A goal in either half from Willian and the substitute Manor Solomon earned Fulham a first victory in four matches against a subdued and injury-hit Nottingham Forest side who were unable to muster much attacking threat.
Steve Cooper’s visitors suffered a cruel and record-breaking blow after only seven minutes, losing the central defensive partnership of Willy Boly and Scott McKenna to injury – the earliest in Premier League history that a team has replaced two of their starting XI.
This battle between bitter enemies turned into a tale of two Spanish goalkeepers as Robert Sánchez’s gaffe gifted Crystal Palace a point after Vicente Guaita had kept them alive with a string of fine saves.
Brighton looked like they could be heading towards their first victory over Palace in nearly four years when Solly March found a way past Guaita with a well-taken finish just after the hour mark. But Sánchez’s awful mistake six minutes later allowed James Tomkins to equalise on a rare start for the veteran defender to deny Roberto Di Zerbi’s side and ensure this fixture finished as a 1-1 draw for a fourth successive time.
Changing a manager mid-season carries risks as well as benefits. Southampton and Wolves have both served as recent case studies. Julen Lopetegui has shown the benefits of elite experience. Nathan Jones, having previously lost six from seven Premier League matches, had made himself a reputation based on testy media appearances heavy on xG at Luton Town and folksy Welsh mining community origin stories.
With 20 minutes to play, it looked like this was the game where such opinions could change. Jones, a manager looking done for after losing heavily to Brentford last week, had victory over the former Spain, Real Madrid and Sevilla coach within his grasp.
Three points would take Saints off the bottom, within striking distance of safety. Wolves were struggling, confusingly so after beating Liverpool last week. Once Mario Lemina was dismissed in the first half, three minutes after Carlos Alcaraz’s goal, Southampton had a golden chance they could not afford to pass up. The manner of Wolves’ equaliser, Jan Bednarek unable to prevent the ball squirming in from Diego Costa’s scuffed shot, was the combination of ineptitude, panic and misfortune that befalls a team staring down the barrel of relegation. João Gomes’s winner, on his debut for Wolves, brought boos and may well signal the end for Jones.
Antonio Conte returned to the technical area for this game under strict instructions to take it easy after gallbladder surgery. But this match would have tested the stress levels of anyone afforded the dubious privilege of managing Tottenham.
A week after beating Premier League champions Manchester City, Spurs were deservedly on the end of a pounding, just three days before they return to Champions League action away to Milan, as Leicester backed up their exhilarating recovery away to Aston Villa with another four-goal display.
For Arsenal, it was all about whether they could recover from the low point of their season so far – the shock 1-0 loss at Everton from last Saturday. Nobody had seen it coming and Mikel Arteta was determined to show it belonged to a different era, not this one, that has his team leading from the front in the title race.
Arsenal fell short. It was a game that they wanted desperately to win, particularly before Wednesday’s meeting against Manchester City here. But Arsenal were not themselves, lacking their usual intensity and fluency in the final third.
Nathan Tella scored a superb hat-trick to help record-equalling Burnley cruise to a 3-0 Championship victory over Lancashire rivals Preston at Turf Moor.
Time for me to clock off. The teatime game is about to begin on the south coast, so do join Scott Murray to see if Bournemouth can climb out of the bottom three or Newcastle can return to the top three. Thanks for your company, correspondence and views on whether this season’s champions will be relative duffers. Ivan Toney has just made sure that we have a more interesting race on our hands. Nate Silver’s prediction machine still has Arsenal winning the title, but only by a single point; Pep may well feel it’s a conspiracy. See you tomorrow for the next episode of Leeds-Man United.
The other ramifications
Taking it from the bottom …
Southampton stay 20th on 15 points after somehow racking up their ninth defeat in the last ten games. Come back Ralph, all is forgiven.
Wolves (15th) are now five points clear of the bottom three and only one point behind Forest.
Leicester are up to 13th, on 24 points, squeezing past Forest on the strength of a vastly superior goal difference (-2 plays -20).
Palace stay 12th after scraping a draw against Brighton.
Fulham (seventh) and Brentford (eighth) continue to lord it over Chelsea (ninth) in the battle of West London. Fulham and Brentford have won more points than they’ve lost, unlike Chelsea, who have mustered only 31 out of a possible 66.
Brighton stay sixth with 35 points. They’re only ahead of Fulham on goal difference, but they have two games in hand.
