Scott Murray's Blog, page 32

Brighton 1-0 Manchester United: Premier League – as it happened

A feisty match ended in last-gasp drama as Alexis Mac Allister secured all three points for Brighton with a 99th-minute penalty

2 min: Now it’s Fernandes’ turn to play a straight pass down the centre of the park. Antony gets clear and sends a shot inches wide of the right-hand post. United clearly have a plan here … and already it’s nearly paid off twice.

1 min: Rashford plays a simple long ball down the middle and nearly releases Martial. Steele has to come right to the edge of his box to claim.

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Premier League: Manchester City 3-0 West Ham United – as it happened

Erling Haaland scored his 35th goal of the campaign to break the Premier League single-season record, as City reclaimed top spot

71 seconds: Alvarez advances towards the West Ham box and attempts to thread a shot into the bottom left from distance. Fabianski gathers.

Eight seconds: City take receipt of the ball and start stroking it around.

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Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea: Premier League – as it happened

Martin Odegaard scored twice as Arsenal reclaimed top spot in the Premier League and condemned Chelsea to a sixth straight defeat

3 min: Saka and White combine briskly down the right, the latter crossing deep. Madueke clears at the far stick. A brisk start by the hosts.

1 min: Saka runs hard at the Chelsea back line. The ball flies loose in the Chelsea box. Kante attempts to hack clear but miskicks comically, before getting the job done at the second attempt. Very nearly a fast and farcical opening.

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Brentford 2-1 Nottingham Forest, Brighton 6-0 Wolves: clockwatch – as it happened

Nottingham Forest suffered late heartbreak against Brentford, while Brighton thrashed tame Wolves

Back again to Scotland, and here comes Simon McMahon. “What with those Scottish Cup semis this weekend, there are no Scottish Premier fixtures today, so attention switches to the Scottish Championship and in particular the match between Morton and Queens Park. A win for the Spiders will take them above Dundee, who could only draw with relegation-threatened Cove Rangers at Dens last night, and ensure that a draw in their final game - at home to Dundee - will mean the league title and promotion to the Scottish Premier. Even defeat to Morton, who themselves are still in with a chance of making the play-offs, will set things up for a winner takes all match between the top two next week. It’s also the first leg of the play-off between The Spartans and Brechin, Lowland and Highland league winners respectively, to see who will go forward to play for a place in the Scottish League against the team finishing at the bottom of Scottish League Two (currently Albion Rovers). So all to play for. They don’t call it the business end of the season for nothing, I suppose.”

… so the Premier League table now looks like this, for the next couple of hours anyway. If Palace had any lingering relegation fears, they’re conclusively gone now. Mr Roy’s done quite the job there. West Ham will still be looking over their shoulder, and though their run-in isn’t the easiest, with games against both Manchester clubs and trips to Brentford and Leicester coming up, the fact they’re not shy of scoring goals should see them all right: they’ve now scored 14 in their last five matches.

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Manchester City 4-1 Arsenal: Premier League – as it happened

Kevin De Bruyne scored twice, while Erling Haaland notched his 49th goal of the season, as City took control of the title race with an imperious display

The teams are out! Manchester City wear their famous sky blue, Arsenal their equally storied red shirts with white sleeves. Everything as it should be … and what an atmosphere. The crowd na-na-na along to Hey Jude. On BT Sport, pundit Martin Keown suggests Arsenal should stop Haaland with an early “reducer”. Never change, English football, never change. Summit meeting coming right up!

Pre-match singalong. “I was just thinking what might happen if someone in the crowd let off a flare and kick off was delayed a few minutes to wait for the clouds of smoke to clear. As the City players stood around waiting for the match to start, it’s conceivable that John Stones could turn to a team mate and sing …

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Football Daily | Arsenal, Manchester City and some heavy lifting in the title race

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It wasn’t the greatest night for Brendan Rodgers. His former charges Leicester City, relegation-bound with the Brodge at the helm, were good value for a precious point at Leeds. Admittedly it was a game they could have lost, but on balance they probably should have won, and so that’ll be seven points from the last nine for new broom Dean Smith once they’ve dealt with Everton on Monday night. The Foxes suddenly look reinvigorated, back on point, James Maddison speaking after the game of the benefit of hearing a fresh voice in the dressing room, and it’s the biggest blow to Brenny’s reputation for elite man-management since he was captured on camera railing at a teenage Raheem Sterling while performing his famous pick-an-envelope conjuring act to a soundtrack of Oxygene, Pt.4.

