Key events
Josh Sargent has scored within a minute of the restart to cut Norwich’s arrears at Plymouth to 2-1. Nerves will start jangling at Home Park now …
We’re getting back under way in dribs and drabs. What does the second 45-minute period have in store for us?
Here’s some halftime reading on the Lionesses, who were roaring form last night:
Crystal Palace and Brighton have shown no shortage of stomach for the fight on derby day despite both teams being safely ensconced in mid-table, albeit both will believe the Europa League is within their grasp. The Seagulls responded well to JP Mateta’s early goal.
Wolves haven’t really shown up at Portman Road yet and Ipswich have taken full advantage to lead 1-0. Can Kieran McKenna’s side hold on and secure a crucial three points that give them a sniff in the survival race?
And the final question … can West Ham muster up any creativity and invention to get back in the game against Bournemouth? It’s been in short supply from the Hammers so far today – and all season, come to think.
I’ll grab a quick cuppa before analysing those three Premier League first halves.
Half time scores
Premier League
In the Championship, the standout scorelines are bottom side Plymouth winning 2-0 at home to Norwich and playoff hopefuls Bristol City 2-0 up v Watford. Sheffield United are trailing 1-0 to lowly Oxford.
League One leaders Birmingham are being held 1-1 by 10-man Barnsley, while Stockport are 2-0 up at Exeter. In League Two, Bradford are beating Crewe 1-0 after scoring in the first minute while Salford 2-2 Gillingham has been entertaining fare.
West Ham are getting the runaround by Bournemouth now, with the visitors hitting the crossbar … the Hammers need half-time, as most of these games enter first half added time.
Thomas Tuchel has a lovely old job, doesn’t he? He’s sat in the Selhurst sunshine this afternoon, presumably taking an interest in Dean Henderson, Ebere Eze, Adam Wharton, Marc Guehi and others.
GOAL! West Ham 0-1 Bournemouth (Evanilson, 38)
There hadn’t been much to report at the London Stadium, but a mistake from Alphonse Areola allows Evanlison to snaffle the opening goal. The West Ham keeper pushed it out into the striker’s path.
A twist in the Championship promotion race? Oxford have stunned Sheffield United by taking the lead at the Kassam Stadium. Siriki Dembele bundles home for the Us after an almighty mess in the box.
Well, well, well (reprise) …
Barnsley have levelled virtually straight away at Birmingham via Davis Kellor-Dunn. The 10 men have something to hang onto.
Well, well, well.
In La Liga, Real Madrid are trailing 1-0 to Mouctar Diakhaby’s goal for Valencia. And Vinicius Jr has missed a penalty. It could be a big day in La Liga’s title race.
On that Delap goal – which was checked by VAR for a long time – Paul Summers emails in an explanation:
You’re right about Delap – onside. BUT VAR were checking the wrong offside! I’d love to see the lines drawn for when the ball was sent into O’Shea who then headed it to Delap. Everyone here called that offside but of course no replays and no checks.
It seemed only a matter of time til Birmingham took the lead against 10-man Barnsley. Jay Stansfield converts a penalty to take Blues one step closer to promotion. 1-0.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-1 Brighton (Welbeck, 31)
Minteh drives in a sensational cross and Danny Welbeck nips in between the defenders to steer it home. Brighton are back on level terms!
That was coming, to be fair, the Seagulls have come back into this contest since making a really poor start.
These two games are mirroring each other in the South West:
Bristol City 2-0 Watford: Nahki Wells has doubled the hosts’ lead!
Plymouth 2-0 Norwich: A second Ryan Hardie effort does the same for the Championship basement boys.
Valley Parade packing them in this afternoon. More than 20,000 in League Two is incredible.
The battle to avoid relegation from the Championship could get very, very interesting in the final stages of the season.
As it stands the following teams are far from safe: Plymouth, Luton, Cardiff, Derby, Hull, Stoke and Oxford. Three of them will go down.
