Weekly football conversation since 2009, with Graham Sibley, Jan Bilton and Terry Duffelen. Listen on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn or your podcatcher of choice.

Weekend Boxset: La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga return

Seven great matches to take you from Friday to Sunday. It’s the Sound of Football Weekend Boxset.

All times are BST (GMT +1)


Friday

Bundesliga: Bayern Munich v Bayer Leverkusen
19.30 on BT Sport 2
If you’ve already listened to this week’s Sound of Football, you’ll already know, our guest Manu Veth, from the Futbolgrad and Gegenpressing podcasts, made a wild prediction that Leverkusen could topple Bayern to win the Bundesliga title. That would be some feat: last season they earned exactly half the number of points the five-times-in-a-row champions did. Leverkusen have appointed Heiko Herrlich as their new head coach. His career was shortened when, at 28, the then Dortmund Striker was diagnosed as having a brain tumour. He made a full recovery but other injuries meant he only went on to play a handful of games. His most recent managerial post was Jahn Regensberg, who he got promoted to the German Third Division last season. He’s also been in charge of the German and Bayern U17 sides. His only Bundesliga managerial experience was when he took over Bochum during their 2009/10 relegation season. Unable to turn their fortunes around, he left the club with two games to go - just a couple of days before they were due to play at the Allianz Arena.


Saturday

Premier League: Swansea City v Manchester United
12.30 on Sky Sports Premier League & Main Event
Mourinho’s side breezed past West Ham last weekend as if scoring goals wasn’t an issue for them at all, but fans won’t need reminding they got off to a flying start last season, winning their first three matches only to follow that with just two wins in their next eleven league games. Swansea have goal scoring troubles of their own, having failed to register a single shot on target in their season opener at St Mary’s. With Gylfi Sigurðsson now sold to Everton, Paul Clement has just two weeks to scour the transfer market for a suitable replacement. Paper-talk suggests Wilfried Bony will make a return to the Liberty Stadium, but having scored just eight Premier League goals in the two and half years since he left, it might take a while for the Ivorian to rediscover his touch.

Championship: Sunderland v Leeds United
17.30 on Sky Sports Football & Main Event
Sunderland have had a steady start to life back in the Championship, unbeaten in their first three games against sides who are all more fancied to win promotion than they are. Leeds too have remained unbeaten so far and with a new owner and a new manager, the disappointing end of last season can hopefully be put behind them. In the transfer market, it looks like Sunderland have completed their business for the summer while Leeds appear to be lining up replacement forwards, should New Zealand International Chris Wood complete a move to Burnley.

La Liga: Sevilla v Espanyol
21.15 on Sky Sports Football
This fixture was the opener for these clubs last season and provided ten goals. The lead swapped three times in a first half that ended 3-3. Sevilla ran out 6-4 winners on the day and set them off for their highest finish in La Liga since 2010. Will the addition of Manchester City pair Jesus Navas and Nolito be enough for them to mount a challenge against the top three? Espanyol’s 8th place last season was an improvement for them too, though not enough to qualify for the Europa League. It’s now over 10 years since their last game in European competition, which was the 2007 UEFA Cup Final, which they lost on penalties to... Sevilla.


Sunday

Premier League: Huddersfield Town v Newcastle United
13.30 on Sky Sports Premier League & Main Event
After Burnley’s sensational win over Chelsea, Huddersfield’s first game in the Premier League was probably the result of the opening weekend. David Wagner’s team brushed aside Crystal Palace, taking their opportunities when they had them and generally playing like they hadn’t just taken two months off. Before the game, the Terriers were many people’s favourites to go down, a prediction quite a few are now re-evaluating. As for Newcastle, everything seemed to be going fine for Rafa Benitez’s men in their opener against Tottenham, until the start of the second half when their captain, Jonjo Shelvey, had what experts refer to as a "brain fart" and stamped on Dele Alli’s ankle. His side went on to lose and he’s now banned for the next three games - plenty of time for him to return to his psychologist to talk about those anger issues of his.

Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea
16.00 on Sky Sports Premier League & Main Event
The first Premier League game to be played at Wembley sees the top two sides from last season face off. Playing half their opening game with a man advantage allowed Spurs to dominate their opening game at Newcastle in the way they did so often last season. They certainly looked like the Danny Rose pay row and doubts over their performances at Wembley were out of their thoughts. Chelsea however seem to have already become this season’s first crisis club but no one should realistically write them off after one bad day at the office. After defeat here in the FA Cup semi final to Chelsea, Tottenham have something more to prove than just securing a first home win of the season. Should be an absolute cracker.

Serie A: Inter v Fiorentina
19.45 on BT Sport 2
In the six seasons since they last won anything, Inter have gone through eight head coaches. The latest to fill that particularly hot seat is Luciano Spalletti. The former Roma and Udinese head coach has a well deserved reputation for getting the best out of ordinary sides, and they don’t get much more ordinary than this current Inter side. His opposite number in this game is Stefano Pioli, sacked by Inter at the end of last season after taking over in November. One of his last games at Inter saw them lose by the distinctly un-Italian scoreline of 5-4 at Fiorentina - expect a much more cagey encounter this time. In recent seasons, these two always seem to be within touching distance of each other in the table so this match could provide a good indicator of their respective fortunes this season.

Whatever you watch, have a great weekend

Graham

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