And now it’s time for me to clock off on today’s clockwatch. It’s been very enjoyable. A Saturday packed with goals is now a common occurrence and isn’t football all the better for that fact? Thanks for joining me. I’ll leave you with the match report from Fulham 1-2 Aston Villa, an away win like so many of the other games covered today: David Moyes’ misery goes on, as West Ham were meek, mild and mullered by Nottingham Forest at the City Ground this afternoon. Here’s Peter Lansley’s verdict on it: Tottenham were outgunned by Wolves in a dent to their top four ambitions and Matt Dunn watched it for us: Meanwhile, Louis Taylor watched Matt Ritchie salvage a point for Newcastle, whose stuttering home form continued against spirited Bournemouth today: The Premier League reports are now starting to land on the website. Here’s Andy Hunter on Burnley’s humiliation at the hands of Arsenal: Wolves winger Pedro Neto has spoken to the BBC after their stunning 2-1 win at Tottenham today: It was a really difficult game and it is really difficult to play a team that is playing well. We did really well to get three points in the end. The way that we are going, the way that we are now, people can see the value we have and we are happy. League One and League Two summary The standout result in League One is Portsmouth 4-1 Reading, a thumping victory for the league leaders at Fratton Park, with the Royals still in danger of possible relegation. Carlisle 0-4 Cambridge is a big result in that scrap for survival, the visitors getting a huge lift with the home side rock bottom. Bolton 3-3 Charlon was a topsy-turvy affair, while Derby 1-0 Stevenage came via a vital late Rams’ goal, keeping them in second. In the fourth tier, Tranmere 4-0 Stockport will send shockwaves through the division and means the Hatters are running the risk of vacating top spot for the first time in months. Walsall 2-1 Mansfield means the damage isn’t so bad for Stockport, with the Stags staying in second spot. Salford 5-3 Barrow is an eyecatching result that keeps up the momentum for Karl Robinson’s Ammies. FT scores – Championship Birmingham 2-1 Sunderland Bristol City 0-1 QPR Huddersfield 1-2 Hull Leicester 1-2 Middlesbrough Millwall 0-2 Sheffield Wednesday Norwich 4-1 Cardiff Preston 2-2 Blackburn Rotherham 0-1 Watford Stoke 0-1 Coventry Swansea 1-2 Ipswich Here’s your European roundup, with Bayer Leverkusen stealing the headlines in the Bundesliga, where there were also wins for Stuttgart, Mainz and Union Berlin. Borussia Dortmund had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Wolfsburg. Championship: There’s been some late, late drama at the John Smith’s Stadium. Huddersfield thought they’d levelled when Jack Rudoni smashed home in the 92nd minute, but Jacob Greaves looks to have had the final say, heading in two minutes later to make it 2-1 to Hull. FT scores - Scottish Premiership Aberdeen 2-2 Hibernian Celtic 1-1 Kilmarnock Dundee 2-0 Ross County Hearts 2-0 Motherwell Livingston 1-0 St Mirran FT scores – Premier League Burnley 0-5 Arsenal Fulham 1-2 Aston Villa Newcastle 2-2 Bournemouth Nottingham Forest 2-0 West Ham Tottenham 1-2 Wolves GOAL! Nottm Forest 2-0 West Ham (Hudson-Odoi, 90+4) Hudson-Odoi calmly wraps up the three points for Forest. No less than they deserved! Last chance now for Fulham and Spurs to try and salvage something, trailing at home and time running out … Ben Davies has just squandered a gilt-edged chance for Tottenham. Scottish Premiership: Kilmarnock are indeed Celtic’s bogey team. The Bhoys were desperately trying to cling onto their 1-0 lead and see out the win, but David Watson has scored in added time to seemingly snatch a point for Killy. GOAL! Newcastle 2-2 Bournemouth (Ritchie, 90 + 2) Matt Ritchie against his former club! He doesn’t get many these days but the Newcastle substitute