Rob Smyth's Blog, page 178
March 18, 2016
The Fiver | The cultural vandalism of picking Marouane Fellaini
In today’s Fiver: Big Cup, Big Vase, Yann M’Vila’s axe and more
Never mind 23 June, the Brexit could happen as soon as 14 April. That’s when the quarter-finals of Big Cup and Big Vase are concluded – and after Friday’s draw in Nyon, The Fiver won’t be putting its remaining shilling on there being a British side in the last four. In Big Cup, Manchester City face Paris Saint-Germain, the team who are so far ahead in Ligue 1 that they have already won next season’s title. In Big Vase, meanwhile, Liverpool face eventual winners Borussia Dortmund, which means a return to the Westfalenstadion for Jürgen Klopp.
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March 13, 2016
Manchester United 1-1 West Ham United: FA Cup quarter-final – as it happened
Anthony Martial kept the home side in the FA Cup after a stunning free-kick from Dimitri Payet gave West Ham the lead
Read Daniel Taylor’s match report from Old Trafford
6.07pm GMT
Related: Manchester United and Anthony Martial grab replay against West Ham
5.56pm GMT
The first half was boring, the second was breathless. Dimitri Payet scored a free-kick that was as near to perfection as dammit – Paul Scholes reckons David De Gea should have saved it, mind you – and Anthony Martial scored a deceptively accomplished equaliser from close range.
Both were controversial goals: Payet might have been sent off just before his goal, while Bastian Schweinsteiger fouled the goalkeeper Randolph just before Martial scored. Both teams will be happy enough to have a second chance, and they’ll sleep well tonight after a wild, desperate and richly enjoyable second half. Thanks for your company, bye!
5.52pm GMT
Now that’s an FA Cup tie.
5.52pm GMT
90+2 min West Ham are wrongly awarded a corner, which leads to the correct award of a second corner – and then a third, from which one of the West Ham forwards has a goal rightly disallowed for offside. He was miles off; hold the faux outrage.
5.50pm GMT
90+1 min De Gea makes a great save! Antonio seemed to be going nowhere, wriggling around 25 yards from goal, and then suddenly he drilled a cross shot through the legs of Lanzini. It was sneaking into the far corner until De Gea plunged to his right to push it round the post. That would have been a fine save even with a clear view; the fact five or six players were in his line of sight made it even better.
5.49pm GMT
89 min This second half has been relentlessly exciting. The purists must be hating it. Howard Webb makes a good point that Schweinsteiger fouled the keeper Randolph in the build-up to the goal. It may have been accidental, though Howard says that doesn’t matter. Schweinsteiger knocked him into the net, and without that he would probably have saved it. Nobody spotted it because we were all ballwatching. Except Howard.
5.46pm GMT
88 min Louis van Gaal is really going for this: he’s taken off Varela and brought on Darmian.
5.46pm GMT
87 min Carrick drills a low shot just wide from 20 yards. I think Randolph had it covered.
5.45pm GMT
85 min What was Memphis doing there? He ran infield at Antonio from the left, dummied superbly to make space for a curling shot to the far post – and then decided to have another touch and was dispossessed. He has so much talent, and he hasn’t a clue how to use it.
5.43pm GMT
Herrera, on the run, stood up a wonderful cross beyond the far post from the right of the area, and Martial got in between defenders to hook a cushioned volley into the net from a tight angle. He was only a few yards out but, as Michael Owen says on BT, that was a really difficult finish.
5.41pm GMT
If you want a job done, get a kid to do it.
5.41pm GMT
81 min Enner Valencia replaces Andy Carroll, who ran himself out of contention with an admittedly rousing start to the game. He should go the Euros if fit.
5.39pm GMT
80 min “I do long to see a properly conceded penalty,” says Ian Copestake. “A legitmate trip or hack down that does not give the recipient time to fling arms up or arch their back while sending a beckoning look to the referee because they are too busy being violently introduced to the grass.”
Perhaps like this, only in the area.
5.38pm GMT
78 min Antonio is booked for a two-footed tackle on Schweinsteiger. As Michael Owen says on BT, the fact he went so low is probably what stopped it being a red card.
5.36pm GMT
77 min Cresswell makes a great block from Herrera’s beautifully struck half-volley. This has been a pulsating second half.
5.36pm GMT
77 min Payet breaks clear from a United corner, in a sprint with the last man Varela. There’s a bit of a wrestling match 30 yards form goal; Varela falls over and Atkinson gives a free-kick. That could have gone either way.
5.35pm GMT
76 min A double substitution: to loud cheers, Fellaini and Rashford are replaced by Schweinsteiger and Depay. It’s probably fair to assume the cheers aren’t for Depay, or Rashford, or Schweinsteiger.
5.33pm GMT
73 min “Howard Webb was wrong about that penalty,” says Kelvin. “That was a dive. The tackle was so late Payet was way past him and there was no contact at all. He should have been off for that.”
You might be right; I’d like to see it again. If so, Payet is to LvG what Ronald Koeman was to Graham Taylor. “The referee has got me the sack. Thank him very much for me.”
5.31pm GMT
72 min Carrick is booked for a foul on someone or other.
5.31pm GMT
71 min That was a ridiculously good free-kick from Payet – not just the placement, curl and power, but visually as well. It seemed to hang in the air for ages as the world’s best goalkeeper flew towards it, before the sound of the ball clattering off the inside of the post gave the first hint that it was going in.
5.29pm GMT
70 min Randolph makes a point-blank save from Martial, though he had been rightly flagged offside.
5.28pm GMT
Oh this is a sensational free-kick! He sidefooted it high over the wall, and it curled perfectly to beat De Gea’s flying dive before clattering off the inside of the post and into the net. That is utterly, utterly brilliant.
5.27pm GMT
Payet is fouled by Blind, 28 yards from goal, to the right of centre. Just where Payet likes it in fact, and he’s scored a belter!
5.25pm GMT
66 min Howard Webb says it was a penalty. I’m not sure. I can see both sides! Payet may have dragged his foot to make contact with Rojo. It was a stupid challenge either way.
The game is wide open now, and moments later Smalling makes a superb block from Sakho’s shot.
5.24pm GMT
64 min A big penalty appeal for West Ham! Payet went over after a tackle from Rojo on the right-hand side of the box, and Martin Atkinson gave nothing. I thought it was a penalty at first. Payet has been booked so he could easily have got a second yellow for a dive. The replay will give us a better idea.
5.22pm GMT
64 min West Ham’s second substitution: Sakho on, Emenike off.
5.22pm GMT
62 min West Ham’s first substitution: Obiang replaces Reid, who is struggling with his hamstring.
5.21pm GMT
61 min Rashford receives a short pass from Lingard and spins cleverly behind Ogbonna before hitting a shot from a tight angle that is pushed behind by Randolph. Martin Atkinson gives a goalkick. But he was right about the penalty appeal: Herrera’s shot hit Reid’s leg before deflecting onto his arm. Howard Webb says it wasn’t a penalty, and wise men don’t disagree with Howard.
5.19pm GMT
59 min Kouyate is booked for a deliberate foul on Lingard. Then there’s a third penalty shout from United! Martial found Herrera in the D; he took a touch and drilled a shot towards goal. Reid flew at the ball in the John Terry style, and the ball hit something before deflecting away. We still haven’t seen a replay, but the reaction of the United players – and of Reid, who seemed to be summoning the unique righteousness of the guilty – suggested there might have been something in it.
5.17pm GMT
58 min “Did I really just see an advertising hoarding for Utd’s ‘agricultural vehicles partner’?” says Michael Collins. “Now Fellaini makes sense. He’s actually a combine harvester on a demo.”
I assumed you’d made up that advertising hoarding to facilitate a Fellaini gag. But no. Oh no.
5.16pm GMT
56 min This is United’s best spell of the match, and they have another free-kick on the left wing when Reid fouls Rashford. As for the penalty appeal, no. Martial’s header hit Rashford and rebounded off Ogbonna. Even if hit his hand, it was unintentional.
5.15pm GMT
55 min Payet is booked for fouling Lingaard just outside the box. It’s a free kick to United, by the right corner of the penalty area. Herrera swings it beyond the far post to Martial, whose header back into the middle hits a West Ham defender. That prompts another big shout for handball, this time from the crowd. I’ll be honest, I have no idea whether it was or not as we haven’t seen a replay.
5.13pm GMT
54 min Rojo makes a vital interception just as Carroll is about to lash an awkward bouncing ball towards goal/out of the ground.
5.12pm GMT
52 min “Can you explain to me why so many fans hold Herrera in such high regard?” says Nick Parmenter. “Does he do something that I miss?”
He isn’t Fellaini.
5.12pm GMT
51 min Reid, panicked by the very existence of Fellaini a few yards behind him, miskicks a clearance for a corner. It’s half cleared to Herrera, who crosses back in and appeals unsuccessfully for handball against Ogbonna. It hit him between the legs – “off the thigh area” says Michael Owen – and then bounced onto his arm, so that was the right decision from Martin Atkinson.
5.09pm GMT
50 min West Ham look very comfortable defensively. United haven’t had a shot on target yet.
5.08pm GMT
48 min Thirty-three years ago this weekend, Manchester United scored a late winner against Everton in an FA Cup quarter-final, prompting possibly the loudest noise ever heard at Old Trafford. The world has changed a lot since then.
5.04pm GMT
47 min “In the age of the ultra-sartorial pundit, a hat tip is surely due to Stuart Pearce ,whose suit makes him look somewhere between a broken supply teacher and a man who has spent the night at her majesty’s pleasure,” says James Crane. “Pah to your waistcoats, Thierry!”
5.04pm GMT
46 min West Ham begin the second half, and within 15 seconds De Gea flies through the air to punch away a very dangerous cross from Antonio.
4.59pm GMT
29 - Man United have had 29 shots across their 2 meetings with West Ham so far this season, hitting just one on target (0 goals). Wayward.
4.49pm GMT
Half-time thoughts from Pangeran Siahaan “Marouane Fellaini is a post-modern art project not even Shia LaBeouf could pretend to understand.”
4.48pm GMT
See you in 10 minutes for the second half!
4.48pm GMT
45+1 min Cresswell, perhaps the best player on the pitch in this half, smashes a fierce low cross into the six-yard box that is beautifully held by De Gea.
4.47pm GMT
45 min Rashford, despite the obvious rough edges, has been good for United. He has a nice way of turning defenders that brings to mind all those superb back-to-goal forwards that Brian Clough had at Nottingham Forest.
4.43pm GMT
42 min “How would Biff know?” says Luciano Howard of the 38th-minute entry. “The Sports Almanac was only until 2000!”
Oh madon, it was.
4.42pm GMT
41 min Rashford mixes it with Andy Carroll and is penalised. The free-kick is only partially cleared, and when it comes back in there’s a desperate scramble before Emenike’s shot from eight yards is blocked.
4.41pm GMT
40 min Varela is penalised for a naive push on Cresswell, though nothing comes of it. Both sides haven’t exploited their left side as much as they might: Cresswell and Payet v Varela, and Martial v Antonio.
4.40pm GMT
39 min “Watching football is as subjective as seeing someone engrossed in a poem, the responses to which will range from “I like what he did with those clouds” to “hey boys, looks like we’ve got ourselves a reader”,” says Ian Copestake. “I thought Fellaini was scarily effective against Liverpool at times and I hated him all the more for it.”
4.39pm GMT
38 min I’ve just had word from Biff Tannen that Fellaini gets sent off in this game.
4.39pm GMT
37 min United do superbly to thwart one of their own attacks by passing the ball backwards and then sideways a time when West Ham were a little exposed.
4.38pm GMT
36 min West Ham will be really pleased with the first half. They have created the clearer chances, despite having less of the ball – or perhaps because of it???
4.36pm GMT
35 min Fellaini, though.
4.34pm GMT
33 min “That may be true, Ian Palmer (23 mins), but I bet you’re hair isn’t a patch on his,” says Matt Dony. “That’s where the money is. After the game on Thursday (which, incidentally, was fantastic), a neutral friend commented that Fellaini wouldn’t get a game for Villa at the moment. And he has a point. He’d be behind Gestede in the awkward, elbow-y, big hair stakes. Harsh, but fair.”
‘That’s where the money is’. Arf, I’ll be passing that off as my own from hereon in.
4.34pm GMT
32 min Noble clatters Rashford and gets away with it. Fella decides to intervene, and pulls Noble back just past the halfway line. He is inevitably booked.
4.33pm GMT
30 min “Whoever wins this one, the last four will certainly have a retro feel to it,” says Simon McMahon. “As for Fellaini, I appreciate him. He’s the Belgian Terry Hurlock.” I bet he’s never sorted out a pub door, though.
4.32pm GMT
29 min The sharp Rashford’s snapshot is deflected over the bar for a corner. It’s swung deep towards Fella, whose looping header back into the centre is punted clear by Reid.
