That’s your lot on another action-packed afternoon, which saw Leicester return to the top of the table. Claudio Ranieri’s team are 40-1 to win the title; snap those odds up while you can.

Keep it Guardian sport for Chelsea v Bournemouth, with Lawrence Ostlere at the helm and Diego Costa on the bench. Thanks for joining me. Bye!

Barnsley have beaten Wigan 4-2 on penalties, and will play Fleetwood or Morecambe in the JPT Northern final. In Scotland, it finished Kilmarnock 1-1 Dundee Utd and Ross County 2-3 St Johnstone. There’s still time for a shock in the Scottish Cup, with East Kilbride leading Stenhousemuir 2-1 in extra time. And finally, in France, it’s Lyon 0-1 Angers at half time.

Scenes on the south coast, where Hemed has made it Brighton 3-2 Charlton. 1997 semi-finalists Chesterfield keep their Cup dream alive, Lee Novak equalising late against Walsall.

Brighton simply do not lose. It’s Brighton 2-2 Charlton in the dying moments at the Amex. Who else but Bobby Zamora?

Northampton 3-2 Northwich. Sad face.

A classic Cup collapse for poor Northwich, conceding two in a minute with the finish line in sight. It’s Northampton 2-2 Northwich. Elsewhere, the Football League’s bottom club Yeovil lead Stevenage 1-0. In the Championship, it’s Burnley 0-2 Preston and Bristol City 0-2 Blackburn.

Aston Villa with backs to their wall at St. Mary’s, but Ashley Westwood fires over from a presentable opening. It’s getting feisty at Vicarage Road, with the managers exchanging words after a rash of hefty tackles from both teams.

“Correction for Sam Evans: the Schneiderlin/Rooney role should be a mower, as a combine harvester is only used for maize and cereal crops” says Marie Meyer. “Sorry for the pedantry but it isn’t every day that growing up in South Dakota enables me to contribute to a football discussion.” United could use anything with a blade, as West Ham continue to hold them off.

Even more latest scores: Bolton 2-3 Cardiff, Forest 3-0 Fulham and Brentford 2-0 MK Dons in the Championship, Wigan 2-2 Barnsley in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, Kilmarnock 1-1 Dundee Utd and Ross County 2-2 St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership. National League side Eastleigh have one foot in the FA Cup third round – they lead fellow non-leaguers Stourbridge 2-0, while Newport lead 1-0 at Barnet.

Fifteen minutes to go in the top flight’s 3pm kick-offs. Here’s how it stands:

Arsenal 2-1 Sunderland

Manchester United 0-0 West Ham

Southampton 1-1 Aston Villa

Swansea 0-3 Leicester

Watford 1-0 Norwich

West Brom 1-1 Tottenham

A big Ligue 1 game under way, with fourth-placed Lyon hosting third-placed Angers. Kevin Porter is all over this one:

It’s Lyon’s last game at Stade de Gerland before moving into the brand spanking new Stade de Lumieres, but this season’s surprise package Angers are out to spoil the party, taking a one goal lead through a fine header by captain Cheik N’Doye.

No goals today (yet) for Jamie Vardy, who goes close from a Drinkwater through ball, Odion Ighalo, who has fluffed a few chances at Vicarage Road, or Harry Kane, who has picked up a booking at the Hawthorns.

More pressure, more frustration for Manchester United, as Martial tees up Schweinsteiger, but his shot is blocked. That will be the German’s last involvement, as Memphis Depay comes on to replace him, with time running out.

Preston’s Will Keane goes past his twin Michael in the Burnley defence, and drills the ball home to give the visitors the lead. A Cup shock on the cards at Sixfields, meanwhile – it’s Northampton 0-2 Northwich! The club from the eighth tier of English football are heading to the third round...

End-to-end fare at Old Trafford, with Marouane Fellaini galloping forward to get onto Martial’s cut back – but he smacks it straight at Adrian from six yards out! Still 0-0, while down in Brighton, James Wilson has pulled a goal back against Charlton. Still 2-1 to the visitors.

