is a little fortuitous, as Eriksen’s shot from range takes a big deflection off Jefferson Lerma but, nevertheless, the hosts have the lead at Wembley, where Bournemouth had gone close through Fraser. So, the Premier League’s top three all lead.
Tottenham Hotspur’s Christian Eriksen celebrates scoring his side’s first goal of the game with Kyle Walker-Peters
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GOAL! Leicester 0-1 Manchester City (B Silva, 14)
A sensational finish from Bernardo Silva. After a shock defeat against Crystal Palace, has normal service resumed? Aguero pokes through and Silva finishes one-on-one against Schmeichel, with Chilwell playing him onside.
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GOAL! Burnley 0-2 Everton (Digne, 13)
Lucas Digne with another brilliant free-kick from 25 yards. Joe Hart gets a hand to it, but the Burnley goalkeeper cannot keep it out.
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GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Newcastle (Lovren, 10)
Liverpool lead at Anfield. Robertson whips the ball in from the left, and Lovren wellies the ball into the roof of the net. Down in the Championship, a bad start for José Gomes, the new Reading manager. Millwall lead 1-0 at the Den, thanks to Jed Wallace. And things went from bad to worse moments later, with Tyler Blackett sent off for a crude challenge a minute or so later.
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GOAL! Burnley 0-1 Everton (Mina, 2)
Everton take the lead at Turf Moor. Bernard whips in a cross from the left and the Colombia defender is unmarked in the box to nod home. A thumping header gets things truly up-and-running.
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Peeeeeeeeeeeep!
The 3pm kick-offs are under way around the grounds, though not at Colchester, where there is a 15-minute delay after Stevenage’s team bus broke down on the way to the ground.
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It was Herbie Kane, and Trent Alexander-Arnold, whom Steven Gerrard mentioned in his autobiography, tipping them for the top after the pair impressed while he was working in the academy. For Kane, who played with Alexander-Arnold through the age groups for club and country, the young full-back’s upward trajectory acts as inspiration. “Trent and myself are the same age [20], and we are quite close. He has shown that when you get a chance you have to take it with both hands. He is doing unbelievably well.”
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Rafael Benítez is back at Anfield this afternoon, though how much longer will he be at Newcastle? Effectively at war with Mike Ashley, his contract runs out in May. “My focus now is trying to find the right team to play Liverpool,” was the Spaniard’s reply when asked whether he intends to stick around for the rest of the season:
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A quick word on Sunderland. After a 650-mile round trip to Portsmouth the weekend before Christmas, Sunderland supporters will today make up the lion’s share of the biggest third-tier crowd since 1979. More than 41,000 tickets have been sold for Sunderland’s home match with Bradford, and the club have sold out their 7,759-ticket allocation at Blackpool on New Year’s Day, aptly in the same month Netflix released the documentary series Sunderland ‘Til I Die. The record crowd for a third-tier game was 49,309 at the Sheffield derby, 39 years ago.
No one is safe from the hi-vis brigade at Old Trafford – not even Wayne Rooney. He will doubtless be the only former Manchester United player in position to witness Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s home bow as manager. But the Norwegian is nonplussed by the noise around his squad, courtesy of former players. “Don’t worry, Gary [Neville] will be really hard on me,” the caretaker manager said. “I sat next to him in the dressing room for 11 years. You know Gary. He’s paid now to give his opinion and of course he should do. I’m no different to anyone else. I’m no different to any other manager when you lead that team out on to the pitch. It comes with a responsibility but my job is to get the players enjoying themselves.”
Jürgen Klopp has said Liverpool should enjoy pursuing the title:
I’ve heard how many times in the last 10 years that when you’re first at Christmas you win the title but only Liverpool don’t. It’s all bullshit. What is it? What does it mean? It’s a different team, a different time, everything was different. It’s not interesting. If it wasn’t the case and Liverpool [always] went on to become champions, would I think now halfway through the season that the job is done? Of course not. Nothing has happened so far; we don’t have to think about May. We have to think about 26 December against Newcastle. Let’s try everything we have to win that game. After that, Arsenal is coming.”
Fulham were denied a third league win, but a point is enough to move Claudio Ranieri’s men off the bottom – for now at least:
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Team news news: three changes for Manchester United, with Ole Gunnar Solskjær bringing Fred, Juan Mata and Diego Dalot in from the cold, while Ashley Young and Ander Herrera drop to the bench but Anthony Martial misses out altogether. Pep Guardiola also makes three changes, with Danilo, Kevin de Bruyne and Sergio Aguero in for Kyle Walker, Nicolas Otamendi and Gabriel Jesus. At Wembley, Dele Alli is absent for Spurs after being withdrawn at Everton with a hamstring injury. Leicester – unusually – are unchanged, while Cardiff manager Neil Warnock has made five changes to the team that was hammered by United. Elsewhere, Richarlison has been dropped for the first time under Marco Silva.
