Scott Murray's Blog, page 86

Manchester City 3-0 Tottenham Hotspur: Premier League – as it happened

Another brace for Ilkay Gundogan as City swatted Spurs aside and extended their lead at the top

7.46pm GMT

Jamie Jackson was at the Etihad to see City’s latest procession. Here’s his report: be about your business, clickity click! Thanks for reading this MBM. Stay safe and warm, everyone. Goodnight, Dick!

Related: Gündogan doubles up in Manchester City's comfortable win over Tottenham

7.44pm GMT

Here come the judge. “It was a fresh team against a very tired team,” begins Mourinho. “But a team that started the game very well, with the game completely in control. We hit the post, 1-0 would have given us fuel in the boys’ legs. Then one of these modern penalties - I call them modern penalties - to put us in a difficult situation. But I am very happy with the players’ attitude. I had guys on the pitch that played two hours a couple of days ago, they gave everything. We have guys in difficulty. Lucas was the one I took off at half-time, but I had other guys on the pitch in such a difficult situation. But great attitude and great dignity. Losing 3-0, a team that is not united or together would give up and be punished. But I saw guys like Harry, Pierre and Heung, just to tell you three names I could give you, give everything. So I have nothing to say against my payers, not even against a couple of defensive mistakes that are always present. But I cannot complain with the attitude.” A lot to unpack there. Enjoy, enjoy.

7.35pm GMT

Rodri, who took the first penalty of his entire career this evening, explains the process to Sky. “I was a bit angry because we missed many penalties, so I said next penalty I will shoot. I grabbed the ball and no-one took the ball away from me. Fortunately I scored! [Silva gave me advice] telling me points about Lloris, where to shoot the penalty. I didn’t listen! I didn’t listen! Because many times it’s better to be focused on where you are confident, and I was confident to shoot that way. Luckily it was in. We were laughing in the locker room, next penalty I will take!”

7.26pm GMT

As the players troop off, Mourinho ostentatiously hugs Kane, Son and a deeply unhappy Dier. His team will certainly need a pick-me-up after being casually swatted aside by City. It was another mesmerising performance from City and Ilkay Gundogan in particular. They’ll be hoping the groin injury he limped off with isn’t too serious. They’re seven clear of Leicester with a game in hand; eight clear of neighbours Manchester United with the same number of matches played. And they’re 13 points clear, with a game in hand, on Liverpool, the reigning champions but now an irrelevance in the title race. Spurs stay in eighth.

7.22pm GMT

City go seven clear of second-placed Leicester City with their 11th straight Premier League win, and their 16th in all competitions.

7.21pm GMT

90 min +3: Mahrez dribbles in from the right but loses the run of his feet just as space to shoot opens up.

7.20pm GMT

90 min +1: Another Spurs corner. Son swings it in. Ederson claims and sends Mahrez off on the counter. Davies takes one for the team, and receives his booking.

7.19pm GMT

90 min: Silva cuts in from the right and goes for the bottom left. Lloris claims. There will be three added minutes.

7.18pm GMT

89 min: Foden drifts into the box from the corner. He waltzes past the hapless Sanchez and pulls back for Sterling, who switches his feet and blasts for the bottom right. Lloris sticks out a leg and hacks clear.

7.17pm GMT

88 min: Cancelo’s looping long pass finds Sterling in space down the left. He wins a corner off Sanchez.

7.15pm GMT

86 min: Sterling has a look down the right. The door shuts this time, but City are after a fourth.

7.14pm GMT

84 min: Kane wins a corner down the right. The resulting set piece renders his effort a textbook exercise in futility.

7.13pm GMT

83 min: Foden slips a pass down the left, releasing Torres in to acres of space. He’s got Sterling in the middle, but dallies and runs into trouble.

7.10pm GMT

81 min: The Gareth Bale of 2013 turns up! On the edge of the D, he faces Stones, Silva and Laporte. He shimmies and shakes, and makes his way through! Just enough space and time for a shot. He rasps one towards the top right, but Ederson is up to it, and palms away. Shame, that would have been a lovely goal. As it is, it’s merely a lovely cameo.

7.08pm GMT

79 min: Son and Cancelo come together in the midfield. Son comes off worst. As he receives treatment, Mahrez comes on for Jesus.

7.07pm GMT

77 min: Dier is yellow-carded for a frustrated clatter on Jesus. He socked it to him, if you will. OK, I’m going to stop this now.

7.06pm GMT

76 min: Spurs continue to labour. You bet your sweet bippy.

7.03pm GMT

74 min: Spurs are trying to piece together a response, but passing sequences in the final third seem beyond them. City are quite happy to sit back and let them flail about. “Thanks for reminding me how old I am,” writes Mary Waltz. “Picking up the Rowan and Martin reference and suddenly realizing that 89% of the MBM readers have no idea who they are.” They could always look them up in their Funk & Wagnalls.

7.00pm GMT

72 min: Here comes the lesser-spotted Gareth Bale, on for Lamela.

7.00pm GMT

71 min: Spurs have collectively lost the head, to the point that Kane gives the ball straight to Foden while clearing up at a corner. Foden threads a shot towards the bottom right, but Lloris is good for this one.

6.58pm GMT

69 min: A wee shake of the head, and Gundogan is replaced by Torres. City will be hoping that’s not too serious.

6.57pm GMT

68 min: Gundogan - two goals, one assist - has been unplayable for the last couple of months, so City will be worried to see him seated on the turf, holding his groin.

6.56pm GMT

This is direct, but oh so beautiful. Ederson launches long. It’s Gundogan versus Sanchez. The Spurs defender has no idea where he is, or what to do. Gundogan takes a little touch to the right, then back to the left. As Sanchez is left sprawling, Gundogan passes daintily into the bottom right. An exquisite finish ... and not a bad assist from the keeper either! Give that man a penalty to take.

6.54pm GMT

65 min: Lamela is booked for a cynical tug on Cancelo’s shirt as the City right-back rampages down the middle.

6.52pm GMT

64 min: Spurs need something different, so on comes Dele for Ndombele.

6.51pm GMT

63 min: City are in complete control here. Metronomic passing. Spurs can hardly get a touch.

6.49pm GMT

61 min: City have had 31 touches in the opposition box. Spurs have had four. City are doing this without Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero!

6.47pm GMT

59 min: Sterling crosses long from the right. At the far post, Foden volleys it first time back to Gundogan, free in acres on the penalty spot. If Gundogan traps and takes his time, he surely scores. But he attempts a first-time swivel and volley, and times it all wrong. Spurs go up the other end, Ndombele having a speculative look from just inside the box, but it’s an easy claim for Ederson.

6.46pm GMT

57 min: Foden grooves in from the left and enters the box. He’s charged off the ball by Tanganga, in the no-nonsense style. Foden wants a spot kick, but it’s not forthcoming.

6.44pm GMT

56 min: Son crosses from a deep position on the left, but there’s nobody in the middle. An easy claim for Ederson.

6.43pm GMT

55 min: City sit back and allow Spurs some sterile possession in the middle of the park.

6.41pm GMT

53 min: A little bit of snow in the night air. Nothing settling yet, but poor Jose’s a-cold.

6.41pm GMT

51 min: That’s a beautiful assist by Sterling, who shimmied around before clipping a gorgeous little diagonal dink infield for Gundogan.

6.39pm GMT

Sterling isn’t giving it up. He worms around the left channel and feeds Gundogan, who pokes a fierce shot towards the bottom left and through Lloris’s weak hand. Spurs in bother now.

6.38pm GMT

49 min: Sterling dribbles through the Spurs box from right to left. He can’t find space to shoot. He lays off to Foden. No space for Foden either. But no matter, because ...

6.35pm GMT

47 min: A low-key start to the second period.

6.34pm GMT

City get the second half underway. Spurs have made one change: Sissoko on for Moura. “My poor father is trying to watch this game online here in the States via NBC, but reports that every link he clicks takes him instead to the impeachment trail,” writes Nathan Tucker. “It occurred to me that watching the impeachment’s frustratingly foregone conclusion unfold is not unlike watching Spurs this season. Maybe someone at NBC is having a laugh.” The network that gave us Seinfeld, Cheers, Parks & Recreation and Friends, reduced to trolling for yuks? That it’s come to this. Rowan and Martin will be spinning in their graves.

6.20pm GMT

Half-time reading. He’s not saying anything we hadn’t worked out for ourselves, but Jurgen Klopp has conceded the title in the wake of Liverpool’s latest capitulation. David Hytner reports.

Related: Jürgen Klopp laments Liverpool collapse and concedes title

6.17pm GMT

There’s just enough time for Cancelo to send a curler into the top-left corner of the stand behind Lloris’s goal, and that’s the half-time whistle. As things stand, City are going seven points clear at the top of the Premier League.

6.16pm GMT

45 min: There will be one added first-half minute.

6.15pm GMT

44 min: City are coming at Spurs relentlessly now. Spurs could do with hearing the half-time whistle.

6.14pm GMT

42 min: Sterling sashays down the right and reaches the byline. He pulls back for Gundogan, whose low drive is blocked by a superb Sanchez slide. The ball breaks to Jesus, who blazes over. City very close to doubling their lead.

6.12pm GMT

40 min: Lamela is incensed enough to nearly talk himself into the book, but the referee wisely doesn’t double down on his error. Nothing comes of the resulting free kick, so we can put the whole sorry episode to bed.

6.11pm GMT

38 min: Lamela is scissor-tackled by Jesus. No free kick. Jesus scampers away with the ball. Lamela bowls him over in frustration. Free kick this time. Philosophical debate ensues.

6.08pm GMT

36 min: Sterling crosses from the right. Davies is right next to him, and the ball clips his arm. Sterling wants another penalty, but he’s not getting one.

6.07pm GMT

35 min: See 33 min, except the free kick is out on the left, and this time it’s Zinchenko’s delivery that’s poor. Meanwhile here’s Simon McMahon. “Ah, the Ricky Villa channel (9 min). Number 81 on Freeview. Escape to Victory on after. Reckon I’ll watch both tonight. Or go rioting instead.” Don’t go out. Triangle’s on later.

6.04pm GMT

33 min: A free kick for City out on the right. Everyone lines up on the edge of the Spurs box. Gundogan sends it straight down Lloris’s throat.

6.02pm GMT

31 min: Silva is afforded an absurd amount of space down the middle, 30 yards out. Spurs are fortunate Silva takes one step too many before shooting, allowing Sanchez to close him down and block the shot, which goes looping into Lloris’s arms.

6.00pm GMT

29 min: Davies barges down the left and is upended from behind by Silva, who goes straight into the book.

5.59pm GMT

27 min: Laporte nearly finds Foden with a creamy long pass down the inside-left channel. A wee bit too strong, and Lloris is able to come out and clear.

5.57pm GMT

25 min: Moura glides at speed down the inside-right channel, drawing a foul from Zinchenko. Spurs line up on the edge of the box, but the delivery of the free kick is no good and easily cleared by City. Lamela tries to retrieve the situation, and slides in recklessly on Jesus. Not sure how he’s got away without a booking, but this is what’s happened.

5.55pm GMT

City don’t half like missing penalties, and they nearly mess up this one too. Rodri aims towards the bottom left, but not with any particular conviction. Lloris gets a hand on it, but the ball pings up and into the top left. It’s in, but at this rate, it won’t be long before Ederson gets his chance.

5.53pm GMT

22 min: Ederson fancies taking it! But having reached the centre circle, he’s told to go back. It’ll be Rodri.

5.53pm GMT

21 min: Gundogan is sent into the box down the left by Sterling. Gundogan tries to stop the ball dead, but is clattered clumsily on the ankle by Hojbjerg. The referee points to the spot.

5.51pm GMT

20 min: Spurs look very dangerous on the counter. Lamela romps forward, with Kane and Son to either side, but he hesitates and the opportunity to release a team-mate soon evaporates. A nice open feel to this game, though.

5.50pm GMT

18 min: Moura, Lamela and Son take turns to shuttle the ball upfield at pace. The ball ends up with Kane, out on the left. Kane tries to catch Ederson out with a long-distance curl towards the top left with the outside of his boot, but it’s always flying miles over. It would have been interesting had that gone in, because Silva was clearly upended by Davies down the other end to trigger the start of the counter.

5.47pm GMT

16 min: Gundogan tries to release ... well, who? ... down the inside-right channel. Goal kick. City have enjoyed 78 percent possession so far, but it’s Spurs who have come closest to taking the lead.

5.46pm GMT

14 min: Laporte hassles Kane from behind, and the Spurs captain takes the opportunity to go over and win a free kick just to the right of the D. He takes himself, and creams a sensational curler over the wall and towards the top right. The ball pings off the top of the post, just under the junction with the crossbar, and across the face of goal. Moura can’t do anything useful with the rebound, out on the left, and Ederson smothers. What an effort that was!

5.44pm GMT

12 min: Sterling makes his way down the left with some swagger, backflicking to allow Silva to sail past on the overlap. Silva reaches the byline but there’s nobody in the box to take advantage.

5.43pm GMT

11 min: Cancelo, who has been quite sensational for City all season, turns on the jets and makes something out of nothing down the inside-right channel. He cuts back dangerously from the byline, but none of his team-mates have anticipated his burst and Spurs are able to clear. What a season Cancelo is having.

5.41pm GMT

9 min: As well as being a preview of this year’s League Cup final, this is also a replay of the famous 1981 FA Cup final, and so Ndombele goes on a run down the Ricky Villa Channel. He nearly opens City up, too, but upon reaching the box can’t quite fashion space to shoot.

5.39pm GMT

8 min: Cancelo finds Jesus on the edge of the Spurs box with a gorgeous curling pass from the right. Jesus takes two pots at goal, but Sanchez and Tanganga take turns to block. Fine football all round.

5.38pm GMT

7 min: Kane drops a shoulder and sashays away from Gundogan and Jesus. A lovely smooth shimmy. But it’s in the centre circle, and there’s nobody further forward to help him in attack, and City eventually reclaim possession.

5.37pm GMT

6 min: Foden probing again on the right. It’s going to be a long afternoon for Davies, as well as Son, who has been detailed to track back and cover.

5.36pm GMT

5 min: But they’ll have to keep their concentration at the back, and Foden again finds space down the right. He’s onside this time, but he can’t make anything of the good field position. A bright start by both sides.

5.36pm GMT

4 min: Lamela bursts down the middle of the park, shrugging off the attention of Silva, and nearly releases Son with a long pass. Not quite, but there’s an early sign that Spurs haven’t come here to sit back.

5.34pm GMT

3 min: Cancelo rolls a pass down the right for Foden, who is offside but wins a corner. Thankfully for those sick to the back teeth of manufactured controversy (yeah I know) Rodri heads harmlessly high and wide upon meeting the set piece.

5.32pm GMT

1 min: And so the trial run of the League Cup final begins. A friendly exchange between old foes Mourinho and Guardiola before kick-off, incidentally. All pals.

5.31pm GMT

Spurs get the ball rolling ... but only after the knee. There’s no room for racism. Kick it out.

5.27pm GMT

The teams are out! City wear their famous sky blue, while Spurs are in second-choice green and black. Not long now!

5.18pm GMT

Jose Mourinho talks to Sky Sports. “I don’t want to think about [how much energy Spurs have left in the wake of extra-time at Everton] because there is no point. That’s the way it is. If you want to compare City’s task and ours midweek in the cup, you cannot compare. They rested and we played two hours. But I don’t want to think about it. We are going to give everything and tomorrow we are going to have a day off which [the players] have not had for a long time, and the next match is Thursday. We can have a rest and start a new period. [City] are the top team now. They score lots of goals and don’t concede, they win matches. So of course it’s a very difficult task. But we believe and we are going to fight.”

Pep, relaxed and cracking wise in the tinder-dry style, also speaks. He reports that Dias didn’t train all week because “he had the fever and didn’t feel good”, and suggests that his midweek observation that, just because City are on a 15-game winning streak, they do not automatically start games 2-0 up, is “one of the more wise things I have ever said in my career.” A twinkle in his eye. Life is good when you’re on a record-breaking run.

4.45pm GMT

Manchester City’s lead at the top was cut to four points earlier this afternoon by Leicester City. The Foxes demolished Liverpool in seven jaw-bothering minutes at the King Power; here’s how the champions collapsed in real time.

Related: Leicester City 3-1 Liverpool: Premier League – as it happened

4.38pm GMT

Manchester City make two changes to the side that routed Liverpool at Anfield last weekend. Gabriel Jesus and Aymeric Laporte replace Riyad Mahrez and Ruben Dias, who both drop to the bench. Sergio Aguero, missing for over a month after contracting Covid-19, is named as a sub.

Tottenham Hotspur make three chances to the XI named for the nine-goal FA Cup thriller at Goodison. Harry Kane, Eric Dier and Japhet Tanganga, the latter making his first Premier League start of the season, replace Steven Bergwijn, Toby Alderweireld and Matt Doherty, who all drop to the bench. They’re alongside Gareth Bale, who has one cheek in the dugout, the other precariously balanced on Jose’s naughty step.

4.32pm GMT

Manchester City: Ederson, Joao Cancelo, Stones, Laporte, Zinchenko, Silva, Rodri, Gundogan, Sterling, Gabriel Jesus, Foden.
Subs: Walker, Dias, Aguero, Steffen, Torres, Mendy, Mahrez, Garcia, Doyle.

Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Tanganga, Sanchez, Dier, Davies, Ndombele, Hojbjerg, Lamela, Lucas Moura, Son, Kane.
Subs: Doherty, Alderweireld, Winks, Bale, Hart, Sissoko, Alli, Bergwijn, Vinicius.

10.38am GMT

On the face of it, this should be a shoo-in for Manchester City. The soon-to-be-runaway league leaders are on a record 15-game winning streak in all competitions, while Spurs have lost four of their last five, their only victory coming against Premier League patsies West Brom. Last week City scored four times at the home of the reigning champions; three evenings ago, Spurs shipped five across Stanley Park at Goodison. Form is a thing.

But then so are head-to-head trends, and Tottenham have had City’s number in recent times. They’ve won the last two meetings, both 2-0 wins in N17. As for the three matches before that, all at the Etihad: a 2-2 draw, a narrow 1-0 defeat, and a 4-3 loss that was nevertheless enough to knock City out of the Champions League. It’s without question that Tottenham will be the happier with the outcome of that particular bundle of fixtures.

