And here’s your final match report from Selhurst Park as Crystal Palace sneak past struggling Ipswich to keep the Tractor Boys firmly in the relegation mire.
That concludes today’s clockwatch. Thanks as always for reading and for all your engaging correspondence – until next time!
Here’s some more reaction from the earlier game at the City Ground where there were yet more headaches for Pep Guardiola.
Match report: Liverpool marched on towards the title despite a first half scare inflicted by Southampton. Here’s what Andy Hunter made of things at Anfield.
Match report: Brighton needed a late spot-kick to maintain their sensational recent form against Fulham and Ed Aarons watched it for us.
“It was a bit of frustration,” reveals Mo Salah on what Arne Slot said at half-time to fire up Liverpool today. “His head was going for us. We were sloppy and slow in the first half.
“I don’t think we played good today. If you want to win the Champions League or Premier League you have to win these games like that.”
PSG’s lead against Rennes has been cut to 2-1, by the way. Plenty of Liverpool eyes will be on that one.
Before the reports begin to roll in following the 3pm full-times, allow me to point you in the direction of our Brentford v Aston Villa coverage. Niall McVeigh is your man.
Re Liverpool’s subs, I’m reliably informed (by a few of you) that when one side makes a concussion substitution, the other side is allowed one too.
I won’t run through every single scoreline down the divisions in England, but the key headlines in the Championship are home wins for Burnley (4-0 over Luton), Sheffield United (1-0 over Preston) and Sunderland (2-1 over Cardiff). Over to you, Leeds United. Daniel Farke’s side play tomorrow and will be feeling the aforementioned trio breathing down their necks.
Derby are off the bottom of the Championship after holding on to beat Blackburn 2-1, their first win under John Eustace. Plymouth were hammered 3-0 by playoff-pushing Sheffield Wednesday.
In League One, Birmingham have edged Lincoln 1-0 to maintain their charge at the top of the league, Wrexham continue to push for automatic promotion after beating Rotherham 1-0, while Wycombe remain in the mix after a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Peterborough.
Both Doncaster and Walsall remain in the League Two automatic promotion places, but both have failed to win today. Rovers were pegged back by Swindon to draw 2-2 and Walsall were handily beaten 3-1 at home by Grimsby. There was a big win for Tranmere Rovers at the bottom, they overcame Bromley 2-1.
A good point has just been made by Bryan Tisinger on email:
I just counted the number of substitutes for Liverpool and I got all the way to 6. Was one of their subs at halftime due to a head injury? Or is there a new substitute rule I’m not aware of?
Southampton have also made six subs, although I believe Bednarek’s removal for Bella-Kotchap on 19 minutes was due to a head injury/concussion. I cannot explain Liverpool’s extra substitution.
Premier League full time scores
Brighton 2-1 Fulham
Crystal Palace 1-0 Ipswich
Liverpool 3-1 Southampton
All predictable scorelines you might say, but there was nothing boring or predictable about the way we got there in all three games.
The headline is that Liverpool second half performance to down bottom side Saints, but a sixth successive win in all competitions for Brighton is worth a mention too. Ipswich’s survival hopes appear to be petering out after today’s defeat.
GOAL! Brighton 2-1 Fulham (Pedro pen, 90+8)
The Seagulls have nicked it late on! It was very coolly taken by the Brazilian, Pedro. That will be their first ever Premier League win over Fulham.
Updated
A late penalty for Brighton at the Amex! João Pedro has won it and will dust himself down to take it …
Bayern Munich were leading Bochum 2-0 but have LOST 3-2 after João Palhinha’s red card. A fine mess for the German giants who have been celebrating their 125-year anniversary this weekend. Nearest challengers Leverkusen have also been beaten at home, though, 2-0 by Werder Bremen.
Updated
Now, will we get any late drama elsewhere in the Premier League or down the leagues?
Liverpool fans may be interested to hear that PSG are leading at Rennes. Bradley Barcola has given them the lead before half-time.
If you didn’t have Salah as your FPL captain today, you get no sympathy from me.
“We’re gonna win the league,” chant the Liverpool fans. I think they’re right you know.
GOAL! Liverpool 3-1 Southampton (Salah pen, 87)
No mistake again from Salah. He’s added another two to his tally today, both of them from the penalty spot.
He’s irrepressible at the moment.
Updated
Penalty to Liverpool! Handball by Yukinari Sugawara. This will be a golden opportunity for the Reds to make it 3-1 and seal game, set and match.
