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EFL full-times, Bristol City 1-0 Leicester, Alonso stays with Leverkusen – as it happened

Xabi Alonso revealed he’s staying at Bayer Leverkusen as Leicester’s hopes of a Premier League return suffered a blow at Bristol City.

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Fri 29 Mar 2024 13.37 EDTFirst published on Fri 29 Mar 2024 06.22 EDT
Norwich City players celebrate going 2-1 up against Plymouth Argyle.
Norwich City players celebrate going 2-1 up against Plymouth Argyle. Photograph: Adam Davy/PA
Norwich City players celebrate going 2-1 up against Plymouth Argyle. Photograph: Adam Davy/PA

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Kick-off at Ewood Park beckons and you can follow Ipswich’s bid to go top of the Championship here.

And don’t forget we’ll have hot, live minute-by-minute action from Watford v Leeds in the final game of the day at 8pm. If Ipswich do go top, ex-Norwich and now Leeds boss Daniel Farke will be keen to leapfrog the Tractor Boys once more and put the men from Elland Road back in pole position.

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The Championship is quite the division. Rotherham are all but gone but there are just five points separating Millwall in 16th and second-bottom Sheffield Wednesday in 23rd.

It’s as you were in League One with leaders Portsmouth five points clear of Derby after both won. But the Rams now have a five-point advantage on Bolton, who were held 0-0 at Stevenage.

But in League Two it’s really tightened up at the top. Stockport lead the way on 74 points after winning 3-0 at bottom club Forest Green but Wrexham are now just a point behind after their 2-0 home win over Mansfield in the day’s big game. Nigel Clough’s men remain second but only on goal difference following that defeat at the Racecourse Ground.

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And now the focus in the Championship turns to Lancashire where Blackburn host third-placed Ipswich. The Tractor Boys can go two points clear at the top with victory in the 5.30pm game but Leeds would overtake them again by taking all three points at Watford in the 8pm kick-off.

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Full-time in League Two

Accrington 1-2 Morecambe

AFC Wimbledon 1-1 Harrogate

Barrow 3-1 Grimsby

Bradford 2-0 Tranmere

Colchester 2-1 Newport

Crawley 0-2 Doncaster

Forest Green 0-3 Stockport

Gillingham 0-0 Crewe

MK Dons 5-0 Walsall

Salford 1-2 Sutton

Swindon 2-1 Notts County

Wrexham 2-0 Mansfield

Full-time in League One

Barnsley 0-2 Cambridge

Derby 1-0 Blackpool

Exeter 1-1 Charlton

Fleetwood 1-2 Cheltenham

Lincoln 1-0 Leyton Orient

Peterborough 1-3 Carlisle

Port Vale 2-0 Bristol Rovers

Reading 1-0 Northampton

Shrewsbury 1-1 Oxford

Stevenage 0-0 Bolton

Wigan 1-1 Burton

Wycombe 1-3 Portsmouth

Full-time 3pms in the Championship

Cardiff 0-2 Sunderland

Huddersfield 1-3 Coventry

Hull 0-2 Stoke

Norwich 2-1 Plymouth

Preston 3-0 Rotherham

QPR 2-1 Birmingham

Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Swansea

Southampton 1-1 Middlesbrough

Goal! Huddersfield 1-3 Coventry: And there’s also a clincher at Huddersfield as Haji Wright adds a third for Coventry to make it another good day for the FA Cup semi-finalists.

Coventry City's Haji Wright seals victory at the end. Photograph: Ian Hodgson/PA
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Goal! Hull 0-2 Stoke: Ki-Jana Hoever removes any doubt at Hull with a strike three minutes into added time to give Stoke three points.

Goal! QPR 2-1 Birmingham: It’s a late kick in the gut for Gary Rowett as QPR grab what will surely be an injury-time winner. Jimmy Dunne’s 20-yard strike leaves Birmingham on 39 points and only out of the relegation zone on goal difference. QPR jump to 18th, four clear of Birmingham, with that flash of the Irishman’s boot.

