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Fulham 1-0 Aston Villa (FT)
Liverpool 1-0 Reading (FT)
Man United 4-2 Stoke (FT)
Swansea 2-1 Wigan (FT)
West Ham 4-1 Southampton (FT)
West Brom 1-2 Man City (FT)
Hello, and welcome to this afternoon’s liveblog.
There are six games in total taking place over the next two hours, while one is just ending.
Here are all the teams:
Fulham: Schwarzer, Riether, Hughes, Hangeland, Riise, Sidwell, Baird, Richardson, Rodallega, Berbatov, Petric. Subs: Stockdale, Senderos, Kasami, Karagounis, Diarra, Dejagah, Kacaniklic.
Aston Villa: Guzan, Lowton, Vlaar, Baker, Bennett, Ireland, El Ahmadi, Delph, Holman, Bent, Agbonlahor. Subs: Given, N’Zogbia, Albrighton, Benteke, Bannan, Weimann, Lichaj.
Man Utd: De Gea, Da Silva, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, Valencia, Scholes, Carrick, Welbeck, van Persie, Rooney. Subs: Lindegaard, Anderson, Giggs, Hernandez, Nani, Powell, Wootton.
Stoke: Begovic, Cameron, Huth, Shawcross, Wilson, Nzonzi, Whitehead, Walters, Adam, Kightly, Crouch. Subs: Sorensen, Palacios, Jones, Owen, Upson, Etherington, Wilkinson.
West Ham: Jaaskelainen, Tomkins, Collins, Reid, McCartney, Noble, Diame, Benayoun, Nolan, Jarvis, Carroll. Subs: Spiegel, Cole, Maiga, Spence, O’Neil, Chambers, Hall.
Southampton: Boruc, Clyne, Hooiveld, Fonte, Yoshida, Puncheon, Schneiderlin, Steven Davis, Lallana, Rodriguez, Do Prado. Subs: Kelvin Davis, Lambert, Ward-Prowse, Mayuka, Seaborne, Chaplow, Reeves.
Liverpool: Jones, Wisdom, Skrtel, Agger, Johnson, Gerrard, Allen, Sahin, Fernandez Saez, Suarez, Sterling. Subs: Gulacsi, Jose Enrique, Assaidi, Henderson, Downing, Carragher, Shelvey.
Reading: McCarthy, Cummings, Gorkss, Mariappa, Shorey, Kebe, Guthrie, Leigertwood, Karacan, McAnuff, Pogrebnyak. Subs: Stuart Taylor, Gunter, Pearce, Le Fondre, McCleary, Robson-Kanu, Roberts.
Swansea: Vorm, Rangel, Chico, Williams, Davies, Routledge, de Guzman, Ki, Britton, Hernandez, Michu. Subs: Tremmel, Graham, Dyer, Monk, Shechter, Moore, Tiendalli.
Wigan: Al Habsi, Caldwell, Figueroa, Ramis, McCarthy, McArthur, Boyce, Beausejour, Kone, Maloney, Di Santo. Subs: Pollitt, Jones, Watson, Gomez, McManaman, Boselli, Miyaichi.
West Brom: Foster, Ridgewell, Olsson, McAuley, Tamas, Yacob, Mulumbu, Dorrans, Morrison, Fortune, Long. Subs: Luke Daniels, Popov, Rosenberg, Jara Reyes, Lukaku, Gera, Odemwingie.
Man City: Hart, Clichy, Lescott, Kompany, Richards, Milner, Barry, Nasri, Toure, Balotelli, Tevez. Subs: Pantilimon, Zabaleta, Dzeko, Sinclair, Kolarov, Aguero, Toure.
We’ll be focusing primarily on the United match today, while also keeping you up to date with all today’s happenings in the other Premier League games.
Of course, Chelsea’s win means they’re currently seven points ahead of United, so Alex Ferguson’s men really need to be winning this game.
Stoke have a poor record away to United and the way this game has begun, it looks set to continue, with United pressing heavily.
Scholes is puling the strings in midfield, and his clever through ball finds Van Persie, though the Dutchman is adjudged to be offside.
Rio Ferdinand was the only player not wearing an anti-racism T-shirt before the game.
A dangerous free-kick is played in and Wayne Rooney heads into his own net (11 mins).
David De Gea needed to be far more commanding, as he stayed glued to his line, when coming out to punch the ball away would have been advisable.
Paul Scholes illustrated a familiar failing of his in the build-up to that goal, conceding a needless free-kick with a poor tackle.
It’s an enthralling encounter so far, with both sides looking threatening every time they attack.
Still no goals in any of the other games.
Meanwhile, Van Persie and Welbeck play a clever one-two, before the latter drags a disappointing attempt at a shot well wide.
Walters has just forced a decent save out of De Gea.
The Irish striker tried to place his shot from the edge of the box, when he probably would have been better off blasting it.
Great, pinpoint cross from Van Persie, and Rooney’s downward header gives the Stoke keeper no chance (27 mins).
It’s been an incredibly open game thus far, and more goals seem inevitable.
GOAL FOR LIVERPOOL!
Sterling has given his side the lead against Reading (30 mins).
United have had more of a solid look about them since equalising.
Stoke appear to have lost some confidence and are attacking less, while Rooney continues to look a threat, with Scholes increasingly beginning to exert his influence as the game progresses.
Scholes has been booked for a ridiculously rash challenge.
