Key events
Our Brighton v Liverpool blog is live! Scott Murray has been preambling a game that looks hard to call. Team news coming up in just under 10 minutes. Liverpool, we know, are definitely without Mo Salah and Alisson.
Japan win the Women’s Asian Cup again. A 1-0 win secures victory over hosts Australia – a familiar scoreline in this tournament.
The Guardian has kicked off a new chapter in puzzles with the launch of its first daily football game, On the ball. It is now live in the app for both iOS and Android … so what are you waiting for? I scored 63pts in today’s game which puts me in the top 17% of players apparently. I’m sure you can beat that though.
Nottingham Forest and Tottenham both go into their Sunday showdown on the back of European wins. While Spurs’ 3-2 victory over Atletico Madrid wasn’t enough to undo the damage of the 5-2 self-induced tonking in Spain, Forest hit back from their 1-0 first-leg loss at the City Ground to oust Midtjylland on penalties and reach a first European quarter-final for 30 years. Ben Fisher checks in with the Forest camp.
Igor Tudor is a good name, isn’t it. Perhaps the name of a chess player. There’s certainly something 3D chess about his answer here, putting us left-brain dullards to shame as we blithely trot out “six-pointer” for Sunday’s Tottenham v Nottingham Forest clash.
Asked if he believed in the concept ahead of the clash between the two relegation-threatened sides, Tudor said: “No.
“Because there are a lot of points to play for. Of course, it’s an important game because we are together there, so let’s say not six, but four?
“It’s not a final. Maybe not three points, a four-point game but still a lot of points (to go). Especially when we are so close, it’s important, but it will not decide who will (stay up).”
Iran: Sardar Azmoun has been omitted from the squad announced for two World Cup warmups after Iranian media reports that the striker had been expelled from the national team for a perceived act of disloyalty to the government.
Azmoun, who has scored 57 goals in 91 internationals, was the most notable absentee from a 35-man squad named by Iran head coach, Amir Ghalenoei, on Friday for friendlies against Nigeria and Costa Rica in the Turkish city of Antalya.
There are three 12.30pm kick-offs in the Championship today. They feature second-placed Middlesbrough and a key showdown between Ipswich (third) and Millwall (fourth).
Leaders Coventry play away at Swansea in a 5.15pm kick-off.
Premier League: You want a huge dollop of team news featuring ref appointments and how often they get chippy and brandish cards? This takes care of that:
More detailed quotes here from a frustrated Manchester United boss Michael Carrick. He was speaking after the 2-2 draw at Bournemouth and wasn’t happy at all with the performance of ref Stuart Atwell.
United were given a penalty for Alex Jimenez’s shirt pull on Matheus Cunha but later denied a second spot-kick after Amad Diallo went to ground under a challenge from Adrien Truffert. Bournemouth immediately went up the other end of the pitch and equalised through captain Ryan Christie.
Speaking of the incidents involving Cunha and Diallo, Carrick said: “He’s definitely got one of them wrong because he’s given one penalty for us for the same thing that he’s not given one. There’s a two-arm grab. The Matheus one he gives, the second one on Amad he doesn’t, which I think is almost identical, really.
“If you have two hands on someone in the box and they go over and they’re in control of the ball, for me it’s two penalties. It will be interesting to see which one they acknowledge is wrong: the one we got or the one we didn’t get.
“It’s a huge moment. They don’t give it, they go down the other end and score and then it becomes all of a sudden, ‘oh, it needs to be a bigger penalty to overturn’, just because they scored, when actually it’s a penalty and it should be a penalty if you’ve already given one.
“It’s baffling really to make sense of that. And because they score, the game flips a little bit and changes. We defended with the 10 men after all that very well. But the penalty one is just astonishing, I have to say. One of them must be wrong.”
Paul Robinson. The former Leeds and England goalkeeper? The fella off Neighbours, who went to No.16 in the UK Singles Chart with “Don’t It Make You Feel Good”? Nope, we’re talking the man who controversially replaced Alan Shearer in the Newcastle line-up. Ahead of the Tyne-Wear derby with Sunderland, Harry De Cosemo catches up with the former Magpies striker.
Expecting big things from your fantasy teams this weekend? I’m kicking myself for not captaining Bruno Fernandes, who banked 13pts (26 if he was your skipper) at Bournemouth after a goal, an assist and the maximum 3 Bonus points. I’ve given the armband to Cole Palmer in the belief that Chelsea score bundles on the road and he might have one of his crazy weeks and bang in a hat-trick. Everton aren’t that great at home, are they, and Palmer (16% owned) is a bit of a differential.
Carabao Cup final: Of course, the Premier League’s top two – Arsenal and Manchester City – don’t have a top-flight game this weekend as they’re battling it out for the first silverware of the season on Sunday. The Wembley showdown kicks of at 4.30pm GMT. The bookies make Arsenal favourites.
Let’s get in the mood with a quiz. I managed a reasonable 10 out of 15 after, admittedly, fluking a couple.
Take a look at our Premier League top scorers page. After his penalty last night, Bournemouth’s Junior Kroupi now has the same number of Premier League goals this season as Cole Palmer, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko, one more than Ollie Watkins, Jean-Philippe Mateta, Jarrod Bowen and Bruno Fernandes and three more than Bukayo Saka. Fancy that.
