Well that was quite the afternoon of action! Chelsea and Liverpool lose at home to unfancied opposition – and nobody won off an accumalator. Reports to come on the site imminently, and with that I’m off.
Do join Barry for coverage of Tottenham v Everton in the late kick-off.
Speaking of which, Paul Fowler:
I don’t think there’s any doubt that Spurs are Weetabix. Never going to get into anyone’s top 4 and apply a bit of pressure and they crumble.
Thanks for reading! Bye!
Brighton have won the big Championship game, 3-2 at Ipswich. Reading have beaten Brentford at Griffin Park! Get all your Football League results here.
FT Liverpool 0-3 West Ham
And it’s only the second biggest shock of the day!
FT Bournemouth 1-1 Leicester
Bournemouth have their first home point, Leicester remain unbeaten
Leyton Orient have continued their 100% start in League Two, beating Bristol Rovers 2-0 at home.
FT Stoke 0-1 West Brom
Stoke played over an hour with nine men but Pulis takes the points at his former club thanks to Rondon.
Manchester City have an eight-point buffer over Chelsea after only four games. Who predicted that four weeks ago?
Goal! Liverpool 0-3 West Ham (Sakho)
Low left-footed shot from Sakho beats Mignolet at the near post. Liverpool have had a shocker, here.
Seven minutes added on at Anfield! Eight minutes added on at Dean Court!
FT Aston Villa 2-2 Sunderland
A hard-fought point for both sides, Sunderland the happier side.
FT Man City 2-0 Watford
P4 W4 F10 A 0 Pts 12. Impressive, innit?
Peterborough have equalised after I jinxed Gillingham!
Middlesbrough have three points in the bag – Christian Stuani makes it 3-1 at Sheffield Wednesday. Birmingham now 2-0 up at Milton Keynes.
Hamilton now lead at home to Hearts, who are down to 10 men.
Wolves leading at Charlton thanks to a combo of loanees – Sheyi Ojo crosses for Adam Le Fondre and it’s 2-1.
Tjaronn Chery has QPR fans feeling cheery – they lead at Huddersfield. Gillingham look to be finishing the day on top of League One having taken a late lead at Peterborough.
Updated
Goal! Borunemouth 1-1 Leicester (Vardy)
Jamie Vardy is taken down, dusts himself off and scores from 12 yards. Straight into the top left corner, though Boruc dived the right way.
Updated
Hearts have been pulled back by Hamilton – the 100% record is doomed unless they can score in the final six minutes.
Red card! West Ham's Mark Noble
10 versus 10 at Anfield now after a straight red for Noble for violent conduct. He was already booked. He wins a free-kick but continues playing after the whistle has gone and is shown a straight red for challenge that was, at most a foul. Awful decision from Kevin Friend. There are 12 minutes to go. Liverpool couldn’t, could they?
Chelsea have equalised and you will never guess who scored it. Check out the details with Bryan Armen Graham!
Updated
Sad that it has come to this, though …
@alansmith90 as a Blackpool fan - yes it is awful... but if we have to endure another 6 months to get the Oystons out then I am OK with that
— dave (@daveinfrance) August 29, 2015
Celtic now 3-1 to the good but Hearts are in a good position to keep their 100% record in place having come from behind at Hamilton thanks to Callum Paterson’s goal.
Walsall lead 4-0 at Blackpool. It must be awful being a Tangerines fan! In the Championship, Rotherham have pulled one back at home to Fulham.
Updated
Cereal update! David Wall …
Did someone leave last season’s bowl of cereal out overnight at Stamford Bridge? The milk seems to have gone sour and spoiled the whole thing.
Don’t forget you can get all the action from the Bridge right here:
But now Brighton lead again as Tommer Hemed scores his second of the afternoon. Boro lead at Hillsborough again, also, thanks to Diego Fabbrini.
Lots of Championship action! Sheffield Wednesday have equalised at home to Middlesbrough courtesy of Marco Matias, Wolves are on even terms with Charlton following a Dave Edwards tap-in, Birmingham lead at MK Dons thanks to Stephen Gleeson. Brentford have pulled one back against Reading through Lasse Vibe, while Ipswich have come from two down to reach parity with Brighton after David McGoldrick scored from the spot.
