Match reports
To wrap up
A reminder of the scores on a dramatic night that I hope we have all enjoyed:
Premier League – Southampton 1-2 Palace; Swansea 0-2 Spurs; West Ham 2-1 West Brom; Man City 3-1 Watford
Championship – Fulham 4-1 Ipswich; Wolves 3-0 Brentford; Reading 0-2 Birmingham
Keep an eye out for match reports from our people on the scene – plenty more to read about on this site tonight!
And thanks for your company – sorry I couldn’t get round to all your emails and tweets, particularly those footballing hills to die on, but it’s been great fun and every contribution is hugely valued. See you soon!
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And Birmingham have held on for a very important 2-0 win at Reading in the Championship. They’ve put Sunderland back on the bottom.
Full-time: Man City 3-1 Watford
In doubt for 39 seconds. Then not in doubt at all.
Not long to go at City now. Gomes denies Sterling a second goal from an angle. Watford have been pretty lively since the goal through. All told it’s been pretty respectable from them.
Wolves 3-0 Brentford and Fulham 4-1 Ipswich are final scores in the Championship.
Full-time: West Ham 2-1 West Brom
What about that for drama! A see-sawing game, and the night’s second superb comeback in a key relegation clash. And more evidence of what Andy Carroll can do when fit and firing. Games like that can quickly make a stadium feel more like home.
Goal! Man City 3-1 Watford (Gray)
Gray taps in a low left-sided cross with eight minutes to play. Is the comeback on?
These results have put Stoke in the relegation zone – and Southampton on the brink of it.
Full-time: Swansea 0-2 Spurs
It wasn’t pretty, it was never going to be in those conditions, but that’s job done for Spurs even if there are question marks about at least one of the goals for offside.
Goal! West Ham 2-1 West Brom (Carroll 90+4)
Oh my! How huge that is!! West Ham break in the last minute of added time, Lanzini playing Arnautovic down the left, the Austrian crossing and Carroll converting superbly from an angle! The Hammers go berserk! Look at David Moyes!
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Full-time: Southampton 1-2 Palace
What a huge win for Palace, who turned that around despite looking really tired at half-time when 1-0 down. A brilliant winner from Milivojevic – and Hodgson continues to do a stunning job. Saints, though, are in deep trouble.
@NickAmes82 I hope Harry Kane had been hosed down with hand sanitiser prior to coming off bench given all the high fives after that lovely assist.
— James Hallett (@DrJamesHallett) January 2, 2018
Advice from a doctor.
Another late half-chance at West Brom, Burke lifting a volley over. Into added time there. At Man City, Sane is inches from making it 4-0.
Goal! Swansea 0-2 Spurs (Alli)
It was in doubt for longer than they’d liked, but that’s done it now. Kane makes ground down the left and bends over a lovely ball that Alli, at the second attempt after Fabianski saves, converts.
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An onside Hernandez can’t quite pick out Carroll at West Ham – not a good ball though. Three minutes to play, and both sides going for it ...
It is fair to say that Southampton are in some trouble, aren’t they? Are they going the same way as Swansea and completely losing the identity they’d built up? Until last season I quite admired how, despite players and managers moving on, they stayed true to a certain way and got stronger. It’s all stopped now. Does the Premier League just do that to you eventually?
Down a level the goals really are flowing now – Wolves 3-0 Brentford (Jota) and Reading 0-2 Birmingham (Gallagher).
Goal! Saints 1-2 Palace (Milivojevic)
What a goal! Townsend rolls the ball across 25 yards out and the midfielder, clearing his head after that penalty miss two days back, strokes a brilliant first-time effort into the far corner past a static McCarthy! Roy’s done it again!
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Fulham 4-1 Ipswich. There comes a point where a red card isn’t really an excuse for unravelling like that. Kamara again.
Fulham 3-1 Ipswich – the wunderkind Sessegnon again.
Goal! Man City 3-0 Watford (Aguero)
City get their third, Aguero stabbing one home after Gomes couldn’t hold another taking De Bruyne cross. That’ll be that.
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And Fulham now lead Ipswich 2-1 through Aboubakar Kamara. I’ve seen footage of the incident that saw Spence sent off and it seemed ... harsh to say the least. The game’s turned on that.
