Saturday football clockwatch | Paolo Bandini

• Hit F5 for the latest or use or auto-refresh button below • Click here for all the latest scores • Email paolo.bandini@guardian.co.uk or tweet @Paolo_Bandini 4.30pm: “Have I been laid off? Is that what you’re trying to subtly tell me by referring to me as ‘Paul Dole’?” demands my colleague at Villa Park Paul Doyle. Nope, it seems I just can’t type. The offending mistake has now been amended. 4.27pm: Middlesbrough look set to be the only unbeaten team left in the Championship – Marvin Emnes has just put them 1-0 up at Crystal Palace, while Brighton are losing 1-0 at Leicester. 4.25pm: Hmm. Dean Lewington has just equalised for MK Dons at home to Huddersfield, making it 1-1, but I’ve just received an email that our man in Milton Keynes, John Ashdown, sent when it was still 0-1. I’m going to use it anyway. “Not sure if you’re particularly interested in what’s happening here at Stadium MK? You are! Well, that’s lovely. In short, Huddersfield look a team ready for the Championship, are 1-0 up and could be two or three clear. In other news, the tea in the press room has been nothing short of exceptional. Sandwiches a mixed bag – cheese and pickle was poor, but the beef and horseradish very good.” 4.24pm: “Not surprised Newcastle equalised – they deserve it,” reports our man at Villa Park, Paul Doyle. “Not surprised by the manner of the goal either – Cheik Tiote’s cross to Best eluded Richard Dunne, who must surely be knackered after his exertions against Australia earlier today. He did play in that, didn’t he?” 4.23pm: Might we have spoken too soon (OK, fine, might I have spoken to soon) about the prospect of all three newly-promoted sides winning. Martin Petrov slots home a penalty to reduce the arrears for the home side. Bolton 1-2 Norwich. 4.21pm: “I don’t watch Spanish football (although I hear Barcelona are quite good) but I think Gary Naylor might have a point,” opines Ryan Dunne, in response to this pre-kick-off email . “Surely Zlatan’s replacement, Villa, is fairly adaptable to a fluid, 4-6-0 interchangeable in a way that the Kung Fu Swedish Genius was not? Although Craig Levein’s attempts at 4-6-0 were surely more sub Walternaccio than the stuff of Spalletti’s Roma, and I doubt that Moyes has embraced the formation out of idealism.” 4.19pm: Royston Drenthe – or ‘Drenchler’ – as Paul Merson just called him on Sky Sports News, is about to come on for his Everton debut. 4.16pm: Aston Villa and Newcastle could yet both finish the day unbeaten. Leon Best notches his third goal of the season to make it Aston Villa 1-1 Newcastle , slamming the ball in from close range. 4.14pm: Stewart Drummond has extended League Two leaders Morecambe’s advantage at Dagenham & Redbridge, where they now lead 2-0. 4.12pm: Apparently this would be the first time since February 2007 that all three newly promoted sides won on the same day. Well, that’s what the stats bods at Infrostrada Live are saying on Twitter, anyway. 4.09pm: “That is a bit disingenuous,” notes a person named Chiswick (or maybe the email was actually the communal work of the London suburb) in response to Nicholas’s email on the subject of Nigerian goalscorers . “Victor Anichebe doesn’t score anyway …” 4.07pm: Time for some furious face rubbing on the away bench at the Liberty Stadium, methinks. It’s now Swansea 3-0 West Brom , Nathan Dyer taking advantage of a Leroy Lita flick-on to extend the home side’s lead. 4.03pm: Since tweeting pre-match that he had been left out by Everton , Louis Saha has remained hooked up to his social networking tools. He’s now conversing with an apparent fan who responded to his earlier messages by calling him a “spoilt prick”. “im spoil in life but does not give u the right to insult me,” notes Saha. 3.59pm: “I predict Peter Odemwingie is going to have a truly horrid day,” writes Nicholas. “Its the Yakubu hex, you see. Whenever he scores, no other Nigerian in the Premier League does! Just ask Victor Anichebe or Kanu. This fact is ably supported by me very own oracle. Peter the snail. A less humbling mollusc than Paul the octopus but prophet all the same.” Is there any truth in this at all? Who wants to go back through the records? 