reacts quickest after Neto’s save from a header, tapping in from close range! League One: With Bolton being held by Charlton and Peterborough just falling behind to Blackpool, that 1-0 late lead for Derby looks even more important. League One: Derby may well have found themselves a late winner against Stevenage, Louie Sibley scoring in the 90th minute in what could be a vital goal in their promotion push! The League Two scores this afternoon are starting to resemble Boxing Day 1963. We’ve got a 5-2, a 5-1, a 4-2 and a 4-0. Tottenham are making heavy weather against Wolves, with Postecoglou ringing the changes in pursuit of an equaliser. It’s just not quite happened for Spurs this afternoon, and with Villa still leading, they could concede the initiative in the top four battle. League Two: A good day to be a Rover. Tranmere 4-0 Stockport Grimsby 1-5 Doncaster Championship: Leicester do have a lifeline! Jamie Vardy reduces their arreas to 2-1 and you wouldn’t bet against them getting a result now … Look away now, Kalv. Championship: Leicester continue to flounder as they attempt to haul back the 2-0 deficit at home to Boro. And now Birmingham lead in the Tony Mowbray derby against Sunderland, Miyoshi prodding home at St Andrew’s. Norwich are marching on against Cardiff, 4-1 up, home and hosed. Nottingham Forest are now looking very good value to see this out. West Ham were poor with 11 men, so you suspect the hosts could even add to their 1-0 lead in the final moments playing against 10. GOAL! Burnley 0-5 Arsenal (Havertz, 78) Kai Havertz does know where the net is, after all! A fine finish makes this, officially, a FIVE-STAR performance from the Gunners. Just the 11-0 aggregate in their past two games, now. RED CARD! West Ham (Phillips, 71) Kalvin Phillips’ miserable time at West Ham continues. He picks up a second silly booking in a matter of minutes and receives his marching orders. Rough. League Two: Salford have been up, then down, and they’re now up again, leading Barrow 3-2. League One: Bolton hit back to make it 3-3 against Charlton, while Cheltenham v Port Vale is now two goals apiece. There are so many goals flying in down the leagues … I’ll try to summarise soon. There’s important news in Germany, however, as Bayer Leverkusen see out a 2-1 win over Heidenheim, after being given a late scare by a Kleindienst goal. They’re now EIGHT points clear of Harold Kane’s Bavaria Munich. GOAL! Newcastle 1-2 Bournemouth (Semenyo, 69) Newcastle have been pushing for the lead but it’s a fine finish from Antoine Semenyo who has restored the Cherries’ advantage instead! It’s been a really tough afternoon for Eddie Howe’s side, this has. Arsenal fans are emailing me in droves, clearly very satisfied with what they’re seeing this afternoon. Charles Antaki says: I think I now understand Kai Havertz’s true purpose in the Arsenal team. He gets himself into a decent position to have a go at goal, completely fluffs it, and the ball somehow manages to go to a teammate in an even better position, who then calmly sticks it away. Invaluable. GOAL! Fulham 1-2 Aston Villa (Muniz, 63) Rodrigo Muniz scores his fourth goal in three games to get Fulham back into this contest! Sloppy from Pau Torres, and Villa’s hearts will be in their mouths now. League One: Bolton v Charlton has turned into an absolute sizzler, with the visitors taking a 3-2 lead after 61 minutes via Daniel Kanu. Plenty of time remaining for more goals. GOAL! Burnley 0-4 Arsenal (Trossard, 66) Leandro Trossard gets in on the act at Turf Moor. Arsenal are having a right day out. GOAL! Tottenham 1-2 Wolves (Gomes, 63) A better counterattack you will struggle to see all season. Bissouma loses it following a Spurs corner and it’s brought forward at lightning pace by the visitors and Joao Gomes scores his second of the game. Stockport are done. Tranmere