Goal! Chelsea 0-1 Crystal Palace (Sako)
Another coupon-buster! Palace lead at a stunned Stamford Bridge. Bolasie crosses towards the penalty spot, Sako gets the better of Azpilicueta and after the ball bounces finds the net. As it stands, City lead Chelsea by eight points after four games!
Updated
Liverpool’s system now looks like 3-4-1-1, with Benteke leading the line and Firmino playing off him. They continue to have plenty of the ball but look void of ideas when it comes to getting past a very solid West Ham defence.
When Liverpool are struggling, it could indeed be considered relevant
@alansmith90 Not particularly relevant, but I watched the LA match last night and Stevie G did a "stepover". Like it was in slow motion.
— Richard J (@richardygk) August 29, 2015
Championship updates: Freddie Sears has pulled one back for Ipswich against Brighton, while Charlton lead at Wolves.
Updated
That dismissal for Coutinho means he will miss Liverpool’s trip to Old Trafford in two weeks time.
Goal! Manchester City 2-0 Watford (Fernandinho)
Fernandinho doubles the lead for City with a sublime hit and that looks to be that for Watford.
.@fernandinho is a goal away from matching his 14/15 tally and we're still in August! Brilliant hit. #mcfc
— Mark Booth (@markbooth_mcfc) August 29, 2015
Updated
Red card! Liverpool's Coutinho
It’s getting worse for the hosts at Anfield! Coutinho is sent off for a second yellow having clattered Payet. He was booked just before half-time too.
Updated
There were 19 passes before Sterling’s goal at the Etihad, by the way.
Goal! Aston Villa 2-2 Sunderland (Lens)
Sanchez gives it away, Lens cuts inside Clark and scores via a slight deflection off Richards. Level again at Villa Park!
Updated
Brendan Rodgers has brought on Moreno for Can, they are gone three at the back but they will need to improve drastically to get even a point from this game.
Goal! Manchester City 1-0 Watford
Raheem Sterling finds the net two minutes after the restart! Meanwhile …
@alansmith90 Serious question: has any manager in English football history spent as more than Brogers and won absolutely nothing? A record?
— JDMC (@MotoClark) August 29, 2015
He won LMA manager of the year the season before last! I joke, but void of the time to add them all up I would take an educated guess that he is top of the pile.
Updated
A fair point from Gary Naylor …
Bit of message from referees today - don't stamp on opponents. Not that hard to comply is it? @alansmith90
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) August 29, 2015
Half-time at the Britannia and the home fans are singing “One nil to the referee”. Liverpool are greeted with a chorus of boos from the Kop as they trudge off two goals down to West Ham. Bournemouth lead at home to Leicester at the break, too. And on that note I’m off to catch my breath, eat some overpriced quinoa crisps because the Guardian canteen does not do a regular bag of cheese and onion, before the second halves kick-off.
Goal! Stoke 0-1 West Brom (Rondon)
Rondon scores in the third added minute with a decent cross-goal header, capitalising on the two-man advantage.
Updated
All been a bit predictable, hasn’t it, Matt Dony?
So much has been made of Liverpool’s clean sheets so far, but in each game they’ve had very shaky spells. Every opponent faced could have, should have scored against them. Today is no real surprise, Lovren looking more like last year’s vintage. Add that to Stoke going old school (extra points for a stupid Charlie Adam sending off) and Cattermole conceding a penalty, one-nil to the Arsenal, and it’s a fine day for tradition. Sigh.
Half-time at Stamford Bridge, Villa Park and the Etihad! In Scotland Celtic now lead St Johnstone thanks to Tomas Rogic. They have also just announced the signing of Tyler Blackett from Manchester United on loan.
Middlesbrough lead at Sheffield Wednesday, Adam Reach netting after 42 minutes.
Stoke are currently playing 4-4-0.
— Richard Jolly (@RichJolly) August 29, 2015
Goal! Aston Villa 2-1 Sunderland
Sinclair has a second of the afternoon! Sunderland’s attack breaks down and Villa counter. Amavi is key but Sinclair is the one to find the net. Again!