3.57pm: There were fears earlier this afternoon that Wolves’s match against QPR would not be able to go ahead due to a power cut at Molineux , but if the home fans are wishing now that the game had been postponed, perhaps they’ll be cheered by the appearance of Beverley Knight on the pitch at half-time to sing them a tune. Or perhaps that will make things much, much worse. 3.55pm: Right, this is how things stand at half-time around the country. Premier League Blackburn 4-3 Arsenal (FT) Everton 1-1 Wigan Swansea 2-0 West Brom Bolton 0-2 Norwich Aston Villa 1-0 Newcastle Wolves 0-2 QPR Championship Millwall 0-0 West Ham (FT) Nottingham Forest 1-2 Derby (FT) Leicester 0-0 Brighton Crystal Palace 0-0 Middlesbrough Hull 1-0 Portsmouth Peterborough 2-0 Burnley Reading 0-0 Doncaster Rovers Barnsley 0-1 Watford Leeds 1-1 Bristol City Blackpool 0-0 Cardiff League One Stevenage 0-1 Notts County Chesterfield 2-1 Carlisle Yeovil Town 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday Brentford 1-2 Preston Exeter 0-1 Bournemouth Sheffield United 2-0 Colchester Walsall 1-0 Scunthorpe Hartlepool 1-0 Bury Rochdale 0-2 Charlton Tranmere 1-0 Wycombe Leyton Orient 1-0 Oldham MK Dons 0-1 Huddersfield League Two Port Vale 2-3 Shrewsbury (FT) Dagenham 0-0 Morecambe Barnet 0-2 Oxford United Hereford 0-3 Gillingham Accrington 0-2 Crewe Alexandra Macclesfield 1-1 Northampton Crawley Town 0-1 Bradford Torquay United 2-3 Rotherham AFC Wimbledon 2-0 Cheltenham Burton Albion 1-0 Swindon Bristol Rovers 0-1 Aldershot Southend 0-0 Plymouth Argyle 3.48pm: In fact, there’s half-time whistles going everywhere now, as you would probably expect a little bit more than 45 minutes after kick-off. Round-up of the scores coming up … 3.47pm: Half-time at Villa Park: Aston Villa 1-0 Newcastle. 3.46pm: And if that wasn’t bad enough for Bolton, they’re now down to ten men, as Klasnic is sent off for headbutting Morison . 3.43pm: This day just gets better if you’re a fan exclusively of teams who have just been promoted to the Premier League in the last summer. If you’re a fan exclusively of teams who finished 14th in the table last year, though, it’s not going well. It’s now Bolton 0-2 Norwich , as Bradley Johnson directs David Fox’s cross past Jussi Jaaskelainen. 3.42pm: Some maths to ponder from FourFourTwo’s James Maw on Twitter: “Aguero = 1 goal every 41 mins. Lita = 1 goal every 63 minutes. By my maths that means Lita is worth roughly £25.3 million.” 3.39pm: Time to squeeze in a quick League One update, as MK Dons go 1-0 down at home to Huddersfield. Meantime, here’s Jon Hegglund: “Early morning greetings from the Pacific Northwest! After watching Monday’s match v Newcastle and this first half v Wolves, are the beefed-up QPR playing the most attractive football in London right now? And, no, I haven’t forgotten about that other blue & white side.” 3.37pm: Well, well, well – all three newly-promoted sides are now in front. Steve Morison’s clever pass and decoy run allow Anthony Pilkington to sweeps the ball in and give Norwich a 1-0 lead at Bolton . 3.36pm: Here’s some betting advice from our man at Villa Park, Paul Doyle. “”For anyone who likes to bet in-running, I’d suggest having a punt on Newcastle if the odds are decent: Villa are in front here but the visitors have played the better stuff and are looking dangerous. Villa still threatening on the counter, mind.” 3.35pm: Well that didn’t last long did it? Phil Jagielka heads in from close range to make it Everton 1-1 Wigan . 3.33pm: Oh dear. Everton had been comfortably on top at Goodison Park but it is Wigan who take the lead, Franco Di Santo making it Everton 0-1 Wigan . 3.32pm: For what it’s worth, Leroy Lita followed his goal for Swansea by getting booked for taking his shirt off. On the one hand, that’s plainly silly. On the other hand, I’m quite aware that if I had the physique of a top-flight professional footballer I probably wouldn’t ever put on shirts in the first place, so I shan’t complain. 