Championship half-time scores
Coventry 0-0 Southampton
Middlesbrough 0-0 Bristol City
Oxford United 0-0 Charlton
Yep, goalless across the board in the 12.30pm kick-offs. Haji Wright almost put Coventry ahead before half-time though, with a sharp turn before firing just wide. Will Unwin will continue to bring you updates in his football clockwatch, which is here. Thanks for reading. Bye!
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What a save! Liam Kitching glances a header towards the far post that looks almost certain to put Coventrys ahead just before half-time … but somehow Daniel Peretz shifts his feet and lurches to his left to palm the ball wide for a corner. Incredible agility.
Tom Garry has been chatting to Natalia Arroyo, Marisa Ewers and Maggie Murphy, the female leadership team blazing a trail at Aston Villa.
The big football news comes from Hackney Marshes, where my daughter’s under-11s team have just sealed the league title with a 5-1 win. News that makes me at once happy (for her) and sad (for me) that I missed it. But hey, at least I’m keeping you up to speed on the lack of goals in the Championship. There has been a goal in La Liga, though. Girona are 1-0 up against Athletic Club.
The League One leaders, Lincoln, are 1-0 up against fifth-placed Stockport. In the Championship it is still goalless in all three games, with leaders Coventry starting to wrestle control away from Southampton, who now look happier to sit deeper. There are a few late tackles going in, too.
Middlesbrough 0-0 Bristol City: Boro have dominated the first 15 minutes at the Riverside, Tommy Conway going closest with a header over the bar.
Coventry 0-0 Southampton: Saints striker Cyle Larin goes close with a close-range volley on the swivel. They’ve started well, tidy in possession and stopping Coventry from doing much in the opening 10 minutes.
Peep! The early Championship games have kicked off.
Coventry v Southampton
Middlesbrough v Bristol City
Oxford United v Charlton
Ratclffe says Carrick 'doing an excellent job'
Shifting the focus back to the Premier League, Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe has been chatting to Sky at F1’s Chinese GP. He’s a shareholder in the Mercedes team, you see. He had nice things to say about interim head coach Michael Carrick. “He’s doing an excellent job, yeah absolutely,” he said, though he wouldn’t be drawn on whether he expects Carrick to be in the dugout permanently next season. “Not going there,” he said with a chuckle. United are up to third in the Premier League under Carrick and they play fourth-placed Aston Villa tomorrow. They lost to 10-man Newcastle in their last match.
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Thanks Alex. Hello readers. As ever, we’ll have a live football clockwatch this afternoon going up at around 1.30pm. For live scores around Europe, you’ll want this page. But I’ll keep you up to speed on the two big matches at the top of the Championship until then. Boro looked to have recovered from their February wobble with big wins at Birmingham and QPR, but then they slumped to a 1-0 defeat to Charlton at home, where they haven’t won since January. Will they put those Riverside blues behind them today? Bristol City aren’t in the best form so you’d think so. Here’s how the top of the table is looking.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coventry | 37 | 39 | 77 |
| 2 | Middlesbrough | 37 | 22 | 69 |
| 3 | Millwall | 37 | 10 | 68 |
| 4 | Ipswich | 36 | 26 | 65 |
| 5 | Hull | 37 | 6 | 63 |
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I’m going to pass you over to Gregg Bakowski with the Championship kick-offs half an hour away.
Enjoy the rest of today’s football action – and if you need any pre-match reading before Coventry v Southampton, get stuck into Ben Fisher’s interview with Saints’ promising young coach, Tonda Eckert, this month. It’s great.
“Southampton are a strong outfit,” says Frank Lampard, as if he’s admiring an 80s power suit. “We’ve seen how they’re rose up the table. A Premier League team last season, lots of players with Premier League experience. A stern test today.”
Haji Wright’s return is the big news for Coventry’s XI: the Sky Blues’ top scorer was rested in midweek, but Lampard brings him back in today, “fresh and ready to go”.
