Liverpool 3-2 Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace 0-0 Everton ...

22 Apr 2023

The Guardian

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Enough already. That’s it for today’s Clockwatch, a frantic business-end-of-the-season special. Thanks for your company, emails and songs; goodnight!

Match report: Liverpool 3-2 Nottm Forest

All five goals came in the second half at Anfield. Diogo Jota scored twice, Forest equalised twice, then Mo Salah scored the winner.

Match report: Brentford 1-1 Aston Villa

Douglas Luiz’s late equaliser earned Villa a point in a battle of the superbly coached overachievers at the Gtech Community Stadium.

FA Cup semi-final latest

After half an hour at Wembley it’s Manchester City 81-19 Sheffield United, and it’s goalless. Follow the game with Scott Murray.

“Please, let’s not have more philosophical references,” says Joe Pearson. “I had to read ‘The Myth of Sisyphus’ when I was in high school, and mentions of it still make me shudder.”

You do realise that when you enter purgatory you’ll be made to read it again and again and again for the next 971 years.

Match report: Crystal Palace 0-0 Everton

A game involving two of England’s better defensive coaches ended goalless. Ed Aarons was at Selhurst Park.

Match report: Leicester 2-1 Wolves

Timothy ‘George’ Castagne gave Leicester’s season the kiss of life with the winner against Wolves. Ben Fisher was there.

Selected League Two results

Orient are champions, Rochdale are relegated. Northampton are almost prom- no, let’s not go there, not after last season.

Barrow 0-1 Carlisle

Leyton Orient 2-0 Crewe

Mansfield 1-0 Stevenage

Northampton 3-1 Harrogate

Stockport 1-0 Rochdale

Walsall 2-3 Salford

Live scoreboard

Pos Team P GD Pts 1 Leyton Orient 43 29 87 2 Northampton 44 20 80 3 Stevenage 43 18 76 4 Stockport County 44 25 75 5 Carlisle 44 24 75 6 Salford City 44 18 72 7 Bradford 43 18 72 8 Mansfield 43 17 72 9 Barrow 44 -3 62 10 Swindon 43 7 58 11 Tranmere 44 -2 57 12 Sutton Utd 44 -9 57 13 Grimsby 43 -8 55 14 Newport County 43 -3 53 15 Gillingham 44 -13 52 16 Doncaster 44 -19 52 17 Walsall 44 -4 51 18 Crewe 42 -12 51 19 Colchester 44 -4 49 20 AFC Wimbledon 44 -11 47 21 Harrogate Town 43 -11 45 22 Crawley Town 44 -22 45 23 Hartlepool 44 -28 39 24 Rochdale 44 -27 34

Selected League One results

Barnsley 2-0 Oxford

Peterborough 0-3 Ipswich

Plymouth 3-1 Cambridge

Sheff Wed 2-1 Exeter

Full scoreboard

Pos Team P GD Pts 1 Plymouth 43 30 92 2 Ipswich 43 57 91 3 Sheff Wed 44 40 90 4 Barnsley 43 38 85 5 Bolton 43 24 75 6 Derby 44 22 75 7 Peterborough 44 19 73 8 Portsmouth 44 11 68 9 Wycombe 44 11 68 10 Lincoln City 43 1 59 11 Charlton 44 3 58 12 Fleetwood Town 44 4 57 13 Shrewsbury 43 -6 56 14 Exeter 44 1 53 15 Bristol Rovers 42 -11 52 16 Cheltenham 43 -15 50 17 Port Vale 44 -20 49 18 Burton Albion 42 -23 49 19 Milton Keynes Dons 44 -22 43 20 Oxford Utd 43 -13 41 21 Morecambe 44 -31 41 22 Cambridge Utd 43 -29 40 23 Accrington Stanley 43 -38 38 24 Forest Green 44 -53 27

