GOAL! Bournemouth 0-1 West Ham (Wilson 11)
The first goal of the afternoon comes from Callum Wilson against one of his old clubs. It was route one – a long kick, and an assist, from Areola. The other keeper, Petrovic, seems not to have covered himself in glory as Wilson’s low shot came in. A big moment for Nuno.
Brighton 0-0 Brentford Two early chances for Brighton: Wieffer has a shot saved by Kelleher, and from the resulting corner Rutter heads over the bar. The supplier in both cases was Minteh.
Liverpool 0-0 Forest Liverpool are on top now. Mac Allister has not one but two chances, the second a rasping shot that is superbly blocked by Elliot Anderson.
Wolves 0-0 Palace Marc Guehi, just back from injury, already has a yellow card for a late tackle.
Fulham 0-0 Sunderland The first half-chance of the game falls to the mighty Sunderland, but Wilson Isidor can’t get a touch to Bertrand Traore’s cross.
Liverpool 0-0 Forest First glimmer from Forest at Anfield: the excellent Morgan Gibbs-White wins a free kick with a deft spin, but Murillo can’t convert it.
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All five games are under way. No goals yet, for some reason.
Farewell to a fellow pro. I’ve got the radio on and Mark Chapman is paying tribute to Pat Murphy, who is at Molineux, covering his last game for the BBC. He has said he will retire this evening after 51 years. Quite an innings.
“You’ve probably just heard the plangent ditty of Hi Ho Silver Lining,” says Pat. “I was here when they first played it in 1974.”
So Chelsea go second, for now. They have 23 points from 12 games, which is three fewer than Arsenal and one more than Man City (both from 11). City play at 5.30 today at Newcastle and Arsenal have the North London derby, at their place, in tomorrow’s teatime game.
For Burnley, it’s the third defeat in a row after a decent start to the season. They will sink into the bottom three this afternoon if West Ham can get a point at Bournemouth or Forest pinch a win at Anfield – which is what they did last season.
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In the lunchtime game at Turf Moor, Chelsea have beaten Burnley 2-0. And they didn’t even need to bring on Moises Caicedo. Here’s Will Unwin with our report on the whistle.
“Shouldn’t your caption,” asks Jeremy Boyce, “read ‘Liverpool fans slather...’ given that they are both stuffing their faces with UPFs?” Harsh!
“Leeds fan here, we’re on/losing tomorrow. Clearly we have previous with the Wearsiders (see Wembley, FA Cup, Jim Montgomery, Bob Stokoe), but like everyone else I’m looking at Sunderland with admiration and envy, wondering when the wheels will come off, or whether they can actually go all the way. To the top four.
“Why not the title? Let Pep and Mikel pick each other off, and sneak in under the radar.” Bold!
During the international break, the place to be was Hampden Park. And our Scots correspondent, Simon McMahon, is still talking about it. “Afternoon Tim. Scotland’s game of the day is a full rerun of Tuesday night’s classic at my house with a case of whisky at Tannadice, where Dundee United welcome Falkirk looking to leapfrog their visitors and return to the top six after falling to seventh before the international break. Falkirk have done what United did last season and taken the step up from the Scottish Championship in their stride. They currently sit fifth, two points ahead of their hosts. It should be a cracker. The other 3pm games are Hibs v struggling Dundee, Kilmarnock v Motherwell and Rangers v Livingston.”
Teams: Wolves v Palace
Rob Edwards seems to be sticking with Wolves’ shape while changing half the cast. He brings in Emmanuel Agbadou, Toti Gomes and David Moller Wolfe at the back, Marshall Munetsi in midfield and Tolu Arokodare upfront. Oliver Glasner welcomes Marc Guehi back and also summons Yeremy Pino.
Wolverhampton Wanderers (5-3-2) Johnstone; Tchatchoua, Agbadou, Krejci, Toti Gomes, Wolfe; Munetsi, Andre, Joao Gomes; Strand Larsen, Arokodare.
Subs: Jose Sa, Hugo Bueno, Santiago Bueno, Arias, Mosquera, Hoever, Bellegarde, Lopez, Hwang.
Crystal Palace (3-4-2-1) Henderson; Richards, Lacroix, Guehi; Munoz, Wharton, Kamada, Mitchell; Sarr, Pino; Mateta.
Subs: Benitez, Lerma, Uche, Clyne, Hughes, Canvot, Sosa, Devenny, Nketiah.
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Teams: Fulham v Sunderland
Régis Le Bris, after that thrilling late equaliser against Arsenal, sees no reason to change a drawing team. Marco Silva, who has to cope without Sasa Lukic, shifts Alex Iwobi back into the pivot and brings in Josh King.
Fulham (4-2-3-1) Leno; Tete, Andersen, Bassey, Sessegnon; Berge, Iwobi; Wilson, King, Kevin; Jimenez.
Subs: Lecomte, Castagne, Cairney, Cuenca, Kusi-Asare, Chukwueze, Reed, Traore, Smith Rowe.