Oliver Burke, on as a sub, really should put West Brom in sight of a long-awaited victory. He has half the pitch to run into, gets across Ogbonna, but dithers a bit and allows the defender to recover with a great tackle. Such a shame for the young winger!
It’s now Fulham 1-1 Ipswich, thanks to a goal by young Ryan Sessegnon.
Swansea are, you can tell, sensing they can do something against Tottenham. That game is really opening up now – 16 minutes to go and you can’t rule out an equaliser at this stage.
Chicharito replaces Masuaku at West Ham. I feel sorry for him this season, I really do.
A dispatch from Nick Miller at Saints, though: “That Palace goal shouldn’t have stood - think Benteke was offside for the knock-down.”
Two controversial strikes tonight then – remember Llorente had strayed off at Swansea, too.
Goal! Saints 1-1 Palace (McArthur)
Palace had improved, and they’re level! Benteke nods a dinked ball down and McArthur, in front of goal six yards out, crashes the ball home!
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Ben Foster, who is really having a fine game, saves again for West Brom. Lanzini threaded Arnautovic through but he was out *so* quickly to stop his effort. Can West Brom hold on now?
Can Spurs hold on, for that matter? Swansea come so close, Ayew skipping inside and around Lloris before being crowded out!
Llorente goes off, applauding his ex-public as they show him due appreciation too. Harry Kane enters the fray!
De Bruyne puts a free-kick into the side netting for City ... while Lloris saves at an angle from Narsingh at Swansea! At Southampton, McCarthy makes an even better stop down to his left from Benteke!
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Wolves have scored two quickfire goals against Brentford through Ruben Neves and Barry Douglas. So it is 2-0. Might as well give them the Championship title now, I fancy.
At Swansea, Lukasz Fabianski bats away an Eriksen free-kick. It really isn’t a great game although in those conditions – which do seem to have improved a touch – that is fair enough.
They are back underway at City v Watford, meanwhile!
Goal! West Ham 1-1 West Brom (Carroll)
Another goal drought ends! Carroll gets his first goal of the season with an absolutely trademark leap and header from a similarly trademark whipped Cresswell delivery. It was coming.
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A red card at Fulham v Ipswich – Jordan Spence receiving it. The visitors lead 1-0 for now.
Dawson now blocks very well from a barnstorming Masuaku run at West Ham. The home team are piling the pressure on at the moment. On the south coast, Palace continue to offer very little and look pretty tired. Again, understandable.
Rondon has just tried to score from his own half at the London Stadium. The ball just about reached the penalty area. Not a great deal happening anywhere else right now; Swansea have just had a spell of pressure following a dangerous free kick, though, ending with Alli blocking a Sanches effort. As this game goes on they might fancy an equaliser despite Spurs’ dominance.
Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, this sounds dangerous:
Due to high winds and part of the home stand becoming loose the game has been abandoned and the result void
— Glenavon FC (@Glenavon_FC) January 2, 2018
Absolutely belting it down at St Mary's, which of course raises the delicious prospect of an underhit backpass getting caught on the edge of a waterlogged penalty area.
— Nick Miller (@NickMiller79) January 2, 2018
Meteorological report from Nick, whose football report you can enjoy later.
“On a practical level, which is more difficult: a MBM on one game, or a clockwatch for multiple games, like tonight?” asks Matt Burtz.
I can’t reveal the secrets of my art, Matt! Admittedly that’s because there are very few. It kind of depends on a case by case basis, because if everything’s kicking off at once in several games then you really don’t want to miss a detail and can end up scrambling around if you aren’t careful – but that can happen in a single MBM too if things get really dramatic. I like clockwatches like tonight, really; always a lot going on and if there’s a dud game you can absorb it easily enough.
@NickAmes82 Watford decimated by injury (plus Deeney suspension) means that 2-0 at half time is a proper result. I’d take 4-0 FT but have backed 6-1, 6-2 and 5-2. Just in case.
— The Vinyl Frontier (@vinyljeff) January 2, 2018
It could certainly be a lot worse after the start they had.
“You’d fancy Harry Kane to come on and put The Kyle Naughton Derby to bed in the second half wouldn’t you?” asks Steve in Hereford.
