Key occasions
National League South: In case you have been questioning, Andy Carroll’s administration debut goes all proper, I suppose. His Dagenham & Redbridge aspect are being held 0-0 by Torquay, who till a few days in the past have been led by Neil Warnock. What a match-up that might’ve been.
WSL roundup: Everything it’s essential to know on one other eye-opening day within the Women’s Super League
Half-time scores
Here’s how we stand after the primary 45 …
Premier League
Scottish Premiership
Championship
Bristol City 0-1 West Brom
Charlton 0-1 Norwich
Hull 2-1 Sheffield Wed newest
QPR 3-1 Portsmouth
Sheffield Utd 0-0 Wrexham
Southampton 2-0 Oxford Utd
Watford 0-0 Leicester newest
Scotland: Hearts have been poor within the first half at house to Dundee and Pierre Landry Kaboré sums up their struggles as he fails to capitalise on being put by means of on objective simply earlier than the break. Neither aspect has had a shot on course.
League One: Lincoln are flying! Reeco Hackett, who had a hand within the first two, sweeps a left-footed shot previous Ted Cann. Rotherham’s new supervisor, Lee Clark, whose final job was within the Sudanese prime flight, just isn’t having a pleasurable afternoon again in English football.
Premier League: Not loads occurring at Craven Cottage … Burnley had a few possibilities to start out with however Fulham are in management now.
Championship: Leicester win a penalty at Watford as Abdul Fatawu hits the deck within the field! Patson Daka to take … off the put up! Egil Selvik will get a significant contact on it. That might be so expensive for the aspect trying to keep away from back-to-back relegations.
Championship: Portsmouth have a lifeline at QPR by means of John Swift’s end from the sting of the field – they path 3-1.
League Two: Cheltenham have pegged Notts County again as Isaac Hutchinson will get his second to cancel out Matt Palmer’s objective that made it 2-1.
Championship: Jairo Riedewald places the ball within the web for Sheffield Utd in opposition to Wrexham however the assistant’s flag is up for offside. Still 0-0.
League One: Lincoln go 2-0 up in opposition to Rotherham after Ben House’s deflected strike. Does the Championship beckon? Well, one of many chasing pack, Bolton, are behind at backside membership Port Vale. As it stands, Lincoln might be up at Easter.
Scotland: Hearts are nonetheless being held by Dundee. Their conquerers final week, Kilmarnock, have gone in entrance at house to backside membership Livingston by means of Joe Hugill.
Championship: QPR haven’t gained in three at house however they’re in dreamland in opposition to Portsmouth – Paul Smyth has a second and his workforce’s third! It’s wanting bleak for John Mousinho’s Pompey, who’re some extent above the drop zone because it stands.
Championship: Sheffield Wednesday, with one win all season and 32 video games with out one, lead at Hull … till Matt Crooks equalises for the hosts. Jamal Lowe had the underside membership in entrance for a few minute and a half.
Portsmouth have all of it to do now at QPR as Rayan Kolli makes it 2-0 however West Brom have taken a shock lead as George Campbell heads them in entrance at Bristol City.
Bundesliga: Half-time scores. Olise and Gnabry struck simply earlier than the break for the leaders.
Bayern Munich 2-0 Union Berlin
Heidenheim 0-2 Bayer Leverkusen
Köln 2-2 Borussia Mönchengladbach
Wolfsburg 0-0 Werder Bremen
Premier League: Big miss! What an opportunity for Burnley. From the left, Hartman whips a ball in behind the Fulham backline and Flemming heads it straight at Leno from six yards out. Either aspect of the keeper …
Championship roundup: All it’s essential to know concerning the three early kick-offs that includes a couple of promotion contenders.
League One: Leaders Lincoln take the lead by means of a Ted Cann personal objective however Rotherham complain concerning the truth they’d an offside participant on the road when it went in.
League Two: Promotion-chasing Notts County have levelled it at house to Cheltenham as Jodi Jones cancels out Isaac Hutchinson’s opener.