Updated
Burnley now 2-0 to the good at Bristol having been battered for the first quarter of the game. Michael Keane with a third in four!
Hull lead at home to Preston courtesy of Hernandez eight minutes before the break.
Cereal update from Matt H:
Presumably any Mourinho team is one of those limited edition cereals; popular for a couple of years before the sales gradually stop and the company ceases production. Before rebooting it a few years later, of course...
In the Championship Reading have doubled their lead at Brentford, while Burnley lead at Bristol City thanks to Ben Mee.
Updated
Red card! Stoke's Charlie Adam
This is crazy. Mark Hughes is furious with Michael Oliver who flashes a straight red at Adam for what appears on first viewing a stamp on the far side on Craig Dawson. The home team are down to nine men and Tony Pulis is about to bring on Rickie Lambert. West Brom are going for it now!
Updated
Terrific work from Palace at Stamford Bridge, working close to 20 passes, but Cabaye fails to convert, instead shooting straight at Thibaut Courtois.
Goal! Liverpool 0-2 West Ham (Noble)
Wow! Lovren gives it away, Lanzini crosses in from the right. It’s only half cleared and Noble tucks it home from the edge of the area. Is the Hammers’ 52-year wait for an Anfield win about to end?
Updated
David Wall with his take on the Great Cereal Debate:
Got to disagree with you about Arsenal, they’re clearly any cereal that contains marshmallows (didn’t Ricicles add them for a period a while ago?). Absolutely unnecessary overly sickly elaboration. Liverpool would probably be Cookie Crunch, sounding a lot better than they actually taste. United under Ferguson would be Frosties, a nice balance of sturdiness and sweetness, though they seem to be moving away from the traditional recipe in recent years. City seem to alternate between Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes, and Crunchy Nut Corn Flake Clusters from year to year so far this decade. Not sure about Weetabix, perhaps England whenever they reach a tournament. Stodgy but strangely persisting in popularity.
My favourite cereal is chocolate Weetabix, with an orange or vanilla yogurt on top rather than milk. Thought you should all know.
Red card! Stoke's Ibrahim Afellay
Oh dear! It remains scoreless in the Pulis derby, but Afellay has been given a straight red for violent conduct after 25 minutes.
Cardiff lead at Nottingham Forest thanks to Kenwyne Jones but the only 100% record in the Football League remains in place after Leyton Orient thanks to a Lloyd James penalty against Bristol Rovers.
Goal! Bournemouth 1-0 Leicester (Wilson)
And he strikes again! Wilson goes for a spectacular overhead kick from about six yards and finds the net for their first home goal in the top flight!
Updated
Cereal update from Danny Marsh (though we were discussing clubs, not players):
Mitrovic represents Rice Krispies due to the whole snap, crackle and pop mentality he has displayed so far in the Premier League. James Milner would be a big bowl of porridge.
And an early morning mail from Richard Arthur in Toronto:
The story of the PL so far this season, it seems to me, is the paucity of home wins, a trend that seems to be continuing this week. Anyone have any thoughts about why?
Danny Higginbotham had a very interesting column in this morning’s Independent about that – he reckons counter-attacks have become so important that away sides actually have an advantage!
Leigh Griffiths has equalised for Celtic against St Johnstone.
Updated
West Ham still lead at Anfield having converted their only chance. They have had only 38% of possession, too. In the Championship, Reading lead at Brentford after Orlando Sa heads into the roof of the net.
Fulham have doubled their lead at Rotherham – Ross McCormack banging in the second from the penalty sport after James Husband was fouled.
In the top of the table Championship clash, Brighton have scored twice in the opening 12 minutes at Ipswich. Lualua nets the first after 10 minutes and it’s followed up by Hemed two minutes later.
Big surprise on the cards in Scotland where Celtic, dumped out of the Champions League midweek, are behind at home to St Johnstone due to a Dedryck Boyata own goal.
Updated
Goal! Aston Villa 1-1 Sunderland (Sinclair, pen)
That’s didn’t last long! A corner comes in, Cattermole jumps on Sinclair and it appears a stonewall penalty. Sinclair, scorer of a hat-trick in the League Cup midweek, dusts himself off and finds the net.
