Paullow

I like to see all local non league sides do well, but at the same time, I do like the fact that Newcastle are the only league side in one of the UK's biggest conurbations, so would probably prefer Gateshead to continue playing great football, surprising people, stay at the top end of the league for years to come, but always keep falling short at the 6 team playoff hurdle.

Villa are slight favourites, and them being at home helps from a neutral perspective as they have won 9 leagues games in a row there. Very intriguing match and one I'm looking forward to. Probably hoping for a draw as only 2 points will be dished out, but I'd rather just see a good game of football, so not too fussed on the outcome really.

Tomorrow is a great day of live football. Villa vs Brighton at 12.30 and then Tottenham vs Liverpool at 5.30. Two, close looking, hard to call matches featuring half of the better 8 or 9 teams. Even Southampton vs Leeds at 12.30 looks decent. Bit of a shame (from an armchair POV) that the early PL match wasn't at 8pm like Burnley-Man Utd last week - there was nothing really on at 12.30pm last week, whereas here there's two good matches.

Shocking that Benfica vs Porto isn't even on a random app type channel. Classic fixtures like that should be individually picked up by someone, even if they don't own the rights to the full league. 0-0 heading into half time, but Porto have had a man sent off. It is on betting sites so will probably find a stream in the second half with the Championship match and the rugby being one sided.

Some bookies would have paid out already.

Christ

Aye, one up inside 5 mins, doubt it'll be long until switch over, similar to the recent Southampton match.

I expect Sunderland to win, thought they'd be shorter than 6/5 though. If they go 2 goals ahead I'll switch over to the Rugby World Cup.

Annoying, but I wasn't expecting to still be in the hat. I guess we'll see how the league / CL form is at the time in terms of picking the team. Still pretty early on in the competition.

Unless Dummett gets 'injured' in the warm up and it was just a front.

Dummett spoils it, and ultimately makes it much tougher to progress, but along the lines of what I would have picked. Joelinton back so soon is a boost, but just hope it's not too soon.

Good stuff.

It's probably the first match since Sheff Wed where I'm not too fussed of the result. I'll be looking forward to watching it, hoping to see some newer / less familiar faces involved, and obviously would like to see us win and play well, but I'll definitely be more relaxed watching it, and much less pressure than usual. As Craig Hope said on his recent video, it kind of is win-win. If we win then we will have had a bit of a scalp and a big favourite would have been knocked out, but if we don't then we can concentrate on elsewhere including two massive matches at SJP in the next 7 days I guess Chelsea away would have been similar on the final day.

Yeah, the only ones that haven't been are Brentford (A), Southampton (H), and Chelsea (A), all in the league last season. We've always had a reasonable amount of games on TV, even when finishing 13th was 'magnificent', and more than we should for a bang average bottom half side due to the domestic fan base and profile, but it is getting to the stage now when it feels strange if we are not selected, ha.

Tonight is our 34th match of 2023 in all competitions, amazingly 31 of them have been televised.

It's annoying, and may have been picked anyway for guaranteed ratings with it involving Man Utd, but both Brighton and Chelsea played on Sunday (due to Europe), so it would have been our match tomorrow that it was competing with. I guess they could maybe have had one match on Weds and another on Thurs, but then it gets more complicated.

At least Palace can bring the 8 changes back in for the league match between the two sides on Saturday and really try and push for 11th this season rather than the usual 12th or 13th.

I would hope for something along these lines, although probably one of Burn, Botman, or Lascelles instead of Dummett, because the latter's inclusion will almost be like conceding the game, when combined with a generally lesser other starting 10. Edit - Schaar.

94th minute equaliser for Huddersfield. Probably deserved overall, but didn't see it coming.

Huddersfield playing better this half (couldn't have been much worse, 0.06 XG at half time), but still 1-0 to Coventry. I can't understand getting rid of Warnock who was doing well and had just agreed a one year extension, only to bring in Darren Moore. Had it have been some innovative little known Bundesliga 2 or Serie B type up and comer then you could have understood them looking longer term, but this seems a backwards step.

Cracking initial strike by Ellis Simms mind. The enemy of my enemy...

I'm surprisingly not too fussed about this match. With Tottenham out, one of Chelsea (I know) or Brighton going the same way, and a few other all PL matches, there could be a bit of an opportunity should we win, and it's perhaps not quite as daunting as when the teams first came out of the hat and possibly the best chance to play Man City, early on, at home, and they have a few players out, but it's obviously still a really, really tough match, and if we do get through then it's still just the last 16 and a long way to go. We'll be in the League Cup next season, and the season after that (but not guaranteed to be in Europe), and I'd personally rather prioritise the league, and particularly the CL, so I'd far rather big changes happened here than against Burnley on Saturday, which IMO is the bigger match at this stage.

Yeah, that will likely be it, I guess somewhat combined with the WSL. I know very little about golf, but just saw that the outright odds were very close and almost 50/50, so Sky will at least hope that it goes down to the wire. Forest vs Brentford at 2pm isn't exactly a ratings winner for masses, and they'll save their quota of the 'big 6', Newcastle, Villa, and a lesser extent Everton, when there's less sporting alternatives.

I was wondering that as well when Dave Jones mentioned on Sky yesterday. Thought there might have been a big sporting event on or something, but the only thing I can think of is it's the first weekend of the WSL season and they might want as many eyes on that, which isn't great for the average viewer because 4.30pm is usually considered the plumb spot and most big (non derby matches) will be on at that time. Chelsea vs Tottenham women starts at 5.30pm on SS Main Event.

Bit of a shame for them, because other than Vasas, Sporting CP, Swansea, Wrexham, and one League Cup match against Newport, they don't get to play non English teams in competitive matches very often, so these matches against the likes of Cardiff will naturally have a much bigger feel to them.