Key events
Liverpool 1-1 West Ham: All Slot’s side now! Bradley crosses it across the box to Gakpo, who takes a shot that creeps just wide at the far post.
Liverpool 1-1 West Ham: Ooooh! Gakpo is shoved a couple times while on the ball and on the last one he slides into the penalty box. The home side think they deserve a penalty, but again, no VAR. The referee calls for advantage and play carries on.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 West Ham (Jota 25)
A quick response! Gakpo gets the ball on the left and he waits until the red shirts come flying forward. He picks out Chiesa who attempts a sideways bicycle kick. His attempt finds a leaping Jota, who does what he does best, and heads home.
GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 Bolton (Nwaneri 37)
Arsenal speed on to the attack and Sterling’s perfect low cross finds the teenager, who hits home his first goal for the Gunners. The home side are in cruise control.
GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 West Ham (Quansah 21 og)
What a mess! From a West Ham corner, Liverpool enter panic mode as they try to clear the ball. Cresswell does well to keep it alive and when Endo tries to clear the ball hits the 21-year-old Quansah and pings into the net.
Liverpool 0-0 West Ham: West Ham have the ball in the back of the net through Ings but the flag goes up. No VAR here so play continues.
GOAL! Nice 0-1 Real Sociedad (Barrenetxea 18)
Fantastic attack from the Spanish side. The break away and Méndez finds Barrenetxea in acres of space, who takes a first time shot that fires into the top right corner
Arsenal 1-0 Bolton: From a corner, McAtee gets a shot off from the middle of the box but he is leaning back and it goes well over the bar. From the replay you can see that his own teammate, Forino, is blocking his vision as well, which does not help. Good defending, but for the wrong team!
Liverpool 0-0 West Ham: Close for West Ham! After a foul from Endo, the Hammers take a free-kick and Todibo’s header is wide at the far post. Bowen then follows up with an effort moments later but Kelleher takes care of it.
Liverpool 0-0 West Ham: The visitors are deploying the tactic that Forest did when they beat Slot’s side at Anfield and so far it is working. A long ball comes in but it is too long for Gakpo and it goes out for a goal kick.
GOAL! Dynamo Kyiv 0-1 Lazio (Dia 4)
Awful defending from the home side. The ball pings around in the box but it is a flurry of yellow shirts that get on the end of each pass and the Senegalese surges forward, gets the ball on his right and nets a low goal past Bushchan.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Bolton (Rice 16)
Bolton had to have known that Arsenal will punish any mistakes. Arfield completely misses the ball and it falls to Rice, who takes a touch before striking low past Southwood.
Kick-offs in the Europa League
Dynamo Kyiv 0-0 Lazio
Midtjylland 0-0 Hoffenheim
Galatasaray 0-0 PAOK
Ludogorets 0-0 Slavia Praha
Nice 0-0 Real Sociedad
Anderlecht 0-0 Ferencvaros
Kick-off: Liverpool 0-0- West Ham
We are off and running at Anfield. Liverpool in all red and West Ham, who get us started, in white and maroon.
10 min: Sterling tries to dribble through a myriad of green shirts but just when he gets through them all, he takes a touch too heavy and Southwood collects.
8 min: Sterling crosses it across to Saka who tees it up to Jesus, who does well to beat three defenders to the ball. He chests the ball down but is unable to get his shot on target.
4 min: Bolton win the ball high up as Arfield and McAtee link up well. The latter loses control of the ball and back-heels it but his teammate hits it over the bar.
3 min: Arsenal surging forward, and patiently bass it around Bolton’s low block. Sterling surges forward with the ball. He thinks he has won a corner but the referee gestures otherwise.
Kick-off: Arsenal 0-0 Bolton
The whistle blows and Bolton start us off in their dark green kits against Arsenal’s classic red and white. Our first evening match is under way at the Emirates Stadium!
Early Europa League results:
AZ Alkmaar 3-2 IF Elfsborg
Bodø/Glimt 3-2 Porto
Mikel Arteta speaks before the match on starting Porter, the 16-year-old:
He is a great character. It is a big jump for him but what an experience.
