Everton v Aston Villa, Fulham v Leeds, Championship updates and more: football clockwatch – live

3 weeks ago 16

John McGinn of Aston Villa is challenged by James Garner of Everton.

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1 min: Newcastle 0-0 Wolves Nick Pope has apparently made two outstanding saves in the first minute at St James’ Park, denying first Rodrigo Gomes and then Hwang Hee-chan.

Not sure how to follow that introduction so I’ll settle for an awkward hello. Look, the 3pm games have started!

You lucky people are about to get a big dose of Rob Smyth, he’s taking over just in time for kick-off. Enjoy!

Jeremy Boyce has successfully managed to spell my name:

Should be fun this afternoon, no less than six teams have a chance to go top of the Premier League tonight depending on their results and goal-scoring ambitions, and possibly stay there all week if Buurrrnleh can pull off a shock tomorrow.

As a Leeds fan I’d be happy to see us nick a point at the Cottage and sneak above troubled Forest into mid-table.

And it’s all set for the Baggies to do one on the struggling Rams and grab the lead from ‘Boro in the Championship on their 125th birthday.

David Hytner

David Hytner was at the Emirates to see Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Forest. Here is his on-the-whistle report:

When Ange Postecoglou dreamed it beforehand, he imagined a result to kickstart his Nottingham Forest tenure, silencing a group of opposition supporters that have long been against him in the process. The former Tottenham manager could scarcely have hand-picked a spicer debut assignment. Then reality intervened.

A reminder to those of you emailing in, you massively increase your chances of getting a mention if you get my name right. ‘Hi Tim’ is unlikely to work. The good news is that Rob Smyth will be here shortly and he is way less precious than me. Get in touch via the link in the top of the blog.

From Sam Dalling in the press box at the Hill Dickinson Stadium:

David Moyes has named Premier League player of the month Jack Grealish on the bench against his former…nah, not really, of course he bloomin’ hasn’t.

There is a lovely vibe to Everton at the moment, some Moyes-ian solidity with a frisson of flair provided by Grealish and Iliman Ndiaye. James Garner is once again a makeshift left-back after Vitaliy Mykolenko pulled out of Ukraine duty with an injury. Garner played there against Brighton during this ground’s christening and scored a peach, remember.

The first decision a weekend set to be dominated by goalkeeping narrative has gone the way of Emi Martinez. It was always likely too, mind – you don’t label someone the “best goalkeeper in the world”, as Unai Emery did on Friday, and then leave them on the bench.

Lacking in goals – well, in fact lacking a goal – Emery has plumped for Emi Buendia in the triptych behind Oli Watkins. Morgan Rogers, outstanding for England earlier in the week, and John McGinn are the other two.

Harvey Elliot and Jadon Sancho will have to wait for their Villa debuts. They are on the bench along with Donyell Malen and Evann Guessand. Surely there is a goal somewhere between that octet?!

Full-time scores from the early kick-offs in the EFL

Championship

Charlton Athletic 1-1 Millwall
Oxford 2-2 Leicester
Preston 2-2 Middlesbrough

League One

Bradford 3-1 Huddersfield
Northampton 1-0 Blackpool

League Two

Accrington Stanley 1-0 Colchester
Crawley 2-0 Cheltenham

More pre-match reading for you, here are our pick of the key storylines in the Premier League this weekend:

It’s full-time at the Emirates, Arsenal have dispatched Ange Postecoglou’s Nottingham Forest 3-0. Murillo going off in the first half will be a concern for the visitors but the Gunners were excellent. Mikel Arteta was missing a few starters but the players coming off the bench showed the depth now running through his team.

Philipp Lahm

Nick Woltemade immediately comes into the Newcastle starting XI after his £73.5m move, but World Cup winner and Guardian columnist Philipp Lahm is less than convinced with the big man:

He has not yet developed any consistency or patterns – not in his first touch, not in his combination play, not in his timing on headers, not in his shooting. His goals are not the logical consequence of excellent actions and skills. His excellence is not repeatable. And he still has to prove that he can last 50 games in a season, because he is tall but not robust.