A friendly reminder that Southampton are still two points off Derby’s record low Premier League tally of 11. If they can repeat today’s performance in their remaining 10 matches, they’ll easily surpass that.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis could be in trouble here, perhaps, after a meaty 50-50 with Luis Diaz. Or was there a handball in the buildup beforehand? A lot for VAR to go through …
For all the (deserved) praise we’ve lavished on Liverpool for their characterful comeback today, it’s still only 2-1. It only takes one moment, however unlikely, for Southampton to upset the applecart once more.
Eight minutes to go at Anfield.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-0 Ipswich (Sarr, 82)
Finally the deadlock is broken!
It’s a little cruel on Ipswich but Alex Palmer’s goal had been living a charmed existence until now … Ismaïla Sarr’s cute finish may well have won this for the Eagles.
Updated
A lot of salient points here in Kieran McKintosh’s email:
Moan all you like about the title race being predictable and such, but it is hard to argue with the idea that Liverpool deserve it.
They’ve had to fight properly hard in a fair share of fixtures to win. Even against comparative minnows such as this. Proof is in the pudding against PSG and Arsenal. Persevering despite being under not so much a cosh as the mallet of God himself. And there has been the odd thrashing of Spurs to make it entertaining enough.
Fair play, Liverpool. If nothing else, it is nice to see Klopp’s boys win one more title before very probably going their separate ways.
I say this all as an Arsenal fan btw.
Championship: Burnley and Sheffield United are both in line to pick up three more points today to pile the pressure on leaders Leeds, who go to Portsmouth tomorrow. The Blades are set to move level top, with Burnley two points back.
There’s been a big goal for Sunderland, who are lurking just behind that trio, as Chris Mepham restores their lead over Cardiff.
Another piece of Liverpool history for Mo Salah today.
In elite company 🤝
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) March 8, 2025
Mohamed Salah moves clear in third in Liverpool's all-time top scorer list 📋🔥#LIVSOU pic.twitter.com/vPqHt6q8KX
Cameron Archer is on for Southampton and he’s just tested Alisson with a decent shot, but it’s meat and drink for the in-form Liverpool keeper. There’s been precious little on offer from the visitors since Liverpool’s double salvo to turn the game – 3-1 looks more likely than 2-2.
Former Reds star Adam Lallana is getting a good ovation as he enters the fray for Southampton.
League One: Birmingham have finally breached Lincoln’s defence thanks to Kieran Dowell’s penalty, while Blackpool have rattled in three quickfire goals at Barnsley after the break.
It’s now Plymouth 0-3 Sheffield Wednesday. Danny Röhl has been linked with the Southampton job …
A shout-out must go to Adam Kline-Schoder for his prediction re Liverpool’s comeback.
As Alan Terlep says on email: “You reported that he predicted a Liverpool response very early in the second half. He was right!”
It’s crazy that Crystal Palace v Ipswich is still goalless given the number of chances both teams have carved out. Dean Henderson has endured an up and down game in the Palace goal – he was nearly caught out from a corner just now.
A Tractor Boys goal could shake up what, currently, seems like a dull and predictable relegation non-battle.
Kaoru Mitoma has had the ball in the net for Brighton but the offside flag denied the Seagulls. That game against Fulham is on a knife-edge.
Arne Slot truly has the midas touch. That triple half-time substitution reinvigorated Liverpool and if they get another goal the manager could be in a position to rest a couple of key men before the end of the game, with that second PSG leg looming – and then the Carabao Cup final.
We all assumed Liverpool would fight back in the second half but who thought the turnaround would happen that quickly? Not me.
The atmosphere at Anfield is now very very different to what it was a few minutes ago.
Championship: Burnley now lead 3-0 over Luton while Bristol City have found a leveller against the 10 men of Hull.
GOAL! Liverpool 2-1 Southampton (Salah pen, 54)
Darwin Nunez avoids a sending off just before half-time, scores the leveller not long after the resumption, then immediately wins a penalty to give Liverpool the chance to lead. It’s classic Darwin Nunez.
Mo Salah makes no mistake, of course, from 12 yards.
Updated
Penalty to Liverpool! Goodness me this has changed rather quickly. Nunez is the man who’s won it. VAR will check of course … it looks a little soft.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 Southampton (Nunez, 51)
It had to be Darwin Nunez, didn’t it? A huge roar goes up as Liverpool find the leveller … it has been coming.
