Scott Murray's Blog, page 100

The Fiver | Banned for attempting to restage the last 20 minutes of The Quiet Man

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For most of their 137-year existence, the grand institution of Tottenham Hotspur has been synonymous with aesthetics and style. Maybe the team never won quite as many trophies as the other big clubs, but they always played with an effervescence that spread joy and wonder where o’er they roamed. Arthur Rowe’s invigorating push-and-run side. Bill Nick and the glory game. The ethereal grace and elegance of John White, Glenn Hoddle, Gazza. A right bunch of preening dandies, and The Fiver stresses we mean that as a compliment, very much so.

Related: Eric Dier given four-game ban for confronting fan in Tottenham stands

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Crystal Palace 2-3 Chelsea: Premier League – as it happened

Chelsea went two up but were left hanging on at the end of a wildly fluctuating, wonderfully entertaining match

8.15pm BST

So Chelsea have successfully unveiled their new arctic-blue jersey with micro-herringbone chest pattern. They hung on to win a ding-dong five-goal battle, Kepa and Zouma both making dramatic interventions during injury time to deny Palace. On balance, a draw would have been the fairest result, but here we are, Chelsea moving a step closer to Champions League qualification. David Hytner was our man at Selhurst Park; his report has landed, so you know what to do. Thanks for reading this MBM!

Related: Chelsea hang on at Crystal Palace to maintain Champions League push

8.03pm BST

That was superb entertainment. Chelsea are far from the finished article, but their games are so good to watch. They’re excellent going forward, pretty ropy at the back, and the midfield is a mixed bag. But it’s stage one of their journey under Frank Lampard, and the way they carry on isn’t a million miles away from some of those daft to-and-fro goalfests involving Liverpool during the early phase of Jurgen Klopp’s stewardship. So, nothing’s guaranteed, but, well, y’know. Palace meanwhile responded fantastically to going two down in unfortunate circumstances, and will wonder how they’ve not earned themselves at least a point tonight. A huge improvement on their recent form.

7.57pm BST

There’s just enough time for a last-ditch Zouma slide on Benteke, who was bearing down on goal ... and that’s it! Chelsea were hanging on at the end there. But they’ve squeaked it! Palace gave them a hell of a game, but it wasn’t quite enough. Chelsea move up to third, two points clear of Leicester City on 60 points. Leicester can reclaim third if they win at Arsenal later tonight. Palace stay in 14th.

7.56pm BST

90 min +5: Palace hit the woodwork! Zaha flings the ball into the mixer from the left. Dann, of all people, races in from the right and heads across Kepa. The ball twangs off the bottom of the left-hand post and back across the face of goal - having been helped onto it by a fine Kepa fingertip - before being hacked clear!

7.54pm BST

90 min +4: McCarthy finds Zaha down the left with a glorious diagonal rake. Zaha and Van Aanholt nearly open Chelsea up with a brisk exchange of passes, but not quite.

7.52pm BST

90 min +2: Palace win a corner on the right. Kouyate falls over his own feet, but with Loftus-Cheek directly behind him, claims for a penalty. No dice. Chelsea go up the other end, Willian slamming a shot into the chest of Guaita. This match has been relentless from the get-go.

7.51pm BST

90 min: Meyer comes on for Milivojevic. Then Pulisic - Chelsea’s star turn today, with the arguable exception of the supersub Jorginho - dances down the left before standing one up for Willian, whose first-time volley is blocked by Van Aanholt. That would have been a cracker.

7.49pm BST

89 min: Willian skitters down the inside left and enters the box, but can’t quite decide whether to shoot or cross. He manages neither, but the ball squirts across to Abraham, in an inexplicable amount of space, 12 yards out. Abraham screws a poor shot well wide left. He should have made the keeper work at the very least.

7.48pm BST

87 min: Since Jorginho came on, seven minutes ago, Chelsea have enjoyed 80 percent of possession. And to think Frank Lampard is reportedly thinking of getting rid.

7.46pm BST

86 min: Willian slithers in from the right, a wonderful run that draws a few Palace players. He offloads to Mount, who tries to thread a shot into the bottom left. Guaita does extremely well to tip round for a corner, from which nothing comes.

7.45pm BST

85 min: Jorginho must have touched the ball about a thousand times since coming on. He’s pinging it around hither and yon. He releases Willian and Mount into space down the right, but the pair don’t get their one-two quite right and Van Aanholt is able to intercept and tidy up.

7.43pm BST

83 min: Pulisic embarks on a power-skitter down the inside-left channel. It’s a twinkle-toed delight, but he can only beat so many men and is eventually crowded out on the edge of the box. He’s a proper player.

7.42pm BST

82 min: Jorginho is immediately involved, drawing some pretty triangles with Mount and Willian, then snapping into a 50-50 challenge with Benteke. Chelsea look a little calmer already.

7.40pm BST

80 min: Chelsea further bolster their midfield by swapping the inexperienced Gimour for Jorginho, making his first post-lockdown appearance. Palace respond with a double change, replacing McArthur and Ayew with McCarthy and Townsend.

7.38pm BST

78 min: Willian backs himself in a footrace down the right with McArthur and Milivojevic ... and nearly wins it. The Palace men did very well to keep up there. Chelsea are forced to turn tail.

7.37pm BST

77 min: McArthur floats a pass forward to Benteke, who backs into Zouma, then falls over and claims a penalty. The referee is quite correctly not interested in the slightest.

7.36pm BST

75 min: James crosses from the right. It’s dangerous enough to earn a corner. Willian takes long. Sakho, at the far post with his back to goal, does very well to adjust and clear. Palace break upfield, Ayew working his way down the left. But he over-elaborates and runs the ball out for a goal kick. We may only have 15 minutes plus stoppages to play, but good luck guessing the final score of this.

7.34pm BST

74 min: This match is great. That’s Benteke’s first goal here since April 2018, 24 long games ago.

7.33pm BST

Palace come straight back at Chelsea and close the gap! Kouyate and McArthur combine down the left and slip the ball inside for Van Aanholt, who glides into the box, drops a shoulder to get past Azpilicueta, reaches the byline and rolls across for Benteke, who can’t miss!

7.32pm BST

Chelsea launch a counter, and it’s so simple. Loftus-Cheek races down the middle. As he reaches the box, he intelligently waits and waits, hovers and hovers, drawing Dann and Sakho before chipping cutely between them for Abraham, who threads a shot across Guaita and into the bottom left. Lovely goal!

7.30pm BST

70 min: The game restarts. Palace are immediately romping forward. Zaha dithers awhile out on the right, and it looks like all momentum is lost, but suddenly he whips a cross into the centre. Benteke tries to connect with a spectacular volley ... but doesn’t.

7.27pm BST

68 min: And that, gentlemen, is drinks.

7.26pm BST

66 min: Loftus-Cheek is quickly in the thick of it. He should be sent racing down the inside-left channel by Mount, but the pass is a little bit behind him and he can’t gather it smoothly. The danger - Palace were light at the back - is gone.

7.25pm BST

65 min: Chelsea make a double change, in the hope of regaining control of midfield. Barkley is replaced by former Palace loanee Loftus-Cheek, while Giroud makes way for the more mobile Abraham.

7.24pm BST

64 min: Nothing comes of the second corner.

7.23pm BST

63 min: Ayew bustles down the left and wins a corner off James. Milivojevic hits it long. Neither James nor Giroud manage to hack clear. Ayew tries to swivel on the penalty spot and smack goalward, but his effort is blocked out for another corner.

7.21pm BST

61 min: Milivojevic is good to continue, though he’ll have a shiner of a left eye later this evening by the look of it.

7.20pm BST

60 min: An extended break in play as Milivojevic is given the once-over by the quack, having run slap-bang into his team-mate Ayew’s knee while falling over.

7.19pm BST

58 min: Another cross from the right by James, who looks a threat every time he moves up the flank. This one’s not quite as good, headed clear easily enough by Sakho. But what a prospect James is. A fine attacking full-back in the up-to-date style.

7.17pm BST

56 min: Palace are beginning to dominate now. Even factoring in their slow start to the half, they’ve had 64 percent of possession since the restart.

7.15pm BST

54 min: This game is back to its first-half, end-to-end best. James crosses from the right, a magnificent delivery that lands on Giroud’s head, six yards out. He must score, surely, but blasts his header over the crossbar. He pulls his arctic-blue jersey with disrupted herringbone knit over his face in monochromatic despair.

7.13pm BST

52 min: Ward and Kouyate work their way down the right but can’t find Benteke in the middle. Chelsea race up the other end, Barkley flinging a raking diagonal towards Giroud, just inside the box on the left. Giroud attempts a cushioned header to tee up Pulisic, but the flag goes up for offside.

7.11pm BST

51 min: Van Aanholt takes a speculative dig from 25 yards. The ball smacks Willian straight in his startled face. Ooyah, oof, ow. That will have been a sore one. He’s given some time to recover.

7.10pm BST

49 min: A little better from Palace as Ward and Benteke combine on the edge of the box to release Ayew into a little space on the right. But the resulting cross is no good and easily mopped up by the visitors.

7.09pm BST

48 min: Chelsea shift the ball from left to right at speed. James is found in space down the channel, and fires a low centre towards Pulisic at the near post. Sakho, sliding hysterically across the turf, does enough to get in the way and Palace clear. The hosts haven’t really got started again yet.

7.06pm BST

46 min: Chelsea are quickly on the attack, James opening his legs down the right and swinging in a cross that’s easy for Guaita.

7.05pm BST

Palace get the second half underway. Neither manager has made any half-time changes.

6.52pm BST

Half-time reading ...

Related: Jorginho starting to look the odd man out in Chelsea midfield plans | Jacob Steinberg

Related: Barcelona after Lionel Messi, Juventus and José Mourinho – Football Weekly

6.51pm BST

Pulisic continues to torment Ward, this time winning a free kick near the left-hand corner flag as he tears past him. Mount’s deep delivery is headed clear by Dann, and that’s the end of a riotously entertaining first half. It fair flew by. More please!

6.47pm BST

45 min +2: Chelsea are extremely ragged now, and could do with hearing the half-time whistle. Kouyate is bowled over by Gimour, 35 yards out. Milivojevic curls the free kick onto Benteke’s head; the big striker flashes a decent header goalwards, but straight at Kepa, who gathers with safe hands.

6.46pm BST

45 min: There will be four added minutes.

6.46pm BST

44 min: Ward curls viciously from a tight spot on the right. His cross pings off the top of the crossbar, Kepa flapping under it in panicked confusion. Turns out the ball had curled out of play before hitting the frame of the goal, but Chelsea have to be worried about the form of their keeper. He doesn’t exude solidity.

6.44pm BST

43 min: On the touchline, Roy Hodgson strokes his chin in the pensive fashion, mentally composing his half-time team-talk. It’ll be a damn sight easier after that Zaha belter.

6.42pm BST

41 min: Suddenly Chelsea aren’t quite as potent when they get the ball. Palace have done extremely well to fight their way back into contention.

6.40pm BST

39 min: McArthur makes it to the byline on the left and hooks a dangerous low ball into the mixer. Azpilicueta is forced to hack behind for a corner, and he looks concerned, Chelsea’s defensive travails at West Ham presumably flooding back into an addled noggin. From the corner, Dann loops a header harmlessly wide. This game is great fun.

6.39pm BST

38 min: What a way for Palace to score their fourth first-half goal at Selhurst this season, though, huh? Now for the next target: matching their season’s best 90-minute total of two. Anything’s possible.

6.38pm BST

36 min: Milivojevic is booked for scything down Pulisic in full flight. He can have no complaints.

6.37pm BST

Zaha scores one of the goals of the season! The ball breaks infield from the left. Zaha, in a pocket of space, takes a touch forward and lashes a rising shot into the top-left corner from the best part of 30 yards! Kepa might have done better, maybe - it wasn’t tight in the corner - but that was hit with such verve and panache, swerving right and upwards, that you’d be seriously nit-picking to blame the keeper. What a shot!

6.34pm BST

33 min: Mount is upended near the right-hand corner flag. He takes the set piece himself. Guaita comes out and flaps, but fortunately for Palace, Barkley can’t get near the ball to poke it home.

6.33pm BST

32 min: Pulisic is sensational. He sashays at super-speed down the inside right before slipping Willian into space on the left. Willian powers a shot towards the bottom left, and it’s turned around the post by a full-stretch Guaita. That’s a great save. The corner leads to nowt.

6.30pm BST

30 min: Willian hits the corner long. Too long. Out it floats, over everyone’s head, for a goal kick.

6.30pm BST

29 min: Chelsea are full of beans. Pulisic comes straight back at Palace, again tormenting Ward down the left. He nearly gets by but slips when he enters the box and a corner will have to do.

6.29pm BST

Willian and Giroud combine on the edge of the Palace box. The ball’s rolled wide left for Pulisic, who looks to have made life harder for himself by dropping a shoulder to make room to the left of Ward. But he then smashes an unstoppable rising shot into the top left. Guaita is beaten at his near post, but he really had no chance, that was such a vicious strike. Brilliant from the young winger.

6.27pm BST

27 min: The game restarts after the increasingly preposterous drinks break / tactical time-out. And it’s not long before ...

