And that’s all from me. It’s been a thrill. Thanks, and bye!
Scott Murray’s the man for all your Merseyside derby needs, manning as he is our minute-by-minute report.
That’s the last action of the game, and with that final whistle we now know all the top-flight scores of the day, and they are as follows. Not a lot of home wins about:
Aston Villa 1-2 Chelsea
Leicester 0-1 Crystal Palace
Manchester City 1-1 Hull
QPR 0-1 Southampton
Swansea 1-1 Sunderland
Updated
Drama! QPR seem to force the ball in for the most unlikely of late equalisers, but as they start to celebrate the referee points out that the whistle had already gone for a foul on Forster as he came to collect a looping, deflected high ball.
GOAL! QPR 0-1 Southampton (Mane, 90+2mins)
In the third minute of stoppage time the ball is played into the feet of Mane, on the edge of the penalty area, and he shifts the ball to his right, spins, takes a couple of touches and thrashes it high into the roof of the net from 12 yards or so with his left!
Final score: Manchester City 1-1 Hull City
It’s all over in Manchester, and everyone seems gutted about it. Manchester City have fallen another two points behind Chelsea, and Hull have had two points stolen off them by a stoppage-time set piece.
Sending-off offence of the day?
Why Lemina was sent off for Marseille - despicable. pic.twitter.com/QcvJ3xSWvQ
— Mohammed Ali (@mohammedali_93) February 7, 2015
That’s a magnificent third-division away support, and they’ve been treated to a goalless draw.
5,109 away fans here today. Once again, thank you for your fantastic support.
— Bristol City FC (@bcfctweets) February 7, 2015
GOAL! Manchester City 1-1 Hull City
James Milner curls in a delightful 30-yard free-kick and simply turns around and heads back to the half-way line. There’s about 200 seconds of stoppage time to play!
Updated
Scoreline of the day: Atlético Madrid 4-0 Real Madrid. Mandzukic has scored in the 88th minute.
Updated
Watford are beating Blackburn 1-0, leaving Ipswich very much the odd one out from the Championship’s top six. For what it’s worth, everyone agrees that Watford have been terrible in the second half and should really be losing, but that’s football, etc and so forth.
Two minutes to play at Manchester City, who must have kicked off their second half a fraction before everyone else in the top flight, and they’re still a goal down to Hull and haven’t looked very keen on equalising. Even a draw would be a pretty bad result from this one, and that looks the very best they could reasonably hope for now.
Ooooh! Leicester attack and perhaps they get too many players forward, because when the ball falls to one of them at the edge of the box they’ve got an absolutely packed penalty area to navigate, and their low shot flies wide.
“Shock on the cards in Dumfries where Queen of the South have taken the lead against cup holders St Johnstone, who somehow managed to beat Dundee United in last seasons final,” reports temporary voluntary part-time Scottish correspondent Simon McMahon. “Non-league Spartans still trail Berwick 1-0, while Hibs have come from behind and now lead Arbroath 3-1. Falkirk and Inverness also set for the last eight. Aberdeen now leading Ross County 3-0 and heading joint top of the league.”
Cuadrado is going to play the final 11 minutes or so for Chelsea, who have taken Willian off.
Today’s Merseyside derby teams, with Jordan Ibe starting for Liverpool:
Everton: Robles, Coleman, Stones, Jagielka, Oviedo, McCarthy, Besic, Barry, Mirallas, Lukaku, Naismith. Subs: Gibson, Kone, Barkley, Lennon, Browning, Alcaraz, Griffiths.
Liverpool: Mignolet, Can, Skrtel, Sakho, Ibe, Henderson, Lucas, Moreno, Gerrard, Sterling, Coutinho. Subs: Johnson, Lovren, Lambert, Sturridge, Allen, Markovic, Ward.
Referee: Anthony Taylor.
What a save! At QPR Joey Barton has his head in his hands, after Forster threw out a right fist to beat away his deflected low drive from the edge of the area.
Updated
A bit of a temporary top-flight goal dearth. I can tell you that in the Championship Brentford are now winning at Leeds, so that’s all the top five bar Ipswich (who are 2-0 down at Rotherham) currently in front.