3.31pm: “I’ll be walking from my flat, in North London, to a train station to get on a train that will, a mere six minutes later, stop at Drayton Park station, from where you can see the Emirates Stadium,” declares Ade Cooper, as AFC Wimbledon go 1-0 up against Cheltenham. “I’m a Spurs fan though so I probably won’t bother with much of a protest. However, if any Arsenal fans would like to add another calamitous French centreback to their ranks, I’d be happy to try and smuggle Younes Kaboul into the ground.” 3.28pm: Well Aston Villa should now be two goals up, but Darren Bent just swept his shot wide of the post with the whole goal at his mercy. Newcastle’s unbeaten start looking shaky. 3.27pm: “To all those fellow Wolves fans who think I’m pessimistic: See? See?” wails Kevin Porter. “As Woody Allen says ‘Most of the time I don’t have much fun, the rest of the time I have no fun at all’. Two-nil down at home to yet another London side. Complete misery. What a horrible start to the season.” 3.24pm: Insert your own “waiting for a bus” line here folks, because Swansea’s first Premier League goal has been followed swiftly by a second. Leroy Lita makes it Swansea 2-0 West Brom at the Liberty Stadium. 3.23pm: And now dipping back into League One, Danny Hollands has given Charlton the lead away to Rochdale with a header. In a similarly dramatic development, I have just changed the picture on this story. 3.20pm: Sheffield United are now 2-0 up at home to Colchester in League One, and cruising nicely. In the Championship, Hull lead Portsmouth 1-0, Peterborough are up by the same margin against Burnley and Leeds v Bristol City is all square at a goal apiece. All the rest in that division are goalless. 3.18pm: “I’m watching Wolves/QPR which promises to be a scrappy, open game,” declares Christopher Price who certainly got the second part right. “Anyway, would you be willing to lead a march in North London from a pub that you would be at anyway to a game you would be going to anyway to urge Wenger to hire a coach for Arsenal’s defence? Our attack was actually pretty good today, but the defence scored almost as many goals as our attack and Mertesacker and Sagna seemed to be the only ones who knew what they were doing. I would try to organise a protest but I’m in Indiana.” Well, I’ll be walking from the Guardian’s offices (in North London) to a tube station later on. Not sure I’d call it a march, mind. 3.15pm: And there it is at last! Swansea have their first ever Premier League goal, Scott Sinclair crashing home a penalty after Paul Scharner had brought down Joe Allen in the box. Swansea 1-0 West Brom . 3.12pm: And now one at Villa Park, where Gabby Agbonlahor, fresh from explaining that Gérard Houllier is to football what James Corden is to intelligent debate, has proved just how rejuvenated he is under Alex McLeish by making it Aston Villa 1-0 Newcastle . 3.10pm: Crikey – make that Wolves 0-2 QPR . Alejandro Faurlin crashes one in on the half-volley from a short way outside the box, and Hennessey is beaten. I dare say we may have found the match that Ms Peters should be watching. 3.08pm: First Premier League goal of the 3pm kick-offs and it’s Wolves 0-1 QPR . The newly appointed captain Joey Barton is the man who provides it, though it’s hardly one for the scrapbook. Adel Taraabt’s cross comes over from the right to Shaun Wright-Phillips on the far side, where the winger makes a horrible mess of his attempted shot. The ball bobbles across to Joey Barton, who also miscues his effort, but somehow succeeds in scuffing it into the bottom left corner. 3.06pm: Sheffield United are off to a quick start in League One – Ched Evans extending Colchester’s run without a clean sheet to 16 games. 3.03pm: Full-time in League Two: Port Vale 2-3 Shrewsbury. 3.02pm: “Which game should i watch for the 3pm kickoff?” asks Diane Peters. “I’m in amsterdam, so i can watch any one of them, but i can’t decide which!” I’ll throw this open to the readers – who wants to make the first pitch? 