Key events
The linesman seems to be the busiest person in the Emirates Stadium this afternoon – I believe Arsenal have been caught offside five times already. Meanwhile another chance for Bournemouth, but this time the ball whistles wide.
A decent chance for Evanilson to equalise for Bournemouth against Brighton, but his shot is saved.
GOAL! Fulham 1-0 Wolves (Iwobi, 20 mins)
I’d love to tell you something about this goal but I cannot. Fulham’s official X suggests that “our number 17 takes a touch and curls one into the far corner with his left foot!”
A great chance for Crystal Palace, who have a three-on-two break with Will Hughes on the ball and runners right and left. He probably picks the wrong one, rolling a pass to Sarr to his right, and his low shot from an unpromising angle is easily saved.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Nottingham Forest (Saka, 15 mins)
Pick that one out of the net! Saka runs the ball along the edge of the area from right to left before lashing a shot back across the keeper and past his despairing flap!
Everton are already 6-1 up on shots against Brentford, which suggests they aren’t being at all boring. Still 0-0 on goals, though.
It does not stand! Arsenal and Nottingham Forest remain tied at 0-0.
A long hold-up at Arsenal while the VAR checks the offside. Califiori’s goal could yet stand …
GOALS! Brighton and Palace take the lead, Arsenal have one disallowed!
Joao Pedro scores the first Premier League goal of the afternoon, burying the rebound after a decent low save. Then Ismael Sarr turns on the afterburner to outpace the defender before putting Palace ahead at Villa Park!
And at the other end a pull-back runs to Hudson-Odoi, but he completely misses his kick.
An early chance for Arsenal as Saka’s shot falls to Trossard about six yards out, but his shot is saved. And then the whole thing ends with a defensive free-kick, Trossard having been given offside.
BONG! The clock strikes three, and referees’ whistles sound. Games on!
Five minutes to kick-off, and players are in tunnels.
“From a strictly entertaiment perspective Bielsa ball is preferable to the Dyche siege mentality football,” says Mary Waltz. “But he has kept us up with his ultra conservative football. The diet is bland, but it helps us avoid a relegation heart attack.” Well we’ll see about that.
Here, for absolutely no reason, is a picture of a dog who, perhaps unsurprisingly, wants to see Wolves.
It’s all over in Leicester, and Chelsea have bagged three points that take them from third in the table up to … er … still third in the table, but now closer to second. Leicester drop a place to 16th.
Leicester have pulled a goal back against Chelsea, from the penalty spot. Jordan Ayew converted with four seconds of the five minutes’ pre-advertised stoppage time remaining.
“A home defeat to Brentford is exactly the kind of result that appears on the record of a relegated club come May,” notes Gary Naylor. “So does Sean Dyche adopt his signature caution to avoid that, or does he see the match as an opportunity to lift the team and the fans before the Christmas fixtures, and go expansive? Frankly, sneaking a 1-0 with a deflected Michael Keane header from an 88th-minute corner would do me right now. Though I suspect I’m in a minority amongst Bluenoses.”
This is the only photograph I’ve had through from Goodison Park today. I reckon that’s an expansive smile.
Actual snow! Storm Bert has dumped a bit of the white stuff on Glasgow, but the Ibrox pitch looks just dandy.
Chelsea have doubled their lead at Leicester, with 12 minutes plus a bit of stoppage time to play. Emillia Hawkins has the latest here:
Fulham v Wolverhampton teams!
Fulham: Leno, Tete, Andersen, Bassey, Robinson, Andreas Pereira, Lukic, Iwobi, Smith Rowe, Nelson, Jimenez. Subs: Benda, Wilson, Rodrigo Muniz, Cairney, Traore, Castagne, King, Sessegnon, Diop.
Wolverhampton: Jose Sa, Nelson Semedo, Toti Gomes, Ait Nouri, Rodrigo Gomes, Lemina, Joao Gomes, Bellegarde, Andre Trindade, Cunha, Larsen. Subs: Bentley, Doherty, Hwang, Doyle, Forbs, Goncalo Guedes, Cundle, Pond, Edozie.
Referee: Robert Jones.
Bournemouth v Brighton teams!
Bournemouth: Arrizabalaga, Smith, Zabarnyi, Senesi, Kerkez, Cook, Adams, Semenyo, Kluivert, Tavernier, Evanilson. Subs: Travers, Huijsen, Brooks, Ouattara, Hill, Unal, Billing, Aarons, Kinsey-Wellings.
Brighton: Verbruggen, Veltman, van Hecke, Igor, Estupinan, Baleba, Ayari, Rutter, Joao Pedro, Mitoma, Welbeck. Subs: Steele, Gruda, Enciso, Adingra, Wieffer, Ferguson, O’Riley, Samuels, McConville.
Referee: Stuart Attwell.
Everton v Brentford teams!
Everton: Pickford, Young, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Gueye, Doucoure, Lindstrom, McNeil, Ndiaye, Calvert-Lewin. Subs: Virginia, Patterson, Keane, Mangala, Harrison, Beto, O’Brien, Armstrong, Bates.