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Leicester City 3-1 Liverpool: Premier League – as it happened

Liverpool opened the scoring with a sensational goal, only to be dramatically swept away by Leicester’s magnificent response

2.53pm GMT

A brilliant performance and an even better result for Leicester, who move into second place. A top-four finish is a realistic prospect; dreams of a second Premier League title aren’t quite over yet either. Liverpool meanwhile are going to end up in mid-table unless they turn their 2021 form around, and may have to draw inspiration from their 1981 and 2005 vintages, teams that were miles off in the league but still managed to win the European Cup. David Hytner’s verdict on a dramatic afternoon at the King Power has landed. Off you pop ... and thanks for reading this MBM!

Related: James Maddison sparks late Leicester comeback to deepen Liverpool woe

2.48pm GMT

Brendan Rodgers, who has beaten Liverpool for the first time since his days at Swansea, talks to BT Sport. “I’m very proud of the team. Probably a year ago, if we went behind, we’d have been disappointed and not got something from it. I thought in the first half we had the best chances, we obviously had to withstand pressure, but once we got through it we had some really good chances. I said at half time we needed to be more aggressive, we were too passive, and in the second half we were much better in our defensive aggression, and that allows you to attack with more aggression, and we scored the three goals. We had a plan if we were behind, the shape we would go into, and the players worked it brilliantly. So yeah, really happy. We went to two up front with a diamond structure, so when the game broke down for them, we had the space to go and exploit. Defensively we were good, we had to work and fight and run, and we had the quality to get the goals. There’s still a long way to go, 14 games, but I’ve been pleased with the mindset of the players, who are not getting carried away. You need humility at this level, because you’re up against such tough teams. But today was a really good performance against the champions.”

2.42pm GMT

An ashen-faced Jurgen Klopp gives his analysis on BT Sport. “We conceded a goal that was a tough one to take. It was a turning point. I saw it now, a couple of times. The moment when VAR stopped the situation, he didn’t even touch the ball. So that’s really hard. For me it looks a clear offside, and that’s the moment it should be yes or no. The second goal is a misunderstanding. I said before we need to get used to each other, and we were used to each other until when the goal happened, it was a really good football game. They were one position ahead of us, maybe more now, but on the pitch that was not obvious, we were the clear dominant side. We played football, we did pretty much everything, scored a really nice goal. The game was really good, but they you concede these two goals. The third goal was something I don’t like, because we were too open and I told the boys that is not OK. But it is the situation we are in. Tough times. You saw we tried everything, it is not that we did not try. We were confident and played a super game. The turning point was the first goal. But that’s a point we take of criticism, that it changed too much with this one goal. We didn’t react well, I take that. But around that we played top football against a really strong side. In the end they finished the game and deserved the three points, but we have to deal with our observations.”

2.32pm GMT

An extremely happy James Maddison speaks to BT Sport. “We know, when we play Liverpool, it’s going to be tough, because they can build and pass, and be direct as well. It’s a case of staying in the game. We’re a top team now, we’ve got quality, and if we get chances we can put them away. It showed, because in ten minutes we turned the game on its head. The more they started going for it, the more space the likes of Barnesy had. Alisson is obviously having a bit of a tough time at the moment, but I’m sure he’ll be back. I’m just glad we could take advantage of his mistake. We’re not there by fluke, we’ll keep grinding out results. We weren’t at our best, but it’s about big moments, so I’ll take the three points.”

2.28pm GMT

That astonishing win moves Leicester into second spot, for a day at least. They’re now on 46 points, four behind leaders Manchester City, who have two games in hand. Manchester United can reclaim second spot tomorrrow, providing they avoid defeat at West Bromwich Albion. Liverpool however, any faint hopes of retaining their title completely extinguished, remain in fourth, but Chelsea, West Ham, Everton, Tottenham and Aston Villa are all in a position to pass them if they use their games in hand wisely. A top-four finish, given their 2021 form, looks like a pipe dream at the moment.

2.24pm GMT

If there was any lingering thoughts of Liverpool launching a late run for the title, they’ve been thoroughly quashed by seven wild minutes. Leicester are still in the hunt, though!

2.23pm GMT

90 min +5: John Robinson reports from the States: “Jim Beglin just said in commentary on NBC: Never mind heavy metal football, at the moment it’s Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark.”

2.21pm GMT

90 min +4: Barnes is very close to releasing Vardy down the middle. Liverpool very close to two 4-1 defeats in a row. When would that have happened before?

2.20pm GMT

90 min +3: Robertson crosses deep from the left. Too deep. Alexander-Arnold can’t reach it, and batters the ball deep into the stand, his frustration all too clear.

2.19pm GMT

90 min +1: The first of five additional minutes flies by without incident.

2.19pm GMT

90 min: Alisson, to his great credit, deals with a backpass by flicking it into the air and caressing it with the outside of his boot to Robertson on the left flank. Under pressure as well. No doubt he’ll get the lion’s share of the flack for Liverpool’s late seven-minute collapse, but he’s had a good game otherwise. (I know, I know.)

2.17pm GMT

89 min: Perez has tweaked his knee, and Mendy comes on in his place.

2.16pm GMT

88 min: Perez is down getting treatment. Time for a word from Chris Healy: “I was just about to say Thiago is an absolute liability anywhere near his own penalty area, but it seems at the moment Alisson is an even bigger one. Dear oh dear. Liverpool are only losing this game because of the gifts they have given Leicester.”

2.15pm GMT

87 min: Shaqiri comes on for Wijnaldum, while Chowdhury replaces Tielemans.

2.15pm GMT

86 min: What a collapse. Liverpool are a confidence-free shambles, that’s not been breaking news since December, but you have to credit Leicester for their response to falling behind. What moxie!

2.13pm GMT

Liverpool have fallen apart. Barnes makes another run down the inside-left channel. There’s nobody at the back. He enters the box, opens his body, and tucks the ball into the bottom right!

2.12pm GMT

83 min: It should be three. Barnes breezes down the left. He shoots low and hard towards the bottom right. Alisson parries sensationally ... then makes an even more outstanding stop from Vardy, who was in the process of slamming home from an angle on the right. The post helps a little, but Allison has gone from the ridiculous to the sublime. He’d been playing well before that clanger, as well.

2.10pm GMT

Another Allison catastrophe! A long ball over the top. Alisson comes racing out to blooter clear! But Kabak is preparing to hoick away, too. The pair clatter into each other, and Vardy walks the ball into the unguarded net! That is beyond ludicrous, especially in the wake of the Manchester City debacle!

2.08pm GMT

80 min: But it turns out that Firmino was playing everyone onside by his toenail. The goal stands!

2.07pm GMT

Maddison curls it in low, the ball going straight through a ruck of players and into the bottom right! But Amartey is offside, and he had made a move towards the ball. The flag goes up. VAR will check.

2.06pm GMT

78 min: The foul was as close as can be to a penalty ... without conceding one. But it doesn’t matter, because ...

2.05pm GMT

76 min: Leicester have responded wonderfully to going behind. Barnes dribbles down the left and goes over Thiago’s clumsy leg. This is just outside the white line, by a millimetre or so. Or at least as far as the naked eye can tell. The referee gives a free kick - or has he pointed to the spot? Either way, VAR is going to check.

2.03pm GMT

75 min: Oxlade-Chamberlain comes on for Jones.

2.02pm GMT

74 min: Before the kick is taken, Perez comes on for Albrighton. Then the corner’s sent straight out of play by Maddison, whose dead-ball delivery has been uncharacteristically poor so far.

2.01pm GMT

73 min: Alexander-Arnold takes. Vardy clears. Leicester have defended well this afternoon; they could do nothing about the goal. The hosts fly up the other end, Ricardo winning a corner down the left off Kabak.

1.59pm GMT

72 min: Once again, Maddison’s delivery is poor and an easy gather for Alisson. Liverpool fly up the other end, winning a corner on the left.

1.59pm GMT

71 min: Kabak picks up a yellow card on debut for not very much, going shoulder to shoulder with Barnes down the inside left. A free kick for Leicester, in a dangerous position just to the side of the Liverpool box.

1.58pm GMT

70 min: Wijnaldum drives down the inside-left channel and lays off to Jones on the inside. Jones tries to replicate Firmino’s balletic spin, but can’t quite pull it off.

1.57pm GMT

69 min: That had been coming, in terms of territory and possession anyway. Schmeichel hasn’t been forced into too much action, but he could do nothing about that. A gentle reminder that the reigning champions are not half bad when they get their game on.

1.56pm GMT

This is an astonishing goal. Alexander-Arnold has a dig from distance on the right. Soyuncu blocks. The ball breaks back to Alexander-Arnold, who bursts down the right and cuts back for Firmino. He’s surrounded by three defenders, so pirouettes on the ball, rolling it back for Salah, who opens his body and steers calmly into the top left. Fine finish, but what an assist!

1.54pm GMT

66 min: Thiago, Mane and Alexander-Arnold draw some pretty triangles down the right, but there’s nobody in the middle for any of them to find, and the move eventually peters out.

1.52pm GMT

64 min: Jones floats a curler in from the left, but it flies harmlessly between Firmino and Salah, easy pickings for Schmeichel.

1.51pm GMT

63 min: Liverpool aren’t creating, while Leicester are struggling to retain possession. A bit of a stalemate.

1.50pm GMT

62 min: The second corner is half-cleared by Leicester, but Liverpool keep them pushed back in their final third.

1.49pm GMT

61 min: Alexander-Arnold, tight on the right touchline, sprays a delicious crossfield pass towards Robertson. Albrighton is forced to knock behind for a corner. Firmino meets it at the near post, his header pinging off Ndidi and out for another corner.

1.48pm GMT

60 min: Thiago robs Barnes and releases Salah into acres down the right. But Salah overruns the ball, allowing Soyuncu to stride over and bash a clearance into the stand.

1.46pm GMT

58 min: Mane beats Amartey down the left in elegant style, but can’t find anyone with his cross. Salah tries down the other flank, but his final ball is lacking as well. To be fair, neither player had many options in the middle.

1.44pm GMT

57 min: Salah spins Ricardo and is brought down for his trouble. Alexander-Arnold whips the free kick towards the top right. It takes a slight deflection off the wall, beats Schmeichel, and crashes off the junction of the bar and post!

1.43pm GMT

55 min: Leicester ship possession on the edge of their own box, Evans struggling to reach the ball. They’re fortunate that Mane dawdles with space ahead of him on the left, and that Thiago subsequently miscontrols.

1.41pm GMT

53 min: Vardy threatens to break down the left but is stopped by a perfectly timed Kabak sliding tackle. While we’re on the subject of palindromic players, here’s SF Devereux: “I’m sure all the Liverpool fans reading will have fond memories of Ricky Otto and his excellently taken FA Cup goal against them for Birmingham.”

1.39pm GMT

51 min: Another poor effort, flat and easily cleared. But Tielemans finds some space on the left and slips Maddison away down the flank. Maddison’s low cross, meant for Vardy, is snaffled by Alisson. Liverpool break upfield, Robertson slashing wildly over from the edge of the box. A perfectly poised game, this.

1.37pm GMT

50 min: But they’ll get another chance, because Maddison comes back at Liverpool down the same flank, and is upended by Robertson. This is a lot closer to the Liverpool box. Danger here.

1.37pm GMT

49 min: Leicester line up on the edge of the box. Maddison takes the free kick. Straight into the arms of Alisson. Very poor.

1.36pm GMT

48 min: A long pass down the left for Barnes. Alexander-Arnold tugs him back. Just a free kick. It looked more of a booking than Jones’s first-half yellow. Very strange.

1.35pm GMT

47 min: Evans is still limping. It’s not immediately clear why he’s been sent out again. Nobody’s warming up, either, just in case, so the Leicester docs must be confident that he’ll run whatever it is off.

1.33pm GMT

Liverpool get the second half underway. No changes. Evans, who limped off at the end of the first half, is still not moving too freely, though. Meanwhile here’s Richard Hirst: “Could we count the Fulham pair John Collins Collins John?” Nice try, but no.

1.20pm GMT

Half-time palindromic postbag: “Marcelo Salas upfront, Eberechi Eze behind him, Ante Cilic in... the team (not sure where to be honest).” Jon Collin there, everyone; drab as a fool, aloof as a bard.

1.17pm GMT

Liverpool have bossed the possession and territory stats, but it’s Jamie Vardy who has had the best opportunities. Three of them. Plenty for both managers to ponder at the break.

Related: Patrick Bamford the scholar of goals finds right master in Marcelo Bielsa

1.16pm GMT

45 min: Alexander-Arnold smacks the free kick into the wall. Very poor. Evans limps upfield. His Leicester team-mates are moving more freely, and suddenly Vardy is on his own, on the left-hand edge of the box. But he’s denied by a fine Alisson star-jump. Fine goalkeeping, a tribute to the bloke up the other end’s father.

1.14pm GMT

44 min: Mane drives towards the Leicester box and is brought down by Evans, who is booked and may also have tweaked something. Anyway, he decides he’s good to continue for now, and it’ll be a free kick just to the right of the D.

1.14pm GMT

43 min: That’s technically a let-off for Liverpool, because the flag didn’t go up for offside. Vardy looked an inch or two ahead of Henderson, so it’d have been interesting had it gone in, given the tombola that is VAR.

1.13pm GMT

42 min: ... then Maddison suddenly hoicks a long ball down the middle, releasing Vardy! He races clear of Henderson, and upon reaching the edge of the box, releases a rising shot that hammers the top of the bar and out for a goal kick!

1.11pm GMT

41 min: The game slows for the first time today.

1.09pm GMT

39 min: Alexander-Arnold and Salah combine sweetly and smoothly down the right. The ball’s sent infield for Firmino, who releases Robertson down the left. Robertson enters the box and sends a drive towards the bottom right. Amartey deflects it wide of goal, and nothing comes of the resulting corner.

1.08pm GMT

37 min: Tielemans nearly sends Barnes clear down the middle, Liverpool’s back line all over the shop. But Barnes can’t sort his feet out, and Alexander-Arnold is able to come over and put a stop to his plans.

1.07pm GMT

36 min: Barnes teases Alexander-Arnold down the left. He works enough space to chip a cross into the centre. Henderson can’t reach it, and it falls towards Vardy, who tries to steer a downward header into the bottom right, but sends it straight into Alisson’s arms. Great chance!

1.05pm GMT

34 min: Liverpool re-establish some dominance, albeit in the sterile fashion.

1.03pm GMT

32 min: Tielemans curls a pass down the right for Albrighton. It should be easy for Robertson to mop up, but he takes a fresh-air swipe at the ball. Albrighton nearly gets in, but Alisson steps in to snaffle. Leicester are slowly working their way back into this.

1.00pm GMT

30 min: ... but Ndidi weakly heads Maddison’s corner wide right.

1.00pm GMT

29 min: Maddison has a dig from distance. The ball deflects off Kabak for Leicester’s first corner of the evening. Liverpool have had quite a few, by contrast. You know how these things often go.

12.59pm GMT

28 min: Liverpool continue to knock at the door. A free kick leads to another corner. But the Leicester back line stands firm. Both teams will be happy with their performances, for differing reasons.

12.58pm GMT

26 min: The corner on the right is worked to Henderson on the left. Henderson chips across. Firmino should slam home, but Schmeichel sticks out a strong arm to save sensationally! Leicester clear, whereupon it becomes apparent that Firmino would have been flagged offside. But Schmeichel wasn’t to know that. What a save! Firmino didn’t hit his shot straight at him; Schmeichel had to stick his right arm out at 90 degrees to block that. Wow.

12.56pm GMT

25 min: Robertson embarks on one of his trademark head-down power runs, left to right, eventually freeing Salah into space. Salah moves it forward to Firmino, who tries to chip Schmeichel from a tight angle. Saved. Corner.

12.55pm GMT

24 min: Leicester break from the corner through Maddison and Barnes. Jones is booked for brushing both of them. Both challenges look like a foul; neither looked worth a booking. But here we are.

12.53pm GMT

23 min: Henderson is in quarterback mode today. He pearls another long pass down the right, straight to Salah’s feet. Ricardo comes across to run the ball out for a corner.

12.52pm GMT

21 min: Maddison dribbles into the Liverpool box from the right, but loses control. Liverpool break at speed, Alexander-Arnold romping down the middle and slipping Salah away down the inside-right. Salah decides he can’t chip over the charging Schmeichel, so dinks inside for Mane, who slides in, hoping to toe-poke home from sic yards. Amartey gets in the road, a stunning last-ditch challenge that averts the goal and even secures a goal kick. Lovely football all round.

12.49pm GMT

19 min: Jones and Thiago combine well in the middle of the park, releasing Robertson down the left. Robertson’s cross pings off Mane’s head and out for a goal kick. For all Liverpool’s dominance of the ball, Schmeichel hasn’t had any work to do yet.

12.47pm GMT

17 min: Milner has picked up a knock ... or more likely a muscle injury. He signals to the bench. He can’t continue. He trudges off sadly, to be replaced by Thiago.

12.47pm GMT

16 min: Mane turns on the jets and tries to beat Amartey down the left. Nearly. Corner. That one leads to another, on the other side. That second one is half-cleared, and Salah has a whack from the edge of the box. He shins it well wide right.

12.45pm GMT

14 min: The game continues to flow at a very pleasant pace. “Is it clear yet whether Kabak is Liverpool’s palindromic, pandemic panic pick?” wonders Paul Griffin. “On the subject of palindromes, is there a footballing team sheet compiled only of same-backwards players? Libpool’s Ojo would obviously start. I suppose Pep would get a game in midfield. Turkey’s Hakan Sas would be upfront. City’s Asa Hartford perhaps too.” Where’s Mac Millings when you need him?

12.43pm GMT

12 min: Salah goes for a ball just inside the Leicester box on the right. Ricardo hangs out a leg. A brush of the boot and Salah goes over. You’ve seen them given, but you’ve also seen them not given. One of those. Neither referee nor VAR chappie is interested, and we play on.

12.42pm GMT

11 min: Barnes wedges a pass down the left for Vardy, sitting on Kabak’s shoulder. He gets a yard on his man, but is faced with a very tight angle. He tries to do a Danny Ings, but his diagonal chip sails harmlessly over.

12.41pm GMT

10 min: Henderson creams a lovely pass down the middle to release Salah. A goal looks on the cards, but Salah, chesting down, can’t sort his feet out and pokes out harmlessly, wide left of goal. A sly but fair nudge in the back from Ricardo put him off.

12.39pm GMT

9 min: Liverpool have enjoyed 68 percent possession so far.

12.39pm GMT

8 min: Milner, Firmino and Mane combine cutely down the inside-left channel. Milner pokes forward to Mane, who wins a corner off Amartey, but the flag goes up belatedly for offside. Liverpool look a little more like Liverpool in these early exchanges.