Selected Championship full-times

Birmingham 0-1 Blackpool

Burnley 1-2 QPR

Cardiff 1-1 Stoke

Coventry 2-1 Reading

Norwich 0-3 Swansea

Wigan 2-1 Millwall

Full scoreboard

Pos Team P GD Pts 1 Burnley 43 47 92 2 Sheff Utd 42 29 82 3 Luton 43 17 75 4 Middlesbrough 43 30 74 5 Coventry 44 10 66 6 Millwall 44 7 65 7 Blackburn 42 -2 64 8 West Brom 42 9 63 9 Sunderland 43 9 62 10 Norwich 44 5 62 11 Swansea 44 3 62 12 Preston North End 43 -8 62 13 Watford 44 1 59 14 Bristol City 44 -2 56 15 Hull 44 -10 56 16 Stoke 44 4 53 17 Birmingham 44 -8 53 18 QPR 44 -26 47 19 Rotherham 43 -11 46 20 Cardiff 43 -14 46 21 Huddersfield 43 -19 44 22 Reading 44 -20 43 23 Blackpool 44 -24 41 24 Wigan 44 -27 40

Full time: Burnley 1-2 QPR An unforseeable victory for QPR, who have every chance of staying up now.

The updated Premier League table

I don’t know about you, but they’re putting the holes in, yes, yes I haven’t a clue which three teams are going down.

Pos Team P GD Pts 1 Arsenal 32 43 75 2 Man City 30 50 70 3 Man Utd 30 9 59 4 Newcastle 30 24 56 5 Tottenham Hotspur 31 12 53 6 Aston Villa 32 4 51 7 Liverpool 31 21 50 8 Brighton 29 17 49 9 Fulham 31 2 45 10 Brentford 32 5 44 11 Chelsea 31 -3 39 12 Crystal Palace 32 -9 37 13 Wolverhampton 32 -17 34 14 AFC Bournemouth 31 -28 33 15 West Ham 30 -12 31 16 Leeds 32 -21 29 17 Leicester 32 -13 28 18 Everton 32 -22 28 19 Nottm Forest 32 -33 27 20 Southampton 32 -29 24

Premier League full-times

Fulham 2-1 Leeds

Brentford 1-1 Aston Villa

Crystal Palace 0-0 Everton

Leicester City 2-1 Wolves

Liverpool 3-2 Nottm Forest

League Two Leyton Orient are champions after beating Crewe 2-0, and a semi-impromptu party is underway at Brisbane Road.

Leyton Orient players celebrate after George Moncur scores a penalty for their first goal against Crewe.

Leyton Orient players celebrate after George Moncur opened the scoring against Crewe from the penalty spot. Photograph: James Manning/PAFull time: Brentford 1-1 Aston Villa

Villa’s winning run is over, as is Ollie Watkins’ scoring streak, but Douglas Luiz’s late equaliser did at least earn them a point. Ivan Toney had put Brentford ahead with a classy finish.

Full time: Leicester 2-1 Wolves

Leicester come from behind to win their first game since they hammered Spurs 4-1 on 11 February. It’s a huge victory for a few reasons: they went behind, they were without James Maddison – and results elsewhere mean they are out of the relegation places.

Full time: Crystal Palace 0-0 Everton

I told you this was the game to watch. Everton have dropped into the relegation places, but that’s still a decent point away to in-form Palace, especially as they had 10 men for the last 10-15 minutes.

Full time: Liverpool 3-2 Nottm Forest

Liverpool’s mini-revival continues after a ding-dong match at Anfield. Diogo Jota scored two before Mo Salah got the winner.

GOAL! Burnley 1-2 QPR (Martin 88) Blimey, Chris Martin has put QPR ahead again at Turf Moor. That means Burnley won’t clinch the title today and, even more importantly, that QPR are almost safe. Almost.

Chris Martin of QPR (no 14) scores his side's second goal. Photograph: Anna Gowthorpe/Shutterstock

Chris Martin of QPR celebrates scoring his side's second goal against Burnley.

Then celebrates. Photograph: Anna Gowthorpe/Shutterstock

Liverpool 3-2 Nottm Forest “Loving the coverage and especially the Forest/Sisyphus reference,” says Matthew Morton. “The myth of which was immortalised by Albert Camus, famously a goalkeeper in Algiers and who said everything he learned about the human spirit has come from football. Can we please have more outlandish philosophy references?”