Updated
Goal! Aston Villa 0-1 Sunderland (M’Vila)
Maybe Villa’s bug is a valid excuse but Sunderland have taken the lead after eight minutes thanks to Yann M’Vila, his first goal for Dick Advocaat’s team.
First goal in the Championship comes in the early basement battle where Ben Pringle has put Fulham in front at Rotherham, his former club.
While there is an early lull, some hot cereal discussion started byJoel in Beijing …
I was tucking into some imported breakfast cereal the other day and the thought came to me as to which football team cornflakes most resembles. I decided on Aston Villa as they are probably the blandest Premier League team but have just enough quality to discern them from the lower division supermarket own brands. Plus they are always knocking around my cupboard and can be unexpectedly satisfying at times.
Any thoughts on the rest of the Premier League teams?
Chelsea are Start – unspectacular but incredibly effective, producing results. Arsenal are Coco Pops, good fun but not very healthy to have too many of them. Sunderland and Newcastle in a battle for Fruit Loops. The rest?
Goal! Liverpool 0-1 West Ham (Lanzini)
West Ham lead at Anfield! Manuel Lanzini scores inside three minutes with Simon Mignolet stranded!
Updated
Chelsea v Crystal Palace is a meeting of teams with two of the best songs in football
… versus …
Teams are out, hands are being shaken. We are moments away!
Simon McMahon’s always useful input from Up There …
Afternoon Alan. Game of the day in Scotland is in Dingwall, where Billy McKay goes straight into the Dundee United 11 to face Ross County after joining on a season long loan from Wigan. Early pace setters Hearts and Aberdeen face tricky away trips to Hamilton and Partick respectively, while Celtic are at home to St. Johnstone. In the Scottish Championship its Hibs v Raith Rovers and St Mirren v Livingston
An email from JR in Illinois:
Hey Alan,
Can you please tell me what the funk Tony Pulis is doing? How can he not start McManaman? And why did he just buy Jonny Evans? He needs more central defenders, does he? He’s starting four of them today and he bought another over the summer.
Oh jeez. Sometimes watching the Baggies is like a form of punishment.
You know the attack is the best form of defence cliche? Pulis believes in the opposite. On a serious note, Lescott could be off to Villa and he’s strengthened in attack over the summer, too, what with buying Rickie Lambert!
An early result from the Championship: Derby County 1 Leeds United 2 – Chris Wood scores in the final minute to give the visitors the win!
Some pre-match music for you:
Premier League teams
Aston Villa v Sunderland
Aston Villa: Guzan, Hutton, Richards, Clark, Amavi, Westwood, Sanchez, Bacuna, Gueye, Sinclair, Gestede. Subs: Bennett, Cole, Veretout, Ayew, Gil, Kozak, Bunn.
Sunderland: Pantilimon, Jones, Van Aanholt, O’Shea, Kaboul, Cattermole, M’Vila, Rodwell, Lens, Defoe, Graham. Subs: Larsson, Toivonen, Coates, Fletcher, Watmore, Gooch, Mannone.
Bournemouth v Leicester City
Bournemouth: Boruc, Francis, Elphick, Cook, Daniels, Ritchie, O’Kane, Surman, Gradel, Tomlin, Wilson. Subs: Federici, Distin, Smith, Mings, MacDonad, Pugh, Kermorgant.
Leicester: Schmeichel, De Laet, Morgan, Huth, Schlupp, Mahrez, Kanté, Drinkwater, King, Albrighton, Vardy. Subs: Schwarzer, Okazaki, Ulloa, Fuchs, Benalouane, Inler, Dodoo
Chelsea v Crystal Palace
Chelsea: Courtois, Ivanovic, Zouma, Cahill, Azpilicueta, Fabregas, Matic, Pedro, Willian, Hazard, Costa. Subs: Begovic, Baba, Falcao, Mikel, Remy, Loftus-Cheek, Kenedy.
Crystal Palace: Alex McCarthy, Ward, Dann, Delaney, Souare, Cabaye, McArthur, Zaha, Puncheon, Sako, Wickham. Subs: Mariappa, Bolasie, Hennessey, Lee, Gayle, Mutch, Ledley.
