Brentford v Manchester City, Chelsea v Bournemouth: Premier League – live

44 min: Chelsea 1-0 Bournemouth So much for Jackson being rampant; he’s just missed a really good double chance from Cole Palmer’s booming cross. The first effort was a good downward header, superbly saved by Travers to his right, but then Jackson snatched at the rebound and hit the side netting.

43 min: Chelsea 1-0 Bournemouth Jackson, who looks rampant every time I turn to the Chelsea game, puts Palmer through on goal again. This time the angle is much tighter and a defender (possibly Kerkez) does well to force him wide.

Cole Palmer and Chris Wood have both scored tonight. That’s it.

Premier League latest

39 min: Brentford 0-0 Man City This game has been loads of fun. City still look vulnerable defensively but there’s a much greater speed and intensity to their attacking play.

GOAL! Nottingham Forest 1-0 Liverpool (Wood 9)

37 min: Chelsea 1-0 Bournemouth Both teams hit the post in the space of 15 seconds. First it was the substitute Justin Kluivert* after a poor pass from Robert Sanchez; then Chelsea broke and Jackson battered a low shot from 20 yards that thumped the near post.

* He’s on for the injured James Hill, it says here.

35 min: Brentford 0-0 Man City While West Ham were scoring a Manchester City player flashed a shot just wide from the edge of the area. At least I think they did; there’s a lot going on right now.

GOAL! West Ham 2-0 Fulham (Soucek 33)

Premier League latest scores

GOAL! West Ham 1-0 Fulham (Soler 31)

30 min: Brentford 0-0 Man City “Surely, Peadar de Burca is not suggesting that Sonny was murdered before Michael executed Sollozzo and McKluskey,” says Joe Pearson. “The tollbooth incident took place while Michael had taken refuge in Sicily. I need to get a life. BTW, is Klopp Vito and Slot Michael?”

1 min: Nottm Forest 0-0 Liverpool The big game of the night is under way. Barry Glendenning is your man if you want to follow it in the minute-by-minute style.

27 min: West Ham 0-0 Fulham West Ham have a goal disallowed for offside against Kilman, who beat Leno with an excellent header from a free-kick. After a long VAR check – lines are out, folks – the decision is upheld.

28 min: Brentford 0-0 Man City This is a cracking game. Nunes chrages into the area, sits the defender down superbly, but then overruns the ball and misses out on a clear shooting chance.

Moments later Savinho flashes over from 20 yards after a two-on-two break.

26 min: West Ham 0-0 Fulham The stats show that Fulham lead 6-0 on attempts at goal.

25 min: Brentford 0-0 Man City Lewis-Potter crosses when he should surely have had a shot. He was put clear on the left side of the area by a neat pass, but tried to square it for Mbeumo instead of shooting. The replays confirm he made the wrong decisioon.

“Pepe..!” foams Charles Antaki. “No emoji of outrage & chagrin could do his purchase justice.”

He scored 16 goals in 2020-21. Time for a bit of respect on his name.

23 min: Brentford 0-0 Man City De Bruyne, on the left, curls a seductive left-foot cross that is headed wide by Haaland beyond the far post. He had to stretch forward and the angle was pretty tight. But my word, Kevin De Bruyne knows how to caress a football.

20 min: Brentford 0-0 Man City Brentford are hurting City on the break. Wissa, still such an underrated player, passes slightly tamely wide of the far post after twisting Akanji inside-out on the right side of the area. Tough chance.

“Seeing Emile Smith Rowe starting for Fulham inevitably makes the anxious Arsenal fan wonder whether it might have been more prudent to keep him; probably, on balance, not,” says Charles Antaki. “You can’t stockpile players on the off-chance that you might need them later (case study: Chelsea FC). But what can you do? Is there such a thing in the insurance market as a hedge against player-knack? The premiums would be high, but Arsenal, for one, would be coining it in in reimbursements at the moment.”

It was the right time for him to go. But with all those injuries on the right wing, could it be time to look at the small print of Nicolas Pepe’s sale?

17 min: West Ham 0-0 Fulham “Paqueta playing the role of the physical hold-it-up presence up top,” weeps Ian Sargeant. “Ha ha ha. Reminds me of the time we had a front two of Tony Cottee and Mark Ward – with Paul Hilton and Gary Strodder launching it from centre back for the whole 90 minutes without wondering why we weren’t getting change in the air against Brian Kilcline.”

