Derby County under 23s v Liverpool under 23s

A superb goalkeeping display from Derby County under 23’s Jonathan Mitchell helped his side to a 0-0 draw at home to Liverpool.

The result prevented the young Rams from moving bottom of the Premier League 2 table.

Derby County under 23 manager Darren Wassall made five changes to the side bringing in several first team players that included: stand out performer Jonathan Mitchell, Marcus Olsson, Craig Bryson, Jamie Hanson and Abdoul Camara.

Joe Gomez also started in only his second competitive game since tearing his cruciate ligament 13 months ago.

Matty Virtue had the visitors’ first real chance of the game. He met Brooks Lennon’s cross but his headed effort was comfortably caught by Mitchell.

Abdoul Camara nearly put the hosts ahead with a curling effort from the edge of the penalty area, however the side netting prevented his chance from testing Liverpool ‘keeper Kamil Grabara.

Mitchell was then forced into action again to deny right wing back Corey Whelan. Reds’ skipper Harry Wilson set up Whelan with a clever pass and lowly driven strike forced a good diving save from Mitchell.

Captain Wilson had a superb opportunity towards the end of the first half with a very nice passing move which nearly emulated in a great team goal. A well worked one-two with Virtue put the midfielder through on goal, but Mitchell again prevented the skipper from putting his side in the lead.

Brooks Lennon again forced Jonathan Mitchell into action early in the second half after forcing the keeper to tip his header over the cross bar.

Timi Max Elsnik came closest for the Rams in the second half as his shot came as a result of some well worked football from Derby. Grabara was able to prevent the Slovenian under 19 midfielder from putting his side ahead.

The result means that Liverpool remain in third place in Premier League 2 Division One having missed the opportunity to close the gap on Merseyside rivals Everton who are currently top of the table. The Toffees’ were unable to extend their gap over Michael Beale’s Liverpool side after drawing 1-1 away at Southampton.

Derby County remain second bottom in 11^th place only a point clear of bottom side Tottenham Hotspur after Spurs’ draw away at Sunderland.

5 major talking points from Middlesbrough v Chelsea

Chelsea's 1-0 win away at Middlesbrough on Sunday afternoon moves them top of the Premier League table.

Diego Costa's first half volley was enough for the Blues to pick up their sixth consecutive league victory.

This was the first league encounter between the two sides since January 2009 where the Blues picked up a 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge thanks to a brace from former striker Salomon Kalou. 

Middlesbrough’s recent form against Chelsea is very poor and the weekend’s result was their seventh consecutive defeat against the South-West London side in all competitions. Their last victory over Chelsea came in August 2006 where they won 2-1 thanks to a 90^th minute goal from Mark Viduka.

Middlesbrough currently sit 15^th in the Premier League table and currently hold the worst goal scoring record of any team in the league this term.

SHOOT! looks at the five major talking points of the game.

The Streaks Continue

Victory for the Blues extends their winning run to six league matches. Not only does their winning streak continue, but that's also the sixth consecutive clean sheet in the league for Antonio Conte's side.

If they are to cement themselves in the title race they'll need to keep this run going for as long as physically possible.  This is definitely easier said than done, with Chelsea's next two fixtures being against London rivals Tottenham Hotspur and former Champions Manchester City.

Middlesbrough's form comes to an end

Despite the defeat ending Boro's three game unbeaten run (including draws away at Arsenal and Manchester City), the Teesside outfit are in 15th position, just one point clear of the relegation zone.

Fixtures are not favouring Middlesbrough at the minute and they are not getting any easier with ‘the Smoggies’ facing Champions Leicester City, Liverpool and Southampton all inside their next four fixtures.

It is vital that they pick up points against relegation rivals such as Hull City, Swansea City and West Ham United if they want to avoid an instant relegation to the Championship.

Luiz's Solidarity

Chelsea's deadline day signing had left them as a bit of a laughing stock in the footballing world after they announced the return of cult hero David Luiz.   However, with six clean sheets on the bounce and form that keeps Chelsea skipper John Terry out of the starting line-up, is Luiz's return a stroke of genius by Conte?

Luiz was one of the Blues' stand out performers on Sunday and you'd struggle to spot the 'mistake' that a lot of pundits and fans claim he has in his game.