Team news: Oxford United v Charlton
Oxford United: Cumming, Long, Helik, Brown, Currie, Konak, Brannagan, Mills, Donley, Emakhu, Lankshear.
Subs: Ingram, Vaulks, Placheta, Harris, Spencer, Prelec, Jeon, Makosso, McDonnell.
Charlton: Mannion, Ramsay, Jones, Bell, Clarke, Coventry, Docherty, Chambers, Carey, Dykes, Campbell.
Subs: Kaminski, Gillesphey, Coady, Gough, Rankin-Costello, Fullah, Fevrier, Leaburn, Kelman.
Referee: Matthew Donohue
The last of the trio of Championship early kick-offs! A point would take 22nd-place Oxford out of the relegation spots.
Team news: Middlesbrough v Bristol City
Middlesbrough: Brynn, Brittain, Ayling, Malanda, Targett, Morris, Browne, Hackney, Sarmiento, McGree, Conway.
Subs: Wildsmith, Edmundson, Munroe, Gilbert, Castledine, Hansen, Whittaker, Sene, Strelec.
Bristol City: Vitek, Sykes, Eile, Pring, McCrorie, Morsy, Knight, Randell, Twine, Riis, Armstrong.
Subs: Lumley, Bird, Horvat, Bell, Naylor, Derrick, Ezendu, Earthy, Thelwell.
Referee: Dean Whitestone
Also a 12.30 kick-off, as the Championship’s second-placed side aim to get get back to winning ways after slipping up against Charlton in midweek.
A real corker, Coventry v Southampton: two red-hot sides. Tonda Eckert’s Saints are unbeaten in nine in the league (six wins, three draws).
Frank Lampard’s Championship leaders have won six on the bounce, sparked by that 3-1 victory over Middlesbrough. Kick-off in an hour.
Team news: Coventry v Southampton
Coventry: Rushworth, Van Ewijk, Woolfenden, Kitching, Dasilva, Onyeka, Grimes, Sakamoto, Eccles, Mason-Clark, Wright.
Subs: Wilson, Simms, Esse, Kesler-Hayden, Bidwell, Latibeaudiere, Thomas-Asante, Markelo, Overgaard.
Southampton: Peretz, Bree, Harwood-Bellis, Stephens, Manning, Downes, Jander, Bragg, Matsuki, Azaz, Larin.
Subs: Long, Wood-Gordon, Quarshie, Fellows, Archer, Edozie, Charles, Romeu, Oyekunle.
Referee: Farai Hallam
David Moyes has robustly defended Mikel Arteta from his critics before Everton go to the Emirates Stadium later. Not a surprise, as he used to be Arteta’s manager, of course, and they retain a good relationship*.
“They’ve done brilliant, Arsenal,” waxes Moyes. “Mikel has done brilliant. He’s got a great team, and I think they’ve probably got as big a chance this year of winning the league as they’ve ever had.
“So I’d have to question the people who have been critical. They’re a strong, physical side and I don’t see a problem with any of that – it’s part of the game.
“If there’s this thing out there where everybody has to play the beautiful game, and everything has to be perfect – if we all did that, it would be boring.”
*cue a Tuchel-Conte style barney on the touchline later today
Bayern Munich go to Bayer Leverkusen in today’s big Bundesliga clash, while Borussia Dortmund host Augsburg (both 2.30pm). We can’t really call it a title race in Germany, given Bayern’s 11-point lead.
Not so in Spain! Real Madrid host Elche and can close the gap on Barcelona to one point, before Barça take on Sevilla tomorrow.
In Serie A, Inter are seven points clear at the top – but lost to closest (in both senses) rivals Milan in their last outing. Inter play Atalanta at 2pm. Will they wobble?
In France, Lens can leapfrog Paris Saint-Germain and go top if they win at Lorient (4pm).
“I don’t think we can drop too many more points and win the league,” says Celtic’s Martin O’Neill. “Motherwell – a real difficult game for us. They have been fantastic; a breath of fresh air for the SPL. They play games without fear.”
