Rob Smyth's Blog, page 98

December 19, 2020

Everton 2-1 Arsenal: Premier League – as it happened

Yerry Mina’s towering header put Everton second in the table and made it seven defeats in 10 league games for Arsenal

7.44pm GMT

That’s it for today’s blog; I’ll leave you with Andy Hunter’s report from Goodison. Thanks for your company and emails - goodnight!

7.43pm GMT

This is Arsenal’s lowest points total after 14 games since 1974-75. Crikey.

7.27pm GMT

More more more

7.26pm GMT

It’s been a great week for Everton, who have beaten Chelsea, Leicester and now Arsenal. Rob Holding’s own goal and Yerry Mina’s towering header settled the match, with Nicolas Pepe’s penalty bringing Arsenal level for a short while in the first half. Arsenal have now lost seven of their last 10 Premier League games.

7.24pm GMT

Peep peep! Everton are second in the Premier League after a hard-fought victory over Arsenal.

7.23pm GMT

90+6 min: Pickford makes a vital save from Saka’s cross shot! That was brilliant goalkeeping; he got down very smartly to his left and punched the ball whence it came, away from danger. He could easily have pushed that out in front of goal.

7.20pm GMT

90+3 min Another Everton change: Cenk Tosun replaces the majestic Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Weirdly, Calvert-Lewin has been booked for not leaving the field quickly enough, even though it seemed like the board hadn’t gone up.

7.19pm GMT

90+2 min Everton bring on Jonjoe Kenny for Richarlison. David Luiz walks him halfway off the field in an attempt to ensure he doesn’t waste time. Bit weird.

7.18pm GMT

90+1 min Willock is booked for a late tackle on the flying Godfrey.

7.18pm GMT

90+1 min Five minutes of added time.

7.17pm GMT

90 min Arsenal are running out of time. They started the second half superbly but, as Jamie Carragher says on Sky, they haven’t created enough.

7.16pm GMT

88 min “I wonder how often Ancelotti thinks about playing in that late 80’s Milan team?” says Niall Mullen. “Baresi, Maldini, Rijkaard, Gillis, Van Basten... I would never stop talking about it.”

Is Gillis an amalgam of Ruud Gullit and Pietro Virdis? Good player that Gillis. (If you haven’t seen it, have a look at this Ancelotti goal.)

7.14pm GMT

86 min Willian wanders infield from the left and plays a good pass to find Saka in space on the right. He cuts into the area and hits a shot that is blocked by Keane on the six-yard line. Moments later, Willock heads a few yards wide from Maitland-Niles’ cross. He was under a lot of pressure from Mina and it wasn’t a great chance.

7.11pm GMT

84 min After a bit of a scramble in the area, Martinelli shoots well wide from 15 yards.

7.10pm GMT

83 min Alex Iwobi is replaced by the returning Seamus Coleman.

7.10pm GMT

82 min After all sorts of wrestling off the ball, Sigurdsson’s corner is headed over at the near post by Holgate. He was running away from goal so it wasn’t much of a chance.

7.08pm GMT

81 min Sigurdsson’s corner is headed away to Iwobi, whose shot takes a big deflection off Willock and goes a few yards wide. Leno was wrongfooted and wouldn’t have saved it had it been on target.

7.07pm GMT

80 min Everton break through Calvert-Lewin, who curls a glorious pass inside Maitland-Niles to find Richarlison on the left. He runs at Maitland-Niles, who does well to stand up and poke the ball behind for a corner.

7.06pm GMT

79 min “Ben Godfrey, playing out of position, looks like an England player in waiting - quick and strong, positive in all he does and a calm head,” says Gary Naylor. “Money well spent; player well coached.”

Apart from Calvert-Lewin, he’s been my man of the match. Very good point about the coaching; he’ll learn so much under Ancelotti.

7.05pm GMT

78 min Willock flashes a speculative cross all the way across the area.

7.05pm GMT

77 min The second half has become increasingly scruffy, which suits Everton just fine. They almost extend their lead when Sigurdsson’s dipping free-kick just evades the stretching Keane.

7.03pm GMT

76 min Arsenal make their final change: Alexandre Lacazette replaces Eddie Nketiah.

7.03pm GMT

75 min “Arteta maybe deserves time but the comparison to Wenger and Lord Ferg is a bit specious,” says Niall Mullen. “Ferguson had performed (almost) literal miracles at Aberdeen. Multiple league titles, cup wins and beating the actual Real Madrid in a European final. While Wenger came in and won the Double in his first full season with his no ketchup future-ball. Ferguson had earned his time and Wenger was an almost instant success.”

I know what you mean, though Arteta did win the FA Cup a few months ago. In a different era that would have bought him plenty of time.

7.01pm GMT

74 min Willian wastes a promising attack with a left-foot blooter from 20 yards that goes well wide.

7.00pm GMT

72 min If it stays like this Arsenal will have taken five points from their last 10 league games.

6.59pm GMT

71 min Martinelli replaces Nicolas Pepe, who scored Arsenal’s equaliser from the penalty spot but did little else of note.

6.58pm GMT

70 min The exciting Gabriel Martinelli, who has been out since June with injury, is about to come on for Arsenal.

6.56pm GMT

69 min Pepe cuts inside Godfrey, moves to the edge of the area and lines up a trademark curler towards the far corner. Goalkick to Everton.

6.54pm GMT

66 min On the plus side, Arsenal can pencil in Tierney and Saka for the next 10 years. They are two lovely players.

6.53pm GMT

65 min That run from Godfrey has really roused the crowd, and Everton are having a much better spell as a result.

6.52pm GMT

64 min An Arsenal change: Joe Willock replaces Mohamed Elneny.

6.51pm GMT

64 min Richarlison roasts Maitland-Niles on the left, gets into the area and pulls the ball back towards Iwobi. Tierney gets in front of him to clear.

6.51pm GMT

63 min Sigurdsson turns smartly away from Ceballos, who attempts to bring him down. He can’t even manage that.

6.50pm GMT

62 min Godrey surges thrillingly down the left, all the way into the area before lifting a good cross that is just behind Calvert-Lewin. That was a great run which has got the crowd going agian.

6.49pm GMT

61 min “Evening Rob and Merry etc,” says Stephen Carr. “Quick question - do you think Richarlison likes playing football? I’m not convinced.”

Ha, good point. Imaginary Opta stats show that he spends 82.47 per cent of matches with an affronted coupon.

6.46pm GMT

59 min Saka waves a poor free-kick over the bar.

6.46pm GMT

58 min Richarlison is penalised for a tackle on Ceballos just outside the area on the right, although replays show he got the ball. This is another chance for Arsenal...

6.45pm GMT

58 min “Remember what happened to Sir Alex Ferguson when he first came to Manchester United?” says Shaun Meleady. “He didn’t start well at all. And when everyone said Arsene Who? He went on to produce the Invincibles. However, they were both given time to achieve what they achieved. Arteta should be given the time too.”

While I agree with you, the world is a very different place now.

6.44pm GMT

57 min Arsenal have been excellent since half-time. Calvert-Lewin, who has been marvellous, gives Everton a breather with some good hold-up play that leads to a silly foul from Holding.

6.43pm GMT

56 min “WENGER BLOODY IN,” says Michelle Peters-Jones. “Right now!”

I would love it.

6.42pm GMT

54 min: David Luiz hits the post! Willian took a short corner on the left and dumped a cross into the middle. Pickford came but could only flap the ball to David Luiz, whose shot took a deflection off Doucoure and kicked off the pitch to hit the top of the post.

6.41pm GMT

53 min Tierney plays a good pass to find Saka in the area. He gets the ball out of his feet and hits a shot that is blocked by Mina. Tierney and Saka have been Arsenal’s best attackers.

6.39pm GMT

51 min Tierney flashes a dangerous cross from the left that just clears the leaping Nketiah at the near post.

6.37pm GMT

50 min Arsenal have made a decent start to the second half. Pepe gets round the back on the right but his cutback is poor and Everton clear.

6.35pm GMT

48 min “Hi Rob,” says Gary Naylor. “For all Don Carlo’s sophistication, this is the tallest Everton side I can recall (taller still if Gomes plays for Davies). Not only does this help on defending set pieces, but it gives margin for error on offensive set plays. A big man attacking the ball at the near post is never a bad move - some of us remember Mark Higgins doing it against Manchester United!”

6.33pm GMT

46 min Peep peep!

6.18pm GMT

Peep peep! Everton lead deservedly through goals from Rob Holding (yep) and Yerry Mina. They equalised through Nicolas Pepe’s penalty, but Everton - inspired by the relentless Dominic Calvert-Lewin - have been the better side.

6.16pm GMT

Sigurdsson curled it at pace towards the near post, where Mina towered over Nketiah and flicked a header that went through Leno at the near post. It was a majestic leap from Mina, and though Leno got a fist on the ball he couldn’t keep it out.

6.15pm GMT

Everton score from the corner!

6.15pm GMT

45 min Holgate cuts a sharp pass back to Calvert-Lewin 25 yards from goal. He runs infield, away from Elneny, and hits a rising drive with his left foot that is touched over at full stretch by Leno. That’s a fine save.

6.12pm GMT

42 min Ceballos and Mina have a brief fallout before shaking hands. Ceballos studded Mina, who was on all fours, down the back of the leg as he tried to get to the ball; he’s a bit lucky to get away with that. It wasn’t deliberate but it was clumsy, at best. In the current climate, he could easily have been sent off. I don’t think VAR looked at it.

6.11pm GMT

41 min Sigurdsson’s free-kick hits the wall, and he volleys the rebound well wide.

6.09pm GMT

39 min Calvert-Lewin goes on a Roy of the Rovers run before being taken out on the edge of the D by Tierney. He’s booked.

6.08pm GMT

38 min Everton need to get Sigurdsson on the ball a lot more. There isn’t a huge amount of creativity in this side - no James, Gomes, Digne or Coleman.

6.07pm GMT

37 min “Hi Rob,” says Damian Durrant. “I don’t think Arteta is as safe as people think. Kroenke is not a passion owner. He is all about the value of the Arsenal brand; being 16th hurts it. Making a managerial change can reassure your commercial partners, on which modern football relies.”

I think he deserves until the end of the season at the very least, but it wouldn’t exactly be a JFK moment if he was sacked in the next week or two.

6.05pm GMT

Nicolas Pepe calmly sends Pickford the wrong way. I feared for him when he jogged on the spot, Zaza-style, but it was a good penalty.

6.04pm GMT

PENALTY TO ARSENAL! Maitland-Niles pokes a loose ball away from Davies, who tries to clear it and brings him down. Maitland-Niles came on the blind side and Davies knew immediately he’d messed up.

6.00pm GMT

31 min “Godfrey has been a rock on Everton’s back line this year,” says Mary Waltz. “He doesn’t panic with the ball, he makes intelligent tackles.”

When he joined you I thought it was quite a shrewd long-term signing. Right!

5.59pm GMT

30 min “Not looking good for Arsenal,” says Charles Antaki. “The only bright-ish spots are the combinations between Tierney and Saka/Nketiah, and Maitland-Niles and Pepe. If Willian is combining with anyone, it must be someone in the crowd.”

When he joined you I thought it was quite a shrewd short-term signing. Wrong!

5.59pm GMT

29 min Arsenal have woken up since going behind. The frequency with which teams wait to go 1-0 down before starting to play never ceases to surprise.

5.58pm GMT

27 min Ceballos thumps the ground in pain after a ball-and-man tackle from Godfrey. His studs were showing but he went low, through the bottom of the ball, and the referee is happy it was a clean tackle. Ceballos is fine.

5.56pm GMT

25 min Nketiah misses a good chance to equalise. Saka clipped a superb ball down the left to find Tierney in the area. He did very well to cut the ball back on the half volley to Nketiah, unmarked on the edge of the box. Nketiah could have taken a touch but decided to shoot first time; it whistled a few yards wide of the far post.

5.53pm GMT

Calvert-Lewin is claiming it but I’m pretty sure that was an own goal. Davies played a simple pass out to Iwobi on the right. His flat cross took a deflection off a defender, skimmed the head of Calvert-Lewin and hit the unsighted Holding before bouncing into the net. Calvert-Lewin’s header was going off target, so that’s an own goal.

5.51pm GMT

Everton take the lead!

5.49pm GMT

19 min Everton continue to dominate possession. Arsenal have defended well so far, as they have for most of the season. The problem is at the other end.

5.46pm GMT

16 min Elneny is booked for a foul on Sigurdsson.

5.46pm GMT

15 min: So close from Keane! That was almost a spectacular goal. Keane received the ball on the edge of the centre circle and pushed it into space. Nobody came to him so he ran to within 25 yards of goal and hit a rising drive that swerved just past the post. That was a great effort.

5.42pm GMT

12 min Everton have had two thirds of the possession, which by my working gives them six-tenths of the law. They haven’t done anything with it yet.

5.41pm GMT

10 min “No Allan, no Gomes,” says Brad Wilson. “Is Davies in that role today? I guess he is next best choice. Holding midfielders have a tough time staying healthy for Everton. Might see Gbamin in 2021 — remember him?”

Nope! Davies is indeed playing in that role. Doucoure has assumed senior status with a couple of lively runs from midfield.

5.39pm GMT

9 min Still nothing much to report, except that Arsenal are cheating. When they have the ball they are playing with a back four; when they lose the ball they are playing with three central defenders and two wing-backs.

5.37pm GMT

7 min “Do you think that ‘tight calf’ (sounds like a farmer left the cider barn door open) of Auba’s is a ruse - rest the chap and let some of the youngsters have a crack at it?” wonders Bill Hargreaves. “If so, I’d support it. This season is all but gone in terms of top four. We can have a go for the big vase in Europe, where the younger fellas are doing a sterling job, and use this year for bringing on the new crop. That said, could we give them Willian and Luiz’s money to get them all to re-sign?”

I think it’s a genuine injury, but now that Christmas has been cancelled I don’t know who or what to believe. I have been surprised how few opportunities the younger players have been given. I’m not convinced by Nketiah, in truth, but I’d like to see more of Smith Rowe and Balogun.

5.34pm GMT

4 min A quiet start to the game. Everton look quite confident, as you’d expect after such a great week.

5.32pm GMT

2 min Arsenal’s formation looks like a back three, with Tierney in the centre and Saka at left wing-back.

5.30pm GMT

1 min Peep peep! Arsenal, in their bloody away strip, kick off from left to right.

5.30pm GMT

There’s a crowd of 2,000 at Goodison, which certainly made a different last weekend against Chelsea. It’s a dank night in Liverpool, perfect weather for a zesty encounter.

5.23pm GMT

4.41pm GMT

Pre-match reading

4.34pm GMT

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is missing for Arsenal with a tight calf, so Eddie Nketiah starts up front. Everton are without the influential Allan, who has a hamstring injury; Tom Davies replaces him.

Everton (4-2-3-1) Pickford; Holgate, Mina, Keane, Godfrey; Doucoure, Davies; Iwobi, Sigurdsson, Richarlison; Calvert-Lewin.
Substitutes: Olsen, Lossl, Kenny, Nkounkou, Coleman, Branthwaite, Tosun, Bernard, Gordon.

10.04am GMT

The difference a week makes. Seven days ago, London was in tier 2 and Everton were in freefall, their flying start to the season just a kooky detail in another tale of woe. Then they had a good win over and Chelsea, followed by an even better one at Leicester, and now they have the chance to go second in the table by beating Arsenal. We’ll have team news shortly.

Kick off 5.30pm.

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Published on December 19, 2020 11:32

Crystal Palace 0-7 Liverpool: Premier League – as it happened

Roberto Firmino and Mo Salah scored twice in an astounding display of finishing that gave Liverpool their biggest ever away win in the top flight

2.25pm GMT

Here’s Jordan Henderson “I thought we were ruthless today. We were a little bit sloppy at times but overall we’re delighted with the result and the performance. In certain ways [it was our best performance of the season]. We don’t just look at the scoreline; I thought midweek we were very good. We need to keep the momentum going over Christmas. What was the best goal? Mo, the last one. Was it the last one? Yeah, that one. They were all good finishes.”

2.21pm GMT

2.19pm GMT

Peep peep peep peep peep peep peep! Liverpool extend their lead at the top of the table with a display of leadpipe cruelty at Selhurst Park. Vicente Guaita did not make a single save, such was the devastating quality of Liverpool’s finishing. Six of the seven goals were bona fide beauties. Palace, believe it or not, were the better team for much of the first half, but Liverpool took them apart on the break and then did as they pleased in the second half. It was pretty awesome.

2.17pm GMT

90+1 min “The header against Italy was surely Le Tissier’s Paltrow moment,” says Niall Mullen.

Nah, he was done by then: 1993-95 was his peak.

2.15pm GMT

90 min “Liverpool,” says Niall Mullen, “are close to top scoring for India today.”

2.15pm GMT

89 min I was going to say Liverpool are back until I remembered they were top of the league before this game. But as I said earlier, this feels like the day they stopped playing silly buggers away from home and started to run away with the league.

2.14pm GMT

88 min I’m struggling to think of a game in which one side has scored so many brilliant goals. This is one of my favourites, but I think Liverpool have topped it today.

2.13pm GMT

87 min This would be Liverpool’s biggest ever away defeat in top-flight football. Sadio Mane still has a face like thunder, his brain calculating all those Expected Goals that got away when he was substituted.

2.12pm GMT

86 min “Careers can hinge on sliding-doors moments,” says Matt Dony. “I always remember Downing narrowly missing a 30-yard screamer in (I think) his first league start for Liverpool against Southampton. It might even have hit the post. Had that gone in, would it have affected his confidence level, and therefore his all-round play? Would it have been a huge boost? Would that have been the stepping stone he needed to dominate the left wing for the next few seasons? Ok, probably not, but we’ll never know.”

Le Tissier with England is a great example of that. He almost scored an uber-Le Tissier goal in the first few minutes of his first start against Romania. But he didn’t, and that was that.

2.12pm GMT

Salah received the ball on the right edge of the area, cut inside van Aanholt curled a booming shot into the far top corner. It’s yet another classic goal.

2.11pm GMT

This is officially preposterous.

2.09pm GMT

82 min Ayew almost has a chance to get one back (!) but he can’t control a loose ball in the area.

2.09pm GMT

82 min “Dear Rob,” says Colum Fordham. “Are we seeing a Firmino renaissance? Back amongst the goals after a mini-drought. His second, clipped over the keeper, is a sign of a man back in form. Could you wish my Liverpudlian and Fellow Liverpool supporting friend Andy Code a very happy Christmas from distant Naples? This performance seems like the perfect Xmas present.”

Happy Christmas! And yes, I think so – there has been a familiar swagger to his play today, not just the two finishes.

2.08pm GMT

It’s even more absurd now! Alexander-Arnold’s deep corner is headed down by Matip and headed in from close range by Salah.

2.07pm GMT

81 min THE BEST TEAM LOST.

2.06pm GMT

80 min Liverpool are passing the clock down. The scoreline is absurd, really; I don’t think Guaita has made a save all day.

2.05pm GMT

78 min “Speaking of Stewart Downing and great careers,” begins John Kim. “How is it that Downing left Villa for £5m more than Ashley Young during the same transfer window?”

I think Young only had a year left on his contract.

2.04pm GMT

77 min If you would like to buy some money, you can still get Liverpool at 5/4 to win the Premier League. I’m feeling quite smug after my oft-ridiculed prediction that they’ll win by 10+ points.

2.02pm GMT

75 min And Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain replaces Roberto Firmino, who made one and scored two delicious goals.

2.01pm GMT

74 min Jairo Riedewald replaces James McArthur.

2.01pm GMT

74 min Batshuayi’s cross is volleyed over from a tight angle by Zaha. Doesn’t matter: Batshuayi was offside. And it’s 5-0.

2.00pm GMT

73 min “Why is Salah on?” says Tom Barneby. “The game was won. Take Mane off for Divock or Ox so they can get fitness and confidence. Get Fabinho off too - he’s our most important player now.”

Not a clue. This is the one thing I don’t understand about managers (not just Klopp) when they moan about injuries.

1.58pm GMT

72 min “Of the Carroll, Downing and Henderson trio, isn’t it at least somewhat surprising that it’s the latter who’s had a great career at LFC?” says Phil Podolsky. “Downing looked a bit of a player at times, Carroll was the absolute unit, and yet it’s the quiet one who ended up becoming a club legend. Hope for us introverts etc.”

You’ve missed out Charlie Adam again.

1.57pm GMT

71 min Now, about that exciting title race...

1.56pm GMT

70 min A substitution apiece: Jones for Wijnaldum, Batshuayi for Eze.

1.56pm GMT

It was another superb counter-attack from a Palace corner. Alexander-Arnold, on the edge of his own area, shaped a lovely long pass to Salah on the right. He cut infield and threaded an angled pass through to Firmino on the edge of the area. Firmino took the ball away from McArthur with his first touch and lifted it over Guaita from a tight angle with his second. Another lovely goal.

1.55pm GMT

Roberto Firmino gets his second!

1.54pm GMT

67 min The match is starting to peter out.

