Weekend Boxset: You want some?

By Graham Sibley November 29, 2024

Weekend Boxset: You want some?

Copa Libertadores, FA Cup, Der Klassiker and Liverpool v City - hope you didn't have any other plans.

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

Championship: Sheffield United v Sunderland

20.00 on Sky Sports Football & Ultra
A real top of the table clash to kick start your weekend sees second-place United entertain a Sunderland side two points and two places below them. The Blades boast an unbeaten home record with a tight defence that’s shut out every visiting side since August. Boss Chris Wilder, who’s done this all before, faces off against Sunderland’s Régis Le Bris who is in his first season in English football. Perhaps the experience is starting to show with an explosive start giving way to five straight draws for the Frenchman. A frustrating midweek encounter at home to West Brom saw Sunderland create multiple chances only to see the game end 0-0. They threw away leads against Coventry and Millwall and are now slipping behind the leading pack. Still unbeaten in ten, the Black Cats have done well to continue to accumulate points given the number of injuries they are carrying. Romaine Mundle, who was outstanding replacing Ipswich bound Jack Clarke on the left, has missed the last two games, and is unlikely to be back this side of Christmas. He is joined by five other first-teamers which goes some way to explain the drop off in form. Wilder’s side will be a real challenge in what is a must-win game for the Wearsiders. Expect Sunderland to give them a decent game, but I can’t see the Blades losing their home record tonight - home win. JB

Alternative viewing: The BBC iPlayer is where you want to go for the home nations involved in Women’s Euro qualifying play-offs. Northern Ireland v Norway kicks off at 19.00, Wales v Republic of Ireland at 19.15 and Scotland v Finland at 19.35. The second legs will be held on Tuesday, the winners qualifying for next July’s tournament in Switzerland.

Saturday

FA Cup second round: Wealdstone v Wycombe Wanderers

11.30 on ITV1, STV and ITVX
If I was in London this weekend, there is only one place I’d be: Grosvenor Vale. It’s not just because Wealdstone have a cracking bar and is one of the friendliest clubs I’ve visited. It’s also because there’s a smell of an upset in the air. Ok, this might be the football romantic in me, but despite Wycombe being the highest placed team in the cup at this stage and Wealdstone sitting towards the bottom of the National League, it’s not quite as straightforward as the gap between the teams might suggest. Wycombe have a lengthy injury list and manager Matt Bloomfield has to decide whether he risks key players or prioritises the Chairboys slightly unexpected title push. Wealdstone, meanwhile, are on a decent unbeaten run that belies their position, and have the motivation of a potential third round Premier League tie, if the FA Cup gods look kindly upon them. The gulf in class between the sides may prove to be too much, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the non-league side give Wycombe a stiffer test than some League One sides. GA

Bundesliga: Borussia Dortmund v Bayern Munich

17.30 on Sky Sports Football
It’s been about a decade since the DFL created Der Klassiker and sought to elevate this fixture internationally. The name has its critics, but has endured and according to ESPN’s Bundesliga commentator Derek Rae is slowly being adopted by the German football public. This iteration has some particular interest for students of the Berkshire school of football. Bayern’s summer signing Michael Olise, and Borussia Dortmund’s Jamie Gittens are both wingers and went through the Reading FC academy system. If you’ll forgive the private joke, perhaps they could rename this the Rob Langham Derby. Gittens has seven goals this season, the latest being a super strike in Borussia’s 3-0 win at Zagreb on Wednesday which also broke a six-game losing streak away from home. The game also saw Maxi Beier score his second in two, the first being in the 4-0 win at home to Freiburg last weekend. The 22-year-old German forward arrived with some fanfare but, like Dortmund, has taken time to get going. BVB are struggling for momentum and have had to deal with injuries, illnesses and loss of form; the latter two applying to the imports from Stuttgart, Serhou Guirassy and Waldemar Anton. Consequently the 36-year-old coach Nuri Sahin is looking paler by the day and could do with a statement win to put some colour back in his cheeks. That would be more likely if this was happening earlier in the season. But Bayern’s top of the table position is now more about them and less about the shortcomings of their rivals. A rousing Klassiker win at Dortmund would be a significant marker. TD