15 min: Brentford 0-0 Man City Stefan Ortega makes a good save to deny Bryan Mbeumo, who tried to surprise him by reversing a shot towards the far post. Ortega read it and got down to push the ball behind.

GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Bournemouth (Palmer 13)

9 min: Brentford 0-0 Man City Wissa goes over in the area after being leaned on by Akanji. Brentford’s penalty appeals are muted and unrewarded. Akanji took a risk though.

These are the latest scores in our featured games. Look at how clean those sheets are!

8 min Gvardiol’s right-footed daisy-cutter from 20 yards is comfortably saved by the sprawling Flekken.

“As a Liverpool fan I haven’t been caught up in the victory-lap mentality floating about since November,” writes Peadar de Burca. “Too many flaky moments at the back and the memory of Jordan Pickford taking out Van Dijk lingers like Sonny getting whacked at the toll-booth.

“This is the game though, right? This is where Arne (Michael Corleone) comes out of the toilet and pops Sollozzo and McCluskey kicking off a scouse-themed bloodbath which leads to a takedown of the Five Families: Man City and Newcastle in February, Totteringham in April, Chelsea and Arsenal in May. As Pete Clemenza said, ‘leave the gun, take the cannoli.’”

I’m all for an extended metaphor but you can’t compare Virgil van Dijk to Sonny Corleone! Sonny was an agent of chaos and Liverpool certainly don’t have anyone like th- well never mind.

But yes, I agree. Actually I’d say this is the week. If Liverpool get at least two points from Forest and Brentford away I can’t see them not winning the league.

6 min: West Ham 0-0 Fulham Harry Wilson has just volleyed against the bar for Fulham, who have made a strong start at a very noisy London Stadium.

2 min: West Ham 0-0 Fulham West Ham have started with Lucas Paqueta as a false nine and Carlos Soler playing from the left.

Peep peep! The three 7.30pm games are up and running. Forest v Liverpool is an 8pm kick-off.

Chelsea v Bournemouth Evanilson is absent with a metatarsal injury. That’s a big blow as you’d imagine he’ll be out for at least a month. I blame Aldo Duscher.

“I wonder if readers, like me, struggle to remember much about Tony Book, the name as understated as his demeanour, playing and managing,” begins Gary Naylor. “In that sense, he was the perfect choice to lead City on and off the field, operating with purpose and achieving a still surprisingly excellent set of outcomes, content in the shadow of The Behemoth’s cabaret across town. Footballers often looked old to teenagers, but he really did look old, unlikely to feature in Insta screen grabs. It’s how full-backs once were.”

It’s how all men once were, no? They had tough paper rounds in those days. Says Clooney over here!

“Don’t forget there are three FA Cup matches today too!” says Joe Pearson. “And ESPN+ is carrying them all. Let me know if you want updates. I won’t provide any, because I’ll be glued to Forest v Liverpool, but I just wanted to make the offer. Cheers!”

I’ll get back to you once I’ve hastily rewritten my preamble.

West Ham are playing without a recognised striker tonight. A false nine might be an upgrade on the false promises of the last 15 years.

It should not be about individuals. Too often, though, West Ham seem to buy a striker with little regard for whether they are the right style of player. There was the decision to spend a club record £45m on Sébastien Haller, who left after 18 months after scoring 14 goals in 54 appearances. Eighteen months later came the £30.5m Gianluca Scamacca: a talent who seemed unsuited to English football, unable to adjust to life away from Italy and unwilling to last more than a season after eight goals in 27 appearances. The 31-year-old Füllkrug, who cost £27.5m last summer, has two goals in 11 appearances and is probably out for the season.

The Manchester City players will wear black armbands tonight in tribute to the legendary Tony Book, their former captain and manager, who has died aged 90.

There’s no Kyle Walker in the Man City squad. Here’s Jonathan Liew on why the career of one of England’s greatest right-backs is ripe for reappraisal.

Based on media footprint alone, Walker might well be one of the most chronicled English footballers of the past decade, and largely for issues unrelated to anything he did in a defensive transition. Search the internet for this player of 93 England caps and pretty much every medal at club level and you will be deluged with various keyword-rich morsels of celebrity gossip swimming in pound signs, house prices and gigantic photos ripped from Instagram.

Nottingham Forest v Liverpool team news

West Ham v Fulham team news

Chelsea v Bournemouth team news

Brentford v Man City team news

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