1.50pm GMT

63 min A quick-witted header from Zaha finds van Aanholt, who rattles the bouncing ball wide of the near post from the edge of the area.

1.50pm GMT

63 min James Tomkins comes on for Palace in place of Cheikhou Kouyate.

1.48pm GMT

61 min Palace would call it a day now if they could. Liverpool are probably having their best spell of the game, which sounds absurd given the scoreline, and look hungry for more goals.

1.47pm GMT

60 min Minamino misses a terrific chance. He took Keita’s pass beautifully in his stride, pushing it away from Cahill in the process, but slid a low shot just wide from 10 yards.

1.46pm GMT

59 min “Not only is Fabinho the best centre-back available to Liverpool just now, he’s the best centre-back in the country - so is this his position?” says Gary Naylor. “Everyone talks about how big an adjustment Premier League football represents, yet relatively few players change their position (which may date back to schoolboy matches). I know Steven Gerrard and Gareth Bale started out as full-backs and Cheik Kouyate was a midfielder (not a good example today), but it’s surely the case that there must be more.”

Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger used to remould players all the time: Lauren, Beckham, Neville, Irwin, Parlour, Wiltord, Ljungberg, Solskjaer, Scholes, to name a few. Fabinho has been brilliant but I think it’s too early to call him the best in the league. It was his mistake today, for example, that gave Palace their best chance.

1.44pm GMT

57 min Sadio Mane is replaced by Mo Salah. Mane is very, very, very pissed off: he’s gesticulating in all directions. Mane coming off makes sense; Salah coming on is completely beyond me.

1.43pm GMT

56 min Mane drives just wide after another excellent cutback from Robertson. It took a slight touch off a defender, though I’m not sure it was going in anyway.

1.42pm GMT

56 min Mo Salah is about to come on. I don’t understand that at all.

1.41pm GMT

55 min This feels like the day Liverpool stopped playing silly buggers in the title race.

1.40pm GMT

54 min Liverpool don’t play again until their defeat at home to Sam Allardyce a week tomorrow, but this is still a good chance for Jurgen Klopp to rest three of his players for the last half hour or so.

1.40pm GMT

The scoreline is a travesty but the quality of the goals has been spectacular. Liverpool kept possession for a while on the left before Mane found Alexander-Arnold on the right side of the box. He turned and carefully teed up Henderson to whip a sweet first-time shot into the far corner from 22 yards. Guaita had no chance.

1.38pm GMT

Four goals, four beauties.

1.37pm GMT

50 min Liverpool are playing with Firmino on the right and Mane as centre-forward. I think they made that switch towards the end of the first half, but I was too distracted by the brilliant goals to consciously recognise it.

1.36pm GMT

49 min Nothing to report in the second half.

1.32pm GMT

46 min Peep peep! Crystal Palace begin the second half.

1.32pm GMT

“The difference between Ayew bumbling Palace’s chance and the quick thinking & impeccable two-touch finishing from Liverpool’s front three has been enormous,” says Bobby Moore. “Three beautifully taken goals. I’d also like to echo Adam Griffiths’ warm wishes and thank you and the MBM crew for your continued insight, wit, and humour. All the best!”

Cheers Bobby!

1.31pm GMT

“Three-nil up at Selhurst Park?” weeps Matt Dony. “No one’s seen Dwight Gayle, have they?”

1.21pm GMT

I can’t get enough of that third goal. All three were terrific but this was easily the best. The four key touches - Firmino’s pass at the start, then Robertson’s pass, Firmino’s control and finish - were immaculate.

1.18pm GMT

Peep peep! “This has been a ludicrous half,” says my colleague Gregg Bakowski. “It’s like Klopp has tried to play like Spurs to wind Mourinho up.”

Liverpool had three shots on target and score three goals of increasing brilliance. They are going six points clear, and that exciting title race we were promised is fighting for its life.

1.17pm GMT

45+2 min Alexander-Arnold whips the free-kick over the bar.

1.16pm GMT

45+1 min Clyne is booked for pulling back Minamino in the D. Minamino was offside, but VAR can’t adjudicate on such matters, and this is a great chance for Liverpool to go 4-0 up.

1.16pm GMT

That was glorious football. Firmino, deep in his own half, waved an insouciant pass out to Robertson with the outside of his right foot and set off. Robertson moved into space, waited for support and picked out Firmino just inside the area. He took the ball beautifully in his stride and flicked it nonchalantly past Guaita. A quite gorgeous goal.

1.14pm GMT

Oh my, this is sheer delightful football!

1.14pm GMT

43 min van Aanholt and Alexander-Arnold go head to head over something. Alexander-Arnold kicked a dead ball in van Aanholt’s direction, though I’m not sure why he was so annoyed.

1.13pm GMT

41 min Jurgen Klopp is repeatedly shouting “Why would you do that?” at somebody on the field, presumably the referee. He’s been in a funny mood all season, but I suspect he’ll be cheerier after Christmas as Liverpool run away with the league.

1.10pm GMT

40 min Zaha sprays a drive wide of the near post from a tight angle.

1.09pm GMT

38 min I’m not saying the best team are losing, but the scoreline is harsh on Palace. Liverpool have been devastatingly efficient.

1.07pm GMT

There was a bit of a scramble on the edge of the D, with the ball eventually falling to Firmino, lurking just to the left of centre 22 yards from goal. He played a short pass into Mane, who moved the ball away from Clyne with his first touch and thwacked it past Guaita with his second. Mane’s speed of thought, and feet, were quite something. He had his back to goal on the edge of the area and was tightly marked by Clyne; a couple of seconds later it was 2-0.

1.05pm GMT

The best player on the field makes it 2-0 with a brilliant goal!

1.03pm GMT

32 min I’m not saying the best team are losing, but Alisson has had more to do than Vicente Guaita.

1.02pm GMT

31 min Zaha plays a beautiful reverse pass down the left to find van Aanholt in space. His low cross is put behind at the near post by Fabinho. The corner is headed on by Schlupp at the near post and held confidently by Alisson.

1.00pm GMT

30 min Robertson’s excellent corner is headed into the ground and wide of the far post by Matip. That was a chance.

12.59pm GMT

29 min A dreadful pass across his own area from van Aanholt almost falls for Minamino. Clyne gets in front of him to knock the ball behind for a corner.

12.59pm GMT

28 min Ayew heads straight at Alisson from Milivojevic’s deep free-kick. It wouldn’t have counted though as Ayew was offside.

12.57pm GMT

26 min “Bob,” says Mac Millings. “If I may indulge in some sporting crossover, in honour of India’s recent batting effort in Australia, here is my all-time Cricket Collapse XI:

12.55pm GMT

25 min Robertson’s brilliant cross towards Firmino is crucially intercepted by Cahill.

12.54pm GMT

23 min: What a chance for Palace! Oh dear lord. Fabinho’s poor header is intercepted by Ayew, who is through one on one with Alisson on the right-hand side of the area. He declines to shoot and instead tries to pick out Zaha at the far post - but it’s a dreadful pass, a few yards behind him. Zaha collapses to the floor in frustration.

12.52pm GMT

23 min Schlupp’s cutback is dummied extravagantly by Ayew at the near post, but there are no Palace players behind him. Palace have been the better team in the last 10 minutes or so.

12.51pm GMT

21 min Palace are having a decent spell here. Clyne’s deep cross is controlled well by Zaha, who picks out Eze on the edge of the box. He teases Henderson but then plays a poor pass.

12.49pm GMT

19 min I did Minamino a disservice with the description of his goal. I thought Clyne had tackled him, but in fact Minamino moved the ball away from him very neatly before rifling it past Guaita. That little bit of skill, coupled with the finish, makes it a cracking goal.

12.47pm GMT

17 min Alisson comes out of his area to beat Zaha to a loose ball. His clearance goes straight to Milivojevic, who tries to chip him from inside the centre circle. It’s a decent attempet but Alisson has plenty of time to get back and catch the ball.

12.45pm GMT

15 min Palace are coming into the game. Zaha looks lively and is pulling out to the left a lot of the time.

12.42pm GMT

12 min Zaha’s excellent low cross is taken off Ayew’s toes by Fabinho. Fine defending, though I think Zaha was offside in the build up.

12.39pm GMT

10 min We’re having technical problems I’m afraid. It’s still 1-0, that much I do know.

12.36pm GMT

7 min Zaha tries to run Fabinho, who takes the ball off him with authority. He’s so good one against one.

12.36pm GMT

7 min This is very ominous. For Palace, for the rest of the Premier League, for humanity itself.

12.35pm GMT

6 min Robertson’s cross grazes the head of Mane and drifts across the area. Liverpool, in the parlance of our time, are bang at it.

12.34pm GMT

4 min That’s a perfect start for Liverpool - not just the goal but the identity of the scorer.

12.33pm GMT

It’s his first Premier League goal, and he took it beautifully. Alexander-Arnold started the move by floating a ball into Mane in the area. He turned and squared the ball to Minamino, eight yards out. Clyne came across to challenge but the ball rebounded kindly for Minamino, who cracked it across Guaita and into the far corner. That was an emphatic finish.

12.32pm GMT

Takumi Minamino slams Liverpool into the lead!

12.32pm GMT

2 min Kouyate’s clearance is charged down by Firmino, whose low cross is cleared without nonsense by Cahill.

12.30pm GMT

1 min Mane has started on the right for Liverpool, with Minamino on the left.

12.30pm GMT

1 min Peep peep! Liverpool, in their black away strip, kick off on a sunny, blustery afternoon at Selhurst Park.

12.24pm GMT

It’s nearly time for kick off. A win would put Liverpool six points clear at the top, at least until Everton play tonight.

12.20pm GMT

“Alright, Rob,” says Adam Griffiths. “I’ve no horse in this race, I’ll be spending the ninety minutes lying on the sofa stuffing mini stollen into my face while keeping an eye on proceedings, but just wanted to say Merry Christmas to you and the readers, and cheers for the top MBMing from you and your colleagues this year (and what a year. Stupid 2020). Fingers crossed for 2021, eh.”

Thanks Adam. A very merry Christmas to you and all the readers. When all this is over, let’s have a celebratory MBM orgy. Entry password: Naylor.

11.58am GMT

“Dearest of Robs, I have convinced my other friend that Liverpool switch off just enough against the non-big sides away from home to make these the dangerous games rather than facing your Chelseas and Citys,” says Ian Copestake. “It is an unconscious falling away, but the first three bad touches they had against Fulham showed what was to come. My hope is that beating Jose M was a turning point and also something he will take credit for.”

Look, the best team lost, get over it.

11.57am GMT

Pre-match reading

11.42am GMT

One bit of good news for Liverpool is that there will be no fans at Selhurst Park this afternoon. The 2,000 crowd made such a difference during Palace’s draw with Spurs last Sunday, back in the halcyon days of London being in tier 2.

11.34am GMT

Jordan Ayew replaces the suspended Christian Benteke, one of four changes for Crystal Palace. Liverpool make three changes: Joel Matip returns after a back spasm, and Mo Salah and Curtis Jones are rested.

Crystal Palace (4-4-2) Guaita; Clyne, Kouyate, Cahill, van Aanholt; Schlupp, Milivojevic, McArthur, Eze; Zaha, Ayew.
Substitutes: Butland, Ward, Tomkins, Dann, Mitchell, Townsend, McCarthy, Riedewald, Batshuayi.

9.25am GMT

Hello. In most cases, Covid football has reduced or even obliterated home advantage. Liverpool are one of the exceptions. Twenty-one of their 28 points this season have been won at Anfield: they’ve won seven out of seven, as compared to one in six away from home. Only four teams have picked up fewer points on their travels, and Liverpool’s one win, at Chelsea, was three months ago. Today’s trip to Crystal Palace is their latest chance to sort their away form out.

Styles make fights, and Palace’s strengths – Hodgson, Two Banks of Four, Zaha-led counter-attacks – make them uncomfortable opponents for Liverpool. Most of their recent games have been close, including a nerve-shredding 4-3 at Anfield two years ago, but Liverpool tend to get the job done. They have won the last six games at Selhurst Park, and the last six against Palace anywhere since Christian Benteke won at Anfield in 2017.

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Published on December 19, 2020 06:25

December 16, 2020

Liverpool 2-1 Tottenham: Premier League – as it happened

Roberto Firmino’s last-minute winner shattered Spurs and put Liverpool top of the table after a fascinating match at Anfield

11.52pm GMT

10.15pm GMT

That’s it for tonight’s blog, I’ll leave you with Andy Hunter’s match report, and those from the other late games, including a howitzer from Haller. Goodnight!

10.12pm GMT

And here’s Jurgen Klopp

“The win was absolutely deserved. They are a top side – a counter-attacking monster – so you have to be really focussed, and because they don’t want the ball too much you have play around them and keep them busy. We did that really, really well. What a wonderful goal to win it, a nice corner and a sensational header from Bobby.

10.06pm GMT

Here’s Jose

“So close to winning. We missed chances; we had the game under control. A draw would have been a bad result given our performance, so you can imagine how we feel with the defeat. It’s a very, very unfair result. We had the best chances and we were brilliant. It didn’t look like a team that was world champions playing against [an ordinary team]. At the end of the season we will see where we are. We have not been together for a long time and to be able to do what we did was fantastic. The result is the most important thing and it is terrible.

10.00pm GMT

9.57pm GMT

I’d love to hear Jose Mourinho’s internal monologue right now. As good as Liverpool were and are, that was such a missed opportunity for Spurs. They missed three great chances to go 2-1 up and then lost the game to an admittedly excellent set-piece goal.

9.54pm GMT

There was a VAR check on Firmino’s winning goal. Eric Dier went down on the edge of the area after a challenge with Jordan Henderson. Spurs weren’t happy but I don’t think it was a foul.

9.52pm GMT

Klopp and Mourinho are having words, I think about Klopp’s harassment of the fourth official. It seems to be relatively civil. That was such a fascinating match. Liverpool dominated possession throughout, but Spurs will regret the manner of both goals and the opportunities missed by Harry Kane and Steven Bergwijn.

9.50pm GMT

Peep peep! Liverpool are top of the Premier League again, and good luck trying to catch them.

9.50pm GMT

90+3 min Lucas’s corner is headed away by Williams.

9.49pm GMT

90+3 min Aurier wins a corner for Spurs. This is their last chance...

9.49pm GMT

90+2 min Three minutes of added time. Reguilon’s cross is flapped away by the stretching Alisson.

9.48pm GMT

90+1 min It was a brilliant header but Spurs will be disgusted to lose to such a basic goal. Kane and Alderweireld were both in the vicinity, but Firmino got to the ball first and thumped it in.

9.47pm GMT

Robertson swung a superb corner towards Firmino, who got in front of Alderweireld and thumped an emphatic header into the corner!

9.46pm GMT

Liverpool have nicked it!

9.46pm GMT

90 min Aurier puts the ball behind for another Liverpool corner, their seventh...

9.46pm GMT

89 min Liverpool break and Dele Alli is lucky not to be booked for following a cynical foul by kicking the ball away.

9.45pm GMT

89 min Dier’s free-kick is tame and easily saved by Alisson.

9.45pm GMT

88 min Lucas Moura is fouled 30 yards from goal by Fabinho. It’s probably too far out for a shot, though Eric Dier looks interested.

9.43pm GMT

87 min Good sweeper-keeping from Alisson, who comes out of his area to intercept Kane’s long pass towards Son. That’s Son’s last involvement: he is replaced by Dele Alli.

9.42pm GMT

86 min Kane is okay to continue.

9.42pm GMT

85 min Kane is down after a clash of heads with Wijnaldum.

9.39pm GMT

83 min Mane lofts a very deep cross to Jones, who takes it down and hits a shot that is blocked by Davies. Attack and defence, invasion and repulsion...

9.39pm GMT

82 min Tottenham look really tired now, Hojbjerg and Sissoko in particular. Liverpool are moving the ball constantly from side to side in an attempt to find some space.

9.38pm GMT

81 min Mane runs at Aurier and cuts the ball back dangerously. Happily for Spurs, it goes straight to Reguilon, who controls it and launches it as far as possible. But back it comes...

9.37pm GMT

79 min: Just wide from Kane! Dier drove an angled pass over the defence to Kane, who took it down on the chest but then slipped. That meant he had to take the shot early when he got to his feet, with defenders closing in on him at the edge of the box. Kane curled it towards the far post and Alisson tipped it round the post. A goalkick was given but I’m pretty sure that was a save, and a good one. That said, had Kane scored it might have been disallowed for handball by Sissoko in the build-up, when he miscontrolled hte ball onto his outstretched arm.

9.35pm GMT

79 min Liverpool are totally dominant now, though most of their possession in the second half has been in front of the Spurs defence. This is such a compelling game.

9.33pm GMT

77 min Passes in the final third tonight: Liverpool 200-19 Spurs.

9.33pm GMT

76 min Hojbjerg and Sissoko have worked incredibly hard tonight. Spurs make another change: Sergio Reguilon replaces Steven Bergwijn, who had two great chances to give Spurs the lead.

9.31pm GMT

75 min This is a very good spell for Liverpool, and Alexander-Arnold wins another corner off Hojbjerg. It’s played short to Salah, whose cross is claimed with authority by Lloris.

9.31pm GMT

73 min: Mane hits the bar! This is great stuff now. Jones stabs a little pass towards Mane in the area. He rolls Aurier brilliantly and thrashes a left-footed drive that is partially blocked by Aurier but still has enough force to roar past Lloris and onto the top of the bar.

9.29pm GMT

72 min Liverpool have won 31 of the last 32 league games at Anfield. The exception was a 1-1 draw with Burnley after they had won the title last season.

9.27pm GMT

71 min Robertson is lucky not to be booked for a foul on the breaking Lucas Moura.

9.27pm GMT

70 min Firmino’s shot is blocked by Dier. He made the (half-) chance with a lovely bit of footwork on the edge of the area.

9.26pm GMT

69 min: Chance for Salah! Kane miscontrolls the ball near the halfway line, allowing Williams to nip in and make a tackle that turns into a defence-splitting pass to Salah in the inside-right channel. He moves into the area but hits a tame right-footed shot that is comfortably saved to his right by Lloris.

9.24pm GMT

67 min Robinson did catch Aurier in the face, with his hip I think, but it was a complete accident.

9.23pm GMT

67 min Aurier stays down after a challenge from Robertson. Liverpool continue and Firmino’s shot on the turn deflects into the arms of Lloris.

9.22pm GMT

66 min “Strong and powerful, he injects confidence, purpose and vitality everywhere he goes,” says Phil Podolsky. “Which is what all of us, never mind West Brom, so desperately need right now. Big Sam’s Big Comeback couldn’t have come at a better time.”

I’ve just added three West Brom defenders to my Fantasy team, so I think I know who’s winning.

9.21pm GMT

64 min: Kane misses a great chance! The resulting corner from Son is headed into the ground and over the bar by Kane, who was only six yards from goal. Maybe it dipped at the last minute, which would explain why he headed it straight down into the ground. Maybe.

9.20pm GMT

63 min: Bergwijn hits the post! Another big chance for Spurs. Lloris’s long kick was headed on first by Kane and then by Son, who got above Fabinho (I think). Bergwijn scurried into the area, opened his body and curled the ball towards the far corner. It beat Alisson and thumped off the base of the post, with Fabinho putting the rebound behind for a corner.

9.18pm GMT

61 min There’s no space at all between the Spurs defence and midfield. At times it looks like an 8-0-2 formation rather than 4-4-2.

9.17pm GMT

59 min Jurgen Klopp has spent much of the game moaning at the fourth official, and he’s at it again when Mane is penalised for a challenge on Aurier.

9.15pm GMT

58 min Spurs make a change, and an attacking one at that: Lucas Moura replaces Giovani Lo Celso.

9.14pm GMT

57 min Salah’s long-range shot bounces up awkwardly and is pushed behind by the diving Lloris. He probably could have caught it but decided to take no risks.

9.13pm GMT

57 min “Whatever about Salah,” says Niall Mullen. “Liverpool should have a look at that Benteke lad. He looks a player.”

9.13pm GMT

56 min Liverpool are starting to dominate possession again. Spurs do look a threat, though, more so than in the first half.

9.11pm GMT

54 min Hojbjerg is booked for a brazen rugby tackle on Firmino, who had beaten him with a delicious touch.

9.10pm GMT

53 min Alexander-Arnold’s cross is headed over his own bar by Dier. The corner is cleared, and that’s the end of that.

9.08pm GMT

52 min Lo Celso finds Kane, who cracks a rising drive over the bar from 25 yards. Spurs have made a bright start to the second half.

9.08pm GMT

50 min: What an effort from Kane! Alisson had the ball on the edge of the area and tried to play a pass to Alexander-Arnold on the right. Kane slid in to intercept, got to his feet and lofted a left-footed chip towards goal from 40 yards. Alisson got back desperately to flap it behind for a corner. I think Kane’s chip was going just wide anyway but it was a brilliant attempt.

9.07pm GMT

50 min Jones moves elegantly away from a couple of Spurs defenders on the edge of the area and hits a shot that is blocked. He’s had a really good game.

