Match reports
And that’s it! A good evening for the top clubs: Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Spurs and Man United all won, and those results made Arsenal’s loss at Everton even more telling.
Sunderland, Hull and Swansea remain in the bottom three, but West Ham got a much-needed win over Burnley.
Phew. Lots going on, and apologies again for the error on the Mata goal that never was.
I need a choc ice. Thanks for reading. Goodbye!
Classified check
Middlesbrough 0-3 Liverpool
Sunderland 0-1 Chelsea
West Ham 1-0 Burnley
Crystal Palace 1-2 Man Utd
Man City 2-0 Watford
Stoke 0-0 Southampton
Tottenham 3-0 Hull
West Brom 3-1 Swansea
Full-time: Man City 2-0 Watford
And that’s time in Manchester. City stay fourth, but make ground on Arsenal.
Full-time: Stoke 0-0 Southampton
All square in the Potteries.
Full-time: Crystal Palace 1-2 Man Utd
An excellent win for Manchester United, thanks to Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s late winner. They stay in touch with the top four.
Full-time: West Brom 3-1 Swansea
Salomon Rondon’s hat-trick gives West Brom another home win.
Full-time: Tottenham 3-0 Hull
A good win for Tottenham, but problems for Hull: they’re still 19th.
Into stoppage time at Selhurst Park.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-2 Man Utd (Ibrahimovic)
This time it does count! Ibrahimovic for 2-1! Here’s Scott Murray:
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GOAL! Man City 2-0 Watford (David Silva)
Watford coughed it up in midfield, City streamed forward, and after a lovely one-two with Raheem Sterling, David Silva beats Gomes for 2-0. That should be three points for City.
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Ooh, big chance for Odion Ighalo at the Etihad, but he can’t take it. Still Man City 1-0 Watford.
GOAL! West Brom 3-1 Swansea (Routledge)
No clean sheet for Tony Pulis. Wayne Routledge picks up a consolation for Swansea.
Updated
About 10 minutes left in the five remaining 8pm kick-offs. Man United and Palace still locked at 1-1. Follow it here with Scott Murray:
Full-time: Middlesbrough 0-3 Liverpool
Two for Lallana, one for Origi, and Liverpool go second.
Full-time: West Ham 1-0 Burnley
Mark Noble’s goal gives West Ham the points.
Full-time: Sunderland 0-1 Chelsea
Chelsea go six points clear.
What a save from Courtois! Van Aanholt smashed it at goal in the last minute, and Courtois did so well to plunge to his left and keep it out. Brilliant goalkeeping.
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Into stoppage time at the Stadium of Light. Sunderland haven’t had much in attack this evening.
GOAL! Tottenham 3-0 Hull (Wanyama)
Wanyama taps home after Eriksen’s free kick is parried by David Marshall.
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Do forgive me: that Man United goal was not given. It’s still 1-1. My apologies. Too much going on! Also United should have had a penalty.
If the Liverpool result holds, they’ll be going second on goals scored.
NO GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-1 Man Utd (Mata)
Disallowed!
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About 10 minutes left at Sunderland, Middlesbrough and West Ham. Chelsea look to be going six points clear.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-1 Man Utd (McArthur)
It’s all square at Selhurst! Scott Murray has more:
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GOAL! Tottenham 2-0 Hull (Eriksen)
And another goal for Christian Eriksen. Kyle Walker went down the right, crossed low, and Eriksen tapped home from two yards.
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GOAL! West Brom 3-0 Swansea (Rondon)
That should be that at The Hawthorns. Another Brunt cross, and a spectacular header from Rondon – his third headed goal of the evening.
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David de Gea has just made a spectacular save from James McArthur to keep Man United ahead. More from Scott Murray here:
GOAL! West Brom 2-0 Swansea (Rondon)
Another goal for Rondon, and the Baggies look on course for another home win. Chris Brunt swung it in from the left, and Rondon got free to head past Fabianski.
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An email from Loz Jones: “I suppose that Lallana goal mean that Mark Stokes must be somewhere over Switzerland.”
Lolz Jones!
Several slender scorelines in the Premier League this evening. Only the Boro-Liverpool game looks to be finished. City go close to 2-0, but Raheem Sterling’s shot comes back off the bar.
Still no goals at the Britannia. Southampton pressing in this second half, though.
GOAL! Middlesbrough 0-3 Liverpool (Lallana)
Another fine goal from Liverpool, and a second of the evening for Adam Lallana. This time Origi is the provider, and Lallana slams home left-footed from close range. That’s game over.
