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FA Cup semi-final buildup, plus crunch games at both ends of the Premier League – matchday live | Football
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Key events
That’s all from me today! Be sure to join Tim now for updates on the lunchtime Premier League fixture. You can also follow Barry Glendenning’s clockwatch for news from across the grounds.
Tim de Lisle is on hand to guide you through the early meeting between Fulham and Aston Villa…
A reminder of today’s Premier League fixtures:
In case you missed the news yesterday, West Brom were handed a two-point deduction after being found to have breached the EFL’s financial rules.
Championship team news
Charlton v Hull
Charlton starting line-up: Kaminski, Sichenje, Jones, Gillesphey, Clarke, Coady, Docherty, Fevrier, Knibbs, Carey, Kelman. Subs: Mannion, Burke, Chambers, Coventry, Rankin-Costello, Berry, Campbell, Leaburn, Dykes.
Hull starting line-up: Pandur, Coyle, Ajayi, Egan, Giles, Lunndsttram, Matazo, Gelhardt, Crooks, Millar, McBurnie. Subs: Phillips, Hughes, Belloumi, Joseph, Famewo, Dowell, Slater, Koumas, McNair.
Middlesbrough v Watford
Middlesbrough starting line-up: Brynn, Brittain, Whittaker, Ayling, Strelec, Gilbert, Morris. Bangura, Hansen, Malanda, Sarmiento. Subs: Wildsmith, Targett, Fry, Conway, Browne, Séne, Silvera, Castledine, Edmundson.
Watford starting line-up: Selvik, Ngakia, Pollock, Abankwah, Keben, Bola, Louza, N.Mendy, Bove, Kayembe, Kjerrumgaard. Subs: Baxter, Goglichidze, Ince, Chakvetadze, Doumbia, Baah, Maamma, Grieves, Irankunda.
West Brom v Ipswich Town
West Brom starting line-up: O’Leary, Imray, Campbell, Phillips, Styles, Molumby, Mowatt, Diakite, Price, Dike, Heggebo. Subs: Griffiths, Gilchrist, Taylor, Jimoh-Aloba, Bostock, Bany, Grant, Maja, Sule.
Ipswich starting line-up: Walton, Furlong, O’Shea, Kipré, Greaves, Matusiwa, Taylor, McAteer, Mehmeti, Clarke, Azón. Subs: Palmer, Johnson, Neil, Cajuste, Burns, Núñez, Philogene, Akpom, Hirst.
WSL team news – Brighton v Manchester City
Brighton starting line-up: Nnadozie, Vanegas, Minami, Symonds, Cankovic, Seike, Kirby, Hayes, Olislagers, Haley, Rule.
Subs: Baggaley, Poulter, Kafaji, Noordam, Rayner, Tvedten, Camacho, McLauchlan, Tsunoda.
Manchester City starting line-up: Yamashita, Rose, Knaak, Greenwood, Casparij, Blindkilde Brown, Hasegawa, Hemp, Fujino, Kerolin, Shaw.
Subs: Keating, Clinton, Coombs, Fowler, Ouahabi, Beney, Prior, Oyama, Murphy.
Seeing West Ham or Tottenham get relegated would be a huge moment for the Premier League, given the size of both London clubs.
So, my question to you today… Who will be the final team to get relegated?
That’s an interesting question for Londoners who don’t support Spurs or West Ham….
I’ve never had the energy to ”hate” any London club. Banter makes the football world go round, but living in London, chances are you have colleagues, at least one in-law, mates, a partner etc who passionately support a rival club. Life’s too short.
I’m Chelsea (starting a Fund Me to pay for my grief counseling if anyone’s interested), but spent many years in North London, some of which in Muswell Hill, part of the disputed Spud-Gooner borderlands.
I have little connection to the Eastern Badlands. My misspent youth revolved around the West End and Camden, long before Shoreditch became a ’thing’, and it’s just not my manor guv.
Anyway, I’d like to see Spurs go down, if only for the ”NAAH, WOT?!” value (we’ve all seen the Hammers yo-yo before, but Spurs?!).
I also think it might actually be good for the club in the long run. They have a top manager now, who would be able to build a proper team away from the PL glare.
Ben Gastel has messaged in with a reply to Dave Estherby, who sent an email about Spurs earlier…
“As a die hard Spurs fan I can assure Dave that no Tottenham fan has looked at any fixture since at least after Chelsea in November and thought ‘well that’s 3 points, no problem.’
Our spectrum has been strictly between ‘no way we are getting a result this weekend’ to at best ‘we could maybe get three points with a dodgy pen given.’ No pens have been given, dodgy or otherwise.”
The Championship table going into today’s games…
Macaulay Langstaff scored a late equaliser to send Millwall back into the automatic promotion spots last night. The goal saw the London side snatch a 1-1 draw against already-relegated Leicester City.
Today’s Championship fixtures
Charlton Athletic v Hull City
Middlesbrough v Watford
West Brom v Ipswich Town
QPR v Derby County
Sheffield United v Preston North End
Birmingham City v Bristol City
Oxford United v Sheffield Wednesday
Norwich City v Swansea City
Stoke City v Portsmouth
Some more on non-league football if you want to catch up on all the action…
Richard Batsford says:
“I know the focus is on Prem and FA Cup, but please please cast an eye to the absolutely barking finale of the National League. Rochdale v York, both way over 100 points, facing off for the only automatic promotion spot (and title). Whoever misses out ends up in the play off lottery. As a Scunthorpe supporter I obviously want us to prevail in the play offs, but it would be criminal if a team with 100+ points *didn’t* go up.
“Anyway, it’s been a fantastic season all round in the NL.”
