Weekend Boxset: The League Cup finals

By Graham Sibley March 14, 2025

Weekend Boxset