Key events
Everton 0-0 Chelsea Harrison has a chance, created by N’Diaye, such a livewire, and it’s Sanchez who makes a fine save.
Fulham 0-0 Southampton Josh King goes on one of his runs, and then ends up fouled by Sugawara, who is booked.
Manchester United 0-1 Bournemouth It’s the away team who have started brighter in ge second half. Harry Maguire’s been put under a lot of pressure.
Back underway for the second halves
Hopefully more goals to follow..
Richard Hirst gets in touch: “Southampton only have one defender and we still can’t score – what did I tell you!”
Luke and Laura: “The close-up image of the ball being blown by the wind before Everton tried to take a free kick, and a cone being blown onto the field are in the top three highlights from the first half of this game. Let’s all spare a thought for all the fans on the west coast of the US who got up at 6 am to watch this.”
Jeremy Boyce: So, how are the recent managerial changes working out ? Man U : so far….to go. Southampton : so far so good Wolves : Blimey! Leicester : Er.
Hasan Minhas: “As a lifelong Forest fan, I’ve been spending today trying out this newfangled concept that I’ve heard about in books and passing anecdotes – it’s called “enjoying the Christmas holiday.” Apparently people spend this time relaxing with family, watching corny movies, and playing Mariah Carey on loop, rather than wincing at weekend scorelines and devising intricate algorithms to calculate how many points are needed to stave off relegation. It feels alien, perhaps even naughty, but I’m really getting a feeling for it.”
Oh Gary Gary: the Wolves fans are singing Vitor Pereira’s name.
Half-time: Leicester 0-3 Wolves
Half-time: Fulham 0-0 Southampton
Half-time: Everton 0-0 Chelsea
Half-time: Manchester 0-1 Bournemouth
Everton 0-0 Chelsea Yes, this game is being fully Dyched. Chelsea have flickered only occasionally. Pickford has been booked for timewasting. Nobody seems to know.
Leicester 0-3 Wolves (Cunha, 44)
Oh Gary, oh no. Oh Ruud. At least Gary can take credit for another sharp finish from Cunha, who is playing despite that Ipswich incident.
Manchester United 0-1 Bournemouth Bruno Fernandes has missed two chances for the home team.
Jeremy Boyce: “Of course the Toffees fans will believe in the new American ownership if it brings them a sniff of a trophy. Hard to believe but it’s nearly 40 (forty !) years since they last bothered the engravers.”
It’s 30 next year. I was there. On my 19th birthday.
Eric Pietersen on the Everton takeover. “The start of the Friedkin Group era at Everton hits home for me in a uniquely personal way.
My love of football started as a teenager with a family move to Rome the same month that Italy won the 1982 World Cup (quite the eye-opener for a USA kid), and it suffered its first heartbreak two years later with Roma’s loss to Liverpool at the Stadio Olimpico in the 1984 European Cup final (it’s why I chose to be an Evertonian). The relief of knowing Farhad Moshiri is no longer around to screw things up at Everton is comparable to passing a kidney stone (I can speak from experience), and the Friedkin Group making that happen thus earns my overwhelming goodwill.
“But it won’t be bottomless. Roma are now on their fourth manager of the season including sacking club legend Daniele de Rossi, which went down with supporters about as poorly as Moshiri hiring Liverpool legend Rafa Benitez at Everton three years ago.
“I’m wary that there’s a blind spot in Friedkin Group’s USA-inspired approach to sports management when it comes to running a football club on the other side of the pond, and I’m anxious about how much it has fed the disarray at Roma. I have to think it’ll be a concern of mine as an Evertonian too, but not too much right now. I’m just so happy. Farhad Moshiri is gone! Hallelujah!!”
Fulham 0-0 Southampton Iwobi crashes one from range. That’s what they have been reduced to by a disciplined performance by Southampton’s defender. Yes, you read that right.
Goal! Leicester 0-2 Wolves (Rodrigo Gomes 36)
James Justin makes a mistake, and Rodrigo Guedes scores as the cross comes to him.
Manchester United 0-1 Bournemouth United have been horrendous on set pieces all season and seemed to have got worse under Amorim. Manchester, so much to answer for.
Fulham 0-0 Southampton Iwobi drifts the ball wide. It all seems to be Fulham at the moment.