Millions of Fantasy League managers would hope so. Slightly fewer will have a stake in what Andy Carroll does tonight but he’s just jabbed a decent chance over the top from an Arnautovic cross.
Second halves begin!
In all bar the two games below, anyway. Can Swansea do anything in the mudbath? Can West Ham, who have introduced Mark Noble for Obiang, pull it back? Can Crystal Palace, with added Patrick van Aanholt instead of Cabaye for this half, do exactly that themselves>
Half-time – Man City 2-0 Watford
Sterling and Kabasele (o.g.) doing the early damage. In the Championship it’s Reading 0-1 Birmingham as they go back in.
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@NickAmes82 A popular footballing hill might be a raised area at the Liberty Stadium where the players can stand without soaking their feet.
— William Hargreaves (@billhargreaves) January 2, 2018
Not at all bad.
Watford have most definitely improved at the Etihad, and/or City have just decided to to wind it down a bit, which can be excused. Ederson makes another low stop, although there hasn’t been another chance like that Gray one.
@NickAmes82 Unpopular footballing hill: Ji-Sung Park was the finest player to pull on a Utd jersey since Ronaldo. And another: Go Ahead Eagles define Dutch football as it exists today.
— Charles (@Nwanukanyi) January 2, 2018
You’ll have to elaborate on the latter for an idiot (me).
“Llorente’s goal may have been offside but he was played through on goal and erroneously called offside on a run that likely would have resulted in a goal. I figure it evens out,” says a very reasonable Christopher Connor.
That’s exactly what I think, Mike Dean fans.
@NickAmes82 What's best of the Jan 2nd matches so far? (I only have time to catch a few minutes of one game on a relatively short break from work.)
— Patrick McKenna (@voicesontherun) January 2, 2018
Don’t worry Patrick, it’s (meant to be) what I’m here for. West Ham v West Brom has had plenty of goalmouth action so out of the three 7.45pms, I’d say that. City-Watford has slowed up a bit after those two early goals; still nine minutes til the break there.
Half-times (most of them)
Swansea 0-1 Spurs (Llorente)
West Ham 0-1 West Brom (McClean)
Saints 1-0 Palace (Long)
In the Championship it’s Wolves 0-0 Brentford and Fulham 0-1 Ipswich, Joe Garner scoring on the stroke of half-time for Mick McCarthy’s side there.
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Almost a way back for Watford! A swift turnover sends Andre Gray clear on the right, but Ederson tips his angled effort round the post! That could have made things interesting; City have taken their foot off the gas in the last 10.
At West Ham, where it’s really end to end now, Adrian saves a jab from Jonny Evans right on the goalline.
The pitch doesn’t look superb at St Mary’s either. Nor does the game after that bright start and Long goal. Palace seem to have lost their way and Zaha, bright at the beginning, has faded. Swansea, in the meantime, force Hugo Lloris into a desperate punch at the Liberty Stadium after a corner isn’t cleared – and at West Ham Foster has to save again at the feet of Kouyate.
Birmingham are ahead at Reading courtesy of Jacques Maghoma, who also scored their recent winner against Leeds.
Lanzini has just forced an even better save from Foster there, taking a ball down beautifully from the sky before fizzing in a low drive that saw saved one-handed. Hammers unlucky not to be level.
That pitch at Swansea is getting worse and worse. They’ll need the forks at half-time ...
West Brom look good now, have just forced a corner and are applying pressure for a second goal. Not too much else to report at Saints-Palace, where the hosts still lead through that Shane Long collector’s item.
Now De Bruyne comes so close to making it three at City, Gomes saving his free-kick by tipping it onto the bar! At Swansea, it’s been mainly one-way traffic although the hosts are improving slightly.
Goal! West Ham 0-1 West Brom! It’s James McClean, looping in a deflected 25-yarder on the break after the Hammers’ defence had stood off him!
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Goal! Man City 2-0 Watford! It’s a Kabasele own goal in the 13th minute, sliding in ahead of Aguero to accidentally convert a De Bruyne cross from the right. Marco Silva has his arms crossed and well he might.