4.30pm GMT
28 min “As a Man Utd fan the fact that a loss today will push that chancer LVG that much closer to the exit door is already an incentive for feeling at least ambivalent if the Hammers do ‘us’,” says Keeley Moss, “but the fact that now Watford Town, Crystal Palace and Everton have all made it through to the semis makes it even harder to not want the Boleyn boys to make the final foursome a phwoarsome.”
4.29pm GMT
27 min Manchester United’s best chance. Rojo plays a good one-two with Martial, whose return pass ushers Rojo to the byline. He cuts it back deliberately to Herrera, 15 yards out, and he thrashes a first-time shot into orbit.
4.27pm GMT
26 min There haven’t been many chances, but the game has had an open, breezy feel, with few heavy tackles and/or interruptions.
4.26pm GMT
24 min The increasingly dismal Herrera wastes a promising position with an errant pass. He’d be good in the Guinness Soccer Sixes though.
4.25pm GMT
23 min “Fellaini really was awful against Liverpool,” says Ian Palmer. “Like really really awful. Please don’t play that badly again. I can kick the ball out of play and elbow people without getting paid whatever ridiculous amount he is.”
None of you are sophisticated enough to understand what he does.
4.21pm GMT
19 min Martial goes on a fine run down the left and crosses deep to Herrera, whose volley hits Cresswell and goes wide of the far post. The referee gives a goalkick. I’m not sure it was going in, as there was a defender back on the line.
4.21pm GMT
18 min A lovely move from West Ham: Noble to Payet, who plays an inviting pass to the overlapping Cresswell. He lifts a good cross towards Emenike, whose header is comfortably held by De Gea sprawling to his left. He might have done better there.
4.19pm GMT
17 min Anyone out there?
4.19pm GMT
16 min Payet has been quiet so far.
4.17pm GMT
15 min Lingard comes infield from the right and drags a 20-yard shot wide of the near post.
4.16pm GMT
14 min The corner is a poor one and goes straight to Carroll. He makes a nonsense of the clearance, giving it straight to Rashford, who tries to wriggle away from Reid in the box. Reid falls on the ball and Rashford is penalised for a figment of Martin Atkinson’s imagination.
4.15pm GMT
13 min Martial earns a corner off Antonio. From which... (that’s not an attempt to build suspense by the way, the corner hasn’t even happened yet)
4.13pm GMT
11 min The big Fella makes his first contribution to the match with an arm into the face of Kouyate. It was a straight arm, not an elbow, and Martin Atkinson gives nothing more than a free-kick.
4.12pm GMT
10 min Cresswell finds a load of space down the left and swings a good cross towards Carroll, who sends an immense flying header over the bar from near the edge of the area. It was comfortably over the top but it was a spectacular leap from Carroll.
4.08pm GMT
7 min Payet hooks a difficult volley well wide from the edge of the box. West Ham look really lively. If Manchester United aren’t careful, they are in serious danger of being involved in an exciting football match here.
4.08pm GMT
6 min Emenike almost gives West Ham the lead. This has been a great start to the game. Carroll played a delicate – yep – pass over the top of the defence to free Emenike on the right side of the box. His first touch was good but with his second he dragged a shot across goal and just wide of the far post. That was a chance.
4.06pm GMT
5 min A good move from West Ham involving Payet and Cresswell ends with Carroll walloping Cresswell’s low cross into orbit from the edge of the box. Blind is now back at centre half. I give up. Tactics are so over, and so overrated.
4.06pm GMT
4 min Lingard, 15 yards from goal, volleys Varela’s deflected cross well wide of the far post. This has been a fast start from United.
4.05pm GMT
2 min Martial is dumped over by Reid. Martin Atkinson plays a good advantage when the ball goes to Rashford, who surges into the box and is about to shoot when Ogbonna concedes a corner. Atkinson goes back to book Reid, and rightly so.
4.02pm GMT
1 min Manchester United kick off from left to right. They are in red; West Ham are in sky blue. Marcus Rojo is playing centre-back, with Daley Blind at left-back, perhaps because of Andy Carroll’s selection.
3.59pm GMT
There are 9,000 West Ham fans at Old Trafford, which has improved the atmosphere, if not necessarily the joie de vivre of stewardesses on the Euston–Manchester train line.
3.56pm GMT
In case you were wondering, this is when each of the remaining five teams last won the FA Cup
Manchester United: 2004
Everton: 1995
West Ham: 1980
Watford and Crystal Palace: never.
3.54pm GMT
Related: Watford shock Arsenal in FA Cup with Adlène Guedioura thunderbolt
3.53pm GMT
Paul Scholes is back on BT Sport, ready to do another autopsy on his old team if necessary.
3.29pm GMT
Remember this Berbatov brilliance v West Ham to set up Ronaldo? #mufc https://t.co/LkPVqPz2Qt
3.29pm GMT
The Joy of Six: FA Cup quarter-finals
The first entry is Leicester v Shrewsbury. And if you don’t know the story, you really should get clicking.
Related: Football | The Joy of Six: FA Cup quarter-finals | Rob Smyth
3.28pm GMT
That was then and this is now
These two have met eight times in the FA Cup. Here are their best bits.
Related: The Joy of Six: West Ham United v Manchester United | Jacob Steinberg and Daniel Harris
3.27pm GMT
Watford have beaten Arsenal 2-1 after a dramatic finish at the Emirates Stadium. They join Crystal Palace, Everton and either Manchester United or West Ham in the last four, and they will all fancy their chances of winning it.
Related: Arsenal v Watford: FA Cup quarter-final – live!
3.11pm GMT
Manchester United (4-2-3-1) De Gea; Varela, Smalling, Rojo, Blind; Carrick, Fellaini; Lingard, Herrera, Martial; Rashford.
Substitutes: Romero, Darmian, Williams, Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger, Januzaj, Memphis.
West Ham United (possible 4-3-3) Randolph; Antonio, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Noble, Kouyate, Lanzini; Emenike, Carroll, Payet.
Substitutes: Adrian, O’Brien, Song, Obiang, Moses, Sakho, Valencia.
2.55pm GMT
Watford now lead 2-0 at the Emirates. Yep.
Related: Arsenal v Watford: FA Cup quarter-final – live!
9.59am GMT
Hello. Many Manchester United fans want their team to lose today, to ensure that Louis van Gaal won’t be around next season. Whether that’s fair or appropriate is something for a hastily scribbled 800-word blog rather than an MBM preamble – but it is indicative of a dysfunction at Old Trafford so severe that West Ham have a wonderful chance of reaching the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in a decade. Might not even need a replay.
They are above United in the league (don’t play silly buggers, you know which United I mean), have been in great form since Christmas and have one of the league’s best and most likeable players in Dimitri Payet. United have an equally good chance of reaching the semi-finals and even winning the FA Cup for the first time since 2004. The last time they went so long between meals was from 1963-77.
Related: Dimitri Payet: why West Ham can thank a father for resurrecting his son’s dream
Continue reading...March 12, 2016
Everton v Chelsea: FA Cup quarter-final – live!
Romelu Lukaku scored both goals against his old team, the first a wonderful solo effort, while Diego Costa was sent off on a miserable day for Chelsea
9.27pm GMT
Match report:
Related: Romelu Lukaku strikes twice for Everton as Chelsea’s Diego Costa is sent off
7.25pm GMT
Everton are into the semi-finals! It was a tight and frequently boring game for 76 minutes. Then Romelu Lukaku scored a stunning solo goal that was part Shearer, part Messi. He soon added a second, and then Diego Costa was sent off for almost giving Gareth Barry a hickey. It was indefensible, appalling and very, very funny. Thanks for your company, night!
7.22pm GMT
90+3 min Romelu Lukaku is taken off so that he can get an ovation. Quite right too. His first goal was magnificent.
7.20pm GMT
90+3 min There is suddenly a weird nervousness around Goodison Park. Only this Everton side could be 2-0 up, against 10 men, at home, with one minute of added time left, and still be nervous.
7.20pm GMT
90+2 min Ross Barkley is replaced by Muhamed Besic.
7.19pm GMT
90 min “Is Costa the only human who looks less scary with a mask on?” says Ian Copestake.
7.17pm GMT
89 min “*’** **** **** ** *******, *****, ******* *** ***** ****. ** ** ********** ****’* *** ******* ** *** G,” says Justin Brown.
7.16pm GMT
88 min What a weird end to the game. John Stones replaces Aaron Lennon. That’s not the weird bit, obviously.
7.15pm GMT
Gareth Barry gets his second yellow card for a deliberate foul on Fabregas, then has the effrontery to complain. That was an undeniable second yellow.
7.15pm GMT
86 min It’s all happening: John Terry is not playing centre forward for Chelsea, having come on for, er, someone. Everton are preparing to bring John Stones on. We haven’t seen a replay of that Costa/Barry business from an angle that tells us whether he bit him or not.
7.14pm GMT
84 min Costa was already on a yellow card. Barry niggled him with a bad tackle, at which point Costa got straight up and ran at Barry. First he stuck his head into Barry, then he seemed to be about to bite Barry’s neck (I’m not sure he actually did bite him; the camera angle wasn’t the best), and finally he put his arms round Barry in a loving embrace.
That was thoroughly odd, a yellow card for both, and that meant a red for Costa. It was like he was went through the full range of human emotions in five seconds: I hate you I lust you I love you oh sod it I’m getting sent off anyway, let’s have a hug.
7.12pm GMT
That’s his first red card as a Chelsea player.
7.11pm GMT
Chelsea thought Lukaku was offside as he ran onto a short through pass from McCarthy and leathered it through Courtois’s legs with his right foot. It was an emphatic finish. The offside call was really tight; we haven’t seen a decent replay yet.
7.10pm GMT
Romelu’s revenge is complete!
7.10pm GMT
82 min A Chelsea substitution: Matic off, Loic Remy on.
7.09pm GMT
80 min “Lionel Lukaku!” sniffs Gary Naylor. Romelu of the Rovers more like. That was cartoon heroism.
7.08pm GMT
That was a stunning individual goal. It started when Barkley eased a pass into space on the left wing for Lukaku. He picked the ball up and ran infield between two players, using his formidable strength to muscle Azpilicueta aside. Then he slipped past Mikel in the box, which left him with just Cahill and Courtois to beat. He danced in front of the ball for a couple of seconds, jinking right and then left to beat Cahill with sleight of hip before placing a precise finish into the far corner.
7.05pm GMT
What a great goal from Romelu Lukaku!
7.04pm GMT
76 min A draw would make Chelsea strong favourites, though Everton did beat them on penalties at Stamford Bridge in an FA Cup replay five years ago. So there’s that.
7.03pm GMT
74 min Actually, Courtois didn’t beat Lukaku to that through pass. Lukaku got there first and tried to round Courtois, who as already sliding towards the ball and reacted really well to push it away.
7.01pm GMT
73 min A Chelsea substitution: Willian off, Oscar on.
“I’ve got some thoughts of my own for half time’s Arbiter of Taste, Mr. Watson,” says Mac Millings. “No one gets to spell it “Garry” unless their surname is “Sobers”. Also, asterisks are for ****s.”
7.00pm GMT
72 min Courtois flies from his line to just beat Lukaku to Cleverley’s through ball.
7.00pm GMT
71 min A good move involving Lukaku and Lennon ends with Azpilicueta welting the ball clear from inside his own six-yard box. This is Everton’s best spell of the match, by some distance.
6.59pm GMT
69 min “This match is a bit more exciting that the last one at least,” says Ruth Purdue. Indeed. This one’s had three shots on target!
6.57pm GMT
I have turned my back on this poxy game. Though TinTin is keeping me informed. #Ruff #EFCvCFC pic.twitter.com/Sy0kWHAau3
6.55pm GMT
67 min Moments after Barry takes a shooting chance off Baines’s foot, 20 yards out, Barkley thrashes wide of the near post from a tight angle.
6.51pm GMT
63 min This is a decent game now, and Everton have another corner. It’ll be taken by Baines. See 55min.
6.50pm GMT
62 min Fabregas is booked for leaving an imprint of his studs on Barry’s knee. That wasn’t the finest tackle in the history of football.
6.49pm GMT
61 min Coleman and Costa go for a high ball, and Coleman ends up on the floor. It was just a clash of heads, nothing more – not even Diego Costa loves aggro enough to have an ‘accidental’ clash of heads. It was, however, a brilliant defensive header from Coleman.
6.48pm GMT
58 min Diego Costa almost scores from an absurd angle. He was put through on goal by a lovely pass from Fabregas, with Funes Mori tracking him all the way. Funes Mori’s sliding tackle pushed the ball past the advancing Joel and allowed Costa a shot at goal. The ball was almost on the touchline, so he had no angle to work with, and his shot rolled all the way along the goalline.
6.45pm GMT
57 min The game has livened up a little. Pedro dupes Coleman before his cross is cleared by Barry.
6.43pm GMT
55 min Everton are wrongly awarded a corner on the right, to be taken by Baines. Nothing happens. If I had my time again I wouldn’t bother with this entry.