9.05pm GMT

47 min Sissoko and Lo Celso have swapped positions at the start of the second half. Lo Celso is now up against Andy Robertson - and is booked for leaving one of him. That was a poor tackle from Lo Celso.

9.04pm GMT

46 min: Bergwijn misses a great chance! Spurs almost take the lead after 25 seconds. A long ball forward was misjudged by Williams, which allowed Bergwijn to run through on goal in the inside-left channel. He did very well to hold off Alexander-Arnold but then flicked the ball wide of the far post with the outside of his right foot. That was a poor finish.

9.02pm GMT

46 min Peep peep! Spurs begin the second half.

9.02pm GMT

“Hi Rob,” says Anthony O’Connell. “Tonight was the night for Liverpool to abandon the high line. If we’re dropping back 10 yards, Son doesn’t get that goal. This is classic Mourinhoball... get 2-3 chances in a game and score 2 or 3 goals. I’m a Liverpool fan and I’m dreading this second half.”

8.57pm GMT

The Liverpool goal has been given to Salah. It’s quite tight as to whether his shot was on target, as he tried to whip it past Lloris at the near post, but it’s probably right to give him the benefit of the doubt.

8.56pm GMT

“On replay of the Spurs goal, Rhys Williams is ball watching when Son breaks,” says Rick McGahey. “He’s doing great but really hard for a young defender pushed into that spot.”

8.55pm GMT

“How frustrating it must be to face Spurs these days,” says Mary Waltz. “You can positively dominate play, make the tiniest error and seconds later it’s Kane-Son, or Son-Kane, goal. That pair is sooooo deadly.”

8.48pm GMT

Half-time reading

8.47pm GMT

Peep peep! It’s Attack 1-1 Defence in a fascinatingly one-sided game at Anfield. Mo Salah’s goal was lucky yet thoroughly deserved; Son’s equaliser was magnificent yet a bit of a travesty.

8.45pm GMT

45 min One minute of added time. Spurs really need a breather, some Gatorade, whatever the flip.

8.44pm GMT

43 min Every time I look up the ball is in the Spurs half. In fact, in the last five minutes Spurs have had four per cent possession.

8.41pm GMT

41 min Mane does really well to wriggle away from Aurier on the edge of the area, but his shot - like a few in this half - is too close to Lloris.

8.41pm GMT

40 min “As a Liverpool fan I’m torn here,” says Tom Barneby. “You don’t want situations like that to be given as offside, because otherwise what’s the point, but at the same time he’s no more onside than Mane was against Everton. The sooner they bring in the Dutch-style referee’s call with thicker lines the better.”

I would definitely have thicker lines. That said, I thought Son was onside.

8.39pm GMT

39 min It’s still all Liverpool, but they now know for sure that Spurs can hurt them. This is a fascinating contest.

8.38pm GMT

38 min “Like almost anyone else who has ever seen him play, I didn’t really trust Alberto Moreno,” writes

Alberto Mor-
Matt Dony. “I admired his scampering work ethic, but he generally scampered to the wrong place at the wrong time. Left back was such an obvious problem position, and Klopp decided to solve the problem by sending a (relatively) paltry £8m to a relegated team. The very definition of ‘underwhelming.’ I remember sending sarcastic texts to fellow Liverpool supporters. In hindsight, that £8m might just have been well spent. Yet another reason why I’m not a top-level football manager. Robertson is an unbelievable footballer.”

He’s not a footballer, he’s an elemental force.

8.36pm GMT

36 min: Good save from Lloris! Firmino has too much time to turn and drive a low shot across goal from 12 yards. Lloris dives to his right to push it away. The save was relatively routine; the impressive part was the 90-degree angle at which he pushed it away, because a normal save would have given Salah an open goal.

8.35pm GMT

35 min That goal wasn’t against the run of play; it was a total affront to the run of play. It’s a reminder of how deadly Spurs can be on the break.

8.34pm GMT

34 min Jurgen Klopp is fuming that the goal was given, though I’ve no idea why.

8.34pm GMT

GOAL GIVEN! And it was a brilliant counter-attack. Lloris rolled the ball out to Lo Celso, who ran to the halfway line and waved a lovely through pass with the outside of his left foot. Son sped into the area, opened his body as if to go across Alisson and then dragged the ball past him at the near post. That’s a superb, cold finish.

8.33pm GMT

VAR check! This might be offside...

8.33pm GMT

Spurs have equalised out of nothing!

8.32pm GMT

33 min Mane’s overhead kick from 15 yards goes straight at Lloris.

8.31pm GMT

31 min Spurs are struggling to get out of their third, never mind their half. It’s been a performance of ferocious purpose from Liverpool.

8.30pm GMT

30 min “Hi Rob,” says Gary Naylor. “This Mo Salah will be a handy player when he’s having a good season…”

8.29pm GMT

29 min This is a big ten minutes for Spurs, who are in danger of being overwhelmed. Jones almost makes it 2-0 after stealing the ball off Aurier on the right edge of the area. He cut inside and drove a low shot that was comfortably held to his left by Lloris.

8.28pm GMT

27 min Salah barely celebrated, as if disgusted that he hadn’t screamed it straight into the roof of the net. Or maybe he thought the shot was going off target and the goal will therefore be given to Alderweireld - like it was in this fixture two years ago. We haven’t seen a decent angle yet but I reckon it might be an own goal.

8.27pm GMT

It took a big deflection off Toby Alderweireld, but Liverpool won’t care. Jones played a nice one-two with Firmino and moved into the area. Aurier’s tackle diverted the ball to Salah, whose snapshot took a huge deflection off Alderweireld and looped over Lloris.

8.26pm GMT

Mo Salah gives Liverpool the lead!

8.26pm GMT

26 min Completed passes so far: Liverpool 191-57 Spurs.

8.25pm GMT

25 min Spurs aren’t doing enough with the ball. Liverpool are starting to smother them, and I’m not sure this is sustainable for 90 minutes.

8.22pm GMT

21 min: Chance for Salah! Henderson flips a lovely pass down the left to Robertson, who heads it away from Aurier and surges into the area. Then he looks up, as he always does, to pick out a man. In this case it’s Salah, 14 yards out, but he shoots straight at Lloris. That was brilliant play yet again from the magnificent Andy Robertson.

8.20pm GMT

21 min Spurs are slowly coming into the game. Aurier’s mishit cross lands on the roof of the net, though Alisson had it covered.

8.19pm GMT

19 min A long ball forward hits the top of Dier’s arm in the area. There’s no penalty appeal, and no VAR check, which is a bit of a surprise. I don’t think it would have been overturned but I’m surprised they didn’t at least check. Spurs go down the other end and win a corner; nothing comes of it.

8.17pm GMT

17 min Kane finds a bit of space for the first time and waves a pass over the top towards Son and Bergwijn. Robertson covers well and plays the ball back to Alisson.

8.16pm GMT

16 min Lo Celso plays the ball through to Bergwijn, and Alexander-Arnold comes across to make a good interception on the edge of the area.

8.15pm GMT

15 min Robertson wins a corner off Alderweireld. Liverpool are starting to put Spurs under pressure. The corner is taken short and eventually cleared by Kane.

8.13pm GMT

14 min It’s been a comfortable start for the teenager Rhys Williams. I think he’s only touched the ball a couple of times so far.

8.12pm GMT

12 min Liverpool have had 71 per cent of the possession so far.

8.12pm GMT

11 min Robertson’s deep free-kick from the left is headed back across goal by Firmino, 12 yards from goal, and Lloris springs to his right to make a comfortable save. Not much more than a half chance I’d say.

8.11pm GMT

10 min Wijnaldum loses a boot after a late challenge from Sissoko. It’s been a really cagey start, particularly from Spurs.

8.09pm GMT

9 min Davies’s cross is put behind by Alexander-Arnold. Anthony Taylor gives Liverpool a goalkick.

8.08pm GMT

In other news

8.07pm GMT

7 min Liverpool are pressing very aggressively whenever the Spurs defenders win the ball. It’s been an interesting but uneventful start.

8.05pm GMT

4 min Nothing much to report at the moment apart from Spurs’ unexpected tactics. Liverpool have had most of the ball in the first few minutes.

8.03pm GMT

2 min Bergwijn has started on the left, which is a surprise. I thought Jose Mourinho would fancy Son against Alexander-Arnold. In fact it looks like Spurs are playing 4-4-2: Sissoko on the right to deal with Robertson, Lo Celso alongside Hojbjerg in the centre and Bergwijn on the left. Son is playing up with Harry Kane.

8.01pm GMT

1 min Alexander-Arnold’s long-range shot deflects over the bar. Robertson’s corner comes to nothing.

8.00pm GMT

1 min Peep peep! Liverpool kick off from left to right.

8.00pm GMT

The players gather round the centre circle to pay tribute to Gerard Houllier with a minute’s applause.

7.56pm GMT

A great stat from the Amazon commentator Jon Champion - Southampton’s draw at Arsenal means that Liverpool and Spurs meet as first and second in the table for the first time in their history.

7.55pm GMT

Here come the players. The Liverpool team receive a lusty welcome from the 2,000 fans at Anfield.

7.52pm GMT

Peep peep! The early games have finished thus:

7.39pm GMT

“Evening Rob,” says Yash Gupta. “Huge match which explains why Mourinho has gone back to his pragmatic ways by dropping Reguilon for Davies. No Ndombele and Lo Celso being in starting line-up suggest to me that either Spurs make confident start and get a goal early or Spurs blow this one and lose this inside opening 30 minutes.”

They got a very early goal last year.

7.23pm GMT

There will be a minute’s silence before the game in memory of Gerard Houllier, the man who literally and metaphorically took Liverpool into the 21st century.

7.10pm GMT

Pre-match reading

7.04pm GMT

Joel Matip is out with a back injury, so 19-year-old Rhys Williams makes his Premier League debut at centre-half against Harry Kane and Son. Godspeed, young man.

Tanguy Ndombele is only on the bench for Spurs. Giovani Lo Celso replaces him and Ben Davies is preferred to Sergio Reguilon.

6.47pm GMT

Pre-match entertainment (especially for Spurs fans, given the half-time score)

6.16pm GMT

It’s a big night at Anfield: Liverpool v Spurs, Jurgen Klopp v Jose Mourinho, champions v leaders. But the best way to frame it, if you’re into the whole rivalry thing, is Liverpool v Jose Mourinho. Their mutual enmity goes back a long way. In 2004, Mourinho almost became Liverpool manager. In 2005, he ssshhhed Liverpool fans during the Carling Cup final and later compared their style of football unfavourably to – and you’ll like this - Sam Allardyce’s Bolton (8m58s on this video).

Rafa Benitez’s long-ballers stopped Mourinho reaching two Champions League finals in 2005 and 2007. He denied them a title in 2014, when his evil plan worked so perfectly that Chelsea scored their two goals in time added on for their brazen timewasting. Liverpool had the most recent laugh two years ago, when Mourinho sacked as Manchester United manager after a 3-1 defeat at Anfield. Many thought that was the last we’d see of him at the top table. Instead he returns to Anfield with Spurs top of the table, and with enough confidence to flap his gums before the match over Liverpool’s injury list.

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Published on December 16, 2020 14:12

December 13, 2020

Arsenal 0-1 Burnley: Premier League – as it happened

Granit Xhaka’s needless red card and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s own goal sent Arsenal to a fourth straight home defeat in the league

9.20pm GMT

That’s it for tonight’s blog, and a very eventful day of Premier League action. I’ll leave you with Nick Ames’ match report from the Emirates. Goodnight!

9.17pm GMT

“The longer Arsenal’s travails carry on,” says Stephen Carr, “the more foolish the sacking of Gunnersaurus looks...”

I think he was back last week. But it’s too late, he’s already put the curse on.

9.13pm GMT

Never mind George or Arsene. Damian Durrant really knows...

9.09pm GMT

That was an untidy game between two teams low on confidence, and Sean Dyche should not give a flying out about any of that. It’s a big win for Burnley, who move out of the relegation places as a result. Arsenal were the better team until Granit Xhaka was sent off for being a moron, and then Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, of all people, settled the match with an own goal. Arsenal have lost four consecutive league games at home for the first time since 1959.

Jannik Vestergaard has scored more Premier League goals than Arsenal in the last two months (3-2).

9.07pm GMT

Peep peep! Burnley beat Arsenal in the league for the first time since 1974!

9.07pm GMT

90+6 min Saka’s corner is headed down by Holding and kicked off the line by Brady!

9.06pm GMT

90+4 min Saka’s free-kick is punched away by Pope, who takes out Tarkowski in the process. Arsenal play on with Tarkowski down in the area. Tierney crosses towards Gabriel, whose off-balance header is easily saved. Pope throws the ball straight out of play so that Tarkowski can receive treatment.

9.04pm GMT

90+3 min Saka is fouled 35 yards from goal by Brownhill...

9.03pm GMT

90+2 min Holding’s snapshot from the edge of the area hits Nketiah and loops through to Pope. This is desperate stuff.

9.03pm GMT

90+1 min Thanks to Grant Tennille for pointing out that Arsenal last lost four league games in a row at home in 1959.

9.02pm GMT

90 min Burnley’s last league win over Arsenal was in 1974. They are five added minutes away.

9.01pm GMT

90 min After an extended spell of Arsenal possession, Ceballos’s cross is too close to Pope.

9.00pm GMT

88 min Arsenal are starting to apply some pressure. Saka lofts a good pass to Aubameyang on the left of the area, but he slips over as he shapes to shoot. The other game, since you asked, is still Leicester 3-0 Brighton.

8.58pm GMT

86 min Saka cracks a shot from the edge of the area that is headed over his own bar by Tarkowski in the six-yard box.

8.57pm GMT

85 min Mikel Arteta hasn’t been in the job a year, and he’s won the FA Cup in that time, so any talk of him being sacked is absurd. He’s got quite a mess to clean up, though.

8.56pm GMT

83 min “How about Norwich in 1994-95?” says Richard Franks. “Two seasons previously they came third in the Prem (having led for much of the season), and in the previous season had a decent UEFA Cup run in which they knocked out Bayern Munich.”

That’s true, though they then sold Chris Sutton and Ruel Fox. The most surprising/shocking thing about their relegation is that they were something like seventh at Christmas. I still think it was a surprise rather than a shock though.

8.54pm GMT

83 min Eddie Nketiah replaces Willian.

8.53pm GMT

82 min Aubameyang plays a good pass into the area to Ceballos, who dithers for a split-second and is well tackled by Taylor.

8.52pm GMT

80 min If Arsenal lose it will be their fourth consecutive home defeat in the Premier League. When that last happened, I know not.

8.51pm GMT

79 min Arsenal have barely been out of their half in the last 10 minutes.

8.50pm GMT

78 min “What do you mean, ‘You can’t script this’?” says Lance Berc. “Damian Durrant did and you published it in the MBM at 7:01. All we need is Big Sam’s phone number.”

True, but not even Nostradurrant predicted Aubameyang ending his goal drought at the wrong end.

8.49pm GMT

77 min Arsenal are hanging on. Westwood’s free-kick is flicked on by Brownhill and blocked by Gabriel in front of goal. The ball rebounds to Taylor, whose fierce shot from the edge of the area deflects wide.

8.48pm GMT

76 min “Ref here,” says Paul Pooley. “Not a penalty when ball not in play. Discipline the only tool ref has in that situation.”

You’re right, ref. I thought the corner had been taken but it hadn’t.

8.47pm GMT

76 min The good news for Arsenal is that they’re only down to 10 men. Elneny could easily have walked as well.

8.46pm GMT

74 min Ainsley Maitland-Niles replaces Hector Bellerin.

8.45pm GMT

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has put Burnley ahead. It was a wicked corner from Ashley Westwood, which skimmed off the head of Aubameyang at the near post and flew past Leno.

8.45pm GMT

You couldn’t script this.

8.44pm GMT

73 min Elneny blocked Tarkowski by shoving him in the face - he’s only booked, which is very strange. Also, shouldn’t that be a penalty?

8.44pm GMT

72 min Tarkowski and Elneny are both down after jockeying for position at the corner. This will be a penalty I think.

8.43pm GMT

72 min Westwood’s free-kick is flicked on by Brownhill and headed over his own bar by Bellerin, an important clearance.

8.42pm GMT

71 min Bellerin is booked for a sliding tackle on Taylor. He got the ball but the referee decided that wasn’t relevant.

8.42pm GMT

71 min “This Sheffield Wednesday squad went down in 2000!” says Gary Naylor.

From your exclamatory tone I was expecting to click the link and see Maldini, Baresi, Di Canio, Pele, Maradona, Baggio and Peter Atherton.

8.41pm GMT

70 min Barnes shoots well wide from 25 yards. Burnley make another change: Matej Vydra misses Chris Wood, who missed a sitter early on.

8.40pm GMT

69 min Pope makes a good save from Aubameyang’s chip, though the flag went up afterwards.

8.39pm GMT

68 min To clarify, Xhaka was originally booked for the foul on McNeil, and then given a straight red after consultation with VAR for trying to throttle Ashley Westwood. That’s good going, even by his standards.

8.38pm GMT

67 min Mee has a pop from 30 yards. It’s very well struck but straight at Leno.

8.37pm GMT

66 min Arsenal are still dominating the game despite going down to 10 men.

8.36pm GMT

65 min Aubameyang stings Pope’s palms from a very tight angle. It was a decent strike, though he was never likely to beat Pope from there.

8.35pm GMT

65 min I knew I should have put the farm on this ending 0-0.

8.35pm GMT

64 min “Re: shocking relegations – surely Newcastle 2008/09 has to be up there?” says Ben Blatch-Hanlon. “Not quite the team from the late 90s/early 2000s that challenged for the league and was a regular in Europe, but still should have been more than good enough not to go down!”

I’d say that was more of a surprise than a shock, though this might be false memory syndrome.

8.33pm GMT

62 min Westwood is lucky not to be booked for pulling back Ceballos.

8.33pm GMT

62 min “And there it is...” says Damian Durrant.

8.32pm GMT

61 min An Arsenal substitution. Dani Ceballos replaces Alexandre Lacazette (and Granit Xhaka).

8.32pm GMT

60 min A corner skims off the head of Mee, who got above Leno in the six-yard box but couldn’t jump high enough to get over the ball.

8.31pm GMT

59 min Ashley Barnes has replaced Jay Rodriguez. I’m struggling to fathom the extent of Xhaka’s brainlessness.

8.30pm GMT

What an eejit.

8.29pm GMT

58 min: Graham Scott is going over to check the monitor. Oh, Granit. It all started when McNeil was fouled by Xhaka with Burnley on the counter-attack. Then Xhaka put his hands around Westwood’s throat.

8.29pm GMT

57 min VAR is checking whether Xhaka should be sent off for trying to strangle Westwood. He could be in trouble here.

8.28pm GMT

57 min “Although I do think that there is almost zero chance of Arsenal being relegated, I would say that a good number of players from West Ham’s 2002/03 side would get into this Arsenal team,” says Matt Dony. “Their relegation might not have been a truly seismic shock, but I can’t remember another season where I read the words ‘Too good to go down’ more often.”

The only one that comes close in the Premier League era is Forest under Brian Clough. The phrase “too good to go down” was used a lot that season, though never to Roy Keane’s face.

8.28pm GMT

56 min Xhaka has a full and frank exchange of views with a couple of the Burnley players; Westwood and McNeil I think. Xhaka is booked.

8.27pm GMT

56 min It’s all Arsenal now. Willian’s low cross-shot is kicked away by Mee inside the six-yard box.

8.24pm GMT

53 min Arsenal have just had three shots on target in three minutes. In the first half both teams managed one between them.

8.24pm GMT

52 min Another bit of work for Pope. Arsenal break four-on-four, with Aubameyang finding Willian on the right. He picks out Saka, who opens his body to steer a rising shot that is pushed up in the air by Pope. Mee completes the job by heading behind for a corner.

8.23pm GMT

52 min “Shock relegations,” says Thomas Hopkins. “Derby 2007/8?”

I’m sensing banter.

8.23pm GMT

51 min Bellerin crosses to Aubameyang, whose flicked header is straight at Pope. A half chance at best.

8.22pm GMT

50 min: Good save from Pope! Tierney plays the ball to Aubameyang on the left and runs infield. Aubameyang plays a crisp return pass to Tierney, who drives a low right-footed shot that is well held to his right by Pope.

8.20pm GMT

50 min “What about Blackburn 2011-2012?” says Tony Hughes on the subject of unseen relegations.

I wouldn’t say that was a shock, personally – they’d finished 15th in two of the three previous seasons.

8.20pm GMT

49 min The second half has started as the first ended.

8.18pm GMT

47 min “Sounds a little like this match, Rob,” says Bill Hargreaves.

8.16pm GMT

46 min Peep peep! Arsenal get the second half underway.

8.13pm GMT

“Hey Rob,” says Martin Cvelbar. “People said that Trump wouldn’t get elected. People said that the office of the president would make him moderate his behaviour. People said that it couldn’t happen here. People say that Arsenal can’t go down ...”

