Key events
Championship: Sheffield Wednesday, with one win all season and 32 games without one, lead at Hull … until Matt Crooks equalises for the hosts. Jamal Lowe had the bottom club in front for about a minute and a half.
Portsmouth have it all to do now at QPR as Rayan Kolli makes it 2-0 but West Brom have taken a surprise lead as George Campbell heads them in front at Bristol City.
Bundesliga: Half-time scores. Olise and Gnabry struck just before the break for the leaders.
Bayern Munich 2-0 Union Berlin
Heidenheim 0-2 Bayer Leverkusen
Köln 2-2 Borussia Mönchengladbach
Wolfsburg 0-0 Werder Bremen
Premier League: Big miss! What a chance for Burnley. From the left, Hartman whips a ball in behind the Fulham backline and Flemming heads it straight at Leno from six yards out. Either side of the keeper …
Championship roundup: All you need to know about the three early kick-offs featuring a few promotion contenders.
League One: Leaders Lincoln take the lead through a Ted Cann own goal but Rotherham complain about the fact they had an offside player on the line when it went in.
League Two: Promotion-chasing Notts County have levelled it at home to Cheltenham as Jodi Jones cancels out Isaac Hutchinson’s opener.
Match report: Sam Cunningham has filed his report from the Amex after Brighton’s 2-1 win over Liverpool.
Championship: Patrick Bamford is guilty of missing a sitter for Sheffield Utd in the early stages against Wrexham. Close range, on his left foot, wide – whoops. Wrexham are very much in the hunt for a playoff place.
At the other end of the spectrum, Shea Charles slams one in for Southampton to double their lead at home to Oxford. It’s a beauty!
Championship: Struggling Portsmouth go behind at Loftus Road as Paul Smyth strikes for QPR.
Premier League: Shouts for a penalty for Burnley as Zian Flemming’s shot comes off Calvin Bassey’s trailing arm but the referee and VAR wave it away.
League One: Gary Caldwell gets off to a strong start as his Wigan side take an early lead against his old club Exeter, who he left a few weeks ago. Joe Taylor with the goal. These two are dangerously close to the relegation places.
Championship: Playoff hopefuls Southampton take the lead at home to struggling Oxford through Cyle Larin. Norwich have gone in front at Charlton thanks to Pelle Mattsson.
Bundesliga: Still 0-0 between Bayern Munich and Union Berlin after half an hour. There were three goals in the first seven minutes in the Rhine derby between Köln and Borussia Mönchengladbach – it’s 2-2 now. Bayer Leverkusen have a 1-0 lead at basement dwellers Heidenheim.
Kick-off
Here we go. Craven Cottage and Tynecastle are our main focuses but I’ll dabble in a bit of everything.
The 3pm kick-offs are about to get under way …
If you’re at a game, get in touch via email.
Tony Killen writes in: “Thank you Barney for today’s article on the ‘punishment’ meted out by the PL to our opponents today.
“I suspect that the crowd at Hill Dickinson Stadium later will be giving an, erm, ‘robust’ response to the kid-gloves treatment of Chelsea compared to the points deductions incurred in recent seasons by Everton and others.
“Viewers of a sensitive nature are advised to look away from 5.30 this afternoon.”
Here is Barney Ronay’s weekend column:
Full-time: Brighton 2-1 Liverpool – Danny Welbeck’s double downs the defending champions. Scott Murray has reaction:
Here’s how the Premier League looks heading into the rest of the afternoon:
“I wish it was just as easy as throwing six forwards on,” said Scott Parker this week as he tries to balance defensive solidity with actually scoring enough goals to keep Burnley up. Their last few games have seen different approaches – an all-guns-blazing 4-3 defeat to Brentford, a limp 2-0 loss at Everton and a promising-but-toothless 0-0 draw with Bournemouth.
“I think we’ve tried that as well in terms of [throwing] caution to the wind,” Parker said yesterday. “They’re the constant decisions you’re trying to make. I wish it was just as easy as throwing six forwards on.
“There’s a bit more to it than just that. But for sure we’re at the stage now where we need to get three points. We need to win football matches to give ourselves a chance to stay in this division. Hence why we’ve probably changed a little bit in terms of our structure.”
Full-time scores in the EFL’s early games
Championship
Good news for Southampton, Wrexham and the like as Ipswich and Millwall take points off each other.
