Friday

The new Bundesliga season starts, Wolves face the stars of Amazon Prime’s latest documentary series, there’s a very early promotion decider in the Championship, and Carlo Ancelotti faces Milan.

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

All times are BST

Friday

Championship: Middlesbrough v West Bromwich Albion

19.45 on Sky Sports Football & Main Event
Life for Darren Moore’s side in the Championship started with a defeat against Bolton in a game where they dominated possession. If it’s unfair to judge how they will do this season on the basis of that result, it’s probably also unfair to judge it on their 7-1 demolition of a very sorry looking QPR side last weekend. Middlesbrough won’t have a problem with the Baggies having more possession: so far this season Tony Pulis’s side have scored 8 goals from just 13 shots on target, and kept three clean sheets. That kind of ruthless efficiency is just what you need in a 46 game campaign. Both sides are amongst the favourites to go up this season, so this is probably the biggest game in the Championship so far and should provide a great watch. GS

Saturday

Premier League: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Manchester City

12.30 on Sky Sports Premier League & Main Event
Wolves are still looking for their first win despite neither of their opponents so far this season finishing with a full complement of players. They might need the referee to show at least two reds if they are to have any chance of stopping Pep’s City machine. Wolves fans know better than most that you can’t judge much on early season form; the last time they were in the top flight in 2011/12, under Mick McCarthy, they won their first two games but then won just three of the remaining 36 games. The Manchester City version of the All or Nothing documentary franchise started this week an Amazon Prime. I’ve not watched it and doubt whether I will, despite its glowing reviews. I’m sure it’s wonderfully put together but I know for a fact that it’s not going to be as good as the BBC Alba series that followed Glasgow City FC for a season. GS

Premier League: Liverpool v Brighton & Hove Albion

17.30 on BT Sport 1
The air of positivity surrounding Liverpool right now doesn’t show any sign of dissipating. Two wins from two without conceding a goal and they look every bit as good as people predicted they would be. This is the best Liverpool side in a long time, maybe the whole Premier League era but you just can’t see them doing better than City. It’s not that they don’t have the talent or the desire but their lack of depth in defense could soon start to show, especially once European football starts again. Liverpool finished 25 points behind City last season; Naby Keita and Alisson are good but are they 25 points good? To put the blame on United for just not showing up in last weekend’s defeat at Brighton really doesn’t do Chris Hughton’s side justice. Brighton beat Mourinho’s team by exploiting the visitor’s weaknesses, it was a performance they can take into this game with genuine expectations of asking Jurgen Klopp’s side to show their title credentials. GS

Serie A: Napoli v Milan

19.30 on Eleven Sports 2
Following the tragedy of the Genoa bridge collapse, games involving the two sides from the port city were postponed last weekend, so this is the first time we will see Gennaro Gustuso’s Milan side this season. Milan’s summer transfer dealings have been dominated by their business with Juventus. Leonardo Bonucci has returned to the Old Lady after just one season away, in a swap deal that sees 24 year old Mattia Caldara go the other way, having not played a single game for the Champions. The biggest move though is Juventus leasing out Gonzalo Higuain to Milan for a reported €18 million with an option to buy at the end of the season. For a 30 year old striker who has scored 40 Serie A goals in the last two seasons, that seems an absolute steal. Napoli provided new head coach Carlo Ancelotti with an opening win against Lazio last weekend. Ancelotti won the Champions League twice in his eight season stint as Milan head coach. Gattuso is the seventh head coach Milan have had since Ancelotti left in 2009 to join Chelsea. GS

Sunday

Premier League: Watford v Crystal Palace

13.30 on Sky Sports Premier League & Main Event
Watford are off to a flying start with two wins from two. Shifting Richarlison to Everton seems to be one of those moves that works for everyone. In the times I saw him last season he seemed to be a player that offered a lot but rarely changed games for his side, cutting a frustrated figure on many occasions. It seems from his start at his new club that maybe he was a square peg in a slightly less than square hole, and Watford seem to have more than enough options in midfield to keep them a danger going forward. Palace fought well against everyone’s "Premier League runner’s up elect" Liverpool on Monday night, with the match entirely pivoting on two key decisions from Michael Oliver (which he called right, in my opinion). Aaron Wan-Bissaka - the latest local boy to make good at Palace - will miss the game for his red card in that match. GS

Bundesliga: Borussia Dortmund v RB Leipzig

17.00 on BT Sport 1
The last time these two met in Dortmund we were treated to a humdinger which ended 3-2 to the vistors and began the sharp decline of Borussia Dortmund under Peter Bosz. There’s no reason to assume that we will not see the same desire and attacking intent on Sunday. BVB have had a clear out over the summer. Lucien Favre is the new coach having been finally persuaded to join from Nice. Gone are the unwanted Andriy Yarmolenko, André Schürrle, and Sokratis to the Premier league. Incoming are Abdou Diallo to partner Manuel Akanji in defence plus two high class midfielders in Thomas Delaney and Axel Witsel. But not all the pieces in the puzzle are there and Sporting Director Michael Zorc is playing down their title chances for the season. Leipzig’s sporting director is Ralf Rangnick who, down the years, has been linked to what seems like half the clubs in England without getting the job. He’s taken over as first team coach for just this season. In 2019, Julian Nagelsmann joins from Hoffenheim. Until then Rangnick will be looking to get the energy drink concern back into the top four, while coping with the loss of Naby Keita. TD

Ligue 1: Marseille v Rennes

20.00 on BT Sport 1
If you never watch French football, what better time to start than in the afterglow of a World Cup win. Surrounded by richer leagues, it isn’t any great surprise that only nine of France’s victorious World Cup squad ply their trade in their home country but that doesn’t take into account the sheer depth of talent that jostled for places on that plane. One notable absentee at the World Cup was Dmitri Payet, the captain and talisman of Marseille. Brought back to his old club from West Ham by the club’s new owners, Payet has been made one of the central figures in the "OM Champions project" and started the season with two goals in their 4-0 win over Toulouse. The project has already seen improvement in the club’s fortunes, evident in that fact that they narrowly missed Champions League qualification on two fronts last season: losing the Europa League Final to Atleti, and by finishing just one point behind Lyon in the league. In comparison, it’s fair to say that Rennes were the "best of the rest" in Ligue 1 last season. Only one place separated these two sides in the table but that one place covered a 19 point gap. That said, Marseille were surprised by newly promoted Nimes in a 3-1 defeat last weekend - Ligue 1 certainly has the capacity to chuck a few curve balls. GS Alternative viewing: this weekend’s offering on the Eleven Sports Facebook channel is from Serie A as Inter host Torino starting at 19.30. Subscribers to the service can also watch it on Eleven Sports 1.

Whatever you watch, have a great weekend.

Graham & Terry