Sunderland (5-4-1) Roefs; Hume, Mukiele, Ballard, Geertruida, Mandava; Traore, Xhaka, Sadiki, Le Fee; Isidor.
Subs: Patterson, Neil, Talbi, Mayenda, O’Nien, Alderete, Adingra, Masuaku, Brobbey.
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Teams: Brighton v Brentford
Brighton have one big name suspended: their manager, Fabian Hürzeler, who won’t be pacing the technical area after collecting three yellow cards. The impetuosity of youth.
Brighton (4-2-3-1) Verbruggen; Wieffer, van Hecke, Boscagli, Kadioglu; Baleba, Ayari; Minteh, Rutter, Gomez; Welbeck.
Subs: Steele, Dunk, Gruda, Veltman, Tzimas, Hinshelwood, Kostoulas, De Cuyper, Coppola.
Brentford (4-2-3-1) Kelleher; Kayode, Collins, van den Berg, Ajer; Henderson, Yarmolyuk; Ouattara, Damsgaard, Schade; Thiago.
Subs: Valdimarsson, Hickey, Henry, Pinnock, Jensen, Nelson, Onyeka, Lewis-Potter, Janelt.
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Teams: Bournemouth v West Ham
No sign of Antoine Semenyo, who, according to his manager Andoni Iraola, has “aggravated an issue”. Haven’t we all, at times.
Bournemouth (4-2-3-1) Petrovic; Cook, Diakite, Senesi, Truffert; Adams, Scott; Brooks, Tavernier, Junior Kroupi; Evanilson. Subs: Dennis, Soler, Christie, Smith, Jimenez, Adli, Hill, Unal, Milosavljevic.
West Ham (3-4-3) Areola; Todibo, Igor, Kilman; Wan-Bissaka, Fernandes, Potts, Diouf; Bowen, Wilson, Luis Guilherme.
Subs: Hermansen, Walker-Peters, Fullkrug, Rodriguez, Magassa, Soucek, Irving, Earthy, Mayers.
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Teams: Liverpool v Forest
Arne Slot, who welcomes Alisson back in goal, opts to play Alexander Isak from the start even though he has very few minutes under his belt and has been a lot less impressive than Hugo Ekitike. He also has Szoboszlai and Kerkez as his full-backs, a decision that could have the Forest wingers licking their lips.
Liverpool (4-2-3-1) Alisson; Szoboszlai, van Dijk, Konate, Kerkez; Mac Allister, Gravenberch, Jones; Salah, Isak, Gakpo.
Subs: Mamardashvili, Gomez, Robertson, Nyoni, Endo, Ramsay, Ngumoha, Chiesa, Ekitike.
Nottingham Forest (4-2-3-1) Sels; Savona, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams; Sangare, Anderson; Ndoye, Gibbs-White, Dominguez; Igor Jesus.
Subs: John Victor, Morato, Boly, Kalimuendo, Hutchinson, Yates, Hudson-Odoi, McAtee, Jair Cunha.
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Preamble
Afternoon everyone. Are you old enough to remember when Saturday at 3pm was the moment you looked forward to all week? Well, it’s back, just for one day. From 3 till 5, we have half the weekend’s Premier League action. And as there are no dull teams this season, all five games are appetising…
Bournemouth v West Ham Bournemouth were second in the league at Hallowee’en, but then they got spooked, losing to Man City and Villa and slipping to ninth. Still, they’re only one point off the top four and at home, where they have four wins out of five, they should be too strong for West Ham, even allowing for the Nuno bounce.
Brighton v Brentford It’s the well-run derby! And a tussle between two mid-table neighbours. Both are on 16 points from 11 games and both have been much better at home, so Brighton are the favourites.
Fulham v Sunderland Fulham are on the slide, with five defeats from their last six league games. Sunderland are living the dream, fourth in the table and fresh from drawing with Arsenal. To be fair, Fulham’s home form has been respectable – but the last time Sunderland made the long trip to West London, a month ago, they beat Chelsea.
Liverpool v Forest On form, both these teams are very beatable. Liverpool have scraped only three points from their last six league games, Forest four. But both did emerge from a losing streak in October – Liverpool with a win over Villa (before they got battered by Haaland), Forest with a draw against Man United and a win over Leeds as Sean Dyche got them sorted. Liverpool remain formidable at home, but can they walk through this storm?
Wolves v Palace When I said no teams were boring this season, I nearly made an exception for Wolves, but let’s face it, they’ve been so bad that they’ve been riveting. At a time when everybody bar Arsenal has blown hot and cold, it’s quite a feat to have collected only two points from a possible 33. And now they’re even more interesting because they have a new manager. In his heart of hearts, Rob Edwards might settle for a point today, and Palace may oblige as they are hard to beat (only two defeats in the league) but easy to match (five draws).
Kick-off, as you know, is at 3pm GMT, and I’ll be back soon with a heap of team sheets.
