Manchester City v Newcastle, Aston Villa v Ipswich, and more: football

Key events

GOAL! Man City 2-0 Newcastle (Marmoush 24)

Premier League: Omar Marmoush scores his second of the afternoon after latching on to a nicely threaded through-ball from Ilkay Gundogan and firing past Dubravka for the second time in five minutes.

Championship: Jack Rudoni has fired Coventry City into a 1-0 lead away at Sheffield Wednesday, while Hull City lead Norwich 1-0 courtesy of a goal from Matt Crooks.

GOAL! Man City 1-0 Newcastle (Marmoush 19)

Premier League: Newcastle’s miserable run at the Etihad Stadium looks set to continue. Omar Marmoush spins Kieran Trippier to latch on to a long over the top from Ederson and send a cool finish past Martin Dubravka. It’s the Egyptian’s 21st goal of the season but his first for Manchester City

GOAL! Southampton 0-2 Bournemouth (Christie 16)

Premier League: Ten points from safety going into this game, Southampton already look doomed. Having set up Bournemouth’s first goal, Ryan Christie scores their second, bending a shot from distance past Aaron Ramsdale to double Bournemouth’s lead.

GOAL! Fulham 1-0 Nottingham Forest (Smith-Rowe 15)

Premier League: Emile Smith-Rowe nods home for Fulham after getting on the end of a cross from Adama Traore.

An unmarked Emile Smith-Rowe nods the ball past Nottingham Forest’s keeper Matz Sels to put Fulham ahead. Photograph: John Sibley/Action Images/Reuters

Smith-Rowe celebrates with a knee slide in front of the joyous home fans. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters

GOAL! Southampton 0-1 Bournemouth (Ouattara 14)

Premier League: Dango Ouattara scores his fourth goal in his past three Premiuer League games, rising to nod home a splendid cross from Ryan Christie.

Dango Ouattara of Bournemouth nods the ball past Southampton keeper Aaron Ramsdale to give the visitors the lead. Photograph: Peter Cziborra/Action Images/Reuters

Championship: Andre Dozzell and Mark O’Mahony scored the goals as Portsmouth beat Oxford United at the Kassam Stadium.

GOAL! West Ham 0-1 Brentford (Schade 4)

Premier League: Kevin Schade needs two bites of the cherry to put Brentford ahead against West Ham at the London Stadium as Thomas Frank tries to mastermind victory over Graham Potter for the first time in his career. After latching on to a Bryan Mbeumo knockdown, his first shot was saved by Alphonse Areola, who thought he’d saved the follow-up only to discover he was behind his line and the ball had crossed it.

The Championship: Following his side’s scoreless draw with Preston, Burnley manager Scott Parker had a long discussion with the match referee, drawing his attention to an exchange of words between his midfielder Hannibal Mejbri and Preston striker Milutin Osmajic that left the Burnley player very upset.

In an interview with Sky Sports, Parker refuses to divulge the details of either his conversation with the referee or the alleged exchange between the players but says that Hannibal was left “hurt” and “very emotional”. He says that after reporting the incident to the referee “we’ll have due process now and see what happens”.

Championship: Kick-off in Millwall’s match against West Brom has been delayed until 3.15pm due to traffic congestion around the Den, while Portsmouth have scored a late, late second goal against Oxford United at the Kassam Stadium, where it’s 2-0 to the visitors and they’re still playing added time.

Mikel Merino: In a post-match interview with TNT Sports, the scorer of Arsenal’s two goals dedicates both strikes to his wife, saying he forgot to get her anything for Valentine’s Day. “I think she will appreciate them more than a rose or chocolates,” he says with possibly misplaced confidence. I suppose he’ll find when he gets home.

Match report: Leicester City 0-2 Arsenal

Premier League: On as a second half substitute for Raheem Sterling, Mikel Merino scored two quick-fire goals in the final 10 minutes to secure the points for Arsenal on an otherwise testing afternoon for Mikel Arteta’s side. Ben Fisher reports from the King Power Stadium …

Man United scouting network facing cuts

Exclusive: Manchester United’s department of around 80 scouts is facing considerable cuts as part of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s next round of up to 200 redundancies, writes Jamie Jackson.