Updated
Eberechi Eze has hit the post for Palace, albeit via a wicked deflection. That’s as close as either side have come at Selhurst Park. The Eagles appear to be missing a certain Mr Mateta who is not in the room this afternoon.
League Two: You don’t often see this. Swindon have scored two goals in less than a minute to haul back a 2-0 deficit at high-flying Doncaster. You can just imagine Ian Holloway’s reaction!
Elliott immediately get a shot off (as he did at PSG in midweek), this time from a corner but Ramsdale is equal to it with a wonderful save. It’s going to be all hands on deck for Southampton in the next 45 minutes.
Woah. Arne Slot might be in the stands again but he’s made his presence felt at halftime with a triple change.
On for Liverpool are Andy Robertson, Harvey Elliott and Alexis Mac Allister. Tsimikas, Jones and Szoboszlai are hooked.
Updated
League One: Demetri Mitchell has doubled Exeter’s lead over Shrewsbury while Sam Smith (not that one … or the other one) has broken the deadlock for Wrexham at home to Rotherham.
Plenty of games are back under way now. What does the second half have in store for us?
It seems you guys are not convinced Southampton can hold on to their lead:
Adam Kline-Schoder: “Having made the mistake of supporting Southampton myself, I simply laughed when that goal went in. This game has got 3-1 to Liverpool written all over it, with the scoring starting in the 47th minute -- although Saints have played really (surprisingly) decently at times. Incidentally, I think Nuñez’s challenge merited just a yellow. Petulant yes, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him taken off at the half, but not for me, Clive, etc etc.”
Kári Tulinius: “As an Arsenal fan I’m absolutely not ready to disinter the hope I had buried in the backyard. Especially not because of a one goal lead by the league’s bottom club. Not going to start hoping. Nuh uh. Oh, who am I kidding, I’ll go get my shovel.”
Nobody gave Southampton a prayer and this halftime scoreline will send shockwaves throughout the Premier League and beyond.
Alisson and Virgil van Dijk must take the brunt of blame for the goal, while Mo Salah has been uncharacteristically quiet. There’ll be no panic yet from Arne Slot, but murmurs of discontent at Anfield could be heard as the players went in for the break.
Arne Slot is every Liverpool fan watching VVD and Alisson on Southampton's goal 🥴 pic.twitter.com/NdfvZVccJS
— B/R Football (@brfootball) March 8, 2025
Half time scores in the Premier League:
Brighton 1-1 Fulham
Crystal Palace 0-0 Ipswich
Liverpool 0-1 Southampton
Nunez stays on the pitch after that VAR check. I wonder if a few rival supporters might have some thoughts on that decision …
Darwin Nunez might be a bit fortunate to stay on the pitch after a reckless challenge in first half added time at Anfield. Will VAR take a look at this? He’s been shown a yellow card initially. It’s all been a bit ragged from Liverpool, albeit they started the game well.
Updated
“Auld Ayr, wham ne’er a town surpasses, For honest men and bonnie lasses”
Viktor Burakov emails to say: “Surely an educated man such as yourself knows the source, Dominic?”
I’m sorry Viktor, I did study English Lit at university but never Scottish Literature. Hence my knowledge of Scottish nicknames is ropey to say the least.
GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Southampton (Smallbone, 45+1)
WHAT ON EARTH IS HAPPENING?
Will Smallbone has scored for Southampton at Anfield. The Saints are marching on Merseyside right now! A mess in the Liverpool defence but it’s a really smart finish from the Southampton midfielder.
Updated
There’s been a flurry of goals in the Championship in the final few minutes before the break.
Cardiff have levelled at Sunderland via Isaak Davies (1-1) and former Bluebird Callum Paterson has doubled Sheffield Wednesday’s lead at Plymouth (2-0), with Sheffield United v Preston the only game goalless in the second tier as the half-time whistles prepare to sound.
42 mins: Are Southampton about to survive until half-time at Anfield? They’ve defended manfully and actually played some decent stuff at times to frustrate the league leaders.
Still a long, LONG way to go.
GOAL! Brighton 1-1 Fulham (Van Hecke, 41)
It hasn’t taken Brighton long to hit back at home to Fulham. Jan Paul van Hecke has scored his first Seagulls goal with a powerful header from a set-piece.
Game on at the Amex.
Updated
Championship: Derby went bang bang inside seven minutes but Makhtar Gueye has pegged them back for Blackburn just before the break. West Brom have been given a soft penalty at home to QPR, which Adam Armstrong has converted.
Burnley have doubled their lead over 10-man Luton through Lyle Foster.
