Thirteen goals in 34 appearances is a very decent return for Cameron Jerome, who has just put MK Dons a goal to the good at home to Accrington.
Nearly a chance for West Brom to take the lead, as a cross from the right is headed down to Gallagher, whose first touch was a bit strong and took the ball wide of goal. He could have shifted his weight a little, allowed the ball to drop and volleyed in a shot, but, um, he didn’t.
Oldham, in their first match under Keith Curle, take the lead against second-placed Cambridge, Davis Kellior-Dunn with the first goal of the English 3pm kick-offs.
BONG! The clock has struck three, and kick-off has been kicked!
The players are on their way out at Selhurst Park, and presumably at lots of other grounds where games are not being televised.
Roy Hodgson takes umbrage at the idea that this afternoon’s game isn’t as vital for Crystal Palace as it is for West Brom:
It’s a huge day for us as well. Every time you play in the Premier League it’s a huge day. We fully realise what a huge game this is for West Brom but by the same token we need points as well, and furthermore every game you play you want to win. We are fully primed for the type of challenge we’re going to face today, but it won’t be an easy one.
Here’s some pre-match reading courtesy of Ben Fisher, who has attempted to explain how on earth Barnsley became brilliant:
Faith in a Moneyball-like model is yielding results at Barnsley, where Billy Beane, who transformed Oakland Athletics’ trajectory with the use of statistical analysis, is a shareholder. They have won seven of their past eight matches and are unbeaten in 10 before visiting Bournemouth on Saturday. Fans have not clunked through Oakwell’s turnstiles for 12 months but might they return to the terraces supporting a Premier League club? Valérien Ismaël, who took charge of the club in October when Barnsley had three points from their first six matches, affords himself a wry smile.
“We have three games until the international break and after we will see a clear picture in the table and maybe we will see what’s going on for us, if we can push for more or if it was a nice trip,” Ismael says. “We deserve to be here, we don’t have any big pressure and must stay hungry. We want to continue to move forward to finish this great season as high as we can.”
Much more here:
In League One Swindon, 1-0 up at home to Gillingham in the 59th minute, are 3-1 down in the 68th.
Meanwhile the early Premier League game, between Leeds and Chelsea, has ended 0-0. Scott Murray’s liveblog is still running:
Swansea have beaten Luton 1-0 in the day’s early Championship kick-off. The Swans have had three shots on target in their last two matches combined, but still emerged with two goals and four points. As it stands they are in second place, three points clear of Brentford and Watford, with every team in the top 11 having played the same number of games.
The starting line-ups for our one top-flight fixture are these. Just the one change, with West Brom sticking with the side that drew with Newcastle last week while Zaha comes back into Palace’s starting XI with Townsend dropping to the bench:
Crystal Palace: Guaita, Ward, Kouyate, Cahill, Van Aanholt, Zaha, Milivojevic, Riedewald, Eze, Benteke, Ayew. Subs: Butland, Dann, Townsend, Mateta, Schlupp, Wickham, Batshuayi, Kelly, Hannam.
West Brom: Johnstone, Furlong, O’Shea, Bartley, Townsend, Yokuslu, Matheus Pereira, Gallagher, Maitland-Niles, Phillips, Diagne. Subs: Robson-Kanu, Ajayi, Robinson, Livermore, Diangana, Peltier, Snodgrass, Button, Ahearne-Grant.
Referee: Simon Hooper.
Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC)
COME ON YOU PALACE#CPFC | #CRYWBA
March 13, 2021
West Bromwich Albion (@WBA)
📋 Team news is in at Selhurst Park. Sam Allardyce names an unchanged side to take on @CPFC. COYB! 🟢🟡@MonsterEnergy | #CRYWBA
March 13, 2021
The weekly Saturday afternoon soccer smorgasbord brings just the one Premier League game today, with West Brom’s survival hopes very badly needing a three-point transfusion of optimism at Crystal Palace. Elsewhere Cardiff (six wins and two draws in their last eight games) host Watford (six wins and one draw in their last eight games) in a clash of two of the Championship’s most in-form teams (the actual No1 in-form team, Barnsley, have seven wins and a draw in their last eight, and travel to Bournemouth). The best of the League One games is towards the bottom, with Bristol Rovers in 19th hosting Wimbledon in 23rd - the Dons would overtake Rovers if they win by three or more goals - while League Two leaders Cheltenham head to Exeter in eighth - there are only six points between them, and Exeter have a game in hand. Bolton are the in-form team in that division, and they can extend their current run (eight wins and no defeats in their last 10, since you ask) at struggling Port Vale.
Today’s English football league fixtures in full:
Premier League
Crystal Palace v West Brom
Everton v Burnley (5.30pm)
Fulham v Man City (8pm)
Leeds v Chelsea (12.30pm)
Championship
Birmingham v Bristol City
Bournemouth v Barnsley
Cardiff v Watford
Derby v Millwall
Luton v Swansea (12.15pm)
Middlesbrough v Stoke
Nottm Forest v Reading
QPR v Huddersfield
Rotherham v Coventry (postponed because of Covid outbreak at Rotherham)
Wycombe v Preston North End
League One
Blackpool v Fleetwood Town
Bristol Rovers v Wimbledon
Charlton v Shrewsbury
Crewe v Burton Albion
Doncaster v Northampton
Hull v Oxford Utd
Ipswich v Plymouth
Lincoln City v Rochdale
Milton Keynes Dons v Accrington Stanley
Swindon v Gillingham (1pm)
League Two
Carlisle v Bradford
Crawley Town v Mansfield
Exeter v Cheltenham
Forest Green v Harrogate Town
Grimsby v Colchester (5.30pm)
Leyton Orient v Scunthorpe (1pm)
Morecambe v Newport County
Oldham v Cambridge Utd
Port Vale v Bolton
Southend v Stevenage
Papa John’s Trophy Final
Portsmouth v Salford City
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