12.37pm GMT

6 min: Mane dribbles infield from left to right, laying off to Salah just inside the Leicester box. Salah tries to find Firmino in the middle, but his cross is weak and easily cleared. A crisp start on a crisp afternoon by both teams.

12.36pm GMT

5 min: Ndidi very nearly slips Vardy away down the inside-left channel. We’re denied a Vardy versus Kabak footrace, as Henderson steps in to intercept. That’d have been interesting all right.

12.35pm GMT

4 min: Alexander-Arnold then finds Mane down the middle. He nearly breaks clear, but Soyuncu intercepts to concede his second corner of the game. Leicester deal with this one easily enough as well.

12.34pm GMT

3 min: A Leicester long ball. Vardy chases after it. Alisson comes out of his box and cushions a pass to Alexander-Arnold with his thigh. Early signs that the keeper has rebuilt some confidence since last weekend’s double meltdown.

12.33pm GMT

2 min: ... Leicester clear and break. Jones and Alexander-Arnold confuse each other, and Maddison decides to have a whack at goal from the centre circle, with Alisson miles from his line. It’s a decent enough dig, but Alisson ambles back and catches casually with one hand.

12.32pm GMT

32 seconds: Robertson breezes down the left and curls dangerously into the Leicester box, forcing Soyuncu to head behind for the first corner of the game. From which ...

12.30pm GMT

Leicester get the ball rolling ... but only after the players take a knee. There’s no room for racism. Kick it out.

12.29pm GMT

Here come the teams! Leicester are in their royal blue, Liverpool in first-choice red. A broad smile spreads across Kabak’s face as he takes to the field for his debut. Icicles have formed on the nets. We’ll be off in a minute!

12.17pm GMT

Brendan Rodgers takes his turn. “There’s still quite a way to go. It’s fantastic game, one we’re really looking forward to. It’s a really tough game against the champions but one in which we want to show our qualities. It’s big blow for us with James [Justin], a young player coming through from League One to play at the top end of the Premier League, he was just getting better and better all the time. He’s a tough boy mentally and hopefully he’ll be back in a few months. We can adapt and change, and the team is fresh, with a lot of players rested in the midweek.”

12.06pm GMT

Jurgen Klopp catches up with Des Kelly. “It was a good training week, an important training week for him [Kabak]. Unfortunately Ben Davies picked up a little knock as well. [laughs] It’s unbelievable! [laughs some more] But Ozan looked good in training, the boys got used to each other. Of course we know today is a proper test, against Barnes, Vardy, Maddison, all these kind of things, so it will be tricky. But we think we are prepared. It’s not that there is a difference between Premier League and Bundesliga, because in the Bundesliga you play against top, top, top strikers; it’s more than you are in a new team. That makes a difference. Defending is a common thing, but you do not defend alone and you have to get used to each other. That’s what we tried to do in the last few sessions and hopefully it will work. Leicester are top, outstanding, Brendan is doing a brilliant job. Really strong, a good footballing side. It is a proper football game!”

11.50am GMT

Pre-match postbag, with Stephen Carr. “I’m unsure as to what fresh hell awaits us Reds today. I’ve never seen confidence as low as it is under Klopp. That being said, Rodgers can’t help himself against Liverpool and will probably have spent this week confusing his team with an inverted pyramid set up with a quasi 6/trequartista hybrid with underlapping fullbacks. On ice.”

Speaking of winter conditions, while it’s sunny in Leicester this morning, it’s expected to feel like minus nine by the time of kick off. That’s according to BT Sport’s Des Kelly, who presumably knows what he’s talking about, having already experienced a similar temperature while interviewing Jurgen Klopp at Brighton earlier in the season.

11.40am GMT

Leicester make four changes to the side sent out for the goalless draw at Wolves last weekend. Jamie Vardy, Marc Albrighton, Wilfred Ndidi and Daniel Amartey replace Kelechi Iheanacho, Ayoze Perez, Hamza Choudhury (all benched) and the stricken James Justin.

A radical change to Liverpool’s philosophy as they field a centre-back. There’s a debut for Ozan Kabak, who will play alongside Jordan Henderson, while James Milner comes into the midfield. Fabinho, who has a muscle injury, misses out altogether, while Thiago drops to the bench, supposedly not 100-percent fit.

11.31am GMT

Leicester City: Schmeichel, Amartey, Evans, Soyuncu, Ricardo Pereira, Tielemans, Ndidi, Albrighton, Maddison, Barnes, Vardy.
Subs: Ward, Iheanacho, Perez, Under, Choudhury, Mendy, Fuchs, Thomas, Daley-Campbell.

Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Kabak, Henderson, Robertson, Milner, Wijnaldum, Jones, Salah, Firmino, Mane.
Subs: Thiago, Adrian, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Tsimikas, Shaqiri, Rhys Williams, Phillips, Clarkson, Neco Williams.

10.34am GMT

This is a fixture with great symbolism for both clubs. The last time it was played, on Boxing Day 2019, Leicester still harboured hopes of the Premier League title, but Liverpool dismantled them in style, swanning their way to a 4-0 win capped by Trent Alexander-Arnold’s late forensic strike. It was arguably the signature performance of Liverpool’s title-winning campaign; for one reason or another, they’ve never quite hit the same heights since.

Leicester meanwhile will drift back to 2016, when Jamie Vardy hit that astonishing long-distance screamer over Simon Mignolet. Was there a better moment to encapsulate the verve and sheer joy of one of the greatest campaigns in the history of All Sport? The loudest bolt of lightning during a perfect storm.

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Manchester City 3-0 Manchester United: Women's Super League – as it happened

City moved into second after a dominant derby victory capped by Caroline Weir’s exquisite chip

9.14pm GMT

Suzanne Wrack’s verdict has landed. Be about your business: clickity click! Thanks for reading this MBM. Stay safe and warm, everyone. Nighty night.

Related: Caroline Weir's chip seals Manchester City's WSL derby win over United

9.12pm GMT

Casey Stoney’s verdict. “It’s a big one in terms of the title race. But that was never our ambition. Our ambition was to make the top three, and now we’ve made that difficult, but it’s still in our hands. It’s very important we start picking up points. We’ve lost too many games this month, and at this level, if you drop too many points you put yourself in jeopardy. We’ve got big players out at the moment, but I still thought we had a squad capable of getting something, so it wasn’t good enough.”

9.06pm GMT

Lucy Bronze talks to BT Sport. “It’s my first home derby, so it was kind of special to kick off the scoring. Winning the game, a clean sheet, it was kind of a fairytale game for me personally. Caz Weir’s goal was probably a lot better than mine. That was pretty special! It was quite Eric Cantonaesque, which is quite ironic! We worked hard for all the goals and could have had a couple more, but it was nothing less than we expected. If we keep winning all our games, we will finish the league with the title. We’re ready to compete in all competitions at the highest level.”

8.54pm GMT

City leapfrog United into second place in the WSL, two points behind leaders and reigning champions Chelsea. United didn’t play badly at all; it’s just that City were magnificent. A confident display capped by a goal of swaggering brilliance by Caroline Weir. The goal of the season, surely.

8.52pm GMT

90 min +3: Lavelle worms down the left and reaches the byline, standing up an inviting cross at the far post. Bronze and Stanway get in each other’s road, and United clear. A four-goal spanking would be unfair on United, even if City are good value for their win.

8.50pm GMT

90 min +1: The first of five added minutes passes by without incident. Everyone just wants to hear the final whistle now. It is freezing, after all, and we’re done here.

8.49pm GMT

90 min: Coombs replaces Caroline Weir, whose goal will be replayed until the rapture. It was such a delicate dink from the edge of the box, crisply chipped yet so gently floated. A work of art.

8.46pm GMT

88 min: Toone makes way for Fuso.

8.46pm GMT

86 min: That was breathtakingly brilliant. Such composure and skill. Lavelle replaces White.

8.44pm GMT

This is a world-class goal! United are in the business of clearing the ball. Toone gives it away to Weir, 25 yards out on the left. Weir takes up possession and spins Groenen in one elegant move, then spots Earps a yard or two off her line. From the edge of the box, she floats an inch-perfect diagonal chip over the keeper and into the top right. Good luck seeing a better goal this season.

8.41pm GMT

82 min: Happily, Roebuck is fit to continue. Her first act is to defend a corner, and she watches Thorisdottir head harmlessly wide right.

8.40pm GMT

81 min: But the City keeper has hurt her neck in doing so. A good long once-over from the doctor.

8.40pm GMT

80 min: Press chases a long pass down the left and tries to round Roebuck, who has raced off her line as is her wont. It looks as though Press is going to work enough space to roll a shot into the unguarded goal from an angle, but Roebuck springs up and fingertips out for a corner.

8.39pm GMT

78 min: Hemp intercepts a loose United pass and drives towards their box. She lays off to Stanway, who hits a pearler towards the top left. The ball smacks poor Amy Turner flush in the face. The entire stadium shudders. That would have floored most heavyweight boxers. Turner gets up, as hardy and determined as they come, and helps to defend the resulting corner.

8.35pm GMT

76 min: Kelly snaffles the ball out on the right and slips infield for Weir, who dances around in the United area, trying to sort her feet out for a shot. There’s no time, as Amy Turner - who has had an evening of highs and lows - comes across to dispossess her with ease.

8.33pm GMT

75 min: And they do.

8.33pm GMT

74 min: City are scenting blood now. White creams a shot towards the top right. Just wide. Then Kelly drives in from the right and is unceremoniously stopped by a hard-as-nails tackle from Batlle. Corner. United really need to defend this one.

8.32pm GMT

73 min: United try to respond quickly, Press wedging down the inside-left channel, nearly releasing Sigsworth. Bronze reads the danger, sticking in a foot and hoicking out for a corner. Nothing comes of the set piece.

8.30pm GMT

They’ll have to go for it now. Kelly surges down the right, breaks past Amy Turner and shoots hard from a tight angle. Earps parries, but the ball drops to Hemp, who hits a first-time slapshot towards the top right. The ball spoons up, off the top of Amy Turner’s head, and into the top right!

8.29pm GMT

70 min: United make their second change of the evening. Ladd, one dubious challenge away from a second yellow card, is replaced by Sigsworth. An attacker for a midfielder; United are going for it.

8.27pm GMT

68 min: ... so having said that, a lull.

8.24pm GMT

66 min: Bronze is in the wars, this time clipped to the floor by Hanson. This game is turning into an entertaining scrap.

8.24pm GMT

65 min: Another break for United as the free kick’s sent into the box and comes off Amy Turner’s head for a corner. The ref awards a goal kick.

8.23pm GMT

64 min: So having said that, Bronze dribbles hard down the right and draws a free kick from Ladd, who hung out a cynical leg. No second yellow, much to Bronze’s irritation. Ladd has got away with one there.

8.21pm GMT

63 min: Hemp and Weir combine down the left, nearly opening United up, but Thorisdottir stands firm. Nearly all of City’s attacks are coming down this flank.

8.19pm GMT

61 min: United come again, a rejuvenated Toone dribbling down the right and sending in a deep cross. Press wins a corner with a snapshot. City half clear the corner, but Toone comes again down the right. Her cross is dangerous, hit high towards the near post, but there’s nobody in red to take advantage. This is much better from United.

8.18pm GMT

59 min: Happily for United, Toone drags herself up and limps on. She looks good to go. From the resulting free kick, Amy Turner falls to the floor in the box amid a melee. No penalty.

8.17pm GMT

58 min: Greenwood clatters into Toone’s ankle, earning a yellow. Toone is down, shaking her head.

8.15pm GMT

56 min: Thorisdottir launches long down the right. Press hares after the ball. Roebuck races out of her area but doesn’t get there. Press loops over the keeper from 40 yards, but she’s operating at full speed and full stretch, and hoicks the ball well over the bar. That’s a much better effort than this entry makes it sound. City hearts were in mouths there.

8.12pm GMT

54 min: Hanson goes in late on Bronze, shouldering her to the ground. The referee gives the United sub a good talking-to.

8.11pm GMT

52 min: Weir should send Hemp tearing off into space down the left, but gives the pass too much juice. Goal kick, but City are causing United all sorts of bother down the left flank. Thorisdottir has her work cut out.

8.08pm GMT

50 min: Hanson slips a ball down the left for Presss, who zips in from the flank, past Houghton, and shoots towards the bottom left from a tight-ish angle. She gets plenty behind her shot, but Roebuck is well-positioned to claim. Better from United.

8.07pm GMT

48 min: The Hemp-White combo nearly clicks again, but Millie Turner gets in the road to block before White can do any serious damage.

8.06pm GMT

47 min: Sub-zero temperatures in Greater Manchester, but it doesn’t take City long to warm up again. Hemp, who has been effervescent this evening, makes down the left and whips into the box for White, who swivels and sends a fierce shot towards the bottom right. Earps does very well to parry.

8.03pm GMT

City get the second half underway. No changes.

7.50pm GMT

Half-time reading.

Related: National League left hanging in balance as money runs out

7.48pm GMT

Hanson is immediately in the thick of it, bursting down the left and sending in a low cross that causes momentary panic in the City defence. But that’s the end of the first half. City go in at the break a goal to the good. They’ve been well worth it. United have struggled up front, and on paper the loss of Galton won’t help, but that late cameo from Hanson may give them some hope for the second, and City pause for thought.

7.46pm GMT

45 min: Kirsty Hanson comes on in place of the stricken Galton. There will be two added minutes.

7.45pm GMT

44 min: The United ten deal with the City corner.

7.44pm GMT

43 min: Galton’s taken a bad knock to her left ankle. It looks serious. She can’t put any weight on it, and she’s helped off slowly by the physios. Pain etched across her face, a few tears. United haven’t got a sub ready, so will defend the corner with ten women.

7.42pm GMT

41 min: A rumble in the United box. Hemp tries to force something goalwards. It’s deflected out for a corner on the left. But before it can be taken, there’s a pause as Galton receives treatment.

7.41pm GMT

39 min: Hemp crosses from the left. White meets it first time, but her shot hits the back of Amy Turner. White meets the rebound with a stunning bicycle kick, aimed towards the bottom right. Earps is down quickly to smother on the line. That’s sensational football all round.

7.39pm GMT

38 min: Hemp robs Zelem and romps down the inside left. She’s got Kelly to her left and White in the middle. United are very much on the back foot, but Hemp undoes all her good work with a clunker of a pass towards Kelly. Goal kick.

7.37pm GMT

36 min: United’s revival continues as Toone crosses from the right and Press flashes a header into the arms of Roebuck. The response to going behind was delayed, but here it is now.

7.36pm GMT

35 min: United are working their way back into the game. Zelem finds a pocket of space in the centre circle and glides forward, only to be clattered by White. The United captain gets up and takes the free kick herself, sailing it long towards Amy Turner, who can’t quite reach it, six yards out and level with the left-hand post. Goal kick.

7.34pm GMT

33 min: Press grooves down the right and draws a foul from Hemp, who could easily go in the book for the challenge but doesn’t. The referee seems the liberal sort. A free kick, though, and a chance for United to line up on the edge of the City area. Zelem hooks it long. Galton, at the far post, can’t connect. Kelly can’t clear. The ball squirts to Ladd, who spins on the penalty spot and aims for the top right. It’s not far wide. United’s best chance so far.

7.31pm GMT

31 min: United have been on the ropes since conceding, so understandably stroke the ball around the back awhile in the sterile fashion, reducing the temperature a little.

7.29pm GMT

29 min: Greenwood smacks a dismal free kick straight into the wall, but then meets the rebound with a sweet volley that nearly bagatelles its way through a crowd to White. Not quite. United clear.

7.29pm GMT

28 min: Another City attack, Stanway nicking the ball off Ladd’s toe and romping down the inside-right. Ladd gives chase and cynically trips Stanway, with few other red shirts around. A yellow card, and a free kick in a dangerous position, 25 yards out, just right of centre.

7.28pm GMT

27 min: The goal has inspired City, and rattled United. Hemp nearly releases Weir down the left, but Amy Turner does well to muscle in and intercept. Then some space for Stanway, who hits a shot-cum-cross from the right that nearly arcs over Earps and into the net. Just over the bar. United need to hang on here.

7.26pm GMT

25 min: Hemp turns on the jets with a view to burning up the left touchline. She’s clumsily checked by Thorisdottir, who is slightly fortunate not to go into the book for her cynicism. The referee settles for a stern word. Nothing comes of the resulting free kick, despite City loading the box.

7.25pm GMT

Yep. United are shambolic when defending the set piece again. The corner’s whipped to the near post. Amy Turner, in the middle of a melee in the six-yard box, heads weakly out. Bronze meets the dropping ball and lashes it into the bottom right from eight yards.

7.23pm GMT

22 min: City are the leading scorers in the WSL this season with 43 goals. Their attack hasn’t quite gelled yet. But here comes Hemp, winning a corner down the left. United conceded twice from set pieces last weekend against Reading. Is it all about to come together for City here?

7.21pm GMT

20 min: Hemp dribbles infield from the left with purpose, real ball-glued-to-toe stuff. She eventually runs out of road, swarmed by red shirts, but that was an exhilarating run.

7.19pm GMT

18 min: Kelly crosses deep from the right. Weir meets it with a header at the far post, but Thorisdottir blocks. United break, Groenen playing a cute reverse ball down the left to release Galton, who looks for Press at the far post. Dahlkemper hooks out for a corner. Nothing comes of the set piece, but the game has finally sparked into life.

7.17pm GMT

16 min: Ladd shovels a ball down the right and very nearly finds Press on the edge of the City box. Roebuck reacts well, racing out of the area to blooter clear.

7.15pm GMT

14 min: City put their first serious attacking move together, Greenwood, Weir and Hemp combining well down the left. Greenwood fashions a cross from a tight spot near the corner flag, and it’s dangerous, fizzing through United’s six-yard box, but there’s nobody in sky blue to poke home.

7.13pm GMT

13 min: Groenen launches long down the right, hoping to release Press, but again the pass is too weighty and Roebuck is able to come out and claim on the edge of the box without drama.

7.12pm GMT

11 min: United are looking to soak up pressure, snaffle possession, and counter quickly. Zelem nicks the ball and very nearly sends Galton careering down the left, but there’s too much juice on the pass. Throw. City were light at the back, so it’s a spurned opportunity.

7.11pm GMT

10 min: This game has nearly ground to a halt. Extremely ponderous. An illustration, if we needed it, that the stakes tonight are extremely high. Season-shaping.

7.08pm GMT

8 min: Both teams continue to size each other up. It’s cagey and cautious.

7.07pm GMT

6 min: City are enjoying the bulk of the possession, though United are making them work to retain the ball. Plenty of pressing and snapping into the tackle.