No surprise there really.
Valencia drills a cross into the box, and Van Persie slots the ball into the net, giving United the lead (45 mins).
A little harsh on Stoke perhaps, though they’ve always looked vulnerable when United attack them.
Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand (left) during the warm up as his teammate Wayne Rooney (right) wears Kick It Out anti-racism campaign t-shirt (Martin Rickett/PA Wire/Press Association Images).
Meanwhile, it’s been relatively quiet in the other Premier League games, with only one goal scored from Liverpool’s Sterling.
So at half-time, United appear to be in control of this game.
They’ve done well to fight their way back into it, after that early setback, and have dominated the midfield battle for the most part.
However, Stoke continue to pose a threat on the break, with Crouch’s height occasionally being used to full effect, so it would be foolish to write the visitors off at this stage.
The Setanta pundits are speculating that Alex Ferguson may be tempted to take Paul Scholes off.
The midfielder has played well, but his consistently rash tackles are in danger of getting him sent off.
An excellent cross from Rooney fins Welbeck unmarked, and the England striker makes no mistake, heading into the corner of the net.
Stoke have contributed to their own downfall, with some lax marking from crosses.
United are threatening to run riot at the moment.
Welbeck has narrowly failed to connect with Rafael’s dangerous cross.
Out of nowhere, Kightly goes on a driving run, evading a limp Ferdinand challenge, and beating De Gea with aplomb (59 mins).
Stoke are right back in this game, as Man United’s dodgy defence costs them again.
An unmarked Wayne Rooney slots home, after a Van Persie corner falls kindly for him.
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, all four of the goals that Stoke have conceded have come from balls into the box.
The goals are flying in at the moment – Swansea lead Wigan 2-1, while West Ham are 3-1 up against Southampton.
Michael Owen is coming on for the last few minutes against his former club, as he replaces Kightly.
As the scoreline suggests, it’s been a game in which some excellent attack play has been combined with several instances of truly woeful defending by both sides.
While Alex Ferguson will be pleased with what ultimately looks to be a comfortable win for United, he’ll be concerned at the at times unconvincing manner of their defending.
Both De Gea and Ferdinand were poor for their opponents’ first and second goals respectively.
Good news for Arsenal and England fans.
Unsurprisingly, the United match has hit a bit of a lull in recent minutes, caused by a mass substitutions, in addition to the fact that United have effectively had the game won for quite some time.
Robin van Persie has deservedly been named man of the match, though Rooney was another contender.
Maybe I don’t watch enough Brighton games, but I don’t get the hype over this lad. Looked decent for Brighton last year, but never really stood out. Think 50mil is madness based on what I’ve seen, and struggling to see him displace Chillwell/ Alonso
@Johnny 5: created 3rd most chances as a defender behind Trent and James last season that is fair going considering the Brighton team and also the fact he played some games as a LCB in a back 5, only questionable thing about him is his defending
@Paddy: fair comment. Purely basing it on the eye test across 7/8 games and didn’t see anything special. But those are very decent stats
@Johnny 5: I watched a lot of Brighton. For me he was their best player last year. Very good on the ball. Excellent defensively. 52 million is still ridiculously high, but he had great year and a long contract. I think he’s a big upgrade on Chilwell and Alonso.
@Johnny 5: madder than $50m for Ben White or $85m for Harry Maguire? I doubt it
@Paddy: haha what did Ben White do to be in the same bracket as Slabhead? He’s had a great season. Fred 50, Aaron wan Bissaka 50, Ruban Diaz 68M, John stones 48M, Elaquim Mangala for City 48M, Kepa, 70M, Konata 36M (as a sub CB) Just can’t understand why people constantly pick out Ben White’s price when all teams do it.
@Seàn Pòl O’Maolain: Ruben Dias worth every penny
@Seàn Pòl O’Maolain: Konate and Diaz have been great business by both City and Liverpool. Why would you be putting them in the same bracket as flops like McGuire?
@Ottomaaan: I’m not…. Im trying to take Ben White out of the same catagory as Slabhead.
@Johnny 5: Saw him live at Leeds v Brighton end of last season. Best player on the park and definitely looked a cut above that level
There’s something really gross about all this buying nowadays. Don’t know much about him, obviously a handy player, but for someone that’s gonna be around 2nd choice cover costing £52m, and another fairly handy player in Alonso, and the £50m (I think) Chilwell… all of which playing the exact same position. When is this madness gonna end?
Not to just single out Chelsea here tho, plenty of clubs at it. Just all beginning to feel a bit rotten.
@Ultan Corcoran: Alonso leaving for Barca. Chilwell coming back from an ACL. Cucurella can play either LCB or LWB. He will be a starter
@#JUSTICE4NOEL: Ahh I thought it was Azpi off to Barca my bad. Anyway, Chelsea aren’t the worst for this so it wasn’t an attack by any means. Still a hefty whack of cash for 2 players alone in 1-2 positions nonetheless.
@Ultan Corcoran: Azpi could be off there as well, though he may wait another year.
Malacia at 12 m is looking bargain lol
@Gary Galligan: You pay what you get for. An unproven young player from Serie A versus an established premier league proven player wanted by the likes of Pep and Tuchel. Class is class
@#JUSTICE4NOEL: Shows how much you know when you think Malacia came from Serie A
City refused to pay 50 million for him and offered 30. Hope he works out for Chelsea. They should be strong this year .