I will leave you with the match report from Brentford 3-2 Bournemouth, which was undoubtedly the Premier League’s game of the day. It’s been a fun old afternoon, with the exception of West Ham 0-0 Everton – but that’s football for ya.
Attention will now turn to Manchester City’s visit to Brighton and the Saturday night late action of Liverpool v Aston Villa. The fun never stops. Thanks for joining me today.
Updated
It’s Harry Wilson’s world right now and we’re all just living in it. Taha Hashim was at Selhurst Park to watch in-form Fulham win again.
Goal of the day:
Lovely goal from Jerry Yates, in Derby County’s 1-1 draw at home to Plymouth Argyle
— EFL Stats (@EFLStats) November 9, 2024
xG ≈ 0.12#DCFC #Swans
pic.twitter.com/FBycovANCN
Jonathan Wilson saw the thrills and spills at the London Stadium. Alright then, maybe just the spills.
Decent finish in the rugger, if that’s your bag.
The match reports from our writers around the country are now rolling in. Will Unwin witnessed that rarest of beasts: a Wolves league win in 2024.
Goodness me that was breathless stuff.
The highlights at the end there included late drama at Hibernian, who thought they’d scored two goals deep in added time, only for the second to be chalked off by VAR.
Northampton nicked a totally undeserved point at Birmingham City at the death while West Ham were denied by a late sensational Jordan Pickford stop.
Aaaaand breathe.
Full-time scores are in👊 pic.twitter.com/2aLCZDffbd
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) November 9, 2024
FT scores – Scottish Premiership
Dundee United 3-0 Ross County
Hibs 1-2 St Mirren
Motherwell 2-0 St Johnstone
FT scores – League Two
Wimbledon 0-1 Grimsby
Barrow 1-1 Colchester
Cheltenham 1-1 Bromley
Chesterfield 0-3 Accrington
Doncaster 0-1 Notts County
Fleetwood 1-0 Bradford
Gillingham 1-0 Port Vale
MK Dons 3-1 Swindon
Tranmere 2-1 Newport
Walsall 1-1 Crewe
FT scores – League One
Birmingham 1-1 Northampton
Bristol R 1-1 Lincoln
Crawley 2-2 Huddersfield
Exeter 1-0 Charlton
L Orient 3-0 Blackpool
Peterborough 6-1 Cambridge
Stevenage 1-1 Reading
Stockport 5-0 Bolton
Wigan 0-1 Wycombe
FT scores – Championship
Derby 1-1 Plymouth
Leeds 2-0 QPR
Norwich 0-2 Bristol C
Portsmouth 3-1 Preston
Sunderland 2-2 Coventry
FT scores – Premier League
Brentford 3-2 Bournemouth
Crystal Palace 0-2 Fulham
West Ham 0-0 Everton
Wolves 2-0 Southampton
The full-time whistles are starting to sound so I’ll run through the scores on the doors in the next few posts. Brace yourselves.
Harry Wilson brace AGAIN is it? It looks like he’s just made it 3-0 to Fulham at Palace, but VAR might ruin the fun for the new super-duper-sub.
Yep, the VAR computer has indeed said no.
Updated
Leeds wrap it up against QPR – finally. Joel Piroe makes it 2-0 in stoppage time after a lot of bluster.
Simon McMahon in Scotland says: Dundee United have looked like a different team in the second half – one that can actually play football – and deservedly now lead 2-0 thanks to goals from Luca Stephenson and Sam Dalby. Bog standard celebration, but I’ll take them.
*Make that 3-0 through Owen Stirton.
Updated
A week in the life of Stockport County:
Tuesday: 5-0 home defeat by Wycombe
Saturday: Leading 5-0 at home to Bolton.
Consign West Ham v Everton to the rubbish bin and let it never be seen again. It might not even make the last slot on Match of the Day, in truth.
Portsmouth have had a right day of it. Colby Bishop is back on the pitch for them after successful heart surgery – a great story, that – but that story has just got better, as the Pompey forward slots away a penalty kick against Preston.
