Key events
Not long now: Our three o’clock kick-offs are about to get under way.
An email: “Southampton v City feels like one of those 10-0 threatening games,” writes Hugh Molloy. “Haaland back with a point to prove, no need to rest legs for Europe, De Bruyne playing for pride and a new club, and goal difference a factor in making the top 5. Early goal and it could be brutal.”
League One playoff: It’s finished 2-2 between Leyton Orient and Stockport County in the first leg of their semi-final at Brisbane Road, where Orient went ahead in the first half through a Charlie Kelman goal that should have been ruled out for a blatant offside.
Oliver Norwood and Fraser Horsfall swung the tie in Stockport’s favour with quickfire goals in the second half, but a late penalty from Kelman, who is on loan at Orient from QPR, means it’s all square going into Wednesday night’s second leg at Edgeley Park. Wycombe Wanderers and Charlton Athletic will play the first leg of their semi-final at Adams Park tomorrow.
Crystal Palace: John Textor is attempting an audacious takeover of the south London club but faces competition from the New York Jets owner Woody Johnson as the battle for control at Selhurst Park heats up before the club’s appearance in the FA Cup final next Saturday. Ed Aarons has the exclusive …
Manchester United: Fans protested against the Glazer family’s leveraged takeover of the club 20 years ago but were offered little support and the toxicity has had a lasting impact. Jonathan Liew analyses two decades of division in and around Old Trafford.
Access All Areas: “The Premier League has asked clubs to give broadcasters the right to film inside dressing rooms or conduct in-game player interviews during live coverage from next season,” writes Matt Hughes in a Guardian exclusive. “A new domestic TV deal worth £6.7bn over four years begins in August and Sky Sports and TNT Sports want more for their money, with the league supporting their demands.”
Valley Parade fire: Tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of the awful day when 56 football supporters lost their lives and hundreds more were injured after the main stand at Valley Parade caught fire during a match between Bradford City and Lincoln City. The city of Bradford came together that day and its unity since has been a constant source of pride. Aaron Bower reports …
WSL: Aggie Beever-Jones has just fired Chelsea ahead against Liverpool, in a state of affairs that will see Chelsea win the Women’s Super League unbeaten with a record 60 points. Sonia Bompastor’s side will become the WSL’s first ever Invincibles.
Wolves v Brighton line-ups
Wolves: Jose Sa, Doherty, Agbadou, Toti Gomes, Nelson Semedo, Joao Gomes, Andre Trindade, Ait Nouri, Munetsi, Goncalo Guedes, Cunha.
Subs: Bentley, Bueno, Traore, Larsen, Rodrigo Gomes, Sarabia, Bellegarde, Djiga, Mane.
Brighton: Verbruggen, Lamptey, van Hecke, Webster, Estupinan, Wieffer, Baleba, Minteh, O’Riley, Ayari, Welbeck.
Subs: Steele, Igor, Gruda, Adingra, Cashin, Mitoma, Gomez, Hinshelwood, Howell.
Those teams: Goncalo Guedes comes into the Wolves team in place of Jean-Ricner Belegarde, while Tariq Lamptey, Adam Webster and Yasin Ayari all start for Brighton. Simon Adingra and Jack Hinshelwood are among the substitutes, while Lewis Dunk is not in the matchday squad.
Fulham v Everton line-ups
Fulham: Leno, Tete, Andersen, Bassey, Sessegnon, Andreas Pereira, Berge, Wilson, Smith-Rowe, Iwobi, Jimenez.
Subs: Godo, Diop, King, Willian, Cuenca, Vinicius, Traore, Cairney, Benda.
Everton: Pickford, Young, Keane, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Gueye, Garner, Harrison, Doucoure, Alcaraz, Beto.
Subs: Iroegbunam, Coleman, Broja, Chermiti, Ndiaye, Calvert-Lewin, McNeil, Patterson, Virginia.
Those teams: Andreas Pereira and Emile Smith-Rowe come into Marco Silva’s Fulham side, while Everton maker four changes. Abdoulaye Doucoure, Ashley Young, Michael Keane and Jack Harrison come into the side, with Iliman Ndiaye, Jake O’Brien, Dwight McNeil and Nathan Patterson dropping out.
Ipswich Town v Brentford line-ups
Ipswich Town: Palmer, Tuanzebe, O’Shea, Burgess, Greaves, Morsy, Jack Taylor, Hutchinson, Chaplin, Enciso, Delap.
Subs: Walton, Woolfenden, Cajuste, Johnson, Luongo, Hirst, Godfrey, Clarke, Boniface.
Brentford: Flekken, Kayode, Collins, van den Berg, Lewis-Potter, Norgaard, Yarmolyuk, Mbeumo, Damsgaard, Schade, Wissa.
Subs: Valdimarsson, Henry, Pinnock, Jensen, Thiago, Mee, Konak, Maghoma, Nunes Gomes.
Those teams: Brentford are unchanged, while Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna brings in Axel Tuanzebe, who will raise his bat to the pavilion on the occasion of his 100th Premier League appearance.
Southampton v Manchester City line-ups
Southampton: Ramsdale, Bree, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Stephens, Welington, Ugochukwu, Downes, Fernandes, Dibling, Kamaldeen.
Subs: McCarthy, Manning, Sugawara, Wood, Smallbone, Aribo, Archer, Stewart, Onuachu.
Manchester City: Ederson, Lewis, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol, Kovacic, De Bruyne, Bernardo, McAtee, Foden, Haaland.
Subs: Ortega Moreno, Marmoush, Grealish, Doku, Nico, Gundogan, Savinho, Nunes, O’Reilly.