I’m trying to think of the last genuinely shocking relegation from the English top flight. Does West Ham in 2002-03 count? Forest in 1992-93? Or are we going back to Spurs and Man Utd in the 1970s?

8.10pm GMT

“That was a terrifically good half, if you like data which leads to firm conclusions,” says Charles Antaki. “Not so much if you like football, or seeing Arsenal play it. Anyway, firm conclusion: the five-substitute rule is not generous enough.”

I’ll give you some more data: these teams have both scored twice in their last 11 hours of league football.

8.08pm GMT

Half-time reading

8.01pm GMT

Don’t pretend you’re surprised by the scoreline.

8.01pm GMT

45+1 min “I hate to correct the esteemed Mr Naylor,” says Graham Randall, “but Fuchs is Austrian.”

8.01pm GMT

45+1 min Saka has a long-range shot blocked. Good for him.

8.00pm GMT

GOAL! Leicester 3-0 Brighton (Maddison 44) Why didn’t we do this game? James Maddison has just put Leicester 3-0 up with a delicious curling shot from the edge of the area. After a slow start to the season, his swagger is well and truly back.

7.58pm GMT

GOAL! Leicester 2-0 Brighton (Vardy 41) The other game sounds quite good. Jamie Vardy has put Leicester 2-0 up with a simple finish from James Justin’s inviting low cross.

7.57pm GMT

42 min Rodriguez’s long-range volley is blocked. I won’t lie to you, it’s been a crap game so far.

7.56pm GMT

41 min “Watching the Leicester game,” says Gary Naylor, “it struck me that the German, Christian Fuchs, playing for the Foxes is the best case of nominative determinism since Kevin Sheedy’s sweet left foot turned out for the Toffees.”

7.54pm GMT

39 min Xhaka fires a good pass out to the eager Tierney, but his cross is too close to Pope.

7.51pm GMT

37 min Both sides look really low on confidence in attack.

7.50pm GMT

35 min The ball is starting to hold up because of all the water on the pitch.

7.48pm GMT

33 min Tarkowski put his hand across Tierney as he jumped; there was nothing in it. Brady has been booked, though I’m not sure what exactly he did wrong.

7.48pm GMT

32 min Tierney goes down holding his face after an aerial challenge with Tarkowski. Now a load of the Arsenal players have surrounded Brady; I think because he tried to restart the game with Tierney lying on his front.

7.45pm GMT

30 min Arsenal are starting to create a few chances. Willian works a short corner with Bellerin and dumps a cross to the far post, where Gabriel gets above a couple of Burnley defenders but heads wide. He scored from a not dissimilar position against Wolves a fortnight ago.

7.43pm GMT

GOAL! Leicester 1-0 Brighton James Maddison has put Leicester ahead with a precise left-footed shot.

7.43pm GMT

28 min: Good save by Pope! Tierney gets to the byline and picks out Lacazette, whose low shot from eight yards is very well blocked by the sprawling Pope. Lacazette probably shouldn’t have given him a chance though.

7.41pm GMT

26 min Leno plays a disguised chip to Gabriel that almost goes out for a corner. I’d love to see George Graham’s face right now.

7.39pm GMT

24 min See 7 min.

7.37pm GMT

22 min The last man Tarkwowski makes a beautifully judged sliding tackle on Saka in the penalty area.

7.36pm GMT

21 min: Chance for Arsenal. Saka’s flat cross is headed over from 13 yards by Holding, who was still up following a corner. That was nowhere near as easy as Wood’s opportunity.

7.34pm GMT

20 min Xhaka drives a long pass over the defence towards Tierney, prompting Pope to do some effective sweeper-keeping. It’s a pretty even game at the moment.

7.34pm GMT

It’s still Leicester 0-0 Brighton in tonight’s other game. You’re welcome.

7.33pm GMT

18 min Bellerin spanks a long-range shot that is bravely blocked by the leaping Brownhill. The resulting corner from Willian is headed away brilliantly under pressure by a Burnley defender, Mee I think.

7.30pm GMT

16 min “Arsenal fans,” begins Mary Waltz. “A little friendly advice from an Everton fan who has a long history of mid-table reality. I am not talking about your glorious past or where you will be in the future. But examine your roster. You are, for this season at least, a mid-table squad. Sit back, relax. You’re not going down, you’re not going to the Champions League.”

Agreed. A fit Thomas Partey and an in-form Aubameyang will make a mighty difference, and though it’s unlikely, it’s not beyond the realms they could finish in the top four. Not much is beyond the realms this season.

7.29pm GMT

14 min: What a chance for Wood! Burnley should be ahead. Brady, on the right, curled a lovely inswinging cross towards the far post, where Wood pulled between Gabriel and Bellerin and was unmarked eight yards from goal. It looked like a routine header for someone like Wood, but he completely mistimed the thrust of the noggin. The ball hit his shoulder and drifted wide.

7.27pm GMT

12 min An almighty scramble in the Burnley area. Lacazette mistimes an acrobatic volley, Saka’s shot is blocked and Aubameyang’s follow-up hits Mee and goes wide. Willian turns the corner into another hot mess.

7.25pm GMT

10 min Mee’s clearance hits Tarkowski and rebounds for the first corner of the game. Willian plays it short to Bellerin, and it’s a hot mess.

7.22pm GMT

7 min That’s nice from Arsenal. Aubameyang pulls left to receive a long pass from Xhaka and then plays in the overlapping Tierney. His low cross is booted clear.

7.21pm GMT

7 min So far it’s been decidedly 15th v 18th.

7.18pm GMT

4 min It’s been a fairly tentative start. The first goal is always important but it feels even more significant tonight, if there is one.

7.16pm GMT

2 min Both teams have started with a back four, as expected.

7.15pm GMT

1 min Peep peep! Burnley, in their black away strip, kick off from right to left. Arsenal are in red and white, and there are precisely 2,000 fans at the Emirates.

7.13pm GMT

Here come the players. It’s a rainy night in

Lyndhurst
north London, perfect for some slick football.

7.05pm GMT

“Nicky Bandini, an Arsenal fan, referred to this match as a ‘relegation six-pointer’ on Football Weekly,” says Kári Tulinius. “Then she laughed and I laughed while listening. However, and call me a pessimistic Arsenal fan if you want, but should Arsenal not win tonight, the team really does have to start peering over its collective shoulder.”

Behave yourself. You’re still high on that Stuttgart win yesterday, aren’t you?

7.01pm GMT

“Schadenfreude dictates I have to spend 90 minutes of my rapidly dwindling life watching this,” says Damian Durrant. “Alas, the unfolding I see is: Arsenal get off to a good start but fail to take their chances; in a moment of madness (insert name) is red carded. The ten-man Gunners hang on until the 85th minute when a defensive error sees the Clarets bundle the ball in to snatch victory. The phone rings at the mansion of Big Sam...”

That would be some redemption story. Imagine the emotional on-field embrace between the big man and Arsene Wenger as they celebrate Arsenal’s 14th league title in May 2022. Also, is it self-schadenfreude?

6.58pm GMT

“Evening Rob,” says Tom Atkins. “Looking forward to Arsenal gaining some ground on their close rivals today. Always important to capitalise when those you’re competing with drop points. Yes, I’m confident we can get a result here and really start to pull away from Brighton.”

That it’s come to this.

6.56pm GMT

“Talk amongst Arsenal fans is turning into the Quiz Show of Interminable Questions,” says Charles Antaki. “Why was Willian bought? Why is Xhaka playing ? Why aren’t Willock, Nketiah or Reiss Nelson starting? Why isn’t Aubameyang scoring? Why are we waiting? Why are we unhappy? The last one actually can be fairly easily answered, but the other ones are starting to rub the shine off the manager.”

I agree: Solskjaer out!

6.30pm GMT

We’ll also have updates from Leicester v Brighton, which kicks off at the same time. A win would move Leicester to within a point of the top two, Spurs and Liverpool, who both drew today.

6.21pm GMT

No alarms and no surprises on either side.

Arsenal (4-2-3-1) Leno; Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney; Elneny, Xhaka; Willian, Lacazette, Saka; Aubameyang.
Substitutes: Runarsson, Mustafi, Ceballos, Maitland-Niles, Willock, Smith Rowe, Nketiah.

6.20pm GMT

Hello and welcome to live coverage of Arsenal v Burnley from the Emirates Stadium. Both teams have made a stinking start to the season. Arsenal are 15th and have scored only two goals in their last seven games; Burnley are 18th and have scored only two goals in their last seven games. But both have some winnable games coming up, starting tonight, and will expect the league table to look a lot different in a month’s time. All they need to do is start scoring a few goals.

Kick off 7.15pm.

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Published on December 13, 2020 13:13

Crystal Palace 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur: Premier League – as it happened

Vicente Guaita, who was at fault for Harry Kane’s first-half goal, earned Palace a draw with two outrageous saves after Jeff Schlupp’s late equaliser

4.11pm GMT

More more more

4.09pm GMT

Blimey. Spurs’ winning run comes to an end after a late equaliser from Jeff Schlupp. But the man of the match was the Palace keeper Vicente Guaita. Having been badly at fault for Harry Kane’s goal, he made three outrageous saves - two in the dying minutes - to earn Palace a point. The 2,000 Palace fans contributed hugely to a thrilling game, and the celebration after Schlupp’s goal was a thing of beauty.

4.07pm GMT

Lo Celso’s rubbish free-kick is headed away, and that’s the last touch of a primal, richly entertaining match.

4.06pm GMT

90+4 min Lo Celso is fouled on the right wing by Zaha and Townsend. This will be the last attack of the game...

4.06pm GMT

90+4 min It’s all Spurs now. This is pulsating stuff.

4.05pm GMT

90+3 min That was an incredible save. He was at full stretch and got just enough on the ball to push it onto the top of the bar.

4.05pm GMT

90+3 min: ANOTHER STUNNING SAVE FROM GUAITA! Dier curls a textbook free-kick over the wall, but Guaita flies to his right to make a spectacular fingertip save!

4.04pm GMT

90+2 min In fact Kane has left it to Dier and Son...

4.04pm GMT

90+2 min Alli draws a needless foul from Kouyate, 25 yards from goal. Kane will fancy this as well.

4.02pm GMT

90+1 min Four minutes of added time.

4.02pm GMT

90 min Spurs have been on top since the goal, which makes you wonder why they declared at 1-0 so early in the second half. It always felt like they would need a second goal.

4.01pm GMT

89 min The excellent Eberechi Eze is replaced by Andros Townsend. Palace have got a player there.

4.00pm GMT

87 min Guaita has had an interesting day - one howler, two exceptional saves.

3.59pm GMT

86 min: WHAT A SAVE FROM GUAITA! It’s all happening now! Davies’s mishit cross beats Guaita and hits the face of the crossbar. The ball rebounds to Aurier, who smashes it into the six-yard box. Kane steers an instinctive header towards goal, and Guaita plunges to his left to make a brilliant one-handed save. Blimey.

3.57pm GMT

85 min Palace break menacingly from a Spurs corner. Zaha’s lovely backheel release Eze, who runs 40 yards before being superbly tackled by ... Dele Alli. That was a vital challenge because Palace had a two-on-two.

3.56pm GMT

84 min A double change for Spurs: Dele Alli and Ben Davies replace Bergwijn and Reguilon.

3.56pm GMT

84 min Kane’s free-kick takes a big deflection and spins a few yards wide of the far post. For a second it was going to drift into the corner.

3.55pm GMT

84 min Spurs win a free-kick 25 yards from goal. I’m not sure exactly what happened but Harry Kane is over it.

3.55pm GMT

83 min That was quite a moment, and easily the best goal celebration we’ve seen since fans returned to the Premier League. The Palace players and fans went wild.

3.54pm GMT

Eze floated a lovely, dipping free-kick into the six-yard box, where it was spilled by the unsighted Lloris. Schlupp reacted quickest to ram it over the line from four yards.

3.53pm GMT

Jeffrey Schlupp gets a deserved equaliser, and the Crystal Palace fans are going doolally!

3.52pm GMT

81 min Palace have battered Spurs in the last 10-15 minutes. Zaha is fouled by Aurier 20 yards from goal on the left wing...

3.52pm GMT

80 min Another Eze corner is headed up in the air by Cahill, and Benteke leaps to nod it straight at Lloris. That was a tricky chance because he was under pressure and there was no pace on the ball.

3.50pm GMT

78 min Eze’s floated corner is headed onto the roof of the net by Benteke! That was a good effort, a powerful header from 12 yards as he jumped backwards.

3.50pm GMT

78 min van Aanholt’s cross deflects behind for another corner. Spurs are hanging on to their lead with increasing desperation.

3.49pm GMT

76 min Jose Mourinho loves a hard-fought 1-0 victory. There was a famous one at Blackburn during his first title-winning season at Chelsea, when the players went topless in celebration after the match. This won’t be quite as symbolic, if they do hang on, but it would still have a whiff of silverware polish about it.

3.47pm GMT

75 min Lo Celso is down after a collision with Schlupp.

3.45pm GMT

74 min A Palace change: Jairo Riedewald replaces Luka Milivojevic.

3.45pm GMT

73 min Lo Celso’s free-kick is headed well wide from 10 yards by the unmarked Dier. That looked a great chance at first, though replays show he was stretching and couldn’t make strong enough contact.

3.44pm GMT

72 min “We’ve heard little of Son today?” queries Richard Hirst.

He’s been pretty quiet, as have all the Spurs attackers bar Kane and the full-backs. He did have that early chance and also got an assist for Kane’s goal, even if it was a routine square pass.

3.43pm GMT

71 min “Is there any team that, if you take their two best players out of the equation, would still be as good?” says Tim Young. “If Salah and Mane both did their ACLs, would they win the league by 10+ points? I mean I don’t disagree with the point being made, it’s just rather obvious isn’t it?”

I’m not sure I agree with that. The drop-off would be far greater at Spurs, in my eternally humble opinion.

3.42pm GMT

70 min Had that been on Schlupp’s left foot, he’d surely have scored. This is a great spell for Palace, who have had 75 per cent of the possession in the last 10 minutes.

3.41pm GMT

69 min: Great chance for Schlupp! Milivojevic floats ther free-kick to the far post. It’s headed back across goal by Benteke and then McArthur towards Schlupp, who slices a volley well wide with his right foot!

3.40pm GMT

68 min Zaha is fouled 30 yards from goal by Hojbjerg. Lo Celso and Zaha exchange unpleasantries, presumably on the subject of diving. I thought it was a foul, for whatever it’s worth.

3.38pm GMT

67 min A Spurs change: Giovani Lo Celso replaces Tanguy Ndombele. That should enable Spurs to keep the ball a bit better.

3.38pm GMT

66 min Hojbjerg whistles a terrific low drive just wide from 30 yards. Guaita had it covered, mind.

3.36pm GMT

63 min A block tackle from Hojbjerg, 30 yards from goal, sends the ball spinning behind him for a Palace corner. Eze floats it towards the penalty spot, Cahill heads it up in the air and Bergwijn boots it clear.

3.32pm GMT

61 min “This is the most Mourinho-esque team since his Inter side,” says Digvijay Yadav. “There is no compulsion to play any other way and everyone buys into his band-of-brothers mentality.”

3.32pm GMT

60 min Palace have some decent options on the bench, including Andros Townsend and Jordan Ayew. This is starting to get a bit hairy for Spurs.

3.30pm GMT

58 min Palace have been the better team in the second half, and Mourinho is scowling at somebody, I think Reguilon.

3.28pm GMT

56 min Palace work the ball really nicely to find Zaha on the left side of the area. He cuts inside Aurier and smashes a shot over the bar from 12 yards. That wasn’t a bad chance.

3.27pm GMT

55 min Spurs haven’t conceded a league goal in over a month but Palace have had their moments, and the individual ability of Zaha and Eze means this isn’t a comfortable 1-0 lead.

3.25pm GMT

53 min “Are Spurs genuine challengers, given their absolute reliance on their front two?” says Devon Nicholson. “Methinks they’re one Harry Kane muscle-pull away from looking ‘just quite good’, instead of ‘challengers’. Mind you, I’m a Gooner so I might be indulging in sour grapes, who knows?”

If Kane and Son stay fit all season I think they’re the likeliest challengers to Liverpool. But that’s a supersized if, and I still think Liverpool will win it by 10+ points.

3.23pm GMT

51 min Zaha shoots over from 10 yards, though it wouldn’t have counted because Benteke was offside in the build up. Sad to say but Benteke has had a poor game.

3.22pm GMT

50 min “Copestake, kiddo, you’re a better man than I, but still a coward in this respect,” says Matt Dony. “I openly admit my love for Jose. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want him anywhere near Liverpool, but the league is always inherently better when he’s in it. He’s entertaining when he’s winning, he’s entertaining when he’s losing. Great stuff.”

Now this looks like a job for me
So everybody, just follow me
‘Cause we need a little, controversy
‘Cause it feels so empty, without me

3.21pm GMT

49 min A loose ball from Reguilon goes straight to Zaha, who runs at Sissoko and goes down. I thought it was a foul; the assistant referee disagreed. Sissoko has already been booked, though I doubt that would have been a second yellow even if a foul had been given.

3.20pm GMT

48 min “Afternoon Rob,” says Guy Hornsby. “What strange times we live in. José at Spurs, a man I thought was in his way down, and a team exciting but perhaps limited and yet here we are. Having watched that thing on that channel Mourinho seems quite likeable and the team is right behind him. Obviously we’re Spurs and he’s José so at some point Kane will do his hammy, Spurs will falter and José will implode, but this is quite a nice few months all the same.”

3.19pm GMT

A bit of news from Germany

3.18pm GMT

46 min Alderweireld’s long ball forward is chested majestically by Kane into the path of Bergwijn. He makes a mess of the cross but that was another delightful bit of play from Ally Shearingham.

3.17pm GMT

46 min Peep peep! Spurs begin the second half.

3.16pm GMT

“Harry Kane is Teddy Sheringham, but a better goalscorer,” says Mac Millings.

HE’S ALLY SHEARINGHAM.

3.12pm GMT

“I’m writing from Cincinnati and am just a couple of years into being a fan of soccer and Spurs,” says Dave Purcell. “I find the Jose stuff fascinating. When he was hired, my soccer friends all told me to prepare for the worst, that he was possibly sent by Satan himself to ruin the beautiful world of soccer. I kept an open mind and I’ve found him to be hilarious, a reasonably good dude, and obviously successful. I liked him in the Amazon doc. I get that he was probably a jerk in the past, but people are allowed to evolve, even world-famous sports figures. Am I hopelessly naive?”

Maybe a little. With Mourinho, everything is studied. I do think it’s a complicated subject, far more nuanced than Jose the bad guy v Pep/Klopp/Poch the good guy. Mourinho is a rampant narcissist, but then so are most of the people who slag him off on Twitter.

3.08pm GMT

“I’ve been musing on a player who may have trodden Harry Kane’s path before and I’m coming up with Ruud Gullit,” says Gary Naylor. “That’s praise indeed, but he does seem to be moving into that class.”

Interesting. I don’t really see it, though I can’t think of a better comparison at the moment.

3.03pm GMT

Half-time reading

3.02pm GMT

“People always seem to misread Jose M,” says Ian Copestake. “I secretly quite like him and the many faces he plays up to. Secretly mind.”

Your secret’s safe with me and all four of our readers.

3.02pm GMT

Peep peep! Spurs lead through a peculiar goal from Harry Kane, who wrongfooted Vicente Guaita from 30 yards. They’ve had most of the ball but the chances have been more evenly shared - both keepers made one outstanding save, and Eberechi Eze hit the post for Palace. It’s a really good game.

2.59pm GMT

45 min “You don’t think Hodgson might do one more year,” says Bill Hargreaves, “possibly as player-manager?”

Well why not. He could play between the two banks of four and organise them.

2.58pm GMT

43 min: Eze hits the post! Palace are having an excellent spell. Eze receives the ball just inside the area, to the left of centre. He shifts it away from Alderweireld, onto his right foot, and sidefoots a sudden shot that beats Lloris and hits the outside of the post. Really good effort.

2.56pm GMT

41 min Milivojevic’s first-time shot from 20 yards is blocked by Dier. I was worried this game might be dull, given the tactics of both sides, but it’s been frantic and highly entertaining.

2.55pm GMT

41 min “Damning Roy with faint praise I feel,” says Richard Hirst. “He took Fulham from relegation certainties to a Europa League final in two and a half seasons. Not many can do that.”

He did something similar with Switzerland and Palace, among others, yet he did the opposite with Liverpool and England. It’s hard to fathom; he turns water into wine and wine into water.

2.54pm GMT

40 min van Aanholt’s tame low shot hits Son and loops into the loving embrace of Lloris.

2.54pm GMT

39 min The free-kick is 18.1 yards from goal, to the right of centre. Milivojevic and van Aanholt are over it...

2.53pm GMT

38 min Sissoko is booked for flattening Schlupp just outside the area.

2.51pm GMT

36 min The reinvention of Harry Kane is quite something. I thought all those injuries had turned him into a late-period Alan Shearer tribute; instead he has become one of the best passers in the league, while still having the ability to score 35 goals a season if he stays fit. Right here, right now, at 2.51pm on 13 December 2020, there aren’t many better players in the world.