7.04pm GMT

4 min: City take up possession and stroke it around confidently, then make their first front-foot statement. Walsh rasps a long pass down the right for Kelly, who can’t quite wriggle into space, but they ball’s recycled to Weir. She appears to be clipped by Ladd, just to the right of the D, but the referee strangely isn’t interested. We play on.

7.02pm GMT

2 min: United are on the front foot immediately, Toone pressing Greenwood down the right. A couple of throws lead to nothing, but a statement of intent has been issued to the WSL form team.

7.00pm GMT

United get the ball rolling ... but only after a knee of solidarity, fairness, equality and love is taken. There’s no room for racism. Kick it out.

6.59pm GMT

The teams are out! It’s that time-honoured sky-blue/red dynamic. No supporters at the big derby, sadly, but you could still slice the tension in the air into wafer-thin strips. We’ll be off in a minute!

6.49pm GMT

City boss Gareth Taylor’s turn. “Hopefully form really counts. We’re in form, scoring goals. We’ve been really impressive at the top end of the pitch. We’re playing some good football, to boot, so we’re looking forward to it. United have had a positive season. They’ve managed to win games and tried to be consistent. We had a good result last weekend when they had a slip-up, and when you get a result like that you need to take advantage of it. Great game, it’s just a shame we’re missing the supporters, but we’ll try to do our bit and make sure we’re the ones who take home the three points. We want to take the points and stay in touch, because there’s plenty more football to come.”

6.46pm GMT

Lauren James is out injured tonight, but Stoney is asked about the mindless abuse the 19-year-old striker recently received on social media. “I’m very proud of Lauren, for speaking up and standing up at such a young age. She shouldn’t have to do that, she shouldn’t be facing the discrimination she is. But the government have to do more. The social media platforms have shown they’re not going to. So unless the government start putting policies in place, it’s not going to change.”

6.42pm GMT

United boss Casey Stoney talks to BT Sport. “The performance on Sunday wasn’t good enough. We’re very aware of that as a collective: staff, players. We need a real big response tonight if we’re to get anything out of this game. You want a big game after a defeat, and we weren’t anywhere near our levels. The team does generally bounce whenever we’ve had a setback, and I’m confident in my squad that they’ll put a performance in. City are a good side, scoring lots of goals, we’re going to have to be at our very best levels. Transition in this game could be important.”

6.17pm GMT

Pre-match entertainment. Here’s Suzanne Wrack on Manchester City’s new centre-back Abby Dahlkemper, a cornerstone of the USA’s 2019 World Cup win.

Related: Manchester City's new signing Abby Dahlkemper ready to embrace derby

6.11pm GMT

City are on a roll, and are therefore in if-it-ain’t-broke mode. No changes to the team that won 2-1 at Arsenal.

United went down 2-0 at home to Reading in their last run-out, and make one change. Striker Kirsty Hanson drops to the bench, with Jackie Groenen stepping up to bolster the midfield.

6.03pm GMT

Manchester City: Roebuck, Bronze, Dahlkemper, Houghton (C), Greenwood, Walsh, Weir, Stanway, Kelly, Hemp, White.
Subs: Bardsley, Taieb, Coombs, Mannion, Park, Lavelle, Beckie, Morgan, Davies.

Manchester United: Earps, Thorisdottir, A Turner, M Turner, Batlle, Zelem, Ladd, Groenen, Toone, Galton, Press.
Subs: Bentley, Bourne, Jones, Fuso, Harris, Hanson, Ross, Sigsworth,

12.02pm GMT

When these city rivals met at the Leigh Sports Village in November, Manchester United striker Tobin Heath sent a swerving screamer into the top left from 25 yards, sparking a comeback that turned a two-goal deficit into a 2-2 draw. But it didn’t knock Manchester City’s confidence. Since then, City have won six Premier League games on the bounce (and eight in all competitions). The latest was a hard-earned 2-1 victory at Arsenal that has put Gareth Taylor’s side very much in the title race (and pretty much knocking the Gunners out of it). By contrast, since the derby, United have gone on to win five but lose two, against leaders Chelsea, then a shock 0-2 reverse at home to Reading.

City go into this as the form horse, then, and if they win, they’ll leapfrog United into second place, a mere two points behind Emma Hayes’ reigning champions Chelsea. A win for United, and Casey Stoney’s women will draw level with Chelsea at the top ... but they’ll have to do it without November’s hero Heath, who is out with an ankle injury. Can the likes of Lucy Bronze and Ellen White push home City’s on-paper advantage? This next chapter of a three-horse title race promises intrigue and excitement. It’s on!

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The Fiver | Bayern Munich making history that won't get past your email filter

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The tens of tens of viewers who regularly tune into the BBC’s flagship channel, Red Button, witnessed a little bit of history on Thursday night: Palmeiras striker Rony taking the worst penalty of all time. A syncopated fusion of styles that incorporated the angled approach, the stutter, the hop, bebop, modal, slap bass, the shuffle, the hustle, the mashed potato, existential pondering, avant-garde performance art, and a pause to size up the situation as though lining up a long red from baulk, it was nothing less than a jazz odyssey. It was also not very successful, and made Simone Zaza look like Trevor Francis. Congratulations to Al Ahly on winning the shootout that decided third place at the Club World Cup.

Related: Bayern beat Tigres in Club World Cup final to earn sixth trophy in nine months

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Bayern Munich 1-0 Tigres: 2020 Club World Cup final – as it happened

Benjamin Pavard’s second-half goal was enough to see off a spirited Tigres, as Bayern completed an historic sextuple by becoming champions of the world

10.38pm GMT

Related: Bayern beat Tigres in Club World Cup final to earn sixth trophy in nine months

8.16pm GMT

Bayern Munich take to the podium to receive their winners medals. Manuel Neuer finally gets something to do this evening: he lifts the Club World Cup! Up it goes, along with a few jets of golden ticker tape. Down go the lights. Up go some fireworks. And that’s that! Congratulations to Bayern, who complete an historic sextuple. Commiserations to Tigres, who made a truly great side fight hard for their prize. Thanks for reading this MBM. Stay safe and warm, everybody. Nighty night!

8.11pm GMT

Al Ahly come up to receive their bronze medals. Then Tigres - awarded a guard of honour by Bayern - are awarded their silver baubles. Manuel Neuer will be getting his hands on the Club World Cup in short order.

8.07pm GMT

The players of the tournament. Joshua Kimmich wins the bronze ball, Andre Pierre Gignac is awarded silver, and the golden ball goes to Robert Lewandowski, who scored two in the semi-final and masterminded the winner in the final. Lewandowski also gets a bauble from the sponsors.

7.59pm GMT

Robert Lewandowski talks. “We really wanted to win today. The goal that we scored was probably from the first cross that came in. I said to the boys at half-time, come on, put a few more crosses in. They managed it once and that’s how we won the sextuple, and that’s an amazing thing! It’s a shame that Thomas Muller wasn’t able to be here. We are flying back straight home to Munich, there is no time to celebrate.”

7.56pm GMT

Bayern celebrate, though they’re relieved more than delirious. They were deserved winners - Neuer had absolutely nothing to do, and Kimmich had a good goal ruled out in the first half - but nevertheless were made to work hard for their prize by the tenacious Tigres. They’ve won all six trophies available to them in the calendar year of 2020 (yeah, yeah) and equal the feat of Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona team of 2009/10. It’s their second Club World Cup win, and they’re the eighth European winners of this tournament in a row.

7.53pm GMT

Bayern Munich complete the sextuple. They’re champions of the world!

7.52pm GMT

90 min +4: Gignac tries to find Guzman, who has come up to cause bother. Bayern half clear. Gignac returns the ball - a shot or cross? - but sends it sailing over the bar. It’s surely over.

7.51pm GMT

90 min +3: Salcedo is clipped to the ground by Tolisso, 35 yards out. One last chance to launch an attack and force the game to extra time.

7.50pm GMT

90 min +2: Costa, who has been effervescent since coming on, speeds down the left before checking back to retain possession. The clock ticks on.

7.49pm GMT

90 min +1: The first minute passes by without drama. That Gignac half-chance apart, Tigres haven’t really responded to going behind. It’s now or never.

7.49pm GMT

90 min: Carioca is booked for a clatter on Tolisso. Bayern are four added minutes away from becoming champions of the world.

7.48pm GMT

89 min: Costa dribbles at pace from right to left. He slips Choupo-Moting into the box. Choupo-Moting leans back and grazes the top of the crossbar with an ever-rising shot. Penny for the thoughts of Lewandowski.

7.47pm GMT

88 min: Choupo-Moting works his way down the inside left and nearly breaks into the box, but Salcedo - that daft backwards header apart - continues a fine performance with a deft block.

7.45pm GMT

86 min: It’s not totally clear how Bayern have scored just the one. Then again, had Gignac timed his bicycle kick a little better, we could be heading to extra time. The fine margins when you’re trying to become world champions, huh.

7.44pm GMT

84 min: Guzman makes two huge stops in quick succession. First he comes out to clear, only for Salcedo to head past him! Guzman races back to stop the ball on the goalline. Then Choupo-Moting dribbles down the right and cuts back for Costa, who creams a shot towards the top right. Guzman parries spectacularly.

7.43pm GMT

82 min: A Tigres throw into the Bayern box from the left. Gonzalez flicks on. Gignac, on the edge of the six-yard box, tries a bicycle kick but gets his timing all wrong. Fresh air. That was a decent chance!

7.41pm GMT

81 min: Tolisso has a dig from distance, aiming for the bottom left. It’s not particularly well-hit, but Guzman lets his hands flap back and the ball bumble past. He’s extremely fortunate that the ball comes off the base of the post and back into his arms. Shades of Gianluca Pagliuca in the 1994 World Cup final.

7.39pm GMT

80 min: Tigres send on another Quinones. Julian replaces Rodriguez; Luis Quinones continues to prowl the left flank.

7.37pm GMT

79 min: A first look for Musiala, who makes good down the left but delivers a directionless cross. Kimmich delivers an old-style bollocking.

7.36pm GMT

77 min: ... but it’s not as though he’s replacing them with nonsense. Costa strides down the right and curls a dangerous ball towards the far post. Tolisso isn’t too far away from running it home. Goal kick.

7.34pm GMT

76 min: That’s a bold gambit by Hansi Flick. With Muller out, Lewandowski is by some distance the main source of goals for this Bayern line-up.

7.32pm GMT

74 min: A triple substitution by Bayern. Sane, Coman and - surprisingly - Lewandowski make way for Costa, Musiala and Choupo-Moting.

7.31pm GMT

73 min: Tolisso has a belt from distance. It’s not far over.

7.30pm GMT

72 min: Kimmich rides a couple of challenges and forces a pass down the left flank for Davies, who would have had acres to sprint into had he not taken his eye off the ball and let it roll out for a throw.

7.28pm GMT

70 min: The free kick’s whipped in from the left. Tolisso wins a header on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box, but can’t steer it on target. Goal kick.

7.28pm GMT

69 min: Coman turns on the jets. He’s about to zip away down the left touchline, but Rodriguez hangs out an arm and cynically brings him down. That was right in the kisser, and Rodriguez is a wee bit fortunate that it’s only yellow.

7.26pm GMT

67 min: Gignac floats the free kick into the Bayern box. Hernadez dives to head clear. The ball bashes into Alaba’s chest. Tigres claim for a penalty again, but that’s not going to happen for them.

7.25pm GMT

66 min: Sane clips Quinones, 35 yards from goal. Before the free kick can be taken, Kimmich pops up to start an argument. He’s clearly doing it for sport, because only the Tigres players are getting irate. They’re a little bit rattled after conceding the goal.

7.23pm GMT

65 min: Tolisson comes on for Gnabry.

7.23pm GMT

63 min: Tigres claim a penalty, Quinones dribbling into the Bayern box from the left. Pavard slides in to dispossess, then the ball’s played onto his arm. He could do nothing about it, and neither referee nor VAR is interested.

7.21pm GMT

62 min: Lewandowski looked clearly offside in the first instance, but another shot shows Salcedo’s heel playing the big man onside.

7.20pm GMT

It goes to VAR. A long, long wait. Then the ref performs the internationally recognised mime for TV, and doesn’t even go to the monitor! It’s a goal! Pavard scored it two minutes ago, but 61 minutes it is.

7.19pm GMT

59 min: Bayern have the ball in the net again, but this time it’s offside. Kimmich floats a right-to-left diagonal into the Tigres box. Lewandowski beats Guzman as the pair duel in the air. The ball drops down to Pavard, who slaps home from ten yards into an empty net. However Lewandowski appeared to have gone a bit early. The flag goes up.

7.15pm GMT

57 min: Salcedo is having a fine game. Now he slides in on Gnabry, timing his tackle perfectly to put a stop to the Bayern man’s gallop.

7.15pm GMT

56 min: Kimmich shovels a pass down the right wing, hoping to spring Sane into the box. Salcedo swans across and intercepts with his chest.

7.13pm GMT

55 min: Gnabry glides down the inside right and shifts the ball inside for Coman, who looks to be through on goal. But Rodriguez reads the danger and comes across just in time to slam the door shut. That’s fine defending.

7.12pm GMT

53 min: A loose touch by Sane. Carioca intercepts. Sane nibbles at his heel, the first sign that Bayern are getting a little frustrated. Tigres are currently breaking up play successfully.

7.10pm GMT

51 min: Alaba drives down the middle and slips a ball to Gnabry, just to the left of the D. He steps into the box and looks for the top right with a power curler. Always high and wide.

7.08pm GMT

50 min: Duenas flings a long throw in the mixer from the left. The ball pings off Gignac’s head and out for a goal kick. Tigres will be more than happy with the patchy nature of this second half so far.

7.06pm GMT

48 min: Bayern pick up the pace. Coman zips past Rodriguez down the left, reaches the byline, and stands one up for Sane, who can’t keep his header down.

7.05pm GMT

47 min: A slow and scrappy start to the second half. You’d have thought Bayern would want to pick up the pace.

7.03pm GMT

Bayern get the second half underway. No changes.

6.52pm GMT

Half-time entertainment. This new book - Fierce Genius by Andy Bollen - looks like a cracking read. It’s one hell of a tale.

Related: 'Feyenoord forever, Cruyff never': when Ajax legend crossed the divide

6.48pm GMT

Bayern have had a good goal disallowed, and hit the crossbar. But otherwise Guzman in the Tigres goal has had very little to do, and the Mexicans will be very pleased to get to the break level.

6.46pm GMT

45 min: Kimmich’s delivery is nothing short of appalling, battered into the first man, and the chance to sicken Tigres just before the break is spurned. There will be two added minutes.

6.45pm GMT

44 min: Davies drops a shoulder and nips into some space down the left. Aquino sticks out an arm and holds him back. A free kick, 30 yards out.

6.43pm GMT

42 min: Duenas takes his sweet time over a throw. So much so that the referee comes across and flashes yellow. He’s not having any faffing about, is he. A line in the sand regarding time-wasting has been drawn, and it’s not even half-time!

6.41pm GMT

40 min: Kimmich finds himself in the same position as the one from which he scored the disallowed goal. He thinks about taking another crack, then decides against it. Bad choice, because the move peters out soon after.

6.40pm GMT

38 min: Gignac gives Davies a cheeky clip around the lug as the pair battle in the air. Davies executes an Olympic-standard triple roll, over-egging the pudding, a preposterous response that may well have saved Gignac from a booking. Another quiet word.

6.36pm GMT

36 min: Guzman takes an age over a goal kick. He’s got form for this. The referee has a quiet word.

6.35pm GMT

34 min: Reyes is dispossessed by Gnabry, who wins a corner down the left. Gnabry takes it quick, spotting Sane racing into the box from the left, Tigres taking a nap. Sane whistles a rising shot towards the top left. Inches too high. It clips the top of the crossbar. A tad lower and that would have been a goal; Guzman was rooted to the spot and never getting there.

6.33pm GMT

32 min: Neuer flaps the corner clear. Pizarro tries to return it with interest, but his shot is very much 0% APR. Neuer claims the dribbler with a yawn.

6.32pm GMT

31 min: Quinones bursts down the left. Before chasing his man, Sule looks for a flag that doesn’t rise. The head start he gives Quinones allows him to win a corner.

6.31pm GMT

30 min: Sane tries to burst past Duenas down the right. He nearly breaks through, but Duenas holds firm, and eventually a frustrated Sane shoves him to the ground. It’s a good battle.

6.29pm GMT

28 min: The first Tigres sortie for a while. Aquino dribbles down the left and pulls back for Pizarro, who thinks about shooting from the edge of the D, but hesitates fatally. The move fizzles out.

6.27pm GMT

26 min: They’ve just shown replays of Kimmich’s disallowed goal. It was a preposterous decision to chalk it off. Lewandowski was nowhere near the keeper’s eyeline. Tigres have got away with one big-style.

6.26pm GMT

25 min: Bayern are in the groove now. That was a spectacular five-man attack, and they’re soon coming at Tigres again, Coman cutting in from the left and belting a rising shot towards the top left that Guzman does extremely well to handle.

6.25pm GMT

24 min: Bayern flood forward at super-speed, five on two. Gnabry slips Davies into the box down the left. Davies looks for Lewandowski in the middle, but Salcedo slides in to clear. What an intervention, because a goal looked inevitable there.

6.23pm GMT

23 min: Davies embarks on a power meander down the left. He sashays in from the flank and drives low and hard, straight at Guzman. Lewandowski, in a decent position in the middle, stares at him in that way strikers stare.

6.23pm GMT

22 min: Full marks to Guzman for his loud and sustained complaint. It certainly planted a seed of doubt in the mind of the VAR operative, as well as the referee who decided to reverse his decision upon checking the monitor.

6.21pm GMT

VAR sticks its neb in, and agrees with Guzman. That’s a surprising decision, because Lewandowski didn’t appear to be standing in the keeper’s line as he leapt over the shot. Kimmich is denied a spectacular goal in a big final.

6.20pm GMT

Bayern open the scoring with a sensational goal! Kimmich, 25 yards out down the inside-right channel, pearls a low diagonal shot into the bottom left. What a sweet strike! Lewandowski had to leap out of the way from an offside position, mind, and Guzman is claiming the striker was standing in his sightline.

6.18pm GMT

16 min: Tigres come back at Bayern, the speedy Quinones nearly reaching Rafael Carioca’s long pass down the left channel. Neuer is off his line quickly to smother.

6.15pm GMT

15 min: A long pass down the left for the ever-dangerous Davies. He can’t reach the ball before hooking it back into the mixer, but the early signs suggest the Bayern left-back is planning to cause a world of trouble this evening.

