Key events
Half-time: Brentford 2-2 Newcastle
A fine start for Brentford but then they were pegged back. Yoane Wissa scored his 12th in 14 matches.
Half-time: Crystal Palace 1-1 Manchester City
City were rocking, and might have been two down, only for Erling Haaland to nod in as the champions began to find form.
Half-time: Aston Villa 1-0 Southampton
Villa are struggling along in looking for a second successive win. Jhon Duran got their goal but Southampton aren’t offering much of a threat.
In the Championship, at Millwall there’s been a tribute to John Docherty who led the Lions to their two seasons in the top division. Coventry – and Frank Lampard – are the visitors. There’s not been much action yet.
Chris Paraskevas gets in touch, too: “Isak proving his magician status by managing to turn a Tame Jacob Murphy Curling Half-Attempt™ into a full blown EPL assist. The man can do anything.”
Tarquin gets in touch: “I notice that Southampton have named four players with hyphenated names today, two playing and two on the bench. The nearest today is MC with a mere two. Obviously this is a subject close to my heart.”
“This got me wondering whether it was some kind of record. A piece in The Knowledge from 2016 refers to three playing for Arsenal in a match and calls out for answers but I cannot find any answers in subsquent stories.”
Francis Fowles gets in touch: “Leeds are either top or not top you nonce.”
Everton have done the decent thing by the 15-year-old who flew from Australia, only to meet Storm Darragh.
Aston Villa 1-0 Southampton: Duran has another chance, with Morgan Rogers continuing to impress for Villa.
Brentford 2-2 Newcastle (Barnes, 32)
Barnes makes up for his mistake with his fifth goal of the season.
Crystal Palace 1-1 Manchester City: Palace had three on two in box and then City score.
Crystal Palace 1-1 Manchester City (Haaland, 30)
From one end to the other, Dias makes a block, Nunes is sent away and Haaland nods in with neither Guehi nor Henderson intervening.
Goal! Brentford 2-1 Newcastle (Wissa. 28)
Harvey Barnes loses the ball and on goes Wissa to score past Nick Pope.
Crystal Palace 1-0 Manchester City: Midfield has been left open by City, meaning Will Hughes has been enjoying the freedom of Selhurst.
Goal! Aston Villa 1-0 Southampton (Duran, 24)
Duran scores his first goal as a starter since April. Southampton’s defending was predictably woeful, James Bree at fault.
Crystal Palace 1-0 Manchester City: Gundogan hits the post and Savinho drags wide. All City.
Couple of Championship scorelines: QPR 1-0 Norwich: Jimmy Dunne goal machine with it. Hull 0-1 Blackburn. New manager Ruben Selles is looking on as Andy Dawson, brother of Michael, is taking the team.
Brentford 1-1 Newcastle: Mark Flekken has just denied Alexander Isak another goal.
Crystal Palace 1-0 Manchester City: Haaland and De Bruyne beginning to click. And that spells danger for Palace.
Crystal Palace 1-0 Manchester City: There’s loads of action at Selhurst. Neither team is much cop at defending. Kevin De Bruyne is coming to the fore. He destroyed Palace last season. (I was there)
Aston Villa 0-0 Southampton: Morgan Rogers goes close for Villa, with Joe Lumley wrongfooted.
Goal! Brentford 1-1 Newcastle (Isak, 11)
The ball pinging all over the place and it’s Isak’s cool head that gets it done. He’s on such a scoring run. Could be a goal bonanza at the G-Tech.
Up in Scotland, Celtic are leading Hibs 1-0, Arne Engels got it.
Aston Villa 0-0 Southampton: Villa looking for those Southampton errors in defence but having to do a bit of defending themselves.
Goal! Brentford 1-0 Newcastle (Mbeumo, 8)
That one’s a bit late for Brentford, right? Mbeumo is such a player. All his own work.
By the way, it was Kyle Walker playing Munoz onside.
An eyewitness at Selhurst tells me Pep Guardiola is chewing his gloves.
Goal! Crystal Palace 1-0 Manchester City (Daniel Munoz, 4)
There was a VAR delay but that City defence has been breached already. Munoz is in banging form!
We are go in the Premier League!
Just those three games, but plenty to play for.
Thomas Frank has been speaking to the BBC ahead of Brentford v Newcastle: “I am looking forward to playing at home. We have built a fortress here and we are looking to keep it that way. We will be aggressive and come out and we are looking forward to it.”
Louise Taylor was at Elland Road to see Leeds go top/joint-top.
Jeremy Boyce gets in touch: “Sorry John, but you are incorrect. NotAsNastAsTheyUsedToBeLeeds are actually TOP of the Championship by virtue of their superior goal difference. Your positing of the “joint” top possibility could pose enormous problems for statisticians, trophy engravers, supporters, owners…. Leeds will be top until West Brom 0 – 1 Sheff U later this afternoon.”