2.49pm GMT

34 min “Crystal Palace is an obvious gig for Sean Dyche, I think,” says Shom Biswas. “Palace would be upwardly mobile enough for Dyche, who has simply nowhere to go, unless he decides to go abroad. And best fit for Dyche, who would definitely look to make Palace a perennial Europa challenger, before moving on.... That would be progress for all.”

Yes, I see what you mean. He’s probably the closest to Hodgson in the Premier League at the moment, at least in the way his teams defend.

2.48pm GMT

33 min: Good double save from Guaita! Kane’s brilliant pass puts Bergwijn through on goal. Guaita dives at his feet but can only push the ball to Ndombele. He smashes it towards goal and Guaita stays tall to deflect it behind for a corner.

2.46pm GMT

31 min Eze’s free-kick hits the top of the wall.

2.45pm GMT

30 min There are sarcastic cheers when Bergwijn is penalised for a pulling back Eze 25 yards from goal. This is Milivojevic country, but Eze scored against Leeds so it looks like he’ll take it.

2.44pm GMT

30 min This is an excellent spell for Spurs. The home fans are restless, though that’s more with the referee than their own team.

2.43pm GMT

29 min “Hi Rob,” says Giancarlo Sandoval. “You mentioned that the game with Liverpool will tell us more about this Tottenham team’s title credentials, but I think this Palace game is definitely a harder test. Palace are quite good defensively and play on the counter. The key to winning titles I think is how to deal with these teams (especially when the Spurs’ team tactical identity is somewhat similar).”

I know what you mean about the tactics, but are you really saying Palace away is tougher than Liverpool away?

2.42pm GMT

28 min Kane blasts a free-kick well wide from 35 yards. Even you’ve got limits, H.

2.42pm GMT

27 min “As a Fulham supporter I’ve of course got an undying love for Roy,” says Richard Hirst, “but you have to admire the way he sets his teams up. The players all know what they are supposed to do. Compare and contrast with managers of certain bigger clubs.”

He’s a fascinating manager. Sometimes it feels like you could give him any team you like – the best in the world or the worst – and they would finish between ninth and 13th.

2.42pm GMT

26 min A Palace corner is headed back across goal to Schlupp, whose hopeful shot on the turn bounces through to Lloris.

2.40pm GMT

That’s a goalkeeping error I’m afraid. Spurs moved the ball nicely from left to centre, with Son finding Kane 30 yards from goal. He had a quick touch and swooshed a shot that totally wrongfooted Guaita. He started moving across his line and by the time he changed direction it was too late. Guaita did get a hand on the shot as he fell, but he could only push it into the net. Kane’s shot went straight into the centre of the goal and, though he did cut across the ball, Guaita was far too presumptuous in moving so far to his right.

2.38pm GMT

Harry Kane wrongfoots Vicente Guaita from 30 yards!

2.36pm GMT

22 min “Morning Rob,” says Mary Waltz. “It’s just past 6am on the west coast and the coffee hasn’t kicked in yet. Jose is definitely back, his pre-match hug with Roy Hodgson was classic Jose. ‘It is so nice to receive my proper tribute from my inferiors.’ He has turned Spurs around. (I hate saying that.)”

I still think it’s too early to say, though Wednesday’s match at Liverpool should give us a good idea. And maybe I’m being naïve, but I thought there was quite a touching warmth in the way he and Roy Hodgson greeted each other.

2.36pm GMT

21 min Spurs make a total mess of a training-ground free-kick 30 yards from goal. I won’t dignify it by describing what happened.

2.35pm GMT

20 min Milivojevic is booked for a foul on Kane.

2.34pm GMT

20 min The resulting corner is headed towards goal by Kane, and Guaita changes direction smartly to push it away.

2.34pm GMT

19 min: Great effort from Reguilon! This is excellent stuff. Reguilon picks up a loose ball 20 yards from goal, cuts inside on his right foot and flashes a curling shot just over the bar.

2.33pm GMT

18 min: Great save from Guaita! This is an equally good save. Aurier’s low cross from the right found its way through to Ndombele, who drive it hard and low towards goal from 10 yards. Guaita plunged to his right to palm the ball away at full stretch.

2.32pm GMT

17 min “I’m under the impression Hodgson is retiring after this year,” says Joe Harvey. “How do you think Palace will manage the transition? I’m a little worried - Hodgson really doesn’t get enough credit for handling that aging squad.”

Yes, good point, especially as he has a very specific way of playing and buys accordingly. They’ll have to choose his successor very carefully.

2.31pm GMT

16 min Zaha is looking so dangerous. Eze drives a long angled pass from the left towards Zaha, who takes the ball on the run and rattles it over the bar. Dier did well to shepherd him wide.

2.30pm GMT

14 min: Great save from Lloris! Benteke, on the left of the area, shoves the ball back to Zaha just outside the area. He takes a touch and hits a fierce shot that is brilliantly saved low to his right by Lloris. At first I thought he was unsighted; replays showed there was a deflection, which is why he had to suddenly change direction.

2.28pm GMT

13 min “Can’t help but feel for Christian Benteke,” says Ezra Finkelstein. “The much-maligned striker is constantly ridiculed for his lack of goals and has become a punchline of sorts, so to see him scoring last week must have done him a world of confidence.”

He’s a case study in the primacy of confidence. At Aston Villa he often looked unplayable.

2.27pm GMT

12 min It’s all Spurs, though Palace are used to playing this way against the big teams. Andy Hinchcliffe makes the good point that, because Palace’s two banks of four are so narrow, Spurs’ full-backs should provide an important attacking threat.

2.23pm GMT

9 min: Just wide from Son! The first chance falls to Spurs. Alderweireld drives a long pass over the defence for Son, who makes a terrific angled run from left to right. He takes the bouncing ball in his stride but shoots wide of the near post from a tight angle.

2.22pm GMT

7 min Eze picks up a loose ball and slides in Zaha, whose first-time shot is well blocked by Alderweireld. Zaha and Eze look sharp on the counter-aattack.

2.21pm GMT

6 min Tottenham are constantly moving the ball from side to side, trying to pull Palace’s two banks of four out of position. Good luck with that.

2.20pm GMT

5 min Palace break through Zaha on the left. He gets into the area and hits a cutback that is cleared by a combination of Hojbjerg and Ndombele (I think).

2.18pm GMT

4 min Plenty of early possession for Spurs, though it’s all in front of Palace’s back ten.

2.15pm GMT

1 min Peep peep! Palace kick off from left to right.

2.13pm GMT

Both these teams prefer to play on the break, so there might be a bit of a stand-off at the start of the game. The 2,000 Palace fans at Selhurst Park will probably have something to say about that.

1.55pm GMT

Southampton 3-0 Sheffield United was the score in the early Premier League game. Che Adams, Stuart Armstrong and Nathan Redmond scored in a match that was even more one-sided than the score suggests. The result moves Southampton up to third in the table. God bless Ralph Hasenhuttl.

1.29pm GMT

Pre-match reading

1.19pm GMT

Gareth Bale is not in the Spurs squad. He’s unwell, though Jose Mourinho stresses he has tested negative for Covid. Dele Alli gets a place on the bench as a result.

Crystal Palace (4-4-2) Guaita; Clyne, Kouyate, Cahill, van Aanholt; Schlupp, Milivojevic, McArthur, Eze; Benteke, Zaha.
Substitutes: Butland, Ward, Tomkins, Townsend, Riedewald, Ayew, Batshuayi.

12.27pm GMT

Guess who’s back
Back again
Jose’s back
Tell a friend
Guess who’s back, guess who’s back, etc etc

Truly, the Premier League has been so empty without Jose Mourinho. Sure, he’s been around, but not in any recognisable form; an evil twin called the Sour One. His Manager of the Month award for November - the first since 2007, which is absurd - adds to the growing feeling that Mourinho might be back as a relevant, title-challenging force. Better still, the story has a twist: for the first time he is in the role of dark horse, trying to challenge the establish elite rather than look down on them.

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Published on December 13, 2020 08:11

December 12, 2020

Everton 1-0 Chelsea: Premier League – as it happened

Gylfi Sigurdsson’s insouciant penalty and an admirable defensive performance gave Everton a stirring victory over Chelsea

10.06pm GMT

That’s it for tonight’s blog. I’ll leave you with Andy Hunter’s match report from Goodison Park. Goodnight!

10.02pm GMT

If you need more live sport, this link is for you

9.56pm GMT

The 2,000 fans at Goodison Park roar with delight at the final whistle. That’s a rousing victory for Everton, who defended with intelligence and courage throughout. Gylfi Sigurdsson’s lazy penalty, won by the relentless Dominic Calvert-Lewin, settled the match. And though Chelsea had most of the ball - 72 per cent - they missed the wit and penetration of the injured Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic. Jordan Pickford made one outstanding save from Reece James; that aside, his work was fairly routine.

9.54pm GMT

Peep peep!

9.52pm GMT

90+4 min Calvert-Lewin has been immense tonight.

9.52pm GMT

90+4 min Pickford comes off his line to make a confident claim. Everton are 90 seconds away from a brilliant win.

9.51pm GMT

90+3 min Chelsea are now playing a kind of 3-0-7 formation.

9.50pm GMT

90+1 min Andre Gomes cleverly wins a corner at the other end. Everton take it short, with nobody in the penalty area, and waste a few seconds before losing the ball.

9.49pm GMT

90 min Five minutes of added time. Mount’s corner is punched away by Pickford.

9.49pm GMT

90 min Chilwell wins a corner off Holgate...

9.48pm GMT

90 min Another change for Everton: Richarlison off, Jonjoe Kenny on.

9.48pm GMT

89 min After a long spell of Chelsea possession, Zouma flips a wretched pass straight out of play.

9.46pm GMT

88 min One corner leads to another, and nothing comes of that one either.

9.45pm GMT

87 min Richarlison wastes a bit more time by winning a corner for Everton. Whatever happens in the last few minutes, the Everton players have left nothing out there tonight.

9.44pm GMT

85 min Another Everton change: Tom Davies replaces Alex Iwobi.

9.42pm GMT

84 min: Chance for Chelsea! Werner’s fast low cross from the right is smashed over at the near post by Giroud. That was a chance, though he had to take it quickly with Mina sliding in.

9.41pm GMT

83 min And Everton bring on Andre Gomes for the goalscorer Gylfi Sigurdsson.

9.41pm GMT

82 min Chelsea bring on Billy Gilmour for Mateo Kovacic.

9.40pm GMT

81 min: Mount hits the post! It was an excellent free-kick, whipped towards the far side of the goal as Pickford moved presumptuously in the other direction. He tried to dive back to his left but was nowhere near the ball when it thumped off the outside of the post.

9.39pm GMT

81 min The free-kick is a little bit to the left of centre; James, Mount and Chilwell are over it...

9.38pm GMT

80 min James is fouled (sic) 22 yards from goal by Doucoure, who is booked. This is a chance for Chelsea.

9.38pm GMT

79 min Mount’s cross is put behind by Keane, who has made umpteen near-post interceptions. Mount’s deep corner is headed away by Mina.

9.36pm GMT

77 min Iwobi’s low cross is just too far in front of Doucoure. Everton seem to have found a second wind.

9.35pm GMT

76 min Calvert-Lewin, near the halfway line, smacks an excellent ball into Richarlison. He thighs it into the space behind the defence, but the covering James shows superb pace to get back and clear.

9.31pm GMT

73 min Chelsea are really missing Hakim Ziyech’s can-opener of a left foot.

9.31pm GMT

72 min Allan goes down holding his face after running into the back of Reece James. The referee Jon Moss ignores him.

9.30pm GMT

71 min Richarlison is down after an off-the-ball incident with Giroud. There wasn’t much in it: a frustrated Giroud shoved Richarlison, who took the opportunity to waste a few seconds.

9.28pm GMT

69 min Werner, playing on the right now, beats Allan with ease but his cross is cleared at the near post by Keane.

9.26pm GMT

68 min Chelsea make their first chance: Tammy Abraham is on for the disappointing Kai Havertz.

9.26pm GMT

68 min Iwobi plays an excellent give-and-go with Holgate, only to make a balls of a relatively routine cross.

9.23pm GMT

65 min Thiago is booked for a foul on Calvert-Lewin, who has troubled him all night. Duncan Ferguson must absolutely love what Calvert-Lewin has done in the past year or so.

9.22pm GMT

NO PENALTY Calvert-Lewin was clearly offside.

9.22pm GMT

Iwobi played Calvert-Lewin through on the right. He cut into the area, collided with Chilwell and went over. It was quite a soft decision anyway - but it looks like he was offside.

9.21pm GMT

63 min: PENALTY TO EVERTON!

But there might be an offside in the build-up.

9.18pm GMT

59 min Reece James is booked for a lunging tackle on Allan.

9.15pm GMT

57 min Everton are working incredibly hard without the ball. So far it’s been a classic underdog performance, the type we saw so often at Goodison Park under David Moyes.

9.14pm GMT

56 min Duncan Ferguson is barking in Carlo Ancelotti’s ear, presumably asking if he can come on himself.

9.13pm GMT

54 min Sigurdsson whips a free-kick just over the bar from 25 yards. Mendy seemed very relaxed about the situation, but it wasn’t far away.

9.12pm GMT

53 min Sigurdsson’s excellent deep cross is headed over by the stretching Mina. Calvert-Lewin was waiting behind him in a far better position. Moments later, Calvert-Lewin has a shot blocked.

9.10pm GMT

51 min Havertz has a shot blocked by Mina. Everton break through Richarlison, whose disguised shot through the legs of Zouma is pushed away well by the falling Mendy.

9.09pm GMT

51 min Mount’s corner is headed away by Iwobi. It’s been all Chelsea since half-time.

9.09pm GMT

50 min Giroud stands up a good cross that is headed behind by Holgate.

9.07pm GMT

48 min “Good to hear Leon Osman praise Jordan Pickford, who has been Everton’s best player since Robin Olson was signed,” says Gary Naylor. “Steve McManaman can’t wait to criticise him - but what do you expect? I don’t think we’ll be hearing Tim Cahill as a co-commentator on a Liverpool match any time soon.”

Pickford has Solskjaer’s disease, which means he can no longer be judged rationally or failure. I’m not his biggest fan, but that save from James was quite brilliant.

9.06pm GMT

47 min: Good effort from Mount! Thiago’s straight ball into the area was punched away by Pickford near the penalty spot. The ball came to Kante, who moved it across to Mount. He flipped a clever first-time chip over the backpedalling Pickford and onto the roof of the net.

9.04pm GMT

46 min Peep peep! Everton begin the second half.

8.55pm GMT

“Completely against the run of play but I’ll take it,” says Mary Waltz. “Sometimes lucky is better then good.”

8.49pm GMT

Half-time reading

8.49pm GMT

Peep peep! Everton lead through an insouciant penalty from Gylfi Sigurdsson, awarded after Edouard Mendy flattened the swashbuckling Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Chelsea have had almost 70 per cent of the possession, and Jordan Pickford did brilliantly to push Reece James’ deflected shot onto the post, but Everton’s defending has been admirably resilient.

8.48pm GMT

45+2 min Iwobi’s low cross is screwed wide by Sigurdsson, in front of the near post. Kante has been booked for a late tackle on Allan just before that.

8.44pm GMT

44 min Reece James has been a constant threat down the right. He finds Kovacic, whose cross is headed away well by Keane. Everton need half-time; it’s all Chelsea.

8.42pm GMT

41 min Pickford is down after colliding with Mina, who was pushed into him by Mount. I don’t think the referee gave a foul; Mount should probably have been booked.

8.41pm GMT

40 min: Chance for Richarlison! Everton almost make it 2-0 on the break. Sigurdsson angles a first-time pass to put Richarlison through in the inside-left channel. He moves to the edge of the area and hits a low left-footed shot that is pushed away by the falling Mendy. I think Richarlison slipped as he took the shot; either way, it wasn’t the greatest effort.

8.40pm GMT

39 min Chelsea don’t have as many attacking options as usual on the bench. Tammy Abraham and the teenager Faustino Anjorin are the main ones.

8.37pm GMT

37 min Kovacic’s low cross towards Werner is shinned over his own bar by Holgate. The referee gives a goalkick.

8.36pm GMT

36 min James’ deep cross is just too high for Werner at the far post.

8.35pm GMT

34 min Now Pickford has injured himself. He slipped before booting a backpass from Godfrey down the field, and now he’s holding his left side. It looks like he’s going to continue.

8.33pm GMT

34 min He’s fine.

8.33pm GMT

33 min There’s a break in play while Yerry Mina receives treatment. Fair play, I’d forgotten he was on the pitch.

8.32pm GMT

32 min Everton break from a Chelsea free-kick, but Keane overhits his long pass to Calvert-Lewin. That was a chance because there was nobody within 10 yards of Calvert-Lewin.

8.31pm GMT

31 min There’s an increasing urgency about Chelsea, who look affronted at going behind.

8.29pm GMT

29 min Reece James is lucky not to be booked for a poor tackle on Godfrey.

8.28pm GMT

28 min Another chance for Chelsea! Havertz’s deep free-kick is headed down by Giroud to Zouna, whose snapshot from eight yards is straight at Pickford.

8.27pm GMT

26 min: James hits the post! The resulting corner is headed away to the edge of the area, where James runs round the ball and hits a deflected shot that is pushed onto the inside of the post by Pickford! That’s a brilliant save. It was a barely perceptible touch, a rare moment of unobtrusive excellence from the oft maligned Pickford. The ball spun all the way across goal and out for a corner on the other side.

8.25pm GMT

25 min James’ long-range free-kick is pushed away by the diving Pickford. A comfortable enough save, though it was a good strike.

8.24pm GMT

24 min Richarlison is booked for a foul on Reece James. He may have injured himself in the process as well.

8.22pm GMT

Sigurdsson scores with rare nonchalance! He sat Mendy down and passed the ball slowly in the other direction.

8.21pm GMT

Calvert-Lewin headed Pickford’s long kick into the penalty area, chased it himself and knocked the ball round Mendy, who was committed and took him out.

8.21pm GMT

PENALTY TO EVERTON! Mendy flattens Calvert-Lewin needlessly, and Everton have a penalty.

8.19pm GMT

19 min Mendy, like Chris the sheep, is fine.

8.18pm GMT

18 min Mendy lands awkwardly after coming over Reece James to claim Sigurdsson’s free-kick. There’s a break in play while he receives treatment.

8.17pm GMT

17 min “Kante is scary good,” says Mary Waltz. “Sheesh.”

This season is the best I’ve seen him play since Chelsea last won the title. If he stays fit, they could win the league again; if not, no chance.

8.16pm GMT

16 min Crikey, Chelsea have had 78 per cent of the possession. I didn’t realise they were that dominant.

8.15pm GMT

15 min Nothing much to report. Chelsea are dominating possession; Everton have defended well so far.

8.12pm GMT

12 min James fires a good low cross into Werner, who tries to make space for the shot but is crowded out.

8.09pm GMT

9 min Mina heads a corner over the bar. He was under plenty of pressure, so it wasn’t much more than a quarter chance.

8.09pm GMT

8 min The 2,000 supporters are making a decent noise, especially when there’s a 50/50. The atmosphere at this game last season, when Everton won 3-1 under the temporary management of Duncan Ferguson, was spectacular.

8.07pm GMT

6 min A half chance for Everton. Richarlison plays a nice give-and-go with Sigurdsson, only to hit a tame shot straight at Mendy from 12 yards.

8.05pm GMT

5 min Chelsea have made a confident start, and look like a team that are unbeaten in 17 matches.

8.03pm GMT

2 min Godfrey makes an excellent block tackle on James, who was in the act of shooting after a reverse pass from Havertz. It wasn’t a great pass from Havertz, in truth, and that gave Godfrey enough of a chance to make the block.

8.02pm GMT

2 min Everton are indeed playing with a back four.

8.00pm GMT

1 min Peep peep! The 2,000 fans roar as Chelsea get the match underway.

7.55pm GMT

“It’s not a must-win situation for Everton but it is a must-compete,” says Mary Waltz. “I don’t know if they can win without James but they have to show their owner that all the cash he is splashing is not going to waste. COYB.”

7.50pm GMT

“Four centre-backs and, without the energy of Seamus Coleman and the killer passes of James Rodriguez and Lucas Digne, the only change of pace in the side comes from Richarlison’s runs,” weeps Gary Naylor. “Everton will have to make the set pieces count tonight, or we might hear what 2000 people whistling sounds like.”

7.21pm GMT

Pre-match reading

7.20pm GMT

The Manchester derby ended 0-0, and it was a bit of a stinker.

7.06pm GMT

James Rodriguez is out with a calf injury for Everton, while Chelsea are without the injured trio of Christian Pulisic, Hakim Ziyech and Callum Hudson-Odoi. Everton may play a back three, with Ben Godfrey and Alex Iwobi as wing-backs, though I think Carlo Ancelotti might return to a back four.