3pm: Away we go then, but only after a short silence at Swansea City’s Liberty Stadium – in honour of both the miners who died at Gleision Colliery this week, as well the manager Brendan Rodgers’ late father. 2.59pm: Full-time in the second Championship early kick-off: Nottingham Forest 1-2 Derby. Derby on 10 men from the second minute, too. 2.56pm: Here’s Gary Naylor with the alternative viewpoint on David Moyes’s latest tactical innovations. “I like Everton’s 4-6-0 and it delivered two goals last time out,” he notes. “I know I’m coming over all Jonathan Wilson, but goals, at least attempts to force goals, are over-rated. Barcelona look rather better without Zlatan than they did with him, don’t they?” Take your broader point but the Ibrahimovic point has me baffled. They replaced him with another goalscorer and as far as I can see spend a great deal of their time trying to connect ball with net. 2.50pm: Apologies, while I was digging up that team news I’ve failed to tell you that Ben Williamson has got one back for Port Vale, who now trail 2-3 at home to Shrewsbury, while Derby – down to 10 men from the second minute, have taken the lead away to Nottingham Forest through Jeff Hendrick. 2.48pm: And last of the Premier League team news, here’s Aston Villa v Newcastle. Barry Bannan, as expected, replaces the injured Emile Heskey for Villa while Demba Ba replaces Shola Ameobi up front for Newcastle. Aston Villa: Given, Hutton, Collins, Dunne, Warnock, Bannan, Petrov, Delph, N’Zogbia, Bent, Agbonlahor. Subs: Guzan, Ireland, Albrighton, Delfouneso, Herd, Lowry, Gardner. Newcastle: Krul, Simpson, Steven Taylor, Coloccini, Ryan Taylor, Obertan, Cabaye, Tiote, Gutierrez, Best, Ba. Subs: Elliot, Guthrie, Lovenkrands, Perch, Marveaux, Shola Ameobi, Sammy Ameobi. Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire) 2.43pm: Six changes for Norwich ahead of their game at Bolton, to include the returns of the captain Wes Hoolahan up front and John Ruddy in goal. Owen Coyle rewards David Ngog and Gael Kakuta for their efforts in the reserves this week by giving each a place on the bench, but Tuncay goes straight into the starting line-up. Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Boyata, Cahill, Knight, Robinson, Tuncay, Pratley, Reo-Coker, Petrov, Kevin Davies, Klasnic. Subs: Bogdan, Muamba, Eagles, Mark Davies, Ngog, Kakuta, Wheater. Norwich: Ruddy, Naughton, Russell Martin, Barnett, Tierney, Bennett, Fox, Bradley Johnson, Pilkington, Hoolahan, Morison. Subs: Rudd, Crofts, Vaughan, Holt, Surman, Chris Martin, De Laet. Referee: Howard Webb (England) 2.41pm: Matt Jarvis returns for Wolves as they take on QPR at Molineux, while the visitors are unchanged from their 0-0 draw with Newcastle on Monday night. Wolverhampton: Hennessey, Stearman, Johnson, Berra, Elokobi, Kightly, Henry, O’Hara, Jarvis, Ward, Doyle. Subs: De Vries, Hunt, Vokes, Hammill, Milijas, Foley, Guedioura. QPR: Kenny, Young, Gabbidon, Ferdinand, Traore, Barton, Derry, Faurlin, Wright-Phillips, Bothroyd, Taarabt. Subs: Murphy, Hall, Campbell, Buzsaky, Connolly, Smith, Puncheon. Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire) 2.39pm: Full-time: Blackburn 4-3 Arsenal. 2.36pm: As anticipated, Swansea captain Garry Monk is back from injury to make his first Premier League appearance for the club. West Brom bring in Craig Dawson to replace the suspended Tamas in defence. Swansea: Vorm, Rangel, Williams, Monk, Taylor, Dyer, Britton, Allen, Gower, Sinclair, Lita. Subs: Tremmel, Dobbie, Routledge, Moore, Bessone, Richards, Lucas. West Brom: Foster, Reid, Olsson, Mulumbu, Shorey, Morrison, Dawson, Scharner, Thomas, Long, Odemwingie. Subs: Fulop, Brunt, Dorrans, McAuley, Jones, Cox, Fortune. Referee: Martin Atkinson (England) 2.32pm: In fact, Arsenal had a bit of a habit of giving up more goals than shots on target in 2001, as Oliver Haine notes on Twitter. “Arsenal 0-3 Middlesbrough 14th April 2001. Boro one shot on target”. 2.29pm: Marouane Chamakh has pulled one back for Arsenal at Ewood Park, they now trail 4-3. 