SATURDAY’S Premier League action features some huge matches in the race for Europe.
Manchester City travel to rock bottom Southampton as Pep Guardiola’s side look to chase down Arsenal in second.
Elsewhere, Fulham look to give their European aspirations a boost as they take on Everton.
Wolves host top-8 hopefuls Brighton, and Ipswich face a Brentford side who also have a chance of qualifying for Europe.
In the evening kick off, two sides with ambitions for continental football next season, Bournemouth and Aston Villa, go head-to-head at the Vitality.
- Kick off times: 3pm/5.30pm BST
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From Jack Rosser at St Mary’s
What a ridiculous afternoon.
That is the loudest cheer at St. Mary’s since they earned their place in the Play-Off final a year ago.
Guardiola has marched onto the pitch and looks furious – aggressively congratulating Southampton players in a way only he can.
Full time – Fulham 1-3 Everton
Everton take the honours on the banks of the Thames, and Fulham’s slim hopes of making the Europa Conference League have come to an end.
Full time – Wolves 0-2 Brighton
Brighton follow Brentford’s lead and claim a vital – and impressive -three points that has them fully in the hunt for eighth spot
Full time – Southampton 0-0 Man City
A surprise on the south coast! The Saints move on to 12 points and away from the 11-point low set by Derby County in 2008.
Full time – Ipswich 0-1 Brentford
The Bees survive a late scare to register their fourth win in a row, and Thomas Frank’s team are on course for Europe.
Southampton 0-0 Man City
90. Substitute Omar Marmoush almost wins it for Manchester City!
The Egyptian takes charge on the edge of the box, and rockets a shot past Aaron Ramsdale that cannons back off the crossbar.
It’s the closest City have come this afternoon.
GOAL! Wolves 0-2 Brighton
85. Brighton are on the charge for Europe!
Brajan Gruda seals the deal at Molineux, cooling dinking over Jose Sa for his first goal for the Seagulls.
From Graham Hill at Molineux
The jaw-dropping stat of the day – in Wolverhampton at least – is that this is the first time Danny Welbeck, 34, has scored 10 Premier League goals in a season.
Considering his career has stretched over 17 seasons, that is some revelation.
He netted nine in a campaign twice, but the last time was 11 years ago. Incredible, he has never reached double figures until today’s penalty which, right now, looks to be enough to win the game.
Meanwhile, Wolves boss Vitor Pereira has seen enough – and made a QUADRUPLE substitution.
Wolves have been getting nowhere fast today, and the Portuguese coach will hope Jorgen Strand Larsen, Rodrigo Gomes, Pablo Sarabia and Jean Bellegarde can bring their side back into this.
GOAL! Fulham 1-3 Everton
74. Fulham’s season is collapsing upon itself.
Beto has made it 3-1, and the Cottagers are going to be comfortably beaten in a game that they could have won by the half hour mark.
The hosts are caught cold as they try to find an instant reply, allowing Everton to break at pace.
Carlos Alcaraz picks out Beto on the left, and he lets rip with a shot that seems to go through Bernd Leno on its way to the back of the net.
GOAL! Fulham 1-2 Everton
70. The Toffees have turned it around at Craven Cottage!
Dwight McNeil’s corner is met emphatically by Michael Keane at the far post, who beats Bernd Leno in the Fulham goal.
There’s a VAR check for both a foul and an offside, but Carlos Alcaraz is deemed not to have impacted the game on both counts.
David Moyes’ men hit the front!
Ipswich 0-1 Brentford
67. A lengthy VAR check takes place after Axel Tuanzebe and Nathan Collins wrestle each other to the ground at a Michael Kayode long throw.
The Brentford centre-half is convinced he’s been fouled and wants a penalty, but Samuel Barrott does not agree.
Southampton 0-0 Man City
63. City are turning up the gas on the south coast.
Last season’s Premier League champions have had the last 11 attempts on goal in this game, and Bernardo Silva has just come the closest so far to breaking the deadlock.
Southampton have only kept two clean sheets in the last 47 Premier League games. Surely they don’t hold out this afternoon?
Southampton 0-0 Man City
58. Southampton continue to frustrate Manchester City at St Mary’s.
Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva have just had a couple of shots blocked, but Saints are digging in.
Jeremy Doku is already on for Pep Guardiola’s side, but how long will it be until the City boss turns to others on his bench?
Fulham 1-1 Everton
49. Harry Wilson almost restores Fulham’s lead!
Kenny Tete picks out the Welshman with a ball over the top, and Wilson responds by attempting a delicate lob over Jordan Pickford.
It initially looked perfect, but somehow the England goalkeeper got back and clawed the ball away.
In saving Everton, Pickford looks to have landed awkwardly on his elbow and requires a bit of magic sponge action.
