And with that, we’ll depart, leaving you only with Scott Murray’s minute-by-minute of Liverpool v Chelsea.
Newcastle 0-3 Watford
Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 West Brom
Swansea City 0-0 Bournemouth
Crystal Palace 2-1 Stoke City
Let’s have some match reports:
Manchester United 1-0 Brighton
What’s that done to the league table? Observe...
Championship full-time scores
- Aston Villa 2-0 Ipswich Town
- Barnsley 0-2 Leeds United
- Burton Albion 0-2 Sunderland
- Fulham 1-0 Millwall
- Hull City 2-3 Bristol City
- Middlesbrough 0-3 Derby County
- Norwich City 1-1 Preston North End (latest score due to an injury to an official)
- Reading 0-0 Sheffield Wednesday
- Wolverhampton Wanderers 5-1 Bolton
LATE KICK-OFF
- Sheffield United vs Birmingham City
Premier League full-time scores
- Crystal Palace 2-1 Stoke City
- Manchester United 1-0 Brighton & Hove Albion
- Newcastle United 0-3 Watford
- Swansea City 0-0 Bournemouth
- Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 West Bromwich Albion
Remarkable turnaround at the K-Come: Bristol City were 2-0 down with 25 minutes to go, but a late goal by Josh Brownhill looks like it’s sealed an unlikely 3-2 win.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 2-1 Stoke City (Sakho 90+2)
Roy Hodgson does a cartwheel and starts bodypopping on the sidelines! Well, maybe not quite, but he’ll be delighted as Mama Sakho forces one home in injury-time to almost certainly grab the second victory of Roy’s tenure at the Palace.
Updated
Two goals in a few minutes for Wolves - one from Ivan Cavaleiro and another courtesy of Diogo Jota, making it 5-1 over Bolton.
2-0! TWO NIL! SUNDERLAND TWO GOALS BURTON ALBION NO GOALS! George Honeyman gets the second, Coleman goes potty on the sidelines - could this be the start of an extraordinary revival!
Heeeesh, Kane nearly puts Tottenham ahead but puts a header that he didn’t quite get right over the bar. Ben Foster is booked for time-wasting, which he’s apparently been doing since West Brom scored after four minutes.
SUNDERLAND ARE WINNING! CHRISSY COLEMAN IS A FOOTBALL GENIUS! A FIRST WIN IN 17 LOOKS ON THE CARDS! HUMAN SACRIFICE! CATS AND DOGS LIVING TOGETHER! MASS HYSTERIA! They’re 1-0 up thanks to a goal by James Vaughan against Burton.
Meanwhile, in slightly more prosaic news, Bristol City have roared back at Hull - a goal from Bobby Reid has made it 2-2, after they were 2-0 down.
A consolation for Bolton, as Will Buckley tucks home against Wolves - 3-1 there now.
Brighton go very close a couple of times at Old Trafford: first Knockaert then Bruno whip a cross into the business area of the box, but both times there’s nobody there to convert.
Sounds like Ki Sung-yeung is super, mega, uber-lucky to still be on the pitch after giving referee Stuart Atwell a big shove. A forgiving man, is Stu.
GOAL! Tottenham 1-1 West Bromwich Albion (Kane 74)
Well obviously it was going to be him. Dele Alli whips a cross in and Tottenham’s saviour bags an equaliser at Wembley.
Updated
Mmmmm, a lovely mug of steaming-hot hubris https://t.co/eSRXkhmtlx
— Jack Lang (@jacklang) November 25, 2017
Preston have been in honking form of late but they’ve bagged an equaliser against Norwich, as Tom Barkhuizen makes it 1-1. Meanwhile Bristol City crack out some social media bantz as Aden Flint pulls one back for them against Hull.
GOAL: Hull City 2-1 #BristolCity, Flint 68. #HULvBRC pic.twitter.com/eCWhgksiOs
— Bristol City FC (@bcfctweets) November 25, 2017
Holy balls! Borussia Dortmund were 4-0 up at half-time against Schalke, but it’s now 4-4 as they reach injury-time. GADZOOKS! Time for Peter Bosz?
Wolves are sashaying away with the points against Bolton, Ivan Cavaleiro notching from the penalty spot to put them 3-0 ahead, while Albert Adomah has his second of the afternoon as Aston Villa double their lead versus Ipswich.
GOAL! Manchester United 1-0 Brighton (Young 67)
Well, that’s hugely unlucky: Ash Young gets the ball after a corner, sends a shot at goal which takes a honking deflection off Lewis Dunk and goes in.