Updated
More from Scotland, with regular contributor Simon McMahon in touch:
“Afternoon Dom. It’s Scottish Cup day long weekend up north. Hearts beat Dundee 3-1 last night, meaning the Dens Park side’s 115 year drought in the competition continues. Aberdeen beat Queen’s Park, conquerors of Rangers in the previous round, 4-1 earlier, Celtic play Hibs tomorrow and then it’s St. Johnstone v Livingston on Monday night. All of which is a rather long winded way of saying there is no Scottish Premier action this weekend. You’re welcome.”
And Graeme Barrie says: “I’m sure that Clyde’s nickname was The Bully Wee.”
A few half-time scores from the Bundesliga:
Leverkusen 0-1 W Bremen
Bayern Munich 2-1 Bochum
Dortmund 0-1 Augsburg
Holsten Kiel 2-1 Stuttgart
Wolfsburg 0-1 St Pauli
GOAL! Brighton 0-1 Fulham (Jiménez, 35)
There’s our first Premier League strike from the 3pm kickoffs! It’s come at Brighton … Raúl Jiménez gets the better of the hosts’ defence to fire home the opener for the visitors.
Updated
Championship: And there is the goal for Burnley, although it’s come from a Luton player, Mark McGuiness putting into his own net. The Hatters now have a tall task ahead of them at Turf Moor, now a goal and a man down.
In fairness there have been plenty of chances for both Crystal Palace and Ipswich at Selhurst Park, yet neither side have found their finishing touch so far.
Brighton have been superior to Fulham so far but have also been far from clinical.
Updated
Ever since I wrote this piece on Swansea’s struggles, they’ve been markedly improved, thanks to interim manager Alan Sheehan. And they’ve just taken the lead at home to Middlesbrough today, courtesy of Ji-Sung Eom. You’re welcome Swans fans.
Premier League: There’s been precious little to report from the games at Brighton and Crystal Palace so far, so we await our first top flight goal of the afternoon …
Alexander-Arnold is starting to pull the strings for Liverpool, but Arne Slot’s side cannot quite get their final ball right.
Updated
I’m reliably informed by Adam Bell on another email that Partick Thistle were known as The Maryhill Magyars after playing Honvex in the Cup Winners’ Cup. Cowdenbeath are, of course, known as The Blue Brazil. Love it.
24 mins: Southampton are having themselves a bit of a spell at Liverpool. They’ve even won a corner.
Re Scottish nicknames I’ve had an email from Tony Hughes:
I grew up in the Eastern part of Fife. Local team, uh, East Fife. One of their nicknames is/ was ‘The Methil Milan’. Methil being the part of Fife where their former ground was located. Other nicknames so not creative: The Fife and The Fifers.
Methil Men is a goody, Tony.
Another red card has been shown in the Championship. Luton’s Kai Naismith has received it at Burnley. They may have conceded against Cardiff to break that phenomenal run of clean sheets, but you’d think the Clarets’ goal would be safe this afternoon. They need three points too to keep up their promotion hunt.
Champ stuff.
Championship: After 13 minutes, Hull City’s João Pedro scored the opener at Bristol City.
After 14 minutes he was sent off for serious foul play.
Talk about hero to zero.
14 mins: There’s been some dicey stuff from Southampton playing out from the back at Liverpool. Russell Martin might have encouraged it, but it doesn’t seem too wise a tactic on today of all days.
There’s a delay after a worrying clash of heads between Southampton’s Jan Bednarek and Ryan Manning.
League One: Lowly Northampton and Bristol Rovers have taken 1-0 leads over playoff-pushing Leyton Orient and Huddersfield, respectively. The third tier can be tremendously topsy-turvy at times.
The Honest Men of Ayr (their genuine nickname) lead 1-0 at Greenock Morton. Scotland does tend to throw up some cracking nicknames. Any others? Get them to me on email.
I’m feeling a little sluggish after a pain au chocolat and a piece of bread with nutella on it, pre-shift. Not sure they were both necessary.
In news less related to chocolate, Southampton have survived to the 10-minute mark at Anfield. Tick them off in tens, lads.
John Eustance must be buzzing! Derby, the bottom club in the Championship, now lead 2-0 against Blackburn inside seven minutes. Fancy that. Ebou Adams has scored.
6 mins: Curtis Jones has already had a couple of chances for Liverpool, the latest of which has just gone wide. Southampton are going to need some luck to survive this onslaught.