Manchester United 0-1 Bournemouth Huijsen, I should say, is a Dutchman who plays for Spain U21s. He’s a classy player, and grew up in Marbella.
Goal! Manchester United 0-1 Bournemouth Huijsen 29)
A header from the Dutch defender who cuts quite a dash at Bournemouth, very calm at bringing the ball out.
Everton 0-0 Chelsea A Caicedo tackle sets up Palmer to play in Jackson, who forces a fine save from Jordan Pickford. Chelsea are moving up the gears.
Bournemouth 0-0 Manchester United Not much happening here though Bournemouth are setting much of the pace.
Fulham 0-0 Southampton Fulham continue to dominate, and they have lots of pace down the wing through the excellent Antonee Robinson, and it takes Kyle Walker-Peters to clear the danger.
Leicester 0-1 Wolves Penny for Gary O’Neil’s thoughts. That’s Guedes’s second Premier League goal all season.
Goal! Leicester 0-1 Wolves (Goncalo Guedes, 19)
Vitor Pereira – miracle worker – a volley by Guedes and we have the first goal of the new regime and the afternoon. It came from a Semedo cross.
Fulham 0-0 Southampton The home team dominant, with Josh King, 17, and not the Norwegian former Bournemouth and Manchester United player, has been among the more impressive performers.
Manchester United 0-0 Bournemouth Amad Diallo has had a shot, and Antoine Semenyo has been the most threatening player on the field.
Leicester 0-0 Wolves Some calls for a handball by Jose Sa as he and Jamie Vardy chased a loose ball. But nothing given.
Fulham 0-0 Southampton
Not quite as blowy at the Cottage but not much football being played.
Everton 0-0 Chelsea
The wind and rain of a December day on Merseyside seems to be affecting matters, and there’s a load of plastic bags blowing across the Goodison pitch. Paper, too. And the replacement balls are blowing in, too.
Up in Scotland, Dundee United have held Celtic to a 0-0 draw. The lead at the top of the SPFL is nine points.
Leicester 0-0 Wolves
Matheus Cunha is starting for Wolves, as we wait news of his potential charge for that incident with an Ipswich steward. Vitor Pereira has kicked off with a 3-4-3 formation.
We are go in the Sunday 2pm kick-offs
Four matches, plenty to play for.
Krishna gets in touch: “An unfamiliar Christmas time for us Chelsea fans where we are #2 on the table. Made more surreal by an imploding City who have fallen out of the Champions League qualifying spots. Add a resurgent Man U and the ever constant Spurs (in defining Spursy) – well, what more can one ask for?”
Richard Hirst gets in touch: “Worrying day to be a Fulham supporter: unbeaten against Spurs, Brighton, Liverpool and Arsenal means that the Fulhamish thing to do is to lose at home to Southampton. And Smith Rowe not in the squad at all – never mind Rashford, that’s where the news is.”
Naz gets in touch: “I know this isn’t The Knowledge but is this the first time United have had so many players with surnames beginning with M starting? There’s a 007 joke in there somewhere I know but hopefully Ruben Amorim keeps a Golden Eye on things today.”
Chelsea can go top if they win at Goodison.
Some Gary Neville quotes on Sky on that Rashford absence:
It is getting to the point where you leave him out three games on the bounce something really is obviously going wrong or has gone wrong and it is not looking great for both Marcus’ future at the club or Manchester United keeping him either.
I suspect it is getting to that point in the journey where it has got an inevitable ending. It is a distraction for the manager. It does become obvious that he probably has to leave and that the club want him to leave – it will probably work for both parties.
There are good examples as well of players who have struggled at United…Jadon Sancho has gone to Chelsea and is doing better, Scott McTominay wasn’t struggling but he left to go to Napoli and he is doing well, so Marcus might think it is the right thing for him as well.
Marcus Rashford is actually at Old Trafford, and he’s just been posing for photos with the mascots in the tunnel.
Anyway, some collected team news. Matthijs de Ligt is missing with illness for Manchester United for whom Joshua Zirzkee replaces Rasmus Hojlund as the central striker. Chelsea have dropped Noni Madueke for Pedro Neto. Aaron Ramsdale, who made that disastrous choice to be a pundit on Saints’ game v Spurs last week, is fit to start.