Lap it up, Colby. 3-1.
Updated
Sunderland 2-2 Coventry: Maybe Cov don’t need Mark Robins after all! Few saw this fightback from the Sky Blues coming but it’s been completed by Jack Rudoni, to leave the Stadium of Light utterly stunned.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 0-2 Fulham (Wilson '83)
Move over Jhon Duran, Harry Wilson is the Premier League’s new super-sub! Give him a start, Marco, you know you want to.
What a week the Welshman has had.
Updated
League One: Harvey Knibbs has helped Reading level up at Stevenage while Leyton Orient are storming to victory over Blackpool. They’re 3-0 up and cruising.
Updated
Southampton are huffing and puffing in search of a route back into this game against Wolves and, while it’s been nervy for the home side at times, their lack of penetration and precision in the final third is undermining Russell Martin’s team.
Red card: It goes from bad to worse for Palace, who have been outplayed by Fulham today. Daichi Kamada, who has been poor in general, is shown a straight red for a dreadful tackle.
I’m very happy to publicise this email from Kevin Wilson as it makes a salient point:
Looking at that Brighton tweet with their line-up, presumably this is listed in order of player number. Am I wrong to find that incredibly annoying? List them in formation order!
Summerville hits the post for West Ham! That was the chance to turnaround their fortunes this afternoon, but it’s passed them by. The anguish goes on for Lopetegui.
Updated
José Sá has taken a couple of knocks today and found himself on the deck a fair bit. This latest one looks a bit nasty and the medical staff have taken their time to sort out the Wolves goalkeeper.
Bundesliga: Borussia Dortmund have been beaten at Mainz and Leverkusen held at Bochum. So it’s a good day for Vincent Kompany and Bayern Munich, who saw out a nervy 1-0 win at St Pauli, with Jamal Musiala netting the game’s only goal.
15 - Only Erling Haaland (19) has scored more non-penalty goals in the Premier League in 2024 than Brentford's Yoane Wissa (15). Buzzing. pic.twitter.com/HubqzbEfpj
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 9, 2024
Barry Glendenning is your man for this evening’s south coast doozy.
League One: Last time I checked, it was Crawley 1-0 Huddersfield … it’s now Crawley 2-2 Huddersfield with the latest goal coming from Herbie Kane.
It’s a good day if your surname is Bogle. Omar has just scored for Crewe to take the lead at Walsall, with Jayden having drilled Leeds ahead at Elland Road.
Everton have threatened through Jesper Lindstrøm but a goal doesn’t appear to be forthcoming at the London Stadium.
Oooh Sunderland have been pegged back by Coventry’s Haji Wright. A twist in the tale at the SoL?
Leeds are still in a precarious position against QPR, just 1-0 up. My mistake earlier on saying it was 2-0.
League One: Stockport are having heaps of fun against Bolton, 4-0 now. Birmingham have finally broken through against Northampton via marquee summer signing Jay Stansfield. It’s hotting up atop the third tier.
Someone call Simon McMahon – Dundee United are in front against Ross County!
Team news has rolled in for the 5.30pm kick off:
TEAM NEWS! 🚨 Here's our starting XI to play @ManCity this evening. 👀⤵️ pic.twitter.com/awkkdhT82k
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) November 9, 2024
City's line-up for #BHAMCI 💪
— Manchester City (@ManCity) November 9, 2024
XI | Ederson, Lewis, Walker (C), Simpson-Pusey, Gvardiol, Kovacic, Gundogan, Savinho, Foden, Nunes, Haaland
SUBS | Ortega Moreno, Ake, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Akanji, Wright, O'Reilly, McAtee, Wilson-Esbrand#ManCity | @etihad pic.twitter.com/bcYw05MpYx
GOAL! Brentford 3-2 Bournemouth (Wissa '58)
Yoane Wissa is released through 1v1 and dinks it past Kepa in the Bournemouth goal. A fine finish.