Updated
Hull probably have an important three points: the impressive youngster Jarrod Bowen makes it 2-0 to them against Bristol City.
Changes afoot in the Big Teams Struggling To Break Down Opponents games: Zlatan Ibrahimovic is on for Juan Mata as Manchester United look for a way past Brighton, while Fernando Llorente replaces Jan Vertonghen and Mousa Dembele is on for Harry Winks as Spurs chip away at West Brom - still 0-1 there.
And there’s a hat-trick for Vydra, taking advantage of a boob by Darren Randolph to but Derby 3-0 up over Boro.
GOAL! Newcastle 0-3 Watford (Gray 62)
Game over. Richarlison leads a counter-attack and tees up Gray for their third goal, that’s four straight defeats for Newcastle and three more points in the bag for Marco’s boys.
Updated
Grim old afternoon for Middlesbrough: they’re now down to ten men as Daniel Ayala is dismissed for a second yellow against Derby.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-1 Stoke City (Loftus-Cheek 56)
Well, Stoke’s lead didn’t last long. Ruben Loftus-Cheek levels three minutes after the opener, as Andros Townsend crosses, Ryan Shawcross misses it and RLC is there to pick up the pieces and force home.
Updated
GOAL! Crystal Palace 0-1 Stoke City (Shaqiri 53)
Xherdan Shaqiri’s stubborn refusal to scored straightforward goals continues as he puts Stoke ahead against Crystal Palace with another thriker, this time going on a dancing run before bagging.
Updated
A confident man writes...
@NickMiller79 Opening acts?...Queen for Mott The Hoople we’re pretty good but my favourite would be Van Helen supporting Black Sabbath circa ‘78. I bought a pair of leather trousers to be like Dave Lee Roth.
— Jon Wylde (@jon_wylde) November 25, 2017
Matej Vydra is quite a player: he’s got his and Derby’s second of the afternoon, tucking a penalty home to give his side a 2-0 lead at Middlesbrough.
Let’s have some second-half footer. Brighton shoot out of the traps after the break as Glenn Murray just misses a chance that the dancing feet of Anthony Knockeart created for him.
Some more suggestions for the best support acts you bunch have ever seen:
Jerry Parks: “I know U2 aren’t the critically beloved darlings that they used to be, but they do tend to bring along some pretty great support acts. I vividly remember watching Florence and the Machine blowing the doors off some befuddled Middle Americans several years ago.”
@NickMiller79 Best support act nominations: Radiohead supporting James 1992, Catatonia and Super Furry Animals supporting the Manics Cardiff 1997, Foo Fighters supporting Prodigy Cardiff 1998
— popsramsey (@popsramsey) November 25, 2017
James Stevenson: “Radiohead supporting James at Portsmouth Guildhall, 1993. I had gone in my Pablo Honey T-Shirt specifically to see them, so I’m not sure that counts on your thread of lovely surprises but is probably as close to being a hipster as I have come in my life. I was actually blown away by James, who had a tremendous light show to accompany their mum-friendly warbling. Also, “Credit to the Nation” opening for The Levellers. A quite baffling combination.”
@NickMiller79 Spiritualized opening for Radiohead at Radio City Music Hall on their OK Computer tour. Mind-blowing and spellbinding ... of course that could have been the drugs!
— Galway Buzz¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (@GalwayBuzz) November 25, 2017
Tim Forbes: “In 1992 Nirvana played in my home town Belfast with Teenage Fanclub and The Breeders which was a pretty special night for my 17 year old self. However, the following summer there was an outdoor gig in Dublin that was supposed to be headlined by Red Hot Chilli Peppers, but they were forced to pull out when Flea had a health issue. Faith No More stepped in - and were amazing - but the support acts were absolutely incredible: Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, Sugar, Belly and Sonic Youth. Happy Days.”
@NickMiller79 Manics, dreadzone, Black Grape, heavy Stereo, Cast, Bootleg Beatles supported Oasis at Loch Lomond, 1996.