are 3-0 up now! Portsmouth are also 3-0 up on Reading in League One. In the Championship, Jordan James has equalised for Tony Mowbray’s side in the Tony Mowbray derby. GOAL! Fulham 0-2 Aston Villa (Watkins, 56) Oliver Watkins at the double. McGinn is the architect, with Tielemans playing it off to Watkins to guide another expert finish into the corner. Game over? Championship: Three goals for Norwich now and two for Sargent. A good adjustment from him to smack home a rebound, with out-of-sorts Cardiff looking a bit ragged. GOAL! Newcastle 1-1 Bournemouth (Gordon, 58) Anthony Gordon puffs out his cheeks and slots home the penalty! Oooh, how the home side needed that. It sets up a fascinating final half hour or so. Another long old VAR check for a penalty, this time at Newcastle, with a pull-back on a shirt from Bournemouth’s Adam Smith prompting some (slow) Stockley Park consternation. Looks like it’s being given! We have a winner amid our search for the most 1930s footballer and the suggestion comes from Adam Griffiths: Flt Lt Teddy Jenks, currently on loan at Ross County from Brighton/the 1930s RAF. Bang on, Adam. League One: Portsmouth look very safe at the summit and will surely stay there for a good while … they’re 2-0 up at home to Reading after Marlon Pack’s goal. Stockport have no such safety atop League Two, trailing Tranmere 2-0 now on the Wirral. And second place Mansfield have just levelled straight away at Walsall. GOAL! Newcastle 0-1 Bournemouth (Solanke, 51) Dominic Solanke is unstoppable right now, isn’t he? Dubravka slightly at fault here, as the visitors break the deadlock. The Magpies’ home troubles continue. League Two: Is Salford’s promising run under Karl Robinson about to end? They’ve blown a 1-0 lead at home to Barrow to trail 2-1. And Mansfield might have scored nine goals the other night, but they’re 1-0 down at Walsall. An email from Scott Blair on interwar footballers: I reckon Celtic’s Cameron Carter-Vickers sounds like a chisel-jawed upper crust spy of the period. A bit like Lord Peter Flint, out of the Warlord comic. Now there’s a reference for the teenagers. I’m afraid I don’t get that reference, Scott, and I’m 30. GOAL! Tottenham 1-1 Wolves (Kulusevski, 46) Another quick answer to my half-time questions! Dejan Kulusevski gets Spurs level within a minute of the restart. Game on at the THS! (Do people call it that?) GOAL! Burnley 0-3 Arsenal (Saka, 47) The answer to that second question is an unequivocal no: Saka slams it home with his unfavoured right foot to strike early after the break and this is done and dusted. Second half: Right, enough nonsense (for now), most of the second halves are getting under way. Can Tottenham haul themselves out of trouble against Wolves? Can Burnley offer anything to stop Arsenal? And can West Ham offer anything whatsoever? Some final scores from Europe: Atletico Madrid thrashed Las Palmas 5-0 to go third in La Liga, while Napoli have been held 1-1 by Genoa as their stuttering season continues. Leverkusen still lead 1-0 at Heidenheim through Jeremie Frimpong’s goal as they look to stretch their lead atop the Bundesliga. I’m having Tommy Smith (any of them) as a 1930s footballer, and pretty sure Cedric Soares should count if you butcher the pronounciation of his surname. 