Match report: Sam Cunningham has filed his report from the Amex after Brighton’s 2-1 win over Liverpool.
Championship: Patrick Bamford is responsible of lacking a sitter for Sheffield Utd within the early phases in opposition to Wrexham. Close vary, on his left foot, broad – whoops. Wrexham are very a lot within the hunt for a playoff place.
At the opposite finish of the spectrum, Shea Charles slams one in for Southampton to double their lead at house to Oxford. It’s a magnificence!
Championship: Struggling Portsmouth go behind at Loftus Road as Paul Smyth strikes for QPR.
Premier League: Shouts for a penalty for Burnley as Zian Flemming’s shot comes off Calvin Bassey’s trailing arm however the referee and VAR wave it away.
League One: Gary Caldwell will get off to a powerful begin as his Wigan aspect take an early lead in opposition to his previous membership Exeter, who he left a couple of weeks in the past. Joe Taylor with the objective. These two are dangerously near the relegation locations.
Championship: Playoff hopefuls Southampton take the lead at house to struggling Oxford by means of Cyle Larin. Norwich have gone in entrance at Charlton because of Pelle Mattsson.
Bundesliga: Still 0-0 between Bayern Munich and Union Berlin after half an hour. There have been three targets within the first seven minutes within the Rhine derby between Köln and Borussia Mönchengladbach – it’s 2-2 now. Bayer Leverkusen have a 1-0 lead at basement dwellers Heidenheim.
Kick-off
Here we go. Craven Cottage and Tynecastle are our important focuses however I’ll dabble in a little bit of every little thing.
The 3pm kick-offs are about to get below manner …
If you’re at a recreation, get in touch via email.
Tony Killen writes in: “Thank you Barney for today’s article on the ‘punishment’ meted out by the PL to our opponents today.
“I suspect that the crowd at Hill Dickinson Stadium later will be giving an, erm, ‘robust’ response to the kid-gloves treatment of Chelsea compared to the points deductions incurred in recent seasons by Everton and others.
“Viewers of a sensitive nature are advised to look away from 5.30 this afternoon.”
Here is Barney Ronay’s weekend column:
Full-time: Brighton 2-1 Liverpool – Danny Welbeck’s double downs the defending champions. Scott Murray has response:
Here’s how the Premier League seems to be heading into the remainder of the afternoon:
“I wish it was just as easy as throwing six forwards on,” stated Scott Parker this week as he tries to steadiness defensive solidity with truly scoring sufficient targets to maintain Burnley up. Their previous couple of video games have seen totally different approaches – an all-guns-blazing 4-3 defeat to Brentford, a limp 2-0 loss at Everton and a promising-but-toothless 0-0 draw with Bournemouth.
“I think we’ve tried that as well in terms of [throwing] caution to the wind,” Parker stated yesterday. “They’re the constant decisions you’re trying to make. I wish it was just as easy as throwing six forwards on.
“There’s a bit more to it than just that. But for sure we’re at the stage now where we need to get three points. We need to win football matches to give ourselves a chance to stay in this division. Hence why we’ve probably changed a little bit in terms of our structure.”
Full-time scores within the EFL’s early video games
Championship
Good information for Southampton, Wrexham and the like as Ipswich and Millwall take factors off one another.
League One
Cardiff 0-0 Blackpool
Luton 1-1 Stockport
Cardiff give Lincoln an opportunity to increase their lead on the prime.
League Two
Bromley keep prime forward of MK Dons however Cambridge shut.
Brighton v Liverpool was a delayed early kick-off (if that is sensible) within the Premier League and there’s nonetheless quarter-hour to go there. England’s Danny Welbeck on the double.
