Barclays Premier League as it happened: Liverpool 2-1 QPR - Aston Villa 3-2 Everton
Full-time: Leicester 3-0 Newcastle
Full-time: Liverpool 2-1 QPR
Full-time: Sunderland 2-1 Southampton
Full-time: Aston Villa 3-2 Everton
Full-time: West Ham 1-0 Burnley
Full-time: Swansea 2-0 Stoke
A timely albeit narrow win for Liverpool that should begin to ease speculation regarding the future of Rodgers.
Tim Sherwood's Aston Villa rise above Hull and Newcastle to 14th following their latest win, while Sunderland remain in the relegation zone behind in-form Leicester by a point but keep the pressure on the five teams above them heading into the final stretch.
Swansea remain in eighth, but Stoke drop to 10th following defeat in South Wales and West Ham's narrow win over Burnley, who are now eight points adrift of safety. QPR's gap to the promised land of 17th-place is seven and it looks like both sides are set for an imminent return to the Championship.
That's it for this particular live blog, but join us here for live coverage of Manchester United v West Brom from Old Trafford.
Sunderland regain their lead with a second Gomez penalty after Ward-Prowse is given his marching orders for an apparent push on Jermain Defoe as the latter lined up to shoot.
Everton also score from the penalty spot through Lukaku after Vlaar is guilting of fouling Steven Naismith. Can Aston Villa hold on to a valuable three points?
Second-half action now underway.
Can Liverpool extend their lead over QPR or will Chris Ramsey's side find an equaliser to heap the pressure on Brendan Rodgers?
Sunderland will hope to find a winner to keep the pressure on the likes of Newcastle, Leicester and Aston Villa in the fight against relegation while the latter appear to be cruising in their efforts to halt Everton's good recent run.
Burnley are trailing at West Ham and having gone down to 10 men, it will take a big effort for the bottom club if they are to overturn that one-goal deficit.
Swansea v Stoke, meanwhile, is the proverbial dead rubber and there were preciously little highlights from the first half at the Liberty Stadium.
Villa extend their lead against Everton and once again it's Benteke who has scored.
A Jack Grealish cross is flicked on by experienced centre-back Ron Vlaar and the former Genk striker, who has been linked with a move to Liverpool over recent days, makes it 2-0 with his 11th goal in just nine games.
A breathless few minutes as Sunderland's calamitous defending costs them dearly and they concede just moments after taking the lead. Costel Pantilimon spills a cross and Mane is on hand to equalise for Southampton.
At the Boleyn Ground, rock-bottom Burnley are really up against it as Duff is sent off by FA Cup referee Jon Moss after tripping Cheikhou Kouyate in the penalty area. Mark Noble makes no mistake from the spot.
Liverpool take the lead against QPR as Coutinho curls an effort past the despairing dive of Rob Green after receiving possession from Lambert.
At the Stadium of Light, Sunderland hand themselves a crucial lifeline in the battle against relegation.
Gomez converts from the penalty spot after Billy Jones is fouled by Jose Fonte.
Deadlock broken at Villa Park as Benteke continues his recent goalscoring exploits after heading home a cross from Fabian Delph.
That was the second chance in as many minutes for the big Belgian after he initially connected with a corner from Jack Grealish but sent his effort inches wide.
The pressure now increases on 18th-place Sunderland....
It's certainly been a dramatic day so far in English football.
The full-time whistle has sounded at the King Power Stadium, where a continually woeful Newcastle lost 3-0 and finished with nine men after red cards dished out to Mike Williamson and Daryl Janmaat.
Leonardo Ulloa gave Leicester the lead inside the first minute with a header from a corner before captain Wes Morgan doubled the advantage shortly after.
Ulloa completed a fine afternoon's work from the penalty spot in the second half after Emmanuel Riviere was adjudged to have fouled Marcin Wasilewski.
The Foxes' fifth win in six games lifts them to 16th and level on points with Hull and their chances of survival are looking increasingly bright with matches against fellow relegation contenders Sunderland and QPR to come before the end of the season.
For Newcastle, this loss was their eighth on the spin and the ineptitude of the performance will have done nothing to ease the tension around the club on and indeed off the field.
Carver's side are now five points ahead of the relegation zone, but will be drawn ever closer to the dreaded drop if Sunderland can beat Southampton today.
In the Championship, Bournemouth have secured the Championship title on the final day of the Football League season owing to their 3-0 victory over Charlton and Watford's failure to beat Sheffield Wednesday.
Derby's capitulation was completed as they fell out of the playoff race altogether with a comprehensive 3-0 home defeat to Reading.