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GOAL! West Brom 1-0 Swansea (Rondon)
Matt Phillips swings a cross in from the right side, and Rondon rises unmarked to head past Fabianski. It’s the Venezuelan’s fifth goal of the season.
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GOAL! Middlesbrough 0-2 Liverpool (Origi)
What a lovely team goal from Liverpool. Crisp passing, committing players forward, and Origi tucks home Lallana’s pass from eight yards. Great stuff.
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Matthew Arnatt has a query: “Hi Tim, in all the pics the players’ heads look grafted on and about 15% bigger than they should do. Look at ‘Fabregas opens for Chelsea’ and ‘Willan fight off Jones’. What do you think? Is it just Chelsea players?”
Hm. Good question. I don’t really know how to answer that.
Sadio Mané was screaming for a penalty against Calum Chambers at the Riverside, but no call from Jon Moss. Handball?
I just saw the replay of Arnautovic’s red card again. Deserved, I reckon. He caught Boufal right on the knee.
A slice of luck for Sunderland as Willian’s shot is deflected on to the top of the crossbar. Pickford was beaten.
An exciting start to the second half at the Stadium of Light. Januzaj and Moses both just went close. Januzaj might have done better after good work from Defoe.
Some more half-time scores
Crystal Palace 0-1 Man Utd
Man City 1-0 Watford
Stoke 0-0 Southampton
Tottenham 1-0 Hull
West Brom 0-0 Swansea
GOAL! Crystal Palace 0-1 Man United (Pogba)
The Frenchman tucks home from close range and United have the lead just before the break. Scott Murray has it all:
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JA Hopkin writes of Pablo Zabaleta’s goal: “You mean a side-footed volley from eight yards, brilliantly taken? Feel sorry for Gundogan, injured again after so long out the last two seasons.”
You’re right – Zabaleta took it very well. He had a lot to do. But he was unmarked.
Man City’s Ilkay Gundogan has just limped off the pitch at the Etihad close to tears. Fernando is on in his stead.
It’s goalless at The Hawthorns, where Lukasz Fabianksi has just saved well from Salomon Rondon.
Still 0-0 at Palace. Scott Murray has the latest:
Half-time scores
Middlesbrough 0-1 Liverpool
Sunderland 0-1 Chelsea
West Ham 1-0 Burnley
GOAL! West Ham 1-0 Burnley (Noble)
West Ham, who have dominated, break the deadlock right at the end of the first half. Winston Reid was fouled in the box, Mark Noble stepped up, saw his kick saved by Tom Heaton, but Noble prodded home the rebound to give the hosts the lead.
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GOAL! Man City 1-0 Watford (Zabaleta)
The little Argentinian gives City the lead from Kevin de Bruyne’s cross. All the Watford defenders got drawn to the ball, and Zabaleta poked home unattended at the back post.
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Costa goes close for Chelsea! The league leaders are well on top here.
Looking back at the Arnautovic challenge, it looked like he did catch Boufal on the knee with his studs. It did look pretty bad on second glance.
GOAL! Sunderland 0-1 Chelsea (Fabregas)
Chelsea slice open Sunderland on the counter. Fabregas to Willian, and back to Fabregas, and the Spaniard just caresses it past Pickford from 18 yards. Great finish.
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RED CARD! Marko Arnautovic (Stoke)
Stoke’s Austrian winger has been sent off for a reckless challenge on Sofiane Boufal. Anthony Taylor had no hesitation. But was it really worthy of a red?
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Correction: it’s now four in four for Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen. He’s a lovely player, isn’t he? Pure Danish dynamite.
Kevin de Bruyne finds Nolito on the edge of the box with a well-worked corner, but the Spaniard’s volley is miles wide.
Pep Guardiola stylewatch: skinny tie, white shirt, black sweater, slim-fit trousers, dumpy Man City anorak. And it looks like shoes! No sneakers tonight, I don’t think.
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Excellent stop from Mignolet to deny a Boro equaliser! Fischer, I think it was. Top save, to his left.
GOAL! Middlesbrough 0-1 Liverpool
A bullet header from Adam Lallana! Good work from Clyne down the right side, and Lallana, arriving late, Duncan-Fergusons his effort past Victor Valdes.
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GOAL! Tottenham 1-0 Hull (Eriksen)
Finally, some action! Danny Rose escapes down the Spurs left, crosses low, and Eriksen fires into the roof of the net. Is that his third goal in four games?