Funnily enough, I was just about to get to this! What a match to end the season with. A straight shootout between first and second. For York City, on 107 points, a draw will be enough to snatch the title. A win for Rochdale, however, will see them win it.
Kick-off for that one is at 12:30pm BST at the Crown Oil Arena.
Jeff Sax has messaged in about Arsenal and the Premier League title race:
“Arteta has a record of not succeeding. This season will be no different. He may be Spanish, he may have worked with Pep but he is only better in being more anxious and under pressure.”
Speaking of Arsenal and the Women’s Champions League, Suzanne Wrack spoke to Olivia Smith recently about her football journey and playing in her first major European semi-final.
The FA Cup semi-final is not the only major football semi-final happening today. The Women’s Champions League semi-finals also kick off this weekend, starting with Bayern Munich v Barcelona this evening.
Arsenal then host Lyon at the Emirates Stadium tomorrow.
Fancy a bit of reminiscing on this Saturday morning, Southampton fans? Give this a read…
It’ll be really interesting to see what team Pep Guardiola names today. Will he go full strength? Or will he significantly rotate with the Premier League title race in mind?
1. I wouldn’t mind a Leeds-Saints Final. That’ll be great for neutrals and non Chelsea or City fans.
2. We hope Pep rotates. I loved the team that beat Newcastle away in the FA Cup,it was fool of fresh legs and hunger. Nico and Reijnders at the centre of it plus a rejuvenated Ake at the back with Marmoush hunting for the goals.
Not only do we have lots of Premier League action today, we also have the first FA Cup semi-final to look forward to.
Manchester City take on Southampton at Wembley at 5:15pm BST for a place in the final.
Will the underdogs prevail?
Dave Estherby has emailed in about Tottenham:
“I think Spurs could be bang in trouble today. Wolves have shown this season that as well as being fairly abject for most of it, they’re perfectly capable of playing very good, even great football when the mood strikes them.
“Tottenham probably looked at this fixture not long ago and thought, well that’s 3 points, no problem.
“Wolves are probably thinking, well if we’re going down we’re taking you with us.
“Can see Spurs getting a hiding, which with a current -11 goal difference, could be fatal.
“West Ham won’t beat Everton though…”
In a boost for Arsenal, Bukayo Saka is set to return today following a month-long absence with injury.
Mikel Arteta said: “We have given him some time because there was a moment that he was struggling to sustain the performances because he wasn’t comfortable at all. We’ve done that so he had the right treatment, the right space. He has some time as well for himself and it’s the most important part of the season and it’s part of us.
“I think it was a good moment for him as well to reflect on that, to have some peace because we’ve been constantly asking and demanding him, and it was a moment to say: ‘OK, now when you feel ready let us know and we’ll go for it.’”
The Arsenal manager added: “He was in great spirits today, you can see the sun is shining and now he’s back with the team, because he had a different energy. He’s had a tough period, we certainly missed him and he’s back with us now.
“Bukayo is a player when it comes to those moments, we expect him to produce those moments to win it for us. We need him in the squad. We have him now. Hopefully we can use him in the right way.”
If you get the chance to read this at some point today, please do. It’s a brilliant summary from Jonathan Liew of the panic going through north London right now – on both ends of the spectrum.
At the other end of the table, Arsenal host Newcastle as they look to leapfrog Manchester City and move back to first in the Premier League. The Gunners slipped to second earlier this week after City clinched a 1-0 win over Burnley.
They need a win today to keep some control in the title race.
Krishnamoorthy has messaged in to say:
“The phrase ‘throw them to the wolves’ never appeared more apt than today, even if these Wolves are neither scary nor capable. But since when did Tottenham need an enemy to capitulate?”
It does feel like West Ham have the more challenging game compared to Spurs this afternoon…
But this is the Premier League – anything can happen!
Today is when my WHU drop back into the bottom 3 and stay there. Brady has gone,hopefully soon followed by Sullivan. Next season in the Championship we can at least begin the process of becoming a football club again.
Today’s Premier League fixtures
Speaking of West Ham and Tottenham, both teams are in action at 3pm BST this afternoon. The Hammers host Everton and former boss David Moyes, while Spurs travel to face Wolves.
It could be a huge day in the race for survival.
So, my question to you today… Who will be the final team to get relegated?
Wolves and Burnley are already down, and following last night’s match it now looks like it’s between West Ham and Tottenham. What do we think?
Here’s how that result left the Premier League table…
Nottingham Forest completely stunned Sunderland last night with a huge 5-0 win at the Stadium of Light which should keep them safe in the Premier League. Goals from Chris Wood, Morgan Gibbs-White, Igor Jesus, Elliot Anderson and an own-goal from Trai Hume fired Forest to a much-needed victory, putting space between them, West Ham and Tottenham in the relegation battle.
Hello, good morning and welcome to another Matchday live! We have plenty to look forward to this afternoon, from Premier League fixtures to Championship and EFL match-ups. We also have a WSL game to preview as well as a Women’s Champions League semi-final and an FA Cup semi-final.
In the Prem, Fulham host Aston Villa at lunchtime. Everton then travel to face West Ham at the London Stadium, already-relegated Wolves take on Tottenham and Liverpool face Crystal Palace. And in the late fixture, Arsenal will be looking to return to the top of the table with a win over Newcastle.
But before we look ahead to those fixtures, let’s recap what happened at the Stadium of Light last night…
Preamble
Emillia will be here shortly to tee up a huge day of action from the FA Cup, Premier League, Football League, National League, Scottish Premiership and Europe.
To start you off, here is all the the latest team news for the first two of those competitions …
… and 10 things you need to look out for this weekend. Enjoy!