Brentford: Flekken, van den Berg, Collins, Pinnock, Lewis-Potter, Jensen, Norgaard, Janelt, Mbeumo, Wissa, Damsgaard. Subs: Valdimarsson, Schade, Thiago, Carvalho, Mee, Yarmolyuk, Konak, Roerslev, Maghoma.
Referee: Christopher Kavanagh.
Aston Villa v Crystal Palace teams!
Aston Villa: Martinez, Bogarde, Diego Carlos, Torres, Maatsen, Barkley, Tielemans, McGinn, Rogers, Bailey, Watkins. Subs: Olsen, Cash, Mings, Duran, Buendia, Digne, Philogene-Bidace, Nedeljkovic, Broggio.
Crystal Palace: Henderson, Chalobah, Lacroix, Guehi, Munoz, Hughes, Doucoure, Mitchell, Sarr, Devenny, Mateta. Subs: Turner, Matthews, Ward, Lerma, Schlupp, Clyne, Richards, Kporha, Agbinone.
Referee: Tim Robinson.
Arsenal v Nottingham Forest teams!
Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Odegaard, Jorginho, Merino, Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Trossard. Subs: Neto, Partey, Martinelli, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Havertz, Sterling, Rice, Nwaneri.
Nottm Forest: Sels, Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Alex, Yates, Dominguez, Elanga, Ward-Prowse, Hudson-Odoi, Awoniyi. Subs: Carlos Miguel, Morato, Williams, Wood, Toffolo, Moreira, Jota Silva, Sosa, Boly.
Referee: Simon Hooper.
Storm Bert wreaks havoc on the schedule
This just in from PA Media:
Storm Bert has wreaked havoc on the domestic football calendar, with Blackburn’s Championship clash against Portsmouth one of a number of games called off.
Bradford’s League Two game against Accrington and Fleetwood’s match with MK Dons have also become victims of the weather.
In the National League, the derby between Rochdale and Oldham and Halifax’s meeting with Sutton have also gone.
Storm Bert has brought heavy rain and strong winds across the UK, with amber warnings for snow and ice in place for parts of Scotland and northern England.
Blackburn called an 11am pitch inspection and a statement on their X feed said: “Due to an unplayable pitch caused by torrential rain, today’s match against Pompey at Ewood Park has been postponed by the match official.”
North of the border, Rangers’ Ladbrokes Premiership clash with Dundee United was pushed back 45 minutes to allow the visitors extra time to travel to Ibrox with delays on the roads expected.
The lower leagues in Scotland have been decimated by the weather, with only the Championship fixture between Ayr and Dunfermline, the League One clash between Montrose and Annan and East Fife’s League Two trip to Edinburgh City surviving.
Hello world!
Today’s fixtures are an absolute triumph for first-half-of-the-alphabet top-flight home teams. Just look at that array of A to M action! Sure, this year’s Premier League is 70% first-half-of-the-alphabet anyway, but today fully 85.7% of the 14 teams in action, and 100% of the sides playing at home, lounge triumphantly in the upper half of the alphabet table.
Good old Guardian, you can rely on us to bring you all the key stats, can you not? And better still you can also rely on us to bring you all of the day’s key goal updates, and between now and approximately 5pm GMT this will be the place to find them.
Those fixtures, then, and hold on to your hats for some imminent team news:
Ye Olde English Premier League
Arsenal v Nottingham Forest
Aston Villa v Crystal Palace
Bournemouth v Brighton
Everton v Brentford
Fulham v Wolverhampton
Leicester City v Chelsea (12.30)
Manchester City v Tottenham (5pm)
Championship
Blackburn v Portsmouth (Postponed because of bad weather)
Bristol City v Burnley (12.30)
Coventry v Sheff Utd (12.30)
Luton v Hull
Millwall v Sunderland
Oxford Utd v Middlesbrough
Preston North End v Derby
QPR v Stoke
Sheff Wed v Cardiff (12.30pm)
West Brom v Norwich
League One
Barnsley v Wigan
Bolton v Blackpool (12.30)
Burton Albion v Stockport County
Crawley Town v Rotherham
Huddersfield v Charlton
Lincoln City v Wycombe
Mansfield v Bristol Rovers
Northampton v Cambridge Utd
Peterborough v Reading
Shrewsbury v Birmingham (12.30)
Stevenage v Leyton Orient (12.30)
Wrexham v Exeter
League Two
AFC Wimbledon v Walsall Bradford v Accrington Stanley (postponed because of bad weather)
Carlisle v Doncaster
Cheltenham v Tranmere
Chesterfield v Barrow Fleetwood Town v Milton Keynes (postponed because of bad weather)
Gillingham v Harrogate Town
Grimsby v Colchester (12.30)
Notts County v Newport County (12.30)
Port Vale v Crewe
Salford City v Bromley
Swindon v Morecambe
Scottish Premiership
Dundee v Hibernian (5.45)
Hearts v Celtic (7.45)
Rangers v Dundee Utd (3.30pm)
Ross County v Motherwell
St Johnstone v Kilmarnock
St Mirren v Aberdeen
