If ever a story sums up the utter madness of modern football it is the announcement, 24 hours after he and his children enjoyed a lap of honour at the Amex to celebrate staying in the Premier League, that Chris Hughton has been sacked by Brighton & Hove Albion.

Manchester City have always been artists under Pep Guardiola, painting beautiful pictures on the pitch.

Brighton owner Tony Bloom’s achievement of taking the club from League One strugglers to Premier League survivors is symbolised by tomorrow’s game against Manchester United at the Amex — but the fixture also underlines just how difficult it is to set long-term goals once you start to feel at home in the top flight.

Minds were elsewhere. Wasn’t everyone’s?

Would this be “like trying to turn around an oil tanker with a canoe paddle”?

Manchester United were unable to match the intensity shown during Jose Mourinho's extraordinary pre-match press conference, but headers from Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic saw them through to the FA Cup semi-finals at Brighton's expense.

Bournemouth added to the pressure on West Brom manager Alan Pardew with a late comeback to win 2-1 at the Vitality Stadium.

At 1.93m tall, and with shoulders that could carry a nation, it’s not that difficult to imagine Republic of Ireland defender Shane Duffy as a nightclub bouncer keeping Manchester United out of his penalty area in the FA Cup at Old Trafford tomorrow; and it’s an image he is perfectly happy to embrace.

Jose Mourinho has dismissed concerns over Marcus Rashford’s lack of game-time as the World Cup approaches, putting the ball in Gareth Southgate’s court by saying the forward will be selected if the England manager trusts him.

All seven Premier League clubs hosting matches today are hopeful of their fixtures going ahead in a weekend sporting programme badly affected by snow.

Burton condemned Jose Morais to defeat in his first game in charge of Barnsley with a 2-1 victory which moved Albion off the bottom of the Championship.

Tottenham climbed to third in the Premier League after Harry Kane scored a second-half winner to settle the north London derby against Arsenal.

He may have lost Leroy Sane to injury and been priced out of his quest for Riyad Mahrez but if that represented a bad week for Pep Guardiola in his Manchester City wonderland, normal service was quickly resumed on the field last night.

Daniel Sturridge has joined West Brom on a loan deal until the end of the season.

Our man inside the game says video assistants can never replace a referee’s instinct.

What the papers say

Cyrille Regis' funeral will be held at the end of the month after the former West Brom striker died on Sunday.

Angry Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger believes the referee did not see the incident which saw a controversial penalty deny his side victory at West Brom.

Jay Rodriguez's last-minute penalty earned struggling West Brom a deserved point against uninspiring Arsenal.

No drama, then? Goals, clean sheet, calm and poise? Not sure quite how to respond, frankly.

Manchester United survived a late scare to clinch an uninspiring victory at West Brom.

Antonio Conte says time is running out in the title pursuit, even if Manchester City slip up, and said the clear leaders had been lucky with late goals.

Liverpool 0 - West Brom 0: There is an exciting new game at Anfield: Guess the Liverpool team. No one seems to know quite which line-up Jurgen Klopp will go into a game with these days. The only guarantee is that it will not be the team you expected.

New West Brom boss Alan Pardew insists he has a point to prove after his exit from Crystal Palace last year.

Newcastle ended a run of four straight defeats after coming back from 2-0 down to claim a gutsy point at West Brom.

Premier League strugglers Crystal Palace picked up their first away point of the season with a goalless draw at bitter rivals Brighton.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has stressed he is not looking beyond Tuesday's Carabao Cup fourth-round clash with Wolves, warning that "any team can beat us".

Arsene Wenger will put his faith in modern-day recovery methods to prepare his Arsenal players for a busy week — even though he does not trust them.

West Brom boss Tony Pulis insists Jonny Evans was unfazed by the uncertainty surrounding his future and urged the defender to fight for his place.

Jonny Evans is anticipating no issues when he returns to West Brom next week following a transfer deadline day which left his admirers frustrated.

West Brom have rejected a second bid from Leicester for defender Jonny Evans.

Manchester United hold the only 100% record, Tottenham and Arsenal both endured familiar frustrations, while West Ham, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace all lost again.

Substitute Peter Crouch took advantage of a terrible defensive mix-up to earn Stoke a 1-1 Premier League draw at West Brom.

Defeats for West Ham and Crystal Palace have put pressure on Slaven Bilic and Frank De Boer at the bottom of the Premier League.

Cardiff maintained their 100% start to stay top of the Sky Bet Championship with a 2-0 home win over Sheffield United, but Aston Villa dropped into the relegation zone after losing at Reading.

Sunderland have started an internal disciplinary process against Darron Gibson after footage emerged of the midfielder criticising team-mates in a bar.

West Brom have signed Southampton striker Jay Rodriguez.

Chelsea are Premier League champions after Michy Batshuayi scored late to secure Friday night's 1-0 victory over West Brom.

So one week everything goes your way, the next week nothing does. C’est la vie, say the old folks.

Sunderland's 10-year stay in the Premier League was ended as Josh King's late winner for Bournemouth confirmed their relegation.

We’re guinea pigs, aren’t we?

Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet has targeted further improvement as Jurgen Klopp’s men close in on Champions League qualification.

I’d like to know what the odds were for a 1-0 away win. Probably the same as other teams’ 5-5 draws.