A brief half-time report from voluntary Scotland correspondent Simon McMahon: “Goals for every team in the Scottish Premier at half time, Simon, apart of course from Dundee United who, despite enjoying the better of the first 45, trail 1-0 at St. Johnstone. Elsewhere it’s Aberdeen 1-1 St. Mirren, Hibs 1-2 Falkirk and Motherwell 1-1kilmarnock. And Ross County have five at the break.”

“Hello Simon,” writes Kári Tulinius. Hello to you!. “To my admittedly amateur eyes, Manchester City haven’t been playing very well, with Ipswich clearly the better team. However, City have plenty of players who can create chances out of nothing, and forwards who can score from very little. That’s what shopping with with a bottomless purse buys you.” Not playing very well, perhaps, but certainly doing enough to be deservedly ahead. But as to how they’re doing it, yes that helps.

It is finally half-time everywhere, and here are the scores as they stand:

Premier League
Brentford 1-0 Liverpool
Everton 0-2 Chelsea (final score)
Fulham 1-0 Hull
Man City 2-1 Ipswich
Newcastle v Aston Villa (5.30pm)

Championship
Birmingham 1-0 QPR
Bristol City 0-1 Sheff Utd
Derby 0-0 Stoke
Middlesbrough 2-2 Cardiff (final score)
Millwall 2-2 Lincoln (final score)
Norwich 0-0 Portsmouth
Southampton 0-0 Bolton
Swansea 0-1 West Ham
Watford 2-0 Charlton (final score)
West Brom 1-2 Blackburn
Wrexham 2-1 Preston

League One
Barnsley 1-0 Cambridge
Bradford 0-0 Stevenage
Leicester 1-0 Doncaster
Leyton Orient 1-0 Blackpool
MK Dons 2-1 Luton (final score)
Peterborough 2-2 Burton (final score)
Plymouth 0-1 Huddersfield
Sheff Wed 3-0 AFC Wimbledon
Stockport 1-0 Bromley
Wigan 0-0 Reading
Wycombe 1-0 Notts County

League Two
Accrington 2-1 Gillingham
Colchester 0-0 Exeter
Crewe 2-0 Rochdale
Fleetwood 2-0 Rotherham (final score)
Grimsby 0-1 Northampton
Newport 0-1 York
Oldham 3-1 Cheltenham
Port Vale 1-0 Chesterfield
Salford 1-0 Crawley
Shrewsbury 1-0 Bristol Rovers (final score)
Swindon 1-0 Walsall
Tranmere 1-0 Barnet

Scottish Premiership
Aberdeen 1-1 St Mirren
Dundee v Rangers (8pm)
Hibernian 1-2 Falkirk
Kilmarnock 1-1 Motherwell
St Johnstone 1-0 Dundee Utd

Voluntary Scotland correspondent Simon McMahon gets in touch: “Hi Simon,” he writes. Hello! “Game of the day in Scotland is at a beautifully sunny McDiarmid Park in Perth where a resurgent Dundee United, having moved into the top six after winning their last two games, face St Johnstone. The Saints themselves have started well after gaining promotion last season, and sit above United on goal difference, so it should be a cracker. The other 3 o’clock kick offs are Aberdeen v St Mirren, Hibs v Falkirk and Kilmarnock v Motherwell. Rangers go to Dundee tonight in the evening kick off while league leaders/crisis club Celtic welcome Hearts tomorrow.”

Will Unwin

The sun is shining at the Etihad Stadium where stalls are eagerly selling inflated bananas at an inflated price. The plastic fruit offers a jovial element amid the crisis swirling around East Manchester. For the fans in attendance, football is the distraction they need, where they can air support for the team and offer their backing to a hierarchy that has brought them unimagined joy in recent times.

There is, however, concern about the predicament they find themselves in, desperately wanting to believe what the executives have told them over the years – but the ruling was damning from the independent commission and at this point the club’s historic name is being dragged through the mud based on a win-at-all-costs model. City are top of the league with a 100% record but the focus will not solely be on results for a very long time until the entire process has concluded, and no one knows when that will be.

