Poor old Swansea – though at least Bafétimbi Gomis is finding the net again. That’s it from me, you can catch up on all the day’s goals here. In the meantime, why not go follow Bournemouth v Manchester United with Nick Miller. Bye!
Oh, and this from Adam Hirst: “Your friend thinks that was the best substitution ever? Oh no my friend. Sunderland, 2-1 down to Trevor Francis. On comes 17yr old Barry Venison to make his debut…”
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La Liga
Most unbelievable of all, in amongst all the drama Deportivo managed to score two late goals to draw 2-2 with Barcelona, at the Camp Nou. Wowza. You can get the details of that one here.
League Two
A couple of thrillers caught the eye in the fourth tier. Northampton eventually sunk Luton 4-3, and Notts County beat Newport by the same score thanks to Liam Noble’s winner in the sixth minute of injury time. Click here for all the scores.
League One
Burton Albion bagged two injury time goals at Gillingham to complete a 3-0 rout. Nigel Clough could not be at the match today but will take charge of his first match with his side at the top of the table. Click here for all the scores.
Championship
Brighton’s unbeaten record goes to 21 games but they leave Derby feeling deflated after Chris Martin’s late and controversial penalty made it 2-2. Sheffield Wednesday pegged Cardiff back to the same score through Barry Bannan’s late strike, while Hull, Preston and Bristol City all picked up wins. Click here for all the scores.
Premier League full-time scores
Man City 2-1 Swansea
Palace 1-0 Southampton
Sunderland 0-1 Watford
West Ham 0-0 Stoke
Championship
While all that drama was going on in the Premier League, Derby grabbed a crucial late equaliser against Brighton through a Chris Martin penalty.
Premier League
It sounds like it’s been a day for brilliant goalkeeping in the top flight., Hennessey makes a wonderful stop to preserve Palace’s lead, while Gomes has been fantastic for Watford.
GOAL! Man City 2-1 Swansea (Iheanacho)
Heartbreak for Swansea! Yaya Touré takes a shot and it hits Iheanacho on the back, and the ball loops rather fortunately over Fabianski and into the net.
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GOAL! Man City 1-1 Swansea (Gomis)
The substitute pulls Swansea level with City in the 90th minute!
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Premier League
Gazzaniga makes a fine save to keep Southampton in the game against Palace, but they remain 1-0 behind. Stoke should be ahead but Diouf misses another clear opportunity. Goal at the Etihad...
Scottish Championship
It could be a great day for third-placed Falkirk, who have grabbed a late goal against second-placed Hibs to lead 1-0, while league leaders Rangers are only drawing against Morton.
Premier League
Jermain Defoe has a late chance to pull something out for Sunderland against Watford, but he can’t find the target. Swansea equalise against City... but it’s ruled out for a foul in the buildup!
Premier League
Very little action in the English top flight in the second half as we near full-times, but the teams for Bournemouth v Man Utd are in. You can Join Nick Miller for all the buildup.
Championship
Rajiv van La Parra has struck late for Brighton and the league leaders look like they are going to stay at the summit – and the unbeaten run goes on! Less than ten minutes for Derby to respond, it’s 2-1.
Bundesliga full-times
Bayern have seen out their 2-0 win against Ingolstadt while Wolfsburg scored late to grab a 1-1 draw from their match with Hamburg. Click here for all the scores.
Championship
Fulham’s highly sought-after teenager had added another few thousand to his price tag, Moussa Dembélé giving the hosts a 2-1 lead, but Brentford have quickly responded through Jack O’Connell and it’s all square going into the final ten minutes. Still 1-1 between Derby and Brighton.
League Two
Yet another goal at Kenilworth Road. Ricky Holmes comes off the bench and immediately scores to reinstate Northampton’s lead, no 4-3 up at Luton. I don’t have footage of it to hand, but I imagine it was something like this:
"@Footy_Jokes: Still the best substitution ever.. 👀👌🏻 pic.twitter.com/ry11E3WI1m"nazrin nawi lagi power ki3
— Aiman Al-Azim (@aimanazim2898) December 12, 2015
La Liga
Ivan Rakitic has put the game beyond Deportivo, you would think. Barcelona lead 2-0. Get the details here.
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League Two
A Danny Green penalty and it’s 3-3 at Kenilworth Road between Luton and Northampton – thriller! Top of the table Oxford remain tied 1-1 with Carlisle.
League One
The top goalscorers in English football are at it again, Peterborough taking a little longer than usual to open their account but Conor Washington has struck against Shrewsbury. At Colchester, George Moncur has pegged back one back for the home side, now down 3-1 against Barnsley.