1930s footballers: Championship: I won’t run through every single scoreline, but the headline is surely Middlesbrough’s 2-0 half-time lead at Leicester, which absolutely nobody saw coming. A spanner in the Foxes’ works, or a mere 45-minute blip? We’ll wait to see. Sheffield Wednesday fans are enjoying themselves at Millwall, their side 2-0 up, while Ipswich’s form shows little sign of relenting as they lead 2-1 at Swansea. Preston 2-2 Blackburn has been a cracker thus far. There’s been much to enjoy in the second tier as per. Scottish Premiership: With Warnock’s Aberdeen still locked at 1-1 with Hibernian, Celtic, Dundee and Livingston all have 1-0 leads, while it’s goalless between Hearts and Motherwell. HT scores – Premier League Whistles are starting to go around the country, so here’s how things stand in the Premier League after the first 45 minutes: Burnley 0-2 Arsenal Fulham 0-1 Aston Villa Newcastle 0-0 Bournemouth Nottingham Forest 1-0 West Ham Tottenham 0-1 Wolves Make that 1-0 at Forest, a strike deeeeep into added time for the hosts! Taiwo Awoniyi shows strength to fire in at the back stick. Championship: Preston have scored two goals in a matter of minutes to get level against Blackburn before the interval! Robbie Brady and Emil Riis help North End go bang, bang and that Lancashire derby is sizzling right now. Now Norwich have turned the tables on Cardiff City. A free-kick from Gabriel Sara makes it 2-1 at Carrow Road. GOAL! Tottenham 0-1 Wolves (Gomes, 42) A bullet header from Joao Gomes has left the Tottenham Hotspur fans in stunned silence. Wolves pounce from a corner after a good amount of Spurs pressure at the other end. Championship: Norwich are level just before half-time at home to Cardiff, Sheffield Wednesday have doubled their lead at a miserable Millwall, while QPR have scored at Bristol City through Ilias Chair. “1930s footballers, I’ll start”, says Paul Bellsham of this parish: “Oliver George Arthur Watkins.” William Harris offers: “Harry Winks, music hall comedian.” GOAL! Burnley 0-2 Arsenal (Saka, 41 pen) After a lengthy VAR check, Arsenal are finally awarded a penalty at Burnley, a golden chance to double their lead and keep up the title race pace. Bukayo Saka makes no mistake in burying the spot-kick, into the corner. Some rather worrying news from north of the border this afternoon … 2-0 to Middlesbrough at the King Power! Samuel Silvera doubles the visitors’ lead and this is a surprising scoreline to say the very least. Talking of 1930s characters in Swansea v Ipswich, a man named Chaplin has just restored the Tractor Boys’ lead, 2-1 now. Which footballer do you think sounds like they belong in the interwar period? Sorry if that’s too niche. Northampton, playing against Bristol Rovers in League One, are the only home side in the top three leagues in England who are actually in the lead. In Scotland, Celtic have just broken the deadlock against their bogey team Kilmarnock, as Kyogo scores. Championship: Jerry Yates sounds like a character from a 1930s detective drama to me, but apparently he’s also a Swansea forward – and has just scored to level things up against Ipswich. Sheffield Wednesday are in front at Millwall through Ike Ugbo. How the Owls would love three points today to help their survival bid. Darren Moore is taking charge of Port Vale for the first time today and they’ve just secured the lead against Cheltenham. Down in League Two, table-topping Stockport are behind at Tranmere. Half time in the Bundesliga 2.30pm games and no troubles for Xabi Alonso and co. so far: Heidenheim 0-1 Leverkusen Mainz 1-0 Augsburg Darmstadt 0-1 Stuttgart Hoffenheim 0-0 U Berlin Wolfsburg 0-1 Dortmund Championship: Speaking of against the run of play … or against the odds – whatever, Middlesbrough have just scored at runaway leaders Leicester. Finn Azaz is the man for Boro! Blackburn have doubled their lead at Preston through Sam Gallagher, while Sunderland are leading the Tony Mowbray derby at Birmingham, Jack Clarke on the scoresheet. GOAL! Fulham 0-1 Aston Villa (Watkins, 23) Finally a goal in this game that actually counts. And of course, it’s Ollie Watkins. Swansea might be trailing, but the other two Welsh professional sides have just taken the lead in their games, against the run of play. Cardiff are 1-0 in front at Norwich through Jamilu Collins, while Steven Fletcher (yes, that one) has netted for