The £30 million signing is proving to be a new player under Conte's management and will his form earn him a quick recall into the Brazil national squad?

Where are Middlesbrough's goals coming from?

Middlesbrough may be sat in 15th in the Premier League table, but they have scored the least amount of goals of any Premier League side this season.

With top scorer Christian Stuani not featuring against Chelsea, all eyes were on star signing Alvaro Negredo.

However, the on-loan Valencia striker was again unable to score leaving the former Spanish international with only 1 goal in his 12 league appearances on Teesside.

If Middlesbrough are to stay up this year, they seriously need to sort their goal scoring problems out fast.

Moses now a fan-favourite

The Nigerian international may have had to be very patient in his Chelsea career, but Victor Moses is finally getting both regular football and fan recognition.

After loan spells at Liverpool, Stoke and West Ham, Moses has seriously impressed Conte this term and has started every game since the switch to three at the back.

His performances this season have prevented Willian and Branislav Ivanovic from getting regular game time and with the fans spending large chunks of Sunday chanting 'Victor Moses' could this be the revival of the wingers’ career?

Boreham Wood crash out of FA Cup

Boreham Wood’s FA Cup dream came to an end after losing 2-0 in their first round replay away at League Two outfit Notts County.

Goals either side of half time from Jonathan Forte and a moment of magic by substitute Aaron Collins.

The replay came after the two sides previously drew 2-2 in their original first round fixture 10 days ago.

Forte’s first half strike came courtesy of poor defending by ‘The Wood’. Visiting defender Joe Devera was unable to head away skipper Carl Dickinson’s long pass. The error put Forte clean through on goal.

The goal for the ex-Barbados international came as a welcome release, as the forward was without a goal in his previous five matches.

On loan Wolves forward Aaron Collins produced sheer brilliance with the last kick of the game, after his dipping strike from just outside the area came off the underside of the crossbar, before bouncing over the line to confirm the non-league sides exit.

The visitors though they had scored early in the first half, but Matt Paine’s header from a Bruno Andrade free- kick was disallowed for an off the ball incident.

Just before Collins’ late goal, Jamie Lucas nearly put the visitors’ level as his injury time header forced a good save from County goalkeeper Adam Collin.

Notts County’s second round clash against Peterborough will take place on Sunday 4^th of December.

When will Brighton lose?

Brighton and Hove Albion extended their impressive Championship unbeaten streak to ten matches following their 2-0 victory at Ashton Gate. Their bonfire night victory came courtesy of a breath-taking long range strike from midfielder Steve Sidwell and winger Jamie Murphy’s first half efforts.

The seagulls’ run has kept them in second position in the league only three points behind league leaders Newcastle United. Thanks to results earlier in the day, Albion are now five points clear of third placed Huddersfield Town.

The win is also their eleventh clean sheet of their league campaign which is incredibly impressive given that they are only sixteen league games gone.

Their resilience at the back is joyous to watch and considering only six teams have only been able to score past Chris Hughton’s side this season, you can’t help feeling that their defence alone can put Brighton as big contenders to go up this season.

Hughton’s side have used a very consistent back four formed by their captain Bruno, Shane Duffy who arrived on the south coast in the summer from Blackburn, former Bristol City loanee Lewis Dunk and Cameroon international Gaetan Bong.

The quartet have played together 10 times in the league this season and in those matches have kept a staggering six clean sheets. Lewis Dunk was heavily linked to join Crystal Palace in the summer and if he can keep clean sheets in the way that he has been, it may not be long before we see more speculation surrounding the Albion centre half.

Sidwell grabbed his first league goal of the season with a superb left footed effort over Richard O’Donnell from 50 yards out. The whole team including the goalkeeper celebrated their opener with an Anthony Knockaert shirt who was missing from the side today after the passing of his father earlier this week.

Sidwell said; “It’s been a tough week, football always comes second to family, our thoughts to go out to him and his family and that goal comes for them.”

Even without star man Knockaert, Brighton and Hove Albion have proved that they have what it takes to push for promotion this season with Bristol City manager Lee Johnson claiming that “Brighton deserve promotion this season”.

It’s fair to say that ten games unbeaten is a very impressive streak, and the question on everyone’s lips now is, when will they lose a league game?