“We need to put in at least a 7/10 performance every game and we are not doing that. We can’t accept how we played today.” Strong words from Manchester City’s Joe Hart after their defeat to Stoke – read more here. At the Emirates, Petr Cech has been called into action – read more here.

Franck Ribéry, back after nine months out, has pulled a goal back for Bayern. Still 3-1 to Gladbach, who started the season with five straight defeats. At Old Trafford, Andy Carroll flicks an Antonio cross into the path of Mauro Zarate, who flays the ball wide from six yards out!

Chris O’Grady doubles Nottingham Forest’s lead against Fulham, while Ahmed Elmohamady pulls a goal back for Hull City at Leeds. A couple of breakthroughs made in the FA Cup: Sheffield United lead Oldham, and League Two’s Wycombe lead League One’s Millwall through Paul Hayes.

Mahrez, on a hat-trick, blazes high and wide for Leicester, while Harry Kane sees his shot cleared off the line at the Hawthorns. Cardiff have retaken the lead at the Macron Stadium, and in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, it’s currently Wigan 1-1 Barnsley.

The Premier League games are slowly kicking off again. Ki rattles the bar with a header from Sigurdsson’s free kick. Another change at Old Trafford, with Guillermo Varela making his Premier League debut in place of Paddy McNair, who was unconvincing at right-back in the first half.

“Schneiderlin seems to have taken Rooney’s role as a combine harvester, doing little more than churning grass. No wonder he was subsituted!” says Sam Evans. Schneiderlin was replaced by Carrick moments before half-time. As for Rooney...

Bayern in crisis! Two quickfire goals from Lars Stindl and Fabian Johnson, and it’s Gladbach 3-0 Bayern. In Berlin, a Jon Brooks header has made it Hertha 2-1 Leverkusen. Late drama in Serie A, too – Maxi Lopez equalising for Torino after 94 minutes, after Roma took a late lead through Miralem Pjanic. It finished 1-1.

A couple of big goals at very different levels – in the Bundesliga, Oscar Wendt makes it Gladbach 1-0 Bayern, while in the FA Cup, it’s Northampton 0-1 Northwich Victoria.

Goals galore in the Championship: Matt Mills makes it Forest 1-0 Fulham, Tom Adeyemi doubles Leeds’ lead over Hull, and Danny Batth puts Wolves 2-1 up at Rotherham.

“I thought Tony Pulis is meant to be some sort of defensive mastermind” begins JR in Illinois. “If that’s the case can you tell me how West Brom have given up three goals four times in seven home games? He is playing four centre backs today and they just gave up the route one-iest of route one goals.”

It wasn’t the best, but they’re back in the game, at least. A mighty hard team to predict, are Pulis’ West Brom.

Ighalo puts the ball in the net at Vicarage Road, but is ruled offside – incorrectly, as replays confirm. At Old Trafford, Victor Moses has injured his hamstring, and replaced by Michail Antonio.

A rare foray forward for Getafe, with Pablo Sarabia stinging Keylor Navas’ gloves from the edge of the area. In the Yorkshire derby at Elland Road, Chris Wood has made it Leeds 1-0 Hull City.

More from Simon McMahon: “Billy McKay has equalised for Dundee United at Kilmarnock from the penalty spot, with Kilmarnock down to 10 men as a result of the award. The game at Arbroath, whose ground is virtually in the North Sea, started but has now been abandoned.”

West Ham causing chaos at Old Trafford, and the visitors hit the post twice in quick succession – Mauro Zarate forcing Chris Smalling into an awkward clearance that pings the upright, before Winston Reid heads against the post from a corner.

Dean Smith news: His new club, Brentford, lead MK Dons 1-0 through Lasse Vibe. His old club, Walsall, lead at Chesterfield through Jason Demetriou.

Better news for Bolton fans – Gary Madine has equalised for the Championship’s bottom club. That’s you, Bolton fans. Sorry, I’ve spoiled that for you.