6.42pm GMT
54 min An appeal for handball against Cahill when Funes Mori’s header hits him in the face. Michael Oliver rightly gives offside. Confused? Splendid, now lie down on the couch and tell me your hopes and fears.
6.40pm GMT
52 min Costa tries to wriggle away from Coleman, who first outmuscles and then outmanoeuvres him. Terrific defending, and even better defending from Cahill at the other end a moment later, a storming last-man tackle on Lukaku 30 yards from goal.
6.39pm GMT
50 min Everton started this game really aggressively, for about three minutes. Since then, they have been weirdly cautious. But they have a corner now thanks to the ineptitude of Ivanovic. Cleverley swings it deep towards the far post, where Funes Mori leaps superbly and loops a header onto the roof of the net. That was a chance, in the context of this match anyway. In fact in the context of this match it was an open goal from 0.00001 yard.
6.37pm GMT
49 min A detailed summary of all the excitement in this match thus far:
6.36pm GMT
48 min “Half-time thoughts from Gary Naylor,” writes Gary Naylor. “Please remember to focus on the comments and spare us the dull non-events at the match. If you want to do all the football stuff, get a job at the BBC’s website but don’t do it on the G!!”
6.33pm GMT
47 min “Guus wouldn’t be broken hearted taking this tie back to the Bridge,” says Art Durbano. “The FA Cup is his only route of any kind into Europe, and the replay couldn’t be staged until 5-6 April at the earliest. By then, he should have some old dependables back: Hazard, John Terry, Drogba, maybe Zola, Damien Duff, Frank Sinclair ...”
6.33pm GMT
46 min Everton kick off from left to right. Dear everyone, please do something in this half.
6.18pm GMT
Half-time thoughts from Garry Watson
“Please remember to focus on the match and spare us all the other ****. If you want to do all the other **** get your own website but don’t do it on the G!!”
6.18pm GMT
There are some halves of football that take out a lease in the memory bank; that, when you reflect on them years later, act as instant serotonin; that make you break into an uncontrollable smile at the sheer wonder of this marvellous game we love.
This was not one of those halves.
6.16pm GMT
45+1 min Willian goes down in a heap after a tackle from Baines. Nothing is given by the referee, and Willian eventually gets to his feet. Meanwhile Baines cuts the ball back to Cleverley, whose left-foot shot across goal is comfortably held by the diving Courtois.
6.14pm GMT
44 min The resulting free-kick is taken by Willian, and Joel leaps to flick it over the bar. It was a dramatic but ultimately straightforward save.
6.13pm GMT
42 min Jagielka is booked for an inept hack at Fabregas, 25 yards from goal.
6.11pm GMT
41 min CAN SOMEONE PLEASE AT LEAST HAVE A SHOT ON TARGET?
6.09pm GMT
39 min This is an excellent spell for Chelsea, even if, as Martin Keown says on the BBC, they have been extremely indirect in their attacking.
6.08pm GMT
37 min Costa tricks Cleverley in the box but Baines comes round to cover and welt the ball into touch.
6.05pm GMT
34 min A marvellous angled pass from Fabregas puts Pedro clear of the defence on the right corner of the six-yard box. He goes round the advancing Joel but overruns the ball out of play. You could see his leg almost twitch as he went past Joel, as if he was waiting for contact, but he stayed on his feet and it was a goalkick.
6.04pm GMT
33 min Chelsea have a series of throw-ins deep in Everton’s half. That’s the extent of the excitementin the last five minutes.
6.00pm GMT
29 min Kenedy zooms forward from left-back and goes flying after a collision with Jagielka 35 yards from goal. Michael Oliver gives nothing. At first it seemed like a clear foul and a booking, but replays were less clear. Jagielka seemed to be trying to get out of the way, though it might have been a good piece of acting.
5.58pm GMT
28 min This game is, in the nicest possible way, not very good.
5.57pm GMT
27 min Ivanovic, on the stretch, shanks a clearance behind for a corner. Baines’ inswinger is headed away at the near post. Moments later, Coleman’s deep, driven cross skims off the head of Lukaku at the far post and goes out for a goalkick. It was a fine spot from Coleman but just slightly overhit.
5.56pm GMT
26 min “Also on the subject of retro, the Adebayor sprint must be one of the four football videos to feature a really good song,” says Phil Podolsky. “That Supremes-channeling Lenny Kravitz-penned Vanessa Paradis album is solid gold.”
5.55pm GMT
25 min Cleverley’s cross-shot from 18 yards goes well wide.
5.54pm GMT
24 min Kenedy fouls Lennon on the halfway line and receives a last warning from Michael Oliver. The Everton fans aren’t entirely enamoured with that.
5.52pm GMT
22 min Actually, Jagielka did put hands on Costa’s chest. Probably not enough for him to go down, but it’s a risky thing to do in your own penalty area.
5.51pm GMT
21 min Fabregas plays one of his cute little through balls towards Costa, who falls over in the area under pressure from Jagielka. We haven’t seen a replay, but it looked like a dive.
5.50pm GMT
20 min After a flying start from Everton, Chelsea are starting to control possession.
5.48pm GMT
17 min Pedro has limped back on. Kenedy runs through Coleman, and is a bit lucky not to be booked in the current climate. That said, I’m with Martin Keown: it’s nice to see a few zealous challenges.
“Evening Rob,” says Simon McMahon. “I like retro. Retro is good. That’s why I’m drinking Campari and soda, smoking a cigar and wearing a fedora whilst typing this email.” Gotta love those retro, er, emails.
5.45pm GMT
14 min Coleman clatters Pedro, an old-fashioned man-and-ball challenge that leaves Pedro on the floor holding his shin. It was a thrilling tackle, although Pedro would not agree: he is limping to the touchline to receive more treatment.
5.43pm GMT
13 min Costa has single-handedly turned the atmosphere from partisan to poisonous. Actually that’s not fair: he used both hands to make contact with Barry’s face and head.
5.41pm GMT
9 min It’s kicking off here, and – yep – Diego Costa is involved. He was fouled a few moments earlier, and when play restarted he went straight for Gareth Barry. Barry ended up on the floor holding his face, and Costa was eventually booked by Michael Oliver. Costa is excellent at disguising his fouls, and it’s very hard to tell whether that was deliberate or an accidental follow-through as he went for the ball.
5.38pm GMT
7 min Everton have had most of the ball so far. You’re welcome.
5.35pm GMT
4 min This, already, feels like a cup tie. And not just because it is a cup tie. It has a primal, retro feel to it.
5.33pm GMT
3 min This has been a cracking start. Kenedy gets down the left, plays a one-two with Pedro and then smashes the bouncing ball high over the bar from the left side of the box.
5.33pm GMT
2 min Everton’s formation is more of a 4-2-3-1, with Barkley playing off Lukaku and Cleverley plans a kind of false inverted eleven.
5.30pm GMT
1 min Chelsea, in white, kick off from left to right. There’s a cracking atmosphere at Goodison, even more so when Cleverley, on the edge of the area, shoots straight at Courtois after 40 seconds.
5.26pm GMT
“Given the high turnover of managers in this day and age, how much pressure will Martinez be under if Everton go out here, leaving their season to peter out?” asks Shaun Wlikinson. “He must be the most underachieving manager out there now bearing in mind the favourable conditions around him in terms of squad and set-up, and it seems like people are starting to see through his smoke and mirrors. What do you reckon, am I being too harsh?”
I see your point, and I think there has been a slight cultural cringe in the way he has been portrayed for a long time, but I’d give him another season. I’m not sure he’ll get it, mind you.
5.00pm GMT
An email!
“Will Lukaku go wild when he scores today?” says Ezra Finkelstein. “I think he will.”
4.59pm GMT
Related: Roberto Martínez goes on the attack to deny Everton are ‘mentally fragile’
4.32pm GMT
Everton (4-3-3) Joel; Coleman, Jagielka, Funes Mori, Baines; McCarthy, Cleverley, Barry; Lennon, Lukaku, Barkley.
Substitutes Howard, Stones, Kone, Niasse, Besic, Deulofeu, Osman.
10.26am GMT
Hello. This game needs no introduction, and not only because I’m feeling indolent after overdoing it on the protein bars at lunchtime. An FA Cup quarter-final, at Goodison Park, between Everton and Chelsea, with both looking to salvage disappointing seasons. This will be a cracker, or your money back.
Chelsea redeemed a frustrating campaign in 2008-09 when they beat Everton in the FA Cup final, and Guus Hiddink celebrated in appropriate style: by lighting an almighty cigar and offering a stiff two-fingered salute to Brent Council. They expected more this season, but a fifth FA Cup triumph in a decade would not be the worst consolation.
Continue reading...Norwich v Manchester City: Premier League – as it happened
Norwich arrested their slide with a rousing 0-0 draw at home to Manchester City, whose title challenge is almost over
2.35pm GMT
Peep peep! For a game with no goals and few chances, that was a lot of fun. It’s a terrific result for Norwich, who have renewed hope of staying up after a rousing performance. Manchester City’s hope of the title has all but gone. Thanks for your company, bye buddies!
Related: Norwich City stand firm to leave Manchester City off the title pace
2.34pm GMT
90+2 min Sterling fouls O’Neil, who smiles at the thought of a 0-0 draw. Quite right too. O’Neil has been terrific, the best player on the pitch along with Silva.
2.33pm GMT
90+1 min A City (Manchester) corner is cleared by Dorrans, but back it comes.
“I had bought Aguero for 13 million pound on FPL and he seems to have ruined my life,” says Aniket Anupam. “It’d be awesome if this email gets featured in the live blog!” I’m just too nice.
2.32pm GMT
90 min There will be three minutes of added misery for Norwich fans.
2.32pm GMT
89 min “Dieumerci, though,” says Eamonn Maloney of the Norwich substitute. “I know of a bloke in the Solomon Islands called Happychristmas Robinson, but Thankyougod Mbokani takes the biscuit.”
2.31pm GMT
89 min “Surely?” says Simon McMahon.
2.31pm GMT
89 min Aguero skilfully uses his backside to wriggle free of the defender, only to blast into orbit from 20 yards.
2.31pm GMT
88 min “I make it 23 email, 24 if this gets published,” says Simon McMahon. “We must be getting near the record now?”
2.30pm GMT
87 min Silva’s brilliant pass to Fernandinho prompts an almighty scramble in the box. Iheanacho has a shot blocked, and the ball is eventually cleared.
2.27pm GMT
85 min A chance for Norwich to win it. Kompany’s clearance hit Sagna and bounced back to Mbokani on the left of the box. He laid it back invitingly for Dorrans, who slashed a first-time shot comfortably wide of the far post from 20 yards. City then make their final substitution, with Pablo Zabaleta replacing Sagna.
2.25pm GMT
83 min This would be a great result for Norwich, not least because they have worked incredibly hard. And because their next four games are West Brom (A), Newcastle (H), Palace (A) and Sunderland (H).
2.23pm GMT
82 min “So,” says Marie Meyer, “I read Joshua Reynolds’ comment and I’m all like ‘Dude!’”
Totally!
2.22pm GMT
81 min O’Neil makes a vital interception to stop Aguero putting Sterling through on goal. He’s been very good.
“It does make sense for Ruddock and Cantona to discuss Sartre,” writes GARY NAYLOR. “They both posed an existential threat to opponents after all.
2.21pm GMT
80 min Kompany gives Norwich some respite with a moronic foul on Mbokani.
2.20pm GMT
79 min Norwich’s biggest problem at the moment is that, when they do get the ball, they can’t keep it for more than a few seconds. That means the defence isn’t getting any kind of respite. Ruddy has only had one hard save to make, but you’d expect another in the next 10 minutes.
2.19pm GMT
78 min Kelechi Iheanacho replaces the disappointing Jesus Navas. City have 12 minutes to stay in the title race, probably.
2.17pm GMT
76 min City win their 481st corner of the match. It’s a poor one from Navas, but City retain possession. A goal is coing, Frank said.
2.16pm GMT
75 min “Just woke up ...turned on the match and hit up MBM,” says Mike Adkinson. “Can I get in on the email game today?...Like others I have nothing of substance to add....I just want my comment to live in internet history. Off to the grocery store where it will be much more interesting than watching City hump around.”
You’re trying to bury a minor scandal on Google, aren’t you?
2.15pm GMT
74 min The excellent Fernandinho is deliberately tripped by Howson, who expects and accepts the resulting yellow card.
2.14pm GMT
72 min Norwich are defending deeper than ever now, a natural response to City’s increasing dominance. They have had 80 per cent possession in the last 10 minutes.
2.13pm GMT
70 min “It pains me that the USA doesn’t have a good catch all like “mate”,” says Joshua Reynolds. “All our terms “buddy”, “pal”, etc... connote either a level of familiarity or condescension that “mate” does not.”
Yeah but you got Donald Trump, so it’s swings and roundabouts.
2.10pm GMT
69 min Norwich’s effort and spirit have been admirable; there’s no sense that they are resigned to going down. Nor should they be. With the quality of players and the remaining fixtures they have, one win could change everything.