We can, but would you mind giving me a couple of decades to do some reading first? Algiers is a helluva song though, I’m with you on that. You were talking about the Afghan Whigs, right?

Brentford 1-1 Aston Villa The substitute Yoane Wissa has had a goal ruled out for offside.

GOAL! Brentford 1-1 Aston Villa (Douglas Luiz 87)

A bit of a sucker punch at Brentford, where Douglas Luiz has equalised against the run of play for Villa.

Aston Villa's Douglas Luiz (centre) fires home to put the visitors level at Brentford. Photograph: David Klein/Reuters

Aston Villa’s Douglas Luiz celebrates scoring their equaliser at Brentford.

Then celebrates. Photograph: David Klein/Reuters

GOAL! Wigan 2-1 Millwall (Aasgard 84) Wigan aren’t going quietly into League One – Thelo Aasgaard has restored their lead against Millwall. They are going down, but not, as things stand, today.

Liverpool 3-2 Nottm Forest As things stand, with Aston Villa losing, Liverpool are up to sixth in the table – six points off a Champions League place having played a game more. They were in a not dissimilar position two years ago and ended up finishing third.

Scottish Premiership Steven Fletcher has made it Dundee Utd 2-0 Livingston. The great escape is on!

GOAL! Peterborough 0-3 Ipswich (Ladapo 82) This is a helluva result for Ipswich, who are also on course for yet another clean sheet.

Live scoreboard

Don’t forget that you can see all the latest scores on our live scoreboard. I’m pretty confident I’ve missed at least one important goal somewhere, so it’s well worth bookmarking that page.

Premier League latest

Fulham 2-1 Leeds (FT)

Brentford 1-0 Aston Villa

Crystal Palace 0-0 Everton

Leicester City 2-1 Wolves

Liverpool 3-2 Nottm Forest

GOALS! Burnley 1-1 QPR (Benson 76), Sheff Wed 2-1 Exeter (Paterson 74)

“The non-celebration celebration, while daft, does at least provide virtuous contrast to the over the top celebration against your old team,” says Niall Mullen. “Adebayor against Arsenal being my absolute favourite.”

What made that celebration even funnier – and it was hilarious on its own terms – is the emphatic petulance of Garth Crooks on Final Score (see below).

The unjustly maligned Crooks defended Adebayor and, when Bright said that it wasn’t in the spirit of the game, snapped back with the sort of gloriously petty response you can only summon when you have completely lost it and no longer care about the consequences: “Was you breaking Andy Linighan’s nose with an elbow in the FA Cup final in the spirit of the game?!”

Crystal Palace 0-0 Everton: Holgate sent off

Mason Holgate, who was brought into the side today, has been given a second yellow card for a foul on Jordan Ayew.

Everton's Mason Holgate walks off after being shown a red card by referee John Brooks against Crystal Palace.

The Palace fans wave goodbye to Everton's Mason Holgate as he walks off after being shown a red card by referee John Brooks. Photograph: Tony Obrien/Reuters

Liverpool 3-2 Nottm Forest Brennan Johnson, fresh off the bench, has just hit the crossbar for Forest!

GOAL! Leicester 2-1 Wolves (Castagne 75)

A vital goal for Leicester. Timothy Castagne has put them ahead, against the run of play apparently, and as things stand they are out of the relegation places.

Leicester City's Timothy Castagne celebrates scoring their side's second goal of the game during the Premier League match against Wolves.

Leicester City's Timothy Castagne celebrates scoring their side's second goal of the game. Photograph: Tim Goode/PA

Pos Team P GD Pts 16 Leeds 32 -21 29 17 Everton 32 -22 28 18 Nottm Forest 32 -33 27 19 Leicester 32 -14 26 20 Southampton 32 -29 24

Peterborough 0-2 Ipswich

“A little love for the mighty Ipswich Town?” says Kevin Chase. “Wrexham aren’t the only club in love with their American owners who have come in with some cash, understood the community and got the football club rocking.

