Key events
Goals are flying in around League One and Two.
Barnsley have just taken the lead against third tier promotion-pushers Bolton. Charlton are 1-0 up at relegation-bound Cambridge.
Brighton are absolutely bossing things against Leicester so far – which should be no great shock. Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side have suffered nine successive defeats in all competitions, and have lost 16 of their past 18 games since the start of December.
It’s absolutely atrocious form.
Two of the League One playoff hopefuls have suffered early blows. Huddersfield are trailing at relegation-threatened Burton, while Stockport have gone 1-0 down at home to Rotherham.
Seething.
Championship: Colby Bishop has just seen an early penalty saved in Portsmouth’s key game against Derby at Fratton Park today.
No goals as of yet in the second tier 3pm KOs.
Elsewhere in League Two, Port Vale can go top with a win over Bromley today and they’ve enjoyed an ideal start, going 1-0 up inside five minutes.
In terms of terms that could drop down to League Two … Shrewsbury trail 1-0 at Lincoln. The Shrews could be relegated today.
Accrington v Tranmere is a key game in the League Two survival scrap – and it’s first blood to Stanley with Ben Woods scoring inside the first minute. Morecambe v Carlisle is also happening in the fourth tier today – that’s second bottom versus bottom.
There’s some footage doing the rounds of the full-time scenes at Plymouth’s Home Park, where it appears there were scuffles in the tunnel as the players headed back for the dressing rooms. Chris Wilder looked incensed with something that was said to him as Plymouth’s players celebrated.
Not a happy day for Sheffield United or their manager.
KICK OFF
Here we gooooo.
We’re almost ready to get under way around the country.
One man who will not feature today is Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma. The Japanese winger has been an ever-present this season, but a heel injury means the Seagulls will miss his pace and impetus down the left against Leicester. João Pedro looks set to play a wide role instead; he will dovetail with Danny Welbeck.
Chris Wood is a slightly surprising starter for Nottingham Forest today. Many thought he wouldn’t quite recover in time, but it’s a huge boost for Nuno Espirito Santo to have the New Zealander back. Anthony Elanga has also been an injury doubt so starts this one on the bench.
Everton will be a tough nut for Forest to crack for sure, and with Manchester City winning, the heat is still on in that top five tussle.
An early update from our regular Scottish football contributor, Simon McMahon:
It’s really all about the top six today, with the last round of fixtures before the league split. Dundee United, having last week secured a top six place in their first season back in the Scottish Premiership, face St. Johnstone, shock winners at home to Celtic last time out, at Tannadice. The final top six place will likely be decided at Motherwell where a win for visitors Hearts would guarantee them sixth place. Anything else, however, would likely result in St. Mirren claiming the final spot, provided the Paisley side beat Ross County at home. Though if Motherwell win and St. Mirren don’t, then Motherwell will go sixth. Hope that’s clear.
Crystal clear, Simon.
The result of the day so far (and it will surely not be beaten) is Swindon 5-4 Bradford in League Two. The Bantams, who are still top of the league for now, were 2-0 and 3-1 up but had a man sent off after 14 minutes. The winner came via a 95th minute Jack Shepherd own goal.
Football.
Other full-time scores from the early games:
Birmingham City are League One champions! Having clinched promotion in midweek, the title has been secured without the Blues even needing to kick a ball. Wrexham’s 0-0 draw at Wigan has done the trick.
Meanwhile, Wycombe have beaten Stevenage 1-0 to go one point off second.
Some further pre-match reading options for you:
It’s full-time in the Women’s FA Cup and Chelsea have edged past Liverpool to secure a spot in the final, via a stoppage time winner from the in-form Aggie Beever-Jones. They’ll face either Manchester United or Manchester City.
Make that 2-1 to Plymouth. What on earth is happening to Chris Wilder’s normally-so-steely Sheffield United?
A big goal for Plymouth! Ryan Hardie has equalised with 10 minutes left on the clock against Sheffield United. Leeds and Burnley might be rather pleased with that goal too …
There have been goals galore at the Etihad this afternoon and Barry Glendenning is your man for that game’s final knockings.
Leeds and Sheffield United are both winning in the Championship early kickoffs – but only by slender margins. Still a good 15 minutes plus added time remaining at Elland Road and Home Park, with Plymouth – 1-0 down to the Blades – in need of some inspiration to kickstart their fading survival hopes.
Premier League team news
Brighton v Leicester
Brighton: Verbruggen; Hinshelwood, Dunk, O’Riley, Estupiñán; Ayari, Baleba; Minteh, Adingra, Pedro; Welbeck.
Leicester: Hermansen; Justin, Coady, Okoli, Thomas; Ndidi, Soumaré, McAteer; El Khannous, Mavididi, Vardy.
Nottingham Forest v Everton
Nottingham Forest: Sels; Williams, Milenkovic, Murillo, Moreno; Domínguez, Anderson, Gibbs-White; Silva, Hudson-Odoi, Wood.
Everton: Pickford; O’Brien, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Gueye, Garner, Doucouré; Harrison, Ndiaye, Broja.
Southampton v Aston Villa
Southampton: Ramsdale; Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Stephens; Walker-Peters, Ugochukwu, Fernandes, Manning; Sulemana, Archer, Onuachu.
Aston Villa: Martínez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Maatsen; Onana, Tielemans; Rogers, Ramsey, Asensio; Rashford.
Preamble
Although the Premier League is fizzling out somewhat – save for the semi-interesting top five tussle for Champions League qualification – the rest of the English pyramid is far from done and dusted. So while Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa will try to boost their European hopes this afternoon, the real juice is to be found elsewhere.
Take the Championship for instance, where there’s everything to play for and everything to lose in the fight for automatic promotion, the playoffs and survival. Of particular interest today are Cardiff v Stoke and Portsmouth v Derby at the bottom, while Leeds and Sheffield United are currently in action, having kicked off at 12.30pm.
League One and Two are equally unpredictable, while there’s still (just about) a Bundesliga title race on, with Bayer Leverkusen looking to cut the gap to leaders Bayern Munich to just three points – before the Bavarians face Borussia Dortmund in Der Klassiker from 5.30pm.
Plenty to get our teeth into, so why not drop me an email to chat our Saturday afternoons away? Let’s go.