6.27pm BST

26 min: A worrying statistic for Palace: they’ve only scored three first-half goals at home this season. That’s an appalling record. Newcastle and Watford have the next-worst return with five.

6.25pm BST

24 min: Zaha and McArthur combine cutely down the left, a couple of sassy flicks sending the latter romping towards the box with intent. But his eventual shot is blocked easily enough. And that’s drinks!

6.23pm BST

22 min: So having said that, the game suddenly turns scrappy. Maybe everyone needs a drink.

6.21pm BST

20 min: Pulisic wins a corner for Chelsea, from which Kouyate breaks upfield. Chelsea snatch back possession and Gilmour tries to counter the counter. Not quite, but it’s a really entertaining end-to-end match, this.

6.20pm BST

18 min: Apparently the Premier League’s official Nit-Picking Committee had a look at Giroud’s goal, with a view to awarding it to Pulisic instead. The suggestion being that the young American hung out a leg and brushed the ball as Giroud slammed it goalwards. But having made a big song and dance of doing so, they’ve since announced that the goal stands as Giroud’s. Why is everything so needlessly complicated these days? But then again I’m getting on, the world’s long passed me by.

6.17pm BST

16 min: Some decent work by Zaha down the left earns another corner for Palace. This one’s swung above Kepa, the six-yard box crowded. The keeper deals with it. Palace have obviously been studying the West Ham tapes. They won’t have had to squint too hard to spot Chelsea’s problem.

6.15pm BST

14 min: ... nothing much occurs.

6.14pm BST

13 min: Barkley drags the resulting free kick wide left, but there’s a deflection off a Palace body and it’s a corner. From which ...

6.13pm BST

12 min: Palace win a corner out on the right. Van Aanholt launches it long, but Chelsea break upfield. Gilmour and Mount combine well to get Chelsea on the move, the latter with an exquisite turn into space. Barkley takes up possession and is unceremoniously upended by Milivojevic, who is furious about ... what, exactly? It was a clear foul. Presumably still seething about the goal.

6.11pm BST

10 min: Palace are understandably discombobulated after that slightly surreal but extremely unfortunate goal. Chelsea stream forward and win a corner, from which Zouma flashes a header inches wide left. The home side need to clear their heads and quick.

6.10pm BST

8 min: Cahill limps off, to be replaced by Sakho. Roy Hodgson isn’t making a song and dance about the events that led up to the goal, it should be noted.

6.09pm BST

A disaster for Cahill, who pulls up with a hamstring injury as Willian chases after James’ pass down the right. Willian keeps going, reaches the byline, and pulls back for Giroud, who sweeps powerfully into the net from six yards. He couldn’t miss. Palace aren’t happy, though, arguing that Willian should have stopped when Cahill fell dramatically. He had Willian covered, but his leg went ping. Terrible luck for Palace, but Chelsea were within their rights to continue.

6.04pm BST

4 min: A nice open feel to this, with Palace on the front foot early on. Kouyate bursts down the inside-right channel and tries to find Zaha on the opposite wing. It’s a decent run and the smart option, with Zaha in acres, but the pass isn’t up to scratch.

6.03pm BST

2 min: An early scare for Chelsea, as Kepa hacks a dismal clearance straight to McArthur. Fortunately for the Chelsea goalkeeper, McArthur is no Che Adams, and his long-range lob floats harmlessly wide.

6.02pm BST

Chelsea get the ball rolling ... after all 22 players take a knee. Black lives matter.

6.01pm BST

The teams are out! Crystal Palace wear their blue and red stripes, while Chelsea pull on their fancy new sky-blue away shirt for the first time. Designed to look good with jeans, like it’s 1996 all over again. It’ll give Frank’s lads some added “millennial swagger”, it says here. “Arctic blue provides a tasteful base colour for the jersey, with darker shades making up a disrupted herringbone knit ... a monochromatic club crest filled with a micro-herringbone pattern sits on the chest ... a dark blue V-neck collar and trim on the sleeves frame the design, while dark blue tape featuring the phrase The Pride of London runs down the sides of the torso.” Hey, marketing types gotta grift. Anyway, we’ll be off in a minute or two.

5.44pm BST

Frank Lampard is asked how he expects mid-table Palace to perform. “A team fighting at the bottom of the table will have their own reasons. A team in Palace’s position will want points to keep going up the table, because they’re professionals, but maybe they can be somehow more relaxed. What I do know is, they’ve a great manager. I worked under Roy. And they’ve got great quality players so it’ll be a hard game on its own merits.”

5.43pm BST

Roy Hodgson is asked what target he’s set his players in these final five games. “Get through them, quite frankly. It was never going to be easy, it was a difficult programme for us. We’ve always known three games a week is not something our squad is set up to do, because we have a lot of experienced players and a lot of players who are a little bit older. So it’s going to be an uphill struggle but we’ll do the best we can.”

5.38pm BST

Selhurst Park is usually one of the most atmospheric grounds in the country. This damn virus. A nice touch here, then, as the Palace squad make sure the 25,000-odd folk who normally create a rare old racket in this corner of south London know they’re very much missed.

5.07pm BST

Palace make two changes from the XI named at Leicester. Scott Dann and Cheikhou Kouyate replace Mamadou Sakho and Jairo Riedewald, who both drop to the bench.

Just the one change for Chelsea. N’Golo Kante tweaked his hamstring against Watford, so his place goes to Scotland’s highly promising Billy Gilmour.

5.02pm BST

Crystal Palace: Guaita, Ward, Dann, Cahill, van Aanholt, McArthur, Milivojevic, Kouyate, Ayew, Benteke, Zaha.
Subs: Meyer, Townsend, Sakho, Hennessey, McCarthy, Woods, Mitchell, Pierrick, Riedewald.

Chelsea: Arrizabalaga, James, Zouma, Christensen, Azpilicueta, Gilmour, Barkley, Mount, Willian, Giroud, Pulisic.
Subs: Rudiger, Alonso, Jorginho, Abraham, Pedro, Loftus-Cheek, Caballero, Hudson-Odoi, Batshuayi.

3.16pm BST

Aside from the (admittedly not totally insignificant) fact that this is a London derby, Crystal Palace have very little to play for tonight. They’re not going down, they’re not getting into Europe, they’re just biding their time until next season. All they really have to worry about is not tanking to the extent that bitter rivals Brighton don’t leapfrog them by the end of the campaign. In short, there’s little or no jeopardy for Roy Hodgson’s team this evening.

That’s probably just as well, because they’ve lost their last three matches on the bounce. A spirit-sapping 4-0 defeat at Liverpool, where they became the first team since Opta invented football in 2006 to fail to get a single touch in the opposition box, has been followed by a home defeat to Burnley and a clinical three-goal spanking at Leicester. Champions League hopefuls Chelsea may be rubbing their hands in gleeful anticipation of a precious three points, not least because they’ve won their last four matches against Palace.

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The Fiver | A sequence the untrained eye could easily mistake for a dirty protest

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It’s fair to say that the fortunes of former Old Firm managers looking to branch out into English football have been ever so slightly mixed. Take some of the lads from the Pope’s Newc O’Rangers. Dick Advocaat saved Sunderland from relegation in 2015, but back in the day everybody used to do that. Alex McLeish won Birmingham’s first proper trophy for nearly half a century, only to spoil the effect by joining the Villa and alienating absolutely everyone in the UK’s second-biggest city. Walter Smith nearly got Everton relegated for the first time in 50 years, while across the city Graeme Souness systematically destroyed the most successful club in the country. Oops-a-daisy, one and all.

Related: Barcelona after Lionel Messi, Juventus and José - Football Weekly

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Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Arsenal: Premier League – as it happened

Bukayo Saka scored his first Premier League goal as Arsenal maintained their upward momentum at the expense of Wolves

7.43pm BST

Paul Doyle was at Molineux to see Arsenal continue their late dash for European qualification. Here’s his report. Click and enjoy ... and thanks for reading this MBM. Stay healthy, everyone.

Related: Bukayo Saka hooks home to reel in Wolves and cast new hope for Arsenal

7.41pm BST

Nuno Espirito Santo is philosophical in defeat. “The first half was balanced, there were not too many chances, with the exception of one moment when we lost a bit of focus and Arsenal scored. In the second half we started better, with more pressing, creating chances. But as the game goes by, Arsenal became dangerous on the counter attack. It was not one of our best games, but the work was there, and let’s go for the next one. Mistakes happen, we have to solve it. We have to bounce back and reinvent ourselves. Back to our clean sheet and our process!”

7.37pm BST

Bukayo Saka, who so calmly steered home a fine goal today, talks to Sky. “It’s very big. We know how good Wolves are. We knew it was going to be tough and we fought for everything. We’re just so delighted to get the win and build some momentum. You can see what the manager’s building, we’re really delighted with the results we’re getting and that I can tie down my future here. It’s been a great week! We fought for each other, together, it feels like we’re more together. I’m 18, this is my dream, and anywhere the boss wants to put me, I’ll play!”

7.32pm BST

Arsenal move up to seventh (49pts) as a result of that victory. They’re still three points behind Wolves (52pts) who remain in sixth. Wolves can have no complaints about that result. They were ground down by the Gunners, who were initially resolute then increasingly attack-minded, an impressive all-round display. It’s slowly coming together under Mikel Arteta. The tussle between Leicester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Wolves and Arsenal for the remaining two (maybe three) Champions League spots on offer promises to be quite the show.

7.24pm BST

That was ultimately a very impressive performance by improving Arsenal, who went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the league and deservedly won. They scored two fine goals, and their dream of Champions League football remains alive.

7.21pm BST

90 min +4: Arsenal ping it around as the world turns. Textbook clock management.

7.19pm BST

90 min +2: Xhaka is booked for a late lunge on Jota. Then Kolasinac knocks Jimenez over near the right-hand corner flag, with the Wolves striker going nowhere. The defender is very relieved that Neto’s delivery is useless. Wolves need to do some work on their dead-ball delivery; it’s been truly shocking today.

7.18pm BST

90 min: There will be five added minutes. Still enough time for Wolves to salvage something, but they’ll need to score very soon.

7.17pm BST

89 min: Moutinho is replaced by Gibbs-White. Arsenal win a corner. Torreira makes a big deal of doing nothing and is booked for timewasting. Nothing comes of the corner.

7.16pm BST

88 min: Arsenal come close to a third, Wolves looking utterly deflated. Aubameyang drives towards the box and is within his right to shoot, but the Golden Boot contender selflessly tees up Willock to his right. Willock beats Rui Patricio, but not Neves on the line.

7.15pm BST

The subs combine to secure all three points for Arsenal! Lacazette, his back to goal 30 yards out, rolls a pass wide right for Willock, who glides down the flank before firing a low cross into the box. Lacazette takes a touch on the edge of the six-yard box, moving right and away from Coady, before spinning and steering a lovely shot into the bottom left.

7.13pm BST

85 min: Bellerin gets on the end of a long free kick and nearly bustles free, to the right of goal, ten yards out. But he can’t quite work enough space to shoot. Arsenal are doing a fine job of keeping Wolves up the wrong end of the pitch.

7.11pm BST

84 min: Lacazette is bowled over by Coady, and that’s another name in the referee’s notebook.

7.10pm BST

83 min: More changes by Arsenal. Lacazette and Torreira come on for Nketiah and Ceballos.

7.08pm BST

81 min: Neto gives the ball away in the centre circle, allowing Arsenal to flood forward. Ceballos lines one up, 25 yards from goal, but takes too long and the chance is gone.

7.07pm BST

79 min: Maitland-Niles comes scything through the back of Moutinho. A yellow. On another day, both Saiss and Maitland-Niles could have seen red for the challenges that led to their booking. Michael Oliver’s in a generous mood.

7.06pm BST

78 min: Another decent chance for Nketiah, who steals the ball from Jota but hesitates fatally when considering a shot from the edge of the box.

7.05pm BST

77 min: Saiss wants to watch himself here, because now he’s barged into the back of Nketiah. Just a free kick, no second yellow. Nketiah gets on the end of the set piece himself, heading over from six yards. That was a decent chance.

7.04pm BST

76 min: Before the free kick can be taken, Arsenal make a double swap, sending on Willock and Bellerin for Saka and Cedric. The free kick’s then launched long, but Aubameyang can’t sort his feet out at the far post.

7.03pm BST

75 min: Saiss is booked for crudely clipping Aubameyang from behind. That was needlessly aggressive, and it’s going to be a free kick out on the right for Arsenal.

7.02pm BST

74 min: Moutinho floats this one into the mixer, forcing Xhaka to concede a corner out on the right. Moutinho takes it short, allowing Neto to attack at pace down the flank. He sends a vicious cross into the middle, but Martinez claims it spectacularly. Great hands. Safe hands.

7.00pm BST

73 min: A free kick for Wolves out on the left. Moutinho tries to release Jota with a disguised low fizz down the channel. Wolves’ set pieces have been beyond abysmal this evening. But they’ll get another chance, because Cedric almost immediately clatters Jonny.

6.59pm BST

71 min: Wolves replace Doherty with Neto, and the game restarts.

6.57pm BST

70 min: Time for isotonic beverages and tactical pep-talks.