“As things stand we need just one more win from the final three games to go up. Average attendance has been over 26,000 helped by kids tickets for £7 and after some unsuccessful appointments of young managers called Paul, Kieran McKenna has got us playing some amazing football with the best goal difference in the top four divisions.”

In other League One news, Niall Ennis has put Plymouth 3-1 up at home to Cambridge and Sheffield Wednesday have equalised at home to Exeter.

GOAL! Liverpool 3-2 Nottm Forest (Salah 70)

Liverpool take the lead for the third time! Trent Alexander-Arnold’s excellent free-kick is finished with aplomb by Mo Salah, and now Forest know how Sisyphus felt.

Mohamed Salah celebrates scoring Liverpool’s thrid goal against Nottingham Forest. Photograph: Peter Powell/EPA

“A huge part of the non-celebration ritual must be to remind people you used to play for a big club,” says Phil Podolsky. “Sometimes it’s a welcome reminder: for years I’ve been trying to recall the name of a winger who had one good game for Barcelona as a teenager under Van Gaal. It was only when a 30-something journeyman not-celebrated a goal against Pep’s Barca that I recognised the name (which I’ve long since forgotten).”

Full time: Mainz 3-1 Bayern

Another wretched away trip for Bayern, who will be knocked off the top of the Bundesliga if Dortmund win at home to Frankfurt tonight.

Pos Team P GD Pts 1 Bayern Munich 29 46 59 2 Borussia Dortmund 28 23 57 3 Union Berlin 28 12 52 4 RB Leipzig 28 18 51 5 Freiburg 28 4 50

GOAL! Liverpool 2-2 Nottm Forest (Gibbs-White 68)

Forest have equalised for the second time! It sounds like a technically superb volley from Morgan Gibbs-White, swished past Alisson with the aid of a slight deflection.

Nottingham Forest's Morgan Gibbs-White scores their second goal against Liverpool. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

The visiting fans jubilate as Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White celebrates scoring their second goal with teammates.

The visiting fans jubilate as Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White celebrates with his teammates. Photograph: Phil Noble/ReutersGOAL! Brentford 1-0 Aston Villa (Toney 65)

The big man has scored again, finishing expertly from Bryan Mbuemo’s cross. Meanwhile…

Brentford’s Ivan Toney scores their first goal against Aston Villa.

A sidefooted finish from Ivan Toney gives Brentford the lead. Photograph: Peter Cziborra/Action Images/ReutersGOAL! Burnley 0-1 QPR (Field 58)

Blimey, QPR are ahead at Turf Moor through Sam Field. That would be one of the more unlikely results of the Championship season.

Sam Field puts QPR ahead at Burnley. Photograph: Anna Gowthorpe/Shutterstock

Queens Park Rangers’ Sam Field celebrates scoring their side’s first goal of the game in front of their fans during the Sky Bet Championship match at Turf Moor, Burnley.

Field celebrates in front of the QPR fans. Photograph: Will Matthews/PA

Talking of QPR, have a look at this. Not the lead question; that has bugger all to do with them.

Premier League latest

Fulham 2-1 Leeds (FT)

Brentford 0-0 Aston Villa

Crystal Palace 0-0 Everton

Leicester City 1-1 Wolves

Liverpool 2-1 Nottm Forest

GOALS GALORE!

Right, it’s now Coventry 2-1 Reading in the Championship, and Conor Chaplin has made it Peterborough 0-2 Ipswich in League One.

Coventry City's Gustavo Hamer (left) celebrates with Josh Wilson-Esbrand after scoring their sides second goal of the game during the Sky Bet Championship match against Reading.

Coventry City's Gustavo Hamer (left) celebrates with Josh Wilson-Esbrand after scoring their sides second goal of the game. Photograph: Barrington Coombs/PA

“Don’t hold me to this,” says Dan Naylor, “but I believe Beckham played right back in a back four once. It was in the 2nd half against Trinidad and Tobago at the 2006 World Cup, as England had all of the ball but couldn’t break through until almost the end of the game. Can’t find Sven’s quote about moving him there but he almost definitely played half a game at right back.”

That’s some good knowledge. I was at one of my many leaving dos and had reluctantly sacrificed tactics at the altar of getting hammered on Magners.