Hearts v Dundee groups information
Hearts XI (4-4-2): Schwolow; Altena, Kent, Halkett, McCart; McEntee, Devlin, Leonard, Kyziridis; Braga, Kaboré
Subs: Fulton, Baningime, Shankland, Borchgrevink, Steinwender, Spittal, Kerjota, Mato, Chesnokov
Dundee XI (4-2-3-1): McCracken; D Wright, Astley, Graham, Halliday; F Robertson, Hamilton; Congreve, Westley, Yogane; Hay
Subs: O’Hara, Koumetio, Samuels, Murray, Reilly, Cotterill, S Wright, Bevan, Jones
Key fixtures
Here are my picks for the afternoon (3pm until said):
Premier League
Scottish Premiership
Championship
Bristol City (fifteenth/24) v West Brom (twenty first)
Sheffield Utd (sixteenth) v Wrexham (seventh)
Southampton (sixth) v Oxford Utd (twenty second)
Watford (ninth) v Leicester (twenty third)
League One
Lincoln (1st/24) v Rotherham (twenty second)
Port Vale (twenty fourth) v Bolton (third)
Wigan (twentieth) v Exeter (nineteenth)
League Two
Bromley (1st/24) v Colchester (thirteenth)
Notts County (4th) v Cheltenham (seventeenth)
Tranmere (twentieth) v Swindon (sixth)
Bundesliga
Bayern Munich (1st/18) v Union Berlin (ninth) – 2.30pm
Köln (14th) v Borussia Mönchengladbach (twelfth) – Rhine derby, 2.30pm
Fulham v Burnley workforce information
Yes, that is the one Premier League providing this afternoon however it’s a particularly essential one for Burnley. They want factors and they want them now – 9 separate them and Nottingham Forest in seventeenth with solely seven video games to go after at the moment.
Fulham are twelfth however solely 4 factors behind Brentford in seventh and a European place. Oh, the recollections of Bobby Zamora and Zoltan Gera placing Juventus to the sword. Marco Silva has made one change to final weekend’s workforce that drew 0-0 (uh oh) with Forest – Rodrigo Muniz in for Raúl Jiménez up prime.
Fulham XI (4-2-3-1): Leno; Castagne, Andersen, Bassey, Robinson; Berge, Iwobi; Wilson, King, Bobb; Muniz
Subs: Lecomte, Diop, Sessegnon, Reed, Lukic, Cairney, Smith Rowe, Chukwueze, Jiménez
Burnley are unchanged from their 0-0 draw (oh expensive) with Bournemouth final outing. Armando Broja, previously of Fulham, has to make do with a spot on the bench.
Burnley XI (4-2-3-1) Dubravka; Walker, Humphreys, Estève, Hartman; Ward-Prowse, Laurent; Foster, Hannibal, Anthony; Flemming
Subs: Weiss, Worrall, Ugochukwu, Edwards, Florentino, Tchaouna, Ekdal, Broja, Barnes
Preamble
There is just one 3pm kick-off within the Premier League (angrily shakes fist) however concern not as a result of there’s a raft of video games up and down Britain that may form seasons. The enterprise finish of 2025-26 is sort of upon us and loads of groups within the EFL and Scotland are jostling for place for the ultimate straight.
In the Premier League, Scott Parker takes his Burnley aspect to Craven Cottage as they give the impression of being to shut the nonetheless sizeable hole to survival. Fulham are nonetheless within the hunt for a European place.
In Scotland, Premiership leaders Hearts goal to bounce again from defeat to Kilmarnock final weekend as they host Dundee. Their fellow title contenders don’t play till later (Rangers) or tomorrow (Celtic).
In the Championship, playoff hopefuls Southampton and Wrexham are in motion whereas Leicester and West Brom are amongst these trying to increase their survival possibilities.
In League One, leaders Lincoln are at house to Rotherham and may take a large leap in direction of automated promotion with a win. Meanwhile there’s a pivotal recreation within the relegation battle as Gary Caldwell and Wigan host his previous aspect Exeter. In League Two, Bromley are aiming to succeed in the third tier for the primary time of their historical past. The league leaders host Barrow wanting to answer some early outcomes involving the chasing pack.
And it’s value mentioning that I’ll be protecting tabs on Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich at house to Union Berlin. Nine factors is their lead on the prime of the Bundesliga – Bayern that’s, not Union.