— TheStellarossa (@TheStellaRossa) November 25, 2017
Championship half-time scores
- Aston Villa 1-0 Ipswich Town
- Burton Albion 0-0 Sunderland
- Fulham 1-0 Millwall
- Hull City 1-0 Bristol City
- Middlesbrough 0-1 Derby County
- Norwich City 1-0 Preston North End
- Reading 0-0 Sheffield Wednesday
- Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 Bolton
FULL-TIME
- Barnsley 0-2 Leeds United
LATE KICK-OFF
- Sheffield United vs Birmingham City
Premier League half-time scores
- Crystal Palace 0-0 Stoke City
- Manchester United 0-0 Brighton & Hove Albion
- Newcastle United 0-2 Watford
- Swansea City 0-0 Bournemouth
- Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 West Bromwich Albion
Some spice at Wolves v Bolton, as various objections to a few hefty challenges leads to a confrontation between managers Nuno and Phil Parkinson, which leads to them both being send to the stands. Meanwhile, a penalty in injury-time from Oliver Norwood gives Fulham the lead in the London derby (ish) against Millwall.
GOAL! Newcastle 0-2 Watford (Yedlin own-goal 45)
Ooof. Marco Silva’s value goes up and up as DeAndre Yedlin puts through his own net to double Watford’s lead.
Updated
Nothing much happening in the last few minutes, I haven’t just dropped off at the wheel. Tottenham go close to an equaliser against West Brom as Kane misses from near in. At Old Trafford Mat Ryan has made a brilliant double save to keep it at 0-0, firstly from a Romelu Lukaku header then Pogba’s follow-up.
Aston Villa’s march continues: Albert Adomah has bagged his fourth in the last three games to put them 1-0 up over Ipswich at Villa Park.
Updated
In the Championship, Frazier Campbell has given Hull the lead against Bristol City, while the v v v v impressive James Maddison has put Norwich up versus Preston, although it sounds like it was a miss-hit cross that went in.
Tottenham aren’t exactly banging the door down. Son has their first effort on target of any note, and the West Brom fans have been cracking out the ‘OLÉs’. 0-1 still.
In the realms of underwhelming summer signings Renato Sanches, theoretical footballer, must be up there...
This could well be the cue for Renato Sanches to do something spectacular. But in the first 25 minutes he's been a passenger, absolutely miles off it.
— Stuart James (@StuartJamesGNM) November 25, 2017
Another goal for Wolves - Leo Bonatini puts them 2-0 ahead of Bolton, and with Cardiff playing tomorrow and Sheffield United the late kick-off today, it looks like they’ll be top by seven points at the final whistle later.
Updated
Crumbs...
The last time NUFC came from 1-0 down to win at home in PL was December, 2014. 3-2 v Everton. Alan Pardew's last game in charge.
— Craig Hope (@CraigHope_DM) November 25, 2017
“What a start this day is off to!” writes an ecstatic JR in Illinois. “Not only are my Baggies whooping up on Spurs but here in the U.S. we have a new addition to our pre and post game television studio crew: the one and only Mark Clattenburg! It truly does not get better than this.”
You may be aware that Dortmund are in slightly iffy shape this season: nine points back in the Bundesliga, heading out of the Champions League, but...
Dortmund 4-0 Schalke HT
— Archie Rhind-Tutt (@archiert1) November 25, 2017
Schalke captain and goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann due to be main guest on das aktuelle sportstudio tonight [a German MOTD equivalent]. Could be interesting...
GOAL! Newcastle 0-1 Watford (Hughes 19)
It feels like Will Hughes has been around for ages and thus has been waiting years for his chance in the Premier League, but he’s here now and grabbing it with both hands: he puts Watford ahead at Newcastle with his second goal in consecutive games.
Updated
Great chance for Crystal Palace against Stoke, as Ruben Loftus-Cheek looms near the goal there, but Erik Pieters puts in a nice old block and prevents the goal.
Couple of goals at the business end of the Championship: Willy Boly gives champions-elect Wolves the lead over Bolton, while the terrific Matej Vydra has put Derby 1-0 up at Middlesbrough.
Sounds like Brighton are very much holding their own at Old Trafford. A couple of chances for them as Manchester United look to extend that absurd home unbeaten record of about a billion games, or something.
Not many goals in the Football League so far, but one of them is at the Hive, where Grimsby are beating Barnet 1-0 (Jamille Matt with the goal), in Mark McGhee’s first home game in charge.
Some best support act nominations, here:
@NickMiller79 best support nom. Either Primal Scream in 98 at Brixton supported by Alabama 3, Asian Dub Foundation, Adrian Sherwood, The Kills, and finally at 4am Spiritualized as surprise guests. Or The John Spencer Blues Explosion supporting The Beastie Boys in 95. Magic.
