Peep!The full time whistle has been blown at St James’ Park and Newcastle move into third with a 2-0 win over Chelsea. Sandro Tonali opened the scoring int he second minute before Nicolas Jackson was shown a red card. The Blues played well in the second half but couldn’t find a goal and Bruno Guimarães sealed the result late on.
Newcastle have doubled their lead against Chelsea after a goal by Bruno Guimarãesand if the score remains the same come the final whistle in a few minutes time then Eddie Howe’s side will move to third. It also means Nottingham Forest can leapfrog Chelsea into fifth if they come away with a win over Leicester. Catch the last few minutes here:
Forest need a point in the last East Midlands league derbyfor some while to be guaranteed European football for the first time since 1995/96.Having won only two of their last six games in all competitions at the City Ground, Nuno could do with Wood rediscovering his finishing touch to reach the 20-goal mark.Be interesting to know how much the Forest players keep abreast of the Newcastle/ Chelsea game but a draw there would feel like an early goal for Forest. Nuno’s side could then join those teams on 64 points with a victory here in the Midlands sun.
Leicester’s Jamie Vardywill hit a milestone for the club today if he scores. The goal would be his 200th for Leicester and it would be fitting as the striker is leaving the club at the end of the season.
Nott’m Forest v Leicester
Big blow for Forest that Murillo, their Brazilian colossus, has not recovered from his hamstring injury to play against Leicester today. His compatriot Morato deputises in the only change from the team that drew 1-1 at Palace on Monday.Leicester, after finally winning a game, against Southampton, last weekend, have named an unchanged line-up.In the hunt for the Champions League places, Forest will not mind Newcastle beating Chelsea, especially with Jackson red-carded - and thereby suspended for the visit to the City Ground two weeks today.
Man Utd v West Ham
A glorious and obviously regulation sun-dappled early afternoon here in Manchester at Old Trafford where Graham Potter was sipping from a plastic mug on the hallowed turf near the centre circle and perhaps contemplating when he was one of the 5 million or so alternatives to Erik ten Hag Sir Jim Ratcliffe considered circa this time last year to the next United No 1.
Newcastle are currently leading Chelsea 1-0 at St James’ Parkafter Sandro Tonali scored in the second minute. That is not all that has happened in that game as the Blues’ Nicolas Jackson has received a red card. He was sent off after a foul on Newcastle’s Sven Botman. You can follow all the updates here:
Nottingham Forest make one changefrom their game against Crystal Palace last weekend as Murillo is not included in the matchday squad.
Nottingham Forest:Sels, Morato, Sangare, Williams, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Wood, Dominguez, Elanga, Milenkovic, Aina
Subs: Miguel, Awonyi, Toffolo, Jota, Yates, Sosa, Danilo, Boly, Abbott
Leicester, meanwhile, are unchanged from the starting line-up who beat Southampton 2-0 last weekend.
Leicester City:Stolarczyk, Justin, Faes, Coady, Thomas, Skipp, Ndidi, El Khannouss, McAteer, Ayew, Vardy
Subs: Iversen, Couibaly, Okoli, Kristiansen, Soumare, Evans, Buonanotte, Monga, Daka
Tottenham have made eight changesfrom their Europa League semi-final. The biggest news though is that Son is back in the matchday squad and starts from the bench.
Tottenham: Kinsky, Pedro Porro, Danso, Davies, Spence, Sarr, Gray, Bentancur, Kulusevski, Tel, Odobert
Subs: Vicario, Romero, Van de Ven, Bissouma, Morre, Johnson, Son, Richarlison, Solanke
Palace, meanwhile, make one change with Adam Wharton dropping out of the matchday squad with injury.
Crystal Palace: Henderson, Munoz, Richards, Lacroix, Guehi, Mitchell, Lerma, Hughes, Sarr, Eze, Mateta
Subs: Turner, Nketiah, France, Clyne, Kamada, Esse, Chilwell, Devenny, Kporha
Manchester United have made six changesfrom their Europa League semi-final against Atletic Bilbao. The main change comes at goalkeeper with Andre Onana rested for today’s game.
Man Utd:Bayindir, Mazraoui, Mount, Fernandes, Hojlund, Yoro, Amad, Shaw, Ugarte, Mainoo, Amass
Subs: Heaton, Dorgu, Fredricson, Lindelof, Maguire, Casemiro, Eriksen, Garnacho, Obi
West Ham, meanwhile, make three changes from their game against Tottenham.
West Ham:Areola, Coufal, Todibo, Kilman, Cresswell, Wan-Bissaka, Rodriguez, Ward-Prowse, Soucek, Bowen, Kudus
Subs: Fabianski, Soler, Paqueta, Fullkrug, Mayropanos, Guilherme, Alvarez, Emerson, Ferguson
Hello and welcome to thePremier Leagueclockwatch.We have three games to oversee with a 2.15pm BST kick-off as Manchester United take on West Ham, Nottingham Forest host Leicester City and Crystal Palace travel to Tottenham.
A win for Nottingham Forest this afternoon would see them back in European football qualification spots. Champions and Europa League qualification is the only thing left to be decided with Liverpool already winning the title and all three relegation spots confirmed.
But the 2.15pm game action is not the only thing we will have here. Newcastle vs Chelsea has already got underway and I will bring you the latest update from that game shortly. While Liverpool vs Arsenal takes place later on this afternoon and so when the team news drops I will bring that to you.
The team news for the main three games on this blog are about to drop so stay tuned for updates.