Jimmy Dunne of QPR thumps the ball home during injury time to put his side ahead against Birmingham City. Photograph: Ian Tuttle/Shutterstock
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GOAL! Southampton 1-1 Middlesbrough

Drama on the south coast! Saints have had a bunch of chances to put this game to bed but they’re punished in the last minute as Latte Lath’s header finds the far corner. Southampton are now eight off the automatic promotion spots and with Leicester losing earlier, it’s a golden chance for Leeds and Ipswich to cash in later today.

Emmanuel Latte Lath uses his head to grab a share of the spoils at the end of the game. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
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In League One, Portsmouth and Derby look to be strengthening their hopes of automatic promotion. Leaders Pompey are 3-1 up at Wycombe while Derby hold a narrow 1-0 lead over Blackpool. If it stays the same, Portsmouth would end the day on 86 points, with Derby on 81 and Bolton, who are drawing 0-0 at Stevenage, third on 75.

Goal! Huddersfield 1-2 Coventry: Another potential twist at the bottom as Huddersfield pull one back at home to Coventry through Rhys Healey as the hosts pounce on a defensive error. They’re still in an all-Yorkshire bottom three, ahead of Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham, but could pull out of it before the afternoon is over.

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Goal! Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Swansea: The Owls drop back into the bottom three as Jamal Lowe gives Swansea an equaliser after a calm control and finish.

Goal! Norwich 2-1 Plymouth: The Canaries have turned the game on its head in the space of seven minutes. And this one is an own goal from Ashley Phillips, again from a corner.

Whoops. Photograph: Adam Davy/PA
Norwich City's Sam McCallum, Ashley Barnes and teammates celebrate Phillips’ misfortune. Photograph: Adam Davy/PA
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Goal! Hull 0-1 Stoke: The deadlock is broken on the east coast as Josh Laurent bundles home a scrappy effort. A great couple of minutes for Joshes.

Josh Laurent of Stoke City celebrates after opening the scoring at Hull City. Photograph: George Wood/Getty Images
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Goal! Norwich 1-1 Plymouth: The playoff hopefuls level the scores midway through the second half as American sub Josh Sargent slots home after a corner. Go Canaries!

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Goal! Wrexham 2-0 Mansfield: The hosts double their lead from a somewhat contentious penalty. Mullen steps up and wellies an absolute thunderblaster traction engine of a strike high down the middle for his second of the game.

Paul Mullin scores from the penalty spot for his, and Wrexham’s, second goal of the game against Mansfield. Photograph: Molly Darlington/Action Images/Reuters
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Goal! QPR 1-1 Birmingham: Oh, well that didn’t last long. Steve Cook’s volley at the far post is deflected home and the hosts are level. The returning Gary Rowett will see his team back down to 22nd if his backroom staff show him a live table. The goal lifts QPR back out of the drop zone.

Goal! QPR 0-1 Birmingham: Key goal at the bottom of the Championship as Birmingham’s Juninho Bacuna scores a beauty at Loftus Road, receiving a pass on the edge of the area and firing into the top corner. The returning Gary Rowett will see his team up to 19th if his backroom staff show him a live table.

Juninho Bacuna (centre) and his Birmingham City teammates celebrate after he opened the scoring at Queens Park Rangers. Photograph: Richard Pelham/Getty Images
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A lack of second-half goals in the Championship so let’s here some more from Klopp ahead of the visit of Brighton.

“We want to win this game, and it has nothing to do with the other game [Man City v Arsenal]. Like all the other games as well, we want to win. Will it happen? I don’t know, but we will give it a try.

“We are in a position to fight for everything, and that’s what we want to do. If you had told me last summer after the international break in March you will be around there with Arsenal and City, I would have said yeah, give me a contract (for that), I’ll sign it now. And here we are, and nobody knows how it will end, where we will be, but we will give it a proper try and it starts on Sunday.”

Some Liverpool team news from Jürgen Klopp ahead of the home game with Brighton on Sunday.

The Reds are taking it “day by day” with Andy Robertson after the left-back came off during Scotland’s friendly against Northern Ireland. “He will not train today but it’s not as bad, so that’s fine.”