2.09pm GMT
68 min “Not sure about Otamendi’s lid,” writes
Jess Cartner-Morley
Peter Crosby. It’s not very good is it? He looks like an Amish Aguëro wannabe. Talking of Otamendi and Aguëro, do you think there are many creative attacking players who are best buds with hoofy defenders? I’d have thought they see themselves as existing on a higher level in life.”
You know that Neil Ruddock and Eric Cantona used to run a Sartre discussion club?
2.09pm GMT
67 min A double change for Norwich: Cameron Jerome and Dieumerci Mbokani come on for Hoolahan and Bamford.
2.07pm GMT
65 min Silva hits the wall with the free-kick. Manchester City are all over Norwich just now.
2.06pm GMT
64 min Another scintillating run from Aguero prompts Klose to bring him down right on the edge of the box. The referee gives a free-kick rather than a penalty, and rightly so I think.
2.05pm GMT
62 min Silva, to the right of centre, played a delightful angled pass to Fernandinho, who arrived late on the edge of the box. He could have shot but played it to Aguero, who tried to wriggle free and was eventually crowded out.
2.03pm GMT
61 min O’Neil, already booked, fouls Sterling on the left wing. Not quite enough for a second yellow, but he’ll need to be careful from hereon in. Silva curls in the free-kick and Bennett clears.
2.02pm GMT
60 min Norwich break promisingly, but Bamford works on the erroneous assumption that he has four days to decide what to do with the ball. He faffs around just past the halfway line and is easily dispossessed. Moments later Aguero does one of his round-the-houses, QPR-style runs. This time the shot isn’t on, however, so he tries to clip it back into the centre. It hits a Norwich defender, prompting a shout for handball from the City fans but nobody else.
2.01pm GMT
59 min “Rob, I’m pregnant,” writes an unnamed correspondent. “What should I do?” Just try to remember the good times.
2.00pm GMT
58 min A City substitution: Bony off, Sterling on. That means Silva will go infield to play behind Aguero.
1.57pm GMT
57 min Norwich are coming into the game a bit more, although there is a lack of calmness when they attack. That’s understandable in the circumstances.
1.57pm GMT
56 min Otamendi, who has already been booked, is penalised for a clumsy foul on O’Neil. Some people want a second yellow card, but those people are wrong.
1.56pm GMT
55 min “I took the bait and read the link to find Filip Gieldon’s previous foray into MBM,” says Robert Darby. “You were in a bit of a tetchy mood back then. Still, the MBM was more entertaining than it is now, so I suppose I can’t complain.”
Now that’s what I call faint praise.
1.55pm GMT
54 min “Eight years, but I don’t forget!” says Filip Gieldon. “He was a clown though, albeit decent (for Swansea).”
1.54pm GMT
53 min I’m surprised Pellegrini hasn’t brought Sterling on for Bony, who has contributed the square root of bugger all.
1.53pm GMT
52 min “What is the record for number of emails published in a single MBM?” says Simon McMahon. Let me just check with Opta.
1.53pm GMT
51 min The free-kick is cleared by Norwich.
“Afternoon Rob,” says Simon McMahon.
1.52pm GMT
50 min City break from that Norwich corner, with Aguero running 50 yards down the right and around O’Neil before being dragged down on the edge of the area. O’Neil is booked.
1.51pm GMT
49 min Hoolahan accidentally controls Martin’s cross in front of the near post, and then hits a cross of his own that is deflected behind for a corner by Fernando. Nothing comes of it.
1.49pm GMT
48 min Manchester City have started the second half as they did the first, with the ball at their feet. Navas wins a corner, from which Otamendi loops a header onto the roof of the net. Ruddy had it covered.
1.39pm GMT
46 min City begin the second half. You’d think that, if they don’t win today, the title race will be down to three teams. That second sentence should be a clue as to which City I was referring to.
1.38pm GMT
“The title race is superb and my fantasy football team is littered with City and Norwich players, but all I can think about is how much I’d like a cold can of coke zero,” says Patrick Rennie. “Are you a marketing savant?” One out of two ain’t bad.
1.37pm GMT
“I’m sitting alone in a Chinese restaurant in Katowice, Poland where I’ve been directing a play for the last two months,” writes Filip Gieldon. “The actors hate me, the play is going bad with a week from the premier, I just broke up with my girlfriend on distance and the only investment I have in this game is that Arsenal can’t lose it as they are not playing. Oh, and the last time I emailed you during an MBM a couple of years ago you scolded my opinion. At least the pork-bamboo is pretty decent...”
PORK-BAMBOO?!?!?!?!?!?!
1.34pm GMT
“Rob,” says John Allen, “if you are so convinced that Wes Hoolahan needs to be involved more why not just drop him an email and tell him to do his job? I’m sure he’ll get the message.”
1.33pm GMT
That was a half of two distinct segments. In the first, Manchester were completely dominant and seemed likely to score any minute; in the second, Norwich matched them and Patrick Bamford blootered a half-volley against the bar.
See you in 10 minutes for the second half.
1.32pm GMT
45+2 min Jarvis’s shot hits the stretching Kompany and drifts just wide of the far post. That’s the last kick of the half.
1.29pm GMT
45+1 min “Thanks for kissing off Ruth,” says Garry Watson. “Keep it up mate.”
Cheers mate.
1.29pm GMT
45 min Nathan Redmond is going off with an ankle problem, to be replaced by Graham Dorrans.
1.28pm GMT
43 min This is a great statgasm from my colleague Dan Lucas: Joe Hart has had more touches so far than Bony (13 to 12).
1.27pm GMT
41 min Might get a can of Coke Zero at half-time.
1.25pm GMT
40 min “Come on Rob, you know football is serious,” writes Ruth Purdue. “Don’t have fun! There must be no fun!” Not now Ruth, I’m describing the game!
1.25pm GMT
39 min Bamford hits the bar with a brilliant half-volley! It came from a long ball forward, which bounced a couple of times 25 yards from goal. Bamford dummied Otamendi and then swished his left foot through the ball, which rose and swerved away from Hart before clattering off the top of the bar.
1.23pm GMT
38 min No emails please!
1.22pm GMT
37 min City can’t get out of their half, and this time I mean Manchester. O’Neil’s cute pass finds Jarvis on the left of the box, and his attempted cutback goes off Kompany for a corner. Nothing comes of it but that was a rousing few minutes for fans of Norwich City Football Club.
1.21pm GMT
36 min Olsson’s dangerous low cross is well cleared by Kompany, sliding towards his own goal while having to wrestle with visions of accidentally slicing it past Joe Hart into the top corner.
1.20pm GMT
35 min The game has been pretty even for the last 10 minutes; in fact Norwich have probably shaded it. They need to get Hoolahan involved more if they are to create some chances. Some would even say they MUST get him involved more.
1.19pm GMT
32 min “Do your job,” writes Garry Watson. “Describe the game in detail and stop telling us what your email buddies are saying. We don’t give a **** about all that. Describe the game.”
1.14pm GMT
29 min He has now! That’s a fine save to deny Aguero. He ran at Olsson on the right of the box and drilled a fierce low shot that was going in the bottom corner until Ruddy got down and tensed his wrist to push it out of danger.
1.12pm GMT
27 min For all City’s dominance, R***y hasn’t had a difficult save to make yet.
1.11pm GMT
26 min Otamendi is booked after tripping Martin on the right wing.
1.08pm GMT
24 min Official Opta stats show that City have had shedloads of possession thus far.
1.07pm GMT
23 min A good attack from Norwich, who pass it around until Olsson beats Navas and hits a low cross that is cleared by Kompany.
1.07pm GMT
22 min “On the topic of potty mouths,” says Ian Copestake, “surely commentators need to be bleeped to spare the children when Ruddy has the ball.”
1.06pm GMT
21 min Fernandinho finds Clichy in the box with a beautiful pass, but his first touch is heavy and he runs it out of play.
1.04pm GMT
20 min “That is why Russell Martin will never be a Steven Gerarrd (unless you know he like falls over and such in a vital title run-in, etc?),” says Marty Postlethwaite, “because Stevie knew that ‘we fookin’ go again’ would never be acceptable during family viewing scheduling.”
1.03pm GMT
19 min Aguero drags a shot wide of the far post from 20 yards with his left foot.
1.03pm GMT
18 min Redmond is caught in possession, prompting
vicious boos
mild tuts from the Norwich fans. There’s an inevitability about City scoring.
1.02pm GMT
17 min Norwich are struggling to get out of their third, never mind their half.
1.01pm GMT
16 min Here’s Chris Copping. “The half-and half-scarf surely takes the biscuit for the worst combination of colours since J Pollock threw up on Peggy Guggenheim’s carpet.” Jamie?
1.00pm GMT
15 min It’s a decent strike from Aguero, but too straight and Ruddy is able to flap it over the bar.
12.59pm GMT
14 min This looks pretty ominous for Norwich, who are being passed to death. O’Neil is penalised for jumping into the back of Fernandinho, 25 yards from goal. Silva or Aguero will take...
12.57pm GMT
13 min “Very brave of you to stoke the ire of MBMers with a provocative half and half scarf pic,” says Ian Copestake. “Where one stands on this matter is fast becoming a deal-breaking dating question alongside ‘So what about that Trump, hey?’ To which the only response, date fans, is ‘Until you had mentioned it I did not know you had farted.’”
Honk!
12.56pm GMT
12 min Bennett is booked for a late tackle on Silva.
12.54pm GMT
11 min Aguero has a miss disallowed for offside. It was the right decision, and he didn’t score anyway.
12.53pm GMT
10 min The marauding Martin wins a
fackin
corner. It’s headed away to Olsson, 40 yards out, and he wallops the ball into the crowd.
12.52pm GMT
9 min “It took three re-watchings,” says JR in Illinois, “but I can confidently report that Norwich’s huddle potty mouth was fackin Russell Martin.”
12.52pm GMT
8 min “As a man of low expectations and an ability to be happy with very little I’m looking forward to a painfully dull goalless draw,” writes Phil Withall. “I enjoyed one such match between these two at Maine Road in the 90s where most people seemed to be doing crosswords. As a Norwich fan that sounds ideal.”
12.51pm GMT
7 min Fernandinho plays a slick one-two with Aguero and stabs a cross that hits the arm of the sliding Martin before going out for a corner. Martin knew nothing about the handball, and there was no real appeal for a penalty.
12.50pm GMT
6 min Norwich have started really nervously. Navas’s nothing cross isn’t cleared properly by Martin, who instead heads it straight to Aguero on the left of the box. He drills a shot that hits Martin and goes for a corner.
12.50pm GMT
5 min Martin runs 70 yards down the right, a stirring burst, and then Clichy kicks the ball off him and out for a goalkick.
12.49pm GMT
4 min Ruddy comes a long way to meet Silva’s chipped free-kick and loses out to Kompany, whose header in the vague direction of the goal is cleared by a defender.
12.48pm GMT
3 min Martin lofts David Silva high into the air, a hopelessly mistimed tackle 35 yards from goal to the left. No yellow card.
12.46pm GMT
2 min “I wish there was indeed life on other planets (Trump does not count),” says Ian Copestake, “so that such a visitor could read this and thus be the only one on the planet not to stare in wonder at the fact that this sentence is possible: ‘City (Manchester) must realistically win this and almost all of their remaining ten games if they are to catch Leicester.’”
12.45pm GMT
1 min Norwich kick off from left to right. They are in yellow and green, City are in sky blue.
12.45pm GMT
The perils of putting the camera on the pre-match huddle
“It’s gotta be fackin better” says one of the Norwich plays to the rest of his team, whereupon the picture cuts to something else, anything else.
12.42pm GMT
Here come the players. Excited? I am.
Prediction: City 1-4 City.
12.10pm GMT
82% - 41 of Man City's 50 Premier League points this season (82%) have come against teams currently in the bottom half of the table. Bullies
12.09pm GMT
Pre-match reading
This, from the excellent Little Yellow Bird Project, previews the game far better than I could.
11.49am GMT
Norwich City (4-2-3-1) Ruddy; Martin, Bennett, Klose, Olsson; Howson, O’Neil; Redmond, Hoolahan, Jarvis; Bamford.
Subs: Rudd, Bassong, Mbokani, Jerome, Dorrans, Mulumbu, Pinto.
Manchester City (4-4-2) Hart; Sagna, Kompany, Otamendi, Clichy; Navas, Fernandinho, Fernando, Silva; Bony, Aguero.
Substitutes: Caballero, Demichelis, Kolarov, Zabaleta, M Garcia, Sterling, Iheanacho.
5.31pm GMT
Unless you spent your maths lessons lovingly preparing molluscs to flick at the back of Michaela Isaacs’ head in the hope that her initial anger would magically transmogrify into something more loving, more sensual, you’ll be familiar with the mathematical principle that two negatives make a positive. That also applies to today’s Premier League match at Carrow Road. In recent times Norwich and Manchester City have been in dismal form, but the good news today is that they can’t both lose!