Spurs stay fifth on 39 points, one behind Newcastle, having played two more games. Their goal difference has taken a hit and is now -7, the worst in the top six.
“Arsenal miss Gabriel Jesus a lot,” says Kári Tulinius. “They need someone to cause chaos inside the box.” If only they’d brought a striker in on loan last month – Erling Haaland might have been up for it.
Updated
Arsenal now six points clear at the top ...
… but they no longer have a game in hand (except on Man United). And they still have to play City twice, so if City win all their matches – a very big if at the moment – they will retain the title.
Full time! Arsenal 1-1 Brentford
Another setback for Mikel Arteta’s pace-setters, who drop points at home for only the second time in the league (the other being against Newcastle). Their next game is at home too ... against City.
Updated
Full time: Leicester 4-1 Spurs
Leicester score four for the second weekend running, and Spurs land on a snake after shinning up a ladder against Man City.
Updated
Full time: Southampton 1-2 Wolves
A big win for the ten men of Wolves, and a big embarrassment for Nathan Jones after his team had taken the lead.
Updated
Full time: Fulham 2-0 Forest
A comfortable win for Fulham in the end, thanks to goals from Willian and Solomon.
Updated
Full time: Palace 1-1 Brighton
James Tomkins salvages a point for Palace after Brighton were all over them for most of the match.
Updated
GOAL! Fulham 2-0 Forest (Solomon 88)
Another goal from a sub – Manor Solomon, on for Willian, who scored the first.
GOAL! Southampton 1-2 Wolves (Gomes 87)
Answer: Wolves have! A great finish, apparently, from Joao Gomes, who has only just come on as a sub. It’s his first goal since he arrived from Flamengo.
Updated
So we have three games out of five stuck at 1-1: Arsenal-Brentford, Palace-Brighton and Southampton-Wolves. All three have been mismatches in terms of the stats, with the home teams dominating bar Palace. With about three minutes of normal time to go, who’s got a winner in them?
Updated
GOAL! Leicester 4-1 Spurs (Barnes 81)
He thought he’d scored the fourth … he has now!
“Brentford strikes back!” says Mary Waltz. “After the Gunners took the lead they could have folded but they kept working. VAR almost ruined it but justice prevailed.” I think she may be taking over.
Somewhere in the middle of all that, Leicester had the ball in the net for the fourth time. It was a fine finish from Harvey Barnes but he was ruled offside by the VAR.
Updated
GOAL!! Arsenal 1-1 Brentford (Toney 74)
Brentford strike back! It’s a header from Ivan Toney, the man who was making everything happen in the first half. The VAR review took a while, looking at offside and a possible obstruction, but the goal stands.
Updated
GOAL! Southampton 1-1 Wolves (Bednarek OG 72)
The ten men are back in it! Though they need a hand from an 11th man, Jan Bednarek, who gets the final touch at the end of a goalmouth shemozzle.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Brentford (Trossard 66)
Supersub! Trossard, on for Martinelli, gets a tap-in after some good work by the inevitable Bukayo Saka.
Updated
Disallowed goal! Leicester 3-1 Spurs
Harvey Barnes races past Porro, but he’s ruled offside by the VAR.
GOAL!! Palace 1-1 Brighton (Tomkins 69)
Palace are back in it! They had a free kick, Olise swung it in, Robert Sanchez dropped the ball and James Tomkins cashed in.
Updated
Bentancur is not as badly hurt as he seemed. He rises from his stretcher and takes off his oxygen mask, but his afternoon is over. It also included an early yellow card and a fairly early goal. He’s replaced by Pape Sarr with Spurs still 3-1 down.
Updated
GOAL! Palace 0-1 Brighton (March 63)
Brighton’s dominance finally pays off as Solly March gets on the end of a cross from Pervis Estupinan, who thought he’d scored earlier.
Updated
Spurs’ afternoon goes from bad to worse with an injury for Rodrigo Bentancur. He’s done something nasty to his knee and he’s in tears, poor guy.
What do you do after a red card if you’re the Wolves manager? You send on Adama Traore with his red-hot pace. He’s replaced Joao Moutinho, so it sounds as if Wolves, who started as a 4-5-1, have now switched to 4-3-2.
“Shocks ahoy in the Scottish Cup, Tim,” says Simon McMahon, “as Raith Rovers lead Motherwell 2-0 at half-time and Elgin are 1-0 up at Ayr. Goalless so far between Dundee United and Kilmarnock, in stark contrast to the last time Kilmarnock were at Tannadice in the Scottish Cup, in 2013-14, when it finished 5-2 to United. Andy Robertson scored twice that day, and United went on to make the final. Wonder what he’s up to these days?”