As for Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Diogo Jota? “The other boys, from next week on, step by step I think they will join parts of team training, and then team training, so we will see what we do with that. They’re not too far away but not in yet. They all make their steps, so it’s positive.”

Ibrahima Konate, absent for Liverpool’s last three games, is set to be available this weekend.

False alarm at Southampton. Saints have the ball in the net again but Armstrong is ruled offside as he taps home. Still 1-0.

Thanks Alex. Looking at the live Championship table and – as it stands – Sheffield Wednesday have crept out of the relegation zone to 21st. Birmingham and Huddersfield are in the bottom three alongside doomed Rotherham.

The 3pm kick-offs are rapidly breaking into their second halves, like Augustus Gloop ploughing through a giant chocolate egg. I’ll hand over to that fine gent David Tindall. Thanks for reading.

Arsenal’s manager, Mikel Arteta, has told the media what he really makes of his former mentor, Pep Guardiola, before the match between title contenders at Manchester City in two days. He’s said Pep couldn’t manage a Sunday roast! No, he’s actually called him the best coach in the world.

“It had to change,” Arteta said of their once very close relationship. “My admiration and what I feel for him certainly hasn’t.

In my opinion he’s the best coach in the world by a mile and he’s one of the nicest people that I’ve met in football. Certainly he’s one of the ones that I’ve had the most fun and laughter working with. That’s going to stay there forever.

Probably I would prefer to do it [engage in a title battle] against someone who I don’t have those feelings for but that’s not a choice. It’s what it is. We both want to win.

Arteta also revealed that Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli could feature having missed the international break with minor injuries, while Gabriel Magalhães is also expected to be fit enough to start at the Etihad.

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Half-time 3pms in the Championship

Cardiff 0-2 Sunderland

Huddersfield 0-2 Coventry

Hull 0-0 Stoke

Norwich 0-1 Plymouth

Preston 3-0 Rotherham

QPR 0-0 Birmingham

Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Swansea

Southampton 1-0 Middlesbrough

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Goal! Preston 3-0 Rotherham: Emil Riis with his second of the afternoon. You really feel for Rotherham’s loyal visiting fans at this stage. Let’s assume they’re getting a sympathetic ovation from the Preston faithful.

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Goal! Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Swansea: Bailey Cadamarteri is in the right place, at the right time, to nudge the ball home at the near post after it breaks loose in the area. A big “if”, but Wednesday will creep outside of the relegation zone if results stay as they are.

Goal! Preston: 2-0 Rotherham: No sign of an upset at Deepdale where the playoff-chasers have doubled their lead. Emil Riis finds himself in a harrowing amount of space inside the area and duly arrows the ball into the bottom corner.

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Goal! Wrexham 1-0 Mansfield: The visitors had the best of the first half hour, but Wrexham are ahead. Excellent work from Andy Cannon on the wing and while Paul Mullin didn’t make the best contact, the arch poacher finds the back of the net.

Paul Mullin and the Wrexham fans celebrate going ahead against Mansfield. Photograph: Molly Darlington/Action Images/Reuters
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Goal! Cardiff: 0-2 Sunderland: Jobe Bellingham, he’s not just Jude’s brother, he’s doubled the Black Cats’ lead in Wales.

Goal! Preston 1-0 Rotherham: Elementary, the midfielder Duane Holmes has put the hosts ahead against the Championship’s bottom side. A defeat likely won’t relegate Rotherham today, because Huddersfield are losing, but it’s a matter of time unfortunately for the Millers.

Duane Holmes celebrates putting the home side ahead. Photograph: Ben Roberts Photo/Getty Images
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Goal! Huddersfield 0-2 Coventry: Ellis Simms again: his 16th goal of the season. It’s a tap-in this time, nothing like his screamer of an opener, but he’s now set himself up for what could be his third hat-trick in his last six games. Prolific.

Coventry City's Ellis Simms bags his second of the game. Photograph: Ian Hodgson/PA
Which he’s rather happy about. Photograph: Ian Hodgson/PA
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Goal! Huddersfield 0-1 Coventry: The in-form Ellis Simms scores an absolute cracker. All his own doing, he bears down on goal at pace and lashes one into the top corner. Lee Nicholls in the hosts’ goal had no chance.