Those teams: Erling Haaland returns to Manchester City’s line-up after six games out with an ankle injury, with Omar Marmoush making way. Manuel Akanji, Rico Lewis, James McAtee and Phil Foden also come into Pep Guardiola’s side.
Southampton make three changes to the side that lost against Leicester last time out, with Tyler Dibling, Welington and James Bree coming into interim coach Simon Rusk’s side.
League One playoff: Stockport County have gone ahead at Brisbane Road, with Norwood turning provider to tee up Fraser Horsfall for a back post header from close range that gives the visitors the advantage.
League One playoff: Leyton Orient took the lead against Stockport County in their semi-final first leg courtesy of a strike from a preposterously offside Charlie Kelman that was allowed to stand, but the visitors have just equalised after Oliver Norwood scored from the spot. There’s about 30 minutes to play at Brisbane Road. Wycombe Wanderers and Charlton Athletic will contest the first leg of their semi-final at Adams Park tomorrow.
Meanwhile in Scotland …
Celtic have already won the title and welcome third-placed Hibernian to Glasgow today. As things stand David Gray’s side are in the box-seat to qualify for a Europa League place, which is no mean feat considering they were bottom of the table after 16 games of the season.
Three points behind Hibs in fourth place, Aberdeen travel to Ibrox to take on second-placed Rangers tomorrow. In fifth and sixth place respectively, Dundee United host St Mirren this afternoon. A win for United would keep them in with a shout of finishing third or coming fourth and getting into the Europa Conference League qualifying round.
In the Scottish Premiership relegation league, Simo Valakari’s St Johnstone look doomed and will be relegated if they lose their bottom-of-the-table clash against Ross County this afternoon. Six points above St Johnstone in the relegation playoff place, the Staggies will be sucked into a scrap for the automatic relegation spot if they lost in Perth.
If Ross County win and Dundee lose against Kilmarnock, the Dee will drop to the relegation playoff spot with two rounds of games to go. Kilmarnock will all but guarantee their safety with a win, while Hearts are certain to be playing Premiership football next season if they beat Motherwell.
Scottish Premiership (Championship group)
Scottish Premiership (Relegation group)
Today’s Premier League fixtures
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Fulham v Everton
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Ipswich Town v Brentford
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Southampton v Manchester City
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Wolves v Brighton
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Bournemouth v Aston Villa (5.30pm BST)
Wolves v Brighton: If Wolves head coach Vitor Pereira is to enjoy his customary clatter of righteous post-match pints in the local Wetherspoons this evening, his side will need to return to winning ways against a Brighton side still harbouring hopes of scraping into Europe next season. Wolves’ mightily impressive run of six consecutive wins came to an end at Manchester City last weekend, although it could be argued that Pereira’s side were more than a little unfortunate to lose given the chances they created.
With a visit from the champions looming next weekend, followed by a trip to a Spurs side with more pressing matters on their mind, Brighton will be hopeful of hoovering up some points in their final two games against two teams with little to play for in the Premier League but anything but a win today is likely to leave their chances of playing in Europe next season in serious jeopardy.
Southampton v Manchester City: With three games left to win the solitary point that will take them above the record low 11 amassed by the Derby County team of 2007-08, Southampton are unlikely to get it today. They welcome an in-form Manchester City side to St Mary’s, with Pep Guardiola’s side unbeaten in seven top flight games and having won four in a row.
While City’s place in the top five is not yet assured, they are on an upward trajectory and will fancy their chances of overtaking Arsenal to finish second behind Liverpool come season’s end. A win today will all but guarantee their place in the Champions League next season if Nottingham Forest lose against Leicester City tomorrow.
With their goal difference of -57, Southampton are currently 12 goals better off than that Derby County side and can still avoid the ignominy of becoming the worst Premier League of all time if they lose their final three games of the season by a combined total of 11 goals or fewer. Given City’s recent return to form, a cynic might argue they will do well to lose by less than a dozen today.
Ipswich v Brentford: Currently a point behind Bournemouth in eighth, Brentford need a result against relegated Ipswich Town to maintain their push for their highest ever top flight finish and the place in European competition that could come with it. The Bees have never played in Europe before but come into this afternoon’s game on the back of three consecutive wins, with potentially tricky fixtures against Fulham and Wolves to come.
Fulham v Everton: Having taken just three points from the past 12 available, Fulham’s push for the eighth place finish that might be good enough to earn them a place in next season’s Europa Conference League, Marco Silva’s side could really do with a win over Everton to stay in the hunt. If Manchester City finish in the Champions League places and win the FA Cup, whoever finishes eighth will get into the Conference League.
With a trip to Brentford and the visit of Manchester City remaining in the coming fortnight, this afternoon’s match against an Everton side who have won just one game in their past 10 almost certainly presents Marco Silva side with their best opportunity of taking maximum points.
With their safety long since assured under David Moyes, Everton have noticably taken their foot off the gas and have little or nothing left to play for beyond ensuring they check out of Goodison Park at the end of their 133-year residency with a win against Southampton next weekend.
Today’s Premier League fixtures
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Fulham v Everton
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Ipswich Town v Brentford
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Southampton v Manchester City
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Wolves v Brighton
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Bournemouth v Aston Villa (5.30pm BST)
Premier League clockwatch
With the title already decided and the three relegation places already decided, the race to finish in the top five, to finish in the top eight and to finish with at least one more point than 2008-era Derby County, the worst team in Premier League history, are among those being contested in today’s three o’clock kick-offs.
We’re not going to attempt to insult the intelligence of our readers – there have been more exciting Saturday afternoons in recent Premier League memory and today’s is an undeniably difficult sell. For all that, we’ll be nothing if not diligent as we bring you news of any major talking points and all the goals as they go in, while flagging up any other incidents of note at home and further afield.