“Yet another incorrect use of POV on social media,” says Sean Orlowicz, picking up on the tweet from Fulham at 16:01. “If I was the pinpoint cross, why would I be able to see myself (the ball)?” Ha.
All the games have resumed and Arsenal are looking brighter. Maybe they’ll upset Brentford after all.
Yet another Spurs fan writes. “We needed a new centre back, badly, in January,” says Alexandra Ashton. “Dier is not good enough, and we’re suffering for it. With Porro a much more attacking fullback than Emerson, the back three is required to compensate, and they’re not doing so. Disappointing.”
Updated
“It’s interesting,” says Samad Sayyed, “how the conversation has moved from ‘Arsenal will finish at 6th place’ to ‘Arsenal haven’t played the big teams yet’ to ‘Arsenal will unravel in December/January’ to now ‘it must be the weakest championship if Arsenal win it’.
”Arsenal may well fall short of the league championship (they probably will), but they would’ve already exceeded their target/expectations for this year. And with condolences to Russell Yong, this Arsenal team hasn’t reached its ceiling yet. Martinelli, Saka, Nketiah, Saliba, Odegard are yet to reach their peak. This is different from Fabregas/RvP years where there was no FFP and Arsenal had no money to invest due to stadium debt. This Arsenal is ready to splurge on the right players and teams like Man City are soon to learn that they can’t bulldoze-buy their way to titles anymore.”
Another Spurs fan writes – not disgruntled, just resigned. “It’s happened so many times,” says Yash Gupta, “I’m not angry anymore. Dier with Romero and without Romero is like Conte with hair and without hair.”
“Tim,” says Mary Waltz, “you can reassure Matt Dony that Everton is still a relegation squad and Liverpool will still be heavy favorites this Monday. And for the last month northern California has resembled Wales with heavy rains and grey cloudy days where the sun never shows its face. Proper football weather!”
POV: You're one of @andrinhopereira's pinpoint corner deliveries. 🎯#FULNFO pic.twitter.com/135qOkYITq
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) February 11, 2023
Half-time: Leicester 3-1 Spurs
Just confirming this scoreline, for fans of either side who can’t believe their eyes.
Updated
Half-time: Fulham 1-0 Forest
This one has been even in terms of possession (our old friend 52-48). But it’s been quite the opposite when it comes to shots: Fulham 9, Forest 3.
GOAL! Leicester 3-1 Spurs (Iheanacho 45+4)
Another one! Kelechi Iheanacho scores from the edge of the box, and suddenly Leicester have rattled up seven goals in a game and a half. Spurs, who took the lead, may have gone a little bit Spursy.
Updated
Half-time: Southampton 1-0 Wolves
Manna from heaven for the Saints. They lead through Carlos Alcaraz’s goal and they have a whole half to go against ten men. They’re off the bottom if it stays like this – one point above Bournemouth, level with Everton.
Half-time: Arsenal 0-0 Brentford
By all accounts, this could be 2-3. Arsenal have had nine shots, two on target’ Brentford six, only one on target, but on so-called clear-cut chances they lead 2-0. It’s going to end up 1-0 to Arsenal, isn’t it?
Half-time! Palace 0-0 Brighton
After that narrow escape, Palace make it back to the dressing-room unscathed. But the writing is on the stats: they’ve had only 27 per cent of the ball and no shots on target.
A disgruntled Spurs fan writes. “Anybody able to tell me,” asks Brian Richardson, “what Son’s purpose is today? Seems like he’s not got a clue what to do. Perisic left open again and again. Sonny lad. Dig in!”
“I mean, rationally,” says Matt Dony, “I know that Mary Waltz is correct. But I have to say, I enjoyed football an awful lot more when Liverpool were comedically overwhelming almost everyone they came up against. I have a sinking feeling she’ll be much happier on Monday evening than I will be. And not just because she’s in California, and I’m in Carmarthen…”
Updated
@TimdeLisle does this mean Arsenal expect Nketiah to phone his performance in today? 😄 https://t.co/lyaBC2TJru
— Harvey Mayne 💙 #Staysafe #Bleibgesund (@HarveyMayne) February 11, 2023
“Arsenal in transition?” says Russell Yong. “Chelsea maybe (actually, Chelsea for sure). Arsenal have felt like they’ve been building to this for years, getting the right pieces in, waiting for other pieces (Xhaka) to finally fit in, the right manager, dropping misfits and recalcitrants. This frankly feels like a peak and now or never, that they have a Leicester-esque unique opportunity to take the title at a time when Man City, Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea and Man Utd are all floundering to some degree.