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Mike McKenzie is in London, Ontario: “Since the Liverpool-Boro match hasn’t been too enthralling as of yet, I took your advice and read Marina Hyde’s piece on the Nevilles, Carra & Karius.
“It was more entertaining than the match so far! As a Liverpool fan, I have to agree with Marina: it’s amusing and annoying that pundits think they should be immune from players reacting to their comments. I’m sure that keepers know when they’ve screwed up though the shots do look easier to save on TV as Neville and Carra are both aware. As several folks have noted De Gea wasn’t all that sharp initially at Man Utd but he’s turned out all right. So the jury should still be out on Karius.”
Looks like Nolito is playing through the middle for Man City, and he tests Gomes in the Watford goal. Chance for Januzaj at the Stadium of Light, but he can’t keep it down.
Wild fury from the Sunlan fans as Diego Costa goes down after a Fabio Borini challenge in midfield. No card for either player – it was all summat and nowt.
“Does putting Mignolet in goal put Liverpool in a pre-Karius position?” ho-ho-hos Nathan Cunningham.
And Eliot Crowe writes: “I see Spurs are playing with two defensive midfielders against Hull – I’m wondering if one of them has been told to man-mark Sissoko and kick him every 30 seconds if he’s not putting in the required level of effort.”
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After 18 minutes or so, Chelsea have enjoyed 73% of possession. But they haven’t really tested Jordan Pickford.
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Fifteen minutes in, and no goals in the three 7.45pm kick-offs. But we’re under way across the board: all eight games have now kicked off.
Mark Spokes knows it’s the hope that kills you. “Hi Tim. My plane to Italy is getting ready to take off and I have to turn off my phone. I think landing to see Liverpool had lost 4-3 might be slightly less disappointing without the expectations when we go 3-0 up somewhere over Switzerland.
“Have a good night and thanks for the reports.”
Jan Kirchoff just smashes a pass intended for Patrick van Aanholt straight out of play under no pressure. That was hilariously artless. But Sunderland doing OK so far.
Nothing doing yet. By this stage on Saturday, Leicester were 2-0 up and Guardiola was looking extremely pained. Dimitri Payet’s tested Tom Heaton in east London, though.
Raymond Reardon asks: “Watford’s Stefano Okaka’s two goal haul was overshadowed by Leicester’s Vardy hat-trick last weekend. Vardy drew a blank yesterday and where’s Okaka tonight?”
He’s injured, alas, alack. But Jerome Sinclair, just 20 years old, comes in for his first Hornets start.
And we're off!
At the Riverside, Boro win a corner within 50 seconds. And they don’t test Mignolet. Doh!
Robbie Hiller asks: “Hi Tim, could you please let me know if Pep is wearing his Converse tonight? It’s the only thing I really care about at the moment.”
Good question. They’re still in the dressing rooms at the Etihad, but I’ll get word to you as soon as we have it. At Boro, the besuited Aitor Karanka is certainly out-styling Jürgen Klopp and his anorak.
Tell me things. As always, contributions from you, dear readers, are deeply valued, and most welcome. What’s on your minds?
We’re about five minutes away from kick-off at the Riverside, the Stadium of Light and the London Stadium. The other five games follow 15 minutes later.
Neil Hattersley asks: “Any word on why Matip is not even on the bench for Liverpool? Another injury?”
James Pearce of the Echo informs us that “Joel Matip travelled with the squad but has been ruled out due to a foot/ankle issue.” Therefore, Ragnar Klavan partners Dejan Lovren in defence.
You must, if you have a spare couple of minutes, read the outstanding Marina Hyde on Larius Karius and those professional busybodies also known as the Neville brothers. Crisp, intelligent, funny and vigorous. It’s a delight!
Wayne Rooney has 248 Manchester United goals – and he’s one goal short of equalling Sir Bobby Charlton as United’s all-time leading scorer in all competitions. You can follow his progress with Scott Murray here:
Incidentally, there was some suggestion that the kick-off might be delayed at Selhurst Park because Man Utd were stuck in traffic, but they’re at the ground now, and it looks like we’ll be starting on time.
A reminder of this evening’s games. Eight of them!