Team news has landed, and here are the lineups in the three 3pm kick-offs in the English top flight:

Brentford v Liverpool

Brentford: Kelleher, Kayode, Ajer, van den Berg, Lewis-Potter, Yarmolyuk, Janelt, Ouattara, Jensen, Anthony, Thiago. Subs: Valdimarsson, Hickey, Schade, Wilson, Carvalho, Sangare, Collins, Damsgaard, Diouf.
Liverpool: Alisson, Araujo, Jacquet, van Dijk, Kerkez, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Munoz, Wirtz, Barcola, Isak. Subs: Mamardashvili, Gomez, Endo, Gakpo, Tsimikas, Frimpong, Nyoni, Koumas, Ngumoha.
Referee: John Brooks.

Fulham v Hull

Fulham: Leno, Castagne, Affengruber, Bassey, Robinson, Berge, Charles, Bobb, King, Iwobi, Garcia. Subs: Lecomte, Tete, Andersen, Palacios, Rodrigo Muniz, Cairney, Kevin, Angel, Sessegnon.
Hull: Tzolakis, Coyle, Ajayi, Egan, Herrington, Norton-Cuffy, Belloumi, Crooks, Slater, Thomas, McBurnie. Subs: Phillips, Giles, Morita, Gelhardt, Hjerto-Dahl, McNair, Stroud, Iroegbunam, Vaz.
Referee: Chris Kavanagh.

Man City v Ipswich

Man City: Donnarumma, Matheus Luiz, Dias, Guehi, O’Reilly, Kovacic, Bouaddi, Ndiaye, Foden, Doku, Haaland. Subs: Rulli, Anderson, Cherki, Fernandez, Ait Nouri, Gvardiol, Allan, Semenyo, Khusanov.
Ipswich: Walton, O’Shea, Diop, Greaves, Davis, Florentino, Palacios, Ouattara, Enciso, Maeda, Emersonn. Subs: Scherpen, Furlong, Kipre, Matusiwa, Fatawu, Flemming, Philogene-Bidace, Akpom, Clarke.
Referee: Farai Hallam.

Hello world! Big day today, is it not? Yes, yes it is. Partly because Watford, West Brom, Wrexham, Wigan and Wycombe are all at home, leaving us just just a Walsall away from every-W-team-at-home-at-once full house (if you classify AFC Wimbledon as an A). But also because the 3pm kick-offs include the teams at the top of the Premier League and at the bottom, plus a Liverpool team approaching a semblance of what you might call form visiting a Brentford side that is yet to lose a game all season. Meanwhile in the Championship it’s first against third as Swansea host West Ham, and fourth against fifth as Birmingham host QPR. League One has first (Plymouth) hosting fourth (Huddersfield) while in League Two it’s top (Salford) against bottom (Crawley).

So, without further procrastination, today’s fixtures (3pm unless stated):

Premier League
Brentford v Liverpool
Everton v Chelsea (12.30pm)
Fulham v Hull
Man City v Ipswich
Newcastle v Aston Villa (5.30pm)

Championship
Birmingham v QPR
Bristol City v Sheff Utd
Derby v Stoke
Middlesbrough v Cardiff (12.30pm)
Millwall v Lincoln (12.30pm)
Norwich v Portsmouth
Southampton v Bolton
Swansea v West Ham
Watford v Charlton (12.30pm)
West Brom v Blackburn
Wrexham v Preston

League One
Barnsley v Cambridge
Bradford v Stevenage
Leicester v Doncaster
Leyton Orient v Blackpool
MK Dons v Luton (12.30pm)
Peterborough v Burton (12.30pm)
Plymouth v Huddersfield
Sheff Wed v AFC Wimbledon
Stockport v Bromley
Wigan v Reading
Wycombe v Notts County

League Two
Accrington v Gillingham
Colchester v Exeter
Crewe v Rochdale
Fleetwood v Rotherham (12.30pm)
Grimsby v Northampton
Newport v York
Oldham v Cheltenham
Port Vale v Chesterfield
Salford v Crawley
Shrewsbury v Bristol Rovers (12.30pm)
Swindon v Walsall
Tranmere v Barnet

National League
Aldershot v Wealdstone
Barrow v Forest Green
Boreham Wood v AFC Fylde
Eastleigh v Boston Utd (12.30pm)
Harrogate Town v Sutton Utd (12.30pm)
Hartlepool v Hornchurch
Kidderminster v Worthing (5.30pm)
Scunthorpe v Woking
Solihull Moors v Carlisle
Southend v Halifax
Yeovil v Altrincham

Scottish Premiership
Aberdeen v St Mirren
Dundee v Rangers (8pm)
Hibernian v Falkirk
Kilmarnock v Motherwell
St Johnstone v Dundee Utd