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Aston Villa 0-1 Southampton
Everton 0-0 Swansea
Fulham 1-1 Wigan
Norwich 0-0 Newcastle
Reading 3-2 West Brom
Stoke 0-4 Chelsea
Sunderland 3-0 West Ham
QPR 0-0 Tottenham
Hello, and welcome to this afternoon’s liveblog. We’ll have the team news in a minute.
I should add that it’s just ended QPR 0-0 Tottenham. That’s a big point for Harry Redknapp’s men.
Here are today’s teams in full:
Stoke City: Begovic; Cameron, Shawcross (c), Huth, Wilkinson; Walters, Whelan, Nzonzi, Etherington; Adam; Jones. Subs: Sorensen, Whitehead, Upson, Kightly, Crouch, Shotton, Jerome.
Chelsea: Cech; Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Luiz, Cole; Hazard, Lampard (c), Ramires, Bertrand; Mata, Ba. Subs: Turnbull, Torres, Oscar, Ferreira, Marin, Terry, Ake.
Aston Villa: Guzan, Lowton, Clark, Baker, Stevens, Holman, Westwood, Delph, N’Zogbia, Benteke, Weimann. Subs: Marshall, Vlaar, Ireland, Agbonlahor, Bowery, Bannan, Lichaj.
Southampton: Boruc, Clyne, Yoshida, Hooiveld, Shaw, Rodriguez, Cork, Schneiderlin, Puncheon, Ramirez, Lambert. Subs: Kelvin Davis, Steven Davis, Fox, Ward-Prowse, Lee, Seaborne, De Ridder.
Everton: Howard, Coleman, Jagielka, Distin, Baines, Anichebe, Neville, Osman, Pienaar, Fellaini, Jelavic. Subs: Mucha, Oviedo, Naismith, Hitzlsperger, Vellios, Kennedy, Duffy.
Swansea: Vorm, Tiendalli, Chico, Williams, Davies, Agustien, Ki, Rangel, Dyer, Michu, Hernandez. Subs: Tremmel, Bartley, Britton, Graham, Routledge, Monk, De Guzman.
Fulham: Schwarzer, Riether, Hangeland, Hughes, Richardson, Duff, Karagounis, Ruiz, Kacaniklic, Berbatov, Petric. Subs: Stockdale, Riise, Senderos, Baird, Kasami, Rodallega, Dejagah.
Wigan: Al Habsi, Figueroa, Caldwell, Ramis, Beausejour, McArthur, Jones, Boyce, McCarthy, Maloney, Di Santo. Subs: Pollitt, Henriquez, Gomez, McManaman, Boselli, Stam, Golobart.
Norwich: Bunn, Martin, Bassong, Turner, Garrido, Pilkington, Johnson, Tettey, Snodgrass, Hoolahan, Jackson. Subs: Rudd, Holt, Fox, Elliott Bennett, Barnett, Ryan Bennett, Kane.
Newcastle: Krul, Debuchy, Williamson, Coloccini, Santon, Perch, Anita, Obertan, Marveaux, Gutierrez, Cisse. Subs: Harper, Cabaye, Amalfitano, Bigirimana, Sammy Ameobi, Ranger, Tavernier.
Reading: Federici, Gunter, Mariappa, Pearce, Harte, Kebe, Karacan, Daniel Carrico, Guthrie, McAnuff, Pogrebnyak. Subs: Taylor, Le Fondre, Hunt, McCleary, Morrison, Cummings, Akpan.
West Brom: Foster, Jones, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell, Thorne, Brunt, Dorrans, Morrison, Thomas, Lukaku. Subs: Myhill, Popov, Rosenberg, El Ghanassy, Dawson, Tamas, Nabi.
Sunderland: Mignolet, Gardner, O’Shea, Bramble, Colback, Johnson, Vaughan, Larsson, McClean, Fletcher, Sessegnon. Subs: Westwood, Bardsley, N’Diaye, Campbell, Wickham, McFadden, Kilgallon.