Crystal Palace v Man Utd 8pm GMT
Man City v Watford 8pm
Middlesbrough v Liverpool 7.45pm
Stoke v Southampton 8pm
Sunderland v Chelsea 7.45pm
Tottenham v Hull 8pm
West Brom v Swansea 8pm
West Ham v Burnley 7.45pm
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So, lots going on with those starting lineups, but the main points are, probably:
- Liverpool drop Loris Karius for Simon Mignolet
- Man City drop John Stones and bring back Yaya Touré in midfield
- Chelsea bring in Willian and Fabregas for Matic and the injured Hazard
- Cheikhou Kouyate and striker Andy Carroll start for West Ham against Burnley
- Watford’s Troy Deeney, who hasn’t scored in eight games, starts from the bench
More starting lineups
Crystal Palace v Man Utd
Crystal Palace: Hennessey, Ward, Dann, Delaney, Kelly, McArthur, Flamini, Cabaye, Lee, Christian Benteke, Zaha. Subs: Speroni, Campbell, Townsend, Ledley, Fryers, Husin, Wan Bissaka.
Man Utd: de Gea, Bailly, Jones, Rojo, Blind, Carrick, Ander Herrera, Mata, Pogba, Rooney, Ibrahimovic. Subs: Lingard, Young, Rashford, Romero, Fellaini, Schweinsteiger, Darmian.
Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire)
Man City v Watford
Man City: Bravo, Zabaleta, Otamendi, Kolarov, Clichy, Toure, Gundogan, Silva, Sterling, Nolito, De Bruyne. Subs: Sagna, Fernando, Caballero, Jesus Navas, Sane, Stones, Iheanacho.
Watford: Gomes, Amrabat, Janmaat, Prodl, Britos, Holebas, Capoue, Guedioura, Pereyra, Sinclair, Ighalo. Subs: Kaboul, Deeney, Success, Zuniga, Watson, Kabasele, Pantilimon.
Referee: Kevin Friend (Leicestershire)
Stoke v Southampton
Stoke: Grant, Johnson, Shawcross, Martins Indi, Pieters, Whelan, Adam, Shaqiri, Allen, Arnautovic, Walters. Subs: Muniesa, Bony, Diouf, Imbula, Given, Crouch, Krkic.
Southampton: Forster, Martina, Fonte, van Dijk, Bertrand, Davis, Romeu, Ward-Prowse, Boufal, Long, Redmond. Subs: Yoshida, Clasie, Rodriguez, Tadic, Hojbjerg, Taylor, McQueen.
Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire)
West Brom v Swansea
West Brom: Foster, Nyom, McAuley, Olsson, Brunt, Fletcher, Yacob, Phillips, Morrison, Chadli, Rondon. Subs: Robson-Kanu, Gardner, McClean, Galloway, Palmer, Leko, Harper.
Swansea: Fabianski, Rangel, Mawson, Amat, Taylor, Britton, Fulton, Routledge, Sigurdsson, Montero, Llorente. Subs: van der Hoorn, Fer, Borja Baston, Nordfeldt, Barrow, Cork, Naughton.
Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland)
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Starting lineups
Sunderland v Chelsea
Sunderland: Pickford, Jones, Kone, Djilobodji, O’Shea, Van Aanholt, Borini, Kirchhoff, Denayer, Januzaj, Defoe. Subs: Mannone, Larsson, Khazri, Love, Asoro, Maja, Honeyman.
Chelsea: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Luiz, Moses, Kante, Fabregas, Alonso, Willian, Costa, Pedro. Subs: Begovic, Ivanovic, Zouma, Loftus-Cheek, Batshuayi, Chalobah, Matic.
Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire)
Tottenham v Hull
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Walker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose, Dier, Wanyama, Sissoko, Alli, Eriksen, Kane. Subs: Son, Vorm, Nkoudou, Trippier, Onomah, Winks, Davies.
Hull: Marshall, Maguire, Dawson, Davies, Elmohamady, Livermore, Huddlestone, Clucas, Robertson, Snodgrass, Diomande. Subs: Meyler, Maloney, Jakupovic, Weir, Henriksen, Mason, Bowen.
Referee: Andre Marriner (West Midlands)
West Ham v Burnley
West Ham: Randolph, Reid, Kouyate, Ogbonna, Antonio, Noble, Obiang, Cresswell, Payet, Lanzini, Carroll. Subs: Nordtveit, Adrian, Ayew, Fletcher, Fernandes, Quina, Browne.
Burnley: Heaton, Lowton, Keane, Mee, Ward, Arfield, Marney, Hendrick, Boyd, Vokes, Gray. Subs: Flanagan, Barnes, Kightly, Bamford, Defour, Robinson, Tarkowski.