He’s not wrong. O’Neill’s injury-hit Celtic probably do face the trickiest task today in the latest chapter of the close, three-way battle for the Scottish Premiership.
Hearts have a five-point lead on Celtic and six on Rangers (who go to St Mirren tomorrow). Stephen Robinson takes charge of his first game as Aberdeen boss today, having left St Mirren.
Aberdeen v Falkirk, 3pm
Celtic v Motherwell, 3pm
Hibs v Livingston, 3pm
Kilmarnock v Hearts, 8pm
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Dan Burn says Newcastle still have ambitions to qualify for the Champions League before they visit Stamford Bridge today.
“It’s very easy to look beyond Chelsea – I know that’s crazy to say, but because we have the game in Barcelona coming up – but we’re at that stage in the season where we need points,” the defender told Sky Sports.
“Our full focus has to be on Chelsea. We want some sort of European football. At the start of the season, we spoke about wanting back-to-back Champions League [qualification], which has never been done before at Newcastle. We’ve given ourselves a bit to do, but it’s still possible.”
Newcastle are currently 12th, nine points behind fifth-placed Chelsea with nine games to play.
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Pep Guardiola has said City’s title challenge will be “over” if they fail to beat West Ham.
“Now it’s West Ham. The Premier League is the most difficult title,” he told the media yesterday. “We’re still there, knowing that if we drop points it will be over.”
Interesting take when you consider the gap to Arsenal is seven points (and City have a game in hand, plus the two sides meet at the Etihad Stadium in April). Then there’s the tiny fact Arsenal play before City today and there’s no guarantee they’ll beat eight-placed Everton.
Mind games from Guardiola? Firing up his players? A careless turn of phrase? Or does he genuinely thing: well, if we can’t beat West Ham … you decide.
Adidas face challenge for Champions League ball
Uefa has launched a tender process to find a Champions League match ball partner for the 2027-31 cycle, with the current provider, Adidas, understood to be facing strong competition from Nike and Puma.
Adidas has had the Champions League contract since 2001. The tender is the first managed by UC3, the joint venture between Uefa and the lobby group European Football Clubs that is responsible for running continental club competitions.
UC3 has appointed Relevent Football Partners, a subsidiary of the New York-based sports marketing company Relevent, to sell its sponsorship rights and the agency has opted to break up several of Uefa’s longstanding partnerships in the commercial deals it has sold so far.
Heineken has been replaced as Uefa’s official beer partner after 31 years, with Budweiser’s brewer, AB InBev, winning the Champions League and Europa League contract for six years starting in 2027, and Paramount+ outbid the incumbent, TNT Sports, to secure UK TV rights for the Champions League beginning with the 2027-28 campaign.
Relevant is understood to have sent Request for Proposal documents to interested parties this week and received a positive response. Adidas replaced Nike as Uefa’s official match ball partner in 2001, and has supplied the balls for every World Cup since 1970.
Puma has emerged as a threat to the big two global sportswear manufacturers in recent years, with the German company currently supplying match balls to the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A. Matt Hughes
Fantasy Premier League service announcement: your deadline for any changes today is 1.30pm, as there’s no early kick-off.
You can read our predicted team lineups to get the inside track on who’s in and who’s out.
Word on the street is that some fantasy gaffers have been offloading Erling Haaland. I know he’s not been in peak form of late. But … City go to West Ham today. That’s all I’m saying.
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Overall, the Champions League last-16 first legs were games to forget for the six Premier League sides: zero wins, two draws, four defeats. Yet Barney Ronay is here to put a positive spin on it!
The coefficient is safe. The coefficient is yours. You’re going home with the coefficient. But perhaps not, on this evidence, with the microwave, the washing machine or the jet ski.
England’s soccer shame. Premier League in EURO MELTDOWN. Robot-ball crisis: how Arteta’s Arsenal destroyed all that is good and true, including the ploughman’s lunch and probably Woolworths. This kind of stuff has begun to do the rounds after this week’s Champions League last-16 matches.