“Those teams will surely not all play as poorly again and, at a time when Newcastle are expected to join the fray, the best players are not going to brook losing it when the chance has never been better. If they did, expect to see a repeat of 2009-2012, when anyone who was anyone (Fabregas, Adebayor, Clichy, Toure, Nasri, van Persie, Song, Sagna) parked up at teams where they could have a decent chance of winning titles (and did).”
Good points, but is its bit telling that you liken Arsenal to Leicester?
NO GOAL! Palace 0-0 Brighton
Sorry, I spoke too soon – Estupinan’s goal has been chalked off by the VAR.
“Weakest champions?” says Bert Fill. “Maybe. Then again we could just as easily say that whoever wins a proper old battle will have to be really strong champions. Or, of course, we could just enjoy what happens and stop with this endless comparing.”
“Arsenal to win,” says Jeff Sax. “No one will catch them.... Pep making sure of that.” Ha. You may well be right but this afternoon, according to the Arsenal old boy Paul Merson, “Brentford have been the better side.”
GOAL! Palace 0-1 Brighton (Estupinan 32)
Brighton have been making all the running and now they have something to show for it as Pervis Estupinan, the left-back, puts them ahead.
Updated
Meanwhile, at the Emirates, Ivan Toney has hit the bar. He passed to his mate Mbeumo, Mbeumo passed back , and Toney missed when it may well have been easier to score.
Red card! Lemina of Wolves
Not just a goal down, Wolves are now a man down too. Mario Lemina, back on his old patch, sees yellow twice so he has to go.
Updated
“Morning greetings from California Tim!” says Mary Waltz. “The fact that City or Liverpool are not making the PL race a two-team contest where all their fixtures are over before they start is a glorious thing. Mid-table squads like Brentford or Fulham challenging the big boys, a resurgent Newcastle returning to the top four is fantastic.” And thanks to Spurs’ defending, they’ve just returned to it again.
Updated
GOAL! Southampton 1-0 Wolves (Alcaraz 24)
It’s all happening.
Updated
GOAL!!! Leicester 2-1 Spurs (Maddison 25)
One brings two!
Updated
GOAL!! Leicester 1-1 Spurs (Mendy 23)
Just when I was noting that Spurs had had more shots than any of the other nine teams in action in the Prem … Nampalys Mendy blasts his first goal for Leicester!
Updated
Never mind the Prem, here’s the news from Scotland. “Hello Tim.” Hello Simon McMahon, I’ve been expecting you. “It’s the Scottish Cup 5th round today, giving Dundee United a chance to leave their league troubles behind and secure a place in the last eight by beating Kilmarnock at Tannadice. Hearts became the first team through when they beat Hamilton 2-0 last night; today’s other games feature potentially awkward ties for Motherwell at Raith Rovers and Livingston at home to Inverness. Ayr v Elgin and Celtic v St. Mirren (at 5.30) make up the rest of the Saturday games, with Rangers v Partick tomorrow, and then non-league Darvel, conquerors of Aberdeen in the last round, hoping to continue their dream run at home to Falkirk on Monday. Maybe some Valentine’s Day cup romance in the offing…"?”
GOAL! Fulham 1-0 Forest (Willian 17)
A screamer.
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GOAL! Leicester 0-1 Spurs (Bentancur 15)
A corner, a game of pinball, a point-blank shot from Rodrigo Bentancur, a pause for VAR but it’s given! And with that Spurs are back in the top four, nudging past Newcastle for now.
Updated
Goal disallowed! Arsenal 0-0 Brentford
Brentford are having a lot of fun on the break. Bryan Mbeumo has the ball in the net, but the whistle has already gone for some debatable infringement in the box. Again the non-assist comes from Ivan Toney.
To lose one centre-back in the first seven minutes may be considered a misfortune. To lose both looks like the worst of luck. And that is what has happened to Forest at Fulham. Willy Boly and Scott McKenna, who both went down off the ball, have been replaced by Joe Worrall and Felipe. Proof that the five-subs rule doesn’t just help the big clubs.