6.56pm BST

69 min: Not for the first time today, Wolves waste their set piece by faffing around. Moutinho and Neves are the people at fault this time.

6.56pm BST

68 min: Xhaka clumsily clatters Jota to the ground as the Wolves sub slaloms down the middle. This is a free kick in a dangerous central position, 25 yards out.

6.55pm BST

66 min: There’s a long-distance back and forth between Luiz and Aubameyang as the former claims the latter isn’t making a run, holding his arms out in annoyance. He gets something back after attempting but failing to find the striker with a clunker of a pass. Arsenal haven’t really got going at all today, yet look at the scoreline. What are the words of that old song again?

6.52pm BST

64 min: Wolves have regained that aforementioned momentum, then. Jota slips Traore into acres down the inside-right channel. Traore draws Martinez, but clanks his chip over the bar. That really should have been the equaliser.

6.51pm BST

63 min: Jota sashays at great speed down the centre of the park. Arsenal seem intent on forming a guard of honour for him, and he reaches the edge of the box without being challenged at all. But just as he shoots, Luiz arrives on the scene to block. Marvellous defending by the much-maligned Brazilian.

6.49pm BST

61 min: A lull. Arsenal will be happy with the way they’ve quelled Wolves’ early second-half momentum.

6.48pm BST

59 min: Nketiah looks to burst into space down the left and is barged over by Boly. No free kick, which causes Mikel Arteta to blow a fuse. It did look a strange non-decision.

6.44pm BST

57 min: Arsenal respond with their first change. Tierney goes off, Maitland-Niles comes on.

6.44pm BST

56 min: Wolves make their first sub, sending Jota on. Eyebrows pop up all around Molineux as Traore’s number goes up. But it’s a mistake by the fourth official, and it’s Dendoncker who makes way.

6.43pm BST

54 min: Traore, with a blend of determination and great skill, brushes off a couple of Arsenal challenges in the centre of the park before spotting Doherty in space on the right. Doherty’s cross leads to a corner that’s wasted, but what a well-rounded player Traore is.

6.39pm BST

52 min: Traore tears down the right and whips towards Jimenez at the far post. Jimenez sends a diving header wide left, and claims to have been impeded by Cedric, but the referee isn’t in the least bit interested.

6.39pm BST

51 min: Neves nearly releases Traore down the right, but overcooks the pass to the extent of nearly knocking his team-mate over. Wolves are first to everything right now.

6.37pm BST

49 min: Wolves have clearly been given a good talking to, as they’re playing at an obviously higher tempo. Doherty nearly chests down a long ball inside the Arsenal box, but gives up the fight after accidentally handling. He’s frustrated at his own mistake.

6.35pm BST

48 min: Some space for Traore out on the right. He hooks into the centre but can’t find the advanced Dendoncker.

6.34pm BST

47 min: Saiss looks a wee bit groggy here. The physios take a good long look at him before he’s allowed to get up and continue.

6.34pm BST

Arsenal get the second half underway. The action unfolds for all of 15 seconds before it stops again, Saiss having taken an accidental whack on the noggin in an aerial challenge with Saka.

6.19pm BST

Half-time entertainment.

Related: Luton Town's Manager Idol – podcast

6.18pm BST

Arsenal had most of the possession, Wolves looked more dangerous. But it’s Bukayo Saka’s classy finish that makes the difference. With Champions League qualification still a possibility for both clubs, it’s going to be an interesting second half all right.

6.15pm BST

45 min: There will be two added minutes.

6.14pm BST

Aubameyang sends Tierney into space down the left. Tierney’s cross deflects off Doherty, and it’s a little bit behind Saka, 12 yards out. Saka shapes his body wonderfully and steers a fine shot into the top right, giving Rui Patricio no chance! That wasn’t as easy as he made it look. A really assured finish!

6.12pm BST

41 min: Traore dribbles down the inside-right channel and draws a clumsy foul out of Kolasinac. A free kick, just to the right of the D. Wolves over-elaborate, trying to tee up Saiss for a dink, and the chance is gone. Two set-pieces utterly wasted in the space of 60 seconds or so. Decadent behaviour, if nothing else.

6.10pm BST

40 min: Jiminez sends Doherty scampering down the right. The full back wins a corner off Luiz. Moutinho takes, and curls the ball straight out of play for a goal kick. So careless.

6.09pm BST

38 min: That’s given Arsenal succour, and Nketiah works wonders down the right to reach the byline. He pulls back with vigour, but there’s nobody in the middle to take advantage of his good work. Wolves clear.

6.08pm BST

37 min: That was a fine first-time shot by Nketiah, and he very nearly caught Rui Patricio out at his near post. Never a good look for goalkeepers. But Rui Patricio’s strong arm dug him out of bother. Just.

6.06pm BST

35 min: Xhaka dinks the ball down the inside-right channel. It’s not an accurate pass, but Moutinho deflects it into the path of Nketiah, who takes a fierce first-time shot towards the bottom right. Rui Patricio, surprised, instinctively turns the ball onto the right-hand post and out for a corner. Nothing comes from the resulting set piece, but at least Arsenal have finally shown some teeth in attack.

6.04pm BST

33 min: From the resulting free kick, the ball drops to Jonny, just to the left of the D. He attempts to steer a shot across Martinez and into the bottom right, but it’s always heading wide of goal.

6.03pm BST

32 min: Traore revs up on the left wing and threatens to leave Luiz for dust. The defender slides in, and that’s the first booking of the evening. David Luiz with an hour to go on a yellow card, against Adama Traore. Arsenal fans are permitted one long gulp.

6.02pm BST

31 min: Arsenal with more of the sterile possession. They look impressive until they get near the final third. Then, not so much.

6.00pm BST

29 min: Wolves, thoroughly refreshed, come at Arsenal just after the restart. Traore works his way down the right, afforded plenty of space by Tierney, who is clearly concerned about his speed. Traore whips a cross into the middle, where Dendoncker heads harmlessly wide left. He should have done better.

5.58pm BST

27 min: And that’s drinks!

5.56pm BST

26 min: ... there’s a bit of a scramble in the six-yard box. The ball breaks to Aubameyang, who flicks a shot towards the bottom right that’s easily grabbed by Rui Patricio.

5.55pm BST

25 min: Tierney works his way down the left and feeds Aubameyang, who wins a corner off Doherty. And from that set piece ...

5.53pm BST

23 min: Mustafi tries to release Nketiah down the inside-right channel, but Coady glides across to usher the striker away from the danger zone with gentle power.

5.51pm BST

21 min: It’s not sticking up front for Arsenal at all. They’ve had 73 percent of possession in the last ten minutes, as well, but almost none of it in Wolves’ final third.

5.50pm BST

19 min: Doherty flings a long throw into the Arsenal box from the right. It nearly drops to Jimenez, with both Kolasinac and Tierney faffing about, but Arsenal eventually clear. Coady immediately reapplies pressure with a long pass down the right; Traore nearly brings it under control but Tierney sticks to him like glue and forces the Wolves man to run it out for a goal kick.

5.48pm BST

18 min: Saiss rakes a pass down the left to release Jonny. However, Jonny seems in two minds about what to do when he reaches the ball, and it runs out of play before he swings a leg at it. To be fair, there was nobody in the middle to receive a first-time cross. But Arsenal were easily opened up there.

5.46pm BST

16 min: Arsenal slow it down a tad by clipping it around the back. Wolves seem happy enough to let them be about their business.

5.44pm BST

14 min: The first sight of Aubameyang this evening, as Tierney slips a ball down the left wing for him. But he slips under pressure from Doherty, and the chance to race into the box is gone.

5.43pm BST

12 min: Traore tries to release Dendoncker with a sliderule pass down the right channel. There’s not enough space for the ball to fit through, though, and it pinballs off Dendoncker and a couple of defenders before flying through to Martinez. A nice pacy feel to this game, with most of the early pressure being applied by Wolves.

5.41pm BST

10 min: Traore dribbles infield from the right, some superb ball control at warp speed. He reaches the edge of the Arsenal box, but spoils the effect by blazing wildly over. He is such a handful, though, almost unplayable at times.

5.40pm BST

9 min: Tierney offers very little space to Traore out on the right, but the winger still manages to buzz past him in a couple of steps and dig out a cross. Nobody in the centre, but that’s given Tierney, an excellent full back, something to think about.

5.39pm BST

8 min: Saka dwells on the ball out on the Arsenal right, and Jonny is quick to strip him of possession. The counter-attack doesn’t really go anywhere, which is good news for Saka, and a wake-up call as well.

5.37pm BST

6 min: Some space for Cedric down the right. His cross is to nobody in particular, and Wolves clear. Arsenal are enjoying plenty of possession, but they’re not doing a great deal with it yet. Plenty of time to go, of course.

5.35pm BST

4 min: Martinez is required to come to the edge of his box again, this time to gather a long punt that nearly releases Neves. A couple of no-nonsense, searching, direct passes already. This could be a long evening for David Luiz.

5.33pm BST

2 min: After that hectic start, Arsenal settle themselves by stringing a few passes together across the back. “Bugles, eh? If we’re bringing musical instruments into it, then Arsenal have been progressing from kazoo to tin whistle to recorder in the last three matches, so there’s every hope that they might graduate to something orchestral in this one. Not too adventurous - fife or piccolo would do. Of course, there’s an equal or greater likelihood of that old favourite, the swannee whistle.” Charles Antaki busking it, there, a one-man band.

5.32pm BST

1 min: Within the first ten seconds or so, Traore nearly gets on the end of a Jiminez ball down the middle. Martinez does extremely well to block his toe-poke on the edge of the Arsenal box. What a start that would have been!

5.30pm BST

Wolves get the ball rolling. But only after everyone takes a knee of solidarity, respect and love. Black lives matter.

5.27pm BST

The teams are out! Wolves wear their famous old gold, while Arsenal - who played in plain red shirts in the Sixties under Wright, the iconic white sleeves deemed old-fashioned by the groovy folk of swinging London - sport their first-choice colours too. We’ll be off soon! But not before there’s a minute of applause to celebrate the 72nd birthday of the NHS and to honour the selfless work of its heroic staff during this epidemic. So here are some words, ringing down the ages, from the man behind its foundation by Labour, the legendary Aneurin Bevan: “So far as I am concerned [the Conservative Party] are lower than vermin. They condemned millions of people to semi-starvation. I warn you young men and women, do not listen to what they are saying. They have not changed, or if they have they are slightly worse.” Preach on, brother Nye.

5.20pm BST

Nuno Espirito Santo speaks. “Every game in the Premier League is a very difficult game. Today we have a very difficult opponent in front of us.”

Mikel Arteta adds. “It is better than two weeks ago. Tonight’s game is crucial regarding the future. We come here to win the game. We have no margin for error. We are trying to compete as well as we can.”

5.17pm BST

The pubs are open again, aren’t they, ahead of the second wave of coronavirus. Here’s one in Wolverhampton, named after Billy Wright, the legendary captain of England and Stan Cullis’s three-time champions of the 1950s. See how the fans congregate with a view to raising a glass to the great defender and leader of men. However, Arsenal fans of a certain vintage may not remember Wright with quite so much affection, the Gunners having descended into extreme mediocrity during his stint as manager in the mid-60s. The low point of Wright’s mid-table reign was a match against Leeds, played out in front of a Highbury crowd of 4,554. One of the punters brought in a bugle, and treated everyone to a tinder-dry rendition of The Last Post. Ah well, nobody’s perfect.

5.00pm BST

In today’s 3pms ... Leicester City snapped their miserable sequence with a precious 3-0 win over Crystal Palace, while increasingly impressive Manchester United played out an absurd and highly entertaining 5-2 win over Bournemouth. That puts a wee bit of pressure on Wolves to respond in the chase for a place in next year’s Champions League: Leicester are now six points clear of Wolves in third, while United are up to fourth and three points ahead. Wolves are about to play their game in hand; if they win, they’ll barge Chelsea out of fifth spot, for a couple of hours at least. (Frank Lampard’s side host Watford tonight.)

4.40pm BST

Wolves make one change to the XI that started the 1-0 victory at Aston Villa last weekend. Adama Traore replaces Diogo Jota, who drops to the bench.

Arsenal make three changes to the team that battered Norwich 4-0 midweek. Cedric Soares, Bukayo Saka and Eddie Nketiah take the places of Hector Bellerin, Alexandre Lacazette and Reiss Nelson, who are all named as subs. There’s no room in the squad for Mesut Ozil or Matteo Guendouzi, while Nicolas Pepe is missing as his wife has gone into labour.

Related: Mikel Arteta fires warning over bows of Matteo Guendouzi and Mesut Özil

4.37pm BST

Wolverhampton Wanderers: Rui Patricio, Boly, Coady, Saiss, Doherty, Dendoncker, Neves, Moutinho, Jonny, Traore, Jimenez.
Subs: Jordao, Neto, Gibbs-White, Jota, Ruddy, Vinagre, Campana, Kilman, Rasmussen.

Arsenal: Martinez, Mustafi, Luiz, Kolasinac, Cedric, Ceballos, Xhaka, Tierney, Saka, Nketiah, Aubameyang.
Subs: Bellerin, Papastathopoulos, Lacazette, Torreira, Maitland-Niles, Holding, Nelson, Willock, Macey.