Bristol City 1-0 Watford: Ross McCrorie has opened the scoring at Ashton Gate in a major boost for the Robins’ outside chances of clinching a playoff berth.
Plymouth 1-0 Norwich: Ryan Hardie powers Argyle into the lead down at Home Park. Could they muster a late survival bid?
Adam Wharton is controlling matters for Palace against Brighton. No surprises, there. He’s been excellent since his return from injury. How long before Thomas Tuchel copies Gareth Southgate considers him for his senior England squad?
GOAL! Ipswich 1-0 Wolves (Delap, 16)
Wolves appeal for offside, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that Ipswich goal. It’s well worked.
Liam Delap’s effort has put a cat among the pigeons.
Preston are 1-0 up against Stoke but otherwise no goals have been scored in the Championship 3pm kickoffs.
Brighton trail 1-0 at Crystal Palace and, after an awful opening 10 minutes or so, have finally turned up. Dean Henderson has just made a final double save to preserve the Eagles’ advantage.
Scottish Premiership: Rangers could wrap up second spot today… but Dylan Levitt has given Hibs the lead early on to silence Ibrox.
Let me tell you a little story about former Rangers and Burnley midfielder Scott Arfield. He’d not scored since September 2023 when he rejoined his boyhood team Falkirk at the start of February after spells with Charlotte FC and Bolton. In nine games since then, he’s netted seven. Falkirk’s new talisman.
League One: There’s loads going on in the third tier early doors, too. Barnsley’s Maël de Gevigney has been shown a straight red card at Birmingham for a professional foul, while playoff-pushing Stockport have clinched an early lead at Exeter.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-0 Brighton (Mateta, 3)
Another quick goal! Jean-Phillipe Mateta is back among the goals with a super-sharp finish at Selhurst Park.
Advantage Palace in the A23 derby.
The quickest goal of the day goes to Bradford’s Bobby Pointon. He’s found the net inside 30 seconds at Valley Parade against Crewe. What a start – and in front of a bumper Bradford crowd.
Here’s our unofficial Scottish football correspondent Simon McMahon on email:
The big guns are not in action in Scotland until tomorrow, when Celtic travel to St. Johnstone before the game of the weekend at Tynecastle between Hearts and Dundee United. United need one more point from their next two games to guarantee a top six place, but it could be confirmed today depending on the results of St. Mirren and Motherwell, who are away to Dundee and Kilmarnock respectively. If either of them fail to win, United’s place in the top six, after winning the Scottish Championship last year, will be confirmed. Rangers could
heap pressure on Celtic at the topguarantee that they finish second by beating Hibs at Ibrox today.
KICK OFF
LET’S GO.
Almost kickoff time. Eesh, if Wolves win at Ipswich today you can safely put a line under both the title and survival races with seven games to go.
Only the battle for Champions League qualification will remain.
Before our attention turns to the 3pm games here’s the report from Goodison Park where Everton (again) drew 1-1 thanks to a hardy performance from David Moyes’s men (again), while Arsenal dropped points and fell further behind Liverpool (again) in the non-title-race.
Andy Hunter watched it all unfold.
Some normal goings-on in the Under-18s Premier League this morning, too. It’s been a very bad day for Leeds United so far. Maybe Manchester United’s future isn’t as murky as some say?
Also in League Two today, Chesterfield – who had five wins in their last six – went to relegation-battling Tranmere. And Tranmere won 4-0. It’s a division that just doesn’t make sense.
Meanwhile, the top of League Two is madness. Port Vale are on the brink of a 3-2 win at Walsall that would take them to the summit, leapfrogging the hosts, while Doncaster conjured up two goals in the final few minutes at Cheltenham to win 2-0 and boost their hopes of automatic promotion.
Full time: Luton 1-1 Leeds, Coventry 1-2 Burnley. Sunderland still lead with a couple of minutes to go at The Hawthorns.
Oooft.
