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Another goal in the Championship. Léo Scienza puts Will Still’s Southampton in front against Blackburn at Ewood Park.
Another day, another goal from a long throw in the Premier League. Launch, flick-on, finish. It sounds simple but seems to be so hard to stop.
Jacob Murphy for England? asks Chris via email. I’m surprised this conversation hasn’t started earlier to be honest.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-1 Sunderland (Isidor 22)
Mukiele winds up a long throw, it’s flicked on by Ballard and Isidor does the rest! There are appeals for offside but Acheampong looks to be playing the striker onside.
Cucurella continues to look dangerous down Chelsea’s left. Fernández picks him out within shooting range but the full-back’s first touch is poor.
GOAL! Newcastle 1-0 Fulham (Murphy 18)
Newcastle hit the post for a third time … but this time the ball goes in! It’s Murphy again who pounces on a mistake from Calvin Bassey to put the hosts in front.
Newcastle have hit the post again at St James’ Park, Jacob Murphy this time seeing his cross hit the woodwork. Still 0-0 there.
Elsewhere in the Championship, Wrexham lead at Middlesbrough through Josh Windass. Carlton Morris has put Derby 1-0 up against QPR and Swansea are a goal up against Norwich.
Oxford try to spoil the party at Hillsborough. Against the run of play, Will Lankshear heads the visitors in front against Sheffield Wednesday.
12 min: Both Cucurella and Caicedo have a go at converting a Chelsea corner but the ball goes behind for another.
Spirits are high at Sheffield Wednesday, currently 0-0 at home to Oxford. Those in charge of the big screen at Hillsborough are enjoying their first post-Chansiri afternoon …
8 min: Certainly a nerve-settler for Enzo Maresca, that. Sunderland had looked bright in the opening exchanges but Garnacho’s first goal since May has put paid to that. Cucurella then goes close to doubling Chelsea’s lead.
Newcastle hit the post! Trippier’s free-kick falls to Woltemade in the penalty area and it comes back off the upright.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Sunderland (Garnacho 4)
A first shot of the game for Chelsea and a first goal for the club for Alejandro Garnacho. Pedro Neto picks out Garnacho, who finds half a yard and shoots through the legs of Robin Roefs in goal.
2 min: Sunderland have made a fast start, putting pressure on Chelsea with a couple of dangerous balls into the box.
Kick-off
Chelsea (5th) host Sunderland (7th), with Newcastle (15th) at home to Fulham (16th) as well. Could it be tight?
Kick-off is five minutes away. I’ll be homing in on Chelsea v Sunderland but also keeping you across the key events from Newcastle v Fulham, plus the scores from around the grounds.
Something to keep you busy. The Guardian has kicked off a new chapter in puzzles with the launch of its first daily football game, On the ball. It is now live in the app for both iOS and Android.
It’s a big afternoon at Hillsborough. After Sheffield Wednesday entered administration yesterday, their fans have rallied around the club and rejoiced at the exit of owner Dejphon Chansiri.
Wednesday fans reportedly spent £100,000 in the club shop yesterday – with figures approaching that today. The seats spelling out Chansiri’s name at Hillsborough are also being yanked out.
Wednesday, docked 12 points yesterday and now bottom of the Championship on minus six, are at home to Oxford Utd at 3pm. Having held a boycott at previous home games, the supporters are returning to Hillsborough today.
Results and latest scores from the early kick-offs:
Championship
Coventry 3-1 Watford
Ipswich 1-0 West Brom
Portsmouth 0-1 Stoke
Frank Lampard’s Coventry go four points clear at the top of the Championship and seven points clear of third.
League One
Bolton 1-0 Cardiff
Mansfield 1-1 Wigan
League Two
Cheltenham 1-0 Walsall
Fleetwood 2-1 Accrington
La Liga
Girona 1-2 Real Oviedo (75 mins)
Women’s friendly
Wales 0-1 Australia (35 mins)
Women’s FA Cup
Middlesbrough 4-0 Cheadle Town
Fulham will be glad to go into this weekend with their manager still in place. Marco Silva was strongly linked with the Nottingham Forest job before Sean Dyche got it – and now he’s got to devise a plan to stop Nick Woltemade.
Mourinho and Benfica managed to do that in the Champions League on Tuesday but that left Newcastle’s wide players free to roam, as Louise Taylor says:
Benfica restricted the Woltemade to one touch inside their box but, ultimately, they could not handle Eddie Howe’s wingers, Anthony Gordon in particular. “We could not compete with their horsepower, their intensity, speed and physicality,” said Mourinho. “This tells me a lot about Newcastle’s true level. They are a team of giants and they have four lightning-fast wingers.” Silva, a compatriot and a friend of Mourinho, has reason to be worried, particularly as Howe says there is “much more to come” from his reshaped side.