Dear, departed Russell Martin had the look of an indie-rocker, in one of those bands like Biffy Clyro or Foals. But the new man, Ivica Juric, well he’s into the real stuff.
“I started at 14 years old with Metallica and Megadeth, then I moved on to more aggressive things. Death metal is my passion, bands like Napalm Death, Obituary and Carcass.”
From playing the ball out the back to the equivalent of this? Yes, please. The vocals sound a bit like Sean Dyche, actually.
Will Unwin, who is our reporter at Leicester today, tells me that “Pereira makes his mark by starting eight native Portuguese speakers” in the Wolves team.
Leicester v Wolves teams
Leicester: Ward, Justin, Coady, Vestergaard, Kristiansen, Soumare, Skipp, El Khannous, Ayew, Mavididi, Vardy. Subs: Iversen, Faes, Okoli, Winks, De Cordova-Reid, Choudhury, Daka, Thomas, Buonanotte.
Wolves: Jose Sa, Nelson Semedo, Bueno, Toti Gomes, Doherty, Joao Gomes, Andre Trindade, Rodrigo Gomes, Goncalo Guedes, Cunha, Larsen. Subs: Johnstone, Hwang, Dawson, Doyle, Forbs, Bellegarde, Meupiyou, Cundle, Pedro Lima.
Everton v Chelsea teams
Everton: Pickford, Young, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Mangala, Gueye, Doucoure, Harrison, Calvert-Lewin, Ndiaye. Subs: Virginia, Patterson, Keane, Beto, O’Brien, Chermiti, Coleman, Lindstrom, Armstrong.
Chelsea: Sanchez, Gusto, Disasi, Adarabioyo, Colwill, Caicedo, Fernandez, Pedro Neto, Palmer, Sancho, Jackson. Subs: Jorgensen, Madueke, Joao Felix, Nkunku, Casadei, George, Acheampong, Guiu, Veiga.
Fulham v Southampton teams
Fulham: Leno, Robinson, Bassey, Diop, Castagne, King, Berge, Wilson, Cairney, Iwobi, Muniz. Subs: Benda, Andersen, Cuenca, Sessegnon, Lukic, Godo, Jimenez, Traore, Vinicius.
Southampton: Ramsdale, Walker-Peters, Wood, Bednarek, Harwood-Bellis, Sugawara, Fernandes, Downes, Aribo, Dibling, Armstrong. Subs: McCarthy, Ugochukwu, Manning, Lallana, Sulemana, Bree, Fraser, Onuachu, Archer.
Man Utd v Bournemouth teams
Manchester United: Onana, Dalot, Mazraoui, Maguire, Martinez, Malacia, Mainoo, Ugarte, Amad, Fernandes, Zirkzee. Subs: Bayindir, Yoro, Evans, Casemiro, Eriksen, Antony, Garnacho, Hojlund, Collyer.
Bournemouth: Kepa, Smith, Zabarnyi, Huijsen, Kerkez, Christie, Adams, Semenyo, Kluivert, Ouattara, Evanilson. Subs: Travers, Aarons, Cook, Billing, Brooks, Hill, Kinsey, Winterburn, Unal.
Rashford not named in Manchester United squad
That’s the word ahead of the teams being named at 2pm. The romance is at an end.
Some EFL news, per PA Media: Fleetwood sack Adam
Fleetwood have sacked boss Charlie Adam with the club 18th in the Sky Bet League Two table. The 39-year-old former Scotland midfielder, appointed last December, departs the Cod Army after Saturday’s 2-0 loss at Barrow.
Owner Jamie Pilley said in a statement on the club’s official website on Sunday: “I’d like to personally thank Charlie for his commitment and professionalism over the last 12 months. He’s been a pleasure to work with, but recent results meant we felt a change was necessary. I wish him well for the future.”
That managerial news this weekend.
Preamble
Sunday, it’s the new Saturday. Get more used to this, especially with next year’s TV deal. Anyway, on with this season, where Chelsea are the team chasing down Liverpool, up against Everton, under new ownership. Talking of which, there’s new management in at Southampton, who go to Fulham and Wolves, who host Leicester. Plus the Manchester United living soap to watch through the fingers as they take on Bournemouth.
So, it all kicks off at 2pm but team news and news to follow soon. Join me.