2.41pm BST

Wolverhampton Wanderers have had the better of Arsenal since their return to the big time in 2018. They’ve played the Gunners three times, winning one at Molineux, drawing the other two at the Emirates. This fixture last year saw Nuno Espirito Santo’s excellent side run out easy 3-1 winners; on current form - as the only side with a 100 percent winning record in the league since lockdown was lifted, having gone 405 minutes without letting in a goal - they’re favourites to do something similar again this evening.

Having said all that, Arsenal are beginning to turn their Project Restart world around, after a dismal start that saw them lose to Manchester City and Brighton. They’ve since won three on the bounce, against Southampton and Norwich in the league, and Sheffield United in the cup. A win here today would extend their lead over Tottenham - the upcoming north London derby is going to be a belter - and keep their faint hopes of Champions League football next season alive.

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Norwich City 0-1 Brighton & Hove Albion: Premier League – as it happened

Leandro Trossard’s fine first-half goal gave Brighton the victory that moves them ever closer to Premier League safety ... and nudges Norwich further towards relegation

2.39pm BST

Ed Aarons was at Carrow Road as Brighton all but ensured their Premier League survival. Here’s his verdict. Click to enjoy ... and thanks for reading this MBM. Stay healthy!

Related: Norwich look doomed after Trossard's goal seals win for Brighton

2.32pm BST

A very happy Graham Potter’s verdict. “It’s one of those days when the result is the most important thing. To get three points and a clean sheet you need a little luck, and we had it at the end with the post. But we’re absolutely delighted. We’ve got five more games to go, and we’re still fighting for the points. This is a unique season and what has happened in the past [36 points has been enough to ensure survival in each of the last three seasons] we can’t take too much from that. But 36 is a decent number, though we need more. I’m so pleased for the boys.”

2.25pm BST

A huge three points for Brighton, who are surely safe for another year. Norwich aren’t mathematically kaput yet, but it’s really not looking good now. A deserved win for Brighton, even if they were hanging on a bit at the end, and enjoyed a huge slice of good fortune when Idah’s header hit the post. They were the better team for the most part.

2.24pm BST

90 min +5: A heading chance for Cantwell, in a pocket of space on the penalty spot. He floats it harmlessly wide right. That could be Norwich’s last chance.

2.23pm BST

90 min +4: Brighton breathe a huge sigh of relief, then run down the clock by replacing Lamptey with Duffy.

2.23pm BST

90 min +3: Norwich come within inches of equalising! Buendia curls in from a deep position on the left. Idah rises highest and flicks a header past Ryan ... but off the inside of the right-hand post! The ball bounces along the line, then is belted away by Burn!

2.20pm BST

90 min +2: Buendia waltzes in from the right and has a belt that’s immediately blocked by Webster.

2.19pm BST

90 min +1: The first of six added minutes floats by without incident ... or, indeed, a booking.

2.19pm BST

90 min: Now Cantwell goes in the book for a fairly crude lunge on Lamptey. He hasn’t got grounds for complaint, but makes one anyway.

2.17pm BST

89 min: Gross has been booked as well, for some infringement of the laws, no doubt.

2.16pm BST

88 min: Lamptey is booked for faffing around over a throw.

2.15pm BST

86 min: McLean is pestered by Maupay in the centre circle, and briefly considers losing the rag. But just before the commencement of the throwing of hands, McLean’s temperature drops and instead we play on.

2.13pm BST

85 min: Buendia bustles towards the Brighton box but is soon surrounded. If Norwich are going to grab an equaliser, you’d think he’ll be involved somehow.

2.11pm BST

83 min: Pukki looks to release Idah down the middle, but Dunk steps in to intercept just in the nick of time.

2.09pm BST

81 min: It’s gone very bitty in the wake of that Six Nations-style slew of substitutions. Brighton will be happy enough with that, as the world continues to turn.

2.08pm BST

79 min: A double-change for Brighton: Stephens and Mac Allister come on for Bissouma and the goalscorer

Williams
Trossard.

2.06pm BST

78 min: Norwich sub: Tettey off, Vrancic on.

2.05pm BST

77 min: Bissouma has an opportunity to shoot, just to the right of the D, but decides against it. Bernardo has a thump from a less promising position, and his effort is easily blocked.

2.04pm BST

76 min: Buendia throws a free kick into the Brighton box from the right, hoping to sow confusion. Brighton deal with it easily enough.

2.03pm BST

74 min: It’s mainly Norwich now, Brighton deploying another defensive player and hoping to soak up whatever Cantwell, Idah and Pukki can throw at them.

2.02pm BST

72 min: Brighton make their first swaps. Mooy and Connolly are replaced by Gross and Bernardo.

2.01pm BST

71 min: Norwich pin Brighton back for the first time in a while. Cantwell nearly sashays through the defence, then Buendia whips a low ball across the face of goal from the left. There’s nobody to run it home, not for the first time this afternoon. Despite being second best for the most part, Norwich have created a couple of chances today, but nobody’s been on hand to take advantage.

1.58pm BST

69 min: Bissouma glides in from the left and unleashes a fierce, swerving, rising shot that Krul can only punch clear in a very uncertain style. That could easily have pinged off the keeper’s gloves and in, but he does enough. That was a proper piledriver.

1.56pm BST

67 min: That’s drinks, and an opportunity for Norwich to replace their entire front three. Duda, Drmic and Hernandez make way for Cantwell, Idah and Pukki.

1.55pm BST

65 min: Drmic clumps an ambitious shot straight at Ryan. A hail-mary effort made in the knowledge that he’s about to get the hook.

1.54pm BST

64 min: Propper slides a ball down the inside-right channel to release Lamptey into the Norwich box. Lamptey can’t quite sort his feet out to shoot, then decides to go down having clipped Hernandez’s knee. Brighton want a penalty, but there’s not enough contact to interest either ref or VAR, and Lamptey’s inelegant fall probably didn’t help.

1.52pm BST

62 min: Trossard and Maupay flick the ball down the left, the goalscorer eventually bursting into the box and dinking a cross straight into the arms of Krul. Overly intricate. Nothing’s quite coming off.

1.50pm BST

60 min: Propper drops a shoulder and has a crack from the edge of the box. It’s deflected out for a corner, which Mooy wastes. Another goal can’t be long in coming.

1.47pm BST

59 min: Lewis has clearly decided that he’s not going down without a fight. Another fine run down the left earns a free kick. Norwich load the box, but Buendia’s delivery isn’t good, straight down the throat of Ryan, an easy claim. Better from the hosts, though.

1.46pm BST

57 min: Lewis drops a shoulder to vex Mooy out on the left. It’s a splendid trick, and the following low whipped cross that fizzes through the six-yard box is even better. But there’s nobody in yellow anticipating or taking a gamble. Lewis should be celebrating an assist there.

1.45pm BST

56 min: Finally, a decent spell of Norwich probing. They ping it this way and that. Finally Buendia peals a shot goalwards from the edge of the box. Dunk takes one for the team, right in the gut. Norwich claim a penalty, but they’re not getting one.

1.44pm BST

54 min: Mooy has the ball just inside the Norwich box, on the left. If anything, he’s got too many options: Maupay and Trossard in close attendance, plus space for a shot. He can’t decide, and Aarons eventually purchases an extremely cheap free kick when the ball’s inaccurately passed to Trossard. Brighton are well on top, but they can’t afford to pass up too many opportunities like this.

1.42pm BST

53 min: Nothing comes of the corner. But Brighton have quickly re-established control. By comparison, Norwich are offering absolutely nothing.

1.41pm BST

52 min: Lamptey takes a cute touch to cut in from the right and drive Brighton forward. Bissouma takes over, neatly dribbling down the wing and winning a corner.

1.39pm BST

50 min: A free kick for Brighton out on the left, and a chance to load the box. Mooy takes, and sends long. Burn rises highest at the far post. He can’t connect with a header, but the ball pings off his back and nearly nestles into the top right. It’s inches wide. It would have been a messy finish all right, but what a delivery by Mooy. Almost impossible to defend.

1.37pm BST

49 min: Connolly drifts in from the left and looks to send a curler into the top right. His effort was heading in, but Klose reads the danger and bravely blocks.

1.37pm BST

48 min: Buendia wriggles into enough space for a shot from the edge of the Brighton box, but falls as he takes it, and the ball dribbles through to Ryan.

1.36pm BST

47 min: No early second-half surge from the hosts. Lewis has a look down the left but his cross is cleared easily by Burn.

1.34pm BST

And we’re off again! Norwich get the ball rolling for the second half. No changes. Meanwhile before the action picks up once more, here’s Marlon Cameron, taking the opportunity to sing while Brighton are winning. “My girlfriend just commented that, as the season goes on, Trossard looks more and more like Robbie Williams circa 1996.” She’s not wrong, is she.

1.25pm BST

Half-time reading. Here’s Paul Doyle on the travails of Leicester City, who have never looked the same since getting thumped by Liverpool on Boxing Day.

Related: Leicester unravelled and desperate owing to small squad's broken belief | Paul Doyle

1.20pm BST

That’s the end of a half in which Norwich started brightly, only to fall away alarmingly as Brighton scored, then assumed control. The visitors deserve their lead, as they begin to sense Premier League survival. Can Norwich react? A defeat here would nudge them ever closer to the Championship.

1.18pm BST

45 min: This nearly cheered him up, though. Buendia busies himself in the D of the Brighton box, draws a few players, then slips a clever pass down the inside-left channel to find Hernandez. The winger drops a shoulder, shifts his feet, and snaps a shot goalwards, but it’s blocked by Mooy and spins up harmlessly into the arms of Ryan.

1.16pm BST

44 min: Drmic and Duda try to combine down the inside-right channel, but the ball harmlessly squirts out of play for a goal kick. On the touchline, Daniel Farke looks thoroughly miserable, with a hint of concern washing across his coupon.

1.15pm BST

43 min: Norwich ping it around the middle, but can’t make further headway, and soon enough possession is given up. Mooy curls in from the right but there’s nobody in the middle to take advantage of a trouble-making pass.

1.13pm BST

41 min: Brighton are in total control now. Maupay senses blood and cuts in from the left again, but is crowded out on the edge of the box. Norwich need to hear the half-time whistle, because Brighton are pressing hard for a second goal.

1.12pm BST

39 min: Brighton are beginning to turn it on. A gorgeous Connolly flick sends Maupay tearing infield from the left. Maupay, who has Mooy free to his left, instead slips Lamptey into the box on the right, then gets the ball back, but stumbles over his shot. For a second, Brighton were streaming forward en masse in a very eye-catching style.

1.09pm BST

38 min: Lewis is booked for cynically blocking Lamptey, who was working his way down the right.

1.09pm BST

37 min: More space for Mooy down the right. He loops long, the ball dropping towards Trossard, who should volley first time for goal from close range, but opts to cushion a pass towards Connolly instead. A very good chance is gone.

1.07pm BST

35 min: Norwich continue to huff and puff, without much in the way of end product. Brighton are comfortable.

1.05pm BST

33 min: Hernandez wriggles in from the left and works space to shoot, but drags his effort well wide left. Still, he’s been Norwich’s star turn so far, the man most likely.

1.04pm BST

32 min: Lewis fires a backpass towards Krul at a fascinating velocity. The keeper does extremely well to kill the ball dead without anything embarrassing happening.

1.02pm BST

30 min: Norwich were looking extremely assured before the Brighton goal. Now, uncertainty reigns. Such are the vicissitudes of a side bound for relegation.

1.00pm BST

28 min: Lamptey comes again, crossing low from the right this time. Connolly nearly meets the ball on the penalty spot, but Norwich manage to scramble clear. The hosts go up the other end, Tettey taking a whack from distance, but his effort is quickly blocked. Good game, this.

12.59pm BST

27 min: Brighton are on the front foot now. Lamptey makes his way down the right and swings a dangerous cross towards the far post, but none of his team-mates have read his intention.

12.57pm BST

Freshly fuelled, immediately after the restart, Brighton score a marvellous goal on the counter! Norwich ship possession. Maupay slips a ball down the right for Mooy, who romps into acres of space and curls low into the centre. Trossard attacks at the near post, steering the ball across a wrong-footed Krul and into the bottom left. What a delicious finish!

12.55pm BST

23 min: And that’s drinks!

12.53pm BST

21 min: Propper slides a pass down the inside-left channel, hoping to release Trossard into the Norwich box. Trossard goes down looking for a penalty, having lightly brushed Aarons. The referee is, quite correctly, not in the least bit interested.

12.51pm BST

19 min: So having said that, Hernandez immediately skitters in from the right and lashes a fine rising shot inches over the bar. That would have been a screamer. The Cuban winger looks in the mood.

12.50pm BST

18 min: Brighton continue with the sterile possession. Right now, it’s proving successful in quelling Norwich’s early verve.

12.49pm BST

16 min: Norwich have enjoyed the lion’s share of possession so far, but Brighton seem happy enough. They knock it around the back some more, without too much urgency. On the touchline, Graham Potter applauds some encouragement. “As a Stoke supporter I can only look at Potter and wish he’d taken the job with his namesake team,” writes Joshua Reynolds. “Not only would it have been pleasant linguistically, he might have steered us in a better direction.”

