Friday

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

Women’s Super League 1: Everton v Liverpool

19.45 on Sky Sports Football
They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity but the timing of Mark Sampson’s firing as England Manager, just days before the start of the new WSL season, has cast a shadow of over what should be a celebration. Everton are making a return to the top flight having won the WSL 2 Spring Series - a truncated league to fill the gap following the decision to move the women’s league calendar from a summer schedule to winter. BT Sport have made all the right noises regarding their coverage of women’s football this season but the fact that they’re also showing men’s games from the Bundesliga (BT Sport 3) and Ligue 1 (BT Sport ESPN) at the same time might suggest that haven’t got that much faith in it. If women’s football isn’t your cup of tea, Sky Sports Football are offering a domestic alternative from League 2 where Forest Green Rovers host Swindon.

Saturday

Premier League: West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur

12.30 on Sky Sports Premier League & Extra
It’s been a great start of the season for those whose takes on English football are decidedly lukewarm. Well done to you if you predicted that Lukaku would score goals for United, Liverpool would struggle defensively and that Spurs would need time to settle at Wembley. For Pochettino’s side, away trips must be a welcome relief but here they return to where last season’s title challenge ended. The athletics World Championships meant West Ham couldn’t play at home for their first three games - which they lost. Since then, they’ve ground out a win against Huddersfield at home and brought a goalless point back from West Brom - neither games suggesting they will take all three points here but strange things happen in London derbies. The keen-eyed will noticed this isn’t being shown on Sky Sports Main Event, that’s because that channel will be carrying Rangers v Celtic. That one kicks off half an hour earlier so you can squeeze some extra game time in there, or, if you fancy yourself as a bit of a football hipster, you could switch to BT Sport 2 for St Pauli v Dusseldorf from Bundesliga 2.

Premier League: Leicester City v Liverpool

17.45 on BT Sport 1
Wednesday’s victory for Leicester in this same fixture tells us nothing except they are through to the next round of the Caraboa Cup and Liverpool are out. Since their demolition of Arsenal, Liverpool have gone four games without a win and with tough fixtures to come - an away trip to Moscow midweek, followed by Spurs and United in the next month - a draw will not be enough for Jurgen Klopp’s side. Leicester’s start of the season was always going to be difficult - facing four of last season’s top six in their first six games. Jamie Vardy, who has scored the majority of Leicester’s league goals this season, is a doubt, while Liverpool’s Sadio Mane misses out, completing his three-match suspension.

Serie A: Juventus v Torino

19.45 on BT Sport 3
Five games into the season and The Old Lady is still 100%, and would be top the table if wasn’t for Napoli’s goal glut. Not that Juve have been slouches in front of goal themselves, Paulo Dybala already has two hat-tricks this campaign and is just three goals behind his total for the whole of last season. Torino themselves are unbeaten but haven’t yet faced any of the leading teams. Since Juventus moved to their new stadium in 2011 they’ve beaten their city rivals in every encounter, home and away. That said, the last four league games here between these two have been decided by just one goal. Yes, it’s almost certain Juve will win but it should be an entertaining enough local derby.

Sunday

Championship: Sheffield Wednesday v Sheffield United

13.15 on Sky Sports Football & Main Event
The first Steel City derby for five years shouldn’t need any hype but I guess we write the previews for a reason, so here goes. Both sides had great seasons in 2016/17: United finishing top of League One while Wednesday achieved their highest finish since relegation from the Premier League in 2000, and only lost on penalties in their play-off semi final against the eventual winners Huddersfield. Blades’ manager Chris Wilder was sent to the stands during last week’s defeat to Norwich but has escaped a touchline ban for this fixture. That defeat ended a run of four straight wins but Leeds losing as well meant they remain just two points off the top of the table. Wednesday have had a slow start to this season but now seem to be picking up the pace and can overtake their local rivals with a win here. Of the 140 previous derbies, it currently stands at 48 wins each - hopefully the cameras stick around until the presentation of the bragging rights has been made.

Jupiler Pro League: Sporting de Charleroi v Club Brugge

17.00 on FreeSports
The top two face off on match day 8 of the Belgian top flight. Charleroi, or the Zebras as they known, for reasons that will soon become apparent when you watch them, are usually a mid-table outfit but have made an unbeaten start to the season that has included a win against the champions, Anderlecht. Brugge’s only defeat came at Mouscron in their first game after the international break - a blip in what has otherwise been a perfect start. Belgian football, go on, it’s free, give it a go.

Serie A: Fiorentina v Atalanta

19.45 on BT Sport 1
Atalanta were one of the surprise packages of last season: their fourth place finish being their highest ever; a position, that if repeated this season, would see them qualify for the Champions League. Regular fourth placers, Fiorentina, faded at the end of last season, finishing eighth in a pack of sides some distance behind the top three. Losing their opening fixture at Inter was perhaps understandable but losing their next game at home to Sampdoria was more concerning. Since then though they’ve gone on to win their next two but narrowly lost at Juve last time out, playing the last half hour with 10 men. Atalanta have a tough seven days ahead: on Thursday they travel to Lyon in the Europa League, before hosting Juventus on Saturday.

Whatever you watch, have a great weekend

Graham