2.27pm: At last – the team news you’ve really been waiting for. Tonbridge Angels: Worgan, Beecroft, Heath, Kinch, Judge, Miles, Taylor, Storey, Ade Olorunda, Collin, Browning. Subs: Jones, Walder, Henry, Kember, Main. Salisbury: Gough, Ruddick, Brett, Adelsbury, Hart, Giles, Kelly, Clarke, Fitchett, Reid, Casey. Subs: Stockford, Wright, Knight, Herbert, Smith. Referee: N Lugg (England) 2.26pm: Full-time at The Den, where it has finished Millwall 0-0 West Ham . 2.20pm: Aha – some team news at last. As anticipated, Saha does not feature in Everton’s line-up to face Wigan. “Seems Moyes thinks Tim Cahill is a centre forward now,” notes Martin Cooke, before expressing his feelings on the manager with a word I probably shouldn’t print. have to say I do think it’s a questionable move – while Cahill clearly knows where the goal is, personally I think it’s a huge asset to have a midfielder who can contribute goals like he does, so by moving him forward you’ve effectively taken that away. Everton: Howard, Hibbert, Jagielka, Distin, Baines, Coleman, Fellaini, Rodwell, Bilyaletdinov, Osman, Cahill. Subs: Mucha, Heitinga, Drenthe, Stracqualursi, Neville, Barkley, Vellios. Wigan: Al Habsi, Van Aanholt, Caldwell, Lopez, Figueroa, Gomez, Watson, McCarthy, Moses, Di Santo, Rodallega. Subs: Pollitt, Thomas, Crusat, Maloney, McArthur, Sammon, Jones. 2.16pm: This Blackburn Arsenal game rather reminds me of a 4-2 defeat the Gunners suffered at home to Charlton Athletic back in 2001 . If memory serves, Charlton had less shots on target than goals that day, with Richard Wright punching spectacularly into his own net for one of their games. So far today, Blackburn have had three shots on target, yet four goals. 2.14pm: Blackburn now lead 4-2 against Arsenal , Laurent Koscielny recording the visitors’ second away goal of the afternoon. Oh dear. Meanwhile, Lionel Ainsworth has extended Shrewsbury’s lead to 3-1 at Port Vale. 2.12pm: Well, it’s still not official team news, but a look at the Twitter account of Louis Saha suggests he won’t be making the starting XI for Everton at home to Wigan this afternoon. Here are his last three tweets: 23 minutes ago: What can i say. Absolutely destroy me. #gutted. Good luck to the lads 14 minutes ago: Just not good enough. 9 minutes ago: I am not good enough. #Absolutelydestroyed 2.07pm: Still waiting for the first whiff of Premier League team news, but Blackburn v Arsenal is not the only early kick-off taking place in England this afternoon. In the Championship Millwall v West Ham is still goalless, while Nottingham Forest and Derby are also level at 1-1. In League Two, meanwhile, Shrewsbury are 2-1 up away to Port Vale. 2.03pm: Blackburn now lead 3-2 against Arsenal, Yakubu with the 59th minute goal to put them in front. Again, you’re better off joining Rob Smyth for that one though . 2.02pm: Actually, before I go find that team news, a quick plug for the fact that I’ll also be providing minute-by-minute coverage of Inter v Roma in Serie A from 7.45pm this evening right here on this very site. Probably better cancel those Saturday night plans you had now, eh? 2pm: Afternoon folks. Blackburn and Arsenal are level at 2-2 in the early game, which you can follow right this second with Rob Smyth , but shortly it will be time to turn our attention to the 3pm kick-offs. There might only be five of those – you can blame the Europa League for that – but it’s more than enough to throw up some intriguing questions. Who will prevail in the battle of the unbeaten sides at Villa Park? Can Swansea finally get their first Premier League goal against a West Brom team who have kept just two clean sheets in 17 games under Roy Hodgsoon? Will Neil Warnock make Mick McCarthy clean his boots again ? Anyway, back in a tick with some team news, but in the meantime here’s the full list of 3pm games: Aston Villa v Newcastle Bolton v Norwich Everton v Wigan Swansea v West Brom Wolverhampton v QPR Premier League Premier League 2011-12 Paolo Bandini guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 17, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.