12.46pm BST

14 min: Ryan mixes it up by launching long down the middle. Connolly nearly gets onto the pass, but Klose holds his line, intercepts and clears. We’re not quite in the realms of entertainment yet, but this match is promising.

12.44pm BST

12 min: Hernandez dribbles hard, in from the left, and attempts a low curler towards the bottom right. It’s heading in, but Dunk sticks out a leg to block. That was a lovely run, nixed by some similarly fine defending.

12.43pm BST

11 min: A period of Brighton possession now. All in their own half, very patient. Two teams who like to stroke it around.

12.41pm BST

9 min: Norwich draw some triangles down the left, Lewis, Hernandez and Buendia looking confident and fluid. Not that they go anywhere in particular, Lewis’s eventual cross to nobody in particular and easily cleared, but it was all very pretty.

12.39pm BST

7 min: Trossard snuffs out a Norwich attack by intercepting and dribbling around in his own box. It’s impressively calm play, though when he eventually lays off to Webster, the defender blooters upfield in the no-nonsense style. A fair chance Webster was informing his team-mate which approach is more effective.

12.36pm BST

5 min: Norwich launch their first sortie into enemy territory. Duda sprays a diagonal ball towards Aarons out on the right. Aarons tries to open up Brighton by one-twoing with Buendia, but the move doesn’t quite come off. Both teams have started in positive fashion.

12.34pm BST

3 min: A free kick for Brighton out on the right. Mooy floats it in. Klose should clear easily but his unchallenged header only finds Connolly, just inside the box to the left. Connolly rasps a drive over the bar. A decent enough effort, though he’ll be disappointed he didn’t make Krul work at the very least.

12.33pm BST

Brighton get the ball rolling. They stroke it around the back for a bit. A quiet start. Perhaps they’re aware that Brisbane-based Phil Withall has gone to bed. “As an Norwich supporter with a normally excessively optimistic outlook I’d like to give you an idea of how I see things. The match kicks off at 9.30 pm and will finish at about 11.15. I need to get up for work at 4.30 tomorrow morning. Normally this would be no problem, coffee would see me through. Tonight I’ll probably do the sensible thing and get some sleep, pessimism and reality intruding on my footballing dreams.”

12.31pm BST

The whistle goes ... and the players take a knee. Black lives matter.

12.28pm BST

The teams are out! Norwich City in canary yellow, Brighton in beach-towel blue and white stripes. We’ll be off soon! But not before there’s a minute of applause to celebrate the 72nd birthday of the NHS and to honour the selfless work of its heroic staff during this epidemic. A brief word from the man behind its foundation by Labour, the legendary Aneurin Bevan: “So far as I am concerned [the Conservative Party] are lower than vermin. They condemned millions of people to semi-starvation. I warn you young men and women, do not listen to what they are saying. They have not changed, or if they have they are slightly worse.”

12.18pm BST

Here’s Daniel Farke. “We always have to rest a lot, we’ve had a lot of workload. In the offence, when you want to be creative, it’s important to be fresh and sharp, so we have made a few changes. Hopefully it’s the right choice. We have to play with less mistakes and be at the top of our game. We have to make sure our performance is really spot on. In general, I am not willing to give any fighting messages. I will speak after the game about our chances [of avoiding relegation] but for now I am concentrating on this performance.”

12.10pm BST

A word with Brighton boss Graham Potter. “Manchester United were a strong opponent, but we’ve picked up four points from our first three matches against Arsenal, Leicester and United, so a bit of perspective, we’ve done quite well. It’s nice to bounce back from a defeat, so that’s what we’ll try to do. Three points in the Premier League is massive, and would help a lot, but we’ll just focus on the game.”

11.42am BST

Both teams were defeated heavily in midweek; both teams make four changes as a result. Norwich, battered 4-0 at Arsenal, replace Lukas Rupp, Todd Cantwell, Tom Trybull and Teemu Pukki with Timm Klose, Ondrej Duda, Onel Hernandez and Josip Drmic. Brighton, beaten 3-0 by Manchester United, stand down Shane Duffy, Dale Stephens, Alexis Mac Allister and Martin Montoya; in come Adam Webster, Aaron Mooy, Leandro Trossard and Neal Maupay.

11.32am BST

Norwich City: Krul, Aarons, Godfrey, Klose, Lewis, Tettey, McLean, Buendia, Duda, Hernandez, Drmic.
Subs: Rupp, Vrancic, Cantwell, Stiepermann, Trybull, Pukki, McGovern, Idah, Martin.

Brighton & Hove Albion: Ryan, Lamptey, Webster, Dunk, Burn, Propper, Bissouma, Mooy, Trossard, Maupay, Connolly.
Subs: Duffy, Stephens, Mac Allister, Gross, Murray, March, Montoya, Button, Bernardo.

8.16pm BST

If bottom-of-the-table Norwich City are to stage a great escape, they’ll have to start winning very, very soon. This afternoon, in fact, pretty much. Given that two of their last six fixtures are away at Chelsea and Manchester City, and they’re currently seven points plus goal difference shy of safety, you’d think wins against Brighton, Watford, West Ham and Burnley are non-negotiable. And even then it might not be enough.

One step at a time, though. Brighton first. The Seagulls aren’t safe yet, though they’ve got a six-point buffer on 18th-placed Aston Villa, and their post-lockdown form hasn’t been too bad. Sure, they got ravaged by Manchester United midweek, but they’ve also earned a point at high-flying Leicester and beaten Arsenal. And they did for Norwich back in November, 2-0, so confidence shouldn’t be an issue.

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The Fiver | Liverpool's reign as undisputed champions was good while it lasted

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The Fiver would like to offer its warmest congratulations to Manchester City, winners of the 2020-21 Premier League if we’re reading the current mood in the room correctly. It’s a most dramatic development, given neighbours United had all but been awarded the title two days ago when everyone was yammering on about their statement victory at Brighton. However on Thursday night City put in a bravura flag-planting performance of their own, strolling their way through, around and over a contemporary dance collective from Merseyside who were, in a live world exclusive, showcasing their brand-new interpretive dance routine about a yawn.

Related: Sterling and Foden star as Manchester City rain on Liverpool's title parade

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West Ham United 3-2 Chelsea: Premier League – as it happened

Andriy Yarmolenko’s late winner ensured some earlier VAR controversy didn’t really matter.

1.50am BST

Talk to Frank

Related: Frank Lampard says defeat at West Ham is 'a sign of where Chelsea are'

10.52pm BST

Jacob Steinberg was our man at the London Stadium. His verdict has landed. Enjoy, enjoy ... and thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!

Related: Yarmolenko makes Chelsea pay in derby as West Ham edge clear of drop zone

10.51pm BST

Frank Lampard is categorically not happy. “It’s not the story of our season, because it’s been a good season, but there have been many of these moments. Three good results, an opportunity to go third. You can dominate possession but if there are moments when you switch off, if you make two or three errors, you’re going to encourage teams on. I’m aware of it. But the players have to show an extra mentality to see the game through. We can feel a game like this coming. It shows the work we have to do. We have to defend better. We’re upset because we want to win the game. There’s no point me being down, but I’m telling the truth and we should win here today.”

10.41pm BST

David Moyes isn’t quite as chirpy, having a thing or two to say about the old video ref. “We were up against it at 2-2. But we stuck at it and got a result. The VAR stuff, I’m beginning to lose complete faith with it. I don’t want to whinge about decisions, I’m trying not to, but that’s what I am doing again. I’ve not seen it again, but everybody tells me the goal should have stood.” Sky then commend West Ham for not feeling sorry for themselves after the VAR decision. “Well I did! I was spewing. I was thinking: are we ever going to get a decision here? The things that have gone against West Ham recently have been really poor, and I can’t explain it. The players deserve a massive amount of credit for sticking to it.”

10.30pm BST

Michail Antonio, Sky’s very happy man of the match, has been talking. “It’s massive. There’s been so many games when we’ve been so close, and today shows the grit and belief we’ve got. We’re going to keep fighting to the end. I really dislike VAR! Ha ha ha! So many things haven’t gone our way, it’s gone against us so many times, but today it didn’t stop us. We just kept going and got the victory. It gives us confidence and belief. Not the fact that we won, but that we went down, and had a goal taken away from us. Chelsea’s a quality team, and if we can do it against them, we can do it against anybody.” Then there’s a magnificent moment when the reasons for the VAR decision are explained to him - that he was in the line of the goalkeeper’s sight and his head was offside - and he pulls, with exquisite comic timing, a look of amused incredulity. A genuinely funny reaction.

10.14pm BST

That was a magnificent game of football. West Ham thoroughly deserved their victory. They could easily have crumbled after the contentious decision by VAR to rule out an opening goal, the concession of a penalty coming along in short order. But they fought hard and - with no little skill, albeit some help from Chelsea’s unreliable defence - dragged themselves back into the game. Andriy Yarmolenko’s fine late winner could prove priceless. West Ham rise to 16th place (30pts), three points clear of the relegation zone, two clear of Watford in 17th. At the other end of the table, Chelsea remain in fourth (54pts), but they’re only two ahead of Manchester United and Wolves now. Arsenal and Tottenham won’t have chucked the towel in quite yet, either. The run-in is going to be fun.

10.10pm BST

As for Chelsea, they pass up an opportunity to gain ground on third-placed Leicester City, giving the chasing Champions League pack hope. “This could be David Moyes’ best managerial result for Manchester United,” quips Peter Oh, because somebody had to get there first.

10.09pm BST

It’s a huge three points for West Ham in their battle against relegation, and they celebrate accordingly!

10.07pm BST

90 min +3: Kante drags a tame shot wide left from 25 yards. The jig looks up for Chelsea. They’ve played well enough, but West Ham have been better.

10.06pm BST

90 min +2: Fornals is replaced by Balbuena. Textbook clock management.

10.05pm BST

90 min +1: The first of them drifts by without incident.

10.05pm BST

90 min: West Ham United are four added minutes away from a precious victory.

10.04pm BST

This could be a huge goal at both ends of the table! Chelsea pile forward, but lose possession. West Ham spring on the counter. Antonio creams a pass down the right for Yarmolenko, who only has Rudiger in between him and the penalty box. Rudiger sells himself, allowing Yarmolenko to cut infield and batter a low shot past Kepa and into the bottom left! What a finish! What drama here!

10.02pm BST

88 min: As things stand, West Ham will move above Watford into 16th place on goal difference. They’d be a point ahead of Bournemouth and Aston Villa. Chelsea will stay in fourth, behind Leicester on goal difference.

10.01pm BST

87 min: Azpilicueta crosses deep from the right, forcing Yarmolenko to head behind for a corner. Alonso meets the set piece, but heads harmlessly wide.

10.00pm BST

86 min: Alonso crosses again. It’s just a bit too high for Azpilicueta at the far post, and Cresswell is able to shepherd the ball away from danger. West Ham are hanging on a bit here, so close yet so far away from a precious point.

9.58pm BST

85 min: Alonso swings a low cross in from the left. Giroud attempts to sweep home from the edge of the six-yard box but gets it all wrong.

9.57pm BST

84 min: Yarmolenko strides down the right with Chelsea light at the back and Antonio in space down the middle. But his cross is too close to Rudiger and the chance of setting his team-mate clear is spurned.

9.56pm BST

82 min: Willian is booked for a cynical tug on Cresswell, who was in the business of breaking upfield.

9.55pm BST

81 min: Wilshere forces the ball down the inside-right channel and into the Chelsea box. Antonio hares after it and goes over Kepa, the ball ballooning away from danger. Antonio wants a penalty, but he’s not getting one.

9.54pm BST

80 min: Willian drives at the West Ham defence down the right. He slips Azpilicueta away. Azpilicueta crosses; the ball misses Giroud’s head by an inch.

9.53pm BST

79 min: Yarmolenko is immediately in the thick of it, combining well with Fredericks down the right. The latter loops a cross towards Cresswell, who is penalised for climbing all over someone in the hope of winning a header.

9.52pm BST

78 min: Yarmolenko replaces Bowen.

9.51pm BST

77 min: West Ham can’t handle Pulisic, who looks dangerous every time he picks up a head of steam. He wins a corner with another run down the left. Fabianski half-clears it with a punch, then Pulisic attempts a spectacular bicycle kick from 20 yards. Nope! But full marks for ambition.

9.49pm BST

75 min: No team has scored more than two goals in this fixture since 2013, when a certain Frank Lampard notched a couple in a 3-0 Chelsea win at Upton Park. Will someone put that not-particularly-significant run to bed tonight?

9.47pm BST

73 min: That had been coming, drinks break notwithstanding. West Ham have been all over the show since Chelsea made that double sub. Pulisic dances in from the left and whistles a low shot inches wide of the left-hand post. Fabianski wasn’t getting to that.

9.46pm BST

Willian whips the free kick towards the top right. The ball caroms off the post and in, leaving Fabianski, at full stretch, no chance! That’s a brilliant free kick, though the keeper’s starting position wasn’t great.

