Southampton v Chelsea, Fulham v Brighton, Leeds v Everton: football clockwatch – live!

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Havertz makes good down the Chelsea right and cuts back for Ziyech on the penalty spot. A great position, but he can’t get his shot past Salisu, who spreads himself bravely to block. Then the flag goes up for offside anyway. A lovely open game, albeit probably more open than Ralph Hasenhuttl would consider ideal.

Loftus-Cheek has gone off at St Mary’s. He’s now hobbling around the dugout with a heavily strapped left knee. Thomas Tuchel will be hoping it’s a precautionary one. Meanwhile back on the pitch, Perraud crosses from the left. Elyounoussi must score six yards out, but his header is blocked on the line by Cucurella. The ball breaks back to the Saints man, who dollies one up into Mendy’s arms. There’s a suggestion that the initial header hit Cucurella on the arm, but it looked to be near the top of the t-shirt, and in any case the proximity and natural position rules would have saved him. In other words: what a block!

Chelsea have had most of the ball since the restart at St Mary’s. But the home side are holding their shape well enough, despite Sterling’s incessant probing down the left.

HALF TIME: Leeds United 0-1 Everton

Everton have dug in since taking the lead through Gordon, and keep hold of their lead going into the break.

Fulham are this close to restoring their two-goal lead. Sanchez flaps at a cross coming in from the right. He’s out of the picture as the ball drops to Kebano, on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box, the goal unguarded. But instead of rolling home, he leans back and slices high and wide. This game has exploded into life since the break.

GOAL! Crystal Palace 1-0 Brentford (Zaha 59)

Zaha with a sumptuous opener at Selhurst! He dribbles patiently down the inside-left channel, faces up Hickey, uses the full back as a shield, and curls a glorious shot into the top right from the edge of the box. What a goal!

Wilfried Zaha of Crystal Palace celebrates with teammate Joel Ward after scoring. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/Getty Images

Updated at 16.06 EDT

GOAL! Fulham 2-1 Brighton & Hove Albion (Mac Allister 60 pen)

Yep. The referee goes to the screen and awards the spot kick. Mac Allister whips it calmly into the top left. Game back on!

There could be a chance for Brighton to get straight back into this. De Cordova-Reid has clipped the back of Estupinan’s ankle in the Fulham box. The referee waves play on, but VAR is going to take a look, and surely the penalty will be awarded. It’s a clear trip.

GOAL! Fulham 2-0 Brighton & Hove Albion (Dunk og 55)

A terrible stroke of luck for Brighton, but what a counter by Fulham! Estupinan is stripped of possession in the Fulham half. Fulham break, four on three. Kebano slips a pass wide right for Pereira, who fires a low cross into the middle, looking for Mitrovic. But Dunk sticks out a leg and diverts the ball into the bottom left, past the wrong-footed Sanchez. Brighton, who were hoping to go top with a win tonight, are in serious bother now!

Fulham’s Andreas Pereira celebrates their second goal – an own goal scored by Brighton & Hove Albion’s Lewis Dunk. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Action Images/Reuters

Updated at 16.05 EDT

Eze comes very close to breaking the deadlock at Selhurst Park. The Palace winger drifts in gracefully from the right, opens his body, and sends a low curler inches wide of the left-hand post. Not sure Raya in the Brentford goal was getting to that had it been on target.

GOAL! Fulham 1-0 Brighton & Hove Albion (Mitrovic 48)

Brighton fail to deal with a corner. Kebano crosses low from the left. Mitrovic, ghosting in at the far post, sticks out a telescopic leg to poke home. The first goal of the evening at the Cottage, not long after the restart.

HALF TIME: Southampton 2-1 Chelsea

There’s just enough time for Adams to cheekily flick the ball into the face of the prone Jorginho, who clutches his face dramatically. The referee isn’t having a bar of it, and blows for half time. He’s surrounded by furious Chelsea players, but isn’t for turning. Chelsea fume on, then storm off.

GOAL! Southampton 2-1 Chelsea (Adam Armstrong 45+1)

Saints have turned it around, just before half time! Perraud drives a low, hard cross in from the left. Adam Armstrong takes a touch, ten yards out, and sends a fierce rising drive into the top right!

Southampton’s English striker Adam Armstrong (L) scores the team’s second goal. Photograph: Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images

Updated at 16.03 EDT

Rodrigo can’t continue. He’s in serious pain. He limps off gingerly, holding his arm in a very awkward fashion. Gelhardt comes on in his stead.