Referee: Robert Madley (West Yorkshire)
Here’s that Liverpool team in full. And Boro:
Middlesbrough: Valdes, Barragan, Chambers, Gibson, Da Silva, Forshaw, Clayton, de Roon, Traore, Negredo, Fischer. Subs: Bernardo, Leadbitter, Rhodes, Guzan, Downing, Nsue, Nugent.
Liverpool: Mignolet, Clyne, Lovren, Klavan, Milner, Wijnaldum, Henderson, Lallana, Mane, Origi, Firmino. Subs: Karius, Moreno, Lucas, Stewart, Ejaria, Woodburn, Alexander-Arnold.
Referee: Jon Moss (W Yorkshire)
Loris Karius left out by Liverpool
And an early bit of team news is that Loris Karius has been dropped by Liverpool. Simon Mignolet comes in in his place.
Here’s Jürgen Klopp: “There was a lot of talk about this position in the last few weeks so there was no reason to push Loris through this situation, especially when you have a goalkeeper like Simon Mignolet who is training at an unbelievable level. That was the easy decision.”
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Hello and welcome
We’re not quite at halfway, but things in the Premier League are beginning to take shape, and tonight’s set of fixtures could go some way to determining the pattern for the rest of the campaign. After a frantic weekend and much to talk about it, we’re back at it, and it’s a big night for Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool in particular.
Chelsea are the form team, having won nine straight since that 3-0 reverse against Arsenal in September, and they sit three points clear at the top. That can become six with victory over bottom club Sunderland: a lovely margin of error with a set of winnable games against Palace, Bournemouth and Stoke to come.
Manchester City could do with a win at home to Watford to quiet the criticism of their manager; it would also move them within a point of Arsenal. They were pretty unlucky in that 3-1 home defeat by Chelsea two weeks ago, but they were poor against Leicester at the weekend, and Pep Guardiola took plenty of heat – some justified, some not – for his team’s defensive failings. Expect a response tonight at the Etihad.
Liverpool visit Middlesbrough, and they can draw level on points with Arsenal in second with a win. Nothing wrong with their attack, which is moving freely and finishing decisively; it’s the defence and goalkeeper that haven’t been doing the business. One point from games against Bournemouth and West Ham isn’t good enough for a team with genuine title aspirations.
Manchester United, meanwhile, go to Palace, and the Red Devils, in sixth, are just about clinging on to stay with the top four. Defeat tonight could leave them adrift. Scott Murray has all the action from that one.
Also tonight, Stoke host Saints, Swansea aim to follow up their excellent 3-0 win over Sunderland with victory at West Brom, Tottenham host Hull in what should be a home banker, and West Ham, one place above the relegation zone, entertain Burnley. It’s on! Lots to enjoy: stay with us for all the news.
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Tim will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s Paul Wilson on Ronald Koeman and Pep Guardiola:
Leaving aside the aesthetic considerations of whether Barcelona under Guardiola represented the ultimate evolvement of possession-based football – many thought it did, others feared it was turning the game into a contact-free exercise resembling basketball – the City manager is not shying away from an uncomfortable truth. He is having to swot up on English football. He may have glowing credentials as the best coach in the world but he has never worked in this country and it is beginning to show.
He freely admits, quite possibly to the alarm of his employer, that he is far from an expert in the form of football that is keeping Watford in comfortable mid-table. “English football is Swansea 5 Crystal Palace 4,” he observed. “Nine goals, eight from set pieces. We can practise defending set pieces in training, but it is really a question of attitude more than positioning. You have to fight, to say the opponent is not going to score, even if they are taller than you.
“Strikers like the ones at Watford are good at this kind of thing. They win the duels, and at that moment their strikers are better than our defenders.”
That is rare honesty, it must be conceded. In patiently awaiting their man while he spent three post-Catalonia years in Germany, City could not have imagined for a moment that when he arrived he would be intimidated by Watford. Yet Guardiola happens to be in good company.
Here is Koeman on the same subject, following Everton’s 3-2 defeat at Vicarage Road. “They got three goals and if you analyse them it was not about football,” the Everton manager said. “The first is a long ball from the centre-back, a fight, a header, second ball, cross and goal. That’s difficult for us. Everton is selected on the qualities of the players, not on physicality, but in the Premier League physicality is an important factor. We need more aggression but we have different players to Watford, Burnley and the others.”
This is all beginning to sound a little depressing, as if the Premier League is some sort of fight club and stick-it-in-the-mixer tactics have hardly moved on since Wimbledon were in their pomp, though when Everton showed a little more aggression against Arsenal in their next game they were rewarded with a hugely satisfying victory.
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