Key events
GOAL! Manchester City 2-0 Leeds (Gvardiol 25)
Premier League: Leeds goalkeeper Lucas Perri makes a complete dog’s breakfast of trying to punch a City corner clear and the ball drops at the feet of Josko Gvardiol a couple of yards out. He slots home.
Championship: A round-up of today’s three early kick-offs, from which Sheffield United, Bristol City and Hull City all emerged victorious.
GOAL! Sunderland 0-2 Bournemouth (Adams 15)
Premier League: Tyler Adams channels his inner Kenny McLean to beat Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs with a spectacular lob from 40 yards out.
Championship: Charlton Athletic have taken a surprise lead against runaway Championship leaders Coventry City, with Harvey Knibbs getting his name on the scoresheet.
At the Racecourse Ground, Andri Gudjohnsen has given Blackburn Rovers the lead against Wrexham, while Charlie McNeill has just headed Sheffield Wednesday into a 2-1 lead against Preston at Hillsborough.
Championship: Norwich’s early joy is short-lived as QPR equalise through a Rumarn Burrell tap-in from four yards.
Championship: Preston equalise against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough. Ben Whiteman fires through a crowd of bodies from just outside the penalty area when the ball comes his way at a corner.
Championship: WIthout a win in 13 home league games, Norwich City have gone a goal up against QPR, thanks to Emiliano Marcondes’ volley.
GOAL! Sunderland 0-1 Bournemouth (Adil 7)
Premier League: Evanilson sidefoots Antoine Semenyo’s cross against the post when he should have scored, only for Amine Adil to score on the follow-up and give Bournemouth an early lead at the Stadium of Light.
Championship: They’re not hanging about in the second tier this afternoon, eh? Derby County go a goal up against Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium, where Patrick Agemang has joined the early goalrush. Meanwhile at Hillsborough, Charlie McNeill has given Sheffield Wednesday a 1-0 lead against Preston.
GOAL! Manchester City 1-0 Leeds (Foden 2)
Premier League: Phil Foden scores with a left-footed shot off the cross-bar to put Manchester City ahead against Leeds United.
Today’s three o’clock kick-offs are under way. And we already have a goal at the Hawthorns, where Swansea have taken an extremely early lead against West Brom courtesy of Zan Vipotnik after 11 seconds.
Jamie Jackson
Manchester City v Leeds United: As expected, then, Pep goes LARGE re: the team to take on Leeds, with Haaland and virtually all other fit A-listers selected. Perhaps the one minor surprise is Rayan Cherki being a substitute only. This humble hack had wondered if the fantasy of the Frenchman might be preferred to the rather underwhelming (thus far this season) No8 play of Tijanni Reijnders. As always, the still-injured Rodri is City’s big miss, though Daniel Farke’s third-bottom side should still be beaten, if not swatted aside.
Louise Taylor
Sunderland v Bournemouth: The big news on Wearside is that Enzo Le Fee – incidentally my favourite Sunderland player since Andy Reid – has done an A-Z questionnaire in the match programme pre-Bournemouth.
In question X: the X-factor, he is asked “Do you have a special talent?”
The reply: “I’m a magician” suggests a lack of false modesty … unless, of course, Enzo really is into three card tricks and pulling rabbits out of hats.
Talking of magicians, the bad news for Sunderland as they defend their unbeaten Premier League home record is that Bournemouth’s star player, Antoine Semenyo, has passed a fitness test on a sprained ankle and starts.
Semenyo, of course, was once, briefly a Sunderland player, having joined on loan from Bristol City in January 2020 before seeing that sojourn cut short by the Covid pandemic. Sunderland fans can only hope he does not remind them of the talent he never had the chance to properly showcase here …
Manchester United: The standards of Manchester United’s academy have “really slipped” in recent years, according to Sir Jim Ratcliffe, whose comments have stung staff trying to make a success of a department whose hierarchy is in a state of constant flux due to staff churn. Will Unwin reports …
Championship: The heat is on at Stoke, where players and backroom staff from both sides have got themselves involved in a bad-tempered stramash in one of the penalty areas at full-time. A couple of pitch invaders got involved a minute or two previously when some Hull players celebrated their victory in front of them but they werer ushered away by stewards. It all seems to have sorted itself out now but one suspects both clubs will be asked to explain themselves by the powers that be in the next couple of days.
Early Championship results
Championship: Joe Gelhardt has struck in the final minute of normal time to put Hull City 2-1 ahead against Stoke City, taking advantage of a botched attempt at a clearance from Junior Tchamadeu to fire home from seven yards.
Championship: Jordan James has pulled a second goal back for Leicester City, who now trail Sheffield United 2-3 at the King Power Stadium with three minutes of the 90 remaining, plus whatever add-ons referee Anthony Blackhouse deems appropriate.
Manchester City: Pep Guardiola has accused Manchester City’s players of performing with fear in their 2-0 defeat by Bayer Leverkusen after the head coach made 10 changes for the Champions League match and said those selected had not taken the risks needed to win. Will Unwin reports …
Tottenham Hotspur: Thomas Frank has said he much preferred Tottenham’s “front-footed” performance in their 5-3 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain to their cautious approach against Arsenal a few days earlier, writes Ed Aarons …
Sunderland v Bournemouth line-ups
Sunderland: Roefs, Mukiele, Ballard, Alderete, Mandava, Sadiki, Xhaka, Traore, Le Fee, Talbi, Isidor.