Everton (possible 4-2-3-1) Pickford; Holgate, Mina, Keane, Godfrey; Doucoure, Allan; Iwobi, Sigurdsson, Richarlison; Calvert-Lewin.
Substitutes: Olsen, Kenny, Gomes, Davies, Tosun, Bernard, Gordon.

6.57pm GMT

Hello and welcome to live coverage of Everton v Chelsea from Goodison Park. It’s still too early to say whether Chelsea are serious title contenders, but a win here would put them top of the Premier League overnight and there are literally 19 worse places to be.

They will be strongish favourites against a Everton side that has lost their way since winning the first seven games of the season in all competitions. At that stage they were being talked about as outsiders in the title race; one win in the last seven has seen to that. And yet, if Everton win tonight they will move within two points of Chelsea.

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Published on December 12, 2020 14:06

Newcastle 2-1 West Brom, Championship and more: football clockwatch – as it happened

The substitute Dwight Gayle scored a brilliant late winner against his old club, while the top five teams in the Championship were all victorious

5.24pm GMT

That’s it for today’s clockwatch. Thanks for your company and emails - if you still want more, you can join Barry Glendenning for the Manchester derby. Bye!

5.24pm GMT

Newcastle 2-1 West Brom Here’s Louise Taylor’s report on an important win for Newcastle in their first game since the Covid outbreak at St James’ Park.

5.00pm GMT

The final scores in our featured games

Premier League

4.57pm GMT

Bundesliga Here’s more on VfB Stuttgart’s staggering 5-1 victory at Borussia Dortmund.

4.56pm GMT

Full times: Bournemouth 5-0 Huddersfield, Blackburn 1-2 Norwich

As you were at the top of the Championship. The top five - Norwich, Bournemouth, Swansea, Watford and Reading - all won.

4.53pm GMT

Peep peep! Newcastle move up to 11th with a hard-fought victory over West Brom. The former West Brom forward Dwight Gayle came off the bench to win the game with a spectacular header.

4.51pm GMT

Another important late goal in the Championship - Michael Olise’s long-range strike has put Reading 1-0 up away to QPR.

4.49pm GMT

Hibernian have moved up to second in the SPL after a thumping 4-0 win at Hamilton. And Hearts have consolidated their lead at the top of the Championship by trouncing Queen of the South 6-1.

4.48pm GMT

Newcastle 2-1 West Brom Six minutes of added time at St James’ Park. It’s been another hard-luck story for West Brom, who have played well for most of the game.

4.47pm GMT

Troy Deeney has beasted a late penalty to put Watford 1-0 up against his boyhood club Birmingham.

4.41pm GMT

The Manchester derby kicks off at 5.30pm. Barry Glendenning has the team news. Spoiler: Pogba starts.

4.39pm GMT

Dwight Gayle scores against his old club! It was a brilliant near-post header from an equally good cross by another substitute, Jacob Murphy. Gayle got away from Ivanovic and thumped a header in off the underside of the bar.

4.38pm GMT

Newcastle 1-1 West Brom Not even Kevin Keegan could pick a winner in this one. West Brom are having more of the ball but Newcastle aren’t without menace on the break. It’s anyone’s game.

4.30pm GMT

The substitute Sam Surridge makes it 5-0 to Bournemouth with a crisp first-time finish from Dan Gosling’s low cross.

4.29pm GMT

4.28pm GMT

Newcastle 1-1 West Brom Matt Phillips, who made West Brom’s ewqualiser, has now headed off the line from the substitute Dwight Gayle. It’s very tense at St James’ Park; a win would be huge for either side, particularly West Brom.

4.28pm GMT

Junior Stanislas enlivens a dull second half with a jaunty run straight through the Huddersfield defence. Lovely goal. Also in the Championship, James Collins has scored a hat-trick for Luton. They lead Preston 3-0.

4.25pm GMT

Hibernian are now 4-0 up at Hamilton Academical, so it’s fair to assume they’ll be second in the table tonight. Jake McCall will be thrilled.

4.25pm GMT

Blackburn were level for just six minutes. Emi Buendia’s long-range shot is redirected cleverly into the net by Teemu Pukki; that’s his second of the game.

4.23pm GMT

Full times: RB Leipzig 2-0 Werder Bremen, Dortmund 1-5 Stuttgart

That’s a staggering win for VfB Stuttgart, who move to within two points of Dortmund. The Dortmund coach Lucien Favre may be invited to do one as a result.

4.21pm GMT

Nicolas Gonzalez makes it F-I-V-E for Stuttagart!

4.19pm GMT

The teenager Harvey Elliott, on loan from Liverpool, has equalised for Blackburn with a high-class individual goal.

4.18pm GMT

“If there’s any justice in this world (there isn’t) it would be delightful to see Stuttgart or Union make Europe,” says Evan Crocker.

4.16pm GMT

Dortmund 1-4 Stuttgart Gio Reyna has had a goal disallowed for offside.

4.13pm GMT

“Hello Rob,” says a very, very happy Kári Tulinius. “While I understand that the story of the Dortmund-Stuttgart match will be about BVB, Stuttgart have been excellent throughout. The goals have been well taken, the pressing has been intelligent, and the defence has been extremely well organized. Sven Mislintat and Pellegrino Matarazzo have created a wonderful team.”

A team that is now sixth in the table, which is extremely good going when you’ve just been promoted.

4.10pm GMT

Newcastle 1-1 West Brom Although West Brom created nothing in the first half, they did dominate possession and in some ways Newcastle were asking for trouble.

4.08pm GMT

West Brom are level! The right-back Darnell Furlong storms onto Matt Phillips’ floated cross and lasers a volley into the bottom corner. Jamal Lewis should have done better - he didn’t realise Furlong was coming on the blind side - but it was a storming finish.

4.07pm GMT

Cardiff 0-2 Swansea Here’s more on Swansea’s terrific win in the South Wales derby. Jamal Lowe’s second goal is well worth checking out.

4.06pm GMT

Dortmund 1-4 Stuttgart At least Dortmund scored the goal of the day.

4.05pm GMT

“Not sure why I watched 45 minutes of Newcastle - West Brom when I could have been watching Dortmund implode,” says Evan Crocker. “But I was struck by one very important question: why is a Premier League team starting Ivanovic in 2020?”

I made a pact never to criticise Ivanovic again, just in case, after hearing Paddy Kenny talk about the day he had two QPR players in a simultaneous headlock in the tunnel at Loftus Road. But he does look his age, and he was born in 1931.

4.01pm GMT

“Hi Rob,” says Mike MacKenzie. “If there were ever a team playing at home that must be glad to have an empty stadium, this horror show by Dortmund is it. As the famous baseball manager, Casey Stengel, once said about his expansion team, the NY Mets, ‘Can’t anybody here play this game?’”

They have, in the parlance of our time, had a collective beast.

4.00pm GMT

“Not sure which theory, if any, Fulham’s trajectory supports,” says Richard Hirst. “Straight back up, good; but still no good, and likely straight back down again, not good.”

Well, nobody’s perfect.

3.53pm GMT

“Evening, Rob,” says Digvijay Yadav. “I remember last season how everyone predicted doom and gloom for Bournemouth because they hadn’t ‘prepared for life in the second tier’. They are going just fine, aren’t they? I think it’s the mark of a well-run club if they can jump right back. Burnley under Dyche for instance. I guess both Bournemouth and Watford have a chance this season. For those not run so well, one need just look at Bolton, Blackburn and Sunderland. It’s a long, hard grind back to the top.”

It’s a very good point. See also City, Norwich.

3.52pm GMT

It’s 4-1 now! This is extraordinary. Tanguy Coulibaly uses Mats Hummels as a screen and whips a lovely curling shot that goes in off the far post. The goal came after a dreadful pass from Jude Bellingham, who was immediately substituted.

3.50pm GMT

Borussia Dortmund 1-3 VfB Stuttgart Dortmund are all over the show, and they could be 4-1 down - Mateo Klimowicz has just slapped the inside of the post!

3.49pm GMT

Peep peep! It’s half-time in the 3pm kick-off. These are the latest scores in our featured games.

Premier League

3.48pm GMT

This could be the end for Lucien Favre. Philipp Forster dances through an almighty gap in the Dortmund defence and slides the ball coolly past Roman Burki.

3.43pm GMT

Newcastle 1-0 West Brom The in-form Conor Gallagher has missed an excellent chance to equalise, sidefooting a loose ball just wide from 12 yards.

3.43pm GMT

Stuttgart lead again in Dortmund! Silas Wamangituka has got his second goal, and Kári Tulinius will be along any second now to tell us whether it was any good.

3.41pm GMT

In Scotland, Hibernian have gone 2-0 up at Hamilton. That means Celtic will probably drop to third tonight, though they have three games in hand on Hibs.

3.32pm GMT

Newcastle 1-0 West Brom Sam Johnstone makes a good save from Joelinton, who twisted Ivanovic inside out in the penalty area. Joelinton looks so much more confident now.

3.31pm GMT

The latest scores in our featured games

Premier League

3.30pm GMT

Here’s Niall Mullen “Since Dortmund’s recruitment model is based largely on picking up the insanely talented sons of average 90s Premier League players, who will be next on their radar? David Hopkin’s son? Jonathan Greening’s? Steve Harkness’s? I can’t wait to find out.”

The pedant in me is screaming is that Claudio Reyna didn’t come to the Premier League until 2001. This is what I have to live with.

3.28pm GMT

It’s half-time in the Bundesliga. Leipzig lead Bremen 2-0, Dortmund are drawing 1-1 with Stuttgart. The other games are all goalless.

3.27pm GMT

Newcastle 1-0 West Brom Almiron’s goal was officially timed at 19.98 seconds, which is coincidentally my fastest 20

0
m time.

3.25pm GMT

Newcastle 1-0 West Brom Newcastle have the game under control. West Brom are having a lot of the ball but haven’t created anything of note.

3.25pm GMT

“It seems the missing ingredient in Solanke’s career at his previous club was for Liverpool to have been relegated,” sniffs Ian Copestake.

3.24pm GMT

The leaders are ahead at Ewood Park. Teemu Pukki got the goal with a smart shot on the turn from Alex Tettey’s low cross.

3.23pm GMT

David Brooks made Bournemouth’s first goal; now he’s scored their third with a sweet curling shot from 20 yards.

3.20pm GMT

He’s 18 years old

Reyna's goal
‍♂️ Guerreiro's assist

Everything about this goal is just sensational.

They've not been at their best, but Dortmund produce a moment of magic and they're right back in it! pic.twitter.com/oYkuBi2pyz

3.17pm GMT

“Hello Rob,” says Kári Tulinius. “A team doesn’t need to play well when it has great players. Gio Reyna just scored a Bergkampesque goal, cushioning Reus’s pass from the halfway line with his first touch before chipping over Koble in goal with the outside of his right foot.”

SO WHY AM I WATCHING NEWCASTLE v WEST BROM.

3.15pm GMT

Wolves 0-1 Aston Villa Here’s more on that win for Villa at Molineux.

3.14pm GMT

Bournemouth are cruising. Jefferson Lerma wins the ball on the edge of the area and finds Dominic Solanke, who rams a low shot into the far corner for his second goal ofthe game.

3.12pm GMT

Leipzig are having another good day at the office. Dani Olmo has put them 2-0 ahead, and as things stand they are top of the table.

3.11pm GMT

Dortmund veteran Gio Reyna, 18, has brought them level from Marco Reus’s pass.

3.10pm GMT

An early goal for promotion-chasing Bournemouth. David Brooks slides in Dominic Solanke, who draws the keeper and dinks the ball confidently into the net. It was a really nice pass from Brooks, who is far too good for that division.

3.09pm GMT

“Hi Rob,” says Niall Mullen. “Hope you’re well this fine, fine December day. I see he’s starting for Millwall but is there any chance that Troy Parrott will be good? Since Robbie Keane’s debut for Ireland I’ve forlornly pinned my ‘new Robbie Keane’ hopes on (deep breath): Clinton Morrison, Kevin Doyle, Stephen Elliott, Shane Long, Leon Best, Anthony Stokes, Michael Obafemi, Adam Idah, Aaron Connolly and many more. Sadly, it feels like the Troy hype may have outstripped his ability. Which, apart from everything else, massively the chances of anyone using the headline ‘C’est Troy bien’.”

He’s going to score the winning penalty for Jose in the Champions League final. You heard it here last.

3.07pm GMT

These are the latest scores in our featured games

Premier League

3.06pm GMT

“Hello Rob,” says Kári Tulinius. “I may be biased as a Stuttgart fan, but VfB have much better than Dortmund. This season is the best Stuttgart have been in probably at least a decade. Pellegrino Matarazzo, Stuttgart’s American coach, has done an excellent job with this team. Even by the high standards of the Bundesliga, their pressing is top-notch.”

I’m now trying to follow the Newcastle game but I agree that Stuttgart were the better team in the first 20 minutes. They could have scored two or three times before they went ahead.

3.05pm GMT

“Afternoon Rob,” says Simon McMahon. “Today’s big game in Scotland is, eh, tomorrow when Dundee United welcome runaway league leaders and future Kings of Europe Rangers to Tannadice hoping to derail the champions-elect bandwagon. I’m not holding my breath, mind, given that, after 16 games, United have scored 12 and conceded 20, while Rangers have scored 45 and conceded just 3.

“Hibs can go above crisis club Celtic with a win at Hamilton, and Aberdeen would draw level with Neil Lennon’s beleaguered Hoops should they beat Ross County. The other SPFL games are Motherwell v St. Mirren and St. Johnstone v Livingston. In the Scottish Championship, leaders Hearts are at home to Queen of the South, while struggling Dundee are at Inverness.”

3.04pm GMT

Newcastle 1-0 West Brom Branislav Ivanovic thought he was fouled by Callum Wilson in the build up to that goal. I’d like to see that again. I don’t think the shoulder charge was a foul, but he may have accidentally scraped his studs down Ivanovic’s calf.

3.01pm GMT

Miguel Almiron scores after 20 seconds! Callum Wilson bumped Ivanovic off the ball on the left and found Joelinton. He poked the ball through to Miguel Almiron, who opened his body to sweep the ball past Sam Johnstone. That was a really confident finish.

3.00pm GMT

Peep peep! The 3pm games are underway.

2.58pm GMT

A penalty at Leipzig as well. Marcel Sabitzer has scored it to put the home side in front. A win would put them top of the table, if only for a few hours.

2.57pm GMT

Dortmund are behind at home again. Silas Wamangituka scored confidently from the spot after Emre Can was penalised for a desperate tackle on Mateo Klimowicz.

2.47pm GMT

Dortmund 0-0 Stuttgart Jude Bellingham has had a goal disallowed for offside against Marco Reus in the build-up.

2.28pm GMT

Bournemouth (4-3-3) Begovic; Smith, Simpson, S Cook, Kelly; L Cook, Lerma, Billing; Brooks, Solanke, Stanislas.

Huddersfield (4-2-3-1) Hamer; Rowe, Edmonds-Green, Sarr, Toffolo; Pritchard, O’Brien, Bacuna; Diakhaby, Ward, Brown.

2.27pm GMT

Villa leapfrog Wolves with another fine away win. It all went wrong in injury-time for Wolves: Nelson Semedo gave away a stupid penalty, scored by Anwar El-Ghazi, and then Joao Moutinho was sent off.

2.25pm GMT

A fine win for Swansea in the South Wales derby. Jamal Lowe scored both goals, the second a swaggering masterpiece, to see off ten-man Cardiff.

2.24pm GMT

Anwar El Ghazi scores emphatically from the spot to give ten-man Villa a superb victory at Wolves.

2.23pm GMT

There’s an injury-time penalty at Molineux!

2.22pm GMT

Blackburn (4-3-3) Kaminski; Nyambe, Lenihan, Williams, Douglas; Holtby, Johnson, Rothwell; Gallagher, Armstrong, Elliott.

Norwich (4-2-3-1) McGovern; Aarons, Hanley, Zimmermann, Sorensen; Tettey, Skipp; Buendia, Vrancic, Martin; Pukki.

2.15pm GMT

Wolves 0-0 Aston Villa No goals but there has been a red card at Molineux. Barry Glendenning will reveal all.

2.13pm GMT

Leipzig (3-4-2-1) Gulacsi; Mukiele, Upamecano, Orban; Haidara, Sabitzer, Kampl, Halstenberg; Olmo, Kluivert; Poulsen.

Bremen (4-2-3-1) Pavlenka; Gebre Selassie, Toprak, Friedl, Augustinsson; Eggestein, Gross; Bittencourt, Mohwald, Schmid; Sargent.

2.11pm GMT

Dortmund (3-4-3) Burki; Can, Hummels, Akanji; Morey Bauza, Bellingham, Witsel, Guerreiro; Sancho, Reus, Reyna.

Stuttgart (3-5-2) Koble; Mavropanos, Anton, Kempf; Wamangituka, Forster, Endo, Mangal, Sosa; Klimowicz, Coulibaly.

2.09pm GMT

Newcastle are without a number of defenders, including Federico Fernandez, Fabian Schar and Javier Manquillo. It looks like Isaac Hayden will play as a makeshift centre-half. That aside, it’s close to a full-strength team.

2.06pm GMT

Newcastle (4-4-2) Darlow; Krafth, Hayden, Clark, Lewis; Almiron, Shelvey, S Longstaff, Ritchie; Wilson, Joelinton.
Substitutes: Langley, Yedlin, Hendrick, Murphy, M Longstaff, Carroll, Gayle.

West Brom (3-5-2) Johnstone; Ajayi, Ivanovic, O’Shea; Furlong, Gallagher, Krovinovic, Sawyers, Phillips; Grant, Robinson.
Substitutes: Button, Gibbs, Kipre, Livermore, Diangana, Grosicki, Austin.

2.03pm GMT

Jamal Lowe’s second goal, a spectacular individual effort, has surely sealed victory for Swansea in the South Wales derby. That was some goal: he swaggered past three defenders, reached the edge of the area and flicked the ball nonchalantly into the net with the outside of his right foot.

2.00pm GMT

It’s Wolves 0-0 Aston Villa in the early Premier League game. Barry Glendenning is trying to stay awake for the last 20 minutes.

12.37pm GMT

Hello and welcome to another busy Saturday afternoon clockwatch. Our lead game is Newcastle’s return to action after a Covid outbreak at St James’ Park. They are at home to West Brom, and we’ll find out shortly what kind of team Steve Bruce is able to put out.

There’s also plenty going on in the Championship, including the South Wales derby at the Cardiff City Stadium. With 20 minutes remaining, Swansea are a goal and a man up: Jamal Lowe scored early on, Joe Ralls has just been sent off.

View more on Rob Smyth's website »

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Published on December 12, 2020 09:24

December 6, 2020

Liverpool 4-0 Wolves: Premier League – as it happened

The champions moved level on points with the leaders Spurs after thumping Wolves in front of 2,000 supporters at Anfield

9.10pm GMT

The players all applaud the Kop, and then Jurgen Klopp goes over to punch the air a few times. It’s been a feelgood night for all connected with Liverpool.

9.08pm GMT

Peep peep! Liverpool move back to second in the table, behind Spurs on goal difference, after thrashing Wolves in front of 2,000 very happy supporters. Mo Salah, Gini Wijnaldum, Joel Matip and Nelsen Semedo got the goals, and there could have been more. Liverpool were not quite at their blistering best, the extraordinary Andy Robinson aside, yet they still battered a decent Wolves side 4-0.

9.05pm GMT

90+2 min “If a player stays on his feet after being fouled, can’t VAR just make the decision?” says Stephen Carr. “Otherwise the implied conclusion is that players have to make the most of contact otherwise it won’t get called.”

Yes, it should, but that isn’t happening at the moment.

9.05pm GMT

90+1 min Salah shoots wide from inside the D. There will be three added minutes, it says here.

9.04pm GMT

90 min I’ll have what Andy Robertson’s having. He is still charging round like it’s 0-0 in the Champions League final; he really is something.

9.03pm GMT

89 min Joao Moutinho is booked for pulling back Mane.

9.02pm GMT

87 min “We just need to accept that diving happens and it’s part of the modern game,” says Ben Limpasan. “Instead of focusing on that, it might be better to highlight and applaud the guys who tries their best to stay on their feet and fight through.”

The problem is that, as we saw with Ian Poveda-Ocampo at Chelsea last night, the players who do that don’t get the penalties they should.

8.59pm GMT

85 min The match is starting to peter out. It’s been a very good night for Liverpool - not just the margin of victory, but the return of Alexander-Arnold and Keita and the calm performance of Kelleher.

8.55pm GMT

81 min Naby Keita returns to action in place of Jordan Henderson.

8.54pm GMT

80 min Ait-Nouri’s shot from a tight angle is smartly saved by Kelleher. Moments later, Traore drives well wide of the far post. Kelleher has had a perfect night.

8.53pm GMT

79 min Pedro Neto is replaced by Vitinha.

8.53pm GMT

It’s a rout. The substitute Alexander-Arnold puts in a devastating low cross towards the far post, where Mane and the sliding Semedo go for the ball at the same time. The ball hits them both, then hits Semedo again and dribbles into the net.

