Scott Murray's Blog, page 36

Southampton 1-0 Leicester: Premier League – as it happened

James Ward-Prowse missed a penalty but Carlos Alcaraz scored soon after to lift Saints off the bottom of the Premier League

2 min: Ward-Prowse’s delivery isn’t all that. Leicester clear their lines.

1 min: Saints start quickly, Walker-Peters drifting in from the left and feeding Alcaraz, who has a crack from distance. The shot is deflected wide right for the first corner of the evening.

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Manchester City 2-0 Newcastle United: Premier League – as it happened

Newcastle had their chances, but City put theirs away

4 min: Almiron and Longstaff combine down the right and win the first corner of the afternoon off Ake. The corner’s hit long. Lascelles rises highest at the far stick and plants a header goalwards. Rodri clears. A good start by Newcastle, this.

3 min: Ederson, under pressure from that Newcastle press, shanks a dismal clearance straight out of play. City look uncharacteristically jittery at the back during these early exchanges.

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Arsenal 4-0 Everton, Southampton 1-2 Grimsby: Premier League and FA Cup – as it happened

Grimsby Town from League Two reached the FA Cup quarter finals for the first time since 1939, Sheffield United shocked Spurs, and Arsenal extended their lead at the top of the Premier League

Southampton 0-0 Grimsby. The hosts continue to attack. Djenepo swans down the left and stands one up for Orsic, who heads lamely towards Crocombe. Grimsby quickly give the ball away, Lavia sending Mara clear down the middle. Crocombe saves brilliantly, one on one, and though the flag then goes up correctly for offside, the Grimsby keeper wasn’t to know that. Great stop.

Southampton 0-0 Grimsby. The Mariners get the ball rolling by the Solent. But it’s Saints who are quickly on the attack, Armstrong making some good ground down the left before swinging the ball towards nobody in particular. Goal kick, but a fast start by the hosts.

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Football Daily | When Just Fontaine swanned around Sweden … and the world

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The French know a thing or two about producing tournament goalscorers all right. For a start there’s Kylian Mbappé, whose eight in Qatar last year was the biggest haul at a single World Cup for 20 years, since Ronaldo scored the same number in South Korea and Japan. No other player in the last half a century has come close. Then there’s Michel Platini, whose nine at Euro 84 remains an all-time record in that particular competition. No small achievement, either of those, and yet they both pale into insignificance when compared to the way Just Fontaine, who has died aged 89, swanned around Sweden at the 1958 World Cup.

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Bristol City 0-3 Manchester City: FA Cup fifth round – as it happened

Bristol City performed well but Manchester City’s quality made the difference

2 min: Bristol City reply by launching the ball down the left. Akanji slips and Bell scampers towards the box. He opens his body and looks for the top-right corner. His shot is deflected out for a corner kick. He should probably have rolled across for Wells, but he was within his rights to take the shot on himself too.

1 min 01 sec: Mahrez diddles his way down the right before rolling the ball infield. Phillips takes a touch before aiming towards the top-right corner. O’Leary in the Bristol City goal is beaten, but the ball slams off the crossbar and away.

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Football Daily | Some of the best FA Cup moments in history have occurred under the lights

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The fifth round of the FA Cup is a weekday thing now, for some reason, causing the more small ‘c’ conservative and superannuated among us to feel mild pangs of discombobulation, bordering on unease that occasionally segues into the sort of impotent rage that leads to high blood pressure, piles and Brexit. But there’s really no need to fret. Let’s be honest, most of the best FA Cup moments in history occurred under lights in the middle of the week anyway. Ricky Villa! Ryan Giggs! The great Chelsea-Leeds donnybrook! Bryan Robson scoring against Oldham from a yard out with his front tail! The list is endless, even if ours clearly ran out of steam after entry No 3.

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

The champions saw off spirited Bournemouth easily enough on the south coast

5 min: Ake’s jet-fuelled backpass nearly puts Ederson into a spot of trouble. Bournemouth press high and hard, and Lewis isn’t able to pass out from the back. Nothing comes from the resulting Bournemouth throw, deep in City territory, but the early signs suggest Bournemouth are treating this as a free hit, and are going for it to see what might happen. Why not?

3 min: Billing is involved again, this time setting off a counter. He slips Zemura into space down the left. Zemura crosses deep, but while Solanke causes bother at the far post, the ball doesn’t drop for him and City deal with the situation. Some early promise for both teams.

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Manchester United 2-1 Barcelona (4-3 agg): Europa League playoff, second leg – as it happened

Goals from Fred and Antony helped Man Utd come from behind to beat the La Liga leaders at Old Trafford

4 min: Barcelona, signally unruffled at giving up such a chance, go straight up the other end and nearly score themselves, Raphinha making good down the right and curling powerfully from 25 yards. Over the bar it flies. Signs already of the basketball rhythms that were a feature of the second half of the first leg. Lovely.

3 min: A huge early chance for United! Casemiro intercepts in the centre circle and immediately slips a pass down the inside-right channel to release Fernandes. He’s one on one with Ter Stegen! He tries to slot across the keeper, towards the bottom left-hand corner, but Ter Stegen makes himself big and sticks out a leg to block.

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Football Daily | John Motson was all about the sound of football

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“This is George, the substitute, turning well. Mallender. Meadows heading it on. Tremendous spirit in this Hereford side, they’re not giving it up by any means. Radford. Now Tudor’s gone down for Newcastle. Radford again. Oh what a go-oa-l! Wh-aa-at a goal! Radford the scorer! Ronnie Radford! And the crowd, the crowd are invading the pitch, and now it will take some time to clear the field. What a tremendous shot by Radford. He got this ball back, and hit it from well outside the penalty area, and no goalkeeper in the world would have stopped that. It fairly flew into the top corner of McFaul’s net!”

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RB Leipzig 1-1 Manchester City: Champions League last 16, first leg – as it happened

A proper game of two halves as City bossed the first, only for Leipzig to grab a deserved equaliser in the second

2 min: Leipzig have barely touched the ball, happy to sit back and let City stroke it around the middle of the park, waiting for the chance to counter. The pattern of the game set early?

City get the ball rolling. Walker is allowed far too much time and space down the right, making good ground and nearly finding Haaland in space on the edge of the box with his cross. It’s intercepted and the hosts clear. A positive start by the visitors.

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