Liverpool v West Ham United
Liverpool: Mignolet, Clyne, Skrtel, Lovren, Gomez, Can, Lucas, Milner, Firmino, Benteke, Coutinho. Subs: Sakho, Moreno, Origi, Ings, Ibe, Bogdan, Rossiter.
West Ham: Randolph, Tomkins, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Kouyate, Obiang, Noble, Lanzini, Sakho, Payet. Subs: Jarvis, Spiegel, Oxford, Cullen, Samuelsen, Lee, Knoyle.
Manchester City v Watford
Man City: Hart, Sagna, Kompany, Mangala, Kolarov, Toure, Fernandinho, Jesus Navas, Silva, Sterling, Aguero. Subs: Nasri, Caballero, Delph, Demichelis, Roberts, Iheanacho, Maffeo.
Watford: Gomes, Nyom, Prodl, Cathcart, Holebas, Capoue, Behrami, Abdi, Ighalo, Jurado, Deeney. Subs: Diamanti, Vydra, Layun, Anya, Watson, Hoban, Arlauskis.
Stoke City v West Bromwich Albion
Stoke: Butland, Johnson, Cameron, Muniesa, Pieters, Adam, Whelan, Shaqiri, van Ginkel, Afellay, Diouf. Subs: Ireland, Arnautovic, Joselu, Wilson, Given, Crouch, Krkic.
West Brom: Myhill, Dawson, McAuley, Lescott, Olsson, Gardner, Fletcher, Yacob, Morrison, McClean, Rondon. Subs: Ideye, Anichebe, Gamboa, Lambert, McManaman, Gnabry, Rose.
Traditionally you are allowed to glance – though not take too much notice – at the league table after three games and as things things stand, despite the season very much still in the embryonic stages, there is already a game which appears critical for potential strugglers.
Aston Villa followed up their opening day win at Bournemouth with two narrow defeats but if they were to succumb to a rudderless and defensively disastrous Sunderland today, the C word (not that one, silly. Crisis!) may not be far from the lips of some on the Holte End. Dick Advocaat’s team had an horrific start to the season, enduring hammerings from Leicester and Norwich, but the picked up their first point against Swansea last weekend only to concede three against League Two opposition in the Capital One Cup. Advocaat has one helluva job on his hands to transform them into a team capable of keeping a clean sheet.
Bournemouth and especially Callum Wilson were impressive in earning their first top flight win at West Ham last week but an unbeaten Leicester arrive on the south coast in mighty form and, unbelievably, a settled team.
Slaven Bilic’s Hammers looked so impressive in their opening weekend win at Arsenal but fell limply to both Bournemouth and Leicester since. Now they go to Anfield where Liverpool have appeared a little rusty up front thus far but have been impregnable at the back.
Manchester City have been scintillating. Scoring eight without reply to possess the division’s only 100% record. Watford, winless but unbeaten, will almost certainly see their streak of three draws end at the hands of Manuel Pellegrini’s team.
Stoke City and West Brom are both winless, but the former have played the better football. They were undone by a late Pips Coutinho goal in their opener and have gone on to draw their other two games. Mark Hughes has a dilemma though – the manager has so many options, he is still struggling to settle on his strongest team. The Baggies sit bottom of the table on goal difference but put up a decent fight against Chelsea last week. Expect this one to be tight.
And what of Chelsea, the shaky champions, who host Crystal Palace in a London derby? Surely José Mourinho in his 100th home game will not allow a second consecutive game without a win at Stamford Bridge? We will have a separate link to coverage from that one soon!
In the Championship there is an early-season top of the table clash where Ipswich host Brighton. Elsewhere third-placed Charlton head to Wolves, and the bottom two, Rotherham and Fulham, also meet. The pacesetters in League One, Gillingham and Walsall, are on the road, while League Two’s Leyton Orient look to keep the only 100% record in the Football League alive at home to Bristol Rovers.
Those facing a break after this will be eager to sign off with a positive result before the international fixtures. Kick-off is 60 minutes from now. Team news from all Premier League games are imminent and do drop me a line with predictions, rants and raves.