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Team news!
Burnley v Everton
Burnley: Hart, Lowton, Taylor, Tarkowski, Mee, Westwood, Cork, Gibson, Barnes, Vokes, Hendrick
Subs: Heaton, Gudmundsson, Wood, Bardsley, Vydra, Long, McNeil
Everton: Pickford, Keane, Zouma, Gomes, Sigurdsson, Walcott, Digna, Mina, Bernard, Coleman, Calvert-Lewin
Subs: Stekelenburg, Baines, Jagielka, Gueye, Davies, Richarlison, Niasse
Referee: Michael Oliver
Crystal Palace v Cardiff
Crystal Palace: Guaita, Wan-Bissaka, Tomkins, Sakho, van Aanholt, Milivojevic, Meyer, Kouyate, McArthur, Townsend, Zaha
Subs: Speroni, Ward, Dann, Schlupp, Puncheon, Wickham, Ayew
Cardiff: Etheridge, Peltier, Bamba, Morrison, Manga, Bennett, Ralls, Reid, Camarasa, Harris, Hoilett
Subs: Smithies, Arter, Murphy, Mendez-Laing, Cunningham, Gunnarsson, Madine
Referee: Lee Probert
Leicester v Manchester City
Leicester: Schmeichel, Chilwell, Morgan, Mendy, Ndidi, Maguire, Choudhury, Pereira, Maddison, Albrighton, Vardy
Subs: Ward, Simpson, Evans, Iborra, Ghezzal, Okazaki, Gray
Man City: Ederson, Danilo, Stones, Laporte, Delph, Gundogan, De Bruyne, Sane, Bernardo, Sterling, Aguero
Subs: Muric, Walker, Silva, Mahrez, Otamendi, Zinchenko, Foden
Referee: Mike Dean
Liverpool v Newcastle
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Lovren, Van Dijk, Robertson, Wijnaldum, Henderson, Shaqiri, Firmino, Salah, Mane
Subs: Mignolet, Clyne, Fabinho, Keita, Sturridge, Lallana, Origi
Newcastle: Dubravka, Dummett, Lascelles, Fernandez, Yedlin, Hayden, Diame, Ritchie, Kenedy, Muto, Joselu
Subs: Woodman, Manquillo, Schar, Longstaff, Murphy, Perez, Rondon
Referee: Graham Scott
Manchester United v Huddersfield
Man Utd: De Gea, Dalot, Lindelof, Jones, Shaw, Fred, Matic, Pogba, Mata, Rashford Lingard
Subs: Romero, Bailly, Young, Herrera, Pereira, Fellaini, Gomes
Huddersfield: Lössl, Hadergjonaj, Schindler, Kongolo, Zanka, Durm, Billing, Pritchard, Kachunga, Depoitre, Mbenza
Subs: Hamer, Hogg, Bacuna, Lowe, Quaner, Mounie, Stankovic
Referee: Jon Moss
Tottenham v Bournemouth
Tottenham: Lloris, Walker-Peters, Alderweireld, Foyth, Rose, Winks, Sissoko, Eriksen, Lucas Moura, Son, Kane
Subs: Gazzaniga, Davies, Sanchez, Trippier, Skipp, Lamela, Llorente
Bournemouth: Begovic, Francis, Cook, Aké, Daniels, Stanislas, Lerma, Surman, Fraser, Brooks, Wilson
Subs: Boruc, Mings, Rico, Ibe, Mousset, King, Defoe
Referee: Chris Kavanagh
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Preamble
Sit back, relax and grab another mince pie – and a dollop of brandy butter – for this glorious feast of Boxing Day fare. What better way to shake off that sluggish post-belly buster feeling than with a hearty tonic of Premier League action, with all of the big guns are in action. By big guns, we mean title contenders and by title contenders we are talking Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham. Then there is the Ole Gunnar Solskjær factor, in play at Old Trafford for the first time since 13 May 2007, the Norwegian’s last game for Manchester United (a 1-0 defeat to West Ham). And on a day on which many spend time with their elders, there is a 141-year-old battle taking place at Selhurst Park – sort of – as Roy Hodgson takes on Neil Warnock, who is eight months younger than his opposite number. As well as top-flight action, we will keep an eye on events across the country, with a whopping lineup of fixtures across the Championship, and beyond.
Premier League fixtures
Fulham L-L Wolves (12.30)
Burnley v Everton
Crystal Palace v Cardiff
Leicester v Man City
Liverpool v Newcastle
Man Utd v Huddersfield
Tottenham v Bournemouth
Brighton v Arsenal (5.15)
Watford v Chelsea (7.30)
*all kick-offs 3pm (GMT) unless specified
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