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Goal! Cardiff 0-1 Sunderland: Adil Aouchiche successfully converts from the spot after Dimitrios Goutas had given away an early penalty.

Jobe Bellingham of Sunderland wins a penalty during the Championship match at Cardiff City. Photograph: Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC/Getty Images
Adil Aouchiche celebrates after putting Sunderland ahead from the spot. Photograph: Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC/Getty Images
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GOAL! Southampton 1-0 Middlesbrough (A Armstrong 12)

Expert finish by Adam of the Armstrongs after a dire clearance by Boro. It landed right at Armstrong’s feet inside the area, he set himself, then fired home to put the hosts ahead.

Southampton's Adam Armstrong fires home to open the scoring. Photograph: Steven Paston/PA
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Goal! Norwich 0-1 Plymouth. Morgan Whittaker with an excellently controlled and directed header. However his markers were: AWOL.

An unmarked Morgan Whittaker uses his head to put Plymouth Argyle in front at Norwich City. Photograph: Nigel Keene/ProSports/Shutterstock
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Fourth-placed Southampton have kicked off at Middlesbrough, who are 10th and seven points off the playoffs as things stand in the Championship. Meanwhile on TV, the Deadpool-owned Wrexham and hosting Bananaman-endorsed (possibly) Mansfield. It’s first against third in League Two!

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Full time: Millwall 1-1 West Brom. It’s the hosts who are pegged back by John Swift’s penalty after Duncan Watmore’s first-half opener. But they are picking up points after Neil Harris began his new spell in charge last month. West Brom are in fifth, nine points above Hull outside the playoffs in seventh.

An email from Jeremy Boyce, onomatopoeically titled “Oooooffff!” in reaction to Leicester’s defeat by Bristol City.

That there Championship is living up to its rep as one of the tensest tests of a team’s staying power. Leicester lose again and there’s their lead gone after we all thought they were home and dry. Leeds, Ipswich and Southampton will be doubling down in their matches later, hoping to make that defeat really count. But Monday is looking like a big day, with six of the top seven playing each other, including a tasty match-up at Portman Road: Ipswich-Saints that could decide not only their destiny but Leicester’s too. Big pressure at the King Power for the visit of playoff candidates Norwich. Bums are squeaking ...

Before the Championship, League One and League Two 3pm kick-offs begin, do you want to hear whether Erik ten Hag thinks Kobbie Mainoo can cope with The Hype after the midfielder’s displays for England in the week? Of course you do.

Speaking before Manchester United’s visit to Brentford tomorrow, Ten Hag is confident the success will not go to the 18-year-old’s head. “It was very good, but we are not surprised,” the United manager said of Mainoo’s international performances. “We have seen what he is capable of, that he can very quickly adapt to high levels. It looks very natural.

We are very happy for him and of course a little bit proud. I would say very proud. It’s great for the academy of Manchester United that they bring up a player so young going into the national team. That is a big compliment for the whole club.

Asked if he has to manage The Hype around Mainoo, Ten Hag said:

Yes, but we have discussed this before and so far he handles it very well. If he crosses the line, of course, I as a manager, we as coaches, will interfere. But so far it’s not necessary because he enjoys football, he wants to win, he wants to give his best every day because he want to improve. For him, it’s fun to play dominant, to dictate the game and to win the game.

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Goal! West Brom 1-1 Millwall: An equaliser from the spot for West Brom who sit comfortably in the playoff places. Grady Diangana earns the penalty and John Swift slots it home.

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Full time: Bristol City 1-0 Leicester

A superb win for the hosts who’ve struggled to find a cutting edge this season but were given one, spectacularly, by Anis Mehmeti. Some great saves from Max O’Leary, too. Leicester lose for a fourth time from their last six league games. Leeds stay top and Ipswich could drop Leicester to third if they win later. That “0” is not the Easter egg the Foxes wanted.

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Bristol City 1-0 Leicester: Five minutes of stoppage time. Dewsbury-Hall, Leicester’s best player in the second half, wins a free-kick in the middle but – for now - the hosts are looking good for their 1-0 advantage.

