Liverpool v Aston Villa, EFL promotion battle and more: clockwatch – live!

11.38am EDT 11:38

GOAL! Preston 0-3 Brentford (Toney 75)

Tariqe Fosu beats his man with multiple stepovers and stands up a lovely cross that is headed in by Ivan Toney. Brentford’s winless run is surely over.

11.37am EDT 11:37

GOAL! Plymouth 0-3 Hull (Docherty 74)

Hull’s day just got even better: Greg Docherty has put them three goals ahead at Plymouth.

11.36am EDT 11:36

“Dundee United still leading at Hamilton thanks to Marc McNulty’s early goal,” reports Simon McMahon. “Celtic have put five past Livingston and it’s finely poised at 2-2 between Kilmarnock and Ross County. A late goal flurry is required at Station Park before the classified check as it’s currently Forfar 1 East Fife 2.”

Give it time.

11.34am EDT 11:34

These are the latest scores in our featured games, with roughly 20 minutes remainingin the 3pm kick-offs.

Premier League

Bundesliga

Championship

League One

League Two

11.30am EDT 11:30

Ligue 1: Strasbourg 0-2 PSG

PSG are off to a flyer in their match at Strasbourg. The ludicrous Kylian Mbappe and Pablo Sarabia have put them two up after half an hour.

11.29am EDT 11:29

GOAL! Cambridge 1-3 Exeter (Collins 67)

Exeter have restored their two-goal lead away to the League Two leaders Cambridge, although they won’t be top of the table at 5pm if results stay as they are. Archie Collins scored from close range after very good work from Matt Jay.

Updated at 11.33am EDT

11.27am EDT 11:27

Thanks to Bruce Jackson for pointing out that snow stopped play for the best part of an hour at Port Vale. The game resumed a few minutes ago, and Nathan Smith has put the home side 1-0 up against Morecambe.

Port Vale FC (@OfficialPVFC)

⏱️ | 28′

Following a 45-minute break due to excessive snowfall, play resumes with a clear pitch and no snow in sight!

⚫️⚪️ 0-0 🔴⚪️ #PVFCLive pic.twitter.com/G7JBfyQzIQ

April 10, 2021

11.24am EDT 11:24

Liverpool 1-1 Aston Villa Trezeguet has hit the inside of the post with a terrific effort, flicked extravagantly with the outside of his right foot. It might not have counted, though, as Watkins looked offside in the build up.

11.23am EDT 11:23

Full times: Bayern 1-1 Union Berlin, Werder Bremen 1-4 RB Leipzig.

Peep peep! Two dropped points for Bayern, though it’s not a terrible result given how many first-choice players they were missing. They are now five points above Leipzig, who hammered Werder Bremen.

11.21am EDT 11:21

GOAL! Plymouth 0-2 Hull (Magennis 58)

Josh Magennis has grabbed a second goal for the League One leaders Hull. This is turning into a very good day for them, because third-placed Sunderland are losing 2-0 at home to Charlton. As things stand Hull have an eight-point promotion cushion, though Sunderland have two games in hand.

Updated at 11.22am EDT

11.19am EDT 11:19

GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 Aston Villa (Salah 57)

Liverpool have scored a goal, and not even VAR can stop this one! Andy Robertson’s fierce shot was pushed away by Emi Martinez, diving to his left, but Mo Salah reacted smartly to beat Mings to the rebound and head the ball into the empty net.

11.16am EDT 11:16

GOAL! Cambridge 1-2 Exeter (Ironside 55)

Cambridge are back in the game thanks to Joe Ironside, who finished from close range after an excellent cross by Hiram Boateng.

Updated at 11.18am EDT

11.15am EDT 11:15

GOAL! Bayern 1-1 Union Berlin (Ingvartsen 86)

Marcus Ingvartsen has breathed a bit of life into the Bundesliga title race!

11.14am EDT 11:14

“Afternoon Rob,” says Stephen Carr. “Bewilderment and me have always been comfortable bedfellows but I cannot wrap my head around why we need VAR to decide whether that was offside or not. I accept offside is a law of absolutes but nonetheless, what overall benefit does reducing it to such fine margins bring?”

11.08am EDT 11:08

“There’s an issue with these VAR offsides that I’ve not heard talked about,” says Kevin Holloway. “The offsides are being measured to the fraction of an inch, but we don’t know within a fraction of a second/inch when the ball was released from the passing players foot. The ball on the VAR screen is a blob that lasts for a period of time, during which a player’s armpit or finger nail moves some distance. There is no point VAR pretending it can be so accurate at the end point when it can’t be so accurate when the ball is played. I’m in despair.”

