Category: Football (Soccer)

First the positive news for Crystal Palace. Oliver Glasner’s side are now 15 matches unbeaten in a run that stretches back to their 5-0 thrashing by Newcastle in mid-April. But having endured a dramatic end to the transfer window that saw chair Steve Parish pull the plug on captain Marc Guéhi’s move to Liverpool, Glasner was hoping for more from this meeting with promoted Sunderland.

While Guéhi was barely troubled as he eased back into his role on the left side of Palace’s three-man defence with the minimum of fuss, they deservedly left with a point after thriving in the role of spoilers.

Anonymity and Nick Woltemade were already well on the way to becoming strangers but, after this, there seems zero chance of the Germany striker ever being able to blend seamlessly into the background on Tyneside.

Given that Woltemade’s awkwardly angular 6ft 6in frame is topped by a curly mop of bright blond hair and his distinctive moustache screams 1970s rock star – or perhaps a shambolic yet brilliant television detective of the sort ideally suited to Death in Paradise – he was already hard to miss.

Antoine Semenyo scored one goal and set up the other as Bournemouth beat Brighton 2-1. Alex Scott netted his first league goal since December 2023, with Kaoru Mitoma equalising for the visitors.

The Cherries handed a surprise top-flight debut to Veljko Milosavljevic, their 18-year-old transfer deadline day signing, with the centre-back Bafodé Diakité injured. At the other end of the age spectrum, the 39-year-old James Milner replaced Carlos Baleba in Brighton’s starting lineup.

Martin Zubimendi scored twice and Viktor Gyokeres grabbed another as Arsenal cruised past Forest at the Emirates

6 min Arsenal are starting to find some rhythm. Madueke cuts inside from the right and teases a dangerous inswinging cross that is headed away well by Murillo.

4 min Ndoye is down and in pai- oh forget it, he’s trying it on.

Arsenal host Ange Postecoglou’s Nottingham Forest on Saturday before the Manchester derby on Sunday

Saturday 12.30pm TNT Sports 1 Venue Emirates Stadium

Ange Postecoglou makes his Forest bow, a new-look forward line at Newcastle and a Manchester derby to forget

Ange Postecoglou never won a north London derby while in charge at Tottenham, drawing one and losing three, so starting life in the Nottingham Forest dugout away to Arsenal might not be the ideal situation. It has been a whirlwind week for the 60-year-old who has replaced Nuno Espírito Santo and it will be fascinating to see what changes are made to the team’s style. Nuno is a cautious coach and would have plotted a counterattacking approach at the Emirates Stadium, but there are no guarantees with Postecoglou. Pragmatism is a word rarely associated with the Australian but he needs to get his players onside quickly after the unfortunate departure of his predecessor, who was not dismissed for footballing reasons. It might make more sense to tweak what has already been constructed on strong foundations, especially considering he will have little time with the squad after international duty and before a Saturday lunchtime kick-off. Being able to adapt is a sign of strength in a coach and Postecoglou needs to show he has learned from errors made at Tottenham when he refused to change. Will Unwin

Arsenal v Nottingham Forest, Saturday 12.30pm (all times BST)

Bournemouth v Brighton, Saturday 3pm

Crystal Palace v Sunderland, Saturday 3pm

Everton v Aston Villa, Saturday 3pm