Man City 1-0 Swansea
The hosts remain in front but Swansea have a bit of pep in their step, Sigurdsson testing Joe Hart with a free-kick.
“The Man City game is on the radio and sounds seriously soporific, “0Jeremy Dresner emails. “Pat Nevin is being enthusiastic but the fans are not. Manchester is the capital city of boring football at the moment. The Manchester Mechanised Method plays to the accompanying home fan stupefied silence.”
“I am curious to know what is the thing which has been stuck to every Swansea player’s back,” ponders Gokul Kannan. “It is just below their necks. Stuck with a bandage. Is it some magic device to make them play like they are playing today :-) ??”
I believe that is the device that measures their distances run, sprints made and so on.
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Scottish Premiership
Ross County have pegged back Hamilton through Craig Curran to level at 1-1. Motherwell remain 2-0 up against Dundee and two Iain Vigurs strikes have Inverness against Kilmarnock.
League Two
It’s a thriller at Kenilworth Road, Luton pulling one back to trail Northampton 3-2 now through Paul Benson. They are getting excited:
53' Back in it. Superb ball from Okuonghae finds Lawless up-field, he twists and turns to cross to Benno at the back stick who taps home!
— Luton Town FC (@LutonTown) December 12, 2015
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Championship
Preston have dominated Reading and finally take the lead at Deepdale, Garner converting from the spot, his third goal in four.
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Bundesliga
Robert Lewandowski skips round the goalkeeper and finishes from the tightest of angles to give Bayern the lead at the Allianz Arena, and Müller tees up Lahm to make it 2-0 very quickly afterwards in the second half against Ingolstadt. Elsewhere Hamburg remain a goal up at Wolfsburg.
Peeeeeep! The Premier League and all the other 15:00 GMT kick-offs across Europe are getting back under way.
At the moment, Bony's goal is sending @MCFC back to the top of the #BPL... pic.twitter.com/FP5d8srHfS
— Premier League (@premierleague) December 12, 2015
Half-time across the land
We’ve reached the break for the majority of matches across England and Scotland, and Ligue 1 and La Liga too. You can get all the scores here.
Championship
Brighton’s lead lasts 20 minutes, Bradley Johnson grabbing the equaliser for Derby with a smash into the top corner. Fulham have also pegged back Brentford at Craven Cottage through a James Tarkowski own goal.
La Liga
Barcelona have made the breakthrough against Deportivo. Lionel Messi did the damage, and he did it quite well:
Messi, usual https://t.co/nAPGp9Xxw5 #fcb
— James Dart (@James_Dart) December 12, 2015
League One
Burton Albion have been given a boost with a red card for Gillingham’s Doug Loft (via two yellows). Still goalless, however. In the relegation scrap at Colchester, Barnsley lead 2-0.
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GOAL! Palace 1-0 Southampton (Cabaye)
Yannick Bolasie breaks down the right and cuts the ball back from the byline for Yohan Cabaye to give Pardew’s side the lead.
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League Two
“We are top of the league!” rings around Kenilworth Road where Northampton have quickly turned the match on its head, now 2-1 up against Luton through John-Joe O’Toole and Lawson D’Ath.
5 - Wilfried Bony has scored five goals in the last four PL games between Man City and Swansea (3 for Swansea, 2 for Man City). Familiar.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 12, 2015
Championship
Javier Hernández has been scoring plenty recently to rub it in Manchester United noses and James Wilson is doing the same on loan at Brighton. His strike hands the league leaders the advantage in this first half against Derby. Hull lead Bolton, Brentford are beating Fulham and Cardiff are up against Sheffield Wendesday, all 1-0.
GOAL! Man City 1-0 Swansea (Bony)
Bony heads home from a corner against his former club to give City the lead at the Etihad.
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Who is wearing these today, you ask? West Ham’s Alex Song.
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Bundesliga half-time
Bayern Munich have failed to find the net for the third successive first half in their match at home to Ingolstadt, a full-scale drought by their standards. Click here for all the scores.
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As it stands, Watford are sixth in the Premier League. This season is a head-scratcher.
League Two
Newport have made a storming start at Notts County, Mark Byrne and Alex Rodman getting the goals there. Luton lead Northampton and Cambridge are beating high-flying Plymouth, both 1-0.
Ligue 1
Valère Germain’s sixth-minute strike gives Nice a 1-0 advantage against Reims.