A long overdue and probably unnecessary apology: Martin Keown has said sorry to Ruud van Nistelrooy for his part in the notorious clash between the pair at Old Trafford in 2003 after they renewed acquaintances at Leicester this afternoon.

Martin Keown goads Ruud van Nistelrooy after the current Leicester City manager had missed a penalty for Manchester United against Arsenal in 2003. Photograph: PA Images/Alamy

Championship: Burnley have kept their eighth consecutive clean sheet in drawing with Preston at Deepdale, while Cardiff and Bristol City played out a 1-1 draw in the Welsh capital. Portsmouth currently lead Oxford United by the only goal of the game with a little over 15 minutes to play at the Kassam Stadium.

Full time: Leicester City 0-2 Arsenal

Premier League: Mikel Merino came off the bench to score two goals in the final 10 minutes on an extremely testing afternoon for Arsenal against their struggling hosts.

Championship: Cian Ashford has scored in the 90th minute to restore parity for Cardiff City against Bristol City. It’s the 20-year-old’s fourth goal of the season.

GOAL! Leicester City 0-2 Arsenal (Merino 88)

Arsenal double their lead! Striker crisis? What striker crisis? Off the bench and playing out of position, Mikel Merino shows all the instincts of a cold-eyed No9 to score his second by side-footing home another good cross, this time from Leandro Trossard.

Mikel Merino (centre) celebrates after notching his second of the game. Photograph: Rui Vieira/AP

GOAL! Leicester City 0-1 Arsenal (Merino 81)

Arsenal lead! On for the ineffective Raheem Sterling, Mikel Merino peels away from Wout Faes to nod home an inch-perfect cross played his way by Ethan Nwaneri, who has been outstanding for the visitors this afternoon. Follow the action with Rob Smyth …

Arsenal’s Mikel Merino heads the visitors into the lead. Photograph: Mike Egerton/PA

Championship: Portsmouth have taken a 47th minute lead in their match at Oxford United courtesy of Andre Dozzell. Remember, that game is running behind schedule following a first-half interruption due to a medical emergency in the crowd.

Southampton v Bournemouth line-ups

Southampton: Ramsdale, Bree, Bednarek, Wood-Gordon, Walker-Peters, Smallbone, Aribo, Welington, Fernandes, Onuachu, Sulemana.

Subs: McCarthy, Manning, Sugawara, Archer, Taylor, Ugochukwu, Gronbaek, Dibling, Bella-Kotchap.

Bournemouth: Arrizabalaga, Cook, Zabarnyi, Huijsen, Kerkez, Christie, Adams, Brooks, Kluivert, Semenyo, Ouattara.

Subs: Dennis, Scott, Tavernier, Sinisterra, Jebbison, Akinmboni, Winterburn, Kinsey-Wellings, Rees-Dottin.

Fulham v Nottingham Forest line-ups

Fulham: Leno, Castagne, Andersen, Bassey, Robinson, Lukic, Berge, Traore, Smith Rowe, Iwobi, Jimenez.

Subs: Benda, Reed, Rodrigo Muniz, Cairney, Andreas Pereira, Willian, King, Sessegnon, Diop.

Nottingham Forest: Sels, Morato, Milenkovic, Murillo, Aina, Gibbs-White, Danilo, Anderson, Williams, Wood, Elanga.

Subs: Hennessey, Sangare, Hudson-Odoi, Dominguez, Alex, Jota Silva, Yates, Sosa, Boly.

Aston Villa v Ipswich Town line-ups

Aston Villa: Martinez, Garcia, Disasi, Kamara, Digne, McGinn, Tielemans, Malen, Rogers, Ramsey, Watkins.

Subs: Olsen, Zych, Mings, Rashford, Asensio, Maatsen, Bogarde, Jimoh.