Updated
Championship: Sunderland v Cardiff looked like a banker for the Black Cats before kickoff and it’s not taken them long to go ahed, Eliezer Mayenda with another strike. And Derby finally have lift-off under John Eustance against his former club Blackburn, the veteran Craig Forsyth has scored. Good game, good game.
Updated
2 mins: Liverpool have started in dominant fashion, backed by the usual wall of sound at Anfield. How long will it take for them to breach this porous Southampton defence?
There are some cracking reads on the website right now. Get around them before the madness truly kicks in.
KICK OFF
Let’s go!
We’re about to get under way around the country …
The report via Peter Lansley has dropped from the City Ground.
As he rightly writes: “Manchester City continued their plummet from Premier League champions to scrambling to qualify for the Champions League, but the achievements of [Nottingham Forest] deserve full recognition”.
We don’t usually dabble with bookies or odds here at The Guardian, but it’s quite telling that Liverpool are an astonishing 1-12 to win today. You can back a Southampton win at 22-1 if you are.
Even the draw is 10-1. It seems the Saints don’t even have a prayer.
Good grief, Frank Lampard really cannot do any wrong right now. Coventry snatch the three points late on against Stoke, a win that will taste all the sweeter for Lamps as it came against his Sky Blues predecessor, Mark Robins. Bobby Thomas scored the winner in the 97th minute. It’s an eighth win in nine league games for Lampard’s Cov.
Updated
This is a handy tool to keep on top of the Premier League’s Golden Boot race when the goals start flying in later on today. Can anyone stop Mo Salah? (Surely not Southampton… )
Full time: Nottingham Forest 1-0 Manchester City. Ooosh. What a result for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, who continue to defy all the odds this season. City? Well, they look to be left in an almighty scrap for a top four/five spot, which is some fall from grace after four successive titles, many of them won at a stroll.
This was the goal that did it:
Callum Hudson-Odoi fires Nottingham Forest into the lead against Man City! 💥
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 8, 2025
How about that assist from Morgan Gibbs-White 😮💨
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/WiR5642xK3
Oh, hang on… Coventry had the lead after fighting back from a goal down – but Mark Robins’ Stoke have hit back against his former side. Sam Gallagher has a brace.
Crawley have also equalised late on via Panutche Camará.
Callum Hudson Odoi has snatched the lead for Nottingham Forest late on against Manchester City. A big goal in the race for Champions League qualification? The City Ground is bouncing.
In the early kickoffs down the leagues, Coventry are on course for yet another win under Frank Lampard – they lead Stoke 2-1; Millwall are winning by the same score away at Watford; while in League One there’s only been one goal in the Crawley v Reading and Stockport v Charlton games. That’s been scored by the Royals’ Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan. League Two leaders Walsall are on course for a home defeat by Grimsby Town and AFC Wimbledon are cruising 2-0 at home to Notts County.
Premier League team news
You’ll have all no doubt checked the team news on your various apps and websites, but allow me to run through the headlines.
Cody Gakpo is still absent for Liverpool, with Arne Slot handing a start to Darwin Nunez against Southampton as part of three changes from the side that snuck past PSG in midweek. Curtis Jones and Kostas Tsimikas also start. Kamaldeen Sulemana leads the line for Southampton.
João Pedro is preferred up front to Danny Welbeck for Brighton, while Fulham look to be playing three at the back at the Amex. Issa Diop starts for them. Crystal Palace are of course without the injured Jean-Philippe Mateta after he took a whack to the head last week, with Eddie Nketiah starting up top. Kalvin Phillips is back in the Ipswich midfield at Selhurst Park after two games out. Captain Sam Morsy drops to the bench.
There’s 20 minutes or so remaining at the City Ground in the big early kickoff and Scott Murray is all over it for us.
Preamble
Welcome to another Saturday clockwatch – and what a glorious springtime Saturday this is (in most of the UK, at least).
The football doesn’t look too shabby either. In the Best League In The World (TM) there’s top v bottom with Liverpool v Southampton, two middling sides in Brighton v Fulham and whatever you care to dub Crystal Palace v Ipswich, probably safe versus seriously unsafe in the case of the latter.
Down the leagues there’s no shortage of 3pm Saturday goodness, with promotion-pushing Sheffield United and Burnley in action in the Championship, while Birmingham, Wrexham and Huddersfield are among the second tier hopefuls playing in the, er, third tier today.
There’s lots more beside, include the Bundesliga, La Liga and more and more and more. Let’s do this thing!