From Jon West at Portman Road
Referee Barrott was inevitably booed off at the break but the truth is Brentford deserve to be ahead. Just. It’s not a classic by any stretch but the Tractor Boys have barely threatened.
From Graham Hill at Molineux
Brighton have edged the first half and might have had more than their one goal but for some hesitancy going forwards.
Danny Welbeck’s penalty separates the sides after he had a goal ruled out for an offside against Yankuba Minteh – which VAR took around four minutes to decide.
Matheus Cunha might have been lucky to escape a red card for bringing down Mats Wieffer for the penalty – ref Michael Oliver only showed him a yellow.
Wolves look out-of-sorts all over the pitch, but it might not be too long before Jorgen Strand Larsen makes an appearance from the subs’ bench.
From Jack Rosser at St Mary’s
A very odd first half on the south coast.
Southampton have parked all of their outfield players within 20 yards of their goal and City have struggled to create anything of note.
Haaland and Guardiola have both been talking about a lack of hunger this week. and there does not look to be too much of it here.
You would get a more intense encounter at Soccer Aid.
The half-time scores
All four afternoon games in the Premier League have reached the break, and this is the current state of play:
- Fulham 1-1 Everton
- Ipswich 0-1 Brentford
- Southampton 0-0 Man City
- Wolves 0-1 Brighton
GOAL! Fulham 1-1 Everton
45+3. On the stroke of half-time, Everton find a fortuitous equaliser!
Vitalii Mykolenko has his first goal since November 2023, and he has a huge deflection off Andreas Pereira to thank for it.
Bernd Leno fails to get distance when opting to punch a corner, and that allows Abdoulaye Doucoure to nudge it back for Mykolenko to strike.
Fulham concede from outside the box AGAIN and now have work to do.
Fulham 1-0 Everton
43. Harry Wilson goes close to a second!
The Welsh wing wizard dribbles in on the left, teasing the Everton defence, and then strikes low towards the bottom corner.
Jordan Pickford has to wait for it to travel through a crowd, but then gets down brilliantly to push the shot around the post.
From Graham Hill at Molineux
It’s been a strange few minutes for Brighton, first, they had a goal controversially ruled out by VAR, then they took the lead two minutes later from the penalty spot.
Danny Welbeck looked to have given Brighton the lead when his shot found the net after being left by Yankuba Minteh.
There then followed a VAR check of around four minutes, which brought a chant of ‘Boring, boring’ from Wolves fans.
But the final verdict was that Minteh was deemed to be in an offside position and interfering with play, despite not touching the ball.
Hope that’s clear.
Brighton’s response was to win a penalty when Matheus Cunha and Mats Wieffer tangled outside the box and then the Brazilian carried it inside the area. Ref Michael Oliver showed Cunha a yellow card, but it looks like the Seagulls’ bench wanted a red.
Welbeck cooly dispatched the penalty for his 10th Premier League goal of the season.
From Jon West at Portman Road
Ipswich fans are venting their fury at referee Sam Barrott for allowing (in their opinion) Brentford to carry on taking a corner until they scored.
Jacob Greaves was lucky to escape a |VAR penalty call for a rugby tackle on Sepp van den Berg initially, Barrott booked Christian Norgaard and Jack Taylor from the next attempt. And Kevin Schade headed in the third.
“1-0 to the referee” and “Premier League, corrupt as f***” chanted Town fans.
GOAL! Wolves 0-1 Brighton
28. Now Danny Welbeck has his goal, and it comes from the penalty spot!
In the absence of the suspended Joao Pedro, the former England international stepped up and calmly placed his spotkick beyond Jose Sa!
It’s a deserved lead, and there was no debating the decision that led to the opener.
Matheus Cunha was caught in possession just outside his own 18-yard box, and in his bid to get back and make amends, he tripped Mats Wieffer just as the Brighton man was about to shoot.
Cunha is yellow carded for his part, and – to be honest – he’s fortunate not see red as I’m really not sure if that was a genuine attempt to win the ball.
Wolves 0-0 Brighton
24. Danny Welbeck has the ball in the back of the net at Molineux!
But no sooner had the striker wheeled away in celebration, he saw the linesman’s flag up on the far side.
However, it’s not that clearcut.
In fact, Welbeck was definitely onside when he steered a centre from the right into the far corner.
However, Yankuba Minteh who followed the ball towards goal was offside, and he has been adjudged to have been interfering with play.
VAR take a long look at it, and eventually uphold the on-field decision.
GOAL! Ipswich 0-1 Brentford
18. West London delight!
Seconds after Fulham took the lead, Brentford have followed suit at Portman Road.
Kevin Schade has his third in a week, following his double against Manchester United with another header here.
The German gets on the end of Bryan Mbeumo’s corner, and cooly beat Alex Palmer in the Ipswich goal.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