Plenty of good stuff to read on the ol’ website right now:
Longtime Championship frontrunners Leeds are being held 1-1 by Luton. Rivals Burnley are 2-1 up at Coventry, while Sunderland – who still have an outside shot at finishing in the top two – are winning 1-0 at West Brom. Just 10 minutes to go in those Leeds and Burnley games.
Is another Leeds promotion bid falling apart, again? *Joy Division plays*
The most crucial aspect of that Premier League team news is the absence of Matheus Cunha for Wolves at Ipswich. The Brazilian, who has made no secret of his lofty ambitions, serves the final game of a three-match suspension and without him Vítor Pereira’s side may struggle for attacking impetus.
They have actually won their past two without him, but one was a 1-0 win over a lacklustre West Ham and the other was a 2-1 victory at Southampton. Hardly inspiring stuff – and that Wolves frontline may find things a little trickier against a resurgent Ipswich, who know it’s a must-win for them today.
West Ham v Bournemouth team news
West Ham: Areola; Wan-Bissaka, Todibo, Kilman, Scarles; Álvarez, Soucek, Ward-Prowse; Bowen, Paquetá, Kudus.
Subs: Fabianski, Soler, Coufal, Füllkrug, Mavropanos, Guilherme, Rodriguez, Emerson, Ferguson.
Bournemouth: Arrizabalaga; Smith, Zabarnyi, Huijsen, Kerkez; Adams, Scott, Cook; Outtara, Semenyo, Evanlison.
Subs: Dennis, Senesi, Brooks, Soler, Jebbison, Araujo, Hill, Silcott-Duberry, Winterburn.
Ipswich v Wolves team news
Ipswich: Palmer; Tuanzebe, O’Shea, Burgess, Townsend; Morsy, Cajuste; Johnson, Broadhead, Enciso; Delap.
Subs: Walton, Davis, Woolfenden, Phillips, Chaplin, Taylor, Hirst, Philogene, Clarke.
Wolves: Sá; Doherty, Agbadou, T.Gomes; Semedo. J.Gomes, André, Aït-Nouri; Munetsi, Bellegarde; Strand Larsen.
Subs: Bentley, Bueno, Hwang, R.Gomes, Doyle, Sarabia, Forbs, Guedes, Djiga.
Crystal Palace v Brighton team news
Crystal Palace: Henderson; Lerma, Lacroix, Guéhi; Muñoz, Kamada, Wharton, Mitchell; Sarr, Eze, Mateta.
Subs: Turner, Ward, Nketiah, França, Clyne, Hughes, Esse, Chilwell, Devenny.
Brighton: Verbruggen; Hinshelwood, Van Hecke, Dunk, Estupiñán; Gomez, Baleba, O’Riley; Minteh, Mitoma, Welbeck.
Subs: Rushworth, March, Gruda, Pedro, Adingra, Cashin, Ayari, Wieffer, Tasker.
Before we run through the Premier League team news, I’ll nudge you in the direction of Everton v Arsenal. Simon Burnton has the updates, with the Toffees having just levelled from the penalty spot.
Preamble
The skies are clear, the temperature is up and … sadly there’s not much to play for at the denouement of a strange Premier League season. BUT – and it’s a big but – there are some 3pm kickoffs with at least a morsel of juicy narrative to gnaw on. There’s the bragging rights of the A23 derby to be won at Selhurst Park, while if Ipswich beat Wolves at Portman Road we might, just might, have a relegation scrap on our hands. There’s West Ham v Bournemouth too, if mid-table slugfests are your thing.
The Championship, as ever, may offer us the most significant storylines. The next staging post on Sheffield United’s quest for automatic promotion is Oxford United, while the likes of Cardiff, Derby and Hull look to stave off that most dangerous of relegations – the one to League One. The third and fourth tiers are brimming with action too, of course, not forgetting the Scottish Premiership and the Bundeliga, while Real Madrid host Valencia from 3.15pm.
Let’s get this one under way. Grab yourself an ice lolly and enjoy.