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Leeds United 1-1 Leicester City: Premier League – as it happened

Jamie Vardy rescued a deserved point for Leicester as the relegation rivals shared the spoils at Elland Road

The teams are out at Elland Road! Leeds in their Revie-Real-influened white, Leicester wearing first-choice royal blue. The ear-piercing piccolo of Marching On Together fills the air. A heady mix of anticipation and trepidation is palpable. Football is fun! We’ll be off in a minute.

Pre-match postbag o’anxiety. “Should I be rooting for a draw?” wonders Brad Wilson. “My best mate is a Leeds supporter. I’d prefer both Everton and Leeds stay up, but if my beloved Toffees have to go down I hope Leeds stays up for my friend. If it’s between Leeds and Everton, well, my friend, sorry.”

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Football Daily | A comedic tour de force, extravagant even by Tottenham’s historical standards

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At 2.21pm this afternoon, Football Daily finally finished processing what had happened to Tottenham Hotspur at St James’ Park over the weekend. Having taken exactly two full days to come to terms with the sheer Lads It’s scope of the fiasco, we tasked ourselves with putting the comedic tour de force, extravagant even by Spurs’ historical standards, into words. However, we could only come up with the sort of confused grunts and befuddled yelps normally associated with glaikit cartoon characters such as Homer Simpson, Scooby Doo and Tucker Carlson. Not ideal for the medium we work in. But what can you do? It was that bad. D’oh! (x5)

Please, please, please, please, please don’t hire Mauricio Pochettino, Chelsea. In fact, don’t hire anyone. These are dark times and Frank Lampard is doing a service to the entire nation, dare I say the world, in providing a glimmer of humour” – Antony Train.

After Sunday’s Spurs demolition, Eddie Howe looks set to lead Newcastle to Big Cup qualification and subsequent world domination. Let’s hope he didn’t look over at his beleaguered colleague at the final whistle and have a Keeganesque moment of clarity” – Pål Jørgen Bakke.

Manchester United’s grey kit was blamed for the loss against Southampton back in 1996 as ‘players were unable to pick out teammates to pass to’. However, I think on this occasion Tottenham players were too easy to see and so the Toon found passing simpler. Hopefully the colour of the door marked ‘Do One’ is painted the same colour so Stellini found it easy enough” – Pete Cody.

If Manchester City are playing Leeds on ‘Saturday 8 May’ (yesterday’s News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition), they’re breaking the calendar, not just the 3pm embargo” – Jim Hearson.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

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Manchester City 3-0 Sheffield United: FA Cup semi-final – as it happened

Riyad Mahrez scored the first FA Cup semi-final hat-trick since 1958 as Manchester City reached the final for the 12th time

52 seconds: But then United go up the other end, Baldock winning a corner off Gomes down the right. And from that …

18 seconds: Haaland very nearly gets in ahead of Robinson, but the ball is steered back to Foderingham. What a start that could have been!

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Sevilla 3-0 Manchester United (5-2 on agg): Europa League quarter-final – as it happened

Farcical mistakes by David de Gea and Harry Maguire cost United dear and sent Erik ten Hag’s team tumbling out of Europe

4 min: Marcao shoulder barges Sabitzer with such vigour that the United midfielder flies into the dugout seats. He requires a bit of attention. Maguire’s not happy about the challenge, which had a nonsense rating of zero, and tells the referee as much. No booking, though.

2 min: Bono’s hacked clearance goes straight to Eriksen, who sets Sancho off down the left. Sancho has options, but rolls the ball out for a goal kick, having misread Martial’s run.

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