9.45pm BST

71 min: That break came at a good time for West Ham, who were being put under serious pressure. But it’s not long before they’re backpedalling furiously again, as Pulisic dribbles with purpose, cutting in from the left. Rice, haring in from the other flank, unceremoniously hacks him down before he reaches the box. A booking for West Ham’s stand-in captain, and a free kick in a very dangerous position, just to the left of the D.

9.43pm BST

69 min: And that’s drinks!

9.42pm BST

68 min: Lanzini is quickly hooked by West Ham. Another referee might have showed him red for an out-of-control scissor lunge, but he probably got back down to earth in time. Wilshere comes on in his stead.

9.40pm BST

66 min: Lanzini is booked for a carless lunge on Azpilicueta. From the resulting free kick, taken by Mount out on the right. Giroud tries to guide a header into the top left, but it’s easy pickings for Fabianski.

9.39pm BST

65 min: West Ham are suddenly under siege, Giroud nearly getting his eyebrows on a Pulisic dink, Alonso nearly teeing up Loftus-Cheek with a looping cross. A couple of last-ditch clearances preserve West Ham’s lead.

9.38pm BST

64 min: Willian reaches a ball he had no real right in reaching, sprinting manically down the right. He whips an outstanding first-time cross towards Loftus-Cheek, racing in at the near post. Meaningful contact is missed by a couple of millimetres. West Ham escape.

9.36pm BST

63 min: A double change for Chelsea, as Barkley and Abraham are replaced by Loftus-Cheek and Giroud.

9.35pm BST

62 min: Barkley slips a pass down the inside-left channel for Mount, who smoothly wriggles past a couple of challenges before ... passing to nobody in particular in the West Ham box. The hosts clear.

9.34pm BST

60 min: Barkley tees up Christensen, in a pocket of space, centrally, 25 yards out. The defender doesn’t have the confidence to shoot, and the chance is gone. The attack soon peters out.

9.32pm BST

58 min: Rice crunches into Pulisic, a lovely tackle that sets West Ham away on the counter. Fornals and Bowen combine at speed, then the ball’s sent to Lanzini, in a lot of space just to the left of the D. He shapes a shot towards the top right, but it’s always heading high and wide. A tame end to a fine move.

9.30pm BST

56 min: Christensen tries to release Abraham down the right but the flag goes up for offside. West Ham hearts were in mouths for a second, because the striker would have beaten Fabianski to the ball on the edge of their box.

9.29pm BST

55 min: Willian cranks up a gear and bustles down the right. He thinks he’s earned a corner but it’s only a throw, and soon Chelsea are heading back the other way. Nothing quite coming off for them since the break.

9.27pm BST

53 min: That’s no more than West Ham deserve. They’ve been excellent so far this evening. On this evidence, you have to wonder why they’re in relegation bother. Anyway, now it’s Frank Lampard’s turn to shake his head performatively. He hooks Kovacic and sends on Mount.

9.26pm BST

Rice curls in from the left. Antonio, his back to goal, thinks he’s been pulled down by Rudiger, but he’s not getting the penalty. No worries! Fornals picks up the loose ball and slides in Bowen on the right. Bowen fires low and hard into the centre, and Antonio, having picked himself up and dusted himself down, slams home from close range!

9.24pm BST

50 min: Cresswell nearly sends Antonio clear down the left with a cute lay-off, but the super-quick striker clanks the ball out of play with his first touch. He tilts his head back in annoyance, knowing a chance to put some more pressure on the Chelsea defence is gone. Meanwhile here’s Preach On II, courtesy of the righteous Digvijay Yadav: “One thing that grates is the constant insinuation in some quarters that anyone who’s not in thrall to data, or decidedly cold towards VAR, is a Neanderthal. I mean VAR sucks, frankly, and should be chucked.”

9.22pm BST

48 min: Lanzini is caught dozing on the ball and Chelsea are allowed to tear clear. Willian zips down the right and curls long and low for Abraham, who can’t quite connect at the far post under pressure from Diop. “How can Chelsea be so inept at dealing with set pieces? Even the most benign of free kicks makes my heart skip a beat. This can’t go on. I’m not trying to be all doom and gloom, but for the love of God.” Benjamin Park, there, raging beside Benjamin Park.

9.20pm BST

46 min: Within ten seconds of the restart, Antonio is making a nuisance of himself just inside the Chelsea box. He forces a throw, after which a brief game of head tennis breaks out in the area. Chelsea eventually clear their lines.

9.19pm BST

It’s the second half! West Ham get the ball rolling again. No half-time changes. “Villa fan here. I’d take that goal being given and the inevitable relegation to dispense with VAR.” Preach on, David Bertram.

9.06pm BST

Half-time reading.

Related: Statue campaign for black footballer denied England cap in 1920s

9.05pm BST

That’ll improve the mood in the West Ham changing room. David Moyes fair bounds down the tunnel. An equaliser was no more than West Ham deserved. Were it not for an overly fussy VAR decision, they’d be leading. It’s going to be a fun second half.

9.03pm BST

Antonio wins a corner down the right. Bowen hits it long. Kepa runs into Kante in the slapstick style. Soucek rises highest at the far post and heads down. Rudiger tries to hack off the line, but misses altogether. The hosts are deservedly level!

9.02pm BST

45 min +1: Antonio and Rice are given a good talking-to by the referee. Neither are happy with the VAR decision, and they’re making their point with great passion.

9.00pm BST

45 min: It’s all Chelsea, and a reeling West Ham could do with hearing the half-time whistle. They need some time to regroup. Three extra minutes to go.

8.59pm BST

44 min: That chain of events has really taken the wind out of the West Ham sail. The disallowed goal ... well, you can argue that one either way, though a three-and-a-half-minute check suggests there was no clear and obvious error. But the penalty award was as clear as day.

8.58pm BST

Willian sends Fabianski to the right, then whips the spot kick to the left. Easy as that. On the touchline, David Moyes shakes his head in theatrical anger.

8.56pm BST

40 min: Insult To Injury dept. Pulisic comes in from the left, and drops a shoulder to go past Diop. The defender hangs out a leg, and that’s a no-brainer of a decision. The referee points to the spot.

8.54pm BST

38 min: After a wait of three-and-a-half minutes, VAR squints and spots that the top of Antonio’s head was offside when Soucek forced home, and judges that he was interfering with play. It certainly wasn’t a clear-cut state of affairs - Kepa’s line of sight didn’t appear to be compromised - and David Moyes is fuming.

8.51pm BST

36 min: VAR is checking this for an offside. It’d be against the prone Antonio, if it’s disallowed.

8.50pm BST

Bowen’s corner is accidentally flicked on at the near post by Kovacic. The ball falls at the feet of Soucek, one of the players Azpilicueta was just rowing with, at the far post. He needs two attempts to force the ball past Antonio, who had tried an unsuccessful acrobatic overhead kick and was lying on the floor, and a grappling Azpilicueta. It’s untidy, but it’s in!

8.49pm BST

33 min: West Ham win their first corner of the evening out on the right. Before it can be taken, there’s a ludicrous episode as an irate Azpilicueta tries to barge his way between two extremely close West Ham players in the six-yard box. The ref gives him what for. And then ...

8.47pm BST

32 min: Alonso sticks his studs on the back of Bowen’s leg. That didn’t look totally accidental; it was a movement he certainly didn’t need to make, put it that way. He should probably go in the book, at least, but neither referee nor VAR show any interest. Just a garden-variety free kick in the centre of the park.

8.45pm BST

30 min: Barkley tries a curler from the left-hand edge of the West Ham D, but Diop quickly closes him down and blocks.

8.45pm BST

29 min: Kovacic bursts down the middle and slides a pass towards Abraham, who threatens to break clear along the inside-left channel, but miscontrols and runs the ball out for a goal kick. Chelsea continue to look the more likely, though it’s West Ham who have had the best chance so far.

8.42pm BST

27 min: Barkley, mooching his way slowly down the right, is upended by Rice. A free kick. Willian hoicks it into the box but West Ham clear. Alonso curls it in again from the left, but the hosts clear that too.

8.41pm BST

26 min: We go again.

8.40pm BST

24 min: And that’s drinks. Sup up, everyone!

8.38pm BST

22 min: Chelsea continue to stroke it around a lot. Their front three of Pulisic, Abraham and Willian look extremely lively tonight.

8.36pm BST

20 min: Azpilicueta rolls a diagonal pass inside from the right. Abraham dummies on the edge of the box. Pulisic, racing in from the left, goes for the top right with a first-time curler. He connects sweetly, but the ball flies inches wide. Pulisic holds his head in his hands and gasps. That was breathtakingly close.

8.34pm BST

19 min: Antonio tries to burn Christensen for pace down the left but the defender holds firm. That could develop into a good battle. Chelsea go up the other end, Barkley trying to whip one into the bottom left from distance. It’s an easy snaffle for Fabianski.

8.33pm BST

17 min: Alonso in space on the left. I should keep that phrase on the clipboard. He sends a cross along the corridor of uncertainty. Abraham flicks on when he might have been better going for goal. Pulisic tries to keep the move alive but his delivery from the right instigates nothing more than a brief game of pinball, and West Ham clear.

8.31pm BST

15 min: Chelsea get back on the front foot. A lot of probing and passing in the West Ham final third. Kovacic nearly sashays into the box from the left but the hosts hold their shape and eventually clear. It’s been a good game so far. Both teams will be happy enough in their own way.

8.29pm BST

13 min: After all that Chelsea possession, it’s West Ham who nearly take the lead. Rice hassles Barkley in the midfield and plays forward for Bowen, who finds Antonio to his right. Antonio suddenly turns on the jets and bursts into the box. He’s one on one with Kepa! But he drags his shot across the face of goal and well wide of the left-hand post. What a chance that was. A big miss, but it’s an energetic move that will give the Hammers heart.

8.27pm BST

12 min: West Ham launch their first attack of the night. It’s a long throw from the left by Antonio. Soucek wins a flick-on, but Bowen can’t control or get a shot away and is eventually penalised for shoving.

8.26pm BST

11 min: Even more space for Alonso down the left. He lays off to Willian, who drifts inside and curls a decent effort towards the top right. It’s a little bit too close to Fabianski, though, and the keeper claims. It’s all Chelsea.

8.25pm BST

9 min: Chelsea are wearing their 2020-21 kit for the first time tonight. New sponsor, 60s-style collar, the lot. It’s very fetching.

8.22pm BST

7 min: Willian bursts down the right and curls a cross towards nobody in the middle. Fabianski gathers. West Ham are struggling to retain possession.

8.20pm BST

5 min: From the corner, Azpilicueta misses a chance to flick goalwards at the near post. Then Alonso, busy in these opening exchanges, tries an overhead kick. He makes contact, but the ball sails softly and harmlessly into the arms of Fabianski. A lively start by the visitors.

8.19pm BST

4 min: More space for Alonso down the left, sent clear by a raking diagonal pass from Willian. He wins a corner off Fredericks.

8.18pm BST

3 min: Alonso whips in a cross from the left. It very nearly finds Kovacic, who had opened up his body with a view to sidefooting goalwards from six yards. But Ogbonna clears.

8.17pm BST

2 min: The finding of feet.

8.15pm BST

Chelsea will kick off ... but not before a knee is taken. Black lives matter.

8.12pm BST

Here come the teams. West Ham in claret, Chelsea in blue, pretty bubbles in the air. We’ll be off before you know it.

8.08pm BST

Then it’s the turn of Frank Lampard. “It’s not an easy call between Olivier Giroud and Tammy Abraham. They bring different attributes. Tammy did well against Leicester, and I have to make changes because there are games every three days. We have to focus on ourselves, but we’re obviously aware of the teams around us, Manchester United, Wolves and Leicester. We’re in a pretty good position at the business end, and mentality is as key as anything. It’s a really important time for us.”

8.06pm BST

David Moyes speaks! “If it was a one-off match tonight, Mark Noble could have made it. But he’s feeling his hamstring and we’ve just got too many games coming. Chelsea have always been renowned for having good teams, but we’ll have a go tonight. I saw them against Man City last week, as most people did, and they did very well.”

7.59pm BST

But there’s a pre-match boost for Chelsea, too. Leicester City continue to stumble, losing at Everton this evening. That means third spot is up for grabs. Frank Lampard’s side will leapfrog the Foxes if they win this evening. Leicester still haven’t won since the big restart.

Related: Everton v Leicester City: Premier League – live!

7.54pm BST

Good news for West Ham ahead of tonight’s quest for precious points. Two of the three teams directly below them, Norwich City and Bournemouth, have suffered dreadful four-goal shellackings in the round of 6pm kick-offs. Both appear to be heading down the Swanee at a rate of knots.

Related: Arsenal v Norwich City: Premier League – live!

Related: Bournemouth v Newcastle United: Premier League – live!

7.32pm BST

Both teams make two changes to their last Premier League starting XIs. First up, West Ham, who lost their last match 2-0 at Tottenham Hotspur. Their captain Mark Noble is injured, and is replaced by Manuel Lanzini, while Angelo Ogbonna is fit again and comes in for Fabian Balbuena. Declan Rice is their stand-in captain.

Chelsea’s previous league fixture was their 2-1 deposing of Manchester City. Mateo Kovacic replaces Mason Mount in the Chelsea midfield, while Olivier Giroud makes way for Tammy Abraham up front.