GOAL! Aston Villa 1-2 Chelsea (Ivanovic, 66 mins)
Woof! I think it’s Hazard who tries to hack the ball into the box, but his first attempt is blocked and his second is deflected to Ivanovic, 16 yards out, who rockets a left-foot volley into the far corner. Super shot. Super.
Updated
Atlético are now 3-0 up against Real Madrid! Remarkable stuff.
Updated
GOAL! Swansea 1-1 Sunderland! (Ki, 66 mins)
That’s a fine cross from the right and an excellent, crouching/diving bullet header from Ki, though I’m not sure how he got in quite so much space quite so close to the middle of goal.
Updated
Chelsea, being held at Villa with 27 minutes and stoppage time to go, are readying Remy for some substitute action.
Meanwhile, Alex Bruce clatters into David Silva, who goes down, but the referee reckons it’s not a penalty. It should have been a penalty.
Ooooh! Leicester have a who-can-refuse-to-shoot-in-the-most-obvious-shooting-position competiion, and Nugent and Cambiasso both post brilliant entries, the latter just about edging it.
GOAL! Leicester 0-1 Crystal Palace (Ledley, 55 mins)
Sanogo’s shot is deflected away for a corner by a desperate diving defender, and the corner is knocked back across goal by, I think, Hangeland beyond the far post and then nodded in by Ledley!
Updated
At the top of the Championship, Bournemouth, Derby and Middlesbrough are all winning. Immediately below them Ipswich are losing, and Brentford and Watford both drawing.
GOAL! GOOOAAAAALLL! ASTON VILLA SCORE A GOAL!
Aston Villa 1-1 Chelsea (Okore, 48 mins)
A corner is cleared right back to the taker, and when it’s speared back towards the far post Okore is unmarked – not like his marker didn’t jump properly, or his marker was a couple of feet away, actually literally totally unmarked – and heads in!
@Simon_Burnton You should take a look at the goal David Alaba scored for Munich. Best freekick you'll see for a while! :-)
— Lindan (@Cthuloid) February 7, 2015
OK then, if you insist …
Wowzers!
Second half has begun in much of the country. Crystal Palace have started theirs with a double substitution, with Sanogo and Hangeland replacing Mutch and Dann.
“Half time in the Scottish Cup fifth round and it’s Partick 0 Inverness 2, Spartans 0 Berwick 1, Hibs 1 Arbroath 1,” reports our voluntary part-time Scotland correspondent, Simon McMahon. “Aberdeen lead Ross County 1-0 and would go joint top of the league if it stays that way.”
Oooooof! Elia has the ball on the edge of the QPR penalty area and is kind-of-tripped. As he hovers, half-crouched, with the ball underneath him Dunn turns up and boots the ball right into his chest from no distance at all. He doesn’t seem too chuffed about it. Ward-Prowse sends the free-kick wide.
There are two available half-time scorelines in the Premier League. They’re either 0-0 or 0-1. The big game in League One, between MK Dons and Bristol City, is also 0-0.
Understatement of the week competition entrant No1:
Not the best 45 minutes we've seen this season... Air your half time views using #cityview now.
— Manchester City FC (@MCFC) February 7, 2015
“Joe Hart and Demichelis are in the process of putting on one of the master clown shows of all time. Even a few minutes before the goal they had another miscommunication wherby they both came for the same ball. It ended with an awesome fresh air swipe by Demichelis and a Hull corner,” writes JR. “If I were Pellegrini I’d yank Hart off right now. He’s the England keeper? Sheesh. Not for long at this rate.”
It’s half-time across the nation (but not at Loftus Road, where they are playing seven minutes’ stoppage time).
Terrible goalkeeping there from Courtois, who came to claim a weak cross under no pressure, and couldn’t catch it! The ball is cleared, but at most clubs it would have been swept home by a striker and the hapless keeper responsible would have spent the next month stewing on the bench.
GOAL! Swansea 0-1 Sunderland (Defoe, 42 mins)
And moments later they fall behind! Defoe picks up the ball on the edge of the centre circle, carries it towards the area, evades the pathetic and over-delayed challenge of Federico Fernandez with ease and shoots low into the bottom corner from 20 yards!