Scottish update: it’s Kilmarnock 1-0 Dundee Utd and Ross County 0-1 St Johnstone in the day’s only 3pm top-flight kick-offs. Matches were postponed at Celtic and Partick, yet at East Kilbride, a few miles south of Glasgow, a Scottish Cup replay is ongoing. The non-league hosts lead Stenhousemuir by a goal to nil.

Here are the half-time scores in the Bundesliga:

First real chance at Vicarage Road, with Watson’s shot deflected behind for a corner. From a botched Ashley Williams clearance, Jamie Vardy is through on goal... but he shanks it at Fabianski. Poor. And there’s more bad news for Bolton fans, with Tony Watt giving Cardiff a 1-0 lead.

A mistake by Daley Blind allows Mark Noble to tee up Victor Moses, who scorches away with just David de Gea to beat – but the goalkeeper saves with his legs. Meanwhile, Karim Benzema sees his close-range header saved at the Bernabeu, where Real Madrid are dominant.

A coupon-buster on the south coast, as Charlton take an early 2-0 lead at Brighton. Also in the second tier, James Henry has given Wolves the lead at Rotherham. At Old Trafford, Marouane Fellaini heads a foot over the bar, with Cristiano Ronaldo fizzing a free kick wide by a similar distance in Madrid.

Two very early, and unexpected, goals in the Championship: Ademola Lookman gives Charlton the lead at unbeaten Brighton, and Joe Lolley puts Huddersfield ahead at Birmingham. In less surprising news, Southampton have already had two decent chances against Aston Villa.

Oh Michael.

Bad start for Leverkusen in Berlin – they’re a goal down, Darida giving Hertha the lead, and a man down, with Boenisch sent off. Elsewhere in Germany it’s goalless, save for Hamburg, where the hosts are a goal down to Mainz. In Italy, it’s Torino 0-0 Roma at half-time.

As it’s the time of the year for this sort of thing, and nothing interesting ever happens in December, let’s have your alternative football moments of 2015. Here’s my nomination.

FT: Stoke 2-0 Manchester City

It’s all over at the Britannia Stadium, where Marko Arnautovic, scorer of both goals, is engaging in a bit of afters with Manchester City players. It was a comfortable win for the hosts, who are up to ninth. That result also means any one of Leicester, Manchester United or even fourth-placed Arsenal could be top of the pile tonight.

A big game under way in the Bundesliga, where Borussia Moenchengladbach host Bayern Munich. If Bayern are going to lose to anyone, ever again, it might be today, against a team unbeaten in 11 games. There’s also Hertha v Leverkusen in Berlin, with both sides tucked in behind Gladbach in the race for the top four. In Serie A, there’s half an hour gone in Turin, and it’s Torino 0-0 Roma.

You’d think with the awful weather and games called off, roving Scottish reporter Simon McMahon would be under the duvet with a flask of tea. Not a bit of it: here he is, from under a windswept stand at Dens Park:

Afternoon Niall. As you’ve noted, wind and rain are playing havoc with the Scottish card today. The games at Celtic, Partick and Hearts are off. The early kick off at Dens survived, where struggling Dundee were beaten 2-0 by Aberdeen, who remain second. Game of the day is at Kilmarnock where Dundee United visit looking for three points to close the gap at the foot of the table. The other game in the SPFL to beat the weather is Ross County v St. Johnstone. In the Scottish Championship the only match to survive is Alloa v Dumbarton.

Not going to plan for the league leaders at Stoke, where they are two goals, and now a man down. No red card, but an injury to Fernando, with all three substitutes used. Join Lawrence Ostlere to see if they can hang on to a 2-0 defeat.

Matches postponed

Storm Desmond has hit the Scottish fixture list, with three Premiership games called off. Celtic v Hamilton, Hearts v Inverness and Partick v Motherwell have all been postponed, with the weather also hitting lower league and FA Cup matches. More information here.

Dundee v Aberdeen did get under way, with the Dons currently 2-0 up. There’s also an English top-flight game being played in a gale, at the forbidding Britannia Stadium. It’s currently Stoke 2-0 Man City – join Lawrence Ostlere for that one.