Holger Heuss has emailed in and – reading between the lines – I don’t think he was impressed by some recent goalkeeping displays in the Champions League.
“Given what happened this week I applied to both Spurs and Chelsea as a goalkeeper,” he claims.
“As a 60-year-old with very little goalkeeping experience I just fancied my chances. I got an immediate response from Spurs – I am in the team, without a trial. I was surprised and then I wasn’t ... Chelsea have indicated they will give me a 15-year contract on £300k a week but I will probably end up in the bomb squad.”
Oh Holger! It’s thankless being a keeper, isn’t it?
Louise Taylor wrote a fun look back on some goalkeeping disasterclasses: Antonin and Filip, you are not alone.
Reece James signed a new contract, until 2032, with Chelsea yesterday – and I notice Liam Rosenior boldly stated: “We’ve secured the best player in world football in his position.”
Now, as the manager of Chelsea, some might say he’s an unbiased observer (perish the thought!). But it’s interesting. How close is James to being the world’s best right-back?
Rosenior justified his claim by saying: “‘Do I have to explain that when you’ve seen him play?
“When you meet him or see him from afar, you admire him. He can play many different positions, technically, he can score goals, he defends, his athleticism, has tactical understanding … As long as I’m here, he will be my leader.”
The Championship’s top two both kick-off at lunchtime today – but perhaps the most arresting battle isn’t for top spot, it’s for second.
After all, promotion is the name of the game and while Coventry have opened up an eight-point gap on Middlesbrough, the race for second is incredibly tight.
In-form Millwall sit one point behind Boro and host Blackburn at 3pm; Ipswich are fourth, four points behind Middlesbrough – but with a game in hand on the teams above them. And today they visit poor old Sheffield Wednesday. Enticingly poised.
Coventry v Southampton, 12.30pm
Middlesbrough v Bristol City, 12.30pm
Oxford v Charlton, 12.30pm
Birmingham v Sheffield United, 3pm
Leicester v QPR, 3pm
Millwall v Blackburn, 3pm
Norwich v Preston, 3pm
Sheffield Wednesday v Ipswich, 3pm
Stoke v Watford, 3pm
West Brom v Hull, 3pm
There’s no WSL games today. There’s four fixtures tomorrow – but they’re overshadowed by the Women’s League Cup final: holders Chelsea v Manchester United.
The game kicks off at 2.15pm on Sunday and before it, Tom Garry spoke to Fridolina Rolfö, the former Barcelona and now United winger.
“We should be proud, but of course we’re not happy – we want to win the final as well,” she says.
Michael Carrick is also talking positively before Manchester United take on Aston Villa at Old Trafford tomorrow. He’s not letting his first defeat as United’s interim manager get him down.
“What’s going to be the reaction?” asked Carrick. “What’s the emotions in the group? What’s the motivation for the next game? And driving that forward.
“I understand with it being the first defeat it feels a little bit different, but it’s going to come at some point.
“It’s a tough league. Most teams, if not every team, has suffered that in recent times so it’s putting things in perspective and putting it in a shape where we can improve.
“We’ve taken a lot of confidence from [games recently] as a group and what we show we can achieve and how we play.
“It’s an important game, there’s no getting away from it. It’s a fantastic game.”
Arne Slot, meanwhile, has issued a rallying cry to his Liverpool players, urging them to “get the maximum” out of the rest of this uneven campaign.
“What I want is that every single player gets the maximum out of every single training session and games we are playing from now until the end of the season,” Slot said before the visit of Spurs tomorrow.
“That is the aim for me and that should be the aim for the players because that’s the only way to get the maximum out of what is there, what is in it for us.
“What that’s exactly going to be, that’s not always so easy to say in advance because sometimes you need a little bit of luck.”
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We’re not here to riff on Tottenham’s pain. But what happened the last time Spurs went down – and can the current side learn anything from the fate that befell Keith Burkinshaw’s gifted team?
Sam Cunningham has written a lovely delve into the past which even Tottenham fans may enjoy, albeit in a bittersweet fashion.