Championship
The only goal so far has come at the John Smith’s Stadium where Jonathan Kodjia has given Bristol City the lead against Huddersfield, flicking home a free-kick... A moment later Emyr Huws has the chance to equalise from the spot, but it’s saved!
10 - Odion Ighalo is the first Watford player to reach double figures for goals in a single Premier League season (10). Lethal.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 12, 2015
Scotland
Kenny Miller’s goal in the second minute has handed Rangers the lead against Morton as they seek to cement their place at the top of the Scottish Championship. At the bottom of the Premiership Motherwell lead Dundee 1-0, Scott McDonald the scorer.
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GOAL! Sunderland 0-1 Watford (Ighalo)
A brilliant start for the visitors at the Stadium of Light. Ighalo slides in at the back post with Coates and gets to the ball first to nudge in the opener. Incidentally, conditions are pretty terrible in the north-east.
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Serie A
It’s goalless at half-time between Genoa and Bologna.
Premier League
Peeeeeep! All four matches are under way in the English top flight.
Bundesliga
More than 30 minutes gone in Munich and Bayern haven’t scored yet, Ingolstadt holding firm. Elsewhere Hertha Berlin lead Darmstadt 1-0, Werder Bremen are up 1-0 against Cologne and Wolfsburg are down by the same score at home to Hamburg, Nicolai Muller the scorer there.
Scotland
Simon McMahon emails with a look ahead to the day’s action:
“Afternoon Lawrence. Game of the day in Scotland is at Tannadice, where a resurgent Dundee United, on a one match unbeaten streak, host Partick Thistle. A win today for Mixu’s men, who face Inverness and Motherwell in their next two matches, will have those teams looking nervously over their shoulder as we enter the festive period. Recent signings Demel and Sinama Pongolle both start for United. Elsewhere, struggling Dundee travel to Motherwell and it’s Inverness v Kilmarnock and Hamilton v Ross County. In the Scottish Championship there’s a (not quite) top of the table clash as second placed Hibs entertain third placed Falkirk.”
Ten minutes until kick-off in the Premier League, so there’s just time for a quick picture quiz: which West Ham player is wearing these boots today? The “pow” reference could be a red herring.
Crystal Palace v Southampton
Alan Pardew gives his big Wheel of Strikers a spin and today’s lucky winner is Connor Wickham. Fraizer Campbell and Marouane Chamakh are on the bench, Dwight Gayle has hamstring-knack and Patrick Bamford is presumably in the stands with his feet up. Graziano Pellè is not quite fit enough to start and Maarten Stekelenburg is out injured for Saints.
Crystal Palace: Hennessey, Ward, Dann, Delaney, Souaré, McArthur, Cabaye, Zaha, Puncheon, Bolasie, Wickham.
Subs: McCarthy, Mariappa, Kelly, Lee, Mutch, Chamakh, Campbell.
Southampton: Gazzaniga, Soares, Fonte, Van Dijk, Bertrand, Yoshida, Wanyama, Mané, Romeu, Davis, Long.
Subs: Davis, Martina, Juanmi, Pellè, Ward-Prowse, Clasie, Tadic.
Let's hope for another afternoon like the last time #SaintsFC visited #CPFC... https://t.co/j5ZiVoZJJy
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) December 12, 2015
Full-time: Norwich 1-1 Everton
Wes Hoolahan’s tap-in at the start of the second half has handed Norwich a point, and it sounds as if they might even have won it late on, despite having done the square root of zilch in the first half. Nick Miller has the details here.
West Ham v Stoke
There is no place in Mark Hughes’s side for Xherdan Shaqiri – he did clutch at his hamstring on occasion last weekend in between tearing holes in Man City’s defence. Winston Reid and Victor Moses are both injured so James Collins starts in West Ham’s defence, and Michail Antonio makes his full debut.
West Ham: Adrian, Tomkins, Collins, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Song, Noble, Antonio, Kouyaté, Zárate, Carroll.
Subs: Randolph, Jenkinson, Obiang, Oxford, Cullen, Valencia, Jelavic.
Stoke: Butland, Johnson, Shawcross, Wollscheid, Pieters, Cameron, Whelan, Van Ginkel, Afellay, Bojan, Arnautovic.
Subs: Haugaard, Bardsley, Joselu, Adam, Wilson, Diouf, Walters.
Full-time: MK Dons 0-1 Ipswich
Brett Pitman’s header ensures Ipswich stay right in the mix with the chasing pack in the Championship play-off places.