8.50pm GMT

77 min Liverpool have now won 31 of their last 32 league games at home. They’re animals.

8.49pm GMT

76 min “The whole idea of ‘assumption of contact’ conjures up the idea of.... ‘well, it was SURELY on his mind’,” says A. “Shouldn’t this on-field, physical endeavour be governed by what happens on the field (pitch) as opposed to what someone believes another was going to do or was thinking?”

Maybe. Maybe not.

8.49pm GMT

75 min Curtis Jones hits a sweet rising drive with his left-footed shot that is patted down by Rui Patricio and grabbed at the second attempt.

8.47pm GMT

74 min “Please get Robertson off right now,” says Rick McGahey. “3-0, he needs time off the pitch.”

Does he heck. He’s already agreed to do a Tough Mudder 10k when he gets home.

8.47pm GMT

73 min Roberto Firmino, who played nicely, is replaced by the former Wolves player Diogo Jota.

8.46pm GMT

72 min “What’s so funny ‘bout peace, love, and sustainable footwear?” wonders Alan Webb.

8.45pm GMT

71 min Daniel Podence is replaced by Rayan Ait-Nouri. I think Wolves have made the sensible decision to declare at 0-3.

8.45pm GMT

70 min Salah makes Marcal and Coady look silly with some beautiful footwork. He goes down after running into Coady; no penalty.

8.44pm GMT

70 min Dendoncker’s header is saved comfortably by Kelleher.

8.42pm GMT

68 min A very popular substitution for Liverpool: the returning Trent Alexander-Arnold replaces Neco Williams.

8.42pm GMT

It was a simple goal. Henderson took a right-wing corner short to Salah, who moved to the edge of the area and floated a beautiful ball towards the far post. Matip got between two Wolves defenders and headed home from four yards.

8.41pm GMT

Joel Matip makes it three!

8.39pm GMT

66 min “Handwoven, free-range mung-bean clogs Rob,” says Stephen Carr. “Certified Guardian friendly.”

Come in, my child.

8.39pm GMT

65 min Williams is down after a late tackle from Traore. It’s just an impact injury so he should be fine.

8.37pm GMT

64 min Liverpool are nowhere near their awesome best, but they have enough fire, enough skill and enough aura to get the job done most of the time. I still think they will win the league by 10+ points.

8.36pm GMT

62 min A Wolves change: the teenager Fabio Silva replaces Ruben Neves, which means a switch to 4-2-3-1.

8.35pm GMT

61 min “I have no problem with the argument that Liverpool had with the officials on that penalty call,” says Mary Waltz. “But the outrage by any fan of any team about diving is out of bounds. There are multiple incidents of diving to draw a foul or penalty in virtually every fixture by every team. Some, Neymar for example, are more dramatic then others but the tactic is universal. I don’t like it but denying the reality that it happens every match is laughable.”

8.34pm GMT

59 min “We are awful Rob,” says Stephen Carr. “Bill Hicks said it best – ‘I’m tired of this back-slappin’ “isn’t humanity neat” bullshit. We’re a virus with shoes.’”

Fairtrade shoes, though, right? If not, that might be problematic.

8.34pm GMT

Liverpool shredded Wolves on the counter-attack. Henderson lobbed a long pass forward to Wijnaldum, who ran at the backpedalling Coady and shaped a beautiful shot into the top corner from 20 yards. Rui Patricio had no chance.

8.32pm GMT

Gini Wijnaldum seals victory with a blistering goal!

8.32pm GMT

58 min: Great defending from Fabinho! The second corner was played short to Traore, who curled a dangerous ball behind the outrushing Liverpool defence. Coady took it down on the chest and was about to shoot when Fabinho (I think) appeared to boot the ball to safety.

8.31pm GMT

57 min Traore, who has switched to the left, wins a corner off Williams. It’s played short and driven to the far post, where Kelleher flaps it behind for another corner. He played it safe, and rightly so.

8.28pm GMT

55 min “As soothingly nostalgic as it is to hear Tyldesley and McCoist enjoying a good-natured chuckle in the commentary box, has their standard of chat devolved into a parody of itself?” asks Antony Sheffield.

I’ve really enjoyed it personally. McCoist and Jon Champion are the gold standard, but he works well with Tyldesley too. There’s been plenty of insight in between the sideways glances; the best of both worlds.

8.27pm GMT

54 min “Hi Rob,” says Mike MacKenzie. “Kevin Smith’s friends are right about Kelleher’s name, I think ... I thought the middle ‘e’ was missing in the first half but it appears to be there now! Shirt change at HT?”

The wonders of 3D printing.

8.27pm GMT

53 min Robertson charges into the area and wins another corner. Even by his standards, he is having a barnstorming game.

8.26pm GMT

52 min Mane misses an excellent chance, sidefooting well wide from Robertson’s precise cross. Liverpool are well on top.

8.24pm GMT

50 min Semedo’s long cross is well held by the stretching Kelleher. He’s had a really good night, though Wolves haven’t tested him as much as they should have done.

8.23pm GMT

49 min “Evening Rob,” says Stephen Carr. “I thought I’d wade into the diving debate that’s underway. I’m always surprised how it’s perceived as being somehow worse than a foul. We seem to accept, for example, ‘taking a yellow for the team’ by stopping a counter-attack with a foul yet diving is deemed to be an appalling act of duplicity.”

Whereas trying to break someone’s legs is just banter. It’s all a load of nonsense. We’re an awful species.

8.22pm GMT

48 min There’s a break in play because of a problem with the referee’s technology.

8.21pm GMT

47 min Henderson’s long pass to the edge of the Wolves area is pulled down brilliantly on the stretch by Mane. He waits for it to bounce and slaps a shot that is saved comfortably by Rui Patricio.

8.19pm GMT

46 min Peep peep! Liverpool begin the second half.

8.18pm GMT

“I’m not watching at the moment but friends are telling me that Kelleher’s name on the back of his kit is actually spelt ‘Kellher’,” says Kevin Smith. “Can you confirm this for myself and other MBM readers?”

If he ever turns round, I’ll let you know.

8.16pm GMT

“Sorry, but there is nothing for Coady to argue here (e.g. that he anticipated contact, as you wrote),” says Oliver. “That’s a dive as blatant as they come and it beats me how he was not booked. One imagines what would have happened, if a certain Egyptian (or players from Portugal, Spain etc) would have done this.”

There’s no need to apologise; you’re entitled to an opinion. The more I see it the more I think it was a dive, but it was still based on the assumption of contact. Besides, all footballers dive so I don’t really understand the disproportionate opprobrium towards Coady. Fabinho, in particular, was sneering at Coady as if he’d never seen a player dive in his life.

8.09pm GMT

Half-time chitchat

“Many football clubs do excellent work in the communities from which they draw their fans - Everton In The Community is often cited as an exemplar,” says Gary Naylor. “Perhaps clubs can draw on such groups’ advice and contacts to show that not only do Black Lives Matter, but Black Fans Matter too. Random ballots of season ticket holders are producing crowds that, predictably, lack diversity (visually at least) lending a whiff of hypocrisy to the pre-kick off gesture. Clubs need to be more imaginative and strategic in the allocation of scarce tickets.”

8.04pm GMT

Peep peep! Liverpool lead through a ruthless finish from Mo Salah, who took advantage of a rare mistake from Conor Coady. It was a pretty miserable half for Coady against his old club: Wolves won a penalty when he went down after a challenge from Sadio Mane, but it was overturned by VAR.

8.03pm GMT

45+1 min Well that was fun.

8.01pm GMT

NO PENALTY! That’s the right decision, I think, though Coady will argue he fell because he anticipated contact.

8.01pm GMT

Coady anticipated the contact and went down. Liverpool got a penalty like at Sheffield United on the opening day of the 2006-07 season, but I think this will be reversed.

8.00pm GMT

This might be overturned. Mane pulled his foot away at the last minute and I’m not sure he made contact.

8.00pm GMT

Liverpool are utterly fuming about this. There was a game of head tennis in the area, until Coady nipped in front of Mane and went down. The Liverpool players accuse him of diving. It’s hard to see whether there was contact or not, and it’s being checked by VAR.

7.59pm GMT

PENALTY TO WOLVES!

7.58pm GMT

42 min Neto is fouled just outside the area on the left by Matip...

7.57pm GMT

41 min Moutinho’s cross is headed away by Matip to Firmino, who waits for the ball to bounce and scissor-kicks a spectacular long pass out to Mane on the left. Nothing comes of it but it was the most brilliant pass.

7.55pm GMT

40 min Mane’s long-range shot smacks Boly in the face. He stays on his feet, impressively enough.

7.54pm GMT

38 min Jones looks okay to continue.

7.52pm GMT

37 min Dendoncker shoots well wide from long range. Curtis Jones is down with what looks like a hip or side injury.

7.51pm GMT

35 min Salah’s curling free-kick is comfortably held by Rui Patricio.

7.50pm GMT

35 min Wolves are hanging on a wee bit. Mane is fouled 25 yards from goal by Boly. The free-kick is jsut to the left of centre, with Henderson, Salah and Fabinho over the ball.

7.50pm GMT

33 min Henderson, in a deepish position on the right, curls a brilliant cross that bounces up at the near post and is headed wide by Mane. Semedo tracked him well, so it was only a half chance, but it was a stunning ball in from Henderson.

7.49pm GMT

33 min At the other end, Neto beats Williams in the area and lifts a cross that is confidently held at the near post by Kelleher. He’s had a flawless start.

7.48pm GMT

32 min Liverpool are well on top. Mane plays a slick one-two with Wijnaldum, who crosses low towards the near post. Firmino tries to flick the ball behind his standing leg towards goal but it’s blocked by Coady (I think).

7.47pm GMT

31 min Wolves break dangerously through Podence, who is coolly dispossessed on the edge of the area by Fabinho.

7.46pm GMT

30 min There’s a wonderful noise at Anfield. Makes you wonder how loud English football grounds would be if everybody sang when the stadiums were completely full.

7.44pm GMT

28 min Wolves were the better team until the goal, but Liverpool are threatening to take control now. The goal has winded Wolves.

7.41pm GMT

Henderson lofted a routine pass towards the edge of the Wolves area, where the backpedalling Coady tried to chest it down to Boly. Salah was in, quick as a flash, to nick the ball away and rifle it past Rui Patricio. What a clinical finish. Coady looks pretty devastated to have made a mistake like that against his old club.

7.40pm GMT

Liverpool take the lead after a mistake from Conor Coady!

7.36pm GMT

20 min Wolves are looking really dangerous on the break. Semedo finds Traore in space, which allows him to run at Fabinho. He beats him with ease, moves into the area and hammers a cross that just evades Neto at the far post. The run was brilliant, the cross just too heavy.

7.34pm GMT

17 min: Good save from Kelleher! Traore finds Podence on the edge of the area, slightly to the right of centre. He floats a delicious no-look chip towards the far corner, but Kelleher moves smartly across his line and leaps to fingertip the ball behind. That’ll give him plenty of confidence.

7.30pm GMT

14 min Wolves are playing with a lot of confidence. Neves booms a lovely pass out to Traore, who beats Robertson and stands up a cross that is headed away by Matip.

7.29pm GMT

13 min Jones is a bit lucky not to be booked for pulling back Traore.

7.28pm GMT

12 min Robertson hammers a cross towards Mane, who flicks a header over the bar from 10 yards. It was slightly behind him.

7.26pm GMT

10 min Wolves have had a relatively comfortable start to the game. Neto, in particular, is seeing a lot of the ball.

7.23pm GMT

7 min The corner is cleared and Liverpool break at pace. Curtis Jones runs 50 yards into the Wolves area, but he’s held up really well by Semedo and Wolves are able to get numbers back.

7.22pm GMT

6 min Traore wins a corner off Robertson. Those two had a spectacular duel at Molineux last season, so that should be good fun tonight.

7.21pm GMT

5 min “Opening the match coverage in Amazon Prime gives a warning that the following program may contain ‘Mature themes’,” says Matt Dony. “Not sure what they’re expecting to happen, but I’m looking forward to finding out...”

It’s high time we moved on from this vanilla football culture.

7.20pm GMT

4 min I take it back - Wolves are playing a back four.

7.20pm GMT

4 min Neves hammers the free-kick onto the roof of the net. Not a bad idea, to test Kelleher early on, but he got a bit too much on it.

7.19pm GMT

3 min Neto is fouled just outside the penalty box by Neco Williams, who is booked. The free-kick is 20 yards from goal, in line with the left edge of the area.

7.18pm GMT

2 min Liverpool win an early corner, which is headed away by Coady. Wolves are playing with a back three/five, not the 4-3-3 we expected.

7.17pm GMT

1 min Peep peep! Wolves kick off from left to right. They’re wearing their white and bleurgh away strip due to a clash between their usual gold shirt and Liverpool’s red.

7.13pm GMT

The Liverpool players receive a rousing ovation from the 2,000 fans at Anfield. Jurgen Klopp has a big dumb smile on his face as he looks around the ground.

7.06pm GMT

“Wolves away to L’pool?” muses Kevin Porter. “Best I’m not there. I have visited Anfield on seven occasions to watch my Old Gold favourites and I’ve yet to see us score a goal. I even missed the sensational Steve Mardenborough match – though no doubt scoring via your shoulder would be not be judged VAR-compliant these days.”

That would be allowed, I think, but you make a valid point: that egregious fiasco hasn’t only ruined modern football, it’s also starting to damage the past. I tried to unwind the other night by watching the full 90 minutes of an old classic, Como 0-0 Atalanta from December 1984, but I was constantly distracted by thoughts of where VAR would get busy. I mean, sure, that off-the-ball elbow knocked four front teeth clean out, but can you really be sure it was a clear and obvious error?

6.58pm GMT

Here’s more on Spurs’ win over Arsenal, which puts them top of the table again. They go to Anfield a week on Wednesday.

6.48pm GMT

“Curtis Jones quickly becoming a regular starter for Liverpool,” says Robert Lin, “although I suspect it would be a little different if Thiago was fit. England call-up next? Not sure how Southgate would fit him in his 3-4-3 though.”

It feels a bit early for that to me, though I don’t doubt he’ll play for England.

6.23pm GMT

Liverpool start the game in fourth after wins today for Leicester and Spurs, who did a predictable number on Arsenal. If Liverpool win they will go second; if Wolves win they will move from tenth to fifth, and cruelly steal Christian Benteke’s thunder.

6.22pm GMT

Diogo Jota suffers the rotation blues against his old club; he is only on the Liverpool bench. He is joined there by the returning Trent Alexander-Arnold, while Caiomhin Kelleher makes his Premier League debut in goal.

Wolves haven’t directly replaced Raul Jimenez, who fractured his skull against Arsenal last weekend. Ruben Neves comes into the starting XI, which suggests a switch from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3, probably with Daniel Podence as a false nine.

6.11pm GMT

Hello. Christian Benteke scored twice today. The last time that happened in a league match was 23 April 2017, when his two goals gave Crystal Palace an unlikely victory at Anfield. That was also the last time Liverpool lost a Premier League game at home. It might be an omen; more likely is that it’s a sign of how stiff a task Wolves face tonight.

Liverpool have won 53 and drawn 11 since that last defeat - but even that doesn’t tell the full story. Since February 2019 they have all but abolished the home draw, never mind the home defeat: their record is P31 W30 D1 L0 F89 A25. In the long history of English football, there may never have been a tougher place to visit than Anfield right now. Wolves are a dangerous team, built to play on the counter-attack, but this is the ultimate test.

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Published on December 06, 2020 13:10

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

The majestic Caroline Weir made all three goals in the first half as Manchester City cruised to an important victory over Everton

4.30pm GMT

4.29pm GMT

Peep peep! City move above Everton with an authoritative victory at Walton Hall Park. All the goals came in the first half; all were created by the majestic Caroline Weir. A possible injury to Rose Lavelle aside, that was a perfect start to a really big week for City: Gothenburg are next, then Arsenal at home next Sunday.

That’s it for our liveblog. Thanks for your company - bye!

4.27pm GMT

90+2 min One last chance for City. Hemp runs 50 yards and finds Stanway, who hammers the ball right across the face of goal.

4.26pm GMT

90+1 min “Hiya Rob,” says Adam Kline-Schoder. “Having watched Everton drop off in form over the last few matches, I can’t help but feel like letting Gauvin continue on whilst injured in the FA Cup final was very much a turning point for them. I feel like they’re good at chance creation; if only they had someone clinical to put them away. Also, might Manchester United go in for MacIver at some point? I may have simply not seen the best of her, but I’ve never been overwhelmed by Earps and a young, talented English goalkeeper seems a good purchase/free transfer after contract expiry.”

She is very impressive, I agree.

4.24pm GMT

90 min The match is finally petering out.

4.21pm GMT

86 min Graham rattles a shot wide from the edge of the area after a mistake by Houghton. Bronze did enough to put Graham off. She might have fouled her, actually, though nobody appealed for a penalty.

4.20pm GMT

Here’s more on a big day for the WSL (and Alex Morgan)

4.18pm GMT

84 min City are still charging round in pursuit of a fourth goal. Bronze plays a superb long pass to Mewis, whose shot is deflected wide.

4.16pm GMT

82 min Stanway’s cross is kicked away at the near post by MacIver.

4.15pm GMT

80 min At the other end, Boye-Hlorkah heads straight at Roebuck from eight yards. That was a decent chance.

4.14pm GMT

79 min City break four on two from an Everton corner, but Hemp’s cross is too far in front of Stanway.

4.13pm GMT

78 min Two changes for Everton: Molly Pyke and Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah replace Hayley Raso and Maeva Clemaron.

4.12pm GMT

77 min Houghton was booked for dissent a couple of minutes ago. Bit harsh, that; she was caught by a slightly snide tackle from Sorensen and complained accordingly.

4.10pm GMT

76 min Ellen White, whose classy first goal set City on their way, is replaced by Georgia Stanway.

4.09pm GMT

75 min Raso wriggles away from Houghton on the left and crosses low towards the near post, where Greenwood makes a good interception.

4.07pm GMT

72 min Gareth Taylor makes another change for City. Lauren Hemp, who is returning from injury, replaces Janine Beckie.

4.06pm GMT

71 min At the other end, Bronze shoots wide from 25 yards.

4.05pm GMT

70 min Raso misses an excellent chance for Everton, overrunning the ball after a long ball from Turner (I think) put her through on goal. Her first touch was excellent but the second was too heavy and that allowed Roebuck to dive at her feet and claim the ball.

4.03pm GMT

69 min Stokes’ rising drive is well held by MacIver. Everton look really tired now.

4.01pm GMT

67 min Bronze and Mewis have shots blocked in quick succession. After a bit of a rally from Everton at the start of the half, City are again in control.

3.59pm GMT

65 min City make a double change: Alex Greenwood and Sam Mewis replace Gemma Bonner and the majestic Caroline Weir.

3.59pm GMT

65 min In other news, Alex Morgan has scored her first WSL goal, a late penalty in Spurs’ 3-1 win over Brighton.

3.58pm GMT

64 min Weir’s corner is headed just wide by Scott. That could have been a fourth assist for Weir.

3.57pm GMT

62 min In the 2pm game, Arsenal have beaten Birmingham City 3-0. That takes them up to second in the table, a point behind the leaders Manchester United - and, if it stays like this, four points ahead of fourth-placed City.

3.53pm GMT

58 min Bronze makes a vital tackle on Raso, who had moved dangerously into the area. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Everton haven’t given this game up.

3.48pm GMT

53 min Christiansen’s free-kick from the right is palmed away by the backpedalling Roebuck.

3.45pm GMT

50 min Stringer lofts a pass down the inside-right channel to Sorensen, who charges into the area and larrups a shot that is pushed away by the diving Roebuck. That was a fine effort from a pretty tight angle.

3.44pm GMT

49 min Plenty of relaxed possession for City at the start of the second half. Kelly’s cross is headed away as far as Weir, who kills the ball beautifully - beating Stringer in the process - and smacks a shot that is blocked by Finnigan.

3.39pm GMT

46 min Peep peep! Everton begin the second half.

3.38pm GMT

City have made a half-time change. Everton alumnus Chloe Kelly is on for Rose Lavelle, who suffered a knee injury late in the first half. I suspect that’s a precaution.

3.26pm GMT

Peep peep! City are in control at Walton Hall Park thanks to the Harvard-educated left foot of Caroline Weir. She made all three goals with sweetly struck crosses that were headed in by Ellen White, Gemma Bonner and Janine Beckie. City are well on course for an excellent victory.

3.24pm GMT

That was another lovely goal. Weir moved into space down the left, looked up and chipped a superb cross towards the unmarked Beckie at the far post. She finished confidently, planting a header past MacIver at the near post. Superb stuff.

3.23pm GMT

A hat-trick of assists for Caroline Weir!

3.20pm GMT

45 min Christiansen nicks the ball in midfield and finds Sorensen on the left of the area. Her rising cross-shot is confidently held at the near post by Roebuck.

3.17pm GMT

42 min Beckie’s corner is headed away by Stringer.