Hands up if you left him on your FPL bench? Just me? Gah.
Updated
League One: Peterborough have five now against Cambridge and Stockport have raced to a 3-0 lead over Bolton. Goals, goals, goals.
GOAL! Wolves 2-0 Southampton (Cunha '51)
Matheus Cunha could drag Wolves to survival all by himself, you know. This is certainly a precious, precious goal for Gary O’Neil’s side. What a ripper of a strike into the corner.
The former Atletico forward has been excellent this afternoon.
Updated
Smith Rowe at the double is he? There’s a VAR check for offside on this one … Fulham think they’ve clinched a 2-0 lead at Selhurst Park.
They haven’t. After an infuriatingly long check, the goal is chalked out.
Updated
Just 80 seconds between those two goals at the Gtech. Brentford’s home games have provided some serious entertainment this season, although whether Thomas Frank will have truly enjoyed them is a different matter.
GOAL! Brentford 2-2 Bournemouth (Damsgaard '50)
Like a basketball match! It’s taken Brentford no time at all to respond, Mikkel Damsgaard doing the business for the hosts.
Heck of a game.
Updated
GOAL! Brentford 1-2 Bournemouth (Kluivert '49)
Kluivert strikes for the visitors not long into the second half, turning home after a fine delivery from out wide.
Bournemouth have again played really nicely.
Updated
Second halves get under way around the country and it’s a dream start for the home side at Edgeley Park, Kyle Wooton makes it 2-0 for Stockport against Bolton.
Can West Ham muster something – anything – after the break? The signs for Julen Lopetegui are not good.
Baffling first half from West Ham. No pace, no identity. Only thing saving them here is Everton’s bluntness.
— Jacob Steinberg 🎗️ (@JacobSteinberg) November 9, 2024
ESR = VG.
Emile Smith Rowe has scored or assisted 5 goals in the Premier League this season, more than:
— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) November 9, 2024
B. Johnson (4)
N. Madueke (4)
D. Jota (4)
D. Kulusevski (4)
G. Martinelli (4)
Having a great season at Fulham. ⚽️⚽️⚽️🅰️🅰️ pic.twitter.com/3iV8dQfTtP
Half-time means celebrations chat can continue and Tom Hopkins adds some thoughts:
It’s taking the shirt off and throwing it to one side for me. Whether you think it’s a stupid rule or not, it’s been an automatic yellow for donkey’s years. Just do something else. If it’s really the case that players so completely lose the run of themselves in the moment that they can’t help it, how are non-celebrations against former clubs a thing?
Yeah, less of the non-celebration. Let’s have more players going full Adebayor.
HT scores – Scottish Premiership
Dundee United 0-0 Ross County
Hibs 0-2 St Mirren
Motherwell 2-0 St Johnstone
HT scores – League Two
Wimbledon 0-1 Grimsby
Barrow 1-0 Colchester
Cheltenham 0-0 Bromley
Chesterfield 0-1 Accrington
Doncaster 0-1 Notts County
Fleetwood 1-0 Braford
Gillingham 0-0 Port Vale
MK Dons 1-1 Swindon
Tranmere 1-0 Newport
Walsall 0-0 Crewe
HT scores – League One
Birmingham 0-0 Northampton
Bristol R 1-0 Lincoln
Crawley 1-0 Huddersfield
Exeter 0-0 Charlton
L Orient 1-0 Blackpool
Peterborough 4-0 Cambridge
Stevenage 1-0 Reading
Stockport 1-0 Bolton
Wigan 0-1 Wycombe
HT scores –Championship
Derby 1-1 Plymouth
Leeds 1-0 QPR
Norwich 0-1 Bristol C
Portsmouth 2-0 Preston
Sunderland 2-0 Coventry
HT scores – Premier League
Brentford 1-1 Bournemouth
Crystal Palace 0-1 Fulham
West Ham 0-0 Everton
Wolves 1-0 Southampton
GOAL! Crystal Palace 0-1 Fulham (Smith Rowe '45+2)
Palace switch off just before half-time, Lacroix conceding possession sloppily and Smith Rowe’s shot squirms past Dean Henderson.