Wrexham against Notts County. Goal? For the second time this afternoon, one has been chalked off in the Fulham v Aston Villa game. Or has it …? Tom Cairney and the home fans wait, as VAR does its thing. Offside! Still 0-0. Scottish Premiership: Neil Warnock once said “there’s never a dull moment with me in charge” and that’s proving to be the case during his Aberdeen stint already. The Dandies have fallen behind to Hibs and then levelled through Nicky Devlin all in the space of the opening quarter of an hour today. Martin Dubravka is being made to work hard by Bournemouth, with both Tavernier and Solanke testing the Newcastle goalkeeper in the past few minutes. At the other end, Harvey Barnes curls one wide after a lungbusting dash forward. Championship: Wales international Nathan Broadhead has opened the scoring down in South Wales against Swansea. A good start for Kieran McKenna’s automatic promotion hopefuls. Meanwhile, managerless Huddersfield trail 1-0 at home to Hull. Home discomforts? Of the six games to feature a goal so far in the top four leagues in England, five of those have been scored by the away side. That’s after comfortable away wins for Liverpool and Leeds earlier on. Who’d be a home fan, eh? League Two: Both MK Dons and Doncaster have earned early away leads at Swindon and Grimsby respectively. Championship: And it’s Blackburn who strike first in the Lancs derby at Deepdale. Sammie Szmodics has been lethal up front for Rovers this season and he’s found the net once again – 18 for the campaign now! You wonder whether Newcastle will lament the absence of a true No 9 against Bournemouth today, with Anthony Gordon playing as an auxilliary striker at St James’ Park. It’s not a surprise to me to hear the visitors are threatening early on. GOAL! Burnley 0-1 Arsenal (Ødegaard, 4) It’s a perfect start for Arsenal, allaying any early nerves, and of course it’s Martin Ødegaard who drills home a trademark left-footed strike after a good run from Declan Rice. Burnley really didn’t want that … Villa think they’ve got an early opener at Fulham, but Ollie Watkins – as is his wont – has strayed marginally offside. No shortage of early intent from Unai Emery’s side at Craven Cottage. It finished Arsenal 3-1 Manchester United in the WSL earlier this afternoon, as Sophie Downey reports from a packed-out Emirates Stadium: KICK OFF Various whistles are sounded at various football grounds around the country. At exactly the same time, of course. Liverpool have laid down a marker with that performance at Brentford, as confident and trouble-free as you’re likely to see for a Premier League away game. Their title rivals Arsenal and Manchester City will need to respond today. The gap at the top currently lies at five points, albeit City will still have a game in hand after facing Chelsea this evening. Here’s John Brewin’s report from the Gtech: Some emails on the prospect of seeing Mr Mbappé in an Arsenal shirt, and specifically that Arsenal shirt: Nick Smith: “I can imagine him visiting Turf Moor as much as any other club, just not with Arsenal.” Kári Tulinius: “It’s such a shame that Arsenal’s kit manufacturer has started to mess with their away kit. The yellow and dark blue jersey is one of the few well-known and identifiable away shirts, and it would be a shame if we never saw Mbappé in those colours. It’s probably never going to happen, but I’m going to allow myself that reverie for a little while.” Charles Antaki simply describes the yellow shirt as “unspeakable”, which is fair enough. Thoughts on the Arsenal away kit? My wife cannot stand it and I’m inclined to agree. Migraine-inducing. Can you imagine Kylian Mbappé rocking up at Turf Moor, presumably after parking in the nearby cricket club? Arsenal want to be in the mix to sign him, so presumably Mikel Arteta can. The early kick-offs