Wolves v Manchester City, Leeds v Chelsea and Celtic bid for Scottish title: football – live! | Premier League

The Blues are in complete control. I’m pleased to say the supporter that caused a three-minute delay earlier in the half is conscious and being treated by the medical staff.

Wolves v Manchester City has started.

Remember, Celtic only need a draw tonight to seal the Scottish Premiership title!

Goal No 18 for the season for the right back.

Inter take the lead in the Coppa Italia final! Barella whips a R2 finish into the corner from outside the box. What a goal!

Leeds 0-1 Chelsea: A break in play, as there seems to be a medical emergency in the crowd. Let’s hope for good news.

Leeds 0-1 Chelsea: Things going from bad to worse for Leeds. A goal down, a man down, and now Jack Harrison is going to have to go off. The Englishman is clutching his hamstring. On comes Firpo.

Watford 0-0 Everton: Chance for Iwobi, who sees an effort deflected behind for a corner. A good game, though, at Vicarage Road.

Leeds 0-1 Chelsea: Lukaku has a strike chalked off. A really cute finish from the Belgian, who nicely lobbed Meslier after being sent clean through, but is correctly ruled offside. two minutes later, Lukaku glances a Reece James cross just wide of the far post. The big man looks like he’s got his mojo back after his two goals at the weekend.

Leeds 0-1 Chelsea: Kovacic is going to have to be withdrawn. That ‘tackle’ by James has left the midfielder unable to continue. He is subbed off for Loftus-Cheek. Half an hour gone.

Rangers are doing all they can but remain six points and now just 19 goals behind Celtic with two to play. Wright pokes home from close range following a flick on from Goldson at a corner.

Dundee United 0-0 Celtic: Meanwhile, in Scotland …

A straight red for the Welshman, who made an awful challenge on Kovacic. James looks shocked at the dismissal, but there’s no doubt that it was a dangerous tackle. James caught Kovacic high, half-way up the shin and flew in with some force. Could easily have been a leg breaker, but Kovacic is luckily going to be OK to continue. Marsch looks absolutely bereft but perhaps it is at the actions of his attacker. There was no need for him to make that tackle, which was in Chelsea’s half. The Blues should walk this now. One-nil up, and playing 10 men.

Leeds 0-1 Chelsea: The home side have settled somewhat. They earn a free-kick on the edge of Chelsea’s box but the Blues bat away the cross. Remember Leeds did score from a corner against Arsenal. With 10 men! Hope remains.

“I wonder if Jesse Marsch’s halftime talk will be inspired by JFK”, emails Peter Oh. “Ask not what your counter press can do for you, ask what you can do for your counter press!”

Dundee United 0-0 Celtic: After a busy start by the visitors, United have been growing into the game at Tannadice. Joe Hart has just been for a walkabout to the half-way line to stop a Dundee United counter-attack.

The 7.45pm kick offs are also underway.

Leicester v Norwich
Watford v Everton

There’s also an interesting game in Germany, with Borussia Mönchengladbach playing Ukraine’s national team in a friendly fundraiser. Here’s some more background, courtesy of the Bundesliga website:

It will be Ukraine’s first fixture since Russia’s invasion and will not only raise money to help Ukrainians suffering as a result of the war, but also serve as a warm-up for the team’s FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 semi-final play-off against Scotland on 1 June.

Ukraine nationals wishing to attend the game will be able to do so free of charge, and the senior international team will be official guests of Gladbach after the game, staying at Borussia Park’s on-site hotel and using the club’s training ground from 10-12 May.

“We’re very happy to be able to help the Ukrainian FA through this game, and hope that as many football fans as possible from all over the country come to the stadium and make a donation to a good cause by buying a ticket to the match. All Ukrainian citizens will have free entry to the game,” said Borussia chief executive, Stephan Schippers.

“Out of curiosity, any clue as to why there are markings on the Leeds pitch?” asks Martin Shields via email. “Is it simply to tell the Leeds players where to stand while Chelsea works the ball around and through them?”

That will be the Challenge Cup semi-final at Elland Road last week. Maybe Leeds could have lined a few of those league lads on the goalline tonight.

Leeds 0-1 Chelsea: You fear for Leeds. They look so nervy. Mount sees another shot blocked after good work from Pulisic down the left. The home side have had just 35% possession in these opening 10 minutes.

Leeds 0-1 Chelsea: A woeful start from Leeds, whose gameplan has presumably gone out of the window in the first few minutes. Lukaku will be relishing the opportunity to bag a few goals tonight. Chelsea look like they are in the mood. Kovacic threatens to walk through the Leeds defence, before a crucial tackle from Phillips puts a stop to the Croatian.

Well that didn’t take long! James (Reece, not Dan) finds some space on the right, drives into the box and lays the ball back to Mount, who comes onto it at pace and his a first-time pearler, which curls into the top corner. Could Meslier have done better at his near post? Probably not, that was right in the postage stamp. A sumptuous finish. Mount holds his hands to his ears to the home faithful. They aren’t exactly impressed.

We’re underway in the 7.30pm kick offs, which include Leeds v Chelsea and Dundee United v Celtic.

Wolves v Manchester City

Wolves: Jose Sa, Boly, Coady, Dendoncker, Jonny, Joao Moutinho, Neves, Ait Nouri, Chiquinho, Pedro Neto, Jimenez.
Subs: Hoever, Marcal, Trincao, Mosquera, Silva, Ruddy, Gomes, Hwang, Cundle.