An email! “There are no more clear favourites to win the Premier league now,” says Bogdan Kotarlic. “Do you agree that this season’s champions will be the weakest side to have won the title in the last 25-30 years?” Blimey. “Manchester City and Liverpool have lost their winning habit and Arsenal, Man United and Tottenham are in some sort of a transitional period.” The weakest for a few years maybe… not sure about 25!
All five games have kicked off… and Brentford have missed a sitter at the Emirates! A great cross from Ivan Toney on the right, a bad miss from Rico Henry at the back post.
The lunchtime game in the WSL has finished too, with Man City beating Arsenal 2-1. City go up to third, level with Man U on 29 points; Arsenal, on 26, slip to fourth. Top are Chelsea – the WSL is a parallel universe in which they still know how to win. More here from the equally masterly Rob Smyth.
West Ham-Chelsea has finished 1-1, amid plenty of controversy. So, yet again, Chelsea have lost points. It’s their third league draw in a row and the 14th time in 22 games that they haven’t won. They remain ninth while West Ham sneak above Wolves on goal difference, for now. More here from the masterly Scott Murray.
Teams: Southampton-Wolves
The teams are in 📝
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) February 11, 2023
Here’s the #SaintsFC side taking on #Wolves at St Mary’s this afternoon: pic.twitter.com/m9Y54OeQJQ
☝️ One change from #WOLLIV.
— Wolves (@Wolves) February 11, 2023
🍷 Moutinho returns to the XI.
🔁 J. Gomes and Neto in the squad.
How we line up to face @SouthamptonFC.
🐺📋 @AstroPay_OK pic.twitter.com/5W9qssxBjx
Teams: Fulham-Forest
A start for Gustavo Scarpa. Hope he’s brought his skateboard to London.
Come on Fulham! ⚪️#FULNFO pic.twitter.com/gYMh2rGYqT
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) February 11, 2023
Team news is in! 📋
— Nottingham Forest FC (@NFFC) February 11, 2023
Two changes for #NFFC as Gustavo Scarpa and Serge Aurier come into the XI. 👊 pic.twitter.com/mQL2tZtIvk
Teams: Leicester-Spurs
Pedro Porro makes his first start for Spurs and Harry Kane takes over as captain from the injured Hugo Lloris.
Here's your XI for #LEITOT 📝 🔵
— Leicester City (@LCFC) February 11, 2023
Come on, City! pic.twitter.com/t54YQZpu8s
Your Spurs team this afternoon 👊 pic.twitter.com/7Xh4b7zS9y
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) February 11, 2023
Teams: Palace-Brighton
The XI for #CRYBHA 💪
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) February 11, 2023
📲 @shophumm#CPFC | #NoRoomForRacism
COME ON ALBION! 💪 Here's our team to take on Palace this afternoon. 📝
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) February 11, 2023
📲 https://t.co/S3j1TIeLz3 // #BHAFC 💚 pic.twitter.com/TfLyXqMqM0
Teams: Arsenal-Brentford
Don’t ever change, Arsenal.
🔴 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎 ⚪️
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) February 11, 2023
🧱 White at the back
🪄 Odegaard in midfield
📞 Eddie leading the line
Let’s get back to winning ways - together! pic.twitter.com/k4Vzje7BcX
Your Bees starting XI this afternoon ❤🐝#BrentfordFC | #ARSBRE | @bluejeansnet
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) February 11, 2023
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Preamble
Hello and welcome to goal-by-goal coverage of the games that are not on the telly (in the UK). There are five of them in the Premier League and they’ve all got a bit of intrigue.
Arsenal v Brentford The league leaders welcome the team of the moment. Brentford are one of only two PL clubs who have been unbeaten since the World Cup, the other being Newcastle. Brentford have four wins and two draws; Newcastle are the other way round.
Palace v Brighton The M23 derby! Or perhaps not.
Fulham v Forest Two teams who were in the Championship last year, both flourishing now. Fulham have been steady all season and Forest have 11 points from their last five games. In the table for the mini-season that began at Christmas, they are seventh, just behind Fulham.
Leicester v Spurs Leicester have just emerged from another bad patch with a rollicking win at Villa. Spurs, always up for a ride on the rollercoaster, are on a high after beating Man City.
Southampton v Wolves The Saints are doing so badly that they may be thinking it’s time for another change of manager. Wolves have been up and down but they’ve just had their finest hour under Julen Lopetegui, thumping Liverpool 3-0.
Back soon with the teams.
