Key events
Dominic Booth
Where else to start than with Coventry..
Lampard delight as nervy draw at Blackburn seals promotion for Coventry
An emotional Frank Lampard basked in the historic achievement of leading Coventry City back to the Premier League after an absence of a quarter of a century. The Sky Blues have returned to the big time for the first time in a generation, after a turbulent period in which they changed stadiums, hit financial rock bottom and plummeted to the depths of League Two as recently as 2017-18.
Lampard was front and centre of celebrations after a 1-1 draw at Blackburn that put the seal on a famous promotion. It has been a long time coming. The former England midfielder lauded Bobby Thomas’s equalising goal as an “incredible moment” in the champagne-soaked celebrations on the Ewood Park turf. “Because of how the game had gone, you were worried,” said Lampard. “We knew we were very nearly there, but to get it over the line like this for this club after 25 years, wow.”
Coventry had struggled to battle past a stubborn home side across a tense 90 minutes, knowing just a point would send them up. Ryoya Morishita’s goal for Blackburn briefly silenced the 7,000 Sky Blue fans, before Thomas nodded in from Victor Torp’s free-kick late on. It was hardly a vintage Coventry display but the result was all that mattered to Lampard and his men.
Read Dominic Booth’s full report from Ewood Park:
Right, let’s have a quick whip around the morning headlines:
-
The BIG ONE: Coventry City have been promoted back to the Premier League after 25 years (more on that shortly)
-
Marcus Rashford’s future is back up in the air again as it looks unlikely is loan to Barcelona will be made permanent
-
Cole Palmer has told the Guardian that he is committed to Chelsea, amid links to Manchester United
-
Bournemouth are set to appoint Marco Rose as their new manager
-
Leah Williamson is fit to play for the Lionesses in their World Cup qualifier
Preamble
Good morning, welcome to matchday live! We’ll be bringing you all the latest news and buildup to all of the weekend’s football, plus reaction to Coventry’s return to the Premier League after a 25-year wait. The end of the season is in sight and we’re finally getting some answers to the questions we’ve been asking since the beginning of the campaign. There’s plenty to discuss, so let’s get into it. As ever, you can get in touch with via the email at the top of the page.