Key events
Thanks Yara, hello everyone. There isn’t much news, so let’s go back (yikes) 21 years. On this day in 2002, Alan Shearer leathered an equaliser against Everton.
Read Gregg Bakowski’s superb piece, watch the goal, do what you need to do.
That’s all from me for now. Thanks for joining me on this short morning stint. I leave you in the capable hands of Rob Smyth.
Video: Police injured as violence erupts outside Villa Park before Legia Warsaw match
Ten things to look out for this weekend in the Premier League, including a possible relegation six-pointer in Burnley v Sheffield United, a rivalry from La Liga reignited in Bournemouth v Aston Villa, and what has historically been an exciting match-up in Manchester City v Tottenham.
Elsewhere in Europe, Liverpool beat Lask 4-0, avoiding the play-off route in the Europa League. Cody Gakpo scored a brace and Mohamed Salah scored his 199th goal in all competitions for the club.
Andy Hunter, who was at Anfield, writes:
There was nothing wrong with Lask’s ambitious approach given they had to win to retain any hope of reaching the last 16 but the gulf between the sides was evident every time Liverpool rampaged forward. Lask were constantly exposed. It appeared almost too comfortable for Liverpool at times, given how often they took an extra touch in front of goal when a more ruthless approach was required. Not that the home side paid a price for over-elaboration.
West Ham left it late in Backa Topola. The snooze-fest looked to fittingly end 0-0 but Tomas Soucek extended his goal streak to five matches to secure the knockouts for the Hammers.
Brighton’s European adventure will also continue after João Pedro’s penalty earned the Seagulls victory against 10-man AEK Athens.
And Rangers have given themselves a glimmer of hope with a 1-1 draw against Aris Limassol. Ross McCausland drilled the ball low into the net off the far post to score for the hosts.
On the pitch, Aston Villa beat Legia Warsaw 2-1 to top their Europa Conferece League group.
The side had already qualified for the knockout stages ahead of kick-off but the win put them above their opponents in the table, who won the reverse fixture 3-2 in September.
Moussa Diaby gave the hosts an early lead with a clever left-footed finish before Ernest Muci equalised 16 minutes later.
Alex Moreno scored the winner from a Douglas Luiz free-kick after returning from a six-month hamstring injury.
How beautiful today has been, I want to thank all the people who have made it possible to be playing today, teammates, Staff, club, friends, family, fans…, and how nice it is to feel the goal🥰.
Thank you fans!!!
massive win today!!🦁❤️ #UTV y pic.twitter.com/wTSRgAgLgz
— Álex Moreno (@AlexMoreno) November 30, 2023
Villa’s final group game will be away to Zrinjski who sit bottom of the group, with only one win.
Aston Villa condemn Legia Warsaw after fan trouble
The main news from last night was the violence at Villa Park before Aston Villa’s Europa Conference League match against Legia Warsaw.
Police officers were injured with missiles that were thrown by the away fans.
The West Midlands Police confirmed the number of arrests this morning on X, formerly known as Twitter.
#UPDATE | We’ve now got 46 people in custody following last night’s violence involving away fans outside Villa Park.
Officers faced 90 minutes of sustained violence, and four were injured.
We’re proud of our officers, and thank #AVFC fans for their support. pic.twitter.com/wO5maKr6ZB
— West Midlands Police (@WMPolice) December 1, 2023
Of the suspects, 41 of those were arrested for violent disorder, four for possession of a knife/offensive weapon, and four for assaulting emergency workers.
All of those arrested are away fans, and we’ll be working hard to charge and remand those suspects where we can today. pic.twitter.com/nsuyn7X2Yy
— West Midlands Police (@WMPolice) December 1, 2023
Last night, Aston Villa put out a statement that read:
Aston Villa Football Club can confirm that no away fans were allowed into Villa Park for this evening’s UEFA Europa Conference League fixture with Legia Warsaw on the advice of West Midlands Police following large-scale disorder outside the stadium caused by visiting supporters.
In spite of numerous requests for cooperation from Legia Warsaw concerning their travelling supporters, especially in the last two days, no assistance on the serious safety matter of away fans attending Villa Park was forthcoming from the visiting club. The club has repeatedly, including this morning, raised concerns in conjunction with UEFA and all the relevant authorities to Legia that ticketless away supporters were attempting to attend Villa Park.
Approximately an hour before kick-off, Legia fans engaged in planned and systematic violent acts against West Midlands Police officers and a decision was then made by West Midlands Police to exclude all Legia supporters.
Aston Villa strongly condemns the behaviour of those visiting supporters and would like to thank West Midlands Police for their professionalism in very difficult circumstances.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to our Friday football blog. Let’s start by saying many happy returns to Neil Warnock, the anagram we all grew to love (OK, most of us). He was born in 1948, and you know what that means.
We’ll have news and manager quotes ahead of this weekend’s games, plus reaction to last night’s Europa League matches.
Have any thoughts, questions, complaints, grievances, etc? Send me an email!
