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Our last Boxset of 2024 finds a lot of clubs looking for a change of luck.

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: Luton Town v Derby County

20.00 on Sky Sports Football, Main Event & Ultra
Luton won themselves a few admirers last season. Relegation from the top-flight in the manner of Sheffield United is one thing; going down defiant, scratching and clawing as Luton did is quite another. Given the obvious spirit within Rob Edwards’ side, there was an expectation that they would be challenging at the top of the Championship from the outset. However, here we are, almost at the season’s halfway point and it’s Sheffield United who top the table while Luton wallow in a lowly nineteenth, just five points from the relegation places. Back-to-back relegations can take a long time to recover from, and the Hatters are staring this prospect squarely in the face. The silver-lining to this darkest of dark clouds is their home form: all but four of their twenty-two points this season have come at Kenilworth Road. This makes Paul Warne’s task a tough one as he takes charge of his Derby side for the final time before Christmas. An outstanding performance last time out saw the Rams put four past Pompey to bring to an end a run of six games without a win. To be fair, in their previous game they shut out Burnley at Turf Moor in a goalless draw, so things are looking up. As with their hosts, it’s their form on the road that’s the issue. Adding to their sole away win against a Luton side who haven’t lost at home since October is a tall order. The question is, do they have it in them? Home win. JB

Saturday

Premier League: Aston Villa v Manchester City

12.30 on TNT Sports 1 & Ultimate
“Oh no it isn’t!” “Oh yes it is!” Panto season has been in full swing for Manchester City since the end of October and it doesn’t look like ending soon. Their run of just one win in eleven in all competitions has seen them lose six of their last seven away games. Defeat at Villa Park last December proved to be the lowest point for City’s campaign, a fourth league game without a win, but was followed by an unbeaten run to the end of the season and yet another title. The way City are playing at the moment, that kind of form that everyone expects from them looks a very long way off. The return of Mateo Kovacic could return some solidity in the middle of the park, but whether it’s enough to break them out of their fug is debatable; after all, he was there at the start of this run and he was on the pitch to witness United’s comeback in last last weekend’s derby defeat. Villa seemed to have put there own poor November spell behind them with restorative victories over Brentford, Southampton and RB Leipzig, following a run of eight without a win. Another defeat here for City and other results going against them could see Pep’s side slide down as far as 9th this weekend. Fully expect shouts of “he’s behind you!” from the Holte End. GS

Bundesliga: Bayer Leverkusen v Freiburg

17.30 on Sky Sports Football
The Bundesliga convenes for the last time before the Winterpause and it has been an entertaining Hinrunde with no decisive title favourite emerging. Defending champions Leverkusen began their season a little shakily with dropped points to beatable opponents, Kiel, Bochum, and Werder Bremen. This coupled with Bayern Munich's solid start to the campaign has led to Xabi Alonso's team having to play catch-up and catch up they have. Die Werkself now lie second in the table just four points behind Bayern and having recently dumped them out of the DFB Pokal. They can close that gap to one point if they win here and Bayern slip up against an improving Leipzig team, this evening. And the club received a further boost this week when German international Florian Wirtz signed a new contract ruling out a much-anticipated move to Bayern in the summer. However, they face stiff opponents in SC Freiberg who have been better than solid this season and have shown little signs of suffering from the departure of coach Christian Streich last season. Julian Schuster has proved to be an excellent continuity coach and the Cup defeat to Bielefeld aside, are good value for their fifth place. Player to watch from the Breisgau club is Japanese international Ritsu Doan with five goals and two assists. At 26 years old the graceful attacking midfielder should by now be catching the eye of, dare I say, bigger clubs. TD