Since beating Norwich 2-1 in the return fixture in October, City have taken 25 points from 17 games; given their ability, that verges on the offensive.
Continue reading...March 11, 2016
Manchester United’s Anfield surrender exposed club’s identity crisis | Rob Smyth
Norman Whiteside scored in two FA Cup finals before his 21st birthday, the second a glorious winner to deny Everton a treble. He is the youngest person to play in a World Cup and hit an awesome winning goal in an FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal at the age of 17. Yet when he meets Manchester United fans, they do not want to talk about those achievements. All they want to discuss is the Norman conquest of Anfield.
Related: Liverpool’s Sturridge and Firmino make feeble Manchester United pay
Related: Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino embodies Kloppball and enthrals the Kop | Barney Ronay
Continue reading...Football transfer rumours: Lewandowski to Real Madrid? Ronaldo to PSG?
Today’s fluff is desperately seeking Kouman
There aren’t so many rumours this morning, because most of the papers have devoted 12 pages to the shocking revelations that Louis van Gaal shot JFK, JR, John Lennon, Martin Luther King, the sheriff and the bloody deputy. But let’s crack on, the sooner we get this done the happier we’ll all be.
So, who wouldn’t want to play alongside Cristiano Ronaldo? Lots of people, apparently: the Mill’s Spanish snouts have told us inclusively that Real Madrid’s summer targets, Robert Lewandowski and Alvaro Morata, are old-fashioned souls who like to receive a pass every now and then, and thus will only join if Ronaldo is bundled unceremoniously through the door marked ‘DO ONE AND THANKS FOR THE MILLIONS OF GOALS AND THAT’.
Related: Chelsea give Antonio Conte the green light to bring in his backroom staff
Continue reading...March 9, 2016
Has a footballer been sent off for a nasty tackle on his brother? | The Knowledge
Plus: most headed goals in one season; mirroring a high score in the return fixture; more runaway goalscorers; and did Newton discover gravity at Portman Road? Send your questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com or tweet us @TheKnowledge_GU
“In an interview before the Capital One Cup final, Kolo Touré said he would ‘take Out’ his brother Yaya if required,” begins Ian Baker. “This got me pondering whether there has been any notable accounts of a brother getting red-carded for a particularly nasty tackle against on sibling?”
I have a little black book with two players in it, and if I get a chance to do them I will. I will make them suffer before I pack this game in. If I can kick them four years over the touch line, I will.
Related: Runaway leading goalscorers in a single football season | The Knowledge
Continue reading...March 6, 2016
Crystal Palace v Liverpool: Premier League – as it happened
The substitute Christian Benteke won and scored a controversial injury-time penalty to give 10-man Liverpool victory at Selhurst Park
Read Dominic Fifield’s full match report3.28pm GMT
Alan Pardew had a seriously affronted coupon as he stomped down the tunnel. Palace looked comfortable against 10 men until Alex McCarthy’s unfortunate slip, and after that The Fear kicked in. They probably deserved a draw, though Liverpool were excellent after James Milner was sent off. Thanks for your company, bye!
Related: Benteke injury-time penalty snatches win for 10-man Liverpool at Crystal Palace
3.25pm GMT
That all happened so quickly that I didn’t get to describe the penalty decision. There are approximately 100 per cent of Palace fans who will think it was a dive from Benteke. It’s hard to be absolutely certain. Delaney slid in – a silly decision because Benteke was going nowhere – and may have brushed Benteke’s left foot with his knee or thigh. Andre Marriner didn’t have a great view, but after consulting with the assistant referee he gave it. At first I thought it was a dive, but the second replay suggested he may have clipped him. I can see both sides!
Edit: the more you see it, the more it looks like a clear penalty.
3.23pm GMT
Peep peep!
3.23pm GMT
It was a great penalty from Benteke. He strolled up, dummied to shoot, and then as McCarthy went down he passed it gently into the other side of the net.
3.21pm GMT
Benteke scores with the last kick of the game!
3.20pm GMT
In the last minute of added time!
3.19pm GMT
90+3 min Benteke makes a bit of space just inside the box and curls shot that is saved by McCarthy, diving to his left. It was a relatively comfortable save in the end.
3.17pm GMT
90+1 min “Bang!” says Matt Dony. “Moreno is slowly filling the John Arne Riise void. I approve wholeheartedly of this development.”
3.16pm GMT
90 min There will be four minutes of added time. The Fear is wafting all around Selhurst Park, with Liverpool in total control.
3.14pm GMT
88 min Liverpool’s final substitution, with Kolo Toure replacing the goalscorer Firmino.
3.14pm GMT
87 min Moreno hits the post! It was a brilliant effort, a fierce low shot from 25 yards that beat McCarthy and bounced up to clatter off the inside of the far post.
3.13pm GMT
86 min Moreno is booked for a stupid foul on Zaha.
3.11pm GMT
84 min Liverpool are dominating the game now, despite being down to ten men. Palace look a bit tired.
3.08pm GMT
81 min A double Palace substitution. Dwight Gayle and Bakary Sako are on for Adebayor and Ledley. Gayle was supposed to come on five minutes ago, but when he took his tracksuit top off he realised he didn’t have his shirt on. Tony Cascarino did that once in a vital World Cup qualifier, and was very nearly chinned by Jack Charlton as a result.
3.07pm GMT
80 min Another Liverpool substitution, with Benteke replacing the willing Origi. Lallana’s cross is headed behind for a corner on the right, to be taken by Firmino – and Benteke almost scores with his first touch. The corner was drilled to Lovren on the edge of the area, he headed it further across goal to Benteke, who sidefooted a volley straight at McCarthy fro 10 yards. That was a chance.
3.03pm GMT
77 min Like Spurs yesterday, Palace are finding that a one-goal, one-man advantage isn’t a guarantee of victory, not even at home. At the moment Liverpool probably look likelier to win it. But then so did England against Romania in 1998, Kevin.
3.02pm GMT
76 min A Palace corner is headed over by the stretching Dann.
2.59pm GMT
A disaster for the Palace keeper Alex McCarthy. He attempted to kick a backpass downfield, slipped over and screwed it straight to Firmino 20 yards out. McCarthy got to his feet but Firmino ran in to the area and passed it coolly into the net.
2.56pm GMT
70 min “I though Coquelin had the award for dumbest second yellow card of the weekend sewn up,” says Peter Mumola, “but Milner coming in from behind and seconds after a substitution might cinch it for me.”
Coquelin has to win, because of the state and importance of the game. Also, although you wouldn’t defend Milner, you can at least understand his instinctive frustration at being blocked by Adebayor. Coquelin’s was stupidity bingo
2.55pm GMT
69 min A Palace substitution: Jordon Mutch replaces Yohan Cabaye.
2.55pm GMT
68 min A lovely move from Liverpool. Firmino dances infield from the right and plays a good through pass to Lallana on the right of the box. He takes McCarthy out of the game with a cutback towards Origi on the six-yard line, and two Palace defenders just manage to force it behind for a corner. Or at least it should have been a corner; Andre Marriner gave a goalkick.
2.52pm GMT
65 min Firmino’s awkward, bouncing shot from 25 yards is held well by McCarthy. It was straight at him but the bounce made it a bit tricky. That’s Liverpool’s first shot on target.
2.49pm GMT
Oh dear. Milner was frustrated after running into Adebayor on the edge of the area, and when Palace broke he sprang to his feet and chased after the ball with a “WHY I OUGHTA!” speech bubble alongside him. Then he went through Zaha with an unnecessary sliding tackle that was always going to bring a second yellow card unless he got the ball. He didn’t. There was no danger on for Liverpool, with Zaha still 70 yards from their goal. It was just frustration.
Related: The Joy of Six: comedy red cards | Jacob Steinberg
2.47pm GMT
61 min An attacking substitution from Jurgen Klopp, with Coutinho replacing Flanagan.
2.46pm GMT
60 min This situation is perfect for Palace, who were playing on the break even before they scored. Now they will expect to get even more counter-attacking opportunities.
2.46pm GMT
59 min Coutinho is being readied.
2.43pm GMT
56 min Liverpool, affronted by that goal, are attacking with a bit more urgency now. I’ve never understood why so many great and good teams seem to need to concede a goal before they wake up as an attacking force.
2.40pm GMT
53 min As Alan Parry points out on Sky, Liverpool aren’t short of attacking options on the bench: Sturridge, Benteke and Coutinho.
2.36pm GMT
50 min Now there’s a scramble at the other end, with Ward stretching to make a vital interception just as Lallana was about to shoot, and probably score, from six yards.
2.35pm GMT
Palace take the lead! A set piece led to a bit of a scramble in the box, with two shots blocked by Liverpool defenders. The ball rebounded to the edge of the box to Ledley, who drilled an excellent first-time shot into the bottom corner with his left foot.
2.34pm GMT
47 min Sakho slides in to clear from Souare, who jumps to avoid the challenge and then accidentally lands on Sakho’s thigh with his studs. And then...
2.31pm GMT
46 min Palace begin the second half, kicking from right to left.
2.28pm GMT
Sterile domination department
0 - Liverpool had 63% possession in the 1st half vs Crystal Palace, but failed to direct a single shot on target (Palace had 3). Bluster.
2.16pm GMT
A decent 45 minutes of football, although it meandered a bit towards half-time. Palace will be happier, having created the main chances. See you in 10 minutes for the second half!
2.14pm GMT
44 min Liverpool win a corner on the right. Milner hoofs it straight out of play.
2.12pm GMT
43 min A couple of corners for Palace, who are finishing the half strongly. Nothing comes of the corners but,w ell, nobody’s perfect.
2.11pm GMT
40 min Milner shows solidarity with Jordan Henderson by getting himself booked for ploughing clumsily through Cabaye.
2.09pm GMT
39 min Palace have had three shots on target, Liverpool none. This information comes to you on an I’ve-bugger-all-else-to-tell-you-and-feel-guilty-about-posting-no-updates-for-the-last-few-minutes basis.
2.07pm GMT
37 min Dann’s 15-yard header from Cabaye’s free-kick is comfortably held by Mignolet.
2.06pm GMT
36 min “These two managers enjoy the touchline histrionics and I can’t help contrasting them with the two most impressive managers this season, the er... cold-blooded Latins, Ranieri and Pochettino,” says Gary Naylor. “Can it be that Mourinho’s departure marks the end of ‘passion’ being number one attribute in the football manager’s person spec? If so, what would Robbie Savage have to talk about?”
Did you see Guardiola yesterday?
2.04pm GMT
34 min Bolasie’s dangerous cross from the right is brilliantly defended by Flanagan, without which Adebayor would probably have scored from six yards.
2.03pm GMT
33 min Firmino is fouled just outside the box, to the right of centre. Milner’s free-kick is well struck, towards the near post, but hits the head of Bolasie in the wall en route for a corner.
2.02pm GMT
31 min “At least Australia is being represented today by the only Aussie in the Premier League, Mile Jedinak,” says Ezra Finkelstein. “No red cards, Mile.” Fear not Kevin Muscat took care of the Australian Premier League red card quota until the year 2098.
2.01pm GMT
30 min Origi, running at an angle away from goal, tries a first-time curler from 20 yards that dips not far over the bar. That was a bit like Oscar’s wondergoal against Juventus a few years ago.
1.59pm GMT
29 min Cabaye clips the free-kick beyond the far post to Delaney, who gets under his header and balloons it over the bar. I think he saw it late.
1.58pm GMT
28 min Zaha surges at Moreno, who brings him down just outside the area. Moreno did get a stud on the ball, though he may have gone through Zaha first, it’s hard to tell.
1.56pm GMT
25 min Cabaye shoots just wide. Zaha played a clever short pass between Moreno and Can for Cabaye, who let the ball come to him and struck a lovely first-time curler from 20 yards that didn’t quite come back enough to sneak inside the near post.
1.54pm GMT
24 min A quiet period in the game. You’re welcome!
1.52pm GMT
21 min In other news.
@MiguelDelaney pic.twitter.com/4v9bFaeAJu
1.49pm GMT
19 min Adebayor looks like a man who has just realised what his legs are for. He’s really up for this.
1.48pm GMT
18 min McCarthy comes for a corner but is beaten to it by his teammate Adebayor, whose attempted headed clearance hits his own goalkeeper and rebounds towards goal. There’s a bit of a scramble and the ball is cleared.
1.47pm GMT
17 min This is a cracking game, with every attack carrying a fair bit of menace. Palace are sitting very deep and hitting on the break; Liverpool are playing some nice give-and-gos around the area.
1.46pm GMT
15 min The lively Adebayor appeals for a penalty when his rabona cross hits Sakho. I think it hit him on the chest, but they were so close that I’m not sure it would have been a penalty even if it had hit his hand. Adebayor has been extremely good so far.
