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Key events
GOAL! Hearts 1-0 Dundee (McEntee 77)
A breakthrough for the Scottish Premiership leaders! Dundee goalkeeper Jon McCracken gets a hand on Oisin McEntee’s header but not enough to keep it out!
Premier League: Josh Laurent spurns a great chance to reply straight away for Burnley but he spoons his effort over the bar from around four yards out!
Championship: Wrexham get their noses in front at Sheffield Utd – it’s Sam Smith! They’ve turned it around since Andre Brooks’ opener.
GOAL! Fulham 2-1 Burnley (Wilson 73)
Proper turnaround! Harry Wilson, he’s done it again. Pretty disappointing defending from Burnley and now they’re in trouble.
Scotland: It’s getting a bit nervy at Hearts. Marc Leonard has a shot saved from the edge of the box. Lawrence Shankland is off the bench and plenty of balls are going in the box. Still 0-0 with Dundee.
Championship: Big chance for Leicester. Bobby Decordova-Reid cuts on to his right foot, floats in a cross and Patson Daka, who missed a first-half penalty, puts it wide at the back post. Still 0-0 at Watford.
GOAL! Fulham 1-1 Burnley (King 67)
Scratch that, Fulham have ended their drought! Martin Dubravka comes to claim a cutback, it goes through his legs and Josh King is on the spot to score his first Premier League goal.
Premier League: The gap to survival is, as it stands, six points for Burnley. That’s doable, isn’t it? They still have Forest and Leeds to play … and Manchester City and Arsenal.
Fulham haven’t scored in their last seven halves of football. On the beach?
GOAL! Fulham 0-1 Burnley (Flemming 60)
Against the run of play! Lyle Foster sticks it across the box for Zian Flemming to convert. What a precious goal that could be for Scott Parker at his old club.
Championship: Rayan Kolli finds the top corner to make it 4-1 to QPR at home to struggling Portsmouth. That’s his second.
Bundesliga: The German clubs are picking up the slack in the goals department. Harry Kane is on the scoresheet as Bayern Munich lead Union Berlin 4-0. Heidenheim have battled back to make it 3-3 against Bayer Leverkusen and Eric Martel has just made it 3-3 as well in the Rhine derby between Köln and Borussia Mönchengladbach. Werder Bremen lead 1-0 at Wolfsburg.
Championship: Wrexham hit back! Josh Windass, formerly of Sheffield Wednesday, converts at the back post but opts – perhaps sensibly – not to goad the punters at Bramall Lane. It’s 1-1.
Championship: Sheffield Utd grab the first goal – and a deserved one at that – of the second half as Andre Brooks sticks it to Wrexham. 1-0.
Let’s check the mailbag which, after that first half, is unsurprisingly empty of correspondence on Fulham v Burnley or Hearts v Dundee. Alas.
“Apologies for yesterday’s news but i’ve just watched the highlights now, the thing that stood out for me about the Manchester United penalty non-award for the push on Amad Diallo (other than the obvious fact that it was near identical to Maguire’s push on Evanilson) was the reaction of Bruno Fernandez after Ryan Christie subsequently put the ball in the United net. Rather than rushing to whine in the referee’s face as his reputation would lead you to suggest he seemed to concentrate more on stopping the other United players doing that (at least from what you can see on the highlights). I wonder if age, plus being in a coherent and well-functioning team for once, has mellowed him a little?” – David Wall
“The league is stuck between a rock and a hard place on Chelsea. On one hand, you have to pretend to protect the integrity of the league, however little there may actually be. Which, one could say, is what they attempted to do when they forced Abramovich to sell the team for non-financial reasons. On the other, what sort of ownership group is going to buy a club that has no insight into the risk they are taking? Clearly when a sale is being forced through on an accelerated timeline you can’t examine all the potential shady dealings of the previous ownership group. People with this kind of money are not going to be willing to buy if the team’s value is immediately tanked because of said shady dealings that they cannot rectify but we’re not responsible for. This club doesn’t sell for billions if that is the case, and let’s remember that sports is a business at the PL level, not a bunch of lads up the road forming a local club. The consternation of tribalistic fans whose ownership groups mismanaged their own finances is not a real comparison to the situation at hand, and some more reasonable discussion around the very important nuances is pertinent” – Justin Madson
National League South: In case you were wondering, Andy Carroll’s management debut is going all right, I guess. His Dagenham & Redbridge side are being held 0-0 by Torquay, who until a couple of days ago were led by Neil Warnock. What a match-up that would’ve been.
