The players are heading out at Craven Cottage. Kick-off there in less than five minutes after a delay for a medical emergency.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n Bristol City 0-1 Preston<\/p>\n Lewis Dobbin has put Preston ahead at Ashton Gate. A win could North End as high as fourth in the Championship table.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Palace on the front foot. Will Hughes has Palace\u2019s first effort after some decent work from Brennan Johnson in the box, Schar deflects it away for a throw. Jefferson Lerma will try and launch that in, but it comes to nothing.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.11 EST<\/p>\n Early chance for Wissa! Anthony Gordon speeds into space on the left and finds Yoanne Wissa on the edge of the box, the forward is able to run on to the shot but places it straight at Dean Henderson.<\/p>\n Anthony Gordon and Jefferson Lerma battle for the ball. Photograph: Owen Humphreys\/PAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.11 EST<\/p>\n Peeeeeeeep!<\/p>\n We are underway!<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Billy Munday<\/p>\n Our reporter Billy Munday is at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, here\u2019s his view from the press box:<\/p>\n After the Spurs fans chanted \u201cboring, boring Tottenham\u201d during the goalless draw at Brentford on Thursday, Thomas Frank has ditched a holding midfielder for a striker in his XI against Sunderland here. Mathys Tel is in for Jo\u00e3o Palhinha to partner Richarlison up front, while Ben Davies makes his first start of the season at left-back. Sunderland, still missing six players at Afcon, are unchanged from their draw against Manchester City three days ago. Granit Xhaka, ex-Arsenal captain of course, got a few half-hearted boos from home supporters during the warmup.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Kick-off delayed: Fulham v Liverpool<\/p>\n Fulham have announced that kick-off has been delayed by 15 minutes at Craven Cottage \u2018due to a medical emergency at the ground\u2019, that game will now get underway at 3.15pm (GMT). More detail on that when I get it.<\/p>\n The LED board tells spectators that there will be a fifteen minute delay to the match. Photograph: Justin Setterfield\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.08 EST<\/p>\n Some pre-match reading from Jonathan Wilson:<\/p>\n Premier League\u2019s warped economics make \u00a365m fee for Semenyo a snip<\/p>\n Hugo Ekitik\u00e9, Antoine Semenyo, Benjamin Sesko, Nick Woltemade and Liam Delap (clockwise from top left). Composite: Getty Images<\/p>\n Antoine Semenyo, it seems likely, will soon join Manchester City from Bournemouth for a fee of \u00a365m. Given how well Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden have played from the right this season, it is not immediately obvious why City need him, but the modern game is the modern game, the rammed calendar makes large and flexible squads essential and Pep Guardiola may have some esoteric plan for the Ghanaian anyway. But perhaps what is most striking about the deal is the fee \u2013 or, more precisely, how little attention it has drawn.<\/p>\n English football has become inured to big transfers. The fee feels about right. Semenyo is 25. He has four and a half years left on his contract. He is quick, skilful, intelligent and works hard. He is disciplined, but has the capacity to do the unexpected. Of course a player of his ability costs that much. Yet \u00a365m would make him the third-most expensive player in Bundesliga history. He would be the seventh-most expensive in Serie A history, the 14th-most expensive in La Liga history. Only nine non-English clubs have paid a fee higher than that. Even in Premier League terms, Semenyo sneaks into the top 25.<\/p>\n Perhaps that\u2019s fine. As anybody who has raised any qualms about World Cup ticket prices recently has found out from online Americans passionately committed to being ripped off because that\u2019s what capitalism demands, the market is what it is. Value is what people are prepared to pay. If one club say they will pay \u00a365m for Semenyo, his price is \u00a365m. City can afford it.<\/p>\n Read Jonathan Wilson\u2019s latest \u2018Inside football\u2019 column in full here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.46 EST<\/p>\n Brennan Johnson is the headline move of the early part of the January window after his \u00a335m move from Tottenham to Crystal Palace<\/a>. The Wales international goes straight into the Eagles\u2019 starting XI for the game at St. James\u2019 Park. He will provide a goal threat to a Palace side that have seen their European commitments impact the league form, where they haven\u2019t won since 7th December.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Full-time at Elland Road, it\u2019s a 1-1 draw between Leeds and Manchester United. Reaction with Taha Hashim here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n With Portsmouth v Ipswich postponed, a win for Middlesbrough will see them go up to second in the Championship and six points behind Coventry.