Rodrigo chases a ball down the middle. Pickford comes out of his box and brushes him out of the road to clear. Rodrigo goes down, clutching his shoulder. On comes the physio. In the meantime, here’s Simon McMahon: “A 1-0 win is about all Everton fans can reasonably expect at the moment, says Matt Burtz. Leeds brilliant one minute, awful the next, says Justin Kavanagh. Both of those teams competing in The Best League in the World. Spare a though for us Dundee United fans, won’t you? Last four results, 0-7, 1-4, 0-3, 0-9. The last two at home. And one of them was St Mirren. It can’t get any worse, I suppose. Can it? Please tell me it can’t.” Probably not, though today’s Fiver argued a loss of Sierra Leonean proportions against Hibs might be coming down the track. Thank goodness nobody takes the Fiver seriously, right?

Rodrigo is this close to poking a left-wing cross home from six yards. Pickford takes his sweet time over the restart, forcing the referee to point theatrically at his watch. There are only 22 minutes on the clock! A bit early to start running it down, surely. Then Pickford does it again! Full marks for chutzpah.

Things threaten to kick off at Elland Road as Meslier gathers the ball, only for Davies to attempt to high-kick it out of his arms. Meslier gives the grinning Davies a good, strong, meaningful shove in the chest. The referee gets in the road and books the Everton player. Looking forward to Frank Lampard’s reaction if Davies picks up a second yellow later on to compound that unnecessary nonsense.

This blog’s co-author Mary Waltz writes: “An actual goal. By Everton. I am sorry, Chelsea, the price for Gordon just went up to 100 million pounds.”

GOAL! Leeds United 0-1 Everton (Gordon 17)

Everton have been on the back foot, but suddenly they spring forward. Gordon powers in from the left. He one-twos down the channel with Iwobi, whose return pass sends Gordon clear on goal, Llorente unable to block. Gordon slots under Meslier, and Everton’s first win of the season is on!

Anthony Gordon of Everton scores. Photograph: Tony McArdle/Everton FC/Getty Images

Updated at 15.53 EDT

HALF TIME: Crystal Palace 0-0 Brentford

A fairly uneventful half comes to an end at Craven Cottage Selhurst Park.

HALF TIME: Fulham 0-0 Brighton & Hove Albion

A fairly uneventful half comes to an end at Craven Cottage.

Palace nearly score a mirror-image of Sterling’s opener at St Mary’s. Eze sashays down the right and fires low and hard through the six-yard box. Zaha spins and shoots at the far stick, but he’s not as measured as Sterling was, and his first-time whack is blocked by the nearest defender.

GOAL! Southampton 1-1 Chelsea (Lavia 28)

What a goal this is! Saints win a corner down the left. Ward-Prowse’s delivery is half cleared, dropping to Lavia on the right-hand edge of the D. The 18-year-old Belgian midfield sensation takes a touch and sends a screamer into the bottom right! Mendy got fingertips to it, but was powerless to stop it flying into the net. Wow! That is some way to open your account.

Southampton’s Romeo Lavia scores to make it 1-1. Photograph: Vince Mignott/EPA

Updated at 15.50 EDT

Saints want to watch themselves here. They’re again caught light at the back, Havertz dropping a shoulder to swan into the box from the left. He shoots from a tight angle. Bazunu claims easily enough.

GOAL! Southampton 0-1 Chelsea (Sterling 23)

This had been coming. Mount is sent scampering into the Saints box from the left. His low cross is blocked by a combination of Bazunu and Bella-Kotchap, but the ball breaks to Sterling, who takes a calm touch to make space, away from the two players sprawled in front of him, and slots into the bottom left.

Chelsea’s Raheem Sterling scores. Photograph: Vince Mignott/EPA

Updated at 15.43 EDT

Chelsea are beginning to push Saints back now. Sterling and Ziyech combine crisply down the right, the former then looking for Mount at the near post. Saints manage to bundle out for a corner, which they deal with easily enough. but Chelsea quickly come again, Sterling launching a three-on-two attack. But he hesitates, with team-mates free in the middle, allowing Bella-Kotchap to close him down. Bella-Kotchap is a star in the making.

Mitrovic earns a free kick for Fulham out on the left. Pereira tries to whip the set piece into the top-left corner, but only just about manages to hit the top-left of the stand behind. Meanwhile at Selhurst, Zaha can’t quite sort his feet out eight yards from goal, and isn’t able to get a shot away. For a split second there, the Brentford goal looked at his mercy.

Everton get the game at Elland Road underway … as our search for the first goal in the Premier League tonight goes on.

A couple of shots fly in. Gross has a belt from the edge of the Fulham box, but Leno is behind it all the way. Meanwhile at St Mary’s, Sterling scampers in from the right and makes space on the edge of the D, but having done the hard work and opened his body up, sidefoots lamely at Bazunu.