An email. And not a very happy one. Dave Estherby (who may have opted to ignore the right side of his bed when getting up this morning), says: “Any lawyers out there that can see if I have a case against Sky Sports for relieving me of a month’s subscription charge and only providing two weeks of (PL) football? Not the first time it’s happened, I fail to see how England’s already ambitious World Cup campaign in going to benefit from friendlies against (with respect) Uruguay and Japan – especially if anyone gets injured. With two F1 races now cancelled and RoryMac likely crocked for the Masters it’s gonna be a pretty boring sporting April now. (Before anyone starts I’m aware there is WSL and EFL on and that the Middle East situation isn’t funny; just allow me my rant plz, thanks).”
Oof. I’ll just clear up Rory’s back. He played all four rounds of last week’s Players Championship and said later: “Had that little back issue at Bay Hill, which threw a spanner in the works, but I’ve recovered from that pretty quickly. I’m really pleased with how my body responded to that little setback.”
But, getting this back to football, Dave does highlight a point about the strange hole in the Premier League programme. Manchester United played last night: the 20th of March. Their next Premier League game is home to Leeds on the 13th of April.
Liverpool will have to cope without Mo Salah and Alisson for the trip to Brighton. Both have muscle injuries.
But here’s some much better Liverpool fitness news: Alexander Isak is on his way back. The £125m British record signing will be available – in some capacity – for Liverpool’s Champions League quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain, says boss Arne Slot.
Here’s a thoroughly enjoyable Saturday morning read from Barney Ronay. He dissects the infamous Chelsea huddle before turning to a rather bigger issue: the Premier League’s verdict in its investigation into payments made by the previous Chelsea regime.
We have live football about to begin! And, not only that, there’s a minute-by-minute blog via Jonathan Howcroft. Follow the Women’s Asian Cup final between Japan and Australia in Sydney here.
It kicks off in five minutes and, as Jonathan says: “It is the most significant fixture involving an Australian national team since Ange Postecoglou led the Socceroos to continental glory in 2015. The hosts will have the majority of a 60,000+ crowd behind them but they will enter the decider as underdogs. Japan have reached at least the semi-finals of every Asian Cup since 1986, winning two out of the past three titles.”
So, what did we make of Thomas Tuchel’s 35-man England squad? Fair or not fair that there was no place for Trent Alexander-Arnold for those March international window friendlies against Uruguay and Japan?
There’s a battle going on for Champions League spots in Germany too. And there was a striking result in Friday night’s game when RB Leipzig hammered Hoffenheim 5-0 to jump above their rivals on goal difference and move into third. Leipzig were 4-0 up at half-time in a match which saw Brajan Gruda and Christoph Baumgartner both score twice.
Later today, Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich host Union Berlin (ninth) in one of four 2.30pm kick-offs in the Bundesliga. They could stretch their lead at the top to 12 points over Borussia Dortmund, who have a home game against mid-table Hamburg at 5.30pm.
Here are the top scorers in Germany by the way.
30 Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)
16 Denis Undav (Stuttgart)
15 Luis Diaz (Bayern Munich)
12 Christoph Baumgartner (RB Leipzig)
12 Serhou Guirassy (Borussia Dortmund)
It’s a rather unusual set of Premier League timings today. 3pm traditionalists won’t be happy. All times GMT.
12:30 Brighton v Liverpool
15:00 Fulham v Burnley
17:30 Everton v Chelsea
20:00 Leeds v Brentford
Going to any of these? Travel plans home if you support Brentford?
The cause of Manchester United’s anger? John Brewin explains in his match report.
The United away contingent, previously quietened, returned to previous brash Manc swagger mode before outrage descended. Another penalty call looked plumb when Amad Diallo was baulked by Adrien Truffert but within seconds Bournemouth were level, Ryan Christie’s low shot rolling beyond an unsighted Senne Lammens. United’s hopes of video assistance rescue were dashed after a tense wait and the protestations continued post-match. “When it’s the bigger players they end up giving the fouls,” said Fernandes, suggesting Diallo’s size had counted against him. “That could’ve changed the game.
Preamble
Happy Saturday everyone. Hope you’ve woken up full of the joys. The Premier League has taken a bit of flak in recent times for not being entertaining enough but last night’s game at the Vitality Stadium didn’t short change anyone. Perhaps Bournemouth and Manchester United should play more often as their two meetings this season have ended a combined 6-6. We’ll have reaction to yesterday’s 2-2 draw soon and it includes a penalty debate – of course it does – that caused plenty of fury in the United camp.
There’s another big game on the south coast today with Brighton hosting Liverpool. Can the Reds build on their 4-0 thumping of Galatasaray or will they again go into full frustration mode? That’s one of four Premier League fixtures today.
And if you can’t wait until kick-off at Brighton (12.30pm), don’t fear as there are no less than four Women’s Super League games getting under way at midday. They include leaders Manchester City at home to Tottenham.
Here at Matchday live we’ll bring you all the buildup to today’s games and much, much more. And, as always, please get in touch with your thoughts, predictions and matchday musings here.
Vamos!
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2026/mar/21/premier-league-buildup-carabao-cup-final-countdown-bournemouth-v-manchester-united-reaction-and-more-matchday-live
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