Brentford and Ipswich confirmed their places in the top six despite the latter losing 3-2 at Blackburn and will now face Middlesbrough and Norwich respectively for a spot at Wembley.
Danny Graham and Sebastian Larsson come in for Sunderland as they look to haul themselves out of the relegation zone and keep pace with resurgent Leicester. Southampton, meanwhile, hand starts to Victor Wanyama and Shane Long.
For Aston Villa, veteran Shay Given is chosen ahead of Brad Guzan in goal and Carlos Sanchez is replaced by Charles N'Zogbia.
Morgan Amalfitano starts for West Ham in place of Matt Jarvis, while Ashley Barnes returns from suspension at the expense of Lukas Jutkiewicz.
Jordi Amat drops out of the Swansea starting XI due to a foot injury, with Neil Taylor deputising for Garry Monk's side.
Stoke hand a first start of the season to Jack Butland, Glenn Whelan is in for Stephen Ireland and Phil Bardsley replaces Geoff Cameron. Marc Wilson also features over Philipp Wollscheid.
Kick-off in this afternoon's 1500 BST fixtures now under 15 minutes away.
To add some crucial context to that deluge of team news, Rodgers makes three changes to the Liverpool side that lost 1-0 at Hull last time out with Steven Gerrard, Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert coming in.
Joe Allen and Jordan Ibe are relegated to the bench, while Mario Balotelli misses out altogether with a foot injury.
Leroy Fer replacing Bobby Zamora is the solitary change for QPR.
Sunderland v Southampton
Sunderland: Pantilimon, Jones, van Aanholt, Cattermole, Larsson, Wickham, Gomez, O'Shea, Graham, Coates, Defoe
Subs: Bridcutt, Rodwell, Johnson, Reveillere, Mannone, Vergini, Buckley
Southampton: K. Davis, Clyne, Fonte, Yoshida, Bertrand, Alderweireld, Wanyama, Ward-Prowse, Long, Mané, Pelle
Subs: Gazzaniga, Gardos, S. Davis, Djuričić, Elia, Reed, Targett
Aston Villa v Everton
Aston Villa: Given, Bacuna, Vlaar, Okore, Richardson, Westwood, Cleverley, Delph, N'Zogbia, Grealish, Benteke
Subs: Guzan, Sinclair, Weimann, Cole, Hutton, Sanchez, Senderos
Everton: Howard, Baines, Jagielka, Stones, Coleman, Barry, McCarthy, Mirallas, Naismith, Lennon, Lukaku
Subs: Joel, McGeady, Kone, Besic, Barkley, Osman, Alcaraz
West Ham v Burnley
West Ham: Adrian, Jenkinson, Collins, Burke, Cresswell, Amalfitano, Noble, Kouyate, Nolan, Downing, Valencia
Subs: Jaaskelainen, Jarvis, Nene, O'Brien, Cole, Song, Oxford
Burnley: Heaton, Arfield, Ings, Trippier, Jones, Shackell (c), Barnes, Mee, Boyd, Taylor, Duff
Subs: Gilks, Wallace, Kightly, Sordell, Reid, Jutkiewicz, Keane
Swansea v Stoke
Swansea: Fabianski, Rangel, Fernandez, Williams (C), Taylor, Cork, Shelvey, Dyer, Sigurdsson, Montero, Oliveira
Subs: Tremmel, Hanley, Ki, Britton, Grimes, Emnes, Barrow
Stoke: Butland, Bardsley, Shawcross, Wilson, Pieters, Whelan, N'Zonzi, Walters, Adam, Arnautovic, Diouf
Subs: Sorensen, Muniesa, Ireland, Odemwingie, Sidwell, Crouch, Wollscheid
Liverpool v QPR
Liverpool: Mignolet, Can, Skrtel, Lovren, Johnson, Gerrard, Henderson, Lallana, Sterling, Coutinho, Lambert
Subs: Ward, Toure, Moreno, Lucas, Allen, Ibe, Markovic
QPR: Green, Onuoha, Caulker, Dunne, Hill, Phillips, Sandro, Barton, Henry, Fer, Austin
Subs: McCarthy, Wright-Phillips, Yun, Kranjcar, Hoilett, Zamora, Grego-Cox
Good afternoon and welcome to IBTimes UK's live coverage of this afternoon's Premier League fixtures.
With Leicester on their way to a comfortable victory over a 10-man Newcastle outfit in freefall under John Carver, can QPR take advantage of Liverpool's current malaise at Anfield?
Confirmed team news and live updates from around the grounds to follow....
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.
- MOST POPULAR IN Sports