La Liga: Barcelona v Atlético Madrid

20.00 on ITV4, ITVX, Premier Sports 1 and LaLigaTV
If you’ve already listened to our Chrismas special Advent Calendar episode of the podcast you’ll know that behind door 16 was “La Liga in the USA”. At the the start of the season, it was reported that La Liga chief Javier Tebes was pushing to have this fixture played in Miami. It’s a move that’s been tried before, backed by Relevent, the owners of Miami’s Hard Rock stadium, but that 2019 attempt failed due to opposition from FIFA and MLS. Since then, threats of legal action have softened FIFA’s stance, but it seems - as this match is being played in Barcelona - that there are still hurdles to clear for Tebes and Relevent before they can get league fixtures played in other countries. Of course when it does happen, there will be a rush from major European leagues to follow suit and cash-in. As it is, both sides will be involved in the four team Spanish Super Cup mini-tournament in Saudi Arabia next month. This match will decide who goes in to the new year top of the table. Barcelona’s woeful recent run of one win in six games has seen their 10 point lead over Atléti on match day 12 entirely disappear, with Simone’s side having played a game less. The winners will go clear at the top, but a draw could give that honour to Real, if they can beat Sevilla at home on Sunday afternoon. GS

Sunday

Premier League: Fulham v Southampton

14.00 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
Russell Martin finally paid the price for his side being far too easy to score against last weekend. It was probably the point when they went 4-0 down at home after just 28 minutes against Spurs that finally tipped it over. The sight of streams of home fans leaving before half time is difficult to come back from. Former England U19 coach Simon Rusk has been temporarily promoted from the backroom staff as caretaker and oversaw the Saints’ midweek exit from the EFL Cup at Anfield. Ivan Juric is almost certain to take the position full time from next week but has never managed outside of Italy. His most recent appointment was as the deeply unpopular replacement to Daniele De Rossi at Roma, a position he held for just 12 games before being replaced by local boy Claudio Ranieri, dragged out of retirement. Fulham sit in a bunch of eight top-four chasing sides within three points of each other; a bunch who are either underachiving (Newcastle, Spurs, Manchester United) or overachieving (Bournemouth, Brentford). Having taken points from both Arsenal and Liverpool in their most recent games, you’d have to say Fulham are definitely in the latter group and should rightly go into the new year pushing for European football next season. But as the home defeat to Wolves last month showed, they still have it in them for it to go horribly wrong when they’re expected to win. GS

Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool

16.30 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
Before Tottenham’s chaotic, not to say hilarious, EFL Cup win last night, I asked a Spurs fan what he thought about Ange. He shrugged and said, “For years we've wanted fun and unpredictable football. We can't complain now we've got it.” I wonder what he thinks now. In recent weeks Spurs have been terrific against City (twice), terrible in Bournemouth and Glasgow and both terrific and terrible against Chelsea and Brighton. And then of course there was last night: a game that was both sublime and horrific. Tottenham currently sit tenth in the Premier League table but with a goals difference of +17 which only Liverpool and Chelsea have bettered. The old cliche “which [club name] will turn up” was never more accurate than when used with Tottenham Hotspur under Ange Postecoglou. Add it all up and it is almost impossible to prognosticate as to how Spurs will play against Liverpool. Looking at their results you could say that they turn up against the top teams but phone-in against the rest (except Southampton). By that logic Liverpool are in for a tough time at White Hart Lane. The league leaders' progress has lost a bit of momentum thanks to draws with Fulham and Newcastle and a postponed Merseyside derby. They progressed in the EFL Cup (to face Spurs again in the semi-finals) at the expense of Southampton but to what extent that is a barometer of form, I am not sure. What we can say is that both teams are full of goals so whatever happens it should make for an unpredictable Christmas cracker. TD

Serie A: Monza v Juventus

19.45 on TNT Sports 1 and OneFootball
Juve may still be unbeaten in the league but they’ve dropped 20 points in drawn games, which has seen them drift eight points away from top team Atalanta (who happen to be on a ten game winning streak). Thiaggo Motta’s side have drawn their last four matches, the most recent being the most disappointing; a home 2-2 against bottom side Venezia, and that required a late, late Vlahovic penalty. That equaliser not only denied Venezia a famous and first ever away victory over Juventus, it also meant they missed out on going above Monza, who remain one place above them on goal difference. Four points short of the next club, Monza are in danger of starting the new year having to chase their way out of trouble, but they look like a side frustratingly close to turning things around rather than being hopelessly out of their depth. One win all season looks stark and, like the Old Lady, Monza have been drawing too many games, but only the top two have been able to beat them by more than one goal, which is probably why they’ve stuck with head coach Alessandro Nesta, in his first season at this level. Everything says this game will be another draw that neither side need, or, maybe, something is about to change. GS


Whatever you watch, have a great weekend.

Graham, Terry and Jan