A big moment to break the deadlock in that London derby.
Updated
Goals are flying in now especially in the Championship and League One. While I wait for the half-time scores to roll in, here’s your roundup of the second tier action so far today.
Important news from Charlie Pite on email:
Watching Orient vs Blackpool and thought you might like to know Sonny Perkins has just celebrated scoring the opener with a knee slide, albeit quite a cautious one.
Wayne Rooney’s Plymouth are level at Wayne Rooney’s former side Derby.
So much for that impenetrable Rams’ home record and insurmountable Argyle away struggle.
Keep your celebration icks coming in. This one is from Justin Madson:
One celebration I’d be okay never seeing again is putting the ball under the shirt and sucking the thumb. Just.... why?
As an expectant father myself, I semi-endorse this message, Jason. Choose one or the other. Doing them both simultaneously doesn’t make sense.
Bankers for your Saturday afternoon acca* as follows:
Peterborough 3-0 Cambridge
Leeds 2-0 QPR
Sunderland 2-0 Coventry
*Obviously one of these games will now finish 3-3.
More tetchy rumblings from supporters in Wolverhampton. Southampton are knocking on that door ahead of the half-time whistle, with new England callup Harwood-Bellis flashing a header wide from a Saints corner.
Championship: Lowly Portsmouth have a precious lead at home to Preston courtesy of Josh Murphy, while Sunderland have doubled their lead over Coventry through an absolute wordly by Dennis Cirkin. The Stadium of Light is absolutely bouncing!
It’s early days, but will anyone catch the Black Cats this season?
Talking of games lacking in excitement or eventfulness … Crystal Palace v Fulham is still locked at 0-0 with both defences in charge as it stands.
All the reports coming from West Ham v Everton centre on how lifeless and lacklustre it’s been so far. Seems to be no danger of an opening for either team in east London.
Another celebrations-related email, this time from Ken Coogan who joins me in raging against modern cellies.
The knee-slide brings out the rage in me I’m afraid to say. More and more, I find myself going back to watching YouTube clips of goals (mostly by Liverpool) from the 1980s, to marvel at such straight-ahead, no-nonsense goal celebrations. Most of which were signed off by a handshake. Not a single knee slide in sight.
BRING BACK THE HANDSHAKE.
League One: Will Collar has scored for Stockport to take the lead against Bolton in that all-Greater Manchester clash. Stevenage lead Reading 1-0 against the run of play. Incidentally, Will Collar uses the same barber as me. Big W.
Southampton are enjoying a heck of a lot of possession at Wolves and the home fans at Molineux, typically rather restless, are becoming … restless. Even though that Saints leveller was ruled out, the momentum seems to be withe the away team.
GOAL! Brentford 1-1 Bournemouth (Wissa '27)
A long throw-in finds its way to Yoane Wissa, who fires Brentford level at the back post!
You just knew there’d be goals in this game didn’t you?
Updated
Let’s check in at the London Stadium … oh.
Absolutely dreadful start to this game from #WHUFC in front of a virtually silent crowd.
— Alex Crook ⚽️🎙 (@alex_crook) November 9, 2024
Carl Jenkinson … from one of the bright young things in the Arsenal academy to being sent off for League Two Bromley inside 25 minutes at Cheltenham. Gah.
Re: celebrations, David Mooney thinks he knows why we don’t see too many knee slides nowadays.
It’s such a dumb way to pick up a serious injury. I wouldn’t be surprised if managers are banning their players from doing it.
But I’m pretty old school about this sort of thing — for me you can’t beat the Alan Shearer hand-in-the-air celebration.
Not sure about this gif, chaps.
WE HAVE THE LEAD!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/84HnUeYFS5
— Bristol City FC (@BristolCity) November 9, 2024
Championship: Sunderland are leading against managerless Coventry – oh for a Mark Robins figure in the dugout – with Wilson Isidor volleying home a sumptuous opener. Bristol City and Leeds have also taken the lead against Norwich and QPR respectively.