Copa Libertadores Final: Atletico Mineiro v Botafogo

20.00 on BBC Three & iPlayer
Hats off to the BBC for broadcasting this showpiece event. The Libertadores Final has been a single match hosted at a neutral venue since 2019, one year after River and Boca final when the second leg was postponed due to pre-match crowd trouble in Buenos Aires and was relocated to the Bernabéu in Madrid. This final takes place at River’s stadium, the Estadio Monumental between two Brazilian clubs. River were denied the opportunity of playing in this final by Atletico Mineiro in the semi-final. Since the first leg of that tie in late October, MG have not won a match in any competition. Their leading scorer is a familiar name. Incredibly, Hulk is still banging them in at 38 years old. He was rested for the 3-2 defeat to Juventude on Wednesday and will need to add to his 10 goals this season if Mineiro are to overcome an opponent that is top of the Serie A table. In addition to contesting the Libertadores, Botafogo are embroiled in a title race with Palmeiras. The two met at Sao Paulo on Wednesday and Botafogo returned with a 3-1 win and a three-point advantage with two games left. Winning their first ever Libertadores and third national title would be a sweet moment for the club’s controversial majority stakeholder John Textor. The US billionaire who also owns a significant stake in Crystal Palace and Lyon, claimed that Botafogo were the victims of match fixing, last season, when they lost the title to Palmeiras. His claims were dismissed, and the auditor recommended a six-year ban for Textor. I suppose it might be quite funny if they bottled it. TD

Sunday

Premier League: Chelsea v Aston Villa

13.30 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
Six wins from their opening seven games appeared to herald another season of Villa as a side comfortable with life near the top of the table. But now Unai Emery’s side are in a slump of seven games without a win. Of course there are theories for the sudden downturn in results - the added load of the Champions League, for one - but were the signs there from the start? In the Premier League, the only clean sheet they’ve kept was against United at their worst, and in their last three wins they had to come back from going behind. The winless run could have ended in midweek against Juventus, but Morgan Rogers’ last minute goal was disallowed for a foul on the goalkeeper by Diego Carlos. Villa were kept in the game thanks to a stunning save from Emiliano Martinez that goal-line technology adjudged to stay out by the thickness of the lacquer on the ball. One of Villa’s stars of last season, Douglas Luiz, who left Villa for Juventus in the summer, missed the game through injury, but his presence in the stands was enough to fuel speculation that he could be making a shock return to Villa in the January window. Chelsea meanwhile have steadily risen to third place while other clubs around them have hit bumps in the road. Cole Palmer was targeted with rough treatment in their last match against Leicester. Last season, Palmer wasn’t even in the top 25 of the most fouled Premier League players, this season only specialist foul-winner Bruno Guimaraes has been brought down more than him. Like Villa, Chelsea present something of an enigma right now: they are unbeaten in five at the Bridge but have yet to keep a home clean sheet. GS

Premier League: Liverpool v Manchester City

16.00 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
The word crisis is easily banded around in football circles, but when it comes to City, to paraphrase Tommy Lee Jones in No Country For Old Men, if this ain’t a crisis it’ll do until the crisis gets here. The Citizens nosedive in form is unexpected as it is inexplicable. The team look panicked, disjointed, tactically sloppy, and vulnerable, adjectives that typically tend to be applied to to the red side of Manchester in recent years. Given the respective form of the two sides it would be a huge shock if Guardiola and his team walked away from Anfield with three points. But then again, if you’re going to make a statement and get your title push back on track, then giving the league leaders a bloody nose at home is the perfect place to do it. In honesty, a draw wouldn’t be an awful result for City, but then this is City, who demand nothing less than perfection. If Erling Haaland can rediscover his inner Anton Chirgurh-like ruthlessness in front of goal then the form book means very little. Will this be entertaining? Who knows? Title deciders often aren’t. Will it be a fascinating study in psychology under adversity? Absolutely. GA

Serie A: Lecce v Juventus

19.45 on TNT Sports 2 and OneFootball
Lecce jumped out of the relegation zone on Monday night by beating bottom of the table Venezia. It was their first away win of the season and owed a lot to a tremendous display from goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone. It was also head coach Marco Giampaolo’s first game in charge of the side having taken over from Luca Gotti during the international break. Giampaolo’s career includes a miserable seven game spell in charge AC Milan at the start of the 2019/20 season. He’s had unspectacular short spells at Torino and Sampdoria since then but at least he’s got off to winning start with the team from the tip of Italy’s heel. Juventus are in the middle of an injury crisis so deep they could only name four outfield substitutes for their midweek Champions League trip to Aston Villa. Key defenders Gleison Bremer and summer signing Juan Cabal are both unlikely to return this season having both suffered cruciate ligament injuries. Despite these and a growing number of lesser injuries amongst the squad, Thiago Motta’s side are still unbeaten domestically but have drawn more games than they’ve won, which has opened a three point gap between themselves and the four teams who are one point shy of leaders Napoli. Top scorer Dusan Vlahovic could make a return in this match along with Nico Gonzalez but Weston McKennie and Douglas Luiz are still a couple of weeks away from returning. GS

Whatever you watch, have a great weekend.

Graham, Terry, Jan and Gary