Weekend Boxset: Live and let Dyche

By Graham Sibley September 13, 2024

Weekend Boxset: Live and let Dyche

Can embattled Everton manager Sean Dyche survive another humbling when his side face Villa?

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

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All times are UK

Friday

Bundesliga: Borussia Dortmund v Heidenheim

19.30 on Sky Sports Mix
When I previewed Heidenheim’s opening Bundesliga fixture, against St Paul, I suggested that Franck Schmidt’s team would be a good marker for the newly promoted club from Hamburg. With the league season still in its early stages it’s important not to get carried away but things could not have gone better for FCH. After two league wins they are top of the Bundesliga table and have qualified for the Conference League, and will have a home fixture against Chelsea, or, by the looks of it, Chelsea’s third team. If the Blues’ scouts are across their brief then they’ll be taking a close look at Paul Wanner, the 18 year and old striker who joined Heidenheim on loan from Bayern Munich after a successful season in Bundesliga 2 with Elversberg. The young forward has already scored three goals and looks set for a very bright future whether that be back at Bayern or elsewhere. Wanner’s next challenge is against somewhat stiffer opposition than St Pauli and Augsburg. Borussia Dortmund are having a slow start to the season under new coach Nuri Sahin but will be a formidable test at the Westfalen. Borussia has a slate of new signings, including another young German forward, Maximilian Beier who has not made quite the same impact as Wanner. But Beier's fellow striker and new signing Serhou Guirassy is fit again and may well feature on this match. Despite Heidenheim’s achievements anything less than a win will be seen as an early failure for Sahin and his project. Maybe worth bringing the popcorn if you're a neutral. TD

Saturday

Championship: Millwall v Luton Town

12.30 on Sky Sports Football, Main Event & Ultra
Following last season’s relegation from England’s top tier, Luton find themselves second bottom of the Championship four games in. An opening day hammering in front of their own fans at the hands of fellow relegatees, Burnley, was followed by their only point of the campaign so far, a goalless draw at Pompey. It is early days, and Rob Edwards is too good a coach for this to continue for any length of time. Indeed, this week’s signing of former Chelsea wing-back, Victor Moses, should help in turning things around for the Hatters. Enjoying a marginally more effective start are today’s hosts, Millwall. Their opening two games saw them score five goals, but concede seven, returning precisely zero points. New keeper, Lukas Jensen, who joined the Lions from Lincoln City having kept an impressive 21 clean-sheets last season, must have been wondering why he made the move. However, things turned a corner with a relatively tame 0-0 at Hull followed by a decent 3-0 win against Sheff Wed at the Den. An encouraging return of four goals from former Sunderland sick-note, Duncan Watmore, gives the home side a bit of punch up front. If they can protect Jensen at the back, it could be a tough one for Luton. Plenty of legitimate concern in this crowd. Home win. JB

Premier League: Aston Villa v Everton

17.30 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
Things look bleak for Sean Dyche. Under mounting pressure after letting an apparent 2-0 win turn into an actual 3-2 defeat at home to Bournemouth, things have got so bad there’s even talk of David Moyes being lined up to replace him. Dyche shouldn’t feel too bad, when Carlo Ancelotti was in charge of the Toffees he managed to let a 2-0 lead slip four minutes into injury time. But on that day back in January 2020 they still managed to hold on to a point against Steve Bruce’s Newcastle. Another name mentioned as a possible future replacement to Dyche is Abel Ferreira, currently managing Palmeiras in Brazil. His name is reportedly the preferred option of the latest suitor looking to take Everton off Farhad Moshiri’s hands, Crystal Palace shareholder John Textor. The American businessman, who also owns Lyon (who are themselves an utter shambles) is looking to sell his 45% stake in Palace to fund a takeover of Everton after failing to secure full ownership of the Eagles. It remains to be seen whether Textor actually wants to buy Everton or is using the club’s availability as leverage to encourage Steve Parish and associates to sell their stakes in Palace. Either way, even short term improvements to the club’s position seem unlikely. Their other results so far this seasons have seen them suffer heavy defeats to Brighton and Spurs. Villa will fancy themselves to inflict similar damage and maybe also register their first clean sheet of the season. GS