Subs: Patterson, Neil, Geertruida, Brobbey, Rigg, Mayenda, Mundle, Adingra, Hume.
Bournemouth: Petrovic, Smith, Diakite, Senesi, Truffert, Scott, Adams, Semenyo, Tavernier, Adli, Evanilson.
Subs: Dennis, Cook, Soler, Brooks, Kluivert, Jimenez, Junior Kroupi, Unal,
Milosavljevic.
Man City v Leeds United
Man City: Donnarumma, Matheus Luiz, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Reijnders, Gonzalez, Silva, Foden, Haaland, Doku.
Subs: Trafford, Stones, Ake, Marmoush, Cherki, Ait Nouri, Savio, Khusanov, Lewis.
Leeds United: Lucas Perri, Bogle, Rodon, Struijk, Justin, Tanaka, Ampadu, Gruev, James, Nmecha, Gnonto.
Subs: Okafor, Bijol, Aaronson, Piroe, Calvert-Lewin, Gudmundsson, Meslier, Harrison, Byram.
Brentford v Burnley line-ups
Brentford: Kelleher, Hickey, Van den Berg, Henderson, Schade, Jensen, Ouattara, Collins, Damsgaard, Kayode, Thiago.
Subs: Valdimarsson, Henry, Pinnock, Nelson, Onyeka, Yarmoliuk, Ajer, Lewis-Potter, Janelt.
Burnley: Dubravka, Walker, Hartman, Esteve, Tuanzebe, Foster, Florentino, Tchaouna, Flemming, Cullen, Mejbri.
Subs: Weiss, Larsen, Ugochukwu, Edwards, Anthony, Ekdal, Pires, Broja, Laurent.
Jamie Jackson
Manchester City v Leeds United: A lovely dank Mancunian afternoon with a low cloud and the whispers of bygone Manchester City matchdays in the east of town as Pep Guardiola sends out an XI in an hour or so that will not certainly show the same 10 changes as the dire Bayer Leverkusen defeat on Tuesday here at the Etihad Stadium.
Expect many of the manager’s big guns to be reinstated and intent on downing Leeds and arresting the two-game run of losses. Think Erling Haaland, Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku etc, and so on …
Championship: The King Power comeback is on! Stephy Mavidi has pulled a goal back for Leicester City, who now trail Sheffield United 3-1 at home.
Championship: Hull City have taken just three minutes of the second half to equalise against Stoke, with Semi Ajayi nodding home from close range after the ball was recycled from a corner. Stoke’s players appealed for both offside and a handball in the build-up and they might have a case on one or both counts. The goal stands.
Championship: Already in a full on funk over their side’s lowly position in the Championship table, Leicester City fans are unlikely to be impressed by the hiding being dished out to them at the King Power Stadium by Sheffield United, who lead 3-0 at half-time courtesy of goals from Tom Cannon, Callum O’Hare and Sydie Peck.
Meanwhile in Stoke, Mark Robins’ high-flyers have gone into the break with a thoroughly deserved 1-0 lead over a Hull City side who have been outplayed thus far but have every right to feel aggrieved at not being awarded a first-half penalty. Sorba Thomas put Stoke ahead with a wonderful right-footed volley that he could not have caught more sweetly.
At Fratton Park, an Anis Mehmeti strike has given Bristol City a 1-0 half-time lead over Portsmouth. It’s the 24-year-old English born Albanian international’s sixth of the season but only his first in seven games.
Wrexham “gifted” £18m by Welsh taxpayers
Championship: Despite being owned by preposterously wealthy Hollywood movie stars, valued at the thick end of £350m and the subject of a moneyspinning Disney TV documentary, Wrexham have received almost £18m in nonrepayable grants from Welsh taxpayers. Guardian exclusive: Jasper Jolly.
Today’s Scottish Premiership fixtures
Today’s Championship fixtures
Leicester City 0-3 Sheffield Utd (L)
Portsmouth 0-1 Bristol City (L)
Stoke City 1-0 Hull City (L)
Coventry City v Charlton
Middlesbrough v Derby County
Millwall v Southampton
Norwich City v QPR
Sheffield Wednesday v Preston
West Brom v Swansea City
Wrexham v Blackburn Rovers
Today’s Premier League fixtures
Brentford v Burnley
Manchester City v Leeds United
Sunderland v Bournemouth
Everton v Newcastle (5.30pm GMT)
Tottenham Hotspur v Fulham (8pm GMT)
The Talk: Your one-stop shop for all the most interesting soundbites from the weekend’s Premier League pre-match press conferences. (Warning: may not be all that interesting, although there is an update on Cole Palmer’s stubbed toe.)
Saturday clockwatch
Welcome to the only place you need to be for a fully comprehensive rundown of all the football drama this Saturday. We’re glued to the action, ready to bring you news of all the goals as they go in during the Premier League’s afternoon kick-offs.
On the face of it, today’s trio of top flight three o’clockers promise the usual cocktail of thrills and spills (thrill- and spill-free tedium may also be available) and you won’t miss a thing as the net ripples and the table shifts. But our coverage doesn’t stop there – we’ll be monitoring the action in the Championship, bringing you the latest updates and breaking news from England’s second tier.
North of the border, there are three Scottish Premiership matches, while we’ll ensure you’re kept in the loop with every major twist and talking point from the length and breadth of the country. Stick with us for team news, goals, penalties, and the post-match reports from our reporters in assorted press boxes around the grounds.