GOAL! Brentford 0-1 Bournemouth (Evanlison '17)
Marcos Senesi has just missed a huge chance for the Cherries, but it won’t matter too much as Evanlison has just put the visitors ahead.
They’ve dominated the early stages at the Gtech.
Updated
League One: Wycombe are absolutely flying right now. They weren’t even in the playoff places during the October international break, but they’re top now and ahead today at Wigan.
Updated
That’s two games on the bounce that Wolves have got the rub of the green re: a contentious VAR decision. I’m sure Gary O’Neil will be thankful and appreciative.
Bang, bang, two goals already at Molineux? Southampton think they’ve levelled up through Ryan Manning, but VAR are going to check for a foul.
There’s no such thing given and it’s a proper good strike from the left wing-back. Oh, hang on … they are looking at it. The referee has gone to the screen – and it’s been chalked off after all! Wowsers, that’s a tough call on Russell Martin’s side.
Updated
01:48 - Pablo Sarabia's strike after 108 seconds is Wolves' fastest ever goal scored from the start of a Premier League match. Brisk. #WOLSOU pic.twitter.com/W4BIfj6cmp
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 9, 2024
Championship: Derby are good are home and Plymouth are woeful on the road so it should surprise nobody that the Rams have gone ahead inside 10 minutes at Pride Park, via Jerry Yates.
Is it just me or is every goal celebration these days either a faux-modest shrug of the shoulders or the mime of an archer’s arrow? Is the knee slide going out of the modern game?
Are Real Madrid back? Well if beating Osasuna 4-0, with Vinícius scoring a hat-trick and Jude Bellingham getting back on the scoresheet means that you’re ‘back’ – then yes, I guess so.
Vini Jr. hits a no look finish and then completed his second hat-trick in four games 🤷 pic.twitter.com/MFfrwLoFyf
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 9, 2024
The Ian Holloway effect is real. It has taken Swindon even less time to score at MK Dons, going 1-0 up inside the first minute via Harry Smith.
Erm, why haven’t Brentford score yet? This is ridiculously poor from them.
GOAL! Wolves 1-0 Southampton (Sarabia '2)
A dream start for Wolves in their must-win game against fellow struggles. Superb stuff, a flowing move finished off by Pablo Sarabia.
Gary O’Neil will be chuffed. Talk about flying out of the blocks.
Updated
KICK OFF
Is that a collective ‘peeeeeeepp’ I can hear? Yes, I believe it is. We’re off.
Down in League Two, good ol’ Ollie is preparing for his first league game in charge of Swindon. He’s two from two in the cup competitions so far and has already shaken up the League Two press conference scene, naturally.
Ian Holloway is SO happy to be back in football management. 😃#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/2V1JUmTVu3
— BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) November 9, 2024
Here’s another good footballing read for you to enjoy with a coffee before this afternoon’s games get under way.
It’s objectionable when two teams play in reverse colours (blue and white v white and blue) like this, but that’s not the most heinous crime on the teamsheet.
White shirt, blue shorts, erm... #bwfc pic.twitter.com/TUGA7bGKIx
— Marc Iles (@MarcIles) November 9, 2024
Our resident Fitba correspondent Simon McMahon gets in touch with a nice preview of this afternoon’s action north of the border:
Afternoon Dominic. Dundee United, still fourth in the table despite picking up only a single point from their last three games, welcome Ross County to Tannadice today. United, with manager Jim Goodwin having signed a new deal this week, will be looking for all three points against the Dingwall side who sit ninth, but are only four points worse off. Elsewhere, struggling Hibs – bottom of the table with just one win in 11 games – are at home to St. Mirren, Motherwell play St. Johnstone and Jimmy Thelin’s
BarcelonaAberdeen face Dundee in the teatime kick off.