6.14pm GMT

14 min: Davies drives into the box from the left but can’t quite sort his feet out when he gets there. It’s a nice fresh start to this final, with both teams looking positive in attack.

6.14pm GMT

13 min: Bayern’s turn to stroke it around without any particular direction.

6.12pm GMT

11 min: Gignac bustles powerfully down the left. He’s on his own. He holds off two red shirts, and eventually Quinones arrives on the opposite flank. Gignac sprays a pass wide; Quinones scoops a harmless shot over the bar from distance. A fine run by the Frenchman.

6.10pm GMT

10 min: The second one’s no good.

6.10pm GMT

9 min: But suddenly Bayern burst clear, the wonderful Davies tearing down the left and earning Bayern’s first corner of the game. They load the six-yard box. Kimmich whips it in, forcing Guzman to punch over his own bar. A second corner coming up from the right.

6.08pm GMT

8 min: Some sterile possession for Tigres in the middle of the park. They’ll be happy enough with this, and their start.

6.07pm GMT

6 min: Alaba rolls a cute pass down the inside-left channel for Lewandowski in the box. Lewandowski prepares to swivel and shoot, but he’s blocked by Salcedo. After a slow start that lasted all of three minutes, Bayern are beginning to show the Tigres a flash of their teeth.

6.06pm GMT

5 min: Bayern launch their first serious sortie into Tigres territory. The ball falls to Coman, 25 yards out, just to the left of centre. His effort is weak and an easy snaffle for Guzman.

6.05pm GMT

4 min: Alaba rolls a pass down the middle for Lewandowski, who prepares to spin Reyes and release Gnabry down the left. Reyes sticks to the Bayern striker like glue, and snuffs the attack out. Just as well, because Tigres were otherwise extremely light at the back.

6.03pm GMT

2 min: Sane clumsily bundles Aquino over, and this is a free kick just to the left of the Bayern box. Gignac takes, but it doesn’t beat the first man. Still, what a positive start by Tigres.

6.02pm GMT

Tigres get the 2020 Fifa Club World Cup final underway! They’re on the front foot immediately, Quinones curling in from the right, Gignac meeting the cross with a header that’s deflected out for a very early corner. Nothing comes of the set piece, but what a statement of intent by the Mexican underdogs.

5.59pm GMT

The teams are out! The stadium is far from full, for obvious reasons, but there are fans in attendance. Tigres have a fetching blue stripe across the front of their shirt, very much the bizarro Boca Juniors. We’ll be off in a minute.

5.52pm GMT

Bayern make three changes to the team named for their semi-final victory over Al Ahly. Leroy Sane, Lucas Hernandez and Niklas Sule are in. Thomas Muller has tested positive for Covid-19; Jerome Boateng is absent for personal reasons, after the tragic death of his former partner; and Marc Roca drops to the bench.

Tigres name the same XI selected for the win over Palmeiras. “Thanks for spelling out the full names of today’s contestants.” No problem, Peter Oh. “I like the Mexican club’s bold choice of working both tigers (Tigres) and a lion (Leon) into theirs. Imagine squeezing in a couple of tigers into the England crest. Three Lions and Some Tigers would simply intimidate their way to another World Cup title.” At the very least, it would no longer scan, forcing everyone to stop singing that lug-bothering song.

5.35pm GMT

Tigres are also sporting their first-choice kit. Yellow shirts with blue trim, and a crisp, clear pennant in stark contrast with Bayern’s busy effort. No fuss, no messing: it’s got a large drawing of a tiger on it. The Mexicans easily win the gear face-off.

5.29pm GMT

Bayern will be playing in their red shirts. We’ve chosen to illustrate this with a picture of Manuel Neuer’s grey goalkeeping top, but that’s because as captain, he’ll be the one exchanging gifts before kick-off with his opposite number Guido Pizarro, and will you look at the state of that overly fussy pennant. It’s all well and good winning all those trophies, but at what cost to merchandise design?

5.17pm GMT

Bayern Munich: Neuer, Sule, Lucas, Pavard, Davies, Alaba, Gnabry, Coman, Sane, Kimmich, Lewandowski.
Subs: Hoffmann, Schneller, Sarr, Tolisso, Roca, Tiago Dantas, Musiala, Douglas Costa, Choupo-Moting.

Tigres: Guzman, Duenas, Reyes, Salcedo, Rodriguez, Rafael Carioca, Aquino, Pizarro, Luis Quinones, Gignac, Gonzalez.
Subs: Chavez, Delgado, Ayala, Meza, Cruz, Sanchez, Sierra, Fulgencio, Fernandez, Avalos, Julian Quinones, Vendrechovski.

5.15pm GMT

Al Ahly have won the third-place play-off, beating Palmeiras 3-2 on penalties. The game had ended goalless after 120 minutes. It’s the second time the Egyptians have finished third at the Club World Cup; they took bronze in 2006 as well. Palmeiras thoroughly deserved to lose the shoot-out, simply because one of their players, Rony, decided to use the stage to showcase a contemporary dance routine:

Rony ensina... Como não se cobra um pênalti pic.twitter.com/iVFHNAfwfD

2.50pm GMT

Welcome to our coverage of the delayed 2020 Fifa World Club Cup final, where we’ll discover who will succeed 2019 winners Liverpool as champions. Will it be Fußball-Club Bayern München e.V. of Germany, the winners of the 2020 Uefa Champions League, or Club de Fútbol Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León of Mexico, winners of the Concacaf version? We’ll find out in 90 minutes, or perhaps after another 30 minutes of extra time, or even penalties. Strap yourself in ... and yes we will be using the more colloquial Bayern and Tigres.

Should Bayern win, they’ll complete the sextuple of league, both domestic cups, Champions League, Super Cup and Club World Cup. Only one team has managed that before: Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona vintage of 2009/10. History beckons! But fate is also crooking the finger in the direction of Tigres, who will become the first representative of Concacaf - and by definition Mexico - to become champions of the world.

Continue reading...

The Fiver | Flinging Gareth Bale beneath the Wild & Wacky Wagon o'Fun's wheels

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What the people want, the people get. That’s the philosophy by which José Mourinho has lived his life for at least the past 21 hours. To this end, he pimped his ride, giving his famous Metaphor Bus a Magical Mystery Tour-influenced paint job, ripping out the brakes and the transmission with seven separate parking gears, and replacing the round tyres for oval ones that go up and down as well as round and round. And so on Wednesday night José arrived at Goodison behind the wheel of the Entertaining One’s Wild & Wacky Wagon o’Fun, steam parping out of the front, the suspension making every noise from the Looney Tunes effects library, and proceeded to perform donuts in the middle of the pitch for 120 minutes.

Related: Bernard strike sinks Spurs in extra time as Everton edge FA Cup thriller

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Everton 5-4 Tottenham (aet): FA Cup fifth round – as it happened

Bernard’s fine extra-time strike was the difference in a nine-goal instant classic at Goodison

11.24pm GMT

Andy Hunter was the lucky man who witnessed all that first hand. His dispatch from Goodison has landed. You know what to do: clickity click ... and once you’ve read that, you’ll be wanting to catch up on fifth-round wins for Sheffield United, Leicester City and Manchester City. Thanks for reading this MBM; it was quite the ride, huh? Stay safe and warm, everyone. Nighty night!

Related: Bernard strike sinks Spurs in extra-time as Everton edge FA Cup thriller

11.20pm GMT

... and now an extremely happy Duncan Ferguson: “It was a fantastic game, wasn’t it? What a brilliant game, eh? Obviously the defences struggled, didn’t they, and we struggled at set plays. They were strong at the corners. But we played a lot of good stuff. I started to lose count. It was a fantastic match. A lot of good performances on the attacking side. Carlo’s seen it all before, hasn’t he? It was an exciting game, end to end, great for the fans watching it on the TV. There was a lot of good spirit there. It was a long night but a great game and obviously we’ve come out and won it, which was the main thing!”

The big man also reported that Dominic Calvert-Lewin might have pulled his hamstring, but they’ll know more after tests tomorrow.

11.12pm GMT

Jose talks to BT Sport. “I enjoyed it, and I didn’t enjoy it! I enjoyed the way we played when we had the ball. Since the first minute, we had a great situation, and that was just the beginning. We had the ball, we had a great dynamic, great movement. We scored goals, created more chances, great character to fight against incredible mistakes. But attacking football only wins matches when you don’t make more defensive mistakes than what you create. We scored four goals, but four goals were not enough. If it hurts me, it hurts everyone from our team, because our feeling is we played really well when we had the ball. We were brave, we create, we were the best team while winning 1-0. But in five minutes it was pom-pom-pom, mistake-mistake-mistake, goal-goal-goal. You fight back, go again, but more mistakes. You fight back again. That was the mouse and the cat. The mouse was our defensive mistake, and the cat was us trying to compensate that by playing well, but scoring goals was not enough. We can’t cry, we have to play Saturday.”

Ten out of ten for a generous, sporting response; maybe not so high a score for the Tom and Jerry analogy, which needs a little work. And there’s a bittersweet coda, as he explains that it’s not possible in the current climate for him to have a glass of red wine with his old pal Carlo, but “we had enough time to exchange a few comments. He’s a great guy. I wish him all the best.”

11.05pm GMT

Post-match postbag, with Brad Wilson: “I am an Evertonian, but kudos to Spurs and Toffees for 120-plus awesome, agonizing, wacko, wonderful minutes. It’s why we watch. Oh, and Mr A for God.”

11.03pm GMT

Despite it all, Gylfi Sigurdsson still has his feet firmly planted on terra firma. “It was too open-ended, too many goals. Probably good to watch, but I’m not gonna lie. It was fantastic to come back. We conceded three goals from corners or set pieces, which is something we need to have a look at. But the spirit in the team to come back and eventually go through is fantastic. It was probably fantastic to sit at home and watch, but for our liking too open. But a fantastic cup game, and it’s fantastic to still be in the competition!”

10.57pm GMT

Carlo Ancelotti, a man schooled in Serie A, and Jose Mourinho - Jose Mourinho! - must wonder how their teams have just played out a nine-goal thriller of glorious nonsense. The old pals embrace warmly. Harry Kane trudges off sadly; Tom Davies goes on a long Duncan Fergusonesque arcing run. Everton continue to have Tottenham’s number in the FA Cup; that’s their fourth win over Spurs in a row. Their hope of a first trophy since the 1995 FA Cup remains alive. Tottenham’s wish for their first silverware since the 2008 League Cup will now depend on the League Cup final against Manchester City and a run in the Europa League. Oh, and you’ll be pleased to hear that Gary Naylor is OK: “I appreciate Mr Kavanagh’s concern, but I got through the semi-final on my feet at Elland Road in 1995 - useful practice.”

10.51pm GMT

Everton win a classic by the odd goal in nine!

10.50pm GMT

ET 30 min: Keane bangs a header clear. Winks tries to smack a first-time effort back towards goal, but his effort squirts apologetically miles to the left of goal. That looks like curtains for Spurs, whose 30-year wait for a ninth FA Cup goes on.

10.49pm GMT

ET 29 min: Hojbjerg loops long from the right. Mina is forced to concede yet another corner on the left. Can Everton hold out, or will they be undone at a corner again?

10.48pm GMT

ET 28 min: Winks crosses deep from the right. Kane rises and sends a weak header wide left. It wasn’t the easiest chance, to be fair, eight yards out from a standing start. It would have been a hell of a goal had he planted his header home. But such are Kane’s standards, he’s livid with himself.

10.47pm GMT

ET 27 min: The corner leads to some glorious bedlam. Some football breaks out, Son dribbling adroitly down the left, reaching the byline and clipping back, hoping to find either Kane or Vinicius. Doucoure pops up to intercept and clear. What an intervention!

10.46pm GMT

ET 26 min: Sissoko breezes down the right and crosses deep, forcing Holgate to head behind for a corner. “Has anyone checked in on Gary Naylor?” wonders Justin Kavanagh. “He’s not a young man.”

10.45pm GMT

ET 25 min: After some interminable faff, Kane blooters a witless effort into the wall. It hits the arm of Davies, but it wasn’t an unnatural position, and neither referee nor Mr VAR shows any interest in Tottenham’s claim.

10.43pm GMT

ET 23 min: Davies crosses long from the left. Sissoko brings it down spectacularly, to the right of the D, but can’t quite a shot away. No matter, because the ball breaks to Vinicius, who is clattered by Holgate just to the left of the D. Kane’s eyes light up.

10.41pm GMT

ET 21 min: Winks lines up a shot, 25 yards out, but takes his sweet time over it, allowing Doucoure to close him down. Kane battles for the rebound, and is bowled over by Coleman out on the left. The resulting free kick dings off the top of Holgate’s head and into the arms of Olsen.

10.39pm GMT

ET 19 min: Winks tries to cross from a deep position on the right. The ball’s blocked and squirts through to Olsen. Spurs can’t quite get anything going at the minute, and time’s running out.

10.38pm GMT

ET 18 min: An Everton free kick out on the left. It’s curled towards the near post, where Keane rises highest. Not for the first time this evening, he sends a very decent chance harmlessly wide.

10.37pm GMT

ET 17 min: Holgate comes on for a clearly knackered Digne.

10.36pm GMT

ET 16 min: Immediate action at both ends! Kane has a shot blocked by Mina’s slide. Everton counter, then Sigurdsson sends a rasper straight at Lloris, who blocks.

10.35pm GMT

Spurs get the second half underway. During the break, Carlo Ancelotti was pictured blowing insouciantly into his cup of coffee. “Not sure cucumbers come cooler than that!” suggests Grant Tennille.

10.32pm GMT

Sigurdsson flays another long-range shot into the Gwladys, and that’s it for the first period of extra time.

10.31pm GMT

ET 15 min +1: Richarlison isn’t too happy about the added minutes, and makes his feelings known to the referee, who quite properly doesn’t listen.

10.30pm GMT

ET 15 min: Keane heads the second corner away convincingly. There will be two added minutes to this first half of extra time.

10.29pm GMT

ET 14 min: Alli wins Tottenham’s 897th corner of the evening, down the right. Son takes. Kane rises, but Mina deflects over for another corner.

10.28pm GMT

ET 13 min: Sissoko glides in from the right and finds Vinicius in the centre. Vinicius slips to Kane down the inside right. Kane goes over near the D, but he’s not getting the free kick he wants. He is livid.

10.27pm GMT

ET 11 min: Davies swings one in from deep on the right. It nearly drops to Richarlison on the penalty spot. The ball flashes past him. Not sure why Richarlison didn’t make more effort to go for that one. Had he trapped it, Everton would surely be celebrating number six.

10.25pm GMT

ET 10 min: A corner for Spurs out on the right this time. Everton deal with it easily, and Coleman breaks up the other end. Winks is forced to take one for the team, sliding through the back of the Everton captain. Yellow.

10.24pm GMT

ET 8 min: Spurs respond by replacing Lamela and Doherty with Vinicius and Sissoko.

10.23pm GMT

Bernard’s got the funk now! Sigurdsson spins and wedges a gorgeous ball down the inside-left channel for Bernard, who has timed his run perfectly. He waits for the ball to drop, then sends a screamer past Lloris and into the bottom right!

10.21pm GMT

ET 5 min: Kane bustles into the Everton box from the left, working a little space, but can’t manage anything that troubles Olsen, slipping and hitting a shot into his other leg. Here’s Peter Oh: “Sigurdsson, Richarlison and Davinson have all scored at Goodison, but Son hasn’t? Go on, Son!”

10.20pm GMT

ET 4 min: Bernard dances in from the left, but his shot is weak and squeaks through to Lloris. In this instance, Bernard does not have the funk.

10.18pm GMT

ET 3 min: Coleman dinks Richarlison into space down the right. His dink inside proves easy pickings for Lloris. Everton come back again, Coleman going solo down the right this time. His cross is cleared by Alli.

10.17pm GMT

ET 2 min: Spurs hog the ball in these early extra-time exchanges. Everton, perhaps drawing from the experience of extra time in the third round against Rotherham, sit back and take it easy.

10.15pm GMT

It’s extra time! Spurs have replaced Ndombele with Winks. Everton kick off, playing towards the Gwladys in these first 15 minutes.

10.13pm GMT

Full-time postbag ... and it’s Gary Naylor again: “This is reaching Ken Dodd levels of entertainment with about the same time of night for the closing curtain. Bernard has something of Dicky Mint about him too.”

10.11pm GMT

Richarlison heads Son’s corner clear, and the whistle goes after 90 minutes that felt like 90 seconds. What a match!

10.10pm GMT

90 min +5: Hojbjerg’s left-wing cross is deflected out for a corner. They couldn’t, could they? Everton haven’t dealt with these at all!

10.09pm GMT

90 min +4: Bernard tries to get something going down the left, but nothing’s doing. We’re surely heading to an extra 30 minutes, a state of affairs that is only right and proper.

10.08pm GMT

90 min +3: Digne has also been booked for ... transgressing the laws of football.

10.07pm GMT

90 min +2: Kane absurdly goes straight for goal, the best part of 35 yards out. He’s then booked for sliding through the back of Davies. Not a banner 60 seconds for the Spurs captain.

10.06pm GMT

90 min +1: There will be five minutes to find a heartbreaker. Richarlison is booked in the first of them, as he hauls back Son, who was making good down the inside left.

10.04pm GMT

90 min: Son sashays down the left and looks to fire a long-range curler into the bottom right. It’s always heading wide. I can’t quite work out whether this tie should be decided by an injury-time winner, some extra-time drama, or penalties. Can it go to a replay, please?

10.03pm GMT

88 min: Alli is booked for simulation, having gone over in the middle of a penalty-box melee. That looked a bit harsh. It wasn’t a penalty, but you can understand why he fell over in challenging for a loose ball. Lamela had also gone over, having clanked into Digne’s heels. That wasn’t a penalty either.

10.02pm GMT

87 min: Alli sends Son hurtling down the left wing at pace. He’s only got Godfrey to get past, and he’ll be one on one in the box. Top marks to Godfrey for holding his line and ushering Son away from danger.

10.00pm GMT

86 min: Kane has a dig from a distance. Speculative. Ambitious. Goal kick.

9.59pm GMT

85 min: The FA Cup, eh? Bloody hell! Spurs were about to send on Vinicius, but Jose’s changed his mind.

9.58pm GMT

Son’s corner is palmed out by Olsen. Lamela meets the dropping ball and creams it towards the top right. Doucoure heads off the line! But Son gets the ball out left again, crossing deep for Kane, who heads into the bottom right from close range! This is absurd!