Premier League: Bournemouth v Chelsea

20.00 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
When these two ground out a 0-0 at the Vitality on the same weekend last year, they were both struggling to make a start in the new season under new managers. That result meant it was just one win in five for Maurizio Pochettino, while Andoni Iraola would have to wait until his tenth game for his first win. Both sides saw marked improvements from then on. Had the season started at the beginning of November, Bournemouth would have finished above Spurs, while Chelsea would have taken the fourth Champions League place. Of course, that upturn wasn’t enough to keep Pochettino in his job. Bournemouth should be in a positive mood after their memorable win at Everton but will have to make a change of goalkeepers for this one. As he’s on loan from Chelsea, still the world’s most expensive goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga will not feature for the Cherries. Mark Travers, Bournemouth’s first choice keeper for the 21/22 promotion season is set to come in, returning from unused international duty with the Republic of Ireland. Two young Chelsea players who did see game time in the Nations League were Levi Colwill and Noni Madueke. 21-year-old Colwill played the whole of the Ireland game and the last 30 minutes against Finland while Madueke made his England debut on Tuesday, coming on as a second half substitute and providing skipper Harry Kane with the second goal - his 68th goal in his 100th appearance. As is the norm now at Chelsea, both players are on staggeringly long contracts: Colwill for seven years, Manueke eight. Another aspect of these Chelsea contracts is the reliance of generous goal/assist bonuses to keep base wages lower. This is perhaps why forward Manueke’s base contract is only half that of defender Colwill. For the moment everything seems to be going his way but the 22-year-old need only look towards his England captain to see the potential pitfalls of having a long contract. GS

Sunday

Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal

14.00 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
This time last season Ange Postecoglu was half way to winning three managers of the month awards in his first three months as a Premier League manager. Key injuries in vulnerable positions saw Tottenham, having led the table at the start of November, end the season 25 points behind their North London rivals. Both derbies last season lived up to the billing: a 2-2 at the Emirates in that early spell of the season, and a 3-2 win for Arsenal in the return fixture when the end of the season couldn’t come quick enough Spurs. For this derby it’s Arsenal struggling with missing players. Arteta’s selection issues following Declan Rice’s suspension for his red card against Brighton have been compounded by injury to captain Martin Odergaard on international duty. With Mikel Merino still a month away from being able to start for the Gunners, Arteta could start with Jorginho and push Trossard into a central role. This could give room for Raheem Sterling to make his Gunners debut. A surprise deadline day signing, Arsenal have the England forward for the season (unless for some reason Chelsea choose to recall him, which seems highly improbable), paying just a third of his salary with no obligation to buy him at the end. For Sterling, the situation looks uncertain. His contract with Chelsea runs until 2027 and he has almost £50 million in wages still to come from it. If he impresses at Arsenal, they or another club may be tempted to pick him up permanently but will either want Chelsea to agree to a knockdown price or for him to agree to a reduced wage - or, preferably, both. At 29 he still has plenty to offer and while he hasn’t been in the England reckoning in over a year, he’s played in three World Cups and you could easily imagine him featuring in a fourth. GS

Serie A: Cagliari v Napoli

17.00 on TNT Sports 1 & OneFootball
They gathered in droves at the airport when Scott McTominay arrived in Napoli last month after his transfer from Manchester United. The phlegmatic Scotsman did his best to take it all in his stride but must have wondered if his admirers had him confused with someone else. Not so. The no-nonsense attacking midfielder who scored his 10th goal in 12 appearances for his country against Portugal in the Nations League, is exactly the sort of player who will appeal to the Neapolitan spirit. McTominay is not the only Scotsman to join the Partenopei in the transfer window; defensive midfielder Billy Gilmour joins from Brighton. Romelu Lukaku completes the set of Premier League imports slotting into the number 9 slot vacated by Victor Osimhen. Napoli started the season with a 3-0 loss to Verona and new coach Antonio Conte was openly fretting about the teams’ prospects for the season. But a 3-0 win against Bologna followed by a 2-1 victory against newly promoted Parma, plus the new signings, means the mood should be buoyant on the team bus to Sardinia. Their hosts are not in such a great place. Cagliari survived their first season back in Serie A last season but said goodbye to the coach who got them promoted, Claudio Ranieri, who retired from club football. His replacement is Davide Nicola, a coach with a record of keeping struggling clubs in Serie A, most recently with Empoli, in the last campaign. This gives you an idea of the club’s ambitions. They started with a couple of points against Roma and Como and a defeat to 10-man Lecce. TD

La Liga: Atlético Madrid v Valencia

20.00 on Premier Sports 1 & LaLigaTV
Atléti welcome Valencia to the Estádio Cívitas Metropolitano having enjoyed a relatively successful start to the campaign. An eventful opening day 2-2 at Villareal was followed up with a comfortable 3-0 win at home to last season’s high fliers, Girona. Next was a frustrating goalless draw at home to Espanyol and a narrow win at Athletic Club. This unbeaten start sees them in third place level on points with rivals Real. In an attempt to keep up with their rivals across the city, as well as Barça, who top the early La Liga table, Atléti have been busy bees in the transfer market: out went Memphis Depay, Morata and João Félix among others. Coming the other way were Connor Gallagher, who swapped places with Félix, Julián Álvarez and Alexander Sorløth, who scored 23 goals for Villarreal last term. The visitors are enjoying no such fortune: a poor finish to the previous campaign has continued into this one with three straight defeats and a draw leaving them firmly rooted to the foot of the table heading into the international break. With relatively little happening in their transfer business, head coach, Rubén Baraja, brought in to save their top flight status in the 22/23 season, may find himself running out of road before Christmas. Home win. JB

Graham, Terry and Jan