20 - Jermain Defoe has now scored a Premier League goal against all 20 of the current Premier League clubs. Neat.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 7, 2015
Updated
Ooooh! Swansea have a goal disallowed, a bit controversially, after Ki sweeps in a free-kick.
Both of the top two teams in the Championship have scored in the last couple of minutes, with Bournemouth getting ahead first, and then Derby doing the same moments later through on-loan debutant Tom Ince.
Oooooh! Talking of Villa, Ciaran Clark comes up with a last-ditch covering clearance to deny Chelsea a second.
“The commentator on the Villa-Chelsea match (not sure who it is, but he’s paired with Trevor Francis) just said ‘... and this is where Aston Villa are so dangerous, on the counterattack!’” writes Allan Castle. “Surely the actual danger is of incurring exasperated stares, heads in hands, and long sighs?” Yes, the idea of Villa being considered “so dangerous” at any form of attacking seems absurd.
GOAL! Totally ridiculous GOAL! Manchester City 0-1 Hull City (Meyler, 35 mins)
That’s 30 seconds of madness! Hart runs off his line to claim the ball but instead a defender – Demichelis I think – kicks it basically out of his arms and straight to a Hull player. From that moment on, it all turns really silly (sillier, really). There’s a first-time shot from range which is saved, a first-time follow-up shot from the edge of the area which dribbles into the post and back into play, and a follow-up to the follow up, which goes in.
Updated
Oooooh! Swansea play the ball low and hard across the penalty area from the right and Gomis should really have turned it in, but instead he missed it completely. If he had turned it in, mind, it should have been disallowed for offside.
“As an American, I’m curious what Villa supporters think of Guzan,” wonders Joshua Reynolds. “Tim Howard is taking a break from the international game so Guzan is our first-choice keeper. But I have no idea how good of a player he actually is especially with Villa doing so badly as of late.” I think he’s a reasonably good player. Goalkeepers playing for poor sides tend to catch the eye, simply because they’ve got so much more to do than others, but everyone at Villa seems too busy shouting at their midfielders to notice anyone else. Villa fans?
Ooooh! At Swansea, Gomis is played through by Shelvey, but Pantelimon is out quickly and saves.
“Did you see that Elmohamady header off the bar?” wonders JR in Illinois. ‘Fraid not. “Don’t know what he was thinking. That ball needed to be punched if he wanted to get it in the goal. But seriously, I think he should be on a multi-game ban for his shameful antics last week.” Indeed – it was shameful stuff, and I don’t understand why an outfield player punching the ball into goal is any better than punching the ball out of it.
Targett is still being loaded onto his stretcher. The game at Loftus Road has been stopped for a good five minutes. They’re really taking their time with him. Fingers crossed it’s nothing too serious, but he surely won’t be playing any more of this one.
Targett being stretched off after catching an arm in aerial challenge with Phillips. Gardos coming on instead
— Paul Doyle (@Paul_Doyle) February 7, 2015
Meanwhile there’s quite an important game going on in Spain, where after 20 minutes Atlético Madrid are 2-0 up at home to Real. Two-nil!
Updated
Matt Targett is the afflicted player. He’s still stationary, and a stretcher has been beckoned.
One of Southampton’s players is on the floor, face down and not moving, while two physios hover over him, after coming off very much second-best from a headed challenge.
“Good to see Hazard score an early goal,” writes Konstantin Sauer. “Meanwhile, Wolfsburg are 2:0 up against Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga, with Schürrle providing both of the assists. Hopefully Cuadrado will prove to be an adequate substitution for him.” Schürrle has history for overperforming against Hoffenheim – he scored his last Bundesliga goal against them a couple of years back.
Blackpool, who have no wins and five points from 14 away games this season, are losing again, Hooper having scored for Norwich.
Ooooh! QPR – through Barton – and Leicester – with what looks like an accidental shoulder from Puncheon, who’s defending a corner – come close only for the ball to go over the bar.
Goal! Aston Villa 0-1 Chelsea (Hazard, 8 mins)
Nicely worked, and Villa will need to actually score if they’re not to lose today. It’s a break down the right, the ball is played back to Willian a couple of yards outside the penalty area, and his pass to Hazard, and the Belgian’s first-time finish, are both impeccably precise.