9.57pm GMT

82 min: Another touch in the box for Richarlison, up the other end this time, as he clears Son’s corner from the left. But the visitors come again, winning another corner, from which ...

9.56pm GMT

81 min: Doucoure and Coleman combine well down the right, but can’t quite open Spurs up. Godfrey switches play. Richarlison tries to round Sanchez on the left, inside the box. He goes over. He doesn’t get the penalty he wants, even though Sanchez had a hand on his back. You’ve certainly seen those given.

9.53pm GMT

79 min: Son crosses deep from the left. Kane keeps the ball in play and cuts back for Doherty, who hoicks the ball out for a goal kick. Spurs are beginning to push Everton back, in search of another equaliser.

9.51pm GMT

77 min: Son’s ball in from the left causes some panic in the Everton box. Keane flays out for a corner. Before it can be taken, Moura is replaced by Dele Alli. Son sends the corner into the mixer. Coleman heads powerfully clear.

9.50pm GMT

75 min: Digne is blocked by Moura as he attempts a one-two down the left. Free kick, and a chance for Everton to line up on the edge of the box. Kane heads it clear, but the ball’s worked out to Bernard on the right. Bernard whips in for Keane, who bashes a header straight at Lloris from six yards. He should have scored.

9.48pm GMT

74 min: By way of illustration, look at this. Spurs win a corner down the left. Son whips it in. Olsen flaps the ball to the edge of the box. Lamela returns it while falling backwards, lashing a half-volley inches over the post. This is far from over, like that’s breaking news.

9.47pm GMT

72 min: Bernard has the chance to release Richarlison into a world of space on the break, but hesitates. Then Richarlison goes over, claiming an illegal block. He’s not getting the decision and the move breaks down. There’s no immediate sense that Everton are planning to shut up shop. Perhaps that’s wise, given the way they’ve been defending corners.

9.44pm GMT

70 min: Bernard comes on for Iwobi.

9.44pm GMT

69 min: Richarlison had almost nothing to aim for there. It was a fantastic strike, not totally dissimilar to Lamela’s effort just before the break.

9.43pm GMT

Out of nothing! Spurs fail to clear their lines. Sigurdsson picks up possession and slips a cute first-time pass down the inside-left channel. Richarlison takes a touch. He’s facing a tight angle, but lashes across Lloris, off the right-hand post, and into the net!

9.41pm GMT

67 min: Lamela swings the free kick straight into Olsen’s grateful arms. A dreadful delivery.

9.40pm GMT

66 min: Mina is booked for clipping Son’s ankle, as the Spurs man strides purposefully down the right. A chance for Spurs to load the box.

9.39pm GMT

64 min: The dance continues. Moura bursts into a pocket of space down the inside right, before finding Kane on the penalty spot. But Kane is swarmed, and Doucoure flatly refuses to allow him a shot on goal.

9.38pm GMT

62 min: Digne, near the corner flag on the left, pulls back for Sigurdsson, who sends a wild volley into the Gwladys End. The ebb and flow of this match is mind-blowing. Some trippy gear.

9.36pm GMT

61 min: Spurs have enjoyed 88 percent of possession during the last five minutes. Everton respond with Coleman barrelling down the right. He can’t find Richarlison in the middle, but Spurs looked exposed for a second there.

9.34pm GMT

59 min: Sigurdsson finds a little space in the Spurs box to the left. His cross-cum-shot is hacked clear by Alderweireld. Good luck predicting the final score of this.

9.32pm GMT

The corner’s whipped in from the left. Alderweireld rises to flick towards the bottom right. Olsen acrobatically fingertips out, but the ball falls to Sanchez, who pokes home from close range while falling backwards during a grapple with Sigurdsson. Spurs have brought it back!

9.30pm GMT

56 min: Son dribbles at full speed down the left, and skelps a low cross into the six-yard box. Keane does extremely well to hack it out for a corner, and not trundle it into his own net. Not that it matters too much, because ...

9.29pm GMT

55 min: A change for Everton, too. Calvert-Lewin has felt a twinge and there’s no point in risking him. Coleman comes on in his place.

9.28pm GMT

53 min: Here’s Harry! Kane comes on for Bergwijn.

9.27pm GMT

52 min: Ndombele quarterbacks from deep but can’t channel his inner Tom Brady, launching straight into Olsen’s hands. A shame for Spurs, because Bergwijn was in some space there, with only Godfrey in attendance.

9.25pm GMT

51 min: To further illustrate this attacking ambition, Spurs are preparing to send on Harry Kane.

9.24pm GMT

49 min: Some busy work by Bergwijn out on the left. He can’t find the killer pass infield, though. Early signs that both sides intend to pick up where they left off in the first half: on the attack, and to hell with it.

9.22pm GMT

47 min: Lamela catches Richarlison, following through after a slide tackle. Richarlison yelps and grabs his boot. The referee considers flashing his yellow card again, but thinks better of it.

9.20pm GMT

46 min: Richarlison is brought down by Doherty, out on the left. Doherty makes up for it by heading Digne’s free kick clear. Moura tries to break down the right on the counter, and is hauled back by Sigurdsson for his trouble. The first booking of the match.

9.19pm GMT

Everton get the second half underway. They’re kicking towards Gwladys Street in this second half. Mourinho - who had sent his players out early - shares a laugh and a joke with Ancelotti. Friendship more important than football, right? No changes.

9.12pm GMT

Half-time postbag. “If this first half is Spurs at their most Spursy, there’s every chance of Everton being Evertony in the second half,” writes Gary Naylor, who has seen it all before, and has the t-shirt to boot.

Justin Kavanagh adds: “Job 1 for Goodison ground staff tomorrow morning: Touch up away dressing room where paint peeling badly.”

9.05pm GMT

A thoroughly daft and wonderfully entertaining half comes to an end. And to think Olsen has made a couple of last-ditch saves, while Lloris turned a shot onto the post! The magic of the FA Cup, right here.

9.04pm GMT

Lamela one-twos with Son down the inside-left channel. Mina should clear the return, but takes a fresh-air swipe and Lamela’s free in the box! He takes a touch and rasps a shot across Olsen and into the right-hand side of goal! Wow!

9.02pm GMT

45 min +2: As does the second. Spurs look thoroughly flummoxed.

9.01pm GMT

45 min +1: The first of three extra minutes goes by without incident.

9.01pm GMT

45 min: It’s nearly four, as well, Richarlison robbing Sanchez, dithering under a long ball. The hapless defender is very fortunate that Richarlison’s first touch is too strong, because otherwise he’d have been rounding Lloris and walking the ball into the net.

8.59pm GMT

44 min: I’m still not going to insult your intelligence. You can picture him.

8.58pm GMT

Sigurdsson gives Lloris the eyes. He slots the ball into the bottom right as the keeper dives the other way. A lovely penalty, and this is a quite astonishing turnaround in fortunes!

8.57pm GMT

42 min: A long pass down the Everton left. Sigurdsson takes possession and slips infield for the charging Calvert-Lewin. Hojbjerg clips his heels, the striker goes over, and the referee points to the spot!

8.56pm GMT

41 min: Doherty goes in hard on Digne. He makes proper contact, though managed to withdraw his studs just in time, so it’s nothing more than a foul.

8.55pm GMT

40 min: The tie has been turned on its head in two minutes and 35 seconds. Everton had been second-best, but now look. You don’t need me to describe the look on Jose Mourinho’s face, I’d just be insulting your intelligence.

8.54pm GMT

Spurs fail to deal with a simple long ball. Calvert-Lewin flicks it to Richarlison, 25 yards out, down the inside-right channel. Richarlison takes a touch to the right, then creams a glorious low drive into the bottom left, Lloris with no chance. What a turnaround!

8.52pm GMT

Hojbjerg gives the ball away, trying to one-two upfield on the left. Sigurdsson flicks Calvert-Lewin into space down the channel. Standing to the right of the D, he pearls towards the top right. Lloris should stop it, but can’t deal with the power, and the ball nestles in the net. Against the run of play, Everton are level!

8.50pm GMT

35 min: Iwobi wins a corner down the right. Sigurdsson swings it in. Mina rises highest on the edge of the six-yard box. It’s a fine chance, but he heads weakly wide right. No matter, though, because ...

8.49pm GMT

34 min: Everton make a meal of clearing the second one, but Doucoure’s dogged persistence allows them to break through the Spurs press and clear.

8.48pm GMT

33 min: One corner leads to another.

8.47pm GMT

31 min: Moura dribbles down the inside right, Everton panicking as they backpedal. He lays off to Son, whose shot is blocked. The ball breaks left to Bergwijn, who creams a low first-time drive straight at Olsen. Spurs look by far the more likely here.

8.45pm GMT

29 min: Richarlison is bowled over out on the left. Everton load the box. Digne floats the free kick into the mixer ... but everyone in blue is far too excited and they’re all caught offside.

8.43pm GMT

28 min: Olsen is forced into action again as Lamela strides towards the Everton box and curls powerfully towards the bottom left. Olsen gets down well to gather. Everton afforded Lamela far too much time and space there. The hosts living a little dangerously.

8.42pm GMT

27 min: Doherty makes good ground down the right again. He picks Son out in the middle with a low cutback. Son hits a rising shot towards the top right. Olsen makes his second big save of the evening to turn over the bar. Nothing comes of the corner.

8.41pm GMT

25 min: Moura intercepts another loose Everton pass. He should send Son scampering into acres down the inside-left, with the hosts extremely light at the back, but overcooks the pass.

8.40pm GMT

24 min: Doherty heads down the other end now, combining with Lamela and nearly zipping into space down the right. Not quite. Both teams are going for this, back and forth.

8.38pm GMT

22 min: Everton ping it around, with speed and verve this time. Suddenly Keane tries to break past Doherty down the left, but the Spurs right-back wins the tussle and ushers the ball out for a goal kick.

8.36pm GMT

20 min: Nothing comes of the resulting corner. But with Everton having finally woken up, this is a good game!

8.35pm GMT

19 min: An innocuous-looking ball sent into the Spurs box somehow evades two defenders in the slapstick style, and suddenly Calvert-Lewin has the ball at his feet, ten yards out, level with the right-hand post. He sends a snapshot towards the bottom right. It’s heading in, but Lloris tips onto the base of the post.

8.34pm GMT

18 min: Richarlison’s appalling pass infield from the left is snaffled by Hojbjerg, who drives down the middle. He reaches the edge of the Everton box and lays off to Son on his right. Son dinks across for Moura, but Godfrey reads the danger to poke away. Danger averted.

8.32pm GMT

17 min: So having said that, Everton pick up the pace. Of course they do. You’re welcome. Richarlison has a shot blocked, then Godfrey sends a vicious long-range daisycutter towards the bottom right. A fantastic effort that’s well parried by Lloris. Much better.

8.31pm GMT

15 min: Everton pass the ball around slowly, then ship possession, Spurs showcasing a much higher tempo. Shades of Everton’s recent home defeat at the hands of a much hungrier Newcastle.

8.28pm GMT

13 min: Keane’s loose pass allows Spurs to come at the hosts again. Son tries to curl into the bottom left from the edge of the box, but it’s an easy gather for Olsen.

8.28pm GMT

12 min: Richarlison threads a cute ball down the middle that nearly finds Doucoure on the edge of the Spurs box, but Alderweireld is across quickly to intercept and clear. Everton have finally pieced something together in attack, at least.

8.26pm GMT

11 min: Ndombele is still holding his lower back, and hobbling around in a very ginger style. But he’s trying to run it off, and here he flicks a pass down the inside-left channel in the hope of releasing Bergwijn. It’s not accurate, but that was another fluid Spurs attack, Son this time gaining plenty of yards at speed. Everton need to snap out of this and quick.

8.24pm GMT

9 min: Davies crashes into the back of Ndombele, shoulder first. It’s clumsy and a wee bit aggressive, but the referee limits the punishment to a free kick. It takes Ndombele some time to get up. He really felt that.

8.22pm GMT

7 min: Everton, rather understandably, look a little rattled. They try to gather themselves by stroking a few passes around, but can’t get very far past the halfway line.

8.21pm GMT

5 min: That might be the earliest time in a match anyone’s been able to say “It had been coming” in the entire history of All Football. Spurs flew out of the blocks. They should really be two up.

8.20pm GMT

Son takes. Sanchez rises above Sigurdsson and flicks a dainty header across Olsen and into the bottom right! Simple as that! Everton haven’t started at all.

8.18pm GMT

2 min: This is a fine start by Spurs, Bergwijn winning the first corner of the game down the left. And from that ...

8.17pm GMT

50 seconds: Spurs are kicking towards Gwladys Street in this first half. And they should have the ball in the net after their first attack. Moura dribbles down the inside-left channel and lays off to Bergwijn to his left. Bergwijn clips a cross for Lamela, who draws a sensational save from Olsen, his header clawed out, heading in bottom left. Moura should put the rebound away, but leans back and fires over.

8.15pm GMT

Spurs get the ball rolling ... but only after a moment to remember Dai Davies, who kept goal for Everton in the 1970s, and sadly passed today. Also the knee. There’s no room for racism. Kick it out.

8.13pm GMT

Here come the teams! Everton in royal blue, Spurs in lily white. Z-Cars fills the cold night air with early-60s jangle. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes!

7.50pm GMT

Jose Mourinho has also been talking to BT Sport. “It’s a difficult match. The cup. The potential of Everton. But we don’t come here with any other intention than to try to go through to the quarter finals. Harry Kane is the kind of player you want to play every minute of every match. He’s an experienced guy and knows his body better than anyone. He wanted to be involved because we have to try everything to get to the quarter finals. But he’s not well enough to start a second game in a couple of days.” As for his friendship with opposite number Carlo Ancelotti? “I can anticipate the words we will have at the end of the match. I think the loser will tell the winner: now that you kill me, go and win it. For sure these are going to be the words!”

7.48pm GMT

A word with Everton assistant Duncan Ferguson. “It’s the most important match of the season for us. We really want to go as far as we can in the tournament. Hopefully it’s an avenue into Europe, and we’ll be trying our very best tonight. We’ve got a strong team. We’ll take this very seriously and hopefully we can push on and get the victory tonight.” He also reports that Andre Gomes has a knock, and that’s the reason he’s surprisingly not involved this evening.

7.28pm GMT

Three changes to the Everton XI named at Old Trafford on Saturday. Yerry Mina, Alex Iwobi and Gylfi Sigurdsson step up. Mason Holgate drops to the bench, while James Rodriguez (calf) and Andre Gomes miss out altogether. Still no Jordan Pickford.

Tottenham make two changes to the team selected for the West Bromwich Albion game on Sunday. Matt Doherty and Steven Bergwijn replace Serge Aurier (calf) and Harry Kane, the latter taking a place on the bench alongside Dele Alli, who is back after a tendon problem.

7.18pm GMT

Everton: Olsen, Keane, Godfrey, Digne, Mina, Doucoure, Iwobi, Davies, Sigurdsson, Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin.
Subs: Virginia, Tyrer, Holgate, Nkounkou, Bernard, Coleman, Onyango.

Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Doherty, Alderweireld, Sanchez, Davies, Hojbjerg, Ndombele, Lamela, Bergwijn, Lucas, Son.
Subs: Hart, Dier, Rodon, Tanganga, Winks, Sissoko, Dele, Kane, Vinicius.

4.37pm GMT

Everton have won the last three FA Cup meetings between these grand old clubs. In 1983, when Andy King and Graeme Sharp knocked the holders out at Goodison. In 1986, when Gary Lineker’s diving header saw off his future employers at White Hart Lane. Then, most recently, the 1995 semi.

Tottenham Hotspur went into that tie as strong favourites. Everton were in their Dogs of War phase and struggling near the foot of the Premiership; Spurs had Jurgen Klinsmann, Teddy Sheringham, Nick Barmby, Darren Anderton and Gica Popescu in their team. But Everton went at Tottenham’s defence from the get-go, and Matt Jackson, Graham Stuart and Daniel Amokachi (twice) ran up the score in a spectacular 4-1 rout.

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The Fiver | Cashiered from the competition for sporting incompetence

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Ah, the magic of the Cup! On Tuesday, in the first match of the fifth round, Burnley put in exactly the sort of performance you’d expect from an organisation that fills in the teamsheet with a yawn, then hands it in covered in coffee rings and fag ash, two games of noughts and crosses absent-mindedly scribbled in the margin, next to a large cock-and-balls. Thank goodness for the Bournemouth official who sportingly pointed out that Erik Pieters was suspended and therefore shouldn’t be in the starting XI, ensuring the Clarets would be cashiered from the competition for sporting incompetence rather than the only-slightly-more-embarrassing administrative variety.

Related: Instagram vows to shut accounts after racist abuse of footballers

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Fulham 0-0 West Ham: Premier League – as it happened

Tomas Souček was controversially sent off at the end of an otherwise nondescript goalless draw

7.51pm GMT

No word from the managers, with Sky switching to the big Manchester United v Everton game without delay. No doubt David Moyes will have one or two things to say about that ludicrous red card, though, and you’ll surely hear about it soon enough. In the meantime, Ed Aarons’ report has landed. Here it is! Thanks for reading this MBM. Stay safe and warm, everyone. Nighty night!

Related: Fulham rue missed chances in derby stalemate with West Ham

7.34pm GMT

Mike Dean, eh kids ... and you have to wonder about Lee Mason in the VAR booth as well. It’s certainly not a clear and obvious act of aggression ... though it’s pretty clear, and pretty obvious, that Soucek wasn’t looking when he raised his arm, and the point of his elbow accidently spiked poor Mitrovic in the eye. Mitrovic was entitled to go down - that’d have been a sore one - but he didn’t act up, and fought Soucek’s corner afterwards. Mike Dean and Lee Mason, though. And there we were thinking the Manchester United v Southampton affair was preposterous enough.

7.30pm GMT

A few West Ham folk go up to discuss Soucek’s sending off with Mike Dean, who waves them away with pompous, overly aggressive, high-handed disdain. Dean so often finds himself at the centre of the story that you’d think it’d give him pause. But no. Off he struts, in the manner of someone completely sure he’s done the right thing, again. Fulham have to make do with a point, drawing them to within eight of 17th-placed Burnley; West Ham stay in fifth, a point behind Liverpool having played a game more, and they’ll have to do without an influential player for three games.

7.26pm GMT

... and that’s the end of another Mike Dean Super Spectacular.

7.25pm GMT

90 min +8: Some pinball in the West Ham box. The ball nearly drops to Mitrovic, but Rice nicks it away.

7.25pm GMT

Dean, having taken the best part of two minutes over that, pulls out the red card. What a miserable bugger. Mitrovic appeared to have given Soucek a character reference as well, but the ref isn’t interested.

