A pleasant afternoon from London, where the sunshine is indeed shining, though by the moment we're at half-time, darkness will be descending. Talking of which, can there be a positive farewell for Mohamed Salah? Furthermore, that doesn't have to be one forever, of course. The player, like many others will be traveling to the Africa Cup of Nations, regardless of what transpires. We await the starting lineups from the Merseyside club's game with the south coast side.
Listed below are this afternoon's 3pm UK kick-off matches.
There is also a full round of EFL action, as well.
Chelsea Starting XI: Sanchez, Gusto, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella, James, Fernandez, Pedro Neto, Palmer, Garnacho, Joao Pedro.
Chelsea Bench: Jorgensen, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Hato, Acheampong, Guiu, Estevao.
Everton Starting XI: Pickford, O’Brien, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko, Garner, Gueye, Ndiaye, Dewsbury-Hall, Grealish, Barry.
Everton Substitutes: Travers, Patterson, McNeil, Beto, Dibling, Alcaraz, Aznou, Iroegbunam, Campbell.
Game Official: Thomas Bramall.
Liverpool Starting XI: Alisson, Gomez, Konate, van Dijk, Kerkez, Gravenberch, Jones, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Wirtz, Ekitike.
Liverpool Bench: Mamardashvili, Isak, Salah, Chiesa, Robertson, Ramsay, Ngumoha, Lucky.
Brighton Starting XI: Verbruggen, Wieffer, van Hecke, Dunk, Kadioglu, Baleba, Hinshelwood, Minteh, Gruda, Gomez, Rutter.
Brighton Substitutes: Steele, Welbeck, Kostoulas, Milner, Boscagli, Mitoma, Ayari, De Cuyper, Veltman.
Game Referee: Craig Pawson.
The Egyptian forward on the bench for Liverpool. So is Alexander Isak. Further selection details to follow but it looks like Wirtz playing behind Ekitike in attack.
Big scoreline in the fourth tier, where it's a regional clash of Bristol Rovers v Swindon; the M4 derby. Swindon are ahead 3-0.
In the Championship, three early kick-offs at the break:
League One Updates:
League Two Scores:
Later Goals have come through, and it's currently Huddersfield 1-1 Wigan, Oxford 1-2 Preston, Salford 1-2 Colchester, Norwich 1-1 Southampton. At Norwich, whose equaliser came from Jovon Makama, Southampton failed to convert a first-half penalty and have now drawn level through Ryan Manning.
Norwich have gone back in front, the decisive strike coming from Jovon Makama, his second of the game.
Reports from Spain, where Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso said Kylian Mbappe is available to play on Sunday against Alaves. Mbappe missed the Champions League defeat by Manchester City. Alonso stated, "We've got Kylian back, he's ready to play, and tomorrow we'll see and decide if he starts." Real Madrid are without several sidelined players including Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dani Carvajal and Eduardo Camavinga.
On that Bristol Rovers v Swindon game, one fan reported: "Hi. Bristol Rovers 0 Swindon 3 doesn't tell the half of it. Ten League defeats in a row incoming, which is one club record. Five home losses in a row is another club record... It's not much fun being a Gashead these days." For Swindon, Aaron Drinan has joined Rovers' Kacper Lopata in being shown a red card.
Just two matches in the Scottish top flight, as well.
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