7.20pm BST

West Ham United: Fabianski, Fredericks, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Rice, Soucek, Bowen, Lanzini, Fornals, Antonio.
Subs: Balbuena, Yarmolenko, Felipe Anderson, Wilshere, Ajeti, Xande Silva, Randolph, Johnson, Lewis.

Chelsea: Kepa, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger, Alonso, Barkley, Kante, Kovacic, Willian, Abraham, Pulisic.
Subs: Jorginho, Loftus-Cheek, Caballero, Zouma, Giroud, Mount, Hudson-Odoi, James, Gilmour.

6.11pm BST

West Ham United need to turn their form around and sharpish. They start the month of July one place outside the relegation places; by the end of it, they could be in next season’s Championship. Reason being, they’ve lost five of their last six matches, eight of the last 11. David Moyes is happy to tell folk how winning is what he does; now’s the time to start showing as well.

Admittedly that dismal run was never going to be easy. Those 11 matches included visits to Leicester, Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool, and they had to play the new champions at Anfield as well. Throw in home matches against Wolves and Everton, and points were always going to come at a premium. But relegation form is relegation form is relegation form, and the Hammers have to snap out of their funk quicksmart.

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The Fiver | Oh Ole, how did we ever doubt you!

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The Fiver would like to offer its warmest congratulations to Manchester United, winners of the 2020-21 Premier League, if we’re reading the current mood in the room correctly. United are upwardly mobile, you see, unbeaten after signing a good player for the first time since Robin van Persie. There, it wasn’t that hard, was it. As a result, United are on quite the romp at the minute, having won three games in a row against relegation-threatened Norwich, relegation-threatened Brighton, and a Sheffield United side still, it would seem, under lockdown, in front of the telly, with can of Magnet open and Woodbine on. Oh Ole, how did we ever doubt you!

Related: Bruno Fernandes believes Manchester United can achieve Euro vision

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Norwich City 1-2 Manchester United: FA Cup quarter-final – as it happened

United were below their best, but Harry Maguire’s late goal was good enough to see off ten-man Norwich

8.24pm BST

So that’s your lot. Barney Ronay was at Carrow Road to see United pip Norwich at the very end. His report has landed. Click, enjoy ... and thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!

Related: Manchester United finally end 10-man Norwich’s Cup hopes through Maguire

8.21pm BST

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer speaks! “That’s cup football for you. The game wasn’t the greatest spectacle. I felt that we kept the ball OK but didn’t create enough chances, but we’re in the semi-final. It was a good workout, got some minutes into many players and rested a few. And there were some nice goals, it was good for Harry to get the winner. We’re through, that’s what matters in the cup. The changes will have affected our flow, I didn’t make it easy for them! But we’re through and we’re happy with that. Odion Ighalo is a proven goalscorer and today he’s played a part in both the goals. He’s important for us ... and great in the dressing room too.”

8.12pm BST

The hero of the hour, Harry Maguire, speaks to the BBC. “It was a difficult game, we made hard work of it. We wasn’t at our best. But sometimes in cup games that happens, and you’ve got to find a way. We’ve managed it and we’re in the next round. I can’t really put a finger on it [why United were below par]. We’ll have to watch it back and analyse it. We were slow and tried to go through the middle too often. We needed to be wide a lot more. But in the end we’ve got there. I’m always pleased to chip in. That’s my third this season, I want to get plenty more, I’m disappointed with just the three but it’s something I’m working on. Hopefully I can get a few more and we can take it into the next season. I joined this club to win trophies, so we look forward to the semi. But we’ve got a big game against Brighton and have to get the three points.”

8.07pm BST

Norwich battled well with ten men, but the pressure finally told. Daniel Farke will be proud of his team’s performance, which will have drained the batteries but may give them a little heart as they desperately try to retain their Premier League status. He offers his opposite number Ole Gunnar Solskjaer some genuine congratulations. A few of his players are down on their haunches, though, as United celebrate their dramatic victory.

8.05pm BST

United are through to the last four, thanks to their captain’s late contribution!

8.04pm BST

ET 30 min: United are one extra minute away from the semis.

8.03pm BST

ET 29 min: That’s surely sent United into the semi-finals! Norwich take one last throw of the dice, replacing Lewis with Idah.

8.02pm BST

Pogba curls in from the left. Ighalo can’t quite control, but he instigates some pinball, and from the middle of a melee, Maguire sticks out a boot and guides the ball into the bottom right from six yards!

8.01pm BST

ET 27 min: A corner for United on the left. Before it’s taken, the referee bollocks a few players; he’s watching out for holding. The tension mounts. The corner finally comes in. Maguire throws himself at it. No good. But no worries, because ...

7.59pm BST

ET 25 min: Lewis goes haring after Hernandez’s pass down the left. At full pelt, he stops the ball on the byline, but Fernandes is on his shoulder and swans off with it. What lung capacity at such a late stage.

7.58pm BST

ET 24 min: Another fine save by Krul, as he turns a low, swerving Fernandes shot round the post. That was heading into the bottom left. From the resulting corner, Maguire sends a harmless header floating over the bar.

7.57pm BST

ET 23 min: That was a wonderful save in the circumstances. Maguire looked genuinely perplexed that his header hadn’t gone in.

7.55pm BST

ET 21 min: Martial earns a corner out on the left. Fernandes takes. Maguire wins a header at the far post. He guides it powerfully towards the bottom right ... but Krul throws himself across to claw it out just in time! That looked in all the way. Norwich survive!

7.54pm BST

ET 20 min: United pour forward again, but there’s no fluency in this particular move and eventually Ighalo clatters into Tettey. More blessed relief for the under-the-cosh hosts.

7.53pm BST

ET 19 min: Hernandez turns and drives in from the left. It’s beginning to look like a dangerous run, so Fernandes cynically clips his heels. A yellow card, and a free kick. Norwich load the box, but Duda’s delivery is awful and an easy pluck for Romero.

7.52pm BST

ET 18 min: Fernandes hoicks over the bar from distance. Norwich, having been given the runaround since the restart, will be glad to see it and take a breath.

7.51pm BST

ET 17 min: Rashford has a couple of whacks from just inside the area. Eventually the ball ricochets away from the Norwich goal.

7.49pm BST

Norwich get the second half of extra time underway. They haven’t made any changes. United, of course, have already burned through their quota of subs.

7.48pm BST

There’s just enough time for Rashford to blaze over from distance, and that’s the end of the first half of extra time. The ten men of Norwich are halfway towards a penalty shoot-out, surely their best chance of making the semis. Can United press home their advantage?

7.46pm BST

ET 15 min: Rashford swings a stunning cross from the left towards Martial at the far post. The presence of Lewis is enough to put Martial off, and the ball sails out for a goal kick. Fine defending by Lewis, with Martial waiting to tap home.

7.45pm BST

ET 14 min: Pogba creams one from 25 yards. The ball oscillates wildly; Krul nearly parries it into his own net, but the ball loops up and away. He gathers eventually. A heart-in-mouth moment for the Canaries.

7.43pm BST

ET 12 min: Lewis battles Williams down the Norwich left and wins a throw in United territory. He takes his time over the throw. But it’s not all about clock management, as the hosts then threaten for the first time in a while. Hernandez dribbles in from the left with purpose, but a chance to shoot doesn’t present itself. Drmic tries to burst through the middle, but no dice. Finally Lewis crosses from the left but the ball’s to nobody in particular.

7.40pm BST

ET 10 min: Drmic attempts to launch a rare Norwich attack, but gifts the ball to Fernandes and sets up another United one instead. Norwich are very fortunate that United over-elaborate, Pogba pausing, Williams eventually losing possession.

7.38pm BST

ET 8 min: Duda barges Shaw over out on the left. A chance for United to load the box. Fernandes decides to go for the top right directly, but gets it all wrong, blazing the free kick high over the crowded area. Goal kick.

7.37pm BST

ET 7 min: Martial comes on for Bailly, becoming the first sixth-substitute in English football history.

7.36pm BST

ET 6 min: Manchester United take two throw-ins at once. Maguire and Fernandes pushing the envelope there, hoping to introduce a new multi-ball feature into the laws of the game.

7.34pm BST

ET 4 min: A bit of time and space for Rashford, 25 yards out. He takes a touch and pearls one towards the top right. Krul does extremely well to tip over. From the resulting corner, Bailly hoicks wildly over.

7.33pm BST

ET 2 min: It’s all United in these early extra-time exchanges.

7.32pm BST

United get the first half of extra-time underway. Norwich have made one change, swapping Buendia for Duda. United are quickly on the front foot, Pogba meeting a looping cross-cum-shot by flashing a header wide left.

7.30pm BST

A draw’s probably about right, though United were much improved in the second half and pushed hard for the winner towards the end. They’ll fancy their chances of finishing ten-man Norwich off in extra time, if the last few minutes were anything to go by.

7.27pm BST

And that’s it! We’re going to extra time ... and penalties if needs be.

7.26pm BST

90 min +6: Very nearly! Rashford feeds Pogba down the left. Pogba smashes one towards the bottom left from a tight angle. Krul parries wonderfully, then Pogba is caught offside while performing a rabona.

7.25pm BST

90 min +5: It’s attack versus defence in Norwich’s final third. Can United find a late winner?

7.24pm BST

90 min +4: Shaw bustles in from the left and has a dig. The ball ricochets off a Norwich defender and up onto his forearm. The ref blows for handball, and it’s more relief for the hosts.

7.22pm BST

90 min +2: Norwich are suddenly flapping. They’re very happy to see Fernandes float a harmless chip out for a goal kick.

7.21pm BST

90 min: Before the corner can be taken, Cantwell is replaced by the more defensive Trybull. The corner leads to nothing. There will be six added minutes.

7.20pm BST

89 min: Fernandes takes the resulting free kick, just to the right of the D. He tries to thread a clever one into the bottom right, but it’s blocked out for a corner.

7.19pm BST

88 min: Fernandes backflicks down the inside-right channel to release Ighalo, who has spun Klose. The Norwich defender grapples with the striker from behind and brings him down. The ref goes straight for the red card. It’s an easy decision, though of course VAR has to poke its neb in. But the decision stands.

7.17pm BST

87 min: United had been rocking slightly, so do well to stroke it around the back awhile and regain their equilibrium.

7.15pm BST

85 min: Fernandes shapes to shoot from the edge of the box. He’s denied by a perfectly timed sliding tackle by Williams. United are hanging on a bit here; they’ve totally lost their earlier rhythm.

7.14pm BST

84 min: Norwich smell blood. Cantwell dinks a ball down the right for Drmic. The striker enters the box and pulls back for Buendia, who unleashes a low diagonal daisy-burner that flies inches wide of the left-hand post.

7.12pm BST

82 min: Godfrey one-twos with Buendia down the right and curls in for Drmic, who extends a leg with a view to prodding home ... but is beaten to the cross by Romero’s spectacular diving punch. That’s fine goalkeeping.

7.10pm BST

80 min: Pogba releases Greenwood down the right. Greenwood drops a shoulder to cut past McLean and tear in to the box. He sends a power-curler inches wide of the top left. Krul was a bystander. That was a glorious effort. So close to regaining the lead for United.

7.08pm BST

78 min: Before the corner - which, spoiler alert, is wasted - United make a double change in midfield, removing Fred and McTominay and sending on Pogba and Matic.

7.07pm BST

77 min: United try to grab back the initiative in short order. First Greenwood and Ighalo nearly open Norwich up down the right; then Rashford bustles to earn a corner out on the left.

7.06pm BST

The underdogs are level, and this is a screamer! Cantwell is teed up by Hernandez, who had cut in from the left. He unleashes an unstoppable swerver into the bottom right from 25 yards! Romero was unsighted by Maguire and had no chance of getting a hand to it.

7.04pm BST

73 min: That’s drinks. Time for Norwich to swap Pukki with Drmic, and for the BBC to show a replay of that astonishing Godfrey incident. And good news for the Norwich defender: the ball was going wide, and Tettey, lurking nearby, may well have been flagged offside anyway. So he’s not denied his own team a goal. That’s good to know.

7.02pm BST

70 min: Greenwood clumsily barges into Lewis out on the left. Free kick. And what follows is truly farcical! The free kick’s whipped into the mixer by Buendia. Fernandes accidentally eyebrows the flying ball towards the bottom right. Romero is beaten all ends up, but the ball’s stopped on the line by Godfrey, who was in the process of falling over. It hit his shoulder; he could do nothing about it.

6.58pm BST

68 min: Cantwell has a whack from 25 yards, but Fred blocks. Norwich still haven’t forced Romero into serious action. Maguire, yes; the keeper no.

6.57pm BST

67 min: Rashford should spring the overtaking Shaw into the Norwich box, but his pass down the left channel is too heavy. Goal kick. Shaw, having hared after that at full tank-emptying pelt, won’t be particularly amused by that.

6.56pm BST

66 min: Cantwell is down, holding his jaw. There was a coming together with McTominay’s shoulder. Cantwell, back up, claims it was deliberate; neither referee nor VAR agree. We play on.