7.23pm GMT

90 min +6: Soucek looks genuinely surprised at this. It all looked truly accidental, with no intent. Dean takes an age at the monitor.

7.22pm GMT

90 min +4: Before it can be taken, with the players bustling on the edge of the Fulham box, Mitrovic goes down. He’s been clumped by Soucek’s elbow. It looks accidental - there was certainly contact, but it didn’t look malicious, the West Ham player trying to get his arm out of the way - but VAR invites Mike Dean to have a look. And, well, it’s Mike Dean, isn’t it.

7.20pm GMT

90 min +3: On Sky, Alan Smith gives Lookman the man-of-the-match award. He deserves it. Meanwhile there’s a long ball down the West Ham right. Andersen cynically brings down Soucek. Booking and free kick.

7.18pm GMT

90 min +2: This is no time for a lull!

7.18pm GMT

90 min: Fabianski is booked for taking his sweet time over a goal kick. There will be four extra minutes at the end of an entertaining second half.

7.17pm GMT

89 min: Cavaleiro dribbles down the right and scoops into the box. Mitrovic, on the penalty spot, tees up for Loftus-Cheek, just outside the box. Loftus-Cheek creams a low first-time effort wide right. Always curling away from goal. On the touchline, pain is etched across poor Scott Parker’s face. His side have done everything but score in this second half.

7.15pm GMT

88 min: A free kick for West Ham out on the left. The box is loaded. Lingard whips in. Soucek heads over. He might have done better leaving that for Dawson, just behind him, waiting to slap home.

7.14pm GMT

87 min: Tete crosses from the right. Maja half-flicks on towards Loftus-Cheek, who heads harmlessly over the bar. Fulham have looked the more likely in this second half ... but they’ve only managed two attempts on target.

7.13pm GMT

86 min: Anguissa takes off on a one-man sortie down the left channel. It’s a determined dribble, and he reaches the edge of the West Ham box, but he’s swarmed by three claret shirts and has to turn tail.

7.11pm GMT

84 min: Fulham’s last roll of the dice, as Decordova-Reid is replaced by Anguissa, who finds himself immediately in the thick of it, creaming a riser straight at Fabianski from 25 yards. Well hit, but an easy save.

7.10pm GMT

83 min: After a fashion, Lookman makes a bit of space on the left and crosses, the ball dropping to Mitrovic, just to the left of the D. He creams a first-time shot inches wide of the bottom left. A very fine effort. Yet again, Fulham go close.

7.09pm GMT

82 min: Mitrovic takes his first shy at goal. It’s deflected out for a corner on the left.

7.08pm GMT

81 min: Rice bustles left to right across the face of the Fulham box. The ball nearly pinballs its way through to Lingard, but Fulham manage to hack clear.

7.07pm GMT

80 min: Corner for West Ham out on the right. Cresswell takes. Some head tennis, and Andersen eventually bundles it away from immediate danger.

7.06pm GMT

79 min: Scott Parker rolls the dice. On come Mitrovic and the debutant Maja, replacing Lemina and Robinson.

7.06pm GMT

78 min: Tete grinds down the right falls over. He refuses to stop battling, and while prone, hooks to Decordova-Reid, who cuts back for Cavaleiro. He’s free on the spot, but leans back and sends his first-time snapshot over the bar. Fulham have had their chances.

7.04pm GMT

76 min: Lookman whips the free kick inches wide of the top right. That was a fine effort. Fabianski wouldn’t have got anywhere near it. So close to the narrative purity of the London Stadium villain becoming the Craven Cottage hero.

7.02pm GMT

75 min: Ogbonna is booked for hauling Cavaleiro to the floor. This is a free kick just to the right of the D. Lookman fancies this.

7.01pm GMT

74 min: West Ham make their final change, Fredericks coming on for Antonio.

7.01pm GMT

73 min: Lemina tries an ambitious floated pass down the inside-left channel in the hope of releasing Cavaleiro. It sails out harmlessly for a goal kick. Fulham are going for this, though, and this second half has been decent fare, especially in the context of that first-half nonsense.

6.58pm GMT

71 min: It’s Fulham’s turn to stroke it around patiently, and Decordova-Reid wins a corner out on the right. Load that box! Lookman takes. Tosin meets the outswinger, six yards out. He’s got very little time to react, though, and sends the ball flashing over the bar. Close.

6.57pm GMT

70 min: Of course, when these teams met at the London Stadium earlier this season, we had to wait until injury time for it all to kick off, unforgettably so. Some more late drama tonight wouldn’t go amiss.

6.55pm GMT

68 min: Tete is down, flat on his back, having been hauled to the ground by Antonio, a spectacular wrestling move. Neither referee nor VAR shows any interest, and Tete is up again quickly enough, laughing and smiling with his opponent. All good knockabout fun.

6.53pm GMT

66 min: Dr MBM is a right quack, who should be struck off, because Reed opts to continue. In fact, having stretched for a bit, he’s moving freely enough.

6.52pm GMT

65 min: Reed is down, holding the back of his right leg. He’ll surely not be able to continue.

6.51pm GMT

64 min: West Ham stroke it around casually awhile, then suddenly spring. Rice scoops long from the left. Coufal races in from the right and easily beats Lemina in the air, crashing a header meant for the top right off the crossbar! So unlucky! That was a fine effort.

6.50pm GMT

63 min: Thirty-eight years, though. What a result!

6.48pm GMT

61 min: Space for Tete out on the right. His cross is high and easy meat for Fabianski, who drops no clanger this time.

6.46pm GMT

59 min: Lookman, in that number ten spot, nearly releases Cavaleiro with a clever diagonal pass towards the penalty spot. But Cavaleiro can’t control and spin. Had he done so, he’d have been clear on goal, 12 yards out.

6.44pm GMT

57 min: A double change for West Ham, as Bowen and Benrahma are replaced by Noble and Yarmolenko.

6.44pm GMT

55 min: The Scotland rugby team have just won at Twickenham for the first time in 38 years. If they can snap that run, surely Fulham can find a first win in 14 matches? And yes that is some shameless crowbarring.

Related: England 6-11 Scotland: Six Nations 2021 – live!

6.40pm GMT

53 min: But hold on! Fulham step it up again. Lookman dinks a lovely ball down the inside-left channel to release Loftus-Cheek. Such intelligent play by Fulham’s biggest threat. Loftus-Cheek draws Fabianski but can only lift into the side netting. What a chance that was.

6.39pm GMT

52 min: That was a bright start to the second half, but unfortunately the pace has suddenly dropped to first-half levels again.

6.37pm GMT

50 min: The corner’s half cleared. Andersen, quarterbacking from deep, sends a diagonal ball towards Decordova-Reid, haring into the West Ham box from the right. Decordova-Reid meets it on the volley, stretching, but can only send it screeching over the bar. That would have been a hell of a goal had he steered that on target.

6.36pm GMT

49 min: Cavaleiro’s free kick pings off Soucek’s head and hoops towards the far post. Fabianski goes up to claim and makes a proer balls of it, the ball ricocheting between his hands and out for a corner. He’s fortunate that didn’t play out a couple of yards to the right.

6.35pm GMT

48 min: Now Fulham have a free kick of their own, Loftus-Cheek driving down the inside-right channel and drawing a foul from Ogbonna. Opportunity here, just to the right of the West Ham D.

6.34pm GMT

47 min: And just like in the first half, the West Ham free kick is a bit of a non-event.

6.33pm GMT

46 min: Bowen is brought down pointlessly by Andersen, just to the right of the Fulham box. Just like in the first half, we begin with a West Ham free kick in dangerous territory.

6.32pm GMT

Fulham get the second half underway. No changes. The hosts are playing towards the Hammersmith End now.

6.18pm GMT

Half-time entertainment. In lieu of meaningful action at Craven Cottage, here’s what happened at Newcastle earlier this afternoon.

Related: Miguel Almirón helps nine-man Newcastle add to Southampton's misery

6.17pm GMT

It could be better. Here’s to a game of two halves.

6.16pm GMT

45 min: There will be six added seconds. Thank you, sweet Lord.

6.14pm GMT

43 min: Lookman has been Fulham’s liveliest player by far. He drops a shoulder to make space down the left but there’s nobody to aim for in the middle, so he takes a shot from an ambitious angle. Nope, but full marks for trying.

6.13pm GMT

42 min: Robinson crosses from a position near the left corner flag. Cavaleiro flashes a header towards the top left, but it’s well read by Fabianski.

6.12pm GMT

41 min: Lookman exchanges crisp passes with Loftus-Cheek and nearly breaks into the West Ham box. But he’s never quite in control of the return, and West Ham clear.

6.09pm GMT

39 min: A Fulham throw deep in West Ham territory. Tete flings it to Reed, who shins it straight out of play. That just about sums up this first half.

6.08pm GMT

37 min: Lingard’s loose pass infield is snaffled by Lookman. For a second, Fulham look poised to flood forward, West Ham light at the back. But Lookman can’t sort his feet out, and the whole thing grinds to a halt as soon as it begins.

6.06pm GMT

35 min: Antonio shows what can happen when you pick up the pace a bit. He barges Andersen off the ball as the Fulham defender tries to usher it out for a goal kick, and pulls back from the left. But there’s only Reed there. Fulham take notice of that, and spark into life themselves, going up the other end, Lookman arrowing a low shot wide right. Entertainment! More, please.

6.04pm GMT

34 min: A little space down the left for Robinson. His cross is hooked clear easily, and he’s offside anyway. I believe they call this slow television.

6.03pm GMT

32 min: West Ham ping the ball around a lot, but to little effect. This is pretty hard to watch right now.

6.00pm GMT

30 min: There’s a reason why people talk about the weather.

5.58pm GMT

28 min: The rain is coming down all right. Snow’s a-comin’ the morrow. Wrap up warm, kids.

5.57pm GMT

26 min: Bowen bustles down the right and crosses. It’s deflected and loops out for a corner on the left. Lingard takes short, exchanges passes with Cresswell, and wedges to the far post, where Soucek should score. But his header flies over. Goal kick, though he claims the ball took a deflection off Lemina, and he might have a point.

5.55pm GMT

25 min: All a bit scrappy.

5.54pm GMT

23 min: Loftus-Cheek bundles Rice to the ground. Mike Dean plays advantage for ages ... then when West Ham finally work the ball into space on the right wing, blows the whistle and pulls everyone back. Eh?

5.52pm GMT

21 min: Cresswell takes. Lemina heads clear. But West Ham come again, Cresswell sliding a pass down the left flank for Benrahma, who pulls back for Rice, just inside the box. Rice sends a forensic shot towards the bottom left, but there’s not enough behind it, and Areola gathers without fuss.

5.50pm GMT

20 min: A bit of space opens up for Lookman to shoot, 20 yards out in a central position. But he takes a heavy touch, allowing Rice to nick off with the ball. West Ham go up the other end, Lingard driving at the Fulham defence and winning a corner out on the left.

5.49pm GMT

18 min: One corner leads to a second, and that one’s dealt with easily enough by West Ham.

5.48pm GMT

17 min: Lookman earns a corner out on the left and takes it himself. Long. Loftus-Cheek takes it down, 12 yards out, facing a tight angle on the right. His shot is blocked out for another corner. Lookman will take again, though it takes him some time to trot to the other side of the park.

5.47pm GMT

16 min: Cresswell is causing some problems on the overlap down the left. He reaches the byline and arrows a low ball towards the near post. Easy enough for Areola, but Fulham can’t keep giving the dangerous Cresswell space.

5.45pm GMT

14 min: A soggy lull, so here’s Richard Hirst (9 min) again: “I prefer valiantly futile!”

5.43pm GMT

12 min: But suddenly West Ham show in attack for the first time since the opening couple of minutes. Some space for Benrahma down the left. He cuts back for Cresswell, who whips low and hard into the box. Bowen is inches away from toe-poking home from six yards; Soucek nearly turns it in from a tight angle at the far post. Nearly the opening goal; just a goal kick.

5.42pm GMT

11 min: Fulham aren’t being totally gung-ho. They’re happy to stroke it around the back patiently, making West Ham do the running.

5.41pm GMT

9 min: As the rain lashes Craven Cottage, Lookman streams down the left. His low cross is intercepted by Ogbonna, who diverts the ball back to Fabianski, more by accident than design. Fulham are very much on the front foot, although Richard Hirst considers their efforts sadly futile: “I fear the safety horse has not just bolted but has done a Shergar and is propping up an Irish motorway bridge.”

5.38pm GMT

8 min: Cavaleiro wins a corner down the right. Fulham’s first of the evening. Lookman takes. A pair of Fulham eyebrows helps the ball on at the near post, but it’s Dawson who meets the flick-on to bash clear.

5.37pm GMT

6 min: Lookman tries to diddle his way around Coufal and into the Hammers box along the byline. He nearly makes it but Coufal stands strong and shepherds the ball out for a goal kick. A lively start by Fulham.

5.36pm GMT

5 min: Fulham continue to snap into every tackle. The home side look up for this. Nine points shy of safety, there’s little option but to go for it.

5.35pm GMT

3 min: Loftus-Cheek and Cavaleiro combine cutely down the right, making it into the West Ham box. Loftus-Cheek’s shot is blocked easily enough by Soucek, but that’ll give Fulham some early hope.

5.33pm GMT

2 min: The box is loaded, everyone waiting for the curler towards the far post. Cresswell tries to catch Areola out, surprisingly aiming for the top left. It’s always high and wide left. Nice idea, poorly executed.

5.32pm GMT

1 min: Fulham are kicking towards their famous cottage in this first half. West Ham aiming for Hammersmith. Antonio and Andersen grapple under a high ball, and it’s an early free kick for West Ham, just to the left of the box.

5.30pm GMT

West Ham get the ball rolling ... but only after the knee. There’s no room for racism. Kick it out.

5.28pm GMT

The teams are out! Fulham are in their white shirts, black shorts, white socks, white boots, sweet Scott Parker. West Ham sport claret and blue; it’s always extra-special when both teams can - and do - wear their first-choice clobber. We’ll be off in a minute!

5.13pm GMT

David Moyes takes his turn: “We’ve been quite consistent in our team selection throughout the season, the players have been playing very well. We just want to keep things fresh and change things around at the right moments. We’re hoping Jesse Lingard can perform again. He played very well in his first game.”

5.12pm GMT

Sky have a word with Scott Parker: “West Ham are a very good side. They have a bit of everything and have a habit of winning games. It’s a big challenge for us today, we realise that, but it’s one we need to win, and we’re going to try to do everything we can to get a result.”

5.01pm GMT

The situation at the bottom has just become a little more desperate for Fulham. Burnley and Brighton have shared the spoils at Turf Moor, while nine-man Newcastle held on for a 3-2 win in a thriller at St James’ Park. That means the Cottagers are now nine points from safety (14) ... although they have a game in hand over 17th-placed Burnley (23) and two on 16th-placed Newcastle (25) and 15th-placed Brighton (25).

Related: Newcastle 3-2 Southampton, Burnley 1-1 Brighton and more: clockwatch – live!

4.38pm GMT

Fulham make three changes to the team that lost 2-0 at home to Leicester. Mario Lemina, Bobby Decordova-Reid and Ivan Cavaleiro come in for Ola Aina, Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Aleksandar Mitrovic. New loan signing Josh Maja is on the bench.

West Ham manager David Moyes is very much in if-it-ain’t-broke mode. Just one change from the side that won 3-1 at Aston Villa: Jarrod Bowen replaces Ryan Fredericks, who drops to the bench.

4.32pm GMT

Fulham: Areola, Tete, Andersen, Adarabioyo, Reid, Reed, Lemina, Robinson, Loftus-Cheek, Lookman, Ivan Cavaleiro.
Subs: Hector, Mitrovic, Rodak, Ream, Bryan, Onomah, Maja, Zambo, Aina.

West Ham United: Fabianski, Coufal, Dawson, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Soucek, Rice, Bowen, Lingard, Benrahma, Antonio.
Subs: Balbuena, Yarmolenko, Lanzini, Noble, Fornals, Diop, Fredericks, Martin, Johnson.

3.13pm GMT

It’s a repeat of the 1975 FA Cup final, a match memorable for the fairytale high of two-hit wonder Alan Taylor’s career, and nothing else. Let’s not go there.

More pertinently, it’s the return fixture of one of this season’s daftest matches. At the London Stadium in early November, Tomas Soucek scored an injury-time winner, capping off a move that had more than a whiff of offside about it. Ademola Lookman should have dramatically equalised, but he fluffed his Panenka, pretty much the most humiliating fate that can befall a player outside exposure of trouser arrangement, gust of wind disturbing scrapeover / blowing off lid, or accidental jobby.

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Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal: Premier League – as it happened

An early Ollie Watkins goal was enough to settle an entertaining match, as Villa completed their first double over Arsenal since 1993

2.47pm GMT

No word from Mikel Arteta. He’s probably in the dressing room reading Nick Ames’ match report, which has just landed. Thanks for reading this MBM!

Related: Ollie Watkins' early strike enough for Aston Villa to sink blunt Arsenal

2.39pm GMT

A quietly content Dean Smith talks to BT Sport. “I said to them at the start that we’d got away on Wednesday from being a good team. The values of being a good team, the work ethic, being a good team-mate, I thought we saw that in bundles today against a really good offensive team. We started with a good intensity that set us up really well. It had to be a good defensive performance, but their keeper had to make some really good saves as well. You have to win your battles to allow yourself to play. Martinez was disappointed on Wednesday having made a mistake, but he certainly didn’t make any today. That’s 11 clean sheets, the most we’ve had for a long time, and when he’s called upon he makes good saves.”

2.32pm GMT

The marvellous Ollie Watkins, today’s match-winner, speaks to BT. “It’s a big result. We’ve played some good stuff but we haven’t got the results we wanted at home, so delighted with that today. It was hard, we grinded it out. A bit of confusion at the back for them. I’ve hit it with my left foot, I think it’s come off their defender and gone in, but I’ll take that! We were a bit off it against West Ham and they punished it. We needed a big reaction and we showed it. We will just focus on the next game, as cliched as it sounds, because Europe is a long way away. Hopefully we’ll see where we are at the end of the season.”

2.28pm GMT

Dean Smith and Villa celebrate accordingly. They rise to eighth in the Premier League, on 35 points; Arsenal are stuck in tenth, on 31. Mikel Arteta isn’t happy with the referee, again, presumably as a result of the early Konsa challenge on Saka and the Lacazette-Martinez scuffle, and makes his feelings known.

2.26pm GMT

Like he’ll care! The whistle goes soon after the restart, and Villa have secured their first league double over Arsenal since 1993!