West Ham: Jaaskelainen, Demel, Collins, Reid, Potts, Collison, Diarra, Joe Cole, Nolan, Jarvis, Carlton Cole. Subs: Spiegel, Tomkins, Vaz Te, Taylor, Diame, Chamakh, O’Neil.
So the plan, as it stands, is to focus mainly on Stoke v Chelsea.
However, we’ll keep an eye on all the other games, and will bring you news of all the goals as they happen.
Where did it all go wrong for Tottenham today? Here’s what Oliver Holt is saying on Twitter:
“Spurs may well be a better side than they were last season but today they missed the subtlety of players like Modric and VDV.”
Early pressure from Chelsea.
Stoke have conceded a corner following a sloppy Glenn Whelan pass – Trap won’t like that.
As I type though, they clear it away comfortably.
Glorious chance for Jones.
A Stoke free-kick falls kindly to him and he slips it past Cech, though it goes narrowly wide.
It looks as if David Luiz and co are in for a tough afternoon, owing to Stoke’s physicality and persistent aerial threat.
This tweet is from St Pat’s player Ger O’Brien:
“Stoke effective but disgusting to watch. 2 paracetamol for the ball before every game.”
Sunderland 1-0 West Ham: Larsson strikes it in impressively from 22 yards, after a poor defensive clearance (13 mins).
The Swede is a wonderful striker of the ball, as that effort proves.
I should mention that Ireland’s own Jon Walters is starting for the 72nd consecutive time – and it’s the longest run of any outfield player in the league.
Meanwhile, Stoke continue to cause Chelsea problems, with their immense work ethic and direct style.
Reading 0-1 West Brom: A Chelsea player has scored, though it’s for West Brom (21 mins).
Romelu Lukaku has given the Baggies the lead there.
Chance for Chelsea! After they finally manage to string a few passes together, Frank Lampard is played through on goal.
However, the England player produces a disappointing finish, and Begovic saves it with his leg.
Fulham 1-0 Wigan: Giorgios Karagounis gives Fulham the lead at Craven Cottage (22 mins).
And it’s the 600th goal scored in the Premier League this season (h/t @OptaJoe).
Chelsea are starting to get the upper-hand in this game now.
Mata tries to pick out the run of Ashley Cole, but Walters emphasises his defensive worth, intercepting the Spaniard’s through ball.
Aston Villa 0-1 Southampton: A Lambert penalty has put Southampton ahead, as Villa’s woe continues (34 mins).
His namesake on the Villa bench won’t be happy with that.
Hazard has been constantly causing Wilkinson problems down the right wing.
Stoke need to ensure the defender doesn’t get left one-on-one with the Belgian international, as he has been exposed a few times now.
This is from OptaJoe, on the official who has just awarded Southampton the penalty from which they scored.
“6 – Mark Halsey has awarded six penalties in 11 Premier League games this season; only Phil Dowd (8) has given more.”
Stoke 0-1 Chelsea: That’s unfortunate. A dangerous cross is played into the box and Jon Walters gets there ahead of the Chelsea player, but can’t help but head it into the corner of the net as he does so (48 mins).
Chelsea have applied a lot of pressure in the last few minutes, so it’s probably just about deserved.
Half-time now in all of the Premier League 3pms, and there’s no more than a goal per game, interestingly.
(Chelsea’s David Luiz is challenged by Stoke City’s Jonathan Walters during the Barclays Premier League match at the Britannia Stadium – Martin Rickett/PA Wire/Press Association Images)
If you want to check out Jon Walters’ own goal, you can find it here.
Andy Dunn tweets:
“Pulis having a major pop at the ref at half-time – Fergie-style and then some.”
Sunderland 2-0 West Ham: Martin O’Neill’s men are looking relatively assured all of a sudden.
Adam Johnson has extended their advantage from close range (49 mins).
Walters tries to atone for his earlier error, forcing Cech to tip over the bar after a strike from about 30 yards out.