Man City: Ederson, Joao Cancelo, Fernandinho, Laporte, Zinchenko, Rodri, Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, De Bruyne, Sterling, Foden.
Subs: Ake, Gabriel Jesus, Grealish, Steffen, Mahrez, Egan-Riley, Mbete-Tabu, Palmer, Lavia.

City’s well documented defensive problems mean that Fernandinho, 37 years young, starts at centre back tonight. He hasn’t played there since 2020.

Watford manager Roy Hodgson, soon to be former Watford manager Roy Hodgson, did this at Crystal Palace on Saturday; one of the funniest moments of this season for me.

The Hornets named their new manager today. Rob Edwards joins from Forest Green Rovers from next season. Frank Lampard and Everton will be hoping for a simple three points tonight.

It’s a big night for Lewis Bate. The 19-year-old spent 10 years at Chelsea, in the academy, but never featured for the first team. He joined Leeds last summer for £1.5m and tonight is his first Premier League start. His only other Premier League appearance, against West Ham in January, involved him coming on as sub in the 22nd minute before being subbed off just after the hour mark. Eeeesh. The lad must have done something good in training to convince Marsch he is right to face his former club tonight.

I have hundreds of quotes I use at different moments. I try to think how they fit with who I am and how we play football. I love quotes, learning from people of the past. Sports figures, historical figures, whatever. The key is understanding what messages to use at the right time. I use things that resonate with me … there are historical figures, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, presidents like John F Kennedy.

Jesse Marsch has been on fine form prior to Leeds’ big game tonight. Unsurprisingly, it formed the main part of the Fiver tonight.

Leeds v Chelsea

Leeds: Meslier, Llorente, Koch, Cooper, Struijk, Harrison, Raphinha, Bate, Phillips, James, Rodrigo.
Subs: Firpo, Klaesson, Gelhardt, Hjelde, Cresswell, Greenwood, Klich, Shackleton, Gray.

Chelsea: Mendy, Chalobah, Christensen, Rudiger, James, Jorginho, Kovacic, Alonso, Mount, Pulisic, Lukaku.
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Thiago Silva, Werner, Loftus-Cheek, Barkley, Ziyech, Azpilicueta, Havertz, Sarr.

Watford v Everton

Watford: Foster, Ngakia, Kabasele, Samir, Masina, Sissoko, Kayembe, Gosling, Sema, Joao Pedro, Kalu.
Subs: Etebo, Troost-Ekong, Cathcart, Bachmann, Sierralta, Morris, Cukur, Blake, Grieves.

Everton: Pickford, Iwobi, Coleman, Keane, Holgate, Mykolenko, Gordon, Doucoure, Delph, Gray, Richarlison.
Subs: Kenny, Allan, Calvert-Lewin, Begovic, Andre Gomes, Davies, Branthwaite,
Rondon, Alli.

Leicester v Norwich

Leicester: Schmeichel, Amartey, Castagne, Evans, Justin, Maddison, Tielemans, Dewsbury-Hall, Lookman, Vardy, Barnes.
Subs: Soyuncu, Albrighton, Ward, Iheanacho, Perez, Mendy, Daka, Thomas.

Norwich: Gunn, Aarons, Hanley, Byram, Giannoulis, Gilmour, Rupp, Springett, Lees-Melou, Rashica, Pukki.
Subs: Krul, Gibson, Dowell, Placheta, Tzolis, Sorensen, Williams, Gibbs, Rowe.

Dundee United v Celtic

Dundee Utd: Siegrist, Freeman, Edwards, McMann, Liam Smith, Meekison, McDonald, Levitt, Niskanen, Macleod, Clark.
Subs: Sporle, Mulgrew, Eriksson, Neilson, Mochrie, Graham, Watt, O’Donnell, Cudjoe.

Celtic: Hart, Ralston, Carter-Vickers, Starfelt, Taylor, O’Riley, McGregor, Hatate, Forrest, Giakoumakis, Abada.
Subs: Furuhashi, Turnbull, McCarthy, Jota, Rogic, Ideguchi, Bain, Maeda, Welsh.

What an evening of association football we have in store for you tonight. You lucky, lucky things. With the exception of Leicester v Norwich, which is a stone-cold dead rubber, all of the Premier League fixtures tonight have something juicy riding on them. Namely, of course, the league title with Manchester City looking to re-establish their three point advantage over Liverpool with a trip to Europe-chasing Wolves.

That’s the late-kick off. The early one is a fixture that screams 1960s: Leeds v Chelsea. Simply put, it is a humungous game at Elland Road, with Leeds’ woeful goal difference meaning they will need to better Burnley and Everton in the final three games of the season – Everton travel to already-doomed Watford tonight. Brighton and Brentford should provide easier tests for Leeds but it is an excellent time to play Chelsea, who are now in danger of spectacularly blowing it. Tuchel has gone into crisis mode.

Elsewhere, we’ll also be reporting on fitba, with Celtic able to wrap up the title tonight at Dundee United. It really is a formality, with the Bhoys leading Rangers by six points and 20 goals with two games remaining, but a draw or win tonight (or if Rangers fail to win) will rubber-stamp the trophy for Ange Postecoglou and co.

Fixtures of concern (all times BST)

Leeds v Chelsea 7.30pm
Leicester v Norwich 7.45pm
Watford v Everton 7.45pm
Wolves v Man City 8.15pm

Dundee United v Celtic 7.30pm
Rangers v Ross County 7.45pm

BONUS CONTENT: Coppa Italia final!

Juventus v Inter 8pm

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