Thanks as always Simon. Celtic and Rangers are both in action on Sunday.
Full time in the early kick-offs around the country. Here are those scores, starting with the trio of Championship fixtures:
Cardiff 1-3 Blackburn
Middlesbrough 5-1 Luton
Stoke 1-1 Millwall
And now League One:
Burton 2-0 Shrewsbury
Wrexham 1-0 Mansfield
League Two:
Harrogate 1-2 Morecambe
Salford 0-1 Carlisle
Game over. Lewis Baker with a bolt from the blue for Blackburn on the break. 3-1 and that will sink the home side.
Cardiff 1-2 Blackburn: This cracking game is now getting the cracking finale it deserves, with Cardiff now piling on the pressure in search of an equaliser. John Eustace is wearing a worried look on the touchline as his team try to keep out the baying Bluebirds. Five minutes to go plus addeds.
Here’s our big preview of the weekend’s Premier League action, as usual.
Elsewhere in the Championship, Middlesbrough are running riot at home to Luton – it’s 4-1 to the hosts at the Riverside – while Ben Gibson has levelled up for Stoke at home to Millwall. One-each in the Potteries.
Now the team news is taken care of (it comes earlier these days), I can focus on Cardiff v Blackburn. It’s been a very watchable game so far with the visitors scoring two slick goals through Andi Weimann before Cardiff – full of effort and bluster but lacking a little in quality – pulled one back via a David Turnbull penalty rebound. Game on with 15 minutes remaining.
Wolves v Southampton team news
Wolves (3-4-3): Sá; Bueno, Dawson, T.Gomes; Semedo, J.Gomes, Lemina, Aït-Nouri; Sarabia, Strand Larsen, Cunha.
Southampton (3-5-2): Ramsdale; Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Stephens; Walker-Peters, Downes, Lallana, Fernandes, Manning; Archer, Armstrong.
Updated
West Ham v Everton team news
West Ham (4-3-3): Fabianski; Wan-Bissaka, Todibo, Kilman, Emerson; Soucek, Rodríguez, Paquetá; Bowen, Antonio, Summerville.
Everton (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Young, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Mangala, Gueye; Ndiaye, Doucouré, Lindstrøm; Calvert-Lewin.
Updated
Crystal Palace v Fulham team news
Crystal Palace (3-4-3): Henderson; Clyne, Lacroix, Guéhi; Muñoz, Chalobah, Devenny, Mitchell; Sarr, Kamada, Mateta.
Fulham (4-2-3-1): Leno; Tete, Andersen, Bassey, Robinson; Berge, Pereira; Nelson, Smith Rowe, Iwobi; Jiménez.
Updated
Brentford v Bournemouth team news
Brentford (4-2-3-1): Flekken; Van den Berg, Collins, Pinnock, Janelt; Nørgaard, Jensen; Mbeumo, Damsgaard, Lewis-Potter; Wissa.
Bournemouth (4-3-3): Kepa; Smith, Zabarnyi, Senesi, Kerkez; Cook, Christie, Adams; Semenyo, Evanlison, Kluivert.
Updated
Preamble
Good afternoon, and welcome to a 3pm (GMT) Saturday featuring the squeezed middle of the Premier League, though West Ham and Everton both teeter at the bottom. Brentford have a fantastic home record, while being the worst away side, but are at home to Bournemouth, recent conquerors of Manchester City AND Arsenal. Something’s gotta give there. Crystal Palace v Fulham is a case of a London club being safely in mid-table and it perhaps not being the club you expected, even if Marco Silva continues to show what a fine manager he is. Palace are improving but still not out of trouble. And as for Wolves v Southampton, this is this week’s six-pointer. Saints won last week, and Russell Martin can all but finish off his old pal Gary O’Neil if his team follow that up.
All that, plus the latest and greatest from the EFL and Europe, with second tier promotion frontrunners Sunderland and Leeds among those in action. We’ll also run through the latest from the 12.30pm kick-offs, which are nearing their denouement. Join me.