League One
Cardiff 0-0 Blackpool
Luton 1-1 Stockport
Cardiff give Lincoln a chance to extend their lead at the top.
League Two
Bromley stay top ahead of MK Dons but Cambridge close.
Brighton v Liverpool was a delayed early kick-off (if that makes sense) in the Premier League and there’s still 15 minutes to go there. England’s Danny Welbeck at the double.
Hearts v Dundee teams news
Hearts XI (4-4-2): Schwolow; Altena, Kent, Halkett, McCart; McEntee, Devlin, Leonard, Kyziridis; Braga, Kaboré
Subs: Fulton, Baningime, Shankland, Borchgrevink, Steinwender, Spittal, Kerjota, Mato, Chesnokov
Dundee XI (4-2-3-1): McCracken; D Wright, Astley, Graham, Halliday; F Robertson, Hamilton; Congreve, Westley, Yogane; Hay
Subs: O’Hara, Koumetio, Samuels, Murray, Reilly, Cotterill, S Wright, Bevan, Jones
Key fixtures
Here are my picks for the afternoon (3pm unless stated):
Premier League
Scottish Premiership
Championship
Bristol City (15th/24) v West Brom (21st)
Sheffield Utd (16th) v Wrexham (7th)
Southampton (6th) v Oxford Utd (22nd)
Watford (9th) v Leicester (23rd)
League One
Lincoln (1st/24) v Rotherham (22nd)
Port Vale (24th) v Bolton (3rd)
Wigan (20th) v Exeter (19th)
League Two
Bromley (1st/24) v Colchester (13th)
Notts County (4th) v Cheltenham (17th)
Tranmere (20th) v Swindon (6th)
Bundesliga
Bayern Munich (1st/18) v Union Berlin (9th) – 2.30pm
Köln (14th) v Borussia Mönchengladbach (12th) – Rhine derby, 2.30pm
Fulham v Burnley team news
Yes, this is the only Premier League offering this afternoon but it’s an extremely important one for Burnley. They need points and they need them now – nine separate them and Nottingham Forest in 17th with only seven games to go after today.
Fulham are 12th but only four points behind Brentford in 7th and a European place. Oh, the memories of Bobby Zamora and Zoltan Gera putting Juventus to the sword. Marco Silva has made one change to last weekend’s team that drew 0-0 (uh oh) with Forest – Rodrigo Muniz in for Raúl Jiménez up top.
Fulham XI (4-2-3-1): Leno; Castagne, Andersen, Bassey, Robinson; Berge, Iwobi; Wilson, King, Bobb; Muniz
Subs: Lecomte, Diop, Sessegnon, Reed, Lukic, Cairney, Smith Rowe, Chukwueze, Jiménez
Burnley are unchanged from their 0-0 draw (oh dear) with Bournemouth last time out. Armando Broja, formerly of Fulham, has to make do with a place on the bench.
Burnley XI (4-2-3-1) Dubravka; Walker, Humphreys, Estève, Hartman; Ward-Prowse, Laurent; Foster, Hannibal, Anthony; Flemming
Subs: Weiss, Worrall, Ugochukwu, Edwards, Florentino, Tchaouna, Ekdal, Broja, Barnes
Preamble
There is only one 3pm kick-off in the Premier League (angrily shakes fist) but fear not because there is a raft of games up and down Britain that will shape seasons. The business end of 2025-26 is almost upon us and plenty of teams in the EFL and Scotland are jostling for position for the final straight.
In the Premier League, Scott Parker takes his Burnley side to Craven Cottage as they look to close the still sizeable gap to survival. Fulham are still in the hunt for a European place.
In Scotland, Premiership leaders Hearts aim to bounce back from defeat to Kilmarnock last weekend as they host Dundee. Their fellow title contenders don’t play until later (Rangers) or tomorrow (Celtic).
In the Championship, playoff hopefuls Southampton and Wrexham are in action while Leicester and West Brom are among those looking to boost their survival chances.
In League One, leaders Lincoln are at home to Rotherham and could take a giant leap towards automatic promotion with a win. Meanwhile there’s a pivotal game in the relegation battle as Gary Caldwell and Wigan host his old side Exeter. In League Two, Bromley are aiming to reach the third tier for the first time in their history. The league leaders host Barrow looking to respond to some early results involving the chasing pack.
And it’s worth mentioning that I’ll be keeping tabs on Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich at home to Union Berlin. Nine points is their lead at the top of the Bundesliga – Bayern that is, not Union.