<\/p>\n Quick GuideEFL: matches off due to cold weatherShow<\/p>\n Championship<\/p>\n Portsmouth\u00a0v\u00a0Ipswich<\/p>\n Sheffield United v Oxford<\/p>\n League One<\/p>\n Doncaster v Luton<\/p>\n Port Vale v Barnsley<\/p>\n Rotherham v Mansfield<\/p>\n Stevenage v Leyton Orient<\/p>\n League Two<\/p>\n Barnet v Crewe<\/p>\n Barrow v Bristol Rovers<\/p>\n Bromley v Oldham<\/p>\n Cambridge v Grimsby<\/p>\n Colchester v Accrington<\/p>\n Harrogate v Swindon<\/p>\n Newport v Tranmere<\/p>\n Notts County v Gillingham<\/p>\n Salford v Shrewsbury<\/p>\n Walsall v Fleetwood<\/p>\n Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.52 EST<\/p>\n That Birmingham v Coventry game was a wild ride. Five goals, one red card and at the end of it the league leaders lose their second game in three.<\/p>\n Photograph: Dennis Goodwin\/ProSports\/ShutterstockShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.33 EST<\/p>\n EFL full-time scores<\/p>\n Championship<\/p>\n Birmingham 3-2 Coventry League One<\/p>\n Bolton 0-0 Northampton League Two<\/p>\n Cheltenham 3-0 Crawley Share<\/a><\/p>\n In the 12.30pm kick-off between Leeds and Manchesster United it\u2019s currently 1-1. There\u2019s probably about 20 minutes left in that one and you can follow that with Taha Hashim here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Team news: Everton v Brentford<\/p>\n Everton XI: Pickford, O\u2019Brien, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko, Iroegbunam, Garner, McNeil, Dibling, Grealish, Barry. Brentford XI: Kelleher, Kayode, Ajer, Collins, Hickey, Jensen, Janelt, Yarmoliuk, Damsgaard, Thiago, Schade. Share<\/a>Team news: Tottenham v Sunderland<\/p>\n Tottenham XI: Vicario, Pedro Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Davies, Kudus, Tel, Gray, Odobert, Bentancur, Richarlison. Sunderland XI: Roefs, Hume, Mukiele, Alderete, Cirkin, Xhaka, Geertruida, Le F\u00e9e, Adingra, Mayenda, Brobbey. Share<\/a>Team news: Newcastle v Crystal Palace<\/p>\n Newcastle XI: Pope, Miley, Thiaw, Sch\u00e4r, Hall, Bruno Guimar\u00e3es, Tonali, Joelinton, Murphy, Wissa, Gordon. Crystal Palace XI: Henderson, Lerma, Lacroix, Gu\u00e9hi, Clyne, Wharton, Hughes, Mitchell, Johnson, Pi\u00f1o, Mateta. Share<\/a>Team news: Fulham v Liverpool<\/p>\n Fulham XI: Leno, Diop, Andersen, Cuenca, Castagne, Lukic, Cairney, Robinson, Wilson, Smith Rowe, Jimenez. Liverpool XI: Alisson, Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez, Gravenberch, Jones, Mac Allister, Szoboszlai, Gakpo, Wirtz. Share<\/a><\/p>\n First up, team news!<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Preamble<\/p>\n Four three o\u2019clock kick-offs in the Premier League, a (kind of) full programme of EFL and some tea-time action in the top flight, are we sure it\u2019s not Saturday?<\/p>\n There\u2019s a solid rump of clubs hovering in the top-point gap between fourth and 15th and all of this afternoon\u2019s fixtures are very much in that group. We have Everton v Brentford, Newcastle v Crystal Palace, Fulham v Liverpool and Tottenham v Sunderland \u2013 all teams with top-half aspirations, if not higher.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll have updates from all of those games, plus points of interest from the EFL. Sadly most of League Two\u2019s action is off (ten matches in total), two have gone in the Championship \u2013 Sheffield United v Oxford and Portsmouth v Ipswich \u2013 have also fallen foul of frozen pitches, as have four in League One.<\/p>\n Of the games on in the second tier, Hull v Watford and Bristol City v Preston look promising.<\/p>\n Later on I\u2019ll also have updates from the Afcon last-16 match between hosts Morocco and Tanzania. That should be a lively one in Rabat.<\/p>\n As ever, you can get in touch via the email link at the top of the page. Settle in.<\/p>\n Everton\u2019s Hill Dickinson Stadium. Photograph: Phil Oldham\/Shutterstock Photograph: Alex Livesey\/Getty ImagesNewcastle United fans outside the stadium before the match. Photograph: Lee Smith\/Action Images\/ReutersFulham’s Raul Jimenez takes selfies with fans. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge\/Action Images\/ReutersA young Liverpool fan holds a home made banner. Photograph: Justin Setterfield\/Getty ImagesA Tottenham Hotspur fan poses for a photo in front of mural of Son Heung-min. Photograph: John Walton\/PAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.14 EST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Not really got going…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-227045","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Jonathan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Jonathan_Wilson,_L.png\")
Jonathan Wilson<\/p>\n
QPR 3-0 Sheffield Wednesday<\/p>\n
Lincoln 5-2 Peterborough<\/p>\n
MK Dons 2-2 Chesterfield<\/p>\n
Subs: Travers, King, Patterson, Aznou, Welch, Campbell, Rohl, Armstrong, Beto<\/p>\n
Subs: Valdimarsson, Henry, van den Berg, Pinnock, Henderson, Peart-Harris, Donovan, Nelson, Lewis-Potter.<\/p>\n
Subs: Kinsky, Dragusin, Danso, Spence, Bergvall, Palhinha, Williams-Barnett, Kolo Muani, Scarlett.<\/p>\n
Subs: Patterson, O\u2019Neil, Ballard, Hjelde, Neil, H.Jones, Tutierov, Mundle, Rigg.<\/p>\n
Subs: Ramsdale, Trippier, Botman, Livramento, Murphy, Barnes, Willock, Ramsey, Woltemade.<\/p>\n
Subs: Ben\u00edtez, Canvot, Sosa, Benamar, Uche, Esse, Rodney, Devenny, Drakes-Thomas.<\/p>\n
Subs: Lecomte, Amissah, Reed, Berge, Ridgeon, Traor\u00e9, Kusi Asare, Kevin.<\/p>\n
Subs: Mamardashvili, Woodman, Gomez, Chiesa, Robertson, Frimpong, Nyoni, Ramsay, Ngumoha.<\/p>\n