Paullow

Boro ahead against Stoke. Blackpool 4-0 up on QPR after 36 mins. Didn't realise QPR got a win over the weekend, just as well, as they would have been in massive trouble if not, with Blackpool one of the 3 sides currently in the drop zone - they'd still be 7 points clear after tonight.

It's fantastic just sitting back watching it all unfold as a neutral. I'd also like to see Leeds stay up. I'm not old enough to remember / experience any shenanigans in the 70s or 80s, and I really like the city, and I think the Premier League is better with them in it. Also only an hour and a half away, and nice to have more Northern teams in the league, especially in big cities. I'd also like to see Forest stay up, for similar reasons to the above. I'd probably prefer Leicester to stay up as well with them doing well recently and moving away from being a Norwich, West Brom, Watford type where they could go up and down every season and no neutral would bat an eye-lid. Wolves are pretty harmless. So that leaves 5. 7 London teams is pretty ridiculous. Yes, it's a big city, but not over a third of England's population, so to have 7 teams out of 20 is crazy, so for that reason, I'd be happy to lose either or both Palace or West Ham. Southampton and Bournemouth could drop as far as I'm concerned as well. Most neutrals wouldn't miss them, and it's a hell of a journey as well. Neither should really affect us, whereas a West Ham, Leeds, Everton possibly could challenge if they got their house in order, certainly a lot more potential anyway, but it's another US owner in Bmouth's case, and it's probably in our best interest for now to ensure that number doesn't get close to 14. I'm not as fussed of Everton dropping as I was last season, probably with us pushing on so much and them being less of a direct rival, but it would be quite funny and significant if they were to go. Probably hope Southampton, Bournemouth and one of West Ham or Palace go, but it's so hard to call at the moment and for what seems like the first time in years, there's not one obvious candidate to drop after 26/27 games.

That is crazy. I forgot their second Palace match came after the Arsenal match he missed for collecting 5 yellow cards (he could easily have been sent off in that first Palace match as well). Doesn't really matter so much because he has been influential elsewhere, especially the cup final, and the rest may have done him good with all the competitions they are in, but had that have been us last season when we only had 40 matches in the whole season, and he was missing 8 of them through suspension (and an early bath in 2 of them) then questions would have to be asked about if he was more hassle than worth.

Shame there's no MNF, Championship, or even top end League One match on tonight. Slim pickings on TV - Crusaders vs Cliftonville on Sky, Falkirk vs Ayr in the Cup on BBC Scotland, and Milan vs Salernitana on BT, plus a couple of Spanish matches on more niche channels.

I think if that's Sa, or Pope at Molineux, in the exact same incident then the ref at least goes to the monitor. You look at the wide Premier League table and there's generally wide discrepancies between respective home and away records, and a part of that will be decisions like this. https://www.soccerstats.com/widetable.asp?league=england

One is Brighton as that was supposed to be the weekend of the cup final.

Crazy that MOTD 2 is only on for 15 minutes tonight - there were 4 matches (plus yesterdays goals), so even without pundits / presenters, you'd expect 40/45 mins minimum. Literally may as well just watch the Sky 3 min YouTube highlights instead.

Casemiro's has had a pretty eventful time in the league recently . Sent off vs Palace, missed Leeds x 2 and Leicester through suspension, back for the 0-7 defeat to Liverpool, and then sent off again vs Southampton, and will miss 3 further league matches (as well as the Fulham FA Cup match).

Not a massive issue, and a bit pedantic, but how come the main Sky team are not at SJP today? They pretty much always present live from the 4.30pm venue (for the first game). I did think Newcastle vs Wolves was quite a strange choice for the prime 4.30pm slot, and there will be more general interest in Arsenal given where they are in the league, but just assumed they would have been up here from the start.

Stoke vs Blackburn on Sky at 8pm tonight. Blackburn went 27 games from the start of the season without drawing a league match, then drew 4 in a row, and have won their last 4, so are 8 unbeaten, very much in the playoff picture, as well as making the QF of the FA Cup. Stoke are on the back of that 5-1 win over Sunderland, but they are 11 points clear of the relegation zone, 12 off the playoffs, with only 11 games to go, so realistically their season is effectively over from a meaningful POV (you can get 100/1 for a top 6 finish, or 100/1 to be relegated), but I guess they can try new things, mixt it up, and blood new players etc.