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I’m now desperately hoping the rain in Swansea gets worse and they call this game off. Just give both teams a nice, equal point each.
— Elis James (@elisjames) January 2, 2018
Can’t 100% rule it out at this rate!
That pitch at Swansea is looking seriously iffy in the best, if now slightly dated, festive tradition. I swear I see some patches of standing water towards the near touchline. The rain is teeming down and it will only get worse.
No goals yet in the Championship between Wolves and Brentford, Fulham and Ipswich, & Reading and Birmingham.
@NickAmes82 any chance you could just break the Watford score gently to me at the end of the ninety minutes? Might be less painful that way.
— Matt Ballantine (@ballantine70) January 2, 2018
I don’t think it’ll be hideous tonight – two or three is my best guess.
Who said it had been a dull festive schedule? Cracking starts at three of our games here and there’s a nice old tempo at West Ham too, where Lanzini has just forced a really good stop from Foster down to his left.
And that really should have been 2-0 to City inside five minutes – John Stones spoons over a sitter from six yards after some bewitching wing work from Sane.
“The Watford away strip seems to feature a rather natty cummerbund - a first for a Premier league kit I think,” suggests Charles Antaki of the red and black-clad Hornets. “I didn’t see how they came out from the tunnel, but if they were wearing smoking jackets that would have rounded it off rather well. [Goal goes in]. It would also explain their rather relaxed start.”
Goal! Southampton 1-0 Palace! It’s Long’s first goal in 35 games! A huge goal for them and it’s a really, really sharp finish on the spin from a right-sided cutback. Super goal, and what a start for the Saints.
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And there has been a goal at City already. Man City 1-0 Watford – Raheem Sterling inside 39 seconds! A simple far post finish from Sane’s cross. Long night ahead for Marco Silva?
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Salomon Rondon chips just over at West Ham! And they’re just getting underway at City, as well as at Reading v Birmingham in the second tier.
@NickAmes82 I'm not saying it's raining hard in Swansea but both clubs are lined up in a 2-2-2-2-2 formation in the Noah style.
— Hubert O'Hearn (@BTBReviews) January 2, 2018
Haha – the conditions there look ab...so...lutely filthy.
Goal! Swansea 0-1 Spurs! It’s that man Llorente, because it had to be, glancing in a free-kick from the left against his old club! But he appeared to have strayed slightly offside in doing so – lucky for Spurs, rotten start for the Swans!
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Early pressure from West Ham at the London Stadium, with Ben Foster already having to punch one cross clear and a couple of wide deliveries causing consternation.
I’ll try and come back to some of your hills to die on at half-time by the way, depending on how the City game is going. At St Mary’s it has been a fast start and Wilfried Zaha made inroads down the left before seeing a cross-shot cut out as Christian Benteke lurked. It has, meanwhile, been a quiet start at Swansea although Spurs have most of the territory.
Oh, there was a late change in West Brom’s lineup at West Ham by the way – Jake Livermore came in for Matt Phillips. That’s a blow, as Phillips has been very dangerous in the last two games.
Shane Long comes close for Southampton inside 20 seconds against Palace, shooting over inside the box when he could well have done better.
The football has started!
It has in three of our Premier League games anyway, so let’s get cracking ...
Dan Hogg’s hills are thus:
1. The cynical hack-to-prevent-a-counter-attack is a much more serious problem for football than diving
2. Players should be allowed to pass to themselves on a freekick. (As in rugby)
I think we’ll see the second of those before long.
@NickAmes82 Another one: Kaka was mind-bogglingly overrated and if it wasn't for the fact that he was lucky enough to have a good season between Ronaldinho's decline and the emergence of Messi/Ronaldo, he wouldn't even merit an afterthought for most people.
— Matthew Loten (@intheinaka) January 2, 2018
Ohhh! I see your point about the timing but I loved Kaka!
7 – @ManCity have won their last seven meetings with Watford in all competitions, by an aggregate score of 24-3. Trounce.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 2, 2018
Sounds positively tame compared to what they’ve racked up this season. Tonight I fancy they’ll score a couple by the hour and then ease up.
