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Where will Thomas Tuchel be this weekend? Don't be surprised if he's at both Spurs and Liverpool.

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

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Friday

Championship: Leed United v Sheffield United

20.00 on Sky Sports Football
It may have slipped under, or indeed, off the radar, but tonight’s visitors started this season with a two point deduction. Failing to meet deadlines for payments to fellow clubs resulted in the sanction with a further two points suspended should they choose to ‘knock’ their creditors again. This explains why the only unbeaten side in the Football League sit second, on goal-difference, behind the mighty Sunderland on nineteen points. Coach Chris Wilder, having failed to prevent United’s relegation from the Premier League last term, will be looking to continue their early season run with a win at fellow Yorkshire side RB Leeds. Keep an eye out for Jurgen Klopp, who recently added taurine addiction to his already impressive list of achievements, and may well be in the stands ahead of his new role with the caffeinated fizzy-pop giants.  Leeds will, arguably, be the toughest test the Blades will have faced to date, in a tie that hasn’t taken place for nearly three years. Two challenging fixtures against Norwich and Sunderland before the international break yielded just a couple of points for Daniel Farke’s men. Indeed, in their tie at the Stadium of Light, they came back from an early goal to lead 2-1 with just seconds left on the clock only for the usually reliable Illan Meslier to concede an absolute howler from a half-arsed effort by Alan Browne. Criminal mistakes do happen, but it cost RB Leeds two points, which puts them more or less in the same boat as the Blades. Score-draw. JB

Saturday

Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United

12.30 on TNT Sports 1 & Ultimate
It’s been high drama and thrilling entertainment at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in recent weeks, but, for now, the NFL roadshow has moved on to Wembley this weekend. Of course had things turned out differently, the magnificent NFL-capable stadium might never have been built and Tottenham would have been playing football in East London, in what is now West Ham’s ground. The clubs’ owners took part in an often times unseemly scrap for the old Olympic stadium, with the Hammers eventually winning and Spurs having to go along with what had always been their Plan A. Many fans of West Ham will argue they didn’t win anything by moving to Stratford, and a promise of affordable football has been broken. In co-ordination, fans of both clubs will be using this match to protest plans by their respective owners to cut concessions - discounts for younger fans at West Ham, and for over 60s at Tottenham. On the pitch it’s yet another London away day for the Hammers who are still yet to leave the capital (and won’t until the first week in November). In another sliding doors moment, Julen Lopetegui could well have been starting this game in the home dugout. In the summer of 2021 he was one of a number of leading European coaches to turn down the offer of being the Spurs head coach, following the dismissal of Jose Mourinho. GS

Bundesliga: Bayern Munich v Stuttgart

17.30 on Sky Sports Football
Stuttgart’s demise and Bayern’s dominance contrived to make the Southern Derby a one-sided affair of little consequence. However, with Stuttgart’s return to prominence and Bayen’s slight decline, the gap is a lot closer and the fixture worthy of the Boxset’s gaze. Their last encounter at the Allianz was a 3-0 win for the Bavarians with a brace from Harry Kane. However, the last two games at that venue ended 2-2. The visitors’ most recent victory in Munch was a 4-1 win in 2018. Incredibly, the Swabians achieved that scoreline with just 20% possession. After having finished last season’s Bundesliga as runners up VfB have not started this campaign in blistering form. Which is understandable given that Sebastian Hoeness has had to manage the loss of top scorer Serhou Guirassy and captain Waldemar Anton to Borussia Dortmund. Plus the added pressure of Champions League football. However, a barnstorming 5-1 win against Dortmund before the international break has set them up nicely for this match. Forward Jamie Leweling scored on his Germany debut against the Netherlands on Monday and Deniz Undav scored two for Die Mannschaft against Bosnia. So Stuttgart is the name on everyone’s lips right now. Can they cause an upset in the Rekordmeister’s stadium? Well possibly. Despite being top of the league Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich have gone three games without a win. They laboured heavily against Eintracht Frankfurt and conceded an injury time equaliser, drawing 3-3. Bayern are teeming with goal-scoring potential, but their soft underbelly means nothing can be taken for granted. TD