— Toby Hynes (@TheRedbranch) November 25, 2017
@NickMiller79 Once saw REM (then called Rapid Eye Movement) open for Jean-Jacques Burnel (Stranglers bassist), with a group called Blood Donor. Both were great but difficult to find in record stores.
— William Hargreaves (@billhargreaves) November 25, 2017
Leeds beat Barnsley in the early game in the Championship, but the real action took place after the final whistle when Reds manager Paul Heckinbottom offered out...someone, not sure who. Not sure it’s massively important, really...
This is why we love Hecky. 😂#Barnsleyfc pic.twitter.com/qTk2bQXzDW
— Jack Manterfield 🔴 (@Spuggyno2) November 25, 2017
THE NEW ATTACKING WEST BROM AGE BEGINS. BE NERVOUS, PEP, VERY NERVOUS
— Tony Evans (@TonyEvans92a) November 25, 2017
GOAL! Tottenham 0-1 West Brom (Rondon 4)
WELL THEN. The Premier League day gets off to quite a start as Salomon Rondon muscles his way into a shooting position at Wembley, scuffs his effort rather but it trickles past Hugo Lloris. WELL THEN.
Updated
Let’s football!
As a couple of people have pointed out, Tammy Abraham has suffered from back spasms this week, which explains his absence from the Swansea starting XI.
“Was reminiscing about this last night with a friend, as it happens,” whimsically muses Amir Adhamy. “A Perfect Circle supported Deftones for two nights and were fantastic, but they didn’t play the song their vocalist collaborated on which seemed a missed opportunity. Do festival line ups count? Standon Calling had a great Saturday night a few years back, culminating in the best four hours of music I’ve ever seen: Fuckedup in the tent, Liars headlining the main stage followed by Pantha Du Prince closing it out back in the tent. Sheer euphoria from start to finish.”
Kari Tulinius has a nomination for the finest support act: “I once saw Modest Mouse, back when Johnny Marr was in the band, open for R.E.M. For the latter’s encore, Johnny Marr joined in for a couple of songs (Man on the Moon and Fall on Me, if I remember correctly). That was pretty good. But the best lineup I’ve seen, where everyone was firing on all cylinders, was when the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Liars opened for Sonic Youth. It was in Sonic Youth’s hometown, and they gave shoutouts to high school students in the audience, and all the bands were in a very happy, goofy mood.”
Any mention of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs affords me the opportunity to post their marvellous number ‘Our Time’:
I’d missed this in the Big Team News round-up. That interview in pre-season is either looking very bad, or very good, depending on how you view Rose’s intentions.
@NickMiller79 Danny Rose not even on the bench? Seems like he bowled himself out of the Spurs Team earlier than he wanted?
— ((( ɹǝzuɐdʞuǝp ))) (@DenkpanzerNK) November 25, 2017
Davison Sanchez is pretty good. So says Mauricio Pochettino, and Paul McInnes writes here about why.
Our man Sachin Nakrani went to interview the Premier League’s finest upside down head Bruno, on Brighton, Catalan independence and the benefits of a gluten-free diet.
Some pre-football reading? Why not start with Paul Doyle’s look at Huddersfield string-puller, the World Cup-bound Aaron Mooy, in which he tragically doesn’t advocate including his name in a chant to the tune of Charlie XCX’s ‘Boys’.
Some things to note among that dump of team news:
- Christian Benteke still not fit enough to start for Crystal Palace, who start with four central midfielders again.
- Henrikh Mkhitaryan, fresh from getting a thorough public coating by Jose Mourinho, is back on the bench for Manchester United, which he’ll warm next to Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
- Mo Diame gets a rare start for Newcastle - just the second time he’s been in from the beginning this season.
- False alarm on Erik Lamela - he’s not involved for Tottenham, and he wasn’t in the team for their U23s game against Manchester City earlier this afternoon either. A setback, or maybe Spurs playing things v v v cautiously.
- Noted swashbuckler Gary Megson has included the revoltingly young Sam Field (19) in his first (and only?) starting XI for West Brom, in what looks like a marginally more attacking team than Tony Pulis tended to favour.
- Swansea have dropped Tammy Abraham, which seems a little harsh: for all their problems, the 20-year-old who’s scored four in 11 starts probably isn’t the biggest. That said, he hasn’t scored in his last seven for club and country.