The teams are out at Elland Road ahead of the final match of this evening’s card. Leeds wear their Real Madrid inspired white, while Everton sport pink shirts in the style of Palermo. “At least Mary Waltz has the benefit of knowing what she’s going to get as an Everton martyr,” harrumphs Justin Kavanagh. “Spare a thought for the Leeds supporter who has to live from week to week not knowing if they’ll be hammered 4-0 by a Brighton or perform like world-beaters while sweeping a big club like Chelsea aside. It’s damaging to one’s health to be so predictably unpredictable.”

Saints win a corner, and swing it under the Chelsea crossbar. Mendy and Silva get in each other’s way, and they make a meal of clearing up the mess. But clear it up they do. A second corner comes in, and Silva heads away with more purpose. Saints were impressive in patches against Manchester United last weekend, and they’ll be happy with their start against another top team.

More hot Toffee chat in lieu of goalmouth action. Here’s Gary Naylor of Guardian Unlimited fame, and he’s got a cob on. “No Maupay for Everton because he was registered with the PL at 4pm on Friday and that isn’t enough time for someone to tick a box on a Bank Holiday weekend. Even actual banks aren’t on holiday in 2022 are they? I’m not expecting Anthony Gordon to have this trouble.”

Saints and Chelsea are treating the ball like a freshly cooked potato in the early stages at St Mary’s. Meanwhile at the Cottage, Fulham continue to look the more likely, Mitrovic powering down the left and cutting inside, before dribbling a pea-roller into the arms of Brighton keeper Sanchez. No goals to report yet, but it’s early days.

The teams are out at St Mary’s. Southampton in their Ajax tribute strip, a bizarro take on the memorable Rank Xerox / Air Florida years. Chelsea get the ball rolling in blue.

Frank Worthington, and yes this is the best picture of that famous strip I can find. Photograph: Mark Leech/Getty Images

Fulham continue to look lively. Pereira whips in from the left, but can’t find Mitrovic in the middle. Goal kick. The data set is small, we’re only just into the fifth game of the season, after all, but Fulham don’t look like a side destined to go straight back down. Not the sort of thing supporters of more established clubs will want to hear. Ah yes, here’s Mary Waltz: “As far as my boys in blue. At full health we are going to struggle all season. For me it’s the race to 40 points and safety and the goal will not be achieved till late in the season. So I hunker down and get ready for the long slog. Happy, happy, joy, joy, eh?”

Fulham’s Neeskens Kebano holds off the challenge from Brighton & Hove Albion’s Pervis Estupinan. Photograph: Ashley Western/Colorsport/REX/Shutterstock

Updated at 15.06 EDT

De Cordova-Reid fires a low ball through the Brighton box from the right. Pereira isn’t far away from poking home from six yards. Brighton knock it out for a corner, and from that, Palhinha forces Sanchez into a reaction save with a flick at the near post. Brighton clear, but the home side came extremely close on a couple of occasions there.

Brentford have been the livelier team in the early stages at Selhurst Park. Toney, Hickey and Henry have been making nuisances of themselves down the flanks. The Palace fans giving good atmosphere, as they always do at Selhurst.

Brentford’s Shandon Baptiste in action with Crystal Palace’s Michael Olise. Photograph: Tony Obrien/Reuters

Updated at 14.53 EDT

An early free kick for Fulham, just to the right of the Brighton box. Pereira swings it in, but the visitors deal with things easily enough and counter. Gross has half a chance to shoot, but spurns it. A fast, open start to the game.

Brentford get the ball rolling at Selhurst. Meanwhile at the Cottage, Brighton get the party started. A hazy sun slowly sets.

The teams are out at Selhurst Park and Craven Cottage. Crystal Palace wear their red and dark blue scribbles, while Brentford wear a lighter shade of blue. Over the other side of town, Fulham sport white and black, while Brighton are in a change strip of red. The first two games of the evening will be off in a minute!

PRE-MATCH POSTBAG courtesy of our stateside Evertonian contingent. “I’m not sure if it’s time to fire up the ‘Everton are in trouble’ alarm,” begins optimism’s Matt Burtz. “I’m under no illusions that two points after four games is a good total. However, though they don’t have any clean sheets yet, they’ve only allowed five goals; only six teams have conceded fewer. Three goals scored won’t cut it, obviously, and I can only hope that Neal Maupay’s arrival will help until Dominic Calvert-Lewin returns, as a 1-0 win is about all we can reasonably expect right now. I suppose this is a long way of saying that things could be worse, but a win today would certainly be nice.”

Mary Waltz adds, albeit not on the subject of her team: “Some say Scotty Parker was binned because of 9-0. Others say it was the disrespectful post-match comments. I say it was the posh boy sweater.” Today’s Fiver agrees with you, Mary. Sort of. In a roundabout way.