Sunday

Serie A: Empoli v Napoli

11.30 on TNT Sports 3 and OneFootball
The appointment of Thomas Tuchel as England manager has denied Serie A fans the opportunity, for now, of seeing him come to their league and renewing his touchline spat with Anonio Conte. We’ll now have to wait until he’s hounded out by the English media and he ends up in one of the many Serie A vacancies that will no doubt become available in that short time. Conte’s own position as Napoli coach looked shaky after just one game, when he watched his side lose 3-0 to Verona. Since then his side are unbeaten and sit top of the table with Romelu Lukaku back to his best and Scott McTominay settling in well. His side will need to be awake for this early kick off as Empoli are proving themselves hard to beat this season. The Tuscan side have lost just once, and sit mid-table, ahead of local rivals Fiorentina on goal difference. Their new head coach Roberto D’Aversa is back in management after being sacked by Lecce in March for head-butting an opposition player. Maybe not an individual Conte should mess with. GS

Premier League: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Manchester City

14.00 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
With the large number of outgoing players, and the owners seeming indifference to the club's current state, suggests that the Premier League has gone from must-have to nice-to-have for the owners Wolverhampton Wanderers. The Molineux club are rock bottom of the league without a win. Up to the 5-3 defeat at Brentford game, manager Gary O’Neill had the sympathy if not full support of the fans. But he was subjected to a heartfelt rendition of “You Don't Know What You're Doing” from the away fans when substituting Andre for Hwang. Any manager is on thin ice when the away fans are on your back. But Wolves captain Mario Lamina issued a robust defence of his boss insisting that O’Neill had given a lot to the players and the players were not giving anything back. The problem ultimately seems to be that O’Neill’s expansive principles are not yielding enough goals and they can’t stop conceding at the other end. So this is not exactly the best time to be facing a Manchester City team looking to regain top spot in the Premier League. City had to work hard against Fulham for their 3-2 win. They dropped points against Newcastle prior to that and then of course rescued one in that landmark game against the Arsenal. They are not an immovable object so there are chances for Wolves to get on the score sheet, but Pep Guardiola has the players to do likewise. It would be no surprise if an entire legion of fantasy football managers were making the Norwegian striker their triple captain for the weekend. No pressure, Erling. TD

Premier League: Liverpool v Chelsea

16.30 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
Although sat at the top of the table, there is still a feeling that we’ve yet to get a good idea of whether or not Arne Slot’s Liverpool have what it takes to compete for the big prizes this season. The only side they’ve faced who are currently in the top half of the table has been Forest. That match is Slot’s only defeat and the only game his side haven’t won, so far. Chelsea were themselves frustrated by Forest in their last game before the break. Coming immediately after their statement win against an up-until-then resiliant Brighton side, the 1-1 draw showed there is work ahead for Mareca’s project. From the opening weekend defeat to City, results and performances have been improving, moving the narrative away from the club’s recruitment and contract policy to what the side are actually capable of on the pitch. If long contracts are the notable feature of Chelsea right now the opposite is true of Liverpool. Trent Alexander Armstrong’s contract expires at the end of the season, along with those of Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk. Speculation over the future of such key players is an unwelcome distraction and one Slot will do well to manage smoothly. Recent history says that this match should be too close to call, the exception being January’s 4-1 win for the home side (just days after the announcement of Klopp’s resignation) which ended a run of seven consecutive draws between the two sides. Anything approaching that kind of scoreline will go a long way to proving Slot as the real deal. GS

La Liga: Barcelona v Sevilla

20.00 on ITV, ITVX, Premier Sports 1 and LaLigaTV
A comfortable win against Alaves helped Barcelona bounce back from a shock defeat to Osasuna. Hansi Flick shouldered the blame for that loss having made a number of changes to the starting line-up and putting Lamine Yamal and Raphina on the bench. Summer signing Dani Olmo was also missing with a hamstring injury that has kept him out for month. He returned to training this week but is unlikely to start this game but may come off the bench at some point in readiness for the huge matches coming up against Flick’s former club Bayern in the Champions League on Wednesday and next weekend’s Clásico. Any temptation for Flick to shuffle his pack again could provide Sevilla an opportunity to get something out of this game. After a disappointing start to the season results have been improving for head coach Garcia Pimienta. The El Gran Derbi victory just before the break showed a resilience that has been missing in recent Sevilla sides. GS


Whatever you watch, have a great weekend.

Graham, Terry and Jan