What happened in the world of football last night? Well, Middlesbrough closed the gap at the top of the Championship to just three points with a dramatic win at West Brom in Eric Ramsay’s first game in charge of the Baggies. Delano Burgzorg’s 90th-minute winner sealed a 3-2 victory for Boro, who now have a five-point buffer to third-placed Ipswich, albeit they’ve played two games more.
North of the border, Bojan Miovski scored a hat-trick as Rangers thumped Annan Athletic 5-0 in the Scottish Cup.
Meanwhile, West Ham triumphed 3-0 over Newcastle in the fourth round of the Women’s FA Cup; Werder Bremen and Eintracht Frankfurt drew 3-3 in an entertaining Bundesliga contest; Girona won 2-0 at Espanyol in La Liga, and Ousmane Dembélé scored twice as PSG beat Lille 3-0 to return to the Ligue 1 summit – although title rivals Lens are just two points behind with a game in hand. Lens play Auxerre today.
With United out of both cup competitions and not playing in Europe this season, Will Unwin poses the question of whether this is the club’s post-Ferguson nadir …
It’s fair enough to suggest so, but nothing will surely top be worse than losing to 17th-placed Spurs in the worst Europa League final of all time (TM), all the while finishing 15th. Sorry Ruben.
Get questions in for Jamie Jackson before Manchester derby
Later on this morning we’ll be holding a Q&A session with our Manchester football correspondent, Jamie Jackson, ahead of the Manchester derby at Old Trafford.
What sort of state are United in? Will City take full advantage and boost their title chances? Email your questions using matchday.live@theguardian.com or simply comment below.
Preamble
Good morning and welcome to another of The Guardian’s matchday live blogs. This is your one-stop-shop for all things Saturday football buildup, and today is another biggie in the Premier League, from which we enjoyed a (short) break due to the FA Cup last weekend.
It’s big primarily because it’s derby day in Manchester with Michael Carrick making his (second) debut as United’s interim head coach, but there are other games to whet the appetite; Spurs v West Ham has been dubbed ‘El Sackico’ with Thomas Frank and Nuno Espírito Santo both under immense pressure. There’s also Chelsea v Brentford, which is a west London derby and Liam Rosenior’s first Premier League game as Blues manager.
Down the leagues there’s plenty to play for as well. Coventry v Leicester in the Championship looks an attractive proposition while Bradford v Cardiff and Swindon v Salford should be belting games at the sharp end of League One and League Two respectively.
As always, we welcome your comments and emails. Let us know how you’re spending this dreary January Saturday. Hopefully it’s by watching some football, after you’ve scrolled up and down this blog of course. Stay tuned!
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