1.42pm GMT
11 min Palace look sharp. Adebayor, just inside the box on the left, whips a counter-intuitive curler towards the near post that is beaten away by the diving Mignolet. Then Adebayor thumps a header against the bar! He should probably have scored, as he was only six yards out as he leapt above Sakho to meet Souare’s cross from the left.
This is eventful stuff, and now Dann has been booked for holding Origi back.
1.39pm GMT
10 min Henderson is booked for an inept sliding tackle on Bolasie near the halfway line.
1.39pm GMT
7 min The first big chance falls to Palace. A long ball from the back was headed on by Bolasie to Adebayor, who ran down the left and then, from just inside the box, lifted a clever square pass to put Bolasie through on goal. It took a slight deflection off Sakho, and that gave Mignolet the chance to charge from his line and bravely block Bolasie’s shot. The two collided in the process but they both seem fine.
1.36pm GMT
6 min Zaha tries to run Moreno, who tackles him with not inconsiderable zest, after which both players end up on the floor. It was hard to see whether it was a foul or not, but the referee didn’t give it so it’s irrelevant. Moments later, Lallana’s loveley first-time flick put Firmino free on the right of the box, and his low cross was knocked away by McCarthy.
1.35pm GMT
5 min Liverpool win the first corner, which Milner takes short to Moreno. Nothing comes of it.
1.34pm GMT
4 min Jedinak tugs back Lallana just past the halfway line, and is perhaps lucky not to be booked. The game hasn’t settled down yet.
1.33pm GMT
3 min “Liverpool and Crystal Palace have the two best anthems - YNWA and Glad All Over,” says Hubert O’Hearn. “But leave us face it, they’re getting a bit old now. So what song from our times could suit as a team anthem that will make crowds sing (as opposed to cringe) twenty or thirty years from now?”
1.31pm GMT
2 min There’s invariably a cracking atmosphere at Selhurst Park, where prawn sandwiches are not on sale, and today is no exception.
1.30pm GMT
1 min Liverpool, in white, kick off from right to left.
1.29pm GMT
Another email!
“Here’s a pre-match email for you,” says Drew Gough, “assuming I hit send in the next 30 seconds. Go football!”
1.28pm GMT
An email!
“While I wouldn’t wish relegation on anyone, I’m not broken up about the anagram of A Last Place Cry having a winless 2016,” writes Peter Oh. “They’ve been a thorn in Liverpool’s side in recent seasons and I’d love to see the Reds extend the Eagles’ unenviable streak today. As for the photo of Pardew dismissively waving his talons at Klopp, clearly the Liverpool manager has just asked the Palace gaffer does he know how many European Cups the Reds have won and Pardew is reluctantly supplying the answer.”
1.22pm GMT
You can usually gauge how big a match is by the number of emails we receive before kick-off.
The email count today: 0.
1.21pm GMT
Connor Wickham is out with a thigh injury, which is a blow to Palace given his recent form. But Yannick Bolasie, Liverpool’s nemesis, does start.
Yannick Bolasie scored in the 2-1 win at Anfield, Nov 8 & Palace have a 44% win ratio with him this season pic.twitter.com/AmDDaO5Ihp
12.34pm GMT
Crystal Palace (4-3-3) McCarthy; Ward, Dann, Delaney, Souare; Jedinak, Cabaye, Ledley; Zaha, Adebayor, Bolasie.
Substitutes Speroni, Kelly, Lee, Mutch, Sako, Chamakh, Gayle.
Liverpool (4-2-3-1) Mignolet, Flanagan, Lovren, Sakho, Moreno; Henderson, Can; Milner, Firmino, Lallana; Origi.
Substitutes Ward, Toure, Clyne, Allen, Coutinho, Sturridge, Benteke.
10.36am GMT
For two teams who have only met 46 times, Crystal Palace and Liverpool have a pretty rich history. The 9-0 and 4-3 in 1989-90 constitute one of the great football stories, while the 3-3 draw two seasons ago was unforgettably dramatic, even if its ultimate significance has been overplayed. There’s also a swaggering 6-1 win for Liverpool at Selhurst Park on the opening day of the 1994-95 season, two League Cup semi-finals, a big FA Cup shock in 2003 and Emile Heskey doing a Roy of the Rovers impression. Sort of.
Now Palace are aiming to complete consecutive league doubles over Liverpool for the first time. To achieve that, they will have to do something unusual: win a Premier League match. They are the only team in all four divisions who have not won a league game in 2016. After their superb start to the season - they were fifth on New Year’s Day - it’s been a strange freefall, even more so because they have kept winning in the FA Cup.
Continue reading...March 5, 2016
Watford 0-1 Leicester City: Premier League – as it happened
Riyad Mahrez scored the only goal as Leicester moved five points clear with a performance of impressive authority at Vicarage Road
7.51pm GMT
Here’s Paul Doyle’s match report from Vicarage Road:
Related: Leicester City’s Riyad Mahrez sinks Watford to boost title charge
7.21pm GMT
Peep peep! A deserved win for Leicester, inspired by an excellent and courageous double substitution from Claudio Ranieri at half-time. They played with the authority of potential champions and are now five points clear at the top. Don’t try to make sense of it, because it will never make sense. Just enjoy one of the greatest stories we’ll see in our football-watching lifetime.
7.19pm GMT
90+3 min Watson drills the free-kick straight out of play for a goalkick.
7.19pm GMT
90+2 min Morgan is booked. Watford have a free-kick on the left wing, which will be launched into the area.
7.17pm GMT
90 min There will be four minutes of added time.
7.16pm GMT
89 min Ake tries to play homage to Erik Edman, and fails.
7.15pm GMT
88 min Watford replace Capoue with Obbi Oulare, their final substitution.
7.14pm GMT
87 min Leicester break quickly and Schlupp crashes a shot wide of the near post from just inside the box. It wasn’t much of a chance, with at least two defenders between him and the goal.
7.13pm GMT
86 min “I’m at the Hackney Empire for the opera which got me thinking that Leicester’s season might be more suited to this form rather than the mooted movie,” says Gary Naylor. “Even more so if it ends with their Italian manager and English hero in each other’s arms in tragic failure.”
7.12pm GMT
85 min Mahrez is coming off now, to be replaced by Daniel Amartey. He seems okay, so maybe that was just a false alarm.
7.11pm GMT
83 min Abdi’s long-range snapshot goes miles wide. For the first time Leicester have started to sit on their 1-0 lead. This would be such a big result, especially as it is so far the result of a superb performance.
7.09pm GMT
81 min Mahrez is still moving awkwardly. He might regret this later tonight. Watford make another substitution, with Ikechi Anya replacing Nyom.
7.07pm GMT
80 min A clever short-range lob from Deeney finds Ighalo six yards out, but he heads straight at Schmeichel. What a chance!
7.07pm GMT
78 min Mahrez appears to have pulled his hamstring. There was almost a hush as he pulled up and everybody realised what had happened, and the potential implications for Leicester’s title challenge. He’s actually trying to continue, which seems a bit daft, and now he has given the bench a signal that he is fine to continue.
7.05pm GMT
77 min Kante’s through pass is just behind Mahrez, who tries to drag it with his studs but can’t quite get the ball out of his feet. That allows Abdi to slide in and concede a corner, from which Huth’s header goes wide off the arm of Prodl. Leicester want a penalty or a corner. Watford get a goalkick.
7.02pm GMT
75 min Fuchs is booked for repeat eejitry, in this case a foul on Amrabat.
7.02pm GMT
74 min “My quick google didn’t find Vardy’s 100m time but it did unearth this, on 101 Great Goals, which places him at N°1 in the top ten fastest PL players with a speed of 35.44k/h, and four of his team mates are also in that standing,” says Michael Cosgrove. “The best 100m runner last year was, it appears, Theo Walcott.” Vardy looks faster than Walcott, certainly based on today’s evidence.
7.00pm GMT
73 min A much better header from Huth, a superb clearance from Abdi’s dangerous cross.
6.59pm GMT
72 min Huth misses an excellent chance from Fuchs’s inswinging free-kick, planting his header wide of the far post. He should probably have scored, and unsuccessfully attempts to divert attention from that fact by appealing for a penalty.
6.57pm GMT
70 min Leicester have been absolutely outstanding since Claudio Ranieri’s half-time changes. They have played with such authority and confidence and could be two or three goals ahead.
6.56pm GMT
67 min Mahrez dupes Watson with a lovely piece of skill before hitting a 25-yard curler that is held by Gomes as he dives to his right.
6.52pm GMT
65 min A Watford substitution, with Aimen Abdi replacing Suarez.
6.51pm GMT
63 min Amrabat, booked for diving in the first half, falls over after a challenge from Fuchs. Was that a penalty? Amrabat got straight to his feet anyway, turned and drilled a shot straight at Schmeichel. This is so open now, and moments later Schlupp smashes a beautiful low ball right across the six-yard area.
6.49pm GMT
61 min Another dangerous low cross from Vardy, this time towards King, is cleared from inside his own six-yard box by Ake. It came after a delightful exchange between Vardy and Drinkwater. Vardy’s speed with and without the ball is terrifying. Has anyone ever timed him running the 100 metres?
6.48pm GMT
60 min Another chance for Leicester! An incisive move ends when Vardy’s low cross towards Morgan is cleared from under his own crossbar by, er, a Watford defender.
6.47pm GMT
59 min Nearly another one for Leicester. They took a clever short free-kick on the right to release Kante. His cross was headed firmly towards goal by Huth, straining his neck muscles like Bruce Banner undergoing the change, and Gomes made a vital save.
6.45pm GMT
58 min Ake is booked for hoofing Jamie Vardy up in the air.
6.44pm GMT
Fuchs’s dangerous deep cross from the left was only half cleared. It came to Mahrez, 20 yards out to the left of centre, and he made room before curling it beautifully into the top corner at the near post. Actually, on reflection it may have taken a slight deflection but, ach, who cares? As things stand, Leicester are five points clear with nine games to play!
6.43pm GMT
Yet another demonstration of Riyad Mahrez’s enormous class. This is a gorgeous goal!
6.43pm GMT
55 min Leicester have had a lot of the ball since half time, which was presumably the point of Claudio Ranieri’s changes.
6.42pm GMT
54 min Drinkwater toebungs a 25-yard shot well wide. That’s a rare poor touch in an excellent personal performance.
6.40pm GMT
53 min Holebas earns a goalkick off Mahrez. Yes, I did just describe the winning of a goalkick. I have to type something. The second half hasn’t settled down yet.
6.36pm GMT
49 min A lovely Gascoigne-like surge from midfield by Suarez ends with a long-range shot that deflects off Huth and is held by the diving Schmeichel. It was a pretty comfortable save.
6.36pm GMT
48 min As things stand, Leicester are three points clear of Spurs, six clear of Arsenal and eight clear of Manchester City, although City have a game in hand.
6.34pm GMT
These hungry boys are on @SundaySupp from 9: @OllieHolt22, @JWTelegraph and @DickinsonTimes. pic.twitter.com/OQlwYvuZ1x
6.32pm GMT
46 min Leicester begin the second half, kicking from right to left.
6.31pm GMT
A double substitution for Leicester: Andy King and Jeff Schlupp replace Shinji Okazaki and Marc Albrighton. Claudio’s done a Tinkerman!
6.27pm GMT
In 1980-81, Villa only won five of their last 10 to win the title. It's feeling like that kind of race.
6.24pm GMT
Half-time thoughts from Phil Podolsky “Is there another player it’s so easy to imagine seamlessly fitting into Barcelona’s front three as Mahrez?”
Me?
6.17pm GMT
That was an excellent 45 minutes. Watford have played the better football, Leicester have had the best chance through Vardy. See you in 10 minutes for the second half.
6.16pm GMT
45 min Morgan’s weak backheader is well short of Schmeichel, who flies out of his box to make a vital headed clearance.
6.13pm GMT
43 min Deeney eyes glory from 20 yards, and smashes it into Row J.
6.13pm GMT
42 min A Leicester corner is half cleared to Simpson, who puts it back into the area from the right. Morgan, eight yards out, heads straight at Gomes. It wasn’t much of a chance as there was no pace on the ball and he was jumping from a standing position.
6.09pm GMT
39 min Okazaki is harshly penalised for a foul on the indefatigable Holebas. It’s a free-kick to Watford, 35 yards from goal. Watson chips it into the box and it’s comfortably cleared.
6.06pm GMT
35 min This is like a high-class lower-league game. That sounds patronising but it’s not meant that way; the point is that there is little of the wearying entitlement that is so familiar in matches involving the established clubs.
6.03pm GMT
33 min Morgan is a little fortunate not to be booked after dumping Ighalo over on the left wing.
6.02pm GMT
32 min Watson’s corner skims off the head of Prodl and is welted clear by Kante.
6.01pm GMT
31 min Fuchs tries to see Capoue’s overhit cross out for a goalkick, and instead concedes a corner.
5.59pm GMT
29 min Amrabat is booked for diving, right on the edge of the Leicester area. A rare moment of cynicism in a refreshingly innocent game.