Updated
Ooooh! Someone who plays for Southampton comes close from about 40 yards.
The first thing I have to report is that Chelsea are wearing their third kit at Villa. Possibly a fourth kit. It looks a bit green to me.
It's 3pm! Peeeeeeeeeep!
We have kick-off!
“As you’re listing the teams,” rages Charles Antaki, “you might report Arsenal’s at today’s loss against Spurs: Ospina, Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, Dopey and a couple of others who didn’t actually appear at all.” Crikey. Only had half an eye on the game, but Arsenal didn’t seem to be at those proverbial races in that second half.
The final whistle has blown at White Hart Lane, and the final score was Harry Kane 2-1 Arsenal. Interesting stat alert:
12 - Spurs have won 12 points from goals scored in the final five mins of PL games this season; twice as many as any other side. Character.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 7, 2015
Ah, happy days. Back when Villa could score, and win stuff.
It's a great banner they have here at Villa Park. "There's a good ball in for Tony Morley. Oh, it must be! And it is! Peter Withe!" #AVFC
— Daniel Taylor (@DTguardian) February 7, 2015
“Afternoon Simon,” writes Simon McMahon. Hello. “An historic weekend in Scotland, with the vanishing spray being used for the first time in the Scottish Cup match at Dens, where Celtic beat Dundee 2-0 in the early kick-off. League Cup finalists Dundee United travel to Stranraer tomorrow for a place in the last eight. Today’s other ties include Partick v Inverness, Queen of the South v St. Johnstone, Hibs v Arbroath and Spartans v Berwick. Meanwhile Aberdeen are in league action and can go level with Celtic at the top with a win against Ross County.” Excellent summary. Thanks.
The Independent today has a good list of the things Aston Villa fans could have done with the time they’ve spent watching their team fail to score, which currently stands at 10 hours and 12 minutes. It’s not a totally original idea, mind – the Birmingham Mail has one too.
Christian Benteke has been dropped by Aston Villa as their hunt for goals drags on, and Paul Lambert had this to say about it:
I just think it’s been hard for Chris in the last couple of months or so, and we’ve got to protect him as well. I just think he’s been off the boil for a few weeks now, and it’s a change. Sometimes when you put someone in, you eventually get a good reaction from him.
Today’s Premier League teams
I’ll update this as the teams dribble in, but you may need to manually refresh the page to see it.
Aston Villa: Guzan, Hutton, Okore, Clark, Cissokho, Cleverley, Westwood, Delph, Weimann, Agbonlahor, Gil. Subs: Vlaar, Bacuna, Cole, Given, Sanchez, Benteke, Sinclair.
Chelsea: Courtois, Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill, Azpilicueta, Ramires, Matic, Willian, Oscar, Hazard, Drogba. Subs: Cech, Zouma, Ake, Mikel, Cuadrado, Loftus-Cheek, Remy.
Referee: Neil Swarbrick.
Leicester: Schwarzer, Simpson, Morgan, Wasilewski, Konchesky, Mahrez, Cambiasso, James, Schlupp, Nugent, Ulloa. Subs: De Laet, Drinkwater, Vardy, King, Albrighton, Hamer, Kramaric.
Crystal Palace: Speroni, Ward, Dann, Delaney, Kelly, McArthur, Mutch, Ledley, Puncheon, Gayle, Zaha. Subs: Mariappa, Hangeland, Guedioura, Sanogo, Campbell, Hennessey, Murray.
Referee: Lee Mason.
Man City: Hart, Zabaleta, Demichelis, Kompany, Clichy, Nasri, Fernando, Fernandinho, Silva, Aguero, Dzeko. Subs: Milner, Kolarov, Caballero, Jesus Navas, Lampard, Mangala, Jovetic.
Hull: McGregor, Dawson, Bruce, McShane, Meyler, Livermore, Huddlestone, Elmohamady, Ramirez, Brady, Aluko. Subs: N’Doye, Davies, Hernandez, Jelavic, Harper, Robertson, Quinn.
Referee: Jonathan Moss.