From Charlie Robinson: “On the subject of footballing shibboleths, I’ve always been something of a fan of time-wasting. Don’t get me wrong, often it can be infuriating and downright cheating, but when it’s not completely egregious, it can be something of an art form in its own right. And I’ll even admit to being amused by some good time-wasting against my own team. I mean, who isn’t tickled by someone deliberately blootering the ball out of the ground in added time? And disrupting the flow of your opponents as they desperately try to get back into the game can be, under the right circumstances, a legitimate tactic. Best of all, of course, is a team keeping the ball in the corner, winning throw-in after throw-in. That’s quite a skill, don’t you think?”
It’s fine when that Panama ballboy/sub/whoever it was does it, but usually no.
Mark Sutton has, meanwhile, emailed in about tonight’s football: “I’m very surprised by City’s lineup. Barring Delph it’s their strongest possible. Given that Silva should be relatively fresh, I’m also surprised KdB isn’t rested. Aside from the agriculture committed against him on Sunday he did look very jaded all the way through.”
One from Tim Young: “If I had a bitcoin for every pub bore who’d told me Paul Scholes was underrated during the last 20 years I wouldn’t be going to work tomorrow. But I don’t see it at all – literally everyone I’ve ever met thinks Scholes was fantastic (he was), and I’ve never met anyone who didn’t rate him. So at best you could say he was rated, though I’d tend towards him being over rated: for me he couldn’t tackle and didn’t consistently affect games in the way a player of his ability should have.”
@NickAmes82 Unpopular hill: the pass completion stat tells you nothing about a player's passing ability and everything about the obsession of pretending data-driven moneyball thinking confirms all the things you already thought about players.
— Mark Ovaza (@MarkOvaza) January 2, 2018
When used incorrectly, you’re right. But there is a middle ground with this kind of thing and I think we’ll get there but are still struggling towards it.
Kelvin agrees with me on VVD (as do a couple of others who’ve written in): “I agree with you on van Dijk. He seems to always have an error in him waiting to happen. Same with Fraser Foster. I also think Sanchez’s work ethic is overrated. He is mostly running after losing the ball when a simpler pass would have moved the team forward earlier.”
@NickAmes82 coutinho for over 100 million pounds? For what? When he’s not scoring the occasional screamer I feel like he’s very pedestrian
— arran (@ArranRobertson2) January 2, 2018
He certainly is not the second-best player in the world but that doesn’t really seem relevant anymore.
“For me, and I’m genuinely not on the wind up, the Chambers / West Brom penalty was such a clear cut pen. A definite handball and just do not understand all the (over) reaction about it.”
Easy now, Chris Rapley! Although with some of the nonsense I’ve read since a pretty steep hill to die on would be that I don’t think Mike Dean is biased against Arsenal, or anyone else.
@NickAmes82 One can argue Hazard is overrated. He has 62 League goals for Chelsea. Lampard had 51 at that amount of games whilst playing midfield in a more defensive era.
— Bruv (@Bourgy) January 2, 2018
Did Lampard rip defences to shreds when not scoring though?
I’ll feed you another even though it probably means my P45 is waiting downstairs later. I’ve never quite *got* Virgil van Dijk (although I think I might be a bit unlucky because whenever I cover Saints – not especially often – he seems/seemed to make some sort of blooper).
“For me it’s Guardiola,” writes Benjamin Park. “I mean I get he improves the players he’s got, but come on. He’s never struggled with quality issues until his first season at Man City (no trophies), and can only play one style.”
People actually still think this, do they?
@NickAmes82 Unpopular footballing hill to die on:
— R. Marr (@RolloTreadway) January 2, 2018
Managers really aren't that important. Sure, they're not irrelevant, and a good manager can make a difference. But so can a good right back.
Just to emphasise again that the Twitter user @tehTrunk gets the credit for this theme. This one is quite something though. I *can* see what you mean – but when the margins are so fine at the top, shouldn’t the right manager be able to make all the difference?
Talking of the miraculous KDB, this was a fun Twitter thread at the weekend:
What is the most unpopular footballing hill you're prepared to die upon?
— tehTrunk (@tehTrunk) December 31, 2017
Mine: Kevin de Bruyne is very good, but at the same time, is vastly overrated.