Ipswich Town: Palmer, Johnson, Tuanzebe, O’Shea, Greaves, Townsend, Hutchinson, Phillips, Cajuste, Enciso, Delap.

Subs: Muric, Woolfenden, Taylor, Luongo, Hirst, Philogene-Bidace, Broadhead, Godfrey, Clarke.

A pair of Aston Villa fans make their way past a mural commemorating their club’s 1982 European Cup triumph ahead of their game against Ipswich Town. Photograph: Nigel French/PA

Manchester City v Newcastle line-ups

Man City: Ederson, Lewis, Khusanov, Stones, Gvardiol, Gonzalez, Gundogan, Foden, Marmoush, Savio, Haaland.

Subs: Ortega, Kovacic, Doku, De Bruyne, Silva, Vitor Reis, Matheus Luiz, O’Reilly, McAtee.

Newcastle: Dubravka, Trippier, Schar, Burn, Hall, Guimaraes, Tonali, Willock, Murphy, Isak, Gordon.

Subs: Pope, Wilson, Barnes, Targett, Krafth, Osula, Livramento, Longstaff, Miley.

Newcastle winger Anthony Gordon makes his way to the visitors’ dressing-room at the Etihad Stadium. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

West Ham v Brentford line-ups

West Ham: Areola, Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Kilman, Emerson Palmieri, Alvarez, Soucek, Kudus, Lucas Paqueta, Soler, Bowen.

Subs: Fabianski, Cresswell, Ward-Prowse, Luis Guilherme, Rodriguez, Todibo, Ferguson, Irving, Scarles.

Brentford: Flekken, Ajer, Collins, Van den Berg, Lewis-Potter, Norgaard, Janelt, Mbeumo, Damsgaard, Schade, Wissa.

Subs: Valdimarsson, Pinnock, Jensen, Carvalho, Mee, Yarmolyuk, Konak, Maghoma, Kayode.

Championship: Irish midfielder Jason Knight has put Bristol City a goal up at the Cardiff City Stadium on the hour mark.

Leicester City 0-0 Arsenal

The second half is under way at the King Power Stadium and we can but hope it is more entertaining than the extremely boring 45 minutes that preceded it.

Of course Leicester will be happy with the way things are going, but Arsenal have offered next to nothing. You can follow the action with Rob Smyth …

Today’s Championship fixtures

It’s scoreless at half-time in the early matches at the Cardiff City Stadium and Deepdale, while the deadlock also remains unbroken at the Kassam Stadium.

The game between Oxford United and Portsmouth game is running some 25 minutes behind schedule following a break in play prompted by a medical emergency in the ground’s north stand. A fan has been transported to hospital after receiving care from medical staff.

Cardiff City 0-0 Bristol City (L)
Oxford United 0-0 Portsmouth (L)
Preston 0-0 Burnley (L)
Blackburn Rovers v Plymouth Argyle
Hull City v Norwich City
Luton Town v Sheffield United
Middlesbrough v Watford
Millwall v West Brom
Sheffield Wednesday v Coventry City
Stoke City v Swansea City
View the Championship table

Today’s Premier League fixtures

Saturday clockwatch

Hello reader. The weekend’s Premier League action got under way last night at the Amex Stadium, where Brighton ran out easy winners against Chelsea before Leicester and Arsenal took up the top flight cudgels in today’s early kick-off. It’s scoreless at the half-time break at King Power Stadium, where some home fans staged a pre-match protest against the way their club is being run before clicking through the turnstiles.

We have five three o’clock kick-offs to keep tabs on today and we’ll bring you news of all the goals as they go in, while flagging up any other major talking points from the Premier League and beyond. We’ll also have match reports and post-match reaction ahead of today’s late game between Crystal Palace and Everton.

Yup, it’s Saturday clockwatch, your one-stop shop for all the news that’s fit to print and plenty more that almost certainly may not be.

Victor Kristiansen (left) and Ethan Nwaneri contest the ball at the King Power Stadium. Photograph: Mike Egerton/PA