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Key events
Goal! Newcastle 1-1 Brighton (Longstaff 45+4)
Newcastle are level and Anthony Gordon is the architect here. The winger doesn’t get the assist, but he penetrates the Brighton backline and finds room in the box before sliding it to Lewis Hall who squares it to Longstaff to tap home.
Uh oh Alloa! Hamilton have come from 0-1 down to lead 2-1 and now the away side’s Morgyn Neill has been sent off for foul and abusive language.
Tough look for Solanke with that disallowed goal, he pulled on this mask to celebrate. Facepalm.
41min: Huge chance for Enciso to double lead, Welbeck releases Adingra down the Brighton left. The Ivorian clips a cross over to Enciso but his header is poor and doesn’t trouble Dubravka.
In the Scottish playoffs, Hamilton have equalised the match and the tie against Alloa, while Spartan now lead 2-0 at Peterhead.
Right, amongst that flurry goals Bournemouth also had one disallowed. Dominic Solanke thought he’d scored but VAR intervened after a handball in the buildup.
Goal! Tottenham 1-1 Burnley (Porro 32)
Pedro Porro marauds forward from right back, no one closes him down and he fires home.
Goal! Everton 1-0 Sheffield United (Doucoure 31)
In on the beach news, Abdoulaye Doucouré has Everton ahead. Sean Dyche won manager of the month for April, that completely passed me by.
Goal! Wolves 0-2 Crystal Palace (Mateta 28)
Nothing for 25 minutes then two quick goal! Mateta is quick to react in the box and continues his recent hot streak.
Goal! Wolves 0-1 Crystal Palace (Olise 26)
Not much had been happening at Molineux, that’s changed.
24 min: At St James’ Jacob Murphy has a shot from distance but Verbruggen saves easily.
Goal! Tottenham 0-1 Burnley (Bruun Larsen 25)
Well this is a shocker, Spurs split wide open and Burnley have the lead!
23 min: Bad news for West Ham, it sounds like Lucas Paqueta might be coming off with a knock.
20 min: Great defending from Lewis Dunk to get across Dan Burn as the big Newcastle defender tries to get on the end of Sean Longstaff’s centre. Not sure what Burn was doing there, but that was a big chance.
Goal! Newcastle 0-1 Brighton (Veltman 18)
Brighton take the lead through a very unlikely source, Billy Gilmour’s corner is a good one, Danny Welbeck flicks it on and Joel Veltman wins his scrap in the six yard box to force it in.
15 min: Bowen hits the post! Luton are living dangerously with their slender advantage as they try to play out from the back, a sloppy giveaway presents a chance to the England forward, who nearly brings his side level.
In the Scottish Premiership, it’s advantage St Johnstone. They lead 1-0 at Livingston, while Ross County trail at home against Motherwell.
Couple of Scottish playoff goals to report on, Spartans have extended their aggregate lead to 3-1 at Peterhead in the Scottish League One clash and in the Championship have edged Alloa have edged 3-2 ahead in the tie with an early strike from Quinn Coullson.
Goal! West Ham 0-1 Luton (Sambi Lokonga 6))
After that delayed start it appears West Ham haven’t got going yet either and Albert Sambi Lokonga has given the Hatters an early lead. Vital goal for Luton.
5 min: Big save from Vicario to keep it goaless at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as he denies Vitinho, but there is big news coming from east London.
5 min: Newcastle have had the better of the opening stages at St James’. Brighton haven’t been able to get on the ball at so far. Lewis Hall has won a free-kick in a dangerous area on their left, he sends it in but Bart Verburggen gathers easily.
Slight delay in the start at the London Stadium due to a faulty sprinkler flooding a small area of pitch. We’ve had kick-off there now.
Peeeeeep!
We are underway.
