When history looks back on tonight's Match of the Day running order, it will look like a a very good day for cricket, as the Premier League served 450 minutes of dross on an utterly dreadful afternoon's action. It was a fittingly moribund day of action in which to mark Sunderland' relegation.
It was exceptionally dull fare, bar one incident-filled minute: Sunderland conceded at home to Bournemouth seconds before an immediate reprieve was snatched from them, as Southampton missed a penalty against Hull City.
Across the five games, there was the sum total of four goals. Half of those were scored by Burnley, as they earned a first away win of the season against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. Elsewhere, Sunderland lost 1-0 at home to Bournemouth, Jamie Vardy scored for Leicester in a 1-0 win at West Brom, while Southampton/Hull and Stoke/West Ham finished goalless.
Watching the action, er, not unfold, Gary Lineker sent a plea for help:
HELP! #prayformotd
— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) April 29, 2017
Ultimately, Burnley's win at Palace provided little relief, so Match of the Day's viewing figures might be historically low, what with the dreadful football and the fact that the show clashes with Anthony Joshua's heavyweight bout with Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley.
With that prospect looming over them, the Match of the Day running order has been confirmed, and the show will make an unwanted bit of history tonight: the dirge on offer means that, for the first time in what Lineker terms the "modern era", it will open with a goalless draw. Lineker himself confirmed the news:
Historical MOTD running order: first time in modern era we start with a nil nil. Sou/Hull, Sun/Bou, CP/Bur, WBA/Lei, Sto/WHU. BBC1 10.20 😬
— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) April 29, 2017
Lineker himself admitted that he might be keeping one eye on proceedings at Wembley:
Sense me might have one eye on Wembley.
— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) April 29, 2017
That's quite incredible. Today is the most relevant David Moyes has been to the Premier League (and will be) for some time, yet still he can't get top billing on the Match of the Day running order. The infinite sadness of Moyes continues.