League One It looks even more likely now: Joe Edwards has made it Plymouth 2-1 Cambridge.

League One A couple of important goals at the top: Barnsley lead Oxford 2-0, and Sheffield Wednesdya are trailing 1-0 at home to Exeter. Wednesday have gone to seed in the last month or so, and it looks increasingly likely that they’ll be in the playoffs.

Brentford 0-0 Aston Villa Kevin Schade has missed an open goal for Brentford, it says here.

Brentford's Kevin Schade misses a chance to score. Photograph: Peter Cziborra/Action Images/ReutersGOAL! Liverpool 2-1 Nottm Forest (Jota 55)

Diogo Jota gets his second of the game and his fourth of the week, finishing coolly from Andy Robertson’s free-kick. It sounds like Forest’s defending was on the shambolic side of egregious.

Diogo Jota scores his, and Liverpool’s second goal of the game against Nottingham Forest.

Diogo Jota scores his, and Liverpool’s second goal of the game. Photograph: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC/Getty Images

Liverpool’s Diogo Jota (centre) is congratulated by his teammates after scoring.

Jota (centre) is congratulated by his teammates. Photograph: Rui Vieira/AP

Bundesliga The last time I looked, Bayern were 1-0 up at Mainz. They’re now 3-1 down and in all sorts! Mainz scored three goals in 15 minutes, and it looks like Bayern’s miserable start under Thomas Tuchel is going to continue.

Brentford 0-0 Aston Villa Emi Martinez has gone off injured, with Robin Olsen replacing him.

“Friend’s son’s bands,” says Mark Wagstaff. “As we are on the subject…

“I had a suspicion that all the Unai Emery love in the Guardian this week would result in one of the more insipid Aston Villa first halves for a while. Hoping for a bit more in the second.”

Let’s make that the end of today’s hit parade. I’m looking forward to listening to them all (and if any of you have a friend whose son is in Chalk, can I have tickets please), but the second halves are always a frantic shambles and I’m worried somebody will send a link to hardcore bongo, tell me it’s their friend’s son band, and I’ll innocently post it and be unemployed by sundown.

GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 Nottm Forest (Williams 51)

Well I never! Neco Williams has scored against his old club with a deflected shot. He doesn’t celebrate, with it being against his former club, and that performative nonsense really has to stop doesn’t it.

GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Nottm Forest (Jota 47)

Diogo Jota missed a sitter in the first half; this time he has scored from close range to give Liverpool the lead. They’re going to finish in the top five, aren’t they, maybe even the top four.

Liverpool's Diogo Jota scores their first goal against Nottingham Forest. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

“Trent is clearly an amazing footballer,” says Tom Walling. “He does things with a football that few others can. Above all weight of pass and imagination. But does he suffer from being neither full back nor midfielder? I don’t know. I feel like he should be more appreciated. Does Klippety know how to use him? This new hybrid role suits him, I think. Hope it sticks. He’s too talented to be used a stick with which to beat Klopp or Liverpool through tribal idiocy.”

He feels like a wing-back in full-back’s clothing. He’s far too good not to excel, wherever he plays, and if Liverpool can find another Jordan Henderson I think he’ll probably be okay at full-back. All this excitement about his new role – it’s more pronounced, for sure, but hasn’t he been wandering into midfield for the last five years?

He’s a fascinating player, maybe even unique. There have even better attacking full-backs, but I can’t think of any with Alexander-Arnold’s ability to manipulate the ball. The obvious comparisons, certainly in English football on that side of the field, are David Beckham and Kevin De Bruyne. Beckham played as a wing-back for England under Glenn Hoddle but never, as far as I’m aware, in a back four.

FA Cup semi-final: Man City v Sheff Utd

The first FA Cup semi-final kicks off at 4.45pm local time. Scott Murray has the team news (spoiler: Beast starts).

Women’s Champions League: Chelsea 0-1 Barcelona

Selected League Two half-times

Barrow 0-1 Carlisle

Mansfield 1-0 Stevenage

Northampton 3-1 Harrogate

Stockport 0-0 Rochdale

Live scoreboard