6.55pm BST

65 min: A free kick for United out on the left, Godfrey having whacked Ighalo upside the head. Fernandes swings the free kick into the mixer, but it’s an uncharacteristically directionless effort and Norwich clear with ease.

6.54pm BST

64 min: Norwich make a change too, sending on Hernandez in place of Rupp.

6.53pm BST

63 min: United prepare a triple substitution and take a year and a day to make it. Eventually Dalot, Mata and Lingard make way for Williams, Rashford and Greenwood.

6.50pm BST

60 min: Lewis skedaddles down the left and finds Pukki in the middle. Pukki over-elaborates and can’t get a shot away. Aarons fires a low ball in from the right, but it’s hoicked clear by Maguire. That’s a little better from Norwich, who are slowly recovering from the blow of conceding.

6.47pm BST

57 min: Another tricky run by Lingard, this time down the left. He does extremely well to dribble his way into enough space to cross, but there’s nobody in red in the middle. United have been so much better since the restart.

6.45pm BST

56 min: Lewis attempts a curler from the left-hand edge of the United box, but his shot is blocked by his own man Pukki, wandering around in the confused style.

6.45pm BST

54 min: Fernandes cuts back to Lingard, sashaying in from the left. Lingard looks to curl one into the top right, but the ball balloons up, allowing Krul to claim under pressure from Ighalo.

6.43pm BST

53 min: Norwich respond well, McLean driving down the left and earning a corner. Godfrey challenges Maguire but the United defender wins the aerial duel. Pukki tries to keep the pressure on, but his cross from the right is blocked.

6.42pm BST

United get their act together. Maguire swans forward. He sends Shaw off down the left. Shaw hooks in for Mata, who dinks forward for Ighalo, onside in acres of space. Ighalo swivels and prods the dropping ball past Krul. A classic poacher’s strike.

6.39pm BST

49 min: Mata nearly finds Fernandes inside the Norwich box with a dainty flick down the right channel. Not quite. Much, much better from United, though. Solskjaer has obviously delivered the classic Get Your Act Together speech.

6.38pm BST

47 min: Cantwell romps down the left but can’t quite find Pukki in the middle with a fierce cross-cum-shot from a tight angle. Now it’s Norwich’s turn to waste a corner. Both teams have clearly been given the hairdryer treatment at half-time. The pace is notably quicker.

6.37pm BST

46 min: Nothing comes of the corner. There were no half-time changes, incidentally.

6.36pm BST

United get the ball rolling for the second half. After a fashion, that is, Bruno Fernandes having taken his own sweet time to return. And they’re quickly on the front foot, Fred floating a delicious pass down the inside-right channel to find Fernandes, whose timing is off again as he attempts a spectacular Mark Hughes style swivel kick. He doesn’t connect properly, and Klose slashes out for a corner.

6.22pm BST

Half-time entertainment.

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6.19pm BST

During two added minutes, Lingard whips a wayward shot over the Norwich bar from distance, and that’s that. Daniel Farke will be happy enough, his team having come closest to scoring. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be pondering some half-time changes, because United need to crank it up a notch. A reminder that this tie will go to extra time and penalties if needs be. Back soon!

6.17pm BST

45 min: Aarons threatens to scamper clear down the right, but Fred does extremely well to usher him out of play. Norwich have visibly grown in confidence, United having posed very little threat during this first half.

6.16pm BST

44 min: Cantwell dances his way down the left and pulls the ball back for Rupp, in space just inside the box. Rupp peals a fine shot towards the bottom right. It’s heading in, with Romero rooted to the spot, but United are saved thanks to a superb last-ditch block by Maguire. That was a fine Norwich move and some defending from the top drawer.

6.14pm BST

42 min: Cantwell’s back up and running. Maguire tries to spread the play with a left-to-right diagonal rake towards Dalot. A fine pass, but Dalot lets the ball roll under his foot and out of play. Another reason for Maguire to frown hard. The captain’s annoyed.

6.12pm BST

41 min: Cantwell is down, having slipped into Maguire, who was looking the other way and couldn’t avoid contact. A sore one, doubtless, but it looks as though the sting of pain has subsided quickly and he’ll be good to continue.

6.11pm BST

39 min: There really is nothing going on. This is a non-event right now.

6.09pm BST

37 min: Maguire tests Romero with a fizzer of a backpass. He’s lucky the keeper has good reactions, and feet to match. Maguire has the good grace to furrow his brow in contemplation.

6.08pm BST

35 min: United stroke it around to no effect whatsoever. They could really do with Martial or Rashford up front. Norwich are completely comfortable right now. The second half maybe.

6.06pm BST

33 min: Cantwell sends Pukki clear down the inside-right channel, United’s defence having gone AWOL. But Pukki has no pace whatsoever, and Shaw is permitted to get back into the race. Pukki holds up, then involves Cantwell and Buendia, but the resulting attempt to keep the attack going is over-elaborate and the ball breaks harmlessly through to Romero. United would have been in serious trouble there if Pukki had the legs.

6.04pm BST

32 min: McTominay strides into the Norwich box from the right and pearls a shot goalwards. But it’s blocked by Lewis. From the resulting throw, Dalot is fouled by Cantwell. Fernandes swings in the free kick. There’s a mild hubbub, nothing more. Norwich clear.

6.02pm BST

30 min: Another corner for United, out on the left. Fernandes delivers. Bailly heads harmlessly over. This is all very nearly-not-quite. Norwich will undoubtedly be the happier team, expectation levels and all that.

6.00pm BST

28 min: Mata is brushed off the ball with absurd ease by Buendia. McLean takes up possession and hares down the middle, before flaying a dismal shot miles over the bar. He had time to line that up properly and work Romero.

5.59pm BST

27 min: Ighalo tries to turn a Dalot infield pass round the corner in the hope of releasing McTominay down the inside-right channel. A cute idea, but it doesn’t come off.

5.58pm BST

25 min: All gone! [taps upside-down cup, wipes mouth] The game restarts.

5.55pm BST

23 min: Aarons blooters wildly into the stand behind the United goal, and that’s drinks!

5.54pm BST

22 min: United string a very pretty move together. Fernandes pings a pass towards Shaw on the left. Shaw cuts inside and lays off to Fred, who slides a forward pass down the channel for McTominay. He backflicks first time, and very nearly springs Ighalo clear on goal. But Ighalo can’t make the ball behave and Krul gathers.

5.52pm BST

20 min: Fernandes quarterbacks from deep, floating a diagonal ball towards Dalot, just inside the Norwich area on the right. Dalot can’t get it under control, and a brief window of opportunity to shoot is gone.

5.50pm BST

18 min: Pukki romps into an absurd amount of space down the right. He’s got options in the middle, but stands one up in exactly the wrong place, and it’s an easy clearance for Dalot. United break up the other end, but Ighalo can’t end a purposeful sortie with any sort of shot.

5.48pm BST

17 min: United continue to hog possession, but it’s all a bit flat. Shaw and Lingard attempt to combine down the left, but the attack is easily blotted out. Norwich look relatively comfortable at the minute.

5.47pm BST

15 min: Lewis is getting plenty of space and opportunity down the left. It’s not always clear where Dalot is or what he’s doing. But once again Lewis fails to find a team-mate. United need to address this situation.

5.45pm BST

13 min: Lingard dribbles, ball glued to his boot, down the middle in intricate style. He nearly breaks through a forest of Norwich defenders, but Rupp is one man too many and he blocks before a shot’s sent goalwards. That was a lovely run, shame it led to nothing.

5.42pm BST

11 min: United have had 68 percent of possession so far. Lingard and Mata combine down the right and win a corner. Nothing comes from it.

5.41pm BST

9 min: Lewis finds some space down the left and crosses to the far post. Buendia can’t get a header goalwards, and the danger is gone. After a slow start, some entertainment is threatening to break out.

5.40pm BST

8 min: The first corner of the day is United’s. It’s swung in from the left. Maguire rises at the far post and loops a header across goal and towards the top left. Krul plucks it from the sky.

5.39pm BST

7 min: A ridiculous 60 seconds for Bailly. First he executes a preposterous belly flop upon being shoved lightly in the back by McLean. Then he stands on the ball near the left-hand corner flag with Cantwell applying pressure. Cantwell can’t find anyone in yellow in the middle, and Bailly breathes a long sigh of relief.

5.37pm BST

5 min: Buendia drives down the right, with Rupp by his side. United look a little light at the back, so they’re grateful that Buendia takes his eye off the ball and dribbles straight into Fred.

5.35pm BST

3 min: Aarons miscontrols a simple pass from Godfrey and it’s a United throw deep in Norwich territory. Fred drives at the Norwich box from the left, and the hosts are relieved when he miscontrols. The ball’s finally cleared.

5.33pm BST

2 min: United quickly assume control. Dalot and Mata probe down the right. Then McTominay takes his time before floating a diagonal ball towards nobody in particular. Goal kick. A gentle start, in other words.

5.31pm BST

Norwich get the ball rolling ... but only after all 22 players take a knee. Black lives matter.

5.30pm BST

Before we kick off, there’s a minute of applause for those working on the frontline during this pandemic. Also a time to remember the souls lost to the virus.

5.29pm BST

The teams are out! Manchester United emerge from the tight tunnel first, according to distancing protocol. They’re wearing their famous red shirts and black shorts. Norwich soon follow in their trademark yellow and green. We’ll be off soon!

5.23pm BST

Now it’s the turn of United’s Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and he appears extremely relaxed, laughing off a question about his eight changes. “Ah, it’s only one change from the last round! And Harry Maguire was meant to play that one but he was sick! This is a team that deserved another chance in the FA Cup. They played well against Derby and we decided to give them another go. I feel we’ve got a strong squad, we trust the players to go out there and show what they are capable of. There’s ten full internationals there, so it should be a good team. The FA Cup is a great tournament. To be able to lift it, for a team that is coming together, that would be fantastic. But all eyes on this one. The boys are ready.”

5.18pm BST

Norwich boss Daniel Farke speaks! “We know we are the underdog. It’s in the DNA of Manchester United, they are always competing for titles and it’s their last chance this season, so they will be highly motivated. And they are 12 games unbeaten, with all their players more or less available. So we are full of respect. We know we need something really special, but we are really motivated.”

5.16pm BST

Of course, we had been expecting to be waist-deep in the Euros by late June. But here we are, concerned with the FA Cup instead. Strange times, strange times. For those suffering a pang of Euro withdrawal, today marks the four-year anniversary of this ...

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4.43pm BST

Norwich City make three changes to the side defeated at home by Everton three days ago. Onel Hernandez, Ondrej Duda and Josip Drmic are replaced by Emiliano Buendia, Todd Cantwell and Teemu Pukki.

Manchester United make eight changes to the team that brushed Sheffield United aside midweek. Cup goalkeeper Sergio Romero replaces David de Gea. Elsewhere, in come Diogo Dalot, Eric Bailly, Scott McTominay, Fred, Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard and Odion Ighalo; out go Victor Lindelof, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood.

4.35pm BST

Norwich City: Krul, Aarons, Godfrey, Klose, Lewis, Tettey, McLean, Rupp, Buendia, Cantwell, Pukki.
Subs: McGovern, Vrancic, Leitner, Hernandez, Stiepermann, Trybull, Drmic, Duda, Idah.

Manchester United: Romero, Dalot, Bailly, Maguire, Shaw, McTominay, Fred, Mata, Fernandes, Lingard, Ighalo.
Subs: De Gea, Fosu-Mensah, Williams, Pereira, Matic, Pogba, Greenwood, Martial, Rashford.

2.31pm BST

Norwich City have a better record against Manchester United in the FA Cup than you might imagine. A far better record. United won the first tie between the two clubs in 1906 easily, 3-0 at their old Bank Street ground; they won the last time the clubs met in the cup in 1994, Eric Cantona and Roy Keane doing the business at Carrow Road. But in between, there were three other meetings ... and Norwich won them all.

January 1959: United, en route to a second-place finish in the league, are stuffed by third-tier Norwich in the third round. Terry Bly is the two-goal hero of a 3-0 shock in the Carrow Road snow. The legendary John Arlott was in the stand, reporting for the Observer. “The East Anglian roar, which had risen through defiance and hope to expectation, ended in a bugle of exultation. It wasn’t merely a famous, but a well-won, victory.” City made it all the way to the semis, before losing narrowly to Luton Town of the First Division.

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The Fiver | Questionable rug-cutting from a hedonistic gang making merry

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When Liverpool won the title with one game to spare in 1982, it’s fair to say they took their foot off the gas. Before their final match of the campaign, an evening fixture at Middlesbrough, the squad was given official permission by Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan to have a couple of small lunchtime lifters in a local public bar in honour of their achievement. Paisley and Fagan meanwhile decamped to the team hotel, where they carefully worked their way through a bottle of Scottish wine. Liverpool played that night in a new style, perambulating around Ayresome Park in a most laid-back manner, only occasionally breaking into anything resembling a brisk stroll. Their management team appeared so unconcerned at this insouciant state of affairs that you’d have been forgiven for concluding they didn’t give a hoot. For the record, Liverpool were still good enough to hit the woodwork three times and eke out a goalless draw. Oh Boro!

Related: Tearful Jürgen Klopp hails 'incredible moment' for title winners Liverpool

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