are winding down and not one of the results is in jeapordy: Premier League – Brentford 1-4 Liverpool Championship – Plymouth 0-2 Leeds WSL – Arsenal 3-0 Manchester United Team news – Nottingham Forest v West Ham Nottingham Forest: Sels, Williams, Murillo, Felipe, Tavarez, Domínguez, Danilo, Hudson-Odoi, Gibbs-White, Elanga, Awoniyi Subs: Turner, Omobamidele, Ribeiro, Kouyaté, Toffolo, Yates, Niakhaté, Reyna, Origi West Ham: Areola, Coufal, Zouma, Aguerd, Emerson, Álvarez, Phillips, Ward-Prowse, Bowen, Kudus, Antonio Subs: Fabianski, Mavropanos, Johnson, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Cornet, Soucek, Mubama, Ings Team news – Fulham v Aston Villa Fulham: Leno, Castagne, Diop, Ream, Robinson, Palhinha, Pereira, Cairney, Decordova-Reid, Willian, Muniz Subs: Rodak, Tosin, Bassey, Ballo-Touré, Reed, Lukic, Wilson, Iwobi, Traoré Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Lenglet, Torres, Moreno, McGinn, Tielemans, Luiz, Ramsey, Bailey, Watkins Subs: Olsen, Gauci, Digne, Chambers, Kelser-Hayden, Iroegbunam, Rogers, Diaby, Zaniolo Team news - Newcastle v Bournemouth Newcastle: Dubravka, Trippier, Schär, Botman, Burn, Guimarães, Longstaff, Miley, Almirón, Barnes, Gordon Subs: Karius, Dummett, Lascelles, Krafth, Hall, Ritchie, Livramento, Murphy, White Bournemouth: Neto, Smith, Cook, Kelly, Senesi, Tavernier, Zabarnyi, Christie, Kluivert, Semenyo, Solanke Subs: Travers, Randolph, Mepham, Kinsey, Kerkez, Scott, Dango, Sinisterra, Ünal Team news – Tottenham v Wolves Tottenham: Vicario, Royal, Romero, Van de Ven, Davies, Sarr, Bissouma, Maddison, Kulusevski, Son, Richarlison Subs: Austin, Dragusin, Skipp, Bentancur, Højbjerg, Gil, Lo Celso, Werner, Johnson Wolves: Sa, Semedo, Dawson, Kilman, Toti, Aït-Nouri, Lemina, Gomes, Neto, Hwang, Sarabia Subs: Bentley, Doherty, S.Bueno, H.Bueno, Traoré, Doyle, Bellegarde, Chirewa, Fraser Team news – Burnley v Arsenal Burnley: Trafford, Assignon, O’Shea, Esteve, Delcroix, Amdouni, Brownhill, Fofana, Ramsey, Berge, Odobert Subs: Muric, Vitinho, Taylor, Cork, Gudmundsson, Benson, Cullen, Bruun Larsen, Rodriguez Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior, Rice, Ødegaard, Havertz, Saka, Trossard, Martinelli Subs: Ramsdale, Cedric, Sweet, Bandeira, Elneny, Jorginho, Nelson, Smith Rowe, Nketiah There’s still a healthy chunk of Brentford v Liverpool left – although Alexis Mac Allister’s goal to make it 2-0 may have taken the edge off the second half – if that’s your thing. Mo Salah is back and looking ominous, like a friendly, fuzzy-haired Voldemort. Preamble Welcome aboard, people, to another big Saturday afternoon in the world of soccerball. And with no less than FIVE Premier League games kicking off at the correct time of the week, we’re being treated to a feast by the fixture gods today. Of course, there’s the usual Championship, League One and League Two schedules, plus games in the Spanish, German and Italian top flights, but it’s probably Arsenal’s visit to Burnley and the clash between Tottenham and Wolves in north London that most catch the eye. We’ve also got Fulham v Aston Villa, Newcastle v Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest v West Ham, all of which are pretty tough to call given the fluctuating form of the teams involved. In the Championship, Leicester will look to continue their relentless form at home to Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough, while Leeds are currently trying to edge out Plymouth down at Home Park. And Preston v Blackburn should be a fairly spicy Lancashire derby. In the Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen go to Heidenheim seeking to extend their advantage over Harry Kane’s boys. What thrills and spills await us? Stick with me throughout the afternoon to find out. Team news will drop at 2pm, as usual, then it’s onto business. Let’s go!