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Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea
Premier League: The final whistle at Anfield was greeted by a loud chorus of boos as Liverpool were held by a Chelsea side who came from behind to end a run of six straight defeats. Ryan Gravenberch opened the scoring for Liverpool with a fine strike from the edge of the Chelsea penalty area, only for Liverpool’s lead to be cancelled out when Wesley Fofana got the faintest of touches to an Enzo Fernandez free-kick that was almost certainly going in anyway.
Middlesbrough 0-0 Southampton
Championship playoff semi-final first leg: Boro dominated the game but survived a late Southampton onslaught. This tie will be settled at St Mary’s on Tuesday night, although Saints will be sweating over the outcome of an independent disciplinary commission investigation into alleged misconduct in the build-up to today’s game.
Scottish Premiership
League leaders Hearts have a tricky assignment at Motherwell tonight, while second-placed Celtic host Rangers tomorrow. In the meantime, there are a number of other matches taking place at three o’clock.
Scottish Premiership fixtures
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Aberdeen v Dundee United
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Falkirk v Hibernian
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Dundee v Livingston
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St Mirren v Kilmarnock
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Motherwell v Hearts (8pm BST)
Sunderland v Manchester United line-ups
Sunderland: Roefs, Hume, Geertruida, Alderete, Mandava, Sadiki, Xhaka, Mukiele, Le Fee, Talbi, Brobbey.
Subs: Ellborg, Cirkin, Angulo, Rigg, Mayenda, O’Nien, Isidor, Diarra, Bi.
Manchester United: Lammens, Mazraoui, Maguire, Martinez, Shaw, Mount, Mainoo, Diallo, Fernandes, Cunha, Zirkzee.
Subs: Bayindir, Dalot, Malacia, Dorgu, Yoro, Mbeumo, Heaven, Jack Fletcher, Tyler Fletcher.
Referee: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire)
Brighton v Wolves line-ups
Brighton: Verbruggen, Kadioglu, van Hecke, Dunk, De Cuyper, Baleba, Gross, Minteh, Hinshelwood, Mitoma, Welbeck.
Subs: Steele, March, Rutter, Kostoulas, Milner, Boscagli, Ayari, O’Riley, Veltman.
Wolves: Bentley, Mosquera, Santiago Bueno, Toti Gomes, Pedro Lima, Andre Trindade, Joao Gomes, Hugo Bueno, Armstrong, Mane, Hwang.
Subs: Gracey, Doherty, Wolfe, Arokodare, Rodrigo Gomes, Bellegarde, Krejci, Tchatchoua, Angel Gomes.
Referee: John Brooks (Leicestershire)
Fulham v Bournemouth line-ups
Fulham: Leno, Castagne, Andersen, Bassey, Robinson, Cairney, Lukic, Wilson, Smith Rowe, Chukwueze, Rodrigo Muniz.
Subs: Lecomte, Tete, Reed, Jimenez, Bobb, Berge, Kevin, King, Diop.
Bournemouth: Petrovic, Smith, Hill, Senesi, Truffert, Scott, Christie, Rayan, Junior Kroupi, Tavernier, Evanilson.
Subs: Mandas, Brooks, Doak, Adams, Diakite, Kluivert, Adli, Unal, Toth.
Referee: Andrew Madley (West Yorkshire)
WSL: Arsenal have seen off Aston Villa 3-0 in their WSL match at Villa Park. Alessia Russo scored either side of Frida Maanum’s strike to guarantee Arsenal a place in next season’s Champions League qualification rounds but with a game in hand over second-placed Chelsea, they can still finish second and book their automatic place in the league stage.
Middlesbrough 0-0 Southampton: Boro are in the ascendency but it remains scoreless at the Riverside Stadium in the Championship playoff semi-final first leg. Billy Munday is keeping that tabs on that one …
Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea: Now Liverpool have a goal ruled out for offside, with the flag correctly going up at Cody Gakpo’s expense as he teed up Curtis Jones to nod home from close range. Replays show he had strayed offside but it was careless on his part. We’re approaching the hour at Anfield, where the tackles are flying in and an entertaining encounter could go either way …
Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea: Cole Palmer thought he had capitalised on a defensive mix-up between Virgil van Dijk and Giorgi Marmadashvili to fire Chelsea into a deserved lead at Anfield shortly after half-time, only for his effort to be ruled out because Marc Cucurella was a smidgen offside in the build-up. Liverpool are second best at Anfield but have got off the hook thanks to VAR. Scott Murray has the latest …
WSL: Manchester City won the title without playing and with a game to spare when Arsenal failed to beat Brighton in midweek. This afternoon, Aston Villa are hosting Arsenal in the only Women’s Super League match being played this weekend.
Alessia Russo and Frida Maanum have struck three goals between them to give the visitors a commanding lead at Villa Park, where a win for Arsenal will guarantee them a place in next season’s Champions League qualification rounds. With a game in hand, they will fancy their chances of overtaking second-placed Chelsea and going straight into the league stage.
Premier League: With their destiny in their own hands, Arsenal have the advantage in the Premier League title race but will they hold off Manchester City’s challenge? Harry Paterson investigates …
Arsenal: Having forged a new spirit of togetherness and defiance among his players in recent weeks, Mikel Arteta has laughed off the tut-tutting of the ‘celebration police’ and urged all concerned to retain their focus ahead of tomorrow’s crucial match against relegation-threatened West Ham. Ed Aarons reports …
Bournemouth: The club have confirmed Álex Jiménez has been omitted from their squad for today’s game at Fulham after they opened an investigation relating to social media posts, writes Ben Fisher.
Southampton: On the eve of their Championship playoff semi-final first leg against Middlesbrough, Southampton were charged with misconduct by the English Football League after a man alleged to be a member of Tonda Eckert’s coaching staff was caught spying on a Boro training session. Louise Taylor reports …
Middlesbrough 0-0 Southampton: It’s scoreless at half-time in the first leg of the playoff semi-final and Billy Munday is hiding in some bushes, binoculars in hand monitoring proceedings from the Riverside Stadium …
West Ham: David Sullivan, the club chair, said the move to the London Stadium showed they were not a ‘tinpot club’ but West Ham are circling the Premier League drain and now a very real relegation threat looms. Words: Jacob Steinberg.
Premier League fixtures
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Liverpool v Chelsea (12.30pm)
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Fulham v Bournemouth
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Sunderland v Manchester United
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Brighton v Wolves
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Manchester City v Brentford (5.30pm)
Saturday clockwatch
While the pick of today’s English top flight matches doesn’t start under the clockwatch … em, watch, we have several Premier League encounters to keep us ammused before all eyes turn to events at the Etihad Stadium. Liverpool and Chelsea got the afternoon action under way, with Liverpool knowing a win will guarantee them Champions League football next season. Ryan Gravenberch struck in the sixth minute to put them 1-0 up, only for Wesley Fofana to help a poorly-defended Enzo Fernadez free-kick over the line to pull Chelsea level 10 minutes before the break.
In one of trio of three o’clock kick-offs, Bournemouth travel to Fulham, hoping to boost their hopes of Champions League qualification with a win over mid-table hosts who are also in the hunt for a European place. Brighton are also in the European qualification mix and welcome already-relegated Wolves.
At the Stadium of Light, Sunderland host Manchester United with the visitors all but guaranteed a third place finish in the league if they can beat Wearside hosts whose Premier League record against United is little short of dismal. We’ll have team news, build-up and updates from the Scottish Premiership and the League One playoff semi-final first leg between Stevenage and Stockport County as the domestic season hurtles towards its conclusion.