Jeremy Boyce has emailed in to belittle my work provide some perspective:
You’ve ended up with a mostly ‘on the beach’ afternoon here, with little left to play for for most of the protagonists. The Luton-Forest situation being one exception, plus those hoping to get on Gareth’s 26-seater bus for the Euros. But there’s a good one in Serie A, where Bolgna could virtually seal their place in the Champions League with an away win at in-tatters Napoli, who’s 2023 Scudetto must already feel like ancient history to the players and fans, given how they have fallen apart this time round. Arrividerci Calzona?
Very much noted on Napoli v Bologna, I’ll track that as reports come in from the sunny shores of the Premier League. RE Napoli in particular, Calzona is their fourth coach since they lifted the Scudetto last year – hardly a recipe for success that.
I covered some of this off in my preamble, but I’m always grateful for Simon McMahon’s fitba emails:
After Celtic effectively sealed the Scottish Premiership title by beating Rangers earlier, focus now turns to the bottom of the SPL, as already relegated Livingston host second bottom St. Johnstone. The Perth side are two points behind Ross County, but could leapfrog them today with a win, if County fail to beat Motherwell in Dingwall. It’s all to play for, as it will be when the Highlanders travel to Perth in midweek. There’s also playoff action aplenty, with all four semi finals ties in the Scottish Championship and League One promotion-relegation battles delicately poised after the first legs.
Don’t look back in anger, eh Noel?
This is big for the title race in the Scottish Premiership, Celtic have beaten 10-man Rangers at Celtic Park. Scott Murray with all the post-match reaction:
Full-time at Craven Cottage, where City have won 4-0. Reaction with Barry:
Some thoughts on those starting XIs, Oliver Skipp must be playing left-back for Spurs and James Maddison is back in the starting lineup. Emerson Royal and Rodrigo Bentancur drop out, but without Timo Werner and Richarlison that bench looks pretty thin.
Joelinton is back on the bench for Newcastle, but Callum Wilson is out with Eddie Howe telling reporters that the England striker is “not 100%”, Elliot Anderson comes in to replace him. Kieran Trippier is back is also back in the squad alongside recent absentees Miguel Almiron and Nick Pope. For Brighton, Julio Enciso starts after it was revealed on Friday that top-scorer Joao Pedro had picked up an ankle knock.
For David Moyes’ farewell to the London Stadium, his West Ham side sees James Ward-Prowse return with Edson Alvarez, who picked up a knock last weekend, dropping to the bench.
Team news: Everton v Sheff Utd
Everton: Pickford, Coleman, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Young, Garner, Gueye, Onana, McNeil, Doucoure, Calvert-Lewin.
Subs: Keane, Danjuma, Virginia, Beto, Andre Gomes, Godfrey, Chermiti, Warrington, Dobbin.
Sheff Utd: Foderingham, Vinicius Souza, Trusty, Robinson, Bogle, Hamer, Arblaster, Brooks, Larouci, Archer, Brereton.
Subs: Lowe, Brewster, Grbic, Norwood, Ben Slimane, McAtee, Curtis, Osula, Sasnauskas.
Team news: Wolves v Crystal Palace
Wolves: Jose Sa, Nelson Semedo, Kilman, Gomes, Doherty, Joao Gomes, Mario Lemina, Traore, Ait Nouri, Hwang, Matheus Cunha.
Subs: Santiago Bueno, Hugo Bueno, Doyle, Sarabia, Bentley, Bellegarde, Gonzalez, Chirewa, Fraser.
Crystal Palace: Henderson, Clyne, Andersen, Richards, Munoz, Wharton, Hughes, Mitchell, Olise, Eze, Mateta.
Subs: Ward, Guehi, Ayew, Schlupp, Edouard, Ahamada, Matthews, Rak-Sakyi, Ozoh.
Team news: Bournemouth v Brentford
Bournemouth: Travers, Smith, Zabarnyi, Senesi, Kelly, Cook, Christie, Semenyo, Kluivert, Ouattara, Solanke.
Subs: Neto, Scott, Tavernier, Adams, Hill, Unal, Billing, Aarons, Sadi.
Brentford: Flekken, Ajer, Collins, Pinnock, Reguilon, Damsgaard, Norgaard, Janelt, Mbeumo, Toney, Lewis-Potter.
