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Key events
10 min Proper chances at both ends! First Lukic takes a shot from the edge of the box, well struck but too close to Martinez. Then Watkins, cutting in from the left, can only follow suit.
8 min Half-chances at both ends! First Sessegnon curls in a good cross to Jimenez, whose header goes straight at Martinez, though it might have been offside anyway. Then Villa break and Buendia has a blast from distance that goes wide.
6 min Another Villa corner. Digne swings it in but Leno clasps it calmly.
5 min The free kick brings Villa a corner, taken short and then messed up as Jimenez is easily able to clear.
4 min Villa make it into Fulham’s half, where Tielemans wins a free kick 40 yards out.
3 min From the free kick, Fulham make it into the box, where Smith Rowe slips through … and plays a poor square ball that doesn’t find Jimenez.
2 min The first foul is committed by Morgan Rogers, needlessly, on Sander Berge – they were in the centre circle.
1 min Fulham kick off and play the ball around at the back. They’re in all white, so they bear a very slight resemblance to Real Madrid. Villa are in a lot of claret and a little blue.
The teams line up as a drone camera swoops across the Thames. It’s at its sparkling best in the spring sunshine.
Also today, at 5.15pm, there’s an FA Cup semi-final with giant-killing possibilities. Can Southampton knock out the mighty Man City? It may seem far-fetched, but they managed it in the League Cup only three years ago.
The first email of the day has landed, and it’s from a Fulham fan. “We almost never beat Villa and we never beat Emery,” says Richard Hirst, “so my hopes aren’t high.” That’s the spirit!
“But we’ll always have the 2018 play off final to cling to: just a shame John Terry isn’t still Villa’s centre back.”
True, but next time you face Chelsea, he may well be their manager.
So what else is happening today? Quite a lot, as the Premier League takes a Sunday off tomorrow, perhaps in an attempt to show younger fans what life was like in the Seventies.
There are three games at 3pm today. Liverpool entertain Palace, who are 13th and still not out of the race for Europe as they have a game in hand on everyone above them. Liverpool have actually won their last two league games, while crashing out of every other competition. West Ham welcome Everton for the David Moyes derby, which has “hard-fought” written all over it. And Wolves host Spurs in a game Roberto de Zerbi surely has to win if Spurs are to sneak past West Ham to safety.
Then, at 5.30, Arsenal try to remember how to win against Newcastle, who have fallen apart but still look dangerous on paper – and better-equipped than most teams to cope with Arsenal’s manhandling at corners.
Teams in full
Marco Silva, who may be wondering why his team have become so toothless, has gone for an attacking bench, with Issa Diop as the only defender bar Antonee Robinson, who loves to bomb forward. But among all the subs, Tammy Abraham still looks like the best bet for a late goal.
Fulham (4-2-3-1) Leno; Castagne, Andersen, Bassey, Sessegnon; Lukic, Berge; Wilson, Smith Rowe, Chukwueze; Jimenez.
Subs: Lecomte, Diop, Robinson, Cairney, Reed, King, Bobb, Muniz, Kusi-Asane.
Aston Villa (4-2-3-1) Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Bogarde, Tielemans; McGinn, Buendia, Rogers; Watkins.
Subs: Bizot, Mings, Lindelof, Maatsen, Douglas Luiz, Barkley, Sancho, Bailey, Abraham.
Teams in brief: no Onana for Villa
Unai Emery makes four changes. One looks enforced as Amadou Onana is missing altogether, presumed injured: his place at the back of midfield goes to Lamare Bogarde. Behind him, Pau Torres and Lucas Digne come in for Tyrone Mings and Ian Maatsen. Further forward, Emi Buendia replaces Ross Barkley.
Teams in brief: three changes for Fulham, Iwobi out
After the stalemate at Brentford this time last week, Marco Silva shuffles the pack. Sander Berge is back to join his partner in the pivot, Sasa Lukic, for the first time in ages. Raul Jimenez edges out Rodrigo Muniz as the spearhead and Samuel Chukwueze comes in on the left to replace Alex Iwobi, who has an injured hamstring.
Preamble
Morning everyone and welcome to the first Premier League game of the day. For both these clubs, it’s all about the European places.
Aston Villa, fourth in the table, are almost a shoo-in for the Champions League. They will go back up to third if they do better against Fulham today than Manchester United do against Brentford on Monday. And they have another route to the top table if they need it – winning the Europa League, something at which their manager, Unai Emery, is the world expert.
Marco Silva’s Fulham, who are 12th, are a long shot for Europe but still in a position to dream. If they win this game, they will clamber up to tenth, with perhaps only one more win needed to lift them to sixth. And, just to add sauce, a win today will leave them level on points with their chaotic neighbours, Chelsea.
But first Fulham have to remember where the goal is. They’ve drawn five blanks in their past seven games, scoring only against doomed Burnley and tottering Spurs. While Fulham have yet to break their duck for April, Villa have scored 12 times in the past 16 days. Last Sunday, in a rip-roaring fun-fest at Villa Park, they became the first team to score four against Sunderland this season (though not the last). After a slump that brought only 12 points from 12 league games, Villa have just collected seven from three – and, as a bonus, demolished Bologna.
The formbook fancies Villa, who won the reverse fixture 3-1 in September. But then Fulham win more often at home than Villa do away. They don’t have to rotate, they badly need the points, and the gods surely owe them a few goals, so it should be a good contest. Back soon with the teams.
UK News
FA Cup semi-final buildup, plus crunch games at both ends of the Premier League – matchday live | Football
Key events
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!
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