Ashley Cole has also gone close for Chelsea.
The referee appeared to point to the penalty spot, after Etherington went down under a sloppy challenge.
However, the lineswoman belatedly (and correctly) flags for offside and the referee seemingly changes his mind over the initial decision.
Chelsea 2-0 Stoke: Incredibly, it’s another own goal from Walters (61 mins).
A dangerous ball is played into the area, and again, the ball deflect off his head and into the net.
Stoke 0-3 Chelsea: The referee points to the spot after Huth pushes over Mata in the box.
Lampard then drills the penalty into the roof of the net to become Chelsea’s all-time second highest goalscorer (64 mins)
Walters is the third player in Premier League history to score two own goals in one Premier League match.
The other two are Sunderland’s Proctor and Liverpool’s Carragher (h/t @InfostradaLive).
Stoke 0-4 Chelsea: This is turning into a rout (71 mins).
Hazard has produced a beautiful strike to put the icing on the cake for the London club.
While we were focusing on the Chelsea game, a few goals have gone in elsewhere:
Sunderland 3-0 West Ham (McClean (74)
West Brom 2-0 Reading (Lukaku)
Fulham 1-1 Wigan (Di Santo)
(It’s been a day to forget for Jon Walters – JON SUPER/AP/Press Association Images)
Reading 1-2 West Brom: A goal from Kebe has given the Royals hope in the dying stages (84 mins).
Reading 2-2 West Brom: What a turnaround! Reading win a penalty (88 mins).
Le Fondre steps up and slots it home.
PENALTY MISSED! Jon Walters is tripped by Terry.
He takes the penalty and hits the bar, trying to strike it powerfully down the middle.
It just hasn’t been the Ireland striker’s day.
Reading 3-2 West Brom: Miraculously, having been 2-0 down until a few minutes ago, Reading appear to have gotten a late winner.
Pogrebnyak scores the vital goal (90 mins).
How about this for a stat (as tweeted by Frankie Lally)?
“Jonathan Walters has scored more goals for Chelsea in 2013 than Fernando Torres.”
Stan Collymore is not happy. This is what he’s just tweeted:
“Can someone in authority come out and say what the plan is at Villa pls. I’m struggling to see anything other than a white flag right now.”
Here’s another look at Eden Hazard’s beautiful goal today to wrap up Chelsea’s 4-0 win.
YouTube credit: NONASPORTS1
Paul – Harry needs wins at this stage, only 2 all season. While a point against a top 3 side is a decent result, draws are not going to suffice for QPR. In fact it’s beginning to look like themselves and Reading could get cut adrift.
I still think it’s a good point Neil, given that Tottenham have the far superior team on paper.
think that could be the last nail in the coffin for villa. what the hell has happened to a once great club? to be fair this has been comin for a couple of seasons now. been in rapid decline since the great man himself legged it. really Cant see how they can turn it around. sad day. sad day
Walters go home you’re drunk.
thats 42 goals conceded and 17 scored for villa. says it all really!! reading southampton winning wigan qpr gettin a point. honestly thought we would have a tough season but today is takin the piss!! hope i am wrong but think it could be all over. no heart or passion in the side. fair play to reading they r willing to have a go. Cant say fairer than that. better to go down fighting than with a whimper. know which one describes villa at the moment. maybe we can qualify for Europe by the fair play league??
I’m inclined to agree with u Cornelius. Sad to see such a decline – so many unfamiliar names in their squad and a manager gripped by paralysis. The 7 ever-present clubs since the PL started in ’92 looks like it will lose a member come May.
Villa are a club I’d hate to see relegated,they’ve had a serious lack of investment for a number of seasons now,it’s one of the most threadbare squads on the Premiership too. I’d worry of they went down it could be a long time before they came back up again,but at least they aren’t heavily in debt like Leeds and Portsmouth were,losing Petrov was a big blow too,no leadership since he had to hang up his boots
*in and *if!