5.58pm GMT
26 min A cross from the right breaks to Deeney, whose first-time shot deflects off Simpson and straight at Schmeichel.
5.54pm GMT
5.54pm GMT
23 min Vardy misses a great chance! He started the move by robbing Prodl 30 yards from goal and playing it to Mahrez in space on the right of the box. Mahrez moved in on Gomes and then eased a pass square to Vardy, who shot wide of the near post from six yards. He was under significant pressure from the recovering Prodl, but the goal was empty and he will probably feel he should have scored.
5.51pm GMT
21 min “Regarding your 9th-minute comment,” begins Ian Copestake, “there is not much better than an open and breezy feel.”
5.50pm GMT
20 min Watford are into their work now, and are having more of the ball. It’s an enjoyable game, bright and breezy, and now Drinkwater wins a corner for Leicester. It’s headed out by Deeney.
5.48pm GMT
18 min Fuchs has a slapstick hack at Amrabat, for which he might have been booked. Instead it’s a free-kick to Watford on the right, and nothing happens.
5.46pm GMT
14 min Another simple long ball over the top from Fuchs allows Vardy to outpace Prodl, this time in the inside-left channel. As the ball bounces up he tries to belt it over Gomes from a ludicrous angle with his left foot. He scored a stunning goal in not dissimilar circumstances against Liverpool but this time his shot goes all the way across goal to safety.
5.44pm GMT
13 min Holebas and Capoue combine neatly again on the left before
Bevilaqua
Drinkwater intercepts well.
5.41pm GMT
11 min Ake hits the bar for Watford! The chance came from a long, drilled free-kick by Amrabat (I think) near the halfway line on the right. Ake leapt superbly, above Morgan, and looped a header over Schmeichel that bounced off the top of the bar.
5.39pm GMT
9 min There’s a breezy, open feel to the match so far.
5.36pm GMT
6 min Leicester have started superbly. Fuchs’ low cross finds Vardy, who spins smartly and forces Ake to concede a corner.
5.35pm GMT
4 min Leicester could be 2-0 up already. When a corner is half cleared, Fuchs hits an excellent low drive that is pushed out by the diving Gomes. Okazaki seems to have a tap in from the rebound but dithers slightly and Ake manages to get the ball away.
5.34pm GMT
2 min Leicester almost take the lead! Fuchs plays a straightforward long ball in behind the defence for Vardy, who zooms round the advancing Gomes before his shot from a tight angle is cleared off the line by Ake.
5.32pm GMT
1 min Almost a goal after 30 seconds. Holebas, who is only starting because of a late injury to Miguel Britos, plays a neat one-two and has a shot deflected into the hands of Schmeichel.
5.31pm GMT
1 min Watford, in their funky yellow-and-black strip, kick off from right to left. Leicester are in white.
5.27pm GMT
At Vicarage Road, where it's hard not to feel excited about the opportunity Leicester have. Kante, surprisingly, is back. Big test today tho
5.26pm GMT
The teams are in the tunnel. It’s worth mentioning again that, if they win, Leicester will go five points clear with nine games to go. That would be a huge lead because you’d expect the teams below them to drop a few points before the end of the season.
5.06pm GMT
Whatever happens tonight, it will not, can not and should not top the astonishing finish to the match between these sides three years ago. Read all about it!
Related: Golden Goal: Troy Deeney for Watford v Leicester (2013) | Nick Miller
4.33pm GMT
Watford (4-3-1-2): Gomes; Nyom, Prodl, Ake, Holebes; Mario Suarez, Watson, Capoue; Amrabat; Deeney, Ighalo.
Subs: Behrami, Oulare, Guedioura, Pantilimon, Anya, Abdi, Paredes.
Leicester (4-4-2): Schmeichel; Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs; Mahrez, Drinkwater, Kante, Albrighton; Vardy, Okazaki.
Subs: King, Amartey, Schlupp, Gray, Ulloa, Wasilewski, Schwarzer.
Referee: Jon Moss (W Yorkshire)
10.16am GMT
Hello. After what happened at White Hart Lane this afternoon, it’s tempting to see this game as a bit of a freebie for Leicester. After all, they will stay top regardless of what happens at Vicarage Road. But football doesn’t get played on a spreadsheet, and that vacillating swine we call the human brain certainly doesn’t work in a logical manner.
Leicester have lost two of their last 21 league games; a defeat today would mean they’d lost two of the last four, and the ARE THEY BOTTLING IT articles would appear by the dozen. In modern football, negativity has a nasty habit of perpetuating itself, so Leicester could do with maintaining the positive story for as long as possible.
Continue reading...Tottenham 2-2 Arsenal: Premier League – as it happened
Alexis Sánchez earned a point for 10-man Arsenal in a pulsating derby that included a stunning goal from Harry Kane
2.51pm GMT
Right, that’s it. Thanks for your company and emails, even though I didn’t really get chance to look at them once it all kicked off in the second half. Bye!
Related: Arsenal’s 10 men escape Tottenham with point thanks to Alexis Sánchez
2.48pm GMT
Arsene Wenger’s thoughts: “I am proud of the spirit the players have shown. We have big regrets because we were completely in control when we went down to 10 men. We told him at half-time because he was on a yellow card. I think Dier deserves a second yellow as well.”
2.46pm GMT
The draw is a fair result at the end of an endearingly ramshackle match: a derby in both name and nature. Both teams will have a mixture of regret and relief at the final score. Both should have won; both could have lost. Arsenal responded extremely well to the shock of losing a man and two goals in a mad eight-minute period, and will feel the slate has been wiped clean after a miserable week.
Spurs should have won from the position they were in with 20 minutes to go, but they are still three points ahead of Arsenal and Harry Kane’s goal is the kind that reinforces a sense of destiny. Only an eejit would predict anything this season, but we can say with certainty that Spurs are capable of winning the title. So are Arsenal, Leicester – and Manchester City, who despite their best efforts could still end up winning the title.
2.36pm GMT
Spurs had a chance with the last kick of the game. Somebody – no idea who, or why – slashed a snapshot wide from 15 yards.
2.36pm GMT
That’s it.
2.34pm GMT
90+3 min The BT Sport picture returns just as Mason (I think) makes a wonderful sliding challenge to deny Ramsey a winning goal. That’s a lifesaver for Spurs, and for some unnamed celebrity.
2.33pm GMT
90+3 min Somebody’s getting a P45 for that!
2.33pm GMT
90+2 min BT Sport has gone down!
2.32pm GMT
90+1 min There will be four moments of added misery for both sets of fans.
2.32pm GMT
90 min Alderweireld’s clearing header hits his team-mate Mason, prompting a big shout of handball from the Arsenal fans behind the goal. They had a much better view than Michael Oliver, actually, but then he is one up on them when it comes to impartiality. We haven’t seen a replay so I haven’t a clue.
2.31pm GMT
89 min Arsenal’s final substitution: Campbell on, Ozil off.
2.30pm GMT
88 min Bellerin should have been sent off as well, after deliberately pulling back Alli on the left wing. He’s already been booked. Moments later, Gabriel shanks an attempted clearance onto the roof of his own net! That was so close to becoming a staple of banter-based Christmas DVDs for the next 50 years.
2.29pm GMT
87 min Sanchez curls his free-kick towards the near post, where Lloris punches it away spectacularly. It was a fairly comfortable save.
2.28pm GMT
86 min Wimmer stops the roaming Gibbs with a handball 25 yards from goal. This is a chance, with the free-kick just right of centre.
2.26pm GMT
85 min A fierce long-range shot from Eriksen is touched acrobatically over the bar by Ospina. It was a bit of a showy save, although Eriksen hit it beautifully.
2.26pm GMT
84 min Arsenal could still nick this. Welbeck plays a good ball into Sanchez on the edge of the area, who faffs and eventually tries a return pass that is intercepted. That’s Welbeck’s last touch – he has been replaced by Mathieu Flamini. Welbeck was terrific.
2.24pm GMT
83 min Mason’s long-range curler is deflected behind for a corner to Spurs.
2.23pm GMT
82 min Spurs make their final substitution, with Dembele replaced by Son.
2.23pm GMT
81 min I’m trying to work out Arsenal’s formation. It’s a kind of 4-2-3, with Ozil playing in central midfield with Ramsey.
2.21pm GMT
80 min Ospina makes a relatively comfortable diving save from Alli’s low 20-yard shot.
2.21pm GMT
79 min Dier should have been sent off there. Giroud got away from him on the halfway line, and was trying to drill a long pass when Dier dragged him back by the shirt. I have no idea why Dier wasn’t given a second yellow card.
2.19pm GMT
78 min The excellent Danny Rose is replaced by Ben Davies.
2.18pm GMT
As Spurs tried to retreat after originally pushing out, Bellerin slid a lovely angled pass towards Sanchez on the edge of the area. Sanchez got to it first and clipped a low first-time shot across goal and into the far corner. It seemed to go into the goal in slow motion, and many will feel Lloris should have done better.
2.16pm GMT
Arsenal are level! Where did that come from?!
2.16pm GMT
75 min Olivier Giroud comes on for Arsenal, replacing Elneny. He had a good game. Arsenal started with two natural holding players; now they have none.
2.15pm GMT
What a goal from @HKane . Amazing.
2.15pm GMT
74 min Dier is booked for a deliberate tug on Welbeck. It’s pouring down now, which, as BT’s Darren Fletcher says, adds to the primal mood of the match.
2.14pm GMT
73 min “You failed to mention that the corner which led to the equaliser was needlessly conceded by Ospina,” says Matt Richman. “I have never known a team to have its aim trained so accurately at its own foot. Whatever cliches we heard all week - Arsenal lack “character,” “confidence,” “je ne sais quoi” - it is tough to argue with them now.”
2.13pm GMT
72 min Kane almost scores another fine goal. He played the ball wide to Walker, received the return pass 15 yards out and wriggled away from Elneny before dragging an angled shot just wide of the far post. Lovely play.
2.12pm GMT
71 min Rose, who has been extremely good today, drills a low cross shot a few yards wide of the far post.
2.11pm GMT
70 min After being pummelled for 10 minutes, Arsenal are having a bit of the ball again. Sanchez shoots miles wide from 25 yards. He has been poor today.
2.09pm GMT
68 min Yes, Dele Alli was onside for the goal. As you were, never trust a word you read in the Guardian, etc.
2.09pm GMT
67 min Lamela actually pushed Sanchez first, albeit pretty softly. I suppose you could argue he should have had a second yellow card, but I wouldn’t. Lamela’s was a push, Sanchez’s was a firm shove. But Mauricio Pochettino is taking no chances; he replaces Lamela with Ryan Mason.
2.08pm GMT
66 min “Replay shows Alli was onside!!” says Robin Griller. I haven’t seen it again but will take your word for it. A goal like that is better without an asterisk.
2.07pm GMT
65 min Dier’s shot is fumbled by Ospina, and Spurs get another corner. Gabriel heads clear. With the ball dead, a frustrated Sanchez shoves Lamela off the pitch. It’s a yellow card, no more. Lamela did well not to respond because he’s already been booked.
2.05pm GMT
64 min You can’t score from there. Not at that moment, in this game, in this season. That goal has gone straight into Spurs folklore.
2.04pm GMT
What an outrageous goal by Harry Kane! He was on the left wing, just outside the area when he received Alli’s back heel, and he sidefooted a wonderful, pacy curler around Gabriel and into the far corner. That is the most glorious goal.
But, and there’s always a but, I’m pretty sure Alli was offside when he was backheeled the ball to Kane.
2.03pm GMT
This is sensational!
2.02pm GMT
61 min “I expected that Tragically Stupid Red Card against Man U last week, but no, they saved it for an even bigger match,” says Hubert O’Hearn. “It’s Arsenal’s favourite party trick - a sending off in the biggest possible match. One does have to admire how they stick to tradition.”
That is a definite contender for the Joy of Six: Moronic Red Cards.
2.02pm GMT
The corner was swung in from the left towards Lamela on the six-yard line. His shot was blocked by Gabriel and the ball deflected to Alderweireld, who thrashed an excellent half-volley into the net from the left of the six-yard box.
2.01pm GMT
Another corner for Spurs, who have been given an intravenous injection of purpose by that Coqulin red card. And they’ve scored!
2.00pm GMT
58 min Ospina gives Arsenal a breather by kicking the ball out of play and then falling over. He might be injured in fairness, I’ve no idea.
1.59pm GMT
57 min It’s all happening now. Alli’s smart chest and volley is deflected over the bar. From the corner, Ospina blocks Kane’s close-range shot. Kane thought it was a goal – Ospina was behind the line when he saved it – but the technology showed otherwise. Ospina was in such a strange position, and the replay showed that about seven-eighths of the ball was behind the line.
1.56pm GMT
Arsenal are down to ten men. Coquelin, booked in the first half, makes a needless, witless tackle on Kane down the Spurs left and is given a second yellow card. That was on the moronic side of unfathomable, a clear booking in modern football.
1.54pm GMT
54 min The collective Spurs subconscious right now (part 2).