3.17pm GMT

41 min Lavelle, moving smoothly now, surges down the right onto a fine pass from Houghton. Her cutback is put behind for a City corner. Weir’s inswinger is headed over her own crossbar by Stringer. That means another corner, this time on the left...

3.14pm GMT

39 min Another teasing cross from Weir just evades the leaping White in the middle.

3.13pm GMT

38 min Lavelle is back on, though she’s limping heavily.

3.12pm GMT

37 min There’s a break in play while Rose Lavelle receives treatment.

3.12pm GMT

36 min City are really on top at the moment. I suppose they will be slightly wary because of what happened in the Manchester derby, when they led 2-0 at half-time before drawing 2-2.

3.10pm GMT

34 min Bonner almost gets her second, volleying over the bar from Houghton’s fierce cross. The centre-back pair had stayed up when a set piece was only partially cleared.

3.08pm GMT

32 min Caroline Weir, who has already made two goals, tries to get one of her own with a disguised free-kick from the right edge of the area. MacIver is onto it and saves comfortably.

3.06pm GMT

31 min Egurrola flattens Lavelle and is lucky not to be booked.

3.06pm GMT

30 min: Beckie misses a great chance! City should be 3-0 ahead. Roebuck’s long free-kick was headed on near the halfway line, I think by an Everton player, to put Beckie clear of the defence. She moved smoothly into the area, drew MacIver and slid the ball this far wide. She should have scored.

3.04pm GMT

29 min Raso is down after a collision with the City keeper Roebuck. It’s always a worry when she goes down - she broke her back two years ago - but she eventually gets to her feet. When she does, the referee books her! That’s absurdly harsh.

3.01pm GMT

Two goals in two minutes for City! Weir’s big inswinging corner from the right is headed in from close range by Bonner at the far post. Simple.

3.00pm GMT

She is absolutely clinical. Weir, in a narrow position on the left, floated a cross towards White in the area. She got between two defenders, strained her neck muscles and looped a superb header over MacIver.

2.59pm GMT

Ellen White gives City the lead with a masterful finish!

2.58pm GMT

23 min A couple of corners in quick succession for Everton. Nowt comes of them but it’s another sign of an increasingly even game.

2.56pm GMT

21 min Willie Kirk will be happy with how the first quarter has gone. City have had more of the ball but Everton have kept them at arm’s length for the most part and might have taken the lead through Hayley Raso.

2.53pm GMT

18 min Jill Scott has a pop from a tight angle. MacIver saves comfortably at the near post.

2.51pm GMT

16 min Lavelle moves dangerously infield, onto her left foot, and hits a shot that is again blocked by Finnigan.

2.50pm GMT

15 min Nothing much to report in the last few minutes. Everton are pressing City high up the field whenever they can.

2.46pm GMT

11 min Raso wins a corner for Everton, who are starting to come into the game. Sorensen’s flat corner is headed towards goal by the stooping Finnigan, and Roebuck makes a comfortable save.

2.43pm GMT

9 min At the other end, Beckie has a shot blocked by Finnigan. It’s been a lively start to the game.

2.43pm GMT

7 min: Chance for Everton! Sorensen crosses hard and low towards the near post, where Raso fresh-airs an attempted shot on the turn. That was a decent opportunity.

2.40pm GMT

6 min City have started really well. Everton are playing with a midfield diamond, as expected, so City are switching play at every opportunity.

2.38pm GMT

3 min Lavelle’s big, inswinging corner is headed over by Bonner beyond the far post.

2.37pm GMT

2 min City almost score after 90 seconds. Beckie and Weir combined nicely to find Stokes, whose deflected cross-shot evaded everyone in the middle and went wide of the far post. The sliding White (I think) almost got on the end of it.

2.35pm GMT

1 min Peep peep! City, in their black away kit, kick off from right to left. Everton are in blue.

2.32pm GMT

There’s a delay to the kick-off because of a problem with one of the goal nets. Shouldn’t be long.

2.28pm GMT

Chelsea had a bit of a scare at Kingsmeadow but they have beaten West Ham 3-2 to continue their excellent start to the season. Sam Kerr’s hat-trick did the necessary to move them within three points of the leaders Manchester United - and they have a game in hand.

2.04pm GMT

In the early game, a hat-trick from Sam Kerr has put Chelsea 3-1 up against West Ham. They look pretty formidable right now.

She's got her third!

It's a #BarclaysFAWSL hat-trick for @samkerr1! pic.twitter.com/3LnzWexNsL

1.35pm GMT

Everton are without Rikke Sevecke, who suffered an injury in training, so Damaris Egurrola comes into the side.

No surprise to see a bit of rotation from Gareth Taylor, given the week City have coming up. The subs bench includes Georgia Stanway, Sam Mewis, Alex Greenwood and the former Everton star Chloe Kelly.

12.18pm GMT

Hello and welcome to live coverage of Everton v Manchester City from Walton Hall Park. It’s the start of a very big week for City and their manager Gareth Taylor: Everton today, Gothenburg in the Champions League on Wednesday and Arsenal in the WSL next Sunday.

City can’t afford to lose much more ground in the league. They are already eight points behind the leaders Manchester United, albeit with today’s game in hand, and have had an unfathomably slow start to the season. They did beat Everton in last season’s FA Cup final, played in November because of Covid, but they start today’s match in fifth place.

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Published on December 06, 2020 08:30

December 5, 2020

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

Olivier Giroud completed a memorable week by scoring the equaliser as Chelsea went top with a highly impressive win over Leeds

9.56pm GMT

Peep peep! Chelsea go top of the league with a terrific victory at Stamford Bridge. They ignored the shock of Patrick Bamford’s early goal and created a stream of chances throughout. Olivier Giroud equalised, Kurt Zouma headed them in front in the second half and the substitute Christian Pulisic completed the win in injury time. Leeds were good in the first half but tired in the second, though they probably should have had a penalty at 2-1. Chelsea were much the better team, though, and could have won by more.

9.53pm GMT

That was a fine goal. Kovacic slid the ball inside Dallas to release the pacy Werner on the right. He charged into the area and slid a low cross towards Pulisic, who guided the ball past Meslier on the run.

9.52pm GMT

Chelsea wrap it up on the break!

9.49pm GMT

90 min Four minutes of added time.

9.48pm GMT

88 min The injured Thiago Silva wins a brilliant defensive header, getting above Bamford to clear Ayling’s cross. He can’t run but he can still jump.

9.47pm GMT

88 min Thiago Silva is unable to run properly, though he is going to stay out there. I’m surprised Chelsea haven’t moved another player back into the centre of their defence.

9.46pm GMT

87 min Dallas slips and gives the ball to Werner, who runs straight at the heart of the defence and slides in Abraham. He cracks a first-time cross-shot that whistles a few yards wide of the far post.

9.45pm GMT

85 min Thiago Silva is receiving treatment. Chelsea have used all three subs, so he’s going to stay on. He’s holding his right hamstring, mind.

9.44pm GMT

84 min Leeds almost steal an equaliser. Klich angles a sharp pass into Rodrigo on the left side of the area. He cuts the ball back towards Bamford, who makes a mess of a first-time shot and pokes it well wide.

9.42pm GMT

83 min Leeds lookpretty tired. At this stage, a third Chelsea goal looks much likelier than an equaliser.

9.40pm GMT

80 min Just before that shot in the 78th minute, Poveda-Ocampo was fouled in the area by Chilwell. He stayed on his feet; had he gone down, VAR would have given a penalty. It was almost identical to the Robertson/Welbeck incident at Brighton a week ago. The difference is that Poveda-Ocampo stayed on his feet and was punished. What a mess.

9.38pm GMT

79 min Olivier Giroud, who has had a mixed night, is replaced by Tammy Abraham. He scored one; he could have had another hat-trick.

9.37pm GMT

78 min Poveda-Ocampo’s 20-yard shot is comfortably saved by Mendy.

9.36pm GMT

77 min Mount’s corner is headed over from seven yards by the unmarked Giroud. That was yet another good chance for Chelsea.

9.36pm GMT

76 min: Fine save by Meslier! Chelsea should be 3-1 ahead. Mount, on the left wing, curls a splendid pass around the defence to find Werner at the far post, eight yards out. He takes the shot first time but Meslier spreads himself and deflects it behind.

9.33pm GMT

74 min Diego Llorente is booked for a foul on Kovacic.

9.33pm GMT

73 min Bamford has injured himself while winning the ball off Kante. I think it’s cramp. If not Leeds will be down to 10 men because they’ve used all three subs.

9.32pm GMT

72 min Rodrigo plays a clever short pass through the legs of Zouma that almost reaches Bamford in the area. Almost but not quite.

9.31pm GMT

72 min For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, the Chelsea fans are emitting high-pitched wails every time Diego Llorente touches the ball.

9.30pm GMT

71 min An awkward long-range shot from Mount is well held by Meslier.

9.28pm GMT

69 min Leeds make their last change: Rodrigo replaces Alioski.

9.28pm GMT

68 min: Just wide from Giroud! Mount and Pulisic combined to find Chilwell on the left. His low cross ricocheted off at least two players, probably more, before being steered past the near post by Giroud.

9.25pm GMT

66 min Chelsea make their second change: Mateo Kovacic replaces the subdued Kai Havertz.

9.24pm GMT

65 min Chelsea have been very good in the second half and deserve to be ahead.

9.23pm GMT

63 min On reflection, I think Cooper might have been fouled by Giroud just before the Zouma goal. Giroud knew nothing about it as he was looking at the ball, but he seemed to run into Cooper and knock him off balance. I’d like to see it again. Either way, I don’t think it counts as a clear and obvious error.

9.21pm GMT

Chelsea take the lead from the corner! It was simple stuff: Mount’s outswinger, Zouma’s accomplished downward header. Leeds appealed for a foul against Cooper, but there was nothing in it. The goal stands!

9.20pm GMT

60 min: Brilliant goalkeeping from Meslier! Werner, put through by Giroud, is denied twice in the space of two seconds by Meslier. The first save was particularly good because he had to change direction and plunge to his left when the ball deflected off Alioski. After the second save the ball rebounded to Mount, whose close-range shot deflected wide off Cooper. That was a great block.

9.17pm GMT

58 min Ian Poveda-Ocampo replaces Jack Harrison for Leeds.

9.17pm GMT

57 min The indefatigable Klich - what a film that was by the way - wins a corner for Leeds. Phillips drives it flat to the edge of the area, where Raphinha arrives late to thump a volley towards goal. Thiago Silva blocks it in the six-yard box but the ball rebounds to Raphinha, who lifts it over the bar! That was a chance, and a fine set-piece from Leeds.

9.15pm GMT

56 min Chelsea have been much the better team since half-time. Thiago Silva strolls forward and lifts a pass over the defence towards Pulisic. Dallas heads it back towards Meslier, who was on his way out towards Pulisic but has enough time to get back and grab the ball.

9.14pm GMT

54 min James clips it cleverly towards the near post, where Havertz heads over from three yards. It was a trickier chance than it first appeared because of the height and pace on the ball.

9.13pm GMT

53 min The corner is half cleared to the left wing, where Chilwell is booted up in the air by Alioski. Chelsea have a free-kick in a really good position on the left.

9.12pm GMT

53 min That’s much better from Havertz, an elegant, direct run into the area that leads to a corner on the right for Chelsea.

9.10pm GMT

51 min A lovely first-time pass out of defence from Thiago Silva sets Chelsea on the attack. Eventually Pulisic cuts inside and hits a shot that has the sting taken out of it by Llorente.

9.08pm GMT

49 min Meslier stands on the ball in his own six-yard box, which almost leads to a comedy own-goal/tap-in for Giroud. In the end he has enough time, just about, to boot the ball away.

9.05pm GMT

46 min Havertz is given a warning after a late tackle on Alioski. He looks a bit lost at the moment.

9.04pm GMT

46 min Peep peep! Leeds begin the second half.

9.04pm GMT

A note on that Timo Werner miss earlier on - replays show that Illan Meslier flipped his shot onto the bar. That would explain how Werner managed to locate the underside of the crossbar from 0.001 yards.

8.50pm GMT

Half-time reading

8.49pm GMT

Peep peep! Chelsea should be ahead but Leeds contributed plenty to a richly enjoyable 45 minutes. Patrick Bamford gave Leeds an early, scoring against his old club after a delicious pass from Kalvin Phillips. Olivier Giroud was denied by a bizarre goalline clearance from his team-mate Timo Werner (with friends like you, who needs friends) but equalised later in the half from Reece James’ excellent cross.

8.47pm GMT

45+2 min The substitute Llorente makes a vital sliding tackle on Chilwell, who looked set to move through on goal in the inside-left channel.

8.47pm GMT

45+1 min It’s not just Kalvin Phillips’ range that is so impressive; his pass selection is extremely good.

8.45pm GMT

45 min Three added minutes.

8.44pm GMT

43 min “Earlier in the season, I emailed you to explain how Bamford was one of those players who is too good for the Championship, but ultimately not quite good enough for the Premier League,” says Matt Dony. “I respectfully request the opportunity to rescind that opinion. He has looked good. He hasn’t just scored a lot of goals so far; he’s scored some very, very good goals. There’s definitely a player in there.”

I’m intrigued by players improve who when they go up a level, either to a higher division or a club with better players. Dwight Yorke is the obvious example.

8.42pm GMT

42 min Werner, playing on the right now, charges at Alioski in the area and hammers a cross-shot that is kicked behind by Cooper at the near post. The corner is headed down by Chilwell and claimed bravely by Meslier in front of a flying Chelsea boot.

8.41pm GMT

40 min Havertz, who is having a poor game, runs into trouble near the halfway line and is dispossessed by Harrison. He angles a through pass towards Bamford, who is lining up a shot when Zouma appears to make an important tackle. Moments later, Mendy comes a fair way out of his goal to claim a cross at the second attempt.

8.38pm GMT

39 min ... And Bamford will head it away.

8.38pm GMT

38 min Pulisic swings his hips this way and that to win a corner for Chelsea. Mount will take it...

8.35pm GMT

35 min Klich’s corner is headed away by Zouma.

8.34pm GMT

34 min Ayling wins a corner for Leeds, who are giving as good as they get. It’s been such an entertaining game so far.

8.32pm GMT

32 min “This style of end-to-end play is perfectly suited to Pulisic’s skill set,” says Mary Waltz.

8.32pm GMT

31 min Llorente plays a poor pass, straight to the other substitute Pulisic on the edge of the area. He is not quite up to speed, however, and he dithers long enough for Cooper to clear the danger.

8.30pm GMT

30 min A disappointed Ziyech trudges off; a bearded Pulisic sprints on in his place.

8.29pm GMT

29 min The restart has been delayed while Hakim Ziyech receives treatment. It looks like a hamstring injury, and Christian Pulisic is getting ready to replace him.

8.28pm GMT

It was a typically smart finish from Giroud. Ziyech played in the overlapping James, whose excellent near-post cross was volleyed past Meslier on the stretch by Giroud. Leeds appealed for offside but Ayling was deeper than everyone else and played him on.

8.27pm GMT

Olivier Giroud equalises for Chelsea!

8.26pm GMT

26 min The impressive Raphinha beats two players on a mosey infield and finds Bamford in the D. He sidefoots a low shot that is comfortably saved by Mendy, falling to his right. It was a pretty tame effort from Bamford; I think he was hoping Mendy would be unsighted.

8.24pm GMT

24 min Klich’s corner is headed away by Havertz, a reminder that he is on the pitch. I’m sure he’ll be fine at Chelsea, for he is class, but he hasn’t settled yet.

8.24pm GMT

23 min I can’t stop thinking about Kalvin Phillips’ pass - with his left foot by the way - for the goal. He looks a helluva player.

8.22pm GMT

21 min The Chelsea supporters start effin and jeffin when Alioski takes his time over a throw-in. They almost have something to cheer when Meslier plays a wretched pass towasrds Ayling that is stolen by Giroud on the edge of the D. He pushes the ball into the area but drives a low shot just wide. That was another pretty good chance.

8.21pm GMT

20 min “The best of Sir Alex’s Manchester United teams would get four, even five, men in the box in open play,” says Gary Naylor. “Leeds, 1-0 up away, just had six.”

Remember when Leeds were always either Dirty or Nasty? Now they’re the most joyful team in England.

8.19pm GMT

19 min Alioski hits the post with a rasping drive, though it wouldn’t have counted because Ayling was about four miles offside in the build up.

8.18pm GMT

18 min A quiet spell in the game, believe it or not. It’s been a spectacular start.

8.16pm GMT

WHAT IS HE DOING?!

Werner tries to stab Giroud's goal-bound header in but ends up inadvertently clearing it off the line!

Watch on Sky Sports PL
Follow #CHELEE here: https://t.co/HHD1DcZsfa
Download the @SkySports app! pic.twitter.com/vTXAdUdVn0

8.15pm GMT

14 min This isn’t news, but Kalvin Phillips is a class act. He starts another Leeds move with a good pass out to Harrison on the left. Harrison plays in the underlapping Klich, whose cutback is slapped wide of the near post by Bamford. He couldn’t wrap his foot around it enough to get it on target.

8.14pm GMT

13 min This is brilliant stuff. Raphinha teases Chilwell on the right of the area and slides a low pass towards Harrison, whose first-time shot is blocked by Zouma. That was a chance.

8.12pm GMT

12 min Despite being a goal down, Chelsea have started this game brilliantly. The tempo of their play has been excellent and they’ve already had three notable chances.

8.10pm GMT

10 min Replays suggest Giroud’s header might not have been going in, so maybe Werner deserves the benefit of the doubt. He should still have scored himself, though. He was barely a yard out when he belted the ball almost vertically onto the bar.

8.10pm GMT

9 min: Werner clears off the line - for Leeds! This is blooper DVD gold. Mount’s corner was headed on by Giroud and seemed to be going in at the far post. Then Werner appeared from nowhere to flick the ball up and volley it onto the crossbar!

8.08pm GMT

8 min Werner’s shot deflects behind for a corner. Before it is taken, Leeds are forced to make a substitution: Robin Koch, who was doubtful for the game, is replaced by the Spanish international Diego Llorente. This is his Leeds debut.

8.06pm GMT

5 min There was no extravagant celebration from Bamford, just the increasingly familiar lightning bolt. But he must be on an almighty high right now.

8.05pm GMT

What a fine goal from Leeds! Phillips, on the halfway line by the left touchline, curled a stunning left-footed pass around Zouma to put Bamford through on goal. Mendy came out to the edge of the area but Bamford slipped past him and sidefooted the ball into the empty net. The finish was immaculate, the pass quite glorious.

8.03pm GMT

Patrick Bamford scores against his old club!

8.03pm GMT

2 min: Giroud misses an excellent chance! Mount’s corner from the left is headed just wide of the near post by Giroud. He arrived late and towered over the Leeds defenders, but his downward header hit the side netting.

8.02pm GMT

1 min: Ziyech almost scores after 44 seconds! Thiago Silva drove a nice pass over the defence to Ziyech, who made a nice angled run from the right. He took the ball down beautifully on the run and drove a low shot that was kicked away by Meslier.

8.00pm GMT

1 min Peep peep! Chelsea, in blue, kick off from right to left. Leeds are in their maroon change strip.

7.57pm GMT

Chelsea emerge from the tunnel to a raucous ovation from the 2,000 fans at Stamford Bridge. You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone for nine months.

7.38pm GMT

West Ham 1-3 Man Utd was the final score at the London Stadium. West Ham should have been out of sight at half-time; they weren’t, and Manchester United were sensational in the last 25 minutes.

7.32pm GMT

The chosen two thousand

“Wondering how the lucky fans who get to attend are chosen,” says Ezra Finkelstein. “s it like a lottery or based on loyalty?”

7.25pm GMT

Pre-match reading

Chelsea and Leeds were responsible for one of the filthiest - and funniest - matches in football history. This is definitely worth ten minutes of your time.

7.07pm GMT

Olivier Giroud, who scored F-O-U-R goals in Seville in the week, makes his first Premier League start of the season. Leeds are unchanged from the team that won so well at Everton last Saturday.

Chelsea (4-3-3) Mendy; James, Zouma, Thiago, Chilwell; Havertz, Kante, Mount; Ziyech, Giroud, Werner.
Substitutes: Kepa, Rudiger, Azpilicueta, Jorginho, Pulisic, Abraham, Kovacic.

6.11pm GMT

I spy with my little eye, a very tasty Saturday-night fixture. This is the first Premier League meeting between Chelsea and Leeds since 2004, yet it comes with a decent backstory. The fun and games between Frank Lampard and Marcelo Bielsa two seasons ago, when Lampard was at Derby, will give tonight’s game an extra edge. The return of supporters to Stamford Bridge for the first time since March won’t hurt either.

A win would put Chelsea top overnight, but Leeds’ intrepid freewheelers will test their new, dramatically improved defence. At the other end, Bielsa’s man-markers will do well to cope with the speed and individual skill of Chelsea’s forward. Chelsea have been involved in a couple of bore draws this season; this, surely, will not be dull.

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Published on December 05, 2020 13:56

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