1-0 inside 6 mins, Rashford. Shortly after MU had a goal disallowed

Very strong Man Utd team. I wonder if the result was a little different the other day whether there would have been a few more changes? At least 8 of these will have been playing twice a week for ages.

Hearts ahead away at Celtic (Krul on the bench). Rangers were behind away to Hibs, but have just equalised. Spurs-Milan about to start after another London CL kick off delay.

West Brom beat Wigan 1-0 to move above Sunderland (and Watford) into 9th. 4 points off the playoffs.

Reading 0 Sheff Utd 1. Big win for them. Reading always appear bang average whenever I watch them on TV but they had taken 33 points from their 16 matches at home coming into this, so more than 2 points per game. Sheff U had lost 3 of their last 4 in the league and Boro were closing in on them, but they are now back to being 7 points clear with both having 11 matches remaining. That's a 3 game swing so will be hard to claw back with games running out.

But this was literally every 20 minutes when it just didn't feel required. Just saw that he was born in 1972 so I guess he would be old enough to remember when Villa were decent, so that may enhance opinion, in the same way those who were around before the PL era may have a higher opinion on Everton. On the other hand, we probably don't notice as much, but there probably will be a lot of 'cathedral on the hill' stuff during our matches.

He absolutely loves bigging up stadiums. I remember during the recent Villa vs Arsenal match he was waxing lyrical the whole match about Villa Park and it being one of the most iconic grounds ever.

Yeah, I thought that maybe since they hadn't played us since March 2010, 13 years ago, so anyone under 21 wouldn't have seen the sides meet (or could remember it anyway), and they have played Sunderland 10 times since they last played us, and they have been more on their level, and obviously a little closer, their attention might have switched more towards Wearside, especially with that recent thread on FMTTM before their match where loads were going on about Sunderland being in Newcastle's shadow and the little cousin etc., but guess they're feeling quite confident about promotion this season. Sheff Utd 1-0 up in the 82nd minute which isn't good for them, and WBA 1-0 up as well which won't please Sunderland.

If they do go through then it's extra games / distractions, but then could also kick start a good run in the league. Mind, you see a lot of 5 CL places from the 2024/25 season on here, myself included, but it's down to the co-efficient. I don't really know how it works, but most just assume England will get one of the extra 4 places, but if Spurs, Chelsea, and Liverpool (almost certainly) all crash out in the last 16, then it likely won't be as clear cut as most are thinking. It probably is in our best interest for most of the English sides to do reasonably well, something that wouldn't be anywhere near our radars 18 months ago.

A few important matches in the Championship tonight. West Brom vs Wigan, big at both ends. West Brom have gone off the boil a little bit following their impressive post Bruce surge, especially away from home, where they have lost 3 or 4 in a row. Live on the Sky budget red button service. Reading vs Sheff Utd. Boro fans will be keeping close tabs on this. I don't mind Boro, only know two fans from Uni, who were both canny, I like Carrick, and was originally wanting them to do well and possibly make the playoffs in form and be a thorn in Sunderland's side should they meet (before the Mackems bad run), but that banner thing the other day makes me think they'll try and force something that's not there should we meet next season for the first time since 2010, so possibly hope they don't come up, and therefore would quite like to see SU win here. Huddersfield vs Bristol City as well. The home side could really do with a win. Every team in the league will have played 35 matches after tonight.

Hoping for a draw, but not sure what would be best if there had to be a winner. The fact Fulham can pass us makes me lean towards Brentford, even just from a psychological perspective, but Brentford are just 4 behind them, with 2 games in hand, and I possibly see them as a bigger threat in the long run. Just as I'm typing, Brentford ahead already and they had started very brightly, even before the goal.

It's been a really good game. Especially the first half. You'd normally think Everton and away and it'll be a drab affair, but not the case here. It's only the 3rd time Everton have scored more than once all season, including all their cup matches.

Looking forward to the Mad Mistake's video

Gayle again! 5!

Poor set of results in the Prem so far. Brighton do look dangerous. I guess if they did pip us and we finished 7th then with Man Utd / City and Brighton all with favourable home ties to make the (FA Cup) semi final, 7th would very likely secure Europa Conference. I'm still keeping tabs on Chelsea, and even Villa don't look too far adrift, and we have to go to both of those grounds. I'd possibly take 7th now as long as it was enough for Europe.