WSL roundup: Everything you need to know on another eye-opening day in the Women’s Super League
Half-time scores
Here’s how we stand after the first 45 …
Premier League
Scottish Premiership
Championship
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Bristol City 0-1 West Brom
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Charlton 0-1 Norwich
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Hull 2-1 Sheffield Wed latest
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QPR 3-1 Portsmouth
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Sheffield Utd 0-0 Wrexham
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Southampton 2-0 Oxford Utd
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Watford 0-0 Leicester latest
Scotland: Hearts have been poor in the first half at home to Dundee and Pierre Landry Kaboré sums up their struggles as he fails to capitalise on being put through on goal just before the break. Neither side has had a shot on target.
League One: Lincoln are flying! Reeco Hackett, who had a hand in the first two, sweeps a left-footed shot past Ted Cann. Rotherham’s new manager, Lee Clark, whose last job was in the Sudanese top flight, is not having a pleasurable afternoon back in English football.
Premier League: Not a lot going on at Craven Cottage … Burnley had a couple of chances to start with but Fulham are in control now.
Championship: Leicester win a penalty at Watford as Abdul Fatawu hits the deck in the box! Patson Daka to take … off the post! Egil Selvik gets a vital touch on it. That could be so costly for the side looking to avoid back-to-back relegations.
Championship: Portsmouth have a lifeline at QPR through John Swift’s finish from the edge of the box – they trail 3-1.
League Two: Cheltenham have pegged Notts County back as Isaac Hutchinson gets his second to cancel out Matt Palmer’s goal that made it 2-1.
Championship: Jairo Riedewald puts the ball in the net for Sheffield Utd against Wrexham but the assistant’s flag is up for offside. Still 0-0.
League One: Lincoln go 2-0 up against Rotherham after Ben House’s deflected strike. Does the Championship beckon? Well, one of the chasing pack, Bolton, are behind at bottom club Port Vale. As it stands, Lincoln could be up at Easter.
Scotland: Hearts are still being held by Dundee. Their conquerers last week, Kilmarnock, have gone in front at home to bottom club Livingston through Joe Hugill.
Championship: QPR haven’t won in three at home but they’re in dreamland against Portsmouth – Paul Smyth has a second and his team’s third! It’s looking bleak for John Mousinho’s Pompey, who are a point above the drop zone as it stands.
Championship: Sheffield Wednesday, with one win all season and 32 games without one, lead at Hull … until Matt Crooks equalises for the hosts. Jamal Lowe had the bottom club in front for about a minute and a half.
Portsmouth have it all to do now at QPR as Rayan Kolli makes it 2-0 but West Brom have taken a surprise lead as George Campbell heads them in front at Bristol City.
Bundesliga: Half-time scores. Olise and Gnabry struck just before the break for the leaders.
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Bayern Munich 2-0 Union Berlin
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Heidenheim 0-2 Bayer Leverkusen
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Köln 2-2 Borussia Mönchengladbach
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Wolfsburg 0-0 Werder Bremen
Premier League: Big miss! What a chance for Burnley. From the left, Hartman whips a ball in behind the Fulham backline and Flemming heads it straight at Leno from six yards out. Either side of the keeper …
Championship roundup: All you need to know about the three early kick-offs featuring a few promotion contenders.
League One: Leaders Lincoln take the lead through a Ted Cann own goal but Rotherham complain about the fact they had an offside player on the line when it went in.