This is the first time Chelsea and Sunderland have met in the Premier League since the final day of the 2016-17 season, when Antonio Conte’s side lifted the title after a thumping 5-1 win.
Sunderland have lost on five of their last six visits to the Bridge but they’ve had a couple of very notable victories there in the last 15 years or so.
There was Fabio Borini’s penalty that halted Mourinho’s title charge in 2014 and a 3-0 drubbing in 2010 that included a fine solo goal from Nedum Onuoha and some spectacular dancing from Bolo Zenden.
Some more on Marc Guiu from Will Unwin this week:
Marc Guiu started the season at Sunderland, having found himself out of Enzo Maresca’s plans and needing to learn about life in the Premier League after a slow first year in England. As a teenager arriving from Barcelona’s La Masia, it was not a surprise that the striker needed time to adapt even if he made a few cameos along the way before the Black Cats came calling. Then Liam Delap got injured and Chelsea were in a bit of a vice, so brought back Guiu. Sunderland gave him two substitute appearances in the league and he scored only in the Carabao Cup exit to Huddersfield, suggesting he might not be primed for life at the top of the table. Since then, however, he has shown Maresca what he can do, playing a half in the win over Nottingham Forest and scoring against Ajax. He will want to continue on this trajectory.
Newcastle v Fulham team news
Lewis Miley keeps his place for Newcastle after playing the full 90 minutes against Benfica in midweek. Sandro Tonali is on the bench.
Newcastle (4-3-3): Pope; Trippier, Thiaw, Botman, Burn; Joelinton, Guimarães, Miley; Murphy, Woltemade, Gordon.
Subs: Ramsdale, Schär, Tonali, Barnes, Krafth, Osula, Elanga, Willock, Ramsey.
Emile Smith Rowe makes his first league start of the season for Fulham, with Josh King dropping to the bench. Adama Traoré also makes the XI.
Fulham (4-2-3-1): Leno; Tete, Diop, Bassey, Sessegnon; Lukic, Berge; Traoré, Smith Rowe, Iwobi; Jiménez.
Subs: Lecomte, Reed, Cairney, Cuenca, Kusi-Asare, Castagne, Kevin, King, Amissah.
Chelsea v Sunderland team news
Marc Guiu starts for Chelsea. The teenage striker spent the first few weeks of the season on loan at Sunderland before being recalled after Liam Delap’s injury.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Sánchez; James, Acheampong, Chalobah, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernández; Neto, João Pedro, Garnacho; Guiu.
Subs: Jörgensen, Adarabioyo, Fofana, Hato, Lavia, Santos, Estêvão, Gittens, George.
Bertrand Traoré starts for Sunderland against his former club. The winger played 16 times for Chelsea in the 2015-16 season under José Mourinho and Guus Hiddink.
Sunderland (5-4-1): Roefs; Hume, Mukiele, Ballard, Reinildo, Geertruida; Traoré, Sadiki, Xhaka, Le Fée; Isidor.
Subs: Patterson, Neil, O’Nien, Talbi, Rigg, Brobbey, Mayenda, Jones, Masuaku.
The afternoon’s fixture list (3pm BST kick-off unless stated)
Premier League
Chelsea v Sunderland
Newcastle v Fulham
European highlights
Borussia Mönchengladbach v Bayern Munich (2.30pm)
Brest v Paris Saint-Germain (4pm)
Championship
Blackburn v Southampton
Bristol City v Birmingham
Derby v QPR
Hull v Charlton
Middlesbrough v Wrexham
Millwall v Leicester
Sheffield Wednesday v Oxford Utd
Swansea v Norwich
Scottish Premiership
Dundee Utd v St Mirren
Falkirk v Dundee
Livingston v Motherwell
We’ll have coverage of Manchester United v Brighton (5.30pm) and Brentford v Liverpool (8pm) in the Premier League, as well as the Lionesses v Brazil (5.30pm), elsewhere later on.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to Saturday’s clockwatch. We’ve got two Premier League games coming up at 3pm (BST), with action at Stamford Bridge and St James’ Park as west London goes up against north-east England.
Fresh from dispatching Ajax in the Champions League in midweek, Chelsea are at home to Sunderland this afternoon looking to gain some ground on the leaders, Arsenal. Enzo Maresca’s side can go within two points of top spot with a win – but, then again, so can the visitors after their excellent start to the campaign.
Newcastle were also winners in midweek, making light work of José Mourinho’s Benfica. Today they’re up against Fulham, who are without a handful of regulars in what is approaching an injury crisis.
I’ll be bringing you updates from both games, with a particular focus on Stamford Bridge, while keeping across events in the EFL, Scotland and Europe’s major leagues.
Team news is on the way shortly. Do get in touch with your thoughts on today’s games (or the season as a whole) as well.