Until the season is past halfway along, then joint-top is allowed.
Those other scores: Sheff 1-1 Preston, Sunderland 2-1 Stoke.
Final score: Leeds 2-0 Derby. Goals from Rodon and Wober won the day, and Leeds go joint-top.
Later, at 3pm in the Championship:
Sheffield Wednesday have equalised against PNE: it’s 1-1 after Michael Smith’s goal.
Sunderland now lead Stoke 2-1: Tom Watson has got it.
Paul MacInnes on an important topic – how clubs are squeezing the pips of fans.
It is time for unity.
Jeremy Boyce gets in touch: “Looking forward to your MostlyPremierLeagueClockwatch. There could be plenty of slapstick, given the weather conditions, and possibly a custard pie in the face for are they/aren’t they ? Citeh at Selhurst Park, one of the most difficult grounds to get to I can remember from my days following Shrewsbury Town round the 2nd and 3rd division in London back in the day (Griffin Park (RIP), Brisbane Road (RIP), The Old Den (RIP) etc…. Thanks for the update on my other team, NotAsNastyAsTheyUsedToBeLeeds.”
On Friday, Pep was able to put on his comfy shoes, and hit back at José Mourinho after their latest exchange.
It was a joke. But he’s another one in the huge list that want the team [City relegated to] League One or the Conference. I would say to José the same: we are innocent until proven guilty. After that we will see what happens. It is what it is, it was completely a joke. If I have offended him I’m so sorry. The fact is he has three and I have six. This is a fact. But the intention was completely fine.
The major news there is four changes for City, with Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji missing with injury, Rico Lewis and Kyle Walker into defence. Palace might fancy their chances a bit more.
Newcastle seemed to have rotated out Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon for the perfectly capable Sean Longstaff and Harvey Barnes.
Aston Villa v Southampton teams
Aston Villa: Martinez, Konsa, Carlos, Torres, Maatsen, McGinn, Kamara, Rogers, Tielemans, Bailey, Duran. Subs: Cash, Mings, Digne, Onana, Barkley, Buendia, Philogene, Watkins, Olsen.
Southampton: Lumley, Bree, Walker-Peters, Harwood-Bellis, Wood, Manning, Downes, Fernandez, Dibling, Armstrong, Archer. Subs: Edwards, Taylor, Aribo, Fraser, Sugawara, Amo-Ameyaw, Kamaldeen, Brereton-Diaz, McCarthy
Brentford v Newcastle teams
Brentford: Flekken; Lewis-Potter, Collins, Pinnock, Van den Berg; Norgaard, Yarmoliuk, Carvalho, Mbeumo, Thiago, Wissa. Subs: Valdimarrson, Schade, Mee, Ajer, Damsgaard, Konak, Trevitt, Roerslev, Maghoma
Newcastle: Pope; Livramento, Schar, Burn, Hall; Longstaff, Guimaraes, Joelinton; Murphy, Isak, Barnes. Subs: Dubravka, Trippier, Kelly, Targett, Tonali, Almiron, Gordon, Wilson.
Crystal Palace v Manchester City teams
Crystal Palace: Henderson, Guehi, Lacroix, Chalobah, Mitchell, Lerma, Hughes, Munoz, Eze, Sarr, Mateta. Subs: Turner, Ward, Nketiah, Schlupp, Clyne, Kamada, Richards, Doucoure, Devenny
Man City: Ortega, Walker, Gvardiol, Dias, Gundogan, Lewis, De Bruyne, Silva, Savinho, Nunes, Haaland. Subs: Ederson, Carson, Grealish, Doku, Wright, Simpson-Pusey, O’Reilly, McAtee, Wilson-Esbrand
Here’s the games that won’t be taking place.
Premier League
Championship
League One
League Two
That early Championship action, latest scores:
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Leeds 2-0 Derby
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Sheff Wed 0-1 Preston
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Sunderland 1-1 Stoke
Preamble
It’s bitter out, and the lunchtime fun has been cancelled.
There’s always Leeds against Derby. But that’s not our specific wheelhouse here. There’s red-hot Premier League action. Thankfully, if windy, it’s not too bad in London, and the champions are in town, and with Liverpool not playing, can lick their wounds. Yes, Crystal Palace v Manchester City takes centre stage, and then Brentford v Newcastle sees Eddie Howe’s team taking on the team with the best home record in the Premier League. And Aston Villa v Southampton sees Villa, on that bad recent run, against Russell Martin’s bottom-of-the-table evangelists.
There will also be news from the EFL and across Europe, too. Join me.