On the mix of senior players and youngsters in the XI:
I want them to show what they show every day in training. The youngsters are surrounded by many experienced players. They have been waiting for it. You could see it on the smiles on their face yesterday when I told them.
On Sterling:
He is making the right steps. He is a really good physical condition. He has been waiting to start.
On Bolton:
I heard they have 4,000 supporters here tonight. Very special night for them and it will be a tough match.
Some early emails already!
Anthony laments an Arteta choice:
Why, oh why risk Saka?
Marcus wants his side to roll back the years:
I am confident that Bolton can emulate the class of 1994 against this Arsenal side. Not to jinx it but surely they can get the better of a 16-year-old keeper.
Sumaya:
Big test for Julen Lopetegui. Yes, he has made changes but these are still experienced players. So far, this new era for West Ham has not impressed me. Hoping we have not just hired Moyes 2.0! COYI
Carter:
Don’t care what anyone says, I love the Europa League. Nice v Real Sociedad is my pick for the best match tonight.
The Europa League has increased to 36 teams and the format is significantly different. Ryan Benson has powered up the Opta supercomputer, which tells us that Porto are favourites (no mind that they are losing at the moment), Manchester United are sixth favourites because of how they tend to blow hot and cold and José Mourinho’s Fenerbahce is an outsider.
Geek out on what else the supercomputer has to say below.
Bolton may have slipped down the English pyramid, but back when they were in the top-flight, they used to be a bit of a bogey team for Arsenal. Stelios Giannakopoulos and Justin Hoyte share their memories of how Big Sam liked to spoil the Arsène Wenger party in the league.
That being said, they do have some fine moments against the Gunners in cup competitions as well.
The nine matches taking place in the Europa League today.
Two of them are already under way. AZ Alkmaar are tied 2-2 with IF Elfsborg and Bodø/Glimt are leading Porto 3-1 despite playing with 10 men.
The rest will kick-off at 8pm BST. You can stay up to date with Manchester United v Twente alongside Rob Smyth in his minute-by-minute.
Team news: Liverpool v West Ham
Liverpool XI: Kelleher, Bradley, Gomez, Quansah, Tsimikas, Endo, Jones, Chiesa, Gakpo, Jota; Núñez.
Chiesa starts for the first time since signing from Juventus in the summer. Núñez is given his second start in a row up front after scoring for the first time since March at the weekend.
West Ham XI: Fabianski, Coufal, Todibo, Kilman, Cresswell, Soucek, Álvarez, Soler, Bowen, Ings, Summerville
The Hammers have had a sluggish start to the season and will hope that tonight can be a turning point. Ings gets the nod against his former side alongside Bowen and Summerville, who both started on the weekend.
Referee: Andy Madley
Team news: Arsenal v Bolton
Arsenal XI: Porter, Nichols, Kiwior, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri, Jorginho, Rice, Saka, Jesus, Sterling
Porter is Arsenal’s 16-year-old fourth choice keeper, who gets the nod, making him the youngest goalkeeper to start in Arsenal’s history. The first-choice Raya is being assessed after the league game against Manchester City, second-choice, Neto, is cup‑tied, having played for Bournemouth in round two while the third-choice, Tommy Setford, is injured.
🔴 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎 ⚪️
🧤 Porter between the sticks
©️ Jorginho skippers the side
🆕 Sterling makes full debutLet’s seal our place in the next round, Gunners 💪 pic.twitter.com/4JaNpNMBeC
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) September 25, 2024
Bolton XI: Southwood, Dacres-Cogley, Forino, Santos, Toal, Williams, Sheehan, Dempsey, Arfield, McAtee, Collins
Quite a few changes from the side’s 5-2 win against Reading, which moved them up to 19th in League One.
Referee: Josh Smith
Preamble
Hello and welcome to our live clockwatch of the pinnacle of English and European football in the Carabao Cup and the Europa League.
I jest, obviously, but silverware is silverware at the end of the day and I am sure that every team competing tonight (and their fans) would be delighted to get their hands on silverware at the end of the season.
Join me as I follow along with 7 matches for all the goals. And, as always, if you have any thoughts, predictions, questions, comments, complaints or recommendations, then you can send me an email.
Team news up next. Join me!
Arsenal v Bolton kick-off at 7.45pm BST; every other game at 8pm