Glenn Hoddle was in tears in the dressing room. Others sat in disbelief, wondering what the future held.
Tottenham were the first English club in the 20th century to win the league and FA Cup Double, in 1961, and the first to lift a European trophy when they won the Cup Winners’ Cup two years later. They were renowned for playing attractive football and the goals of Jimmy Greaves.
Under their manager Bill Nicholson, they added two League Cups and the Uefa Cup at the start of the 1970s. And now they had been relegated.
Tottenham are not in action today – they visit Anfield tomorrow. However Igor Tudor, the specialist ‘firefighter’ manager who seems to have turned up at Spurs with a flamethrower, has also spoken to the press.
He dismissed talk of the club being cursed by “black magic” (which is good) and said the players must not be “victims” (that’s bad). Tudor has given his players a choice: cry or fight.
Check out his fighting (or crying) talk.
On that tussle for the Champions League spots, our writers have broken down how the PL’s contenders are shaping up with reasons to be cheerful/fearful and a look at their run-ins.
Well worth a read.
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Here’s today’s five Premier League fixtures today, by the way. It’s not just the two at the top in action!
Burnley v Bournemouth, 3pm (all times GMT)
Sunderland v Brighton, 3pm
Arsenal v Everton, 5.30pm
Chelsea v Newcastle, 5.30pm
West Ham v Manchester City, 8pm
Chelsea hosting Newcastle is a tasty one. The Magpies dented Manchester United’s Champions League qualification hopes in their last league outing; Chelsea are in fifth and right around the cutoff point. What will happen?
Mikel Arteta, Pep’s protege turned title rival, also had words for the media before today’s fixtures. Specifically, words about set pieces and a denial that Arsenal have been blocking defenders as part of their corner routines.
Asked whether other teams had been learning some dark arts from Arsenal, Arteta said:
No. We weren’t the first. And it’s not about blocking. I’m not going to describe what we do, but it’s not blocking … Others know what we try to do. And it’s not that.”
Pep Guardiola spoke to the press yesterday before West Ham v Manchester City today. In his usual understated style, Guardiola revealed that when he [perhaps the greatest manager in the world, in charge of a well-resourced and highly successful football club] loses a game 3-0, everyone makes a big ol’ fuss.
Oh Pep! Never change.
Let’s start with last night’s Championship game in which Wrexham beat Swansea 2-0 to boost their playoff hopes. Dom Booth was watching for the Guardian and he took in a football match, plus some slavish devotion to the cult of fame. Bonus.
Clearly the suits at Sky Sports thought Wrexham v Swansea City on a Friday night needed its own sideshow. A clash between two historic Welsh clubs just five points apart in the battle for the Championship playoff places may not appeal to the TikTok generation. If only there were some Hollywood actors on hand to step into the content void, relegating Daniel Mann and Andy Hinchcliffe to second-string commentary choice.
Luckily, Wrexham’s co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac were happy to oblige on the fifth anniversary of their £2m takeover of the then National League outfit. “As with our decision to take over Wrexham, we genuinely have no idea how this will go,” the pair chimed – presumably in unison – on a cheery press release before the broadcast.
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Preamble
Hello! I don’t want to get all Sky Sports promo/Mitchell and Webb on you – but this is a pretty super-sized Saturday of live football action. We’ve got both Premier League title contenders in action as Arsenal welcome Everton at 5.30pm, then Manchester City visit West Ham in the evening.
Before that, the Championship’s top two are also playing: Coventry v Southampton and Middlesbrough v Bristol City (both 12.30pm kick-offs). And to complete a top-two triple, the tight race for the Scottish Premiership sees second-place Celtic host Motherwell at 3pm, before leaders Hearts go to Kilmarnock at 8pm.
Here at Matchday live we’ll bring you the buildup to those games and many more – with team lineups, previews, breaking news, early goal alerts and such as we get them.
As always, please get in touch with your thoughts, predictions and matchday musings.