Updated
Team news
Crystal Palace v Stoke City
Hennessey, Ward, Tomkins, Sakho, Schlupp, Loftus-Cheek, Cabaye, Milivojevic, McArthur, Townsend, Zaha. Subs: Speroni, Van Aanholt, Dann, Benteke, Fosu-Mensah, Sako, Puncheon.
Grant, Zouma, Shawcross, Wimmer, Diouf, Fletcher, Allen, Pieters, Shaqiri, Sobhi, Choupo-Moting. Subs: Jese, Afellay, Martins Indi, Adam, Crouch, Haugaard, Thomas Edwards.
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral)
Manchester United v Brighton
De Gea, Valencia, Lindelof, Smalling, Young, Pogba, Matic, Rashford, Mata, Martial, Lukaku. Subs: Rojo, Ibrahimovic, Romero, Ander Herrera, Mkhitaryan, Fellaini, McTominay.
Ryan, Bruno, Duffy, Dunk, Bong, Knockaert, Stephens, Propper, March, Gross, Murray. Subs: Kayal, Hemed, Goldson, Izquierdo, Schelotto, Krul, Brown.
Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire)
Newcastle United v Watford
Elliot, Yedlin, Lejeune, Clark, Manquillo, Murphy, Shelvey, Diame, Ritchie, Gayle, Joselu. Subs: Aarons, Perez, Mbemba, Merino, Darlow, Jesus Gamez, Mitrovic.
Gomes, Mariappa, Kabasele, Britos, Femenia, Cleverley, Doucoure, Hughes, Zeegelaar, Richarlison, Gray. Subs: Janmaat, Prodl, Watson, Carrillo, Capoue, Karnezis, Pereyra.
Referee: Chris Kavanagh (Lancashire)
Tottenham Hotspur v West Bromwich Albion
Lloris, Trippier, Vertonghen, Sanchez, Davies, Winks, Dier, Eriksen, Alli, Son, Kane. Subs: Vorm, Sissoko, Llorente, Dembele, Foyth, Aurier, Walker-Peters.
Foster, Nyom, Hegazi, Evans, Gibbs, Field, Livermore, Barry, Phillips, Rondon, Rodriguez. Subs: Robson-Kanu, Yacob, Myhill, McClean, Burke, Krychowiak, McAuley.
Referee: Mike Jones (Cheshire)
Swansea City v Bournemouth
Fabianski, Naughton, van der Hoorn, Mawson, Olsson, Roque, Ki, Sanches, Carroll, Bony, Ayew. Subs: Fer, Abraham, Dyer, Nordfeldt, Routledge, Clucas, Rangel.
Begovic, Adam Smith, Steve Cook, Ake, Daniels, Pugh, Arter, Surman, Ibe, King, Callum Wilson. Subs: Boruc, Gosling, Afobe, Lewis Cook, Fraser, Mousset, Simpson.
Referee: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire)
Updated
Let us remember that it is Rainbow Laces day up and down the country today, that time of year when you can plot a fascinating Venn diagram of the people who claim such socio-political statements have no place in football, and who also harangue those who choose not to wear poppies.
Anyway, more info on the campaign, its aims and how you can get involved here.
Preamble
It says something about the power of football that, on a day with much more high-profile and frankly more meaningful sport happening around the world - the Ashes, Formula 1, from the look of some thick-necked men almost certainly called Jonty drinking from cans of John Smiths on the tube earlier there’s probably some rugby on today - many thousands of you will be ignoring all of that to read this liveblog, about a relatively routine afternoon of Premier League football. What a thing this game is.
The shiniest affair will take place this evening, when Liverpool play Chelsea, but the 3pm kick-offs represent a pretty decent supporting act, like that American tour in the 1990s when Radiohead opened for REM. There’s interest all around: for example, will Manchester United’s midweek defeat in the Champions League turn out to be a mere blip or something more serious, when they play Brighton at home today? How will Watford cope with the relatively sure knowledge that their manager wants out, as they travel to face Newcastle? Equally will the prospect of their hated overlord Mike Ashley finally doing one have any impact on Newcastle’s performance?
Can the universe explain the course of events that has lead to Gary Megson taking charge of a Premier League side, as he does when West Brom play Tottenham? Will Erik Lamela play some part for Spurs, after a year out? Will it be curtains for Paul Clement if Swansea lose to Bournemouth?
Questions, questions, questions. Maybe all will be answered, maybe done in a truly satisfactory manner. But it’s all football, isn’t it? Certainly better than any alternative you might be tempted to watch.
Updated