QPR: Green, Traore, Dunne, Hill, Caulker, Phillips, Onuoha, Barton, Fer, Taarabt, Austin. Subs: McCarthy, Isla, Kranjcar, Henry, Vargas, Zamora, Zarate.
Southampton: Forster, Clyne, Yoshida, Fonte, Targett, Wanyama, Mane, Steven Davis, Ward-Prowse, Pelle, Elia. Subs: Kelvin Davis, Schneiderlin, Gardos, Tadic, Reed, Seager, Flannigan.
Referee: Roger East.
Swansea: Fabianski, Naughton, Williams, Fernandez, Taylor, Ki, Cork, Dyer, Shelvey, Barrow, Gomis. Subs: Amat, Carroll, Nelson Oliveira, Rangel, Tremmel, Fulton, Montero.
Sunderland: Pantilimon, Reveillere, O’Shea, Vergini, Van Aanholt, Gomez, Bridcutt, Larsson, Alvarez, Graham, Defoe. Subs: Brown, Fletcher, Johnson, Coates, Giaccherini, Mannone, Agnew.
Referee: Phil Dowd.
Hello world!
Without further ado, I give you today’s 3pm kick-offs in the English football league, starting with the Premier League:
Aston Villa v Chelsea
Everton v Liverpool (5.30)
Leicester v Crystal Palace
Man City v Hull
QPR v Southampton
Swansea v Sunderland
Championship
No really key matches here. Leaders Bournemouth head to relegation-haunted Wigan, while second-placed Derby host Bolton.
Brighton v Nottm Forest
Derby v Bolton
Fulham v Birmingham
Leeds v Brentford
Middlesbrough v Charlton
Millwall v Huddersfield
Norwich v Blackpool
Rotherham v Ipswich
Sheff Wed v Cardiff
Watford v Blackburn
Wigan v Bournemouth
Wolverhampton v Reading
League One
MK Dons v Bristol City is a whopper here. First against second, and two of the bottom three are playing each other too as Crawley visit Yeovil, while Colchester (21st) play Crewe (20th). Semi-interesting League One fact: four of the 24 sides have names that start with the phoneme /k/, and they currently sit in one crunched bunch in 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd.
Colchester v Crewe
Doncaster v Walsall
Fleetwood Town v Peterborough
Gillingham v Sheff Utd
Milton Keynes Dons v Bristol City
Notts County v Chesterfield
Port Vale v Bradford
Preston v Coventry
Rochdale v Leyton Orient
Scunthorpe v Oldham
Swindon v Barnsley
Yeovil v Crawley Town
League Two
The visit of leaders Shrewsbury to fifth-placed Southend is probably the pick of the bunch here.
AFC Wimbledon v Newport County
Bury v Exeter
Cambridge Utd v Wycombe
Cheltenham v Burton Albion
Mansfield v Stevenage
Northampton v Morecambe
Oxford Utd v Luton
Plymouth v Accrington Stanley
Portsmouth v Hartlepool
Shrewsbury v Southend
Tranmere v Carlisle
York v Dag & Red
Updated
Hello. Simon will be here shortly. There are six games kicking off at 3pm in the top flight, including Aston Villa v Chelsea. That match could see a debut for Chelsea’s new signing, Juan Cuadrado – but as Carl Worswick explains, the Colombian winger’s upbringing was a world away from Stamford Bridge:
Inspired by his hero, the Brazilian striker Ronaldo, the youngster became known for his tricks, darting runs and finishing. Nicknamed “Shorty”, he began as a forward and despite being undernourished and all skin and bones, his innate talent earned him a place at a curiously named school in nearby Apartadó. It was called Manchester Fútbol Club and it was here, aged 12, where he started to take football more seriously.
He came to the attention of Nelson Gallego, a renowned scout, and for the next few years, he would become like a father to Juan. “He lived with me for several years and I taught him how to be independent, how to manage these things, how to cook, study, everything like that,” Gallego tells the Guardian.
On the pitch, the coach also had a major influence and arranged for the 14-year-old to have a trial at Deportivo Cali. It did not work out and a trip to Buenos Aires around the same time also failed to convince. Juan was still a scrawny kid who no one believed had the strength to succeed.
You can read the full article here.