Full-time: Aberdeen 1-0 Hearts
There was a dramatic climax in the last couple of minutes at Aberdeen when Jordan McGhee gave away a crazy handball in the box to gift the Dons a late penalty. Adam Rooney converted the spot-kick to move the home side within a point of Celtic, though they have played two games more than the leaders. Celtic play fourth-placed St Johnstone tomorrow.
Sunderland v Watford
Sunderland: Pantilimon, Yedlin, Jones, O’Shea, Coates, Van Aanholt, M’Vila, Toivonen, Borini, Fletcher, Watmore.
Subs: Mannone, Rodwell, Johnson, Matthews, Lens, Defoe, Graham.
Watford: Gomes, Nyom, Cathcart, Britos, Aké, Capoué, Watson, Abdi, Deeney, Jurado, Ighalo.
Subs: Arlauskis, Paredes, Guedioura, Berghuis, Anya, Diamanti, Oulare.
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Man City v Swansea
Kevin De Bruyne drops to the bench, as do Kolarov and Demichelis. The Swansea caretaker manager Alan Curtis makes a big call, opting to leave out the struggling Bafétimbi Gomis. It looks as if André Ayew will play at the sharp end for Swansea.
Man City: Hart, Sagna, Otamendi, Mangala, Clichy, Toure, Fernandinho, Navas, Silva, Sterling, Bony.
Subs: Caballero, Kolarov, Demichelis, Delph, De Bruyne, Iheanacho, Roberts.
Swansea: Fabianski, Rangel, Fernandez, Williams, Taylor, Britton, Cork, Ki, Sigurdsson, Routledge, Ayew.
Subs: Nordfeldt, Naughton, Amat, Grimes, Montero, Barrow, Gomis.
In play
Before we get to today’s Premier League line-ups, there are a few matches currently going on. With less than 10 minutes to go in the Championship, Ipswich lead MK Dons in Milton Keynes 1-0, while the big game at the top of the Scottish Premiership, Aberdeen v Hearts, is goalless. Norwich somehow pulled level with Everton in the second half at Carrow Road despite being thoroughly second best in the first. You can get the details of that one here, with Nick Miller.
Preamble
So Garry Monk is gone – should Manchester City be wary of the sack-effect? Swansea head to the Etihad without a manager but still saddled with a terrible run of form in which they’ve won only one of their last 11 matches. Manchester City might not seem the most obvious place to turn around an ailing season but this is an Agüero-less City, a Kompany-less City, and a pretty clueless City based on last Saturday’s showing at Stoke.
Southampton may be down in 12th but will jump above sixth-placed Crystal Palace with a win at Selhurst Park this afternoon, such is the crammed centre of the Premier League. The improving Sunderland host the impressive Watford while Stoke, fresh from that thrilling display against Man City, play West Ham, fresh from that dismal draw against Man Utd.
There is a heavyweight Championship ding dong at Pride Park to keep an eye as unbeaten Brighton visit barely-beaten Derby (Paul Clement’s side have lost only two league games from 19). Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink gets his QPR career under way at home to Burnley while Fulham head to Brentford, six miles up the Thames and six spots up the table. On the other side of London expect plenty of “We want our club back” when Leeds visit Charlton.
There is a packed schedule of League One fixtures, the standout being Burton Albion away at fourth-placed Gillingham. League Two has three teams tied on 40 points at the summit – Oxford, Plymouth and Northampton – and it is the leaders by goal difference, Oxford, who face the stiffest task today against sixth-placed Carlisle.
It is also a huge weekend in the Scottish Premiership, though its significance is largely lost on this clockwatch given that Celtic and St Johnstone (1st v 4th) do not play until tomorrow and the other big one, Aberdeen v Hearts (2nd v 3rd), is almost over – details to come. There are four 15:00 GMT fixtures to follow including Motherwell and Dundee at Fir Park.
There are five 14:30 GMT kick-offs in the Bundesliga, including Wolfsburg v Hamburg. Bayern Munich’s victims today at the Allianz Arena are FC Inglotstadt – and perhaps the only team that could give them a game right now, Barcelona, are in La Liga action at the Camp Nou against Deportivo de La Coruña (15:30 GMT).
Tomorrow night is when really when the fun starts in Italy and France this weekend (Napoli v Roma, Juventus v Fiorentina, PSG v Lyon), but there is one match in each league to keep an eye on this afternoon. Bologna scoot 100km west to face Genoa in Serie A (just kicked off), and Reims host Nice (15:00 GMT) in Ligue 1.
Premier League team news is coming shortly...
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