sortiwa
Key events
Championship: After 13 minutes, Hull City’s João Pedro scored the opener at Bristol City.
After 14 minutes he was sent off for serious foul play.
Talk about hero to zero.
14 mins: There’s been some dicey stuff from Southampton playing out from the back at Liverpool. Russell Martin might have encouraged it, but it doesn’t seem too wise a tactic on today of all days.
There’s a delay after a worrying clash of heads between Southampton’s Jan Bednarek and Ryan Manning.
League One: Lowly Northampton and Bristol Rovers have taken 1-0 leads over playoff-pushing Leyton Orient and Huddersfield, respectively. The third tier can be tremendously topsy-turvy at times.
The Honest Men of Ayr (their genuine nickname) lead 1-0 at Greenock Morton. Scotland does tend to throw up some cracking nicknames. Any others? Get them to me on email.
I’m feeling a little sluggish after a pain au chocolat and a piece of bread with nutella on it, pre-shift. Not sure they were both necessary.
In news less related to chocolate, Southampton have survived to the 10-minute mark at Anfield. Tick them off in tens, lads.
John Eustance must be buzzing! Derby, the bottom club in the Championship, now lead 2-0 against Blackburn inside seven minutes. Fancy that. Ebou Adams has scored.
6 mins: Curtis Jones has already had a couple of chances for Liverpool, the latest of which has just gone wide. Southampton are going to need some luck to survive this onslaught.
Championship: Sunderland v Cardiff looked like a banker for the Black Cats before kickoff and it’s not taken them long to go ahed, Eliezer Mayenda with another strike. And Derby finally have lift-off under John Eustance against his former club Blackburn, the veteran Craig Forsyth has scored. Good game, good game.
2 mins: Liverpool have started in dominant fashion, backed by the usual wall of sound at Anfield. How long will it take for them to breach this porous Southampton defence?
There are some cracking reads on the website right now. Get around them before the madness truly kicks in.
KICK OFF
Let’s go!
We’re about to get under way around the country …
The report via Peter Lansley has dropped from the City Ground.
As he rightly writes: “Manchester City continued their plummet from Premier League champions to scrambling to qualify for the Champions League, but the achievements of [Nottingham Forest] deserve full recognition”.
We don’t usually dabble with bookies or odds here at The Guardian, but it’s quite telling that Liverpool are an astonishing 1-12 to win today. You can back a Southampton win at 22-1 if you are.
Even the draw is 10-1. It seems the Saints don’t even have a prayer.
Good grief, Frank Lampard really cannot do any wrong right now. Coventry snatch the three points late on against Stoke, a win that will taste all the sweeter for Lamps as it came against his Sky Blues predecessor, Mark Robins. Bobby Thomas scored the winner in the 97th minute. It’s an eighth win in nine league games for Lampard’s Cov.
This is a handy tool to keep on top of the Premier League’s Golden Boot race when the goals start flying in later on today. Can anyone stop Mo Salah? (Surely not Southampton… )
Full time: Nottingham Forest 1-0 Manchester City. Ooosh. What a result for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, who continue to defy all the odds this season. City? Well, they look to be left in an almighty scrap for a top four/five spot, which is some fall from grace after four successive titles, many of them won at a stroll.
This was the goal that did it:
Oh, hang on… Coventry had the lead after fighting back from a goal down – but Mark Robins’ Stoke have hit back against his former side. Sam Gallagher has a brace.
Crawley have also equalised late on via Panutche Camará.
Callum Hudson Odoi has snatched the lead for Nottingham Forest late on against Manchester City. A big goal in the race for Champions League qualification? The City Ground is bouncing.
In the early kickoffs down the leagues, Coventry are on course for yet another win under Frank Lampard – they lead Stoke 2-1; Millwall are winning by the same score away at Watford; while in League One there’s only been one goal in the Crawley v Reading and Stockport v Charlton games. That’s been scored by the Royals’ Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan. League Two leaders Walsall are on course for a home defeat by Grimsby Town and AFC Wimbledon are cruising 2-0 at home to Notts County.
Premier League team news
You’ll have all no doubt checked the team news on your various apps and websites, but allow me to run through the headlines.
Cody Gakpo is still absent for Liverpool, with Arne Slot handing a start to Darwin Nunez against Southampton as part of three changes from the side that snuck past PSG in midweek. Curtis Jones and Kostas Tsimikas also start. Kamaldeen Sulemana leads the line for Southampton.
João Pedro is preferred up front to Danny Welbeck for Brighton, while Fulham look to be playing three at the back at the Amex. Issa Diop starts for them. Crystal Palace are of course without the injured Jean-Philippe Mateta after he took a whack to the head last week, with Eddie Nketiah starting up top. Kalvin Phillips is back in the Ipswich midfield at Selhurst Park after two games out. Captain Sam Morsy drops to the bench.
There’s 20 minutes or so remaining at the City Ground in the big early kickoff and Scott Murray is all over it for us.
Preamble
Welcome to another Saturday clockwatch – and what a glorious springtime Saturday this is (in most of the UK, at least).
The football doesn’t look too shabby either. In the Best League In The World (TM) there’s top v bottom with Liverpool v Southampton, two middling sides in Brighton v Fulham and whatever you care to dub Crystal Palace v Ipswich, probably safe versus seriously unsafe in the case of the latter.
Down the leagues there’s no shortage of 3pm Saturday goodness, with promotion-pushing Sheffield United and Burnley in action in the Championship, while Birmingham, Wrexham and Huddersfield are among the second tier hopefuls playing in the, er, third tier today.
There’s lots more beside, include the Bundesliga, La Liga and more and more and more. Let’s do this thing!
Source link