Marc Guehi was excellent for England in midweek and it was easy to see why Oliver Glasner was so keen to keep the central defender at Selhurst Park. He spoke ahead of the Eagles clash with Sunderland about the importance of Guehi:

A few interesting notes from that batch of teams…

Emi Martinez is back in goal for Villa, Marco Bizot was less than convincing in the Argentinian’s absence
Iliman Ndiaye starts for Everton despite being a pre-match doubt
An unfamiliar look for Crystal Palace, with Adam Wharton and Ismaila Sarr missing. Yeremy Pino gets his full debut
Simon Adingra comes into the Sunderland starting XI for Eliezer Mayenda, while Enzo Le Fee is not named in the squad
Ethan Ampadu returns for Leeds, while Karl Darlow and Dominic Calvert-Lewin also both start
Deadline day Bournemouth arrival Valjko Milosavljevic comes into the team as one of two changes
Carlos Baleba is dropped to the bench for Brighton, James Milner starts in his place. Diego Gomez drops out of the squad, as Giorginio Rutter starts
Nick Woltemade makes his debut from the start for Newcastle and Joelinton is back. Yoanne Wissa is injured
Tolu Arokodare starts for Wolves as one of five changes

Team news: Everton v Aston Villa

Everton XI: Pickford, Keane, Tarkowski, O’Brien, Iroegbunam, Gueye, Garner, Dewsbury-Hall, Grealish, Ndiaye, Beto
Subs: Travers, Patterson, McNeil, Barry, Dibling, Coleman, Alcaraz, Rohl, Aznou.

Aston Villa XI: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne McGinn, Tielemans, Buendia, Watkins, Bogarde, Rogers
Subs: Bizot, Maatsen Proctor, Lindelof, Elliott, Torres, Malen, Sancho, Maatsen, Guessand.

Team news: Crystal Palace v Sunderland

Crystal Palace XI: Henderson, Munoz, Lacroix, Richards, Guehi, Mitchell, Lerma, Pino, Hughes, Kamada, Mateta
Subs: Benitez, Clyne, Esse, Sosa, Rodney, Devenny, Cardines, Canvot, Uche.

Sunderland XI: Roefs, Hume, Mukiele, Alderete, Mandava, Diarra, Xhaka, Sadiki, Talbi, Adingra, Isidor
Subs: Patterson, Neil, Geertruida, Rigg, Maydena, Traore, Masuaku, Jones, Brobbey.

Team news: Fulham v Leeds

Fulham XI: Leno, Tete, Andersen, Bassey, Sessegnon, Lukic, Berge, Wilson, King, Iwobi, Rodrigo Muniz
Subs: Lecomte, Jimenez, Cairney, Adama, Castagne, Kevin, Diop, Smith Rowe, Robinson.

Leeds XI: Darlow, Bogle, Rodon, Struijk, Gudmundsson, Longstaff, Ampadu, Stach, Aaronson, Calvert-Lewin, Okafor
Subs: Meslier, James, Nmecha, Bijol, Harrison, Tanaka, Justin, Gnonto, Gruev.

Team news: Newcastle v Wolves

Newcastle XI: Pope, Trippier, Schar, Burn, Livramento, Tonali, Guimaraes, Joelinton, Murphy, Woltemade, Barnes
Subs: Ramsdale, Hall, Botman, Thiaw, Krafth, Osula, Elanga, Willock, Miley.

Wolves XI: Johnstone, R.Gomes, Mosquera, Agbadou, Toti, H. Bueno, Andre, Krejci, J.Gomes, Hwang, Arokodare
Subs: Bentley, Doherty, S. Bueno, Munetsi, Wolfe, Arias, Bellegarde, Lopez, Tchatchoua.

Team news: Bournemouth v Brighton

Bournemouth XI: Petrovic, Hill, Milosavljevic, Senesi, Truffert, Adams, Scott, Brooks, Tavernier, Semenyo, Evanilson
Subs: Dannis, Araujo, Cook, Soler, Gannon-Doak, Kluivert, Jimenez, Adli, Kroupi.

Brighton XI: Verbruggen, Veltman, van Hecke, Dunk, De Cuyper, Milner, Hinshelwood, Minteh, Rutter, Mitoma, Welbeck
Subs: Steele, Gruda, Tzimas, Watson, Baleba, Boscagli, Kadioglu, Ayari, Coppola.

Preamble

Hello and welcome to a bumper* Saturday clockwatch, a festival of post-international-break football that includes five Premier League games. Six if you count the lunchtime game between Arsenal and Nottingham Forest, and why wouldn’t you.

A full fixture list is available on our live scores page. We’ll have updates from the EFL, Scotland and beyond, but our main focus is on the aforementioned Premier League matches. We’ll have team news around 2pm, whistles at 3pm and goalflashes thereafter.

Premier League