Bristol City 1-0 Leicester: Harry Winks is trying to get something going in the middle, dictating play in the rain, but Bristol City are dangerous on the break. Nahki Wells goes down in the box after a challenge from the aforementioned Winks. The referee says it’s shoulder-to-shoulder.

Bristol City 1-0 Leicester: Leicester urgently trying to get some momentum, having scored in each of their last 21 league games. They have a corner but Abdul Fatawu heads a difficult chance over while surrounded by City players.

Bristol City 1-0 Leicester: The visitors are rocking now. That was a sublime finish from Mehmeti, even if Hamza Choudhury could have done better in closing him down, the shot was simply unstoppable. Big test for the team that were once running away with the Championship. Vardy is substituted now; a match he won’t want to remember for long.

GOAL! Bristol City 1-0 Leicester (Mehmeti)

What a strike that is from Anis Mehmeti. Takes it out from under his feet on the edge of the area and rockets it into the corner. You don’t save those.

Whoomp! Photograph: Will Cooper/Shutterstock
Pick that one out of the old onion bag. Photograph: Ryan Hiscott/Getty Images
Mehmeti is rightly pleased with his fine finish. Photograph: Will Cooper/Shutterstock
As are the Bristol City fans. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA
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Bristol City 0-0 Leicester: Good spell of pressure from the home side. Ross McCrorie cuts in dangerously from the right but fires a shot into the side-netting. Positive play from the substitute.

Bristol City 0-0 Leicester: Vardy fails to take another chance to put Leicester ahead! Bristol City try passing it out from the back but make a hash of it, pinging it straight to the Foxes’ No 9 in front of goal. However O’Leary, his nemesis, pulls off another excellent save. Again, Vardy will feel he could have broken the deadlock if he’d fired off his shot just a smidgen quicker.

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Bristol City 0-0 Leicester: Tommy Conway puts a shot agonisingly, narrowly past the post … but then the offside flag goes up. Both sides looking a bit more dangerous though. You sense a goal is coming (he says, inevitably condemning this to a goalless draw).

Bristol City 0-0 Leicester: Jamie Vardy misses a great chance to put Leicester ahead! It’s his own excellent work, via a one-two with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, that creates the opening. Vardy is through on goal but fires the ball straight at Max O’Leary, who saves. The goalkeeper does brilliantly to keep out a second attempt by Stephy Mavididi. But Vardy will know he should have done better with the initial effort.

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Bristol City 0-0 Leicester: We’re into the second half and it’s the home side who’ve started the livelier. Scott Twine has a shot blocked inside the area. No sign of a much-needed cutting edge as yet.

“Come on you Robins”. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA
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Millwall 1-0 West Brom: We didn’t get a goal in the first half at Ashton Gate but there has been one in the Championship’s 1pm kick-off, Duncan Watmore putting the hosts Millwall ahead of West Brom.

Millwall's Duncan Watmore slots the ball home to open the scoring against West Brom at the Den. Photograph: John Walton/PA
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Kane fit for Borussia Dortmund clash

Bundesliga news: Harry Kane has been passed fit for Bayern Munich’s showdown with rivals Borussia Dortmund at Allianz Arena on Saturday.

Kane suffered an ankle injury in Bayern’s victory over Darmstadt earlier this month, but still joined up with the England squad for the recent international break. The England captain sat out the team’s loss to Brazil at Wembley last Saturday and returned to Germany after being released early from the squad.

After the former Spurs striker was able to resume light training with Bayern on Monday, his club manager, Thomas Tuchel, has now confirmed he will face Dortmund in this weekend’s Klassiker in Munich.

“Harry trained fully with the team yesterday, has stepped things up each day. It’s all fine, he’ll play,” Tuchel told reporters. The prognosis for Manuel Neuer is not as positive with the veteran goalkeeper still absent after he tore a muscle in his left adductor during training with Germany last week.

Tuchel did confirm Neuer is expected to return for the trip to Heidenheim on 6 April, which would raise the prospect of the 38-year-old being available for their Champions League quarter-final fixtures with Arsenal.

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