I disagree with that. But what’s yours? One from me: I’ve never really understood the fuss about Marco Silva.
Man City v Watford – teams
Man City: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Otamendi, Delph, De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Silva, Sane, Aguero, Sterling. Subs: Bravo, Danilo, Gundogan, Mangala, Bernardo Silva, Zinchenko, Toure.
Watford: Gomes, Janmaat, Wague, Kabasele, Zeegelaar, Watson, Capoue, Richarlison, Doucoure, Carrillo, Gray. Subs: Prodl, Mariappa, Cleverley, Sinclair, Holebas, Karnezis, Pereyra.
Kevin De Bruyne starts! City fans – and football lovers in general – breathe a sigh of relief. Oh, and David Silva is actually back, so ignore what I said at the start!
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Man City v Watford starts at 8pm, by the way, 15 minutes later than the others – so we wait a little longer for those teams.
West Ham v West Brom – teams
West Ham: Adrian, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Zabaleta, Kouyate, Obiang, Masuaku, Arnautovic, Lanzini, Carroll. Subs: Noble, Hernandez, Ayew, Haksabanovic, Hart, Quina, Rice.
West Brom: Foster, Dawson, Hegazi, Evans, Gibbs, Yacob, Krychowiak, Rodriguez, Phillips, McClean, Rondon. Subs: Robson-Kanu, Livermore, Brunt, Myhill, Burke, McAuley, Field.
I make that four changes for West Brom, who of course played 48 hours ago.
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Swansea v Spurs – teams
Swansea: Fabianski, van der Hoorn, Fernandez, Mawson, Rangel, Sanches, Carroll, Clucas, Olsson, Dyer, Ayew. Subs: Fer, Narsingh, Nordfeldt, Routledge, Bartley, Roque, McBurnie.
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Trippier, Sanchez, Vertonghen, Davies, Dier, Alli, Lamela, Eriksen, Son, Llorente. Subs: Kane, Wanyama, Vorm, Sissoko, Aurier, Winks, Walker-Peters.
The top line here is that Harry Kane, who was ill earlier in the festive period, starts on the bench. So Llorente gets a go against his old club!
Southampton v Palace – teams
Southampton: McCarthy, Pied, Stephens, Yoshida, Bertrand, Romeu, Hojbjerg, Ward-Prowse, Tadic, Boufal, Long. Subs: Davis, Lemina, Gabbiadini, Redmond, Targett, Bednarek, Forster.
Crystal Palace: Hennessey, Fosu-Mensah, Kelly, Tomkins, Schlupp, Cabaye, Milivojevic, McArthur, Townsend, Benteke, Zaha. Subs: Speroni, Van Aanholt, Lee, Souare, Sako, Delaney, Riedewald.
Eight of those Palace players started just two days ago vs City.
Good evening
This is an early new year treat, isn’t it? Or is it? It’s more football, which is nice but have you found this staggering of the Christmas schedule a bit exhausting? Some Premier League clubs have, and I’d tend to come down on their side – 2 January seems like more of a day to quietly head off to work after the break, get your head down, slink home and have an early night. But here we are and, you know, there’s not a lot to be negative about because for your pleasure we have the following:
Swansea v Tottenham – Can the Swans milk the feelgood factor from that unlikely win at Watford? Will a very well-rested Spurs (seven days vs three days) have far too much and rattle a few in?
Man City v Watford – Were City rattled enough at Palace to feel a bit queasy here? How will they cope without Jesus, Silva and – possibly – De Bruyne? Can Watford find a semblance of their early-season form and persuade us that the early fuss about Marco Silva was justified after all?
West Ham v West Brom – Two days off for West Brom, a week for West Ham. Who wins? This absurd run of fixture scheduling probably decides ... although this is West Ham we’re talking about.
Southampton v Crystal Palace – Could Palace send Saints spiralling closer to, or even into, the relegation places? Is Roy Hodgson currently the best manager in the Premier League bar Guardiola?
We also have some Championship fare for you, and I’ll keep you posted on that. Wolves v Brentford is the top draw there; there should also be decent action at Fulham v Ipswich and Reading v Birmingham.
And do send in your thoughts, feelings and rebukes as we go. Email and Twitter are listed above.
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