Leeds make one change to the XI named for the defeat at Brighton on Saturday. Luis Sinisterra makes his first Premier League start at the expense of Dan James, who drops to the bench. Patrick Bamford returns from injury and is back on the subs bench.

Everton make one change to the XI that started at Brentford. Tom Davies replaces the injured Mason Holgate. There’s no place in the squad yet for the new boy Neal Maupay.

The teams from Elland Road

Leeds United: Meslier, Kristensen, Koch, Llorente, Struijk, Adams, Roca, Sinisterra, Aaronson, Harrison, Rodrigo.Subs: Forshaw, Bamford, Summerville, Klaesson, James, Gelhardt, Drameh, Greenwood, Klich.

Everton: Pickford, Patterson, Coady, Tarkowski, Mykolenko, Onana, Iwobi, Davies, Gordon, McNeil, Gray.Subs: Keane, Allan, Begovic, Andre Gomes, Coleman, Ruben Vinagre, Rondon, Mills, Welch.

Referee: Simon Hooper (Wiltshire).

Southampton make two changes to the side that narrowly lost against Manchester United on Saturday. Romain Perraud and Ibrahima Diallo replace replacing Moussa Djenepo and Joe Aribo, who both drop to the bench.

Chelsea make three changes off the back of the weekend’s win over Leicester. Kalidou Koulibaly returns from suspension and replaces Trevoh Chalobah; Reece James misses out, Cesar Azpilicueta taking his spot; and Ajax transfer target Hakim Ziyech replaces the suspended Conor Gallagher.

The teams from St Mary’s

Southampton: Bazunu, Walker-Peters, Kotchap, Salisu, Perraud, Ward-Prowse, Lavia, Adam Armstrong, Diallo, Elyounoussi, Adams.Subs: McCarthy, Lyanco, Aribo, Stuart Armstrong, Mara, Djenepo, Walcott, Bednarek, Valery.

Chelsea: Mendy, Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva, Koulibaly, Loftus-Cheek, Jorginho, Cucurella, Ziyech, Havertz, Mount, Sterling.Subs: Gilmour, Arrizabalaga, Kovacic, Pulisic, Broja, Chilwell, Chukwuemeka, Ampadu, Vale.

Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland).

Fulham are unchanged. They name the same XI that narrowly lost at Arsenal on Saturday evening.

Brighton make just one change from the XI that beat Leeds at the Amex on Saturday afternoon. Danny Welbeck drops to the bench, with Enock Mwepu taking his place up front.

Palace make three changes to the XI named for the 4-2 loss at Manchester City on Saturday. Wilfried Zaha returns from injury, while Michael Olise and Jean-Philippe Mateta also step up. Odsonne Edouard, Tyrick Mitchell and Jordan Ayew all drop to the bench.

Brentford make three changes from the side that drew 1-1 with Everton last weekend. Keane Lewis-Potter, Shandon Baptiste and Vitaly Janelt replace Christian Norgaard, Josh Dasilva and Yoane Wissa.

The teams from Craven Cottage

Fulham: Leno, Tete, Adarabioyo, Ream, Antonee Robinson, Reed, Joao Palhinha, Reid, Andreas Pereira, Kebano, Mitrovic.Subs: Rodak, Cairney, Chalobah, Mbabu, Diop, Francois, Ablade, Harris, Stansfield.

Brighton & Hove Albion: Sanchez, Veltman, Webster, Dunk, Estupinan, March, Mac Allister, Caicedo, Trossard, Gross, Mwepu.Subs: Lamptey, Colwill, Alzate, Welbeck, Enciso, Undav, Mitoma, Steele, van Hecke.

Referee: Thomas Bramall (Sheffield).

The teams from Selhurst Park

Crystal Palace: Guaita, Clyne, Ward, Andersen, Guehi, Olise, Mateta, Doucoure, Schlupp, Zaha, Eze.Subs: Mitchell, Milivojevic, Ayew, Johnstone, Edouard, Ebiowei, Richards, Phillips, Rodney.

Brentford: Raya, Hickey, Jorgensen, Mee, Henry, Lewis-Potter, Mbeumo, Jensen, Baptiste, Toney, Janelt.Subs: Dasilva, Wissa, Ghoddos, Onyeka, Strakosha, Damsgaard, Sorensen, Roerslev, Stevens.

Referee: Darren England (South Yorkshire).

Preamble

Another day, another set of Premier League fixtures. This season being crowbarred into tiny gaps around the World Cup, you’d better get used to it. Tonight’s fixtures are as follows:

Will the Seagulls end the evening perched atop the Premier League table? We’ll find out the answer soon enough. Team news as it comes in. It’s on!