Key events
Kick-off delayed: Fulham v Liverpool
Fulham have announced that kick-off has been delayed by 15 minutes at Craven Cottage ‘due to a medical emergency at the ground’, that game will now get underway at 3.15pm (GMT). More detail on that when I get it.
Jonathan Wilson
Some pre-match reading from Jonathan Wilson:
Premier League’s warped economics make £65m fee for Semenyo a snip
Antoine Semenyo, it seems likely, will soon join Manchester City from Bournemouth for a fee of £65m. Given how well Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden have played from the right this season, it is not immediately obvious why City need him, but the modern game is the modern game, the rammed calendar makes large and flexible squads essential and Pep Guardiola may have some esoteric plan for the Ghanaian anyway. But perhaps what is most striking about the deal is the fee – or, more precisely, how little attention it has drawn.
English football has become inured to big transfers. The fee feels about right. Semenyo is 25. He has four and a half years left on his contract. He is quick, skilful, intelligent and works hard. He is disciplined, but has the capacity to do the unexpected. Of course a player of his ability costs that much. Yet £65m would make him the third-most expensive player in Bundesliga history. He would be the seventh-most expensive in Serie A history, the 14th-most expensive in La Liga history. Only nine non-English clubs have paid a fee higher than that. Even in Premier League terms, Semenyo sneaks into the top 25.
Perhaps that’s fine. As anybody who has raised any qualms about World Cup ticket prices recently has found out from online Americans passionately committed to being ripped off because that’s what capitalism demands, the market is what it is. Value is what people are prepared to pay. If one club say they will pay £65m for Semenyo, his price is £65m. City can afford it.
Read Jonathan Wilson’s latest ‘Inside football’ column in full here:
Brennan Johnson is the headline move of the early part of the January window after his £35m move from Tottenham to Crystal Palace. The Wales international goes straight into the Eagles’ starting XI for the game at St. James’ Park. He will provide a goal threat to a Palace side that have seen their European commitments impact the league form, where they haven’t won since 7th December.
Full-time at Elland Road, it’s a 1-1 draw between Leeds and Manchester United. Reaction with Taha Hashim here:
With Portsmouth v Ipswich postponed, a win for Middlesbrough will see them go up to second in the Championship and six points behind Coventry.
Quick Guide
EFL: matches off due to cold weather
Show
Championship
Portsmouth v Ipswich
Sheffield United v Oxford
League One
Doncaster v Luton
Port Vale v Barnsley
Rotherham v Mansfield
Stevenage v Leyton Orient
League Two
Barnet v Crewe
Barrow v Bristol Rovers
Bromley v Oldham
Cambridge v Grimsby
Colchester v Accrington
Harrogate v Swindon
Newport v Tranmere
Notts County v Gillingham
Salford v Shrewsbury
Walsall v Fleetwood
That Birmingham v Coventry game was a wild ride. Five goals, one red card and at the end of it the league leaders lose their second game in three.
EFL full-time scores
Championship
Birmingham 3-2 Coventry
QPR 3-0 Sheffield Wednesday
League One
Bolton 0-0 Northampton
Lincoln 5-2 Peterborough
League Two
Cheltenham 3-0 Crawley
MK Dons 2-2 Chesterfield
In the 12.30pm kick-off between Leeds and Manchesster United it’s currently 1-1. There’s probably about 20 minutes left in that one and you can follow that with Taha Hashim here:
Team news: Everton v Brentford
Everton XI: Pickford, O’Brien, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko, Iroegbunam, Garner, McNeil, Dibling, Grealish, Barry.
Subs: Travers, King, Patterson, Aznou, Welch, Campbell, Rohl, Armstrong, Beto
Brentford XI: Kelleher, Kayode, Ajer, Collins, Hickey, Jensen, Janelt, Yarmoliuk, Damsgaard, Thiago, Schade.
Subs: Valdimarsson, Henry, van den Berg, Pinnock, Henderson, Peart-Harris, Donovan, Nelson, Lewis-Potter.
Team news: Tottenham v Sunderland
Tottenham XI: Vicario, Pedro Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Davies, Kudus, Tel, Gray, Odobert, Bentancur, Richarlison.
Subs: Kinsky, Dragusin, Danso, Spence, Bergvall, Palhinha, Williams-Barnett, Kolo Muani, Scarlett.
Sunderland XI: Roefs, Hume, Mukiele, Alderete, Cirkin, Xhaka, Geertruida, Le Fée, Adingra, Mayenda, Brobbey.
Subs: Patterson, O’Neil, Ballard, Hjelde, Neil, H.Jones, Tutierov, Mundle, Rigg.
Team news: Newcastle v Crystal Palace
Newcastle XI: Pope, Miley, Thiaw, Schär, Hall, Bruno Guimarães, Tonali, Joelinton, Murphy, Wissa, Gordon.
Subs: Ramsdale, Trippier, Botman, Livramento, Murphy, Barnes, Willock, Ramsey, Woltemade.
Crystal Palace XI: Henderson, Lerma, Lacroix, Guéhi, Clyne, Wharton, Hughes, Mitchell, Johnson, Piño, Mateta.
Subs: Benítez, Canvot, Sosa, Benamar, Uche, Esse, Rodney, Devenny, Drakes-Thomas.
Team news: Fulham v Liverpool
Fulham XI: Leno, Diop, Andersen, Cuenca, Castagne, Lukic, Cairney, Robinson, Wilson, Smith Rowe, Jimenez.
Subs: Lecomte, Amissah, Reed, Berge, Ridgeon, Traoré, Kusi Asare, Kevin.
Liverpool XI: Alisson, Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez, Gravenberch, Jones, Mac Allister, Szoboszlai, Gakpo, Wirtz.
Subs: Mamardashvili, Woodman, Gomez, Chiesa, Robertson, Frimpong, Nyoni, Ramsay, Ngumoha.
First up, team news!
Preamble
Four three o’clock kick-offs in the Premier League, a (kind of) full programme of EFL and some tea-time action in the top flight, are we sure it’s not Saturday?
There’s a solid rump of clubs hovering in the top-point gap between fourth and 15th and all of this afternoon’s fixtures are very much in that group. We have Everton v Brentford, Newcastle v Crystal Palace, Fulham v Liverpool and Tottenham v Sunderland – all teams with top-half aspirations, if not higher.
I’ll have updates from all of those games, plus points of interest from the EFL. Sadly most of League Two’s action is off (ten matches in total), two have gone in the Championship – Sheffield United v Oxford and Portsmouth v Ipswich – have also fallen foul of frozen pitches, as have four in League One.
Of the games on in the second tier, Hull v Watford and Bristol City v Preston look promising.
Later on I’ll also have updates from the Afcon last-16 match between hosts Morocco and Tanzania. That should be a lively one in Rabat.
As ever, you can get in touch via the email link at the top of the page. Settle in.