1.54pm GMT
53 min The collective Spurs subconscious right now.
1.53pm GMT
52 min Another chance for Arsenal! I have no idea what happened because BT Sport were showing a replay, but they cut back to the action just as Sanchez – who was through on goal – lost the ball to Walker.
1.52pm GMT
51 min Anyone out there?
1.52pm GMT
50 min Walker runs for goal from the halfway line. Lamela makes a run on the outside, and Walker uses him by not using him before drilling a low, swirling shot from the edge of the box that is saved awkwardly by Ospina. It looked like a fumble at first but actually the ball was doing a fair bit.
1.50pm GMT
50 min “Yes!”
1.50pm GMT
49 min Walker takes his time over a cross from the right, carefully, lovingly lining it up – and then curling it straight out of play on the other side of the pitch.
1.49pm GMT
48 min Eriksen, whose crossing thus far has been unusually wretched, woofs another one straight out of play. He has swapped positions with Alli, who is now playing on the left.
1.48pm GMT
47 min Have any celebrities died in the last half hour? Just wondering.
1.46pm GMT
46 min Arsenal begin the second half, kicking from right to left.
“Dearest Rob,” writes my lover, Angus Chisholm. “I am doing a sacrificial counter-jinxing non-watch of this match in Australia. It is my hope that, by doing so, Arsenal will remember that they are good at doing football again. Going by the last five minutes, it may be working.”
1.45pm GMT
“Surely the difference for Arsenal has been moving Ramsey to the right, allowing Elneny & Coquelin to control the area in front of the back four better,” says Stephen. “Ramsey’ll hate this but he plays well out right - he was there when the gunners were doing well in the league before Christmas. A smart move by Wenger.”
Yes it was a good and uncharacteristic move for this particular game. Spurs have been the better side but Arsenal have restricted them to one chance. And after an excellent first 15 minutes, Alli hasn’t been in the game.
1.37pm GMT
“Mertesacker sounds ok in Manic as well,” says Niall Mullen.
1.33pm GMT
“Morning!” chirps Adam Hirst. “This is now the perfect chance to see if this is New Spurs or just a slightly modified version of the old one. Arsenal we already know about from the last week.”
1.33pm GMT
Spurs will wonder how they are behind, having dominated most of the half. But they only created one clear chance and were hit by Aaron Ramsey’s excellent goal. See you in 10 minutes!
Related: The Joy of Six: Classic Arsenal v Tottenham matches | Rob Smyth and Simon Burnton
1.27pm GMT
42 min Suddenly Arsenal look dangerous with every attack. Ozil and Sanchez combine well before Sanchez’s cut back drifts all the way across the area. And moments later Welbeck heads straight at Lloris from seven yards! Arsenal could have scored four in the last four minutes.
1.26pm GMT
41 min Almost another one for Arsenal! Welbeck is put beyond the defence by a pass from Ramsey, but his first touch is poor and that allows Walker to get back and clear just inside the box.
1.26pm GMT
There was plenty to admire about this goal. The excellent Welbeck had a bit of room in the area on the left. Instead of shooting in the selfish style he sidefooted a quick pass all the way across the box to the onrushing Bellerin. He shaped to shoot first time, realised there was a defender in the way and instead played a cool angled pass back across the box to Ramsey. He was eight yards out and flicked the ball behind his standing leg into the net. That was a really clever finish.
1.23pm GMT
A brilliant goal from Aaron Ramsey gives Arsenal the lead, and celebrities everywhere are saying their prayers.
1.22pm GMT
37 min Gabriel administers a rollocking to a few of his team-mates, asking for more intensity. Spurs have certainly looked sharper.
“Two footballers that are even better in Scouse - Gerardo Torrado and Jerzy Dudek,” says Shaun Wilkinson.
1.20pm GMT
Can anyone think of a better name to say in Scouse than Per Mertesacker?
Sid Waddell would have said it beautifully too, based on how he described Phil Taylor’s understackers.
1.19pm GMT
35 min Welbeck, who has been beyond reproach so far, wins Arsenal’s first corner with a run down the left. It’s a poor one by Sanchez, who hasn’t been beyond reproach.
1.18pm GMT
34 min Lloris sweeper-keeps effectively, running out of his box to beat Welbeck to the ball and clear with a diving header.
1.18pm GMT
33 min Spurs are incessant in their attacking. They have so much energy. In fact it’s reminiscent of Arsenal in the early days under Arsene Wenger, when they had more energy than their opponents by virtue of the fact they weren’t having steak and pints for lunch and dinner every day.
1.16pm GMT
32 min Glenn Hoddle, one of the BT commentators, reckons Lamela is a red-card candidate. Just passing it on.
1.14pm GMT
29 min Three in three minutes! Yellow cards, that is, with Coquelin being booked for a deliberate handball. Michael Oliver has had an outstanding game so far.
1.13pm GMT
27 min Bellerin is booked for a foul on Rose. It’s a free-kick in a good position on the left, and Eriksen wastes it again by hammering it straight into Ospina’s hands. Lamela is then booked for stopping an Arsenal counter-attack by putting his arms around Welbeck.
1.11pm GMT
26 min Brilliant save by Ospina! Gabriel made a good tackle on Kane in the box, diverting the ball out to the right. Walker smashed it first time back into the box towards Lamela, who adjusted his feet quickly to shin the ball towards goal from 10 yards. Ospina reacted superbly, plunging to his right to push it away.
1.09pm GMT
24 min This game doesn’t yet need a goal, but it could at least do with a chance.
1.09pm GMT
23 min Welbeck is the Arsenal player who has most obviously matched Spurs’ work rate and intensity. But that’s a mixed blessing because much of that work has been defensive, and he’s Arsenal’s sole striker.
1.07pm GMT
21 min It’s a slightly odd game so far, in that Spurs have been miles better yet they haven’t created a clear chance, or even an unclear one.
1.05pm GMT
20 min Rose’s low pass/cross from inside the area is just too far in front of Lamela, and Gabriel hoofs it clear on the six-yard line.
1.04pm GMT
19 min Arsenal’s first prolonged attack of the match ends when Bellerin loses the ball to Lamela on the wing.
1.03pm GMT
18 min After Welbeck almost dispossesses the keeper Lloris, Dembele roars past two players in midfield to launch a Spurs break. Nothing comes of it but it was a lovely run from Dembele.
1.02pm GMT
17 min Arsenal have given away a few free-kicks in dangerous positions on the wing. Here’s another, to be swung in from the left by Eriksen. It’s a poor effort, far too close to Ospina.
12.59pm GMT
14 min Arsenal are really struggling to keep the ball. Spurs have been excellent so far, albeit without creating any real chances.
12.58pm GMT
13 min Alli makes space on the edge of the area and hits a shot that is blocked by Mertesacker. He is getting into some dangerous positions “between the lines”.
12.57pm GMT
11 min “One thing this makes me wonder about is whether it counts in an way as an enjoyable experience,” says Charles Antaki. “The answer, of course, is not, for anyone; and only becomes so for half the spectators (in the wider world) once they’re, say, 3 goals up. Mind you, for the Arsenal supporters that wouldn’t be quite enough. Five, maybe. So a long afternoon of misery lies ahead.”
Yes, Nick Hornby wrote a lovely bit about the addictive misery of football in Fever Pitch.
12.57pm GMT
12.54pm GMT
10 min Spurs will be much happier with their start, although Arsenal will be content that Ospina hasn’t had any difficult saves to make. Coquelin is penalised for a sliding foul on Kane. A lesser ref might have booked him; Michael Oliver gave him a last warning.
It’s early, but there’s already a sense that if – if – Spurs score early they could overwhelm Arsenal.
12.53pm GMT
8 min “Afternoon Rob, afternoon everyone,” says Richard Williams. “Clearly if these two teams has any self respect and weren’t enemies of football they’d battle out an entertaining yet ultimately frustrating 3-3 draw that leaves the path clear for Leicester to extend their lead. I can only assume Louis Van Gaal has been secretly doing the honourable thing this season too because I’m struggling to find any other reason to explain Manchester Utd this season.”
12.51pm GMT
7 min Kane’s 20-yard shot deflects over the bar for a corner. Spurs are overwhelming Arsenal at the moment, and Eriksen’s excellent corner is nutted behind for another by Mertesacker.
12.51pm GMT
6 min Eriksen plays the ball to Kane on the left. He comes infield, running at Mertesacker, before whipping a curler towards goal from the left edge of the box. It’s straight at Ospina, who pats it down a touch unconvincingly but claims it at the second attempt. Spurs have started superbly.
12.50pm GMT
5 min Kane tries a speculative snapshot from 25 yards, mishitting it straight through to Ospina. “It’s pretty open for a derby,” says Glenn Hoddle.
12.49pm GMT
5 min “While I may be a Spurs fan that’s as much predisposed to egg-shaped or red-leather balls than this lot, I can’t remember a derby this big in my lifetime, and I’m just the wrong side of the big 4-0,” writes Guy Hornsby. “And despite the midweek result, and our team being markedly better in skill, defence and form than the Gooners, I just can’t be that confident. How can we be? Arsenal have an in-built ability to ruin everything for us, so a win today is bigger than enormous, it’s an opportunity to turn the tables in our direction for the first time in 15 years. I’m bricking it.”
12.48pm GMT
4 min A quick long throw from Kane finds Alli in the box. He controls the ball with his chest as it bounces up but can’t get a shot in under pressure from Mertesacker. That was superb from Kane.
12.47pm GMT
3 min It’s been a frantic start, as you’d hope. Alderweireld loses the ball in his own area, but Wimmer does him a solid by lumping the ball into Row M.
12.45pm GMT
2 min “Watching here in Canada where we get the US feed,” says John Pitre. “‘Friendly boos as Arsenal take the field.’ They may not understand this derby at all.”
12.45pm GMT
1 min Spurs kick off from right to left. They are in white, Arsenal and in red.
BT Sport have four commentators.
12.43pm GMT
There’s a wonderful atmosphere at White Hart Lane, with Spurs fans using the popular practice of singing and chanting to distract themselves from how terrified they are.
12.42pm GMT
.@reuterspictures photos from outside White Hart Lane pic.twitter.com/SJ0EziwbOK
12.42pm GMT
Shameless plug for my book
“Remember when is the lowest form of conversation.” So said Tony Soprano, but then he wasn’t a soccer fan.
12.41pm GMT
“I was once bitten by a goose for having the temerity to take a hungover constitutional at 6 am while she and her comrades were abathing,” says Paul Ewart. “So, you can say boo to as many geese as you like: they’re a bunch of hissy-fitting gits. Happened on the same morning as I walked past Jimmy Case and his teammates warming up in the park in Sheffield. Effin’ ‘ell it’s Jimmy Case, said I, to which he responded with an impish grin and a wink. Made my day that did. Before the goose ruined it again. Oh to young and free again. On second thoughts...”
12.28pm GMT
Arsene Wenger has just sent me a Snapchat with his thoughts on the game: “I can’t remember a more significant north London derby. We won the title here once. My comments about our confidence have been exaggerated; we know what you can still play well even if your belief is a little bit jaded.
12.26pm GMT
Monreal has a slight calf injury #afc
12.21pm GMT
“Best title race since 2002 maybe,” sniffs Chris Dale. “But nothing will ever surpass 99-00. Winning the league with over 100 goals and by 18 points.”
That doesn’t sound like much of a title race, but actually it was really close until United won at Leeds in February and ran away with it. They didn’t score 100 goals though; I think it was 97. They were even more dominant the following season, but they fell asleep after clinching the title in February.
12.19pm GMT
“Given that this is virgin territory for Leicester fans like me, what result should we be backing here?” writes
The Pope
James Calder. “There something to say for all three, though I’ve got a personal preference for Arsenal getting humped as it would almost certainly knock them out of the race and inflate Spurs’ self-confidence to levels they won’t be able to control, leading to a title run-in meltdown, probably. But then again, if Arsenal win and we beat Watford, we’re six points clear! It’s all so confusing. Any advice?”
I’m a Manchester United fan, what would I know about title races? Back the draw. Always. And a mass brawl that leads to multiple suspensions.
12.17pm GMT
11.46am GMT
Tottenham (4-2-3-1) Lloris; Walker, Alderweireld, Wimmer, Rose; Dier, Dembélé; Lamela, Alli, Eriksen; Kane.
Subs: Vorm, Davies, Trippier, Carroll, Chadli, Mason, Son.
10.22am GMT
In modern football, hype dies last. Everything is big and loud, IN CAPITAL LETTERS, with GROWN ADULTS ACTING LIKE BAIRNS ON LIVE TELEVISION. That, and the human tendency to get lost in the moment, can make it hard to retain historical perspective. To prove the point, some people are already proclaiming this the worst introduction in the history of the Manchester Guardian.
(Actually they’d be right, so that isn’t the greatest example. Let’s try again.)
Related: Arsenal are finding fresh ways to fail in pursuit of Premier League title | Jonathan Wilson
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