Key events
Birmingham City are League One champions! Having clinched promotion in midweek, the title has been secured without the Blues even needing to kick a ball. Wrexham’s 0-0 draw at Wigan has done the trick.
Meanwhile, Wycombe have beaten Stevenage 1-0 to go one point off second.
Some further pre-match reading options for you:
It’s full-time in the Women’s FA Cup and Chelsea have edged past Liverpool to secure a spot in the final, via a stoppage time winner from the in-form Aggie Beever-Jones. They’ll face either Manchester United or Manchester City.
Make that 2-1 to Plymouth. What on earth is happening to Chris Wilder’s normally-so-steely Sheffield United?
A big goal for Plymouth! Ryan Hardie has equalised with 10 minutes left on the clock against Sheffield United. Leeds and Burnley might be rather pleased with that goal too …
There have been goals galore at the Etihad this afternoon and Barry Glendenning is your man for that game’s final knockings.
Leeds and Sheffield United are both winning in the Championship early kickoffs – but only by slender margins. Still a good 15 minutes plus added time remaining at Elland Road and Home Park, with Plymouth – 1-0 down to the Blades – in need of some inspiration to kickstart their fading survival hopes.
Premier League team news
Brighton v Leicester
Brighton: Verbruggen; Hinshelwood, Dunk, O’Riley, Estupiñán; Ayari, Baleba; Minteh, Adingra, Pedro; Welbeck.
Leicester: Hermansen; Justin, Coady, Okoli, Thomas; Ndidi, Soumaré, McAteer; El Khannous, Mavididi, Vardy.
Nottingham Forest v Everton
Nottingham Forest: Sels; Williams, Milenkovic, Murillo, Moreno; Domínguez, Anderson, Gibbs-White; Silva, Hudson-Odoi, Wood.
Everton: Pickford; O’Brien, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Gueye, Garner, Doucouré; Harrison, Ndiaye, Broja.
Southampton v Aston Villa
Southampton: Ramsdale; Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Stephens; Walker-Peters, Ugochukwu, Fernandes, Manning; Sulemana, Archer, Onuachu.
Aston Villa: Martínez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Maatsen; Onana, Tielemans; Rogers, Ramsey, Asensio; Rashford.
Preamble
Although the Premier League is fizzling out somewhat – save for the semi-interesting top five tussle for Champions League qualification – the rest of the English pyramid is far from done and dusted. So while Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa will try to boost their European hopes this afternoon, the real juice is to be found elsewhere.
Take the Championship for instance, where there’s everything to play for and everything to lose in the fight for automatic promotion, the playoffs and survival. Of particular interest today are Cardiff v Stoke and Portsmouth v Derby at the bottom, while Leeds and Sheffield United are currently in action, having kicked off at 12.30pm.
League One and Two are equally unpredictable, while there’s still (just about) a Bundesliga title race on, with Bayer Leverkusen looking to cut the gap to leaders Bayern Munich to just three points – before the Bavarians face Borussia Dortmund in Der Klassiker from 5.30pm.
Plenty to get our teeth into, so why not drop me an email to chat our Saturday afternoons away? Let’s go.