2.26pm GMT

90 min +5: One last chance for Arsenal coming up. Pepe is sent scampering down the right and wins a corner. Odegaard takes. Villa half-clear. Grealish goes down clutching his head, with Willian nearby. There wasn’t much in that. Grealish claims there was, and talks himself into the book.

2.24pm GMT

90 min +4: Grealish again, working his way down the left. Slowly, slowly, with clock management in mind. He draws a cynical foul from Xhaka, who is rightfully booked.

2.23pm GMT

90 min +3: Pepe probes down the right, but Grealish does a captain’s job, nipping in to intercept and clear with some panache.

2.22pm GMT

90 min +2: Another Saka cross from the left. It rears up off the turf, shocking Odegaard on the right-hand edge of the six-yard box. He doesn’t get a head on it, and Martinez claims. Brave keeping, because he takes another whack, from Odegaard’s desperately flailing boot.

2.21pm GMT

90 min +1: Saka crosses from the left. Deflected. It looks like heading out for a corner, but Cash doesn’t give it up and hooks clear.

2.20pm GMT

90 min: On BT Sport, Martin Keown gives the man-of-the-match award to Mings. All of the Villa defenders have been excellent, though. Can they hold out for the extra five minutes coming up?

2.19pm GMT

89 min: Ramsey channels his inner Grealish, the youngster sashaying down the inside-left channel and aiming a curler towards the top right. Not quite enough on it. An easy claim for Ryan.

2.18pm GMT

88 min: Arsenal stroke it around, to little effect. Xhaka tries to force the issue, but his long ball into the Villa box is easy meat for Martinez.

2.16pm GMT

86 min: Watkins robs Holding and drives forward. He combines with Grealish, then curls for the bottom right. Ryan’s strong arm keeps it out. The ball loops up, and there’s a spot of head tennis between Gabriel and Trezeguet. Arsenal do just enough to keep it out.

2.14pm GMT

84 min: ... and they nearly pay for not taking them, Saka dribbling down the left and cutting back for Odegaard, who fires a shot over the bar from the edge of the box. Too much power. He should have at least worked Martinez.

2.13pm GMT

83 min: Odegaard gifts the ball to Grealish, who dances down the middle and slips Watkins in down the inside-left channel. Watkins threads a shot across Ryan but inches wide of the right-hand post. Villa have had a couple of half-chances to put this game to bed.

2.12pm GMT

81 min: A lovely replay of Dean Smith’s reaction to Barkley’s tantrum. A brief sideways look of undisguised contempt. He’ll have a wee word afterwards, I’ll be bound.

2.09pm GMT

79 min: From the restart, Grealish is found in the Arsenal box, just to the left of centre. He goes for the top right. Ryan extends to push away spectacularly. A huge save to keep Arsenal in the game!

2.09pm GMT

78 min: Before play restarts, Barkley is replaced by Ramsey, and throws a hissy fit en route to the bench. A hoof of the old water bottle. Now now.

2.07pm GMT

77 min: Xhaka pointlessly barges Grealish in the back, and it’s a free kick in the centre circle. More importantly, it’s a chance for Villa to take a breather, and run down the clock a little.

2.06pm GMT

76 min: Pepe waltzes down the left and nearly gets the better of Cash, but the Villa full-back sticks to his man and eventually the ball’s run out for a goal kick.

2.06pm GMT

75 min: The corner. Some head tennis. A couple of tussles. Villa eventually manage to clear, but Arsenal are throwing everything at this. Can the hosts hold out? It might be a long 15 minutes.

2.04pm GMT

74 min: Partey’s over. He can’t continue. Willian comes on in his place.

2.03pm GMT

73 min: Odegaard gets in on the fun down the Arsenal left. He earns a corner. But before it can be taken, the physio rushes on to deal with Partey, who is down clutching his thigh.

2.02pm GMT

72 min: Pepe and Saka are causing all manner of bother down the left flank. They nearly open Villa up again, drawing some pretty triangles, but the home defence does just enough.

2.01pm GMT

71 min: Odegaard slides a clever pass down the inside-right channel, nearly releasing Smith-Rowe. Targett slides in. Smith-Rowe manages to toe-poke it away, but the presence of the defender means he blooters it out for a goal kick.

1.59pm GMT

69 min: Pepe has a dig from a tight angle on the left. Martinez is taken a little bit by surprise, but still manages to kick away while falling backwards. Arsenal are asking all the questions at the minute.

1.58pm GMT

67 min: Saka dinks in from the left. Aubameyang rises and eyebrows harmlessly wide right, the ball a little too high. He should probably have left that for Smith-Rowe, coming in behind him, but strikers have to do what they have to do.

1.57pm GMT

66 min: While Martinez was being patched up, both sides make a swap. Odegaard comes on for Cedric, while Traore makes way for Trezeguet.

1.56pm GMT

65 min: Saka blooters the ball straight in Grealish’s face from a couple of yards. Grealish stays on his feet like a good boxer. No glass jaw on the Villa captain. Martinez is also in the wars, bravely blocking a low Pepe cross from the left, under pressure from Aubameyang and his own man Mings. A boot in the mush, but he’ll be good to go after some running repairs.

1.53pm GMT

63 min: Watkins, Grealish, Traore and Cash clip the ball around nicely, out on the right. Suddenly Cash barges his way into the Arsenal box. For a second, space to shoot opens up, but Pepe tracks back brilliantly to shoulder Targett out of the road and clear. Great football all round.

1.51pm GMT

61 min: Nice and sunny now at Villa Park. The weather had been a bit grim earlier.

1.49pm GMT

59 min: That’s Lacazette’s last contribution. He’s replaced by Aubameyang, and not super-happy about it. He may have wanted a penalty for that incident, Martinez having taken hold of his shirt as the pair came together.

1.49pm GMT

58 min: Saka sends a glorious corner through the six-yard box. Nobody manages to trundle it in, and out it goes for a goal kick. Ah no, it’s a free kick, Lacazette barging into Martinez.

1.47pm GMT

57 min: Bellerin slips Saka into space down the right. Saka creams one towards the top right. Targett slides in to block out for a corner. Arsenal are turning the screw a little.

1.46pm GMT

55 min: A lovely open feel to this. McGinn sends a low rasp towards the bottom right; it’s parried by Ryan. Up the other end, Smith-Rowe nearly Gazzas his way clear into the Villa box down the middle, but Mings comes across to block just in time.

1.45pm GMT

54 min: Incidentally, Partey has just been booked for that challenge on Nakamba. There really wasn’t much in it, so should he pick up a second yellow, expect to see industrial quantities of steam rising from the Arsenal dugout.

1.43pm GMT

53 min: Pepe jinks down the left, breezes into the Villa box, and curls a low shot inches wide of the bottom right. That was so close. He’s beginning to find some hot form after a slow start to his Arsenal career.

1.42pm GMT

52 min: Villa muck up a three-on-two break. Grealish has Watkins to his right and Barkley to his left. Uncharacteristically, he chooses the wrong option. Watkins was totally free; Barkley is under a bit of pressure. Barkley blazes a shot from a tight-ish angle into the side netting. Poor all round.

1.40pm GMT

50 min: Partey clatters into Nakamba. The ref allows play to go on, as Villa stream forward. Watkins creams a shot towards the bottom left; Ryan parries well. Villa come again, Watkins winning a header near the right-hand post. It’s soft and easy for Ryan.

1.39pm GMT

48 min: Villa work a training-ground corner that gives Barkley opportunity to shoot from 15 yards. He can’t connect properly, and it’s an easy claim for Ryan.

1.37pm GMT

47 min: A gorgeous shuffle near the left-hand corner flag by Barkley. He conjures space out of nothing and crosses deep. Traore wins a corner on the other side.

1.36pm GMT

46 min: Saka eats up the turf down the right, but he can’t find any of the blue shirts in the middle. Early signs that Arsenal have been given the proverbial half-time rocket.

1.35pm GMT

Villa get the second half underway. No changes. The home side are attacking the Holte End.

1.21pm GMT

Half-time advertisement. Fulham v West Ham MBM coming up later today! Allow Jacob Steinberg to get the juices flowing.

Related: David Moyes hails Saïd Benrahma and Jesse Lingard partnership

1.19pm GMT

Arsenal have done the majority of the attacking; Villa have the lead thanks to Olly Watkins’ early goal, his 12th of the season. Poised nicely, as they say. “It’s a weird place to be for a Villa fan,” begins Jimesy. “Almost thinking a win against Arsenal was possible (or even probable?) again, given our last game and relative table positions. What a change of perception a couple of years has given us. Watkins has been a real find but Martinez is the truly the great signing - aside from the West Ham game he’s been excellent this season, so confident. Heady days indeed. Given we just missed out on relegation, it’s happy days even if we go on to lose this one.”

1.18pm GMT

45 min +2: Bellerin shoves Grealish in the back, the Villa maestro tumbling to the floor. No free kick, which is an odd decision. Grealish queries the matter in the abrupt debating style, and is given as good as he gets from the ref. No booking, though.

1.17pm GMT

45 min +1: Nothing much happens in the first one.

1.16pm GMT

45 min: There will be three added minutes.

1.15pm GMT

43 min: The free kick’s taken and easily cleared, but Arsenal come back quickly, finding Pepe just inside the box on the right. He takes one shot. Bang, straight at Targett. He tries again, whistling this one well wide right. He should have done better; that was a very decent opportunity.

1.13pm GMT

42 min: Arsenal free kick deep on the right. Everyone lines up on the edge of the box. Cedric takes. Traore charges it down, turning his back, but the ball hits the top of his arm and it’s another free kick, ten yards closer to the goal.

1.11pm GMT

41 min: Pepe takes on Cash again, dropping a shoulder and foxing him this time. He reaches the byline and belts low and hard towards the near post. Martinez gathers.

1.11pm GMT

40 min: A proper lull this time. Nothing’s going on.

1.09pm GMT

38 min: A long ball down the Arsenal left. Pepe battles under it with Cash. The Villa defender just about manages to hold off the in-form Arsenal winger, and Martinez races off his line to claim. A decent tussle.

1.08pm GMT

37 min: Something of a lull, albeit one during which both teams ping it around in a pleasant manner.

1.06pm GMT

35 min: Play continues awhile, but when the ball finally goes out of play, Nakamba becomes the second Villa player to go into the book.

1.05pm GMT

34 min: Nakamba crunches into Saka, who is beginning to feel that this is personal.

1.04pm GMT

33 min: Nothing comes of the resulting free kick. A non-event.

1.04pm GMT

32 min: Konsa is booked for cynically bringing down Saka, who was preparing to tear into space down the right. Arsenal want a red, but neither referee nor VAR show any interest in that. For the record, Targett was up with play and covering in the middle.

1.02pm GMT

30 min: From the corner, Saka swings in for Holding, whose header is harmless. Villa go up the other end, and Traore nearly scores one of the goals of the season. He’s found by Barkley, and spins between Cedric and Holding. He’s free in the box! Traore goes for the scoop over the keeper. Ryan claws away. Barkley tries to follow up, but his shot is blocked. That would have been one hell of a goal. What a turn!

1.00pm GMT

29 min: Grealish clips Saka, 25 yards out, just to the right of centre. Xhaka takes, curling a gorgeous free kick towards the top right. It’s right on the postage stamp, but Martinez, at full stretch, fingertips around the post for a corner. That’s sensational football all round, and a save for the Martinez scrapbook.

12.58pm GMT

27 min: Xhaka fizzes a pass down the left channel for Pepe, whose shot takes a deflection off a Villa leg and loops towards the top left. Martinez claims well, right on his line, doing very well not to carry it over.

12.57pm GMT

26 min: More faffing between Cedric and Gabriel, and Watkins very nearly nips off with the ball. But the Villa striker clumsily fouls Gabriel. Arsenal get away with it, but they’ve learned no lessons from the goal, it would seem.

12.56pm GMT

25 min: Grealish twists and teases down the left, eventually releasing Targett on the overlap with a backheel. Targett’s low cross is sliced out of play by Holding for a corner. Grealish takes; Ryan punches away confidently. This is good end-to-end fun.

12.54pm GMT

23 min: Some space for Saka down the right. He’s got options in the box, but slams the ball straight into Nakamba and has to settle for a corner. Saka takes himself, but it’s a hopeless delivery, flying miles over everyone’s head and out for a goal kick.

12.52pm GMT

21 min: Lacazette wedges a cute ball down the inside-right channel, hoping to set up Saka, but there’s a bit too much weight on the pass and Martinez is able to smother.

12.51pm GMT

20 min: Cash curls high from the right. Watkins is winding back his neck with the hope of heading home from eight yards, but Gabriel has read the danger and makes a crucial clearance.

12.49pm GMT

18 min: Lacazette drives down the middle of the park. He’s got Pepe to one side, Saka free on the other. He tries to release Saka down the right, but Mings reads the play smartly and intercepts. That’s a goal-saving intervention, because Villa were extremely light at the back, and had Lacazette picked the pass, Arsenal would have been away.

12.47pm GMT

16 min: Saka takes on McGinn down the right. He’s stripped of possession, and McGinn is this close to finding Watkins down the left with a long pass. Bellerin intercepts. Both teams are going for this. A few goals wouldn’t be the worst start to the weekend.

12.45pm GMT

14 min: Grealish, surrounded by blue shirts, makes a slippery run into the Arsenal box from the left and wins Villa’s first corner of the afternoon. Grealish takes himself. It’s fired towards the near post, where Saka wallops clear.

12.43pm GMT

13 min: Arsenal have enjoyed 74 percent of possession up to this point. But here we are. It is what it is.

12.43pm GMT

12 min: Troare clatters into Xhaka out on the Arsenal left, and it’s a chance to load the box. The free kick isn’t sent straight into the mixer, switched instead to the right, where Bellerin awaits. He swings it in from there, but it’s easily cleared by Villa.

12.41pm GMT

10 min: Now Pepe’s down clutching his head. He should be fine, having simply taken the ball flush on the beak. A quick grimace, the sting subsides, and he’s up and running again.

12.40pm GMT

9 min: Nope. The medical staff have given both players the once-over, and they’re good to go again.

12.39pm GMT

8 min: Konsa and Lacazette clash heads, so could we see the first concussion substitute in the long history of English top-flight football?

12.38pm GMT

7 min: Arsenal are certainly seeing more of the ball in these early exchanges. They’ll be happy enough with their start, with one rather obvious exception.

12.36pm GMT

5 min: Arsenal stream forward again. Lacazette scoops a pass down the inside-left channel for Smith-Rowe, who enters the Villa box and cuts back, hoping to find Pepe. He doesn’t, though, and the ball is eventually ushered out for a goal kick. What a lovely open start to this game.

12.35pm GMT

4 min: Arsenal come straight back at Villa, winning a corner out on the right. It’s swung in deep. Gabriel gets a head on it at the far stick, but there’s neither power nor direction and the hosts clear.

12.34pm GMT

Cedric plays a weak ball backwards towards Gabriel. Traore nips in down the right, enters the box, and pulls back for Watkins, who pokes into the bottom left. What a start for Villa! What an awful start to Ryan’s Arsenal career, a boyhood fan and all.

12.32pm GMT

1 min: A nice brisk start on a brisk afternoon. Villa ping it around with purpose, Grealish and Watkins nearly opening Arsenal up down the left. Then ...

12.31pm GMT

Arsenal get the party started ... but only after everyone takes the knee. There’s no room for racism. Kick it out.

12.28pm GMT

The teams are out! Villa wear their grand old claret, while Arsenal are in third-choice blue. We’ll be off before you know it. In the meantime, here’s Charles Antaki on his linguistic millennium bugbear: “According to my extensive research (a 20-second check on Google Ngrams) the phrase ‘it is what it is’ took off more or less exactly on January 1st, 2000. Mikel Arteta, symbol of the 21st century.”

12.10pm GMT

Pre-match entertainment.

Related: Granit Xhaka: 'Attacks on my family and friends are beyond the pale' | David Hytner

12.08pm GMT

Dean Smith seems pretty cheery, though. “People keep talking about a bad run of results, but we’ve won two of the last four, so it’s not that bad. People keep jumping on the Liverpool FA Cup game, so I keep saying I’ll add a few under-18 results where we’ve won as well onto that! We feel we’re OK. We didn’t play well on Wednesday night but we usually bounce back well. We’ve freshened it up.”

12.07pm GMT

Mikel Arteta isn’t happy that David Luiz’s red card wasn’t rescinded. “It is what it is. We did what we had to do after the Wolves game, we put our case together and hoped the decision was going to be overturned. It wasn’t, surprisingly, seeing the Southampton boy got away with it. We have to accept it.” As for leaving Aubameyang on the bench? “I felt the players who played against Wolves deserved another chance today.”

11.42am GMT

Hopefully we won’t need to go down this road, but concussion substitutes are being used for the first time today, as part of a trial that will run for the rest of the season. Two permanent substitutions can now be made in the event of head injuries, even if all replacements have already been used. Should any concussion substitute be made, the opposing team will be allowed to make the equivalent number of changes.

11.37am GMT

Aston Villa, ninth, make two changes to the side that went down 3-1 at home to West Ham. Douglas Luiz and Anwar El Ghazi make way for Bertrand Traore and Marvelous Nakamba.

Arsenal, tenth, make two enforced changes in the wake of the Wolves fiasco. Bernd Leno and David Luiz are both suspended as a result of the red cards they picked up at Molineux. That hands a debut to Mat Ryan in goal, while Gabriel fills in at the back. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is on the bench again.

11.32am GMT

Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett, Nakamba, McGinn, Traore, Barkley, Grealish, Watkins.
Subs: Heaton, Douglas Luiz, Trezeguet, El Ghazi, Engels, Sanson, Elmohamady, Davis, Ramsey.

Arsenal: Ryan, Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Cedric, Partey, Xhaka, Saka, Smith-Rowe, Pepe, Lacazette.
Subs: Ceballos, Odegaard, Willian, Runarsson, Aubameyang, Chambers, Pablo Mari, Elneny, Martinelli.

3.10pm GMT

Aston Villa did a proper number on Arsenal back in November. A 3-0 win at the Emirates that Dean Smith felt “was as good” as their famous 7-2 evisceration of Liverpool. Mikel Arteta by contrast described his listless side’s defeat as the worst of his short managerial career.

Times change, and at speed this season. While Villa were flying back then, they’re now on a stickier run, having lost four of their last six. Arsenal by contrast have recovered from those dark days when there were some slightly hysterical whispers about a relegation scrap. They’re much improved, although they’re coming off the back of defeat at Wolves and have only won two of their last five.

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