I’ve heard this mentioned a few times and completely agree. It’s another reason why they should have the equivalent of umpire’s call in cricket, or, better still, put the entire sorry mess back in its box.

Updated at 11.08am EDT

11.06am EDT 11:06

GOAL! Bayern 1-0 Union Berlin (Musiala 68)

… Jamal Musiala has scored a fine solo goal to give Bayern the lead.

10.55am EDT 10:55

Half time

Peep peep! It’s half time in the 3pm games, so I’m off to grab a coffee and try to make sense of that disallowed goal. These are the latest scores in our featured games. It’s a good day to play away:

Premier League

Bundesliga

Championship

League One

League Two

10.52am EDT 10:52

There were two parts to that decision: whether Jota was offside, and whether Matty Cash touched the ball, thus invalidating any potential offside. I’m not sure about the latter, but to the naked eye Jota looked onside. VAR’s geometry department disagreed. Even Dean Smith looks baffled by that, never mind Jurgen Klopp.

10.51am EDT 10:51

NON-GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Aston Villa

Liverpool have had a goal disallowed by VAR in extremely controversial circumstances. Roberto Firmino seemed to have equalised with an exquisite finish, lifting the ball over two defenders and the keeper from six yards, but VAR decided there was an offside against Diogo Jota in the build up. Hmm.

Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino scores their first goal before it is then disallowed by VAR. Photograph: Laurence Griffiths/Pool/Reuters

Updated at 10.54am EDT

10.45am EDT 10:45

GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Aston Villa (Watkins 43)

Villa have stolen the lead! John McGinn played a short pass through to Ollie Watkins, who controlled it under pressure from Kabak and belted a left-footed shot through Alisson from 15 yards. That’s not great goalkeeping.

Ollie Watkins of Aston Villa celebrates his goal. Photograph: Ryan Browne/NMC Pool

Updated at 10.59am EDT

10.41am EDT 10:41

Liverpool 0-0 Aston Villa Liverpool’s long run without a first-half goal at Anfield looks set to continue. It’s been a pretty quiet game, though Salah, Jota and Konsa have all had good chances.

10.33am EDT 10:33

Liverpool 0-0 Aston Villa Liverpool should be ahead. Diogo Jota has just missed an excellent chance, heading onto the roof of the net from a wrongly awarded corner.

10.32am EDT 10:32

GOAL! Preston 0-2 Brentford (Forss 26)

Brentford’s tactical change is working a treat; Marcus Forss has put them 2-0 up with a fine goal.

10.31am EDT 10:31

Liverpool 0-0 Aston Villa A bit of concussion-related controversy. Douglas Luiz was about to be replaced by Jacob Ramsey, a decision taken by the team doctor, but argued his case on the touchline and was eventually allowed to stay on. We’ll hear more about that, I’m sure.

10.29am EDT 10:29

“Hi Rob,” says David Wall. “After such a long period when they were untouchable, have City become fallible at just the wrong time in the season? It’s unlikely to make a difference in the league but it could be important in Europe. And most likely that’ll be because Guardiola will get too clever with his tactics and team selection, worried about that fallibility, and it’ll completely backfire on him again.”

I suppose they have regressed towards the merely excellent, but that was inevitable after an unprecedented winning run. I didn’t realise fancy them in Europe even before they started losing the odd game.

10.25am EDT 10:25

GOAL! Derby 0-1 Norwich (Dowell 21)

Kieran Dowell whips a majestic free-kick into the top corner to give Norwich the lead at Pride Park.

Kieran Dowell of Norwich City scores the opening goal. Photograph: Matt West/BPI/Shutterstock

Updated at 10.51am EDT

10.21am EDT 10:21

Half times: Bayern Munich 0-0 Union Berlin, Werder Bremen 0-0 RB Leipzig

10.20am EDT 10:20

GOAL! Bremen 0-3 Leipzig (Sorloth 41)

Leipzig are strolling to victory in Bremen. Alexander Sorloth has scored his second goal to put them three up at half-time.

10.18am EDT 10:18

GOAL! Cambridge 0-2 Exeter (Sparkes 15)

Crikey, Cambridge are two down. Jack Sparkes’ long-range shot bounced past the diving Callum Burton, who should probably have done better.