League Two: Promotion-chasing Notts County have levelled it at home to Cheltenham as Jodi Jones cancels out Isaac Hutchinson’s opener.
Match report: Sam Cunningham has filed his report from the Amex after Brighton’s 2-1 win over Liverpool.
Championship: Patrick Bamford is guilty of missing a sitter for Sheffield Utd in the early stages against Wrexham. Close range, on his left foot, wide – whoops. Wrexham are very much in the hunt for a playoff place.
At the other end of the spectrum, Shea Charles slams one in for Southampton to double their lead at home to Oxford. It’s a beauty!
Championship: Struggling Portsmouth go behind at Loftus Road as Paul Smyth strikes for QPR.
Premier League: Shouts for a penalty for Burnley as Zian Flemming’s shot comes off Calvin Bassey’s trailing arm but the referee and VAR wave it away.
League One: Gary Caldwell gets off to a strong start as his Wigan side take an early lead against his old club Exeter, who he left a few weeks ago. Joe Taylor with the goal. These two are dangerously close to the relegation places.
Championship: Playoff hopefuls Southampton take the lead at home to struggling Oxford through Cyle Larin. Norwich have gone in front at Charlton thanks to Pelle Mattsson.
Bundesliga: Still 0-0 between Bayern Munich and Union Berlin after half an hour. There were three goals in the first seven minutes in the Rhine derby between Köln and Borussia Mönchengladbach – it’s 2-2 now. Bayer Leverkusen have a 1-0 lead at basement dwellers Heidenheim.
Kick-off
Here we go. Craven Cottage and Tynecastle are our main focuses but I’ll dabble in a bit of everything.
The 3pm kick-offs are about to get under way …
If you’re at a game, get in touch via email.
Tony Killen writes in: “Thank you Barney for today’s article on the ‘punishment’ meted out by the PL to our opponents today.
“I suspect that the crowd at Hill Dickinson Stadium later will be giving an, erm, ‘robust’ response to the kid-gloves treatment of Chelsea compared to the points deductions incurred in recent seasons by Everton and others.
“Viewers of a sensitive nature are advised to look away from 5.30 this afternoon.”
Here is Barney Ronay’s weekend column:
Full-time: Brighton 2-1 Liverpool – Danny Welbeck’s double downs the defending champions. Scott Murray has reaction:
Here’s how the Premier League looks heading into the rest of the afternoon:
“I wish it was just as easy as throwing six forwards on,” said Scott Parker this week as he tries to balance defensive solidity with actually scoring enough goals to keep Burnley up. Their last few games have seen different approaches – an all-guns-blazing 4-3 defeat to Brentford, a limp 2-0 loss at Everton and a promising-but-toothless 0-0 draw with Bournemouth.
“I think we’ve tried that as well in terms of [throwing] caution to the wind,” Parker said yesterday. “They’re the constant decisions you’re trying to make. I wish it was just as easy as throwing six forwards on.
“There’s a bit more to it than just that. But for sure we’re at the stage now where we need to get three points. We need to win football matches to give ourselves a chance to stay in this division. Hence why we’ve probably changed a little bit in terms of our structure.”
Full-time scores in the EFL’s early games
Championship
Good news for Southampton, Wrexham and the like as Ipswich and Millwall take points off each other.
League One
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Cardiff 0-0 Blackpool
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Luton 1-1 Stockport
Cardiff give Lincoln a chance to extend their lead at the top.
League Two
Bromley stay top ahead of MK Dons but Cambridge close.
Brighton v Liverpool was a delayed early kick-off (if that makes sense) in the Premier League and there’s still 15 minutes to go there. England’s Danny Welbeck at the double.
Hearts v Dundee teams news
Hearts XI (4-4-2): Schwolow; Altena, Kent, Halkett, McCart; McEntee, Devlin, Leonard, Kyziridis; Braga, Kaboré
Subs: Fulton, Baningime, Shankland, Borchgrevink, Steinwender, Spittal, Kerjota, Mato, Chesnokov
Dundee XI (4-2-3-1): McCracken; D Wright, Astley, Graham, Halliday; F Robertson, Hamilton; Congreve, Westley, Yogane; Hay
Subs: O’Hara, Koumetio, Samuels, Murray, Reilly, Cotterill, S Wright, Bevan, Jones
Key fixtures
Here are my picks for the afternoon (3pm unless stated):
Premier League
Scottish Premiership
Championship
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Bristol City (15th/24) v West Brom (21st)
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Sheffield Utd (16th) v Wrexham (7th)
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Southampton (6th) v Oxford Utd (22nd)
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Watford (9th) v Leicester (23rd)
League One
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Lincoln (1st/24) v Rotherham (22nd)
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Port Vale (24th) v Bolton (3rd)
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Wigan (20th) v Exeter (19th)
League Two
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Bromley (1st/24) v Colchester (13th)
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Notts County (4th) v Cheltenham (17th)
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Tranmere (20th) v Swindon (6th)
Bundesliga
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Bayern Munich (1st/18) v Union Berlin (9th) – 2.30pm
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Köln (14th) v Borussia Mönchengladbach (12th) – Rhine derby, 2.30pm
Fulham v Burnley team news
Yes, this is the only Premier League offering this afternoon but it’s an extremely important one for Burnley. They need points and they need them now – nine separate them and Nottingham Forest in 17th with only seven games to go after today.
Fulham are 12th but only four points behind Brentford in 7th and a European place. Oh, the memories of Bobby Zamora and Zoltan Gera putting Juventus to the sword. Marco Silva has made one change to last weekend’s team that drew 0-0 (uh oh) with Forest – Rodrigo Muniz in for Raúl Jiménez up top.
Fulham XI (4-2-3-1): Leno; Castagne, Andersen, Bassey, Robinson; Berge, Iwobi; Wilson, King, Bobb; Muniz
Subs: Lecomte, Diop, Sessegnon, Reed, Lukic, Cairney, Smith Rowe, Chukwueze, Jiménez
Burnley are unchanged from their 0-0 draw (oh dear) with Bournemouth last time out. Armando Broja, formerly of Fulham, has to make do with a place on the bench.
Burnley XI (4-2-3-1) Dubravka; Walker, Humphreys, Estève, Hartman; Ward-Prowse, Laurent; Foster, Hannibal, Anthony; Flemming
Subs: Weiss, Worrall, Ugochukwu, Edwards, Florentino, Tchaouna, Ekdal, Broja, Barnes
Preamble
There is only one 3pm kick-off in the Premier League (angrily shakes fist) but fear not because there is a raft of games up and down Britain that will shape seasons. The business end of 2025-26 is almost upon us and plenty of teams in the EFL and Scotland are jostling for position for the final straight.
In the Premier League, Scott Parker takes his Burnley side to Craven Cottage as they look to close the still sizeable gap to survival. Fulham are still in the hunt for a European place.
In Scotland, Premiership leaders Hearts aim to bounce back from defeat to Kilmarnock last weekend as they host Dundee. Their fellow title contenders don’t play until later (Rangers) or tomorrow (Celtic).
In the Championship, playoff hopefuls Southampton and Wrexham are in action while Leicester and West Brom are among those looking to boost their survival chances.
In League One, leaders Lincoln are at home to Rotherham and could take a giant leap towards automatic promotion with a win. Meanwhile there’s a pivotal game in the relegation battle as Gary Caldwell and Wigan host his old side Exeter. In League Two, Bromley are aiming to reach the third tier for the first time in their history. The league leaders host Barrow looking to respond to some early results involving the chasing pack.
And it’s worth mentioning that I’ll be keeping tabs on Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich at home to Union Berlin. Nine points is their lead at the top of the Bundesliga – Bayern that is, not Union.
#Fulham #Burnley #Hearts #Dundee #Saturday #football #clockwatch #live #Football