Subs: Jensen, Schade, Wissa, Jorgensen, Ghoddos, Strakosha, Roerslev, Valdimarsson, Yarmolyuk.
Team news: West Ham v Luton
West Ham: Areola, Coufal, Zouma, Ogbonna, Emerson Palmieri, Ward-Prowse, Soucek, Bowen, Lucas Paqueta, Kudus, Antonio.
Subs: Fabianski, Johnson, Cresswell, Cornet, Ings, Alvarez, Earthy, Casey, Mubama.
Luton: Kaminski, Burke, Mengi, Osho, Onyedinma, Sambi Lokonga, Barkley, Doughty, Morris, Chong, Adebayo.
Subs: Ogbene, Berry, Woodrow, Mpanzu, Clark, Krul, Hashioka, Townsend, Johnson.
Team news: Newcastle v Brighton
Newcastle: Dubravka, Livramento, Krafth, Burn, Hall, Longstaff, Bruno Guimaraes, Anderson, Jacob Murphy, Isak, Gordon.
Subs: Trippier, Dummett, Joelinton, Ritchie, Barnes, Pope, Almiron, White, Alex Murphy.
Brighton: Verbruggen, Veltman, Webster, Dunk, Igor, Gross, Gilmour, Buonanotte, Enciso, Adingra, Welbeck.
Subs: Lamptey, Lallana, Moder, Baleba, Steele, Fati, Offiah, Baker-Boaitey, O’Mahony.
Team news: Tottenham v Burnley
Tottenham: Vicario, Porro, Romero, van de Ven, Skipp, Bissouma, Sarr, Kulusevski, Maddison, Johnson, Son.
Subs: Hojbjerg, Dragusin, Gil Salvatierra, Emerson, Lo Celso, Bentancur, Austin, Scarlett, Moore.
Burnley: Muric, Assignon, O’Shea, Esteve, Taylor, Vitinho, Cullen, Berge, Bruun Larsen, Foster, Odobert.
Subs: Trafford, Gudmundsson, Brownhill, Rodriguez, Benson, Ekdal, Fofana, Amdouni, Ndayishimiye.
City have just gone 2-0 up at Fulham, Phil Foden getting his 17th league goal of the season.
Follow the last half hour or so with Barry Glendenning:
Team news coming up in 15 minutes, but we have coverage of couple of other big games currently ongoing:
Preamble
Six – count them – SIX 3pm BST kick-offs in the Premier League today. A rare feast of Saturday afternoon football in the top flight. Most of the interest will be at the bottom end of the table, with Burnley and Luton both needing results to take their relegation battles to the final day of the season.
The Clarets must win at Spurs and for Luton for it’s the same at West Ham, but both need Nottingham Forest to succumb to Chelsea in Saturday’s late game. Mathematically, Rob Edwards’ men cannot be relegated today, but their double-digit goal difference to Forest would require something highly questionable to occur on the final day if Nuno Espirito Santo’s side get all three points against the Blues.
Spurs still have an outside chance of Champions League football next season but only if they win and Aston Villa fail to get more than two points from their remaining fixtures. Newcastle, who take on a flatlining Brighton at St James’ Park, will be hoping for Tottenham to slip up as Europa League remains a possibility if Eddie Howe’s side can continue their strong recent form.
The remaining matches look distinctly mid-table with Wolves taking on a resurgent Crystal Palace, Bournemouth welcoming Brentford to the Vitality and Everton facing already-relegated Sheffield United – a fixture that even diehards will be struggling to get up for.
In Scotland, after today’s early kick-off for the Old Firm, Ross County, who host Motherwell, and St Johnstone, who visit relegated Livingstone, are scrapping it out to avoid the relegation playoff. St Mirren scan still earn a Europa League playoff spot but need a positive result at home against Kilmarnock, the team one place above them, to keep that dream alive.
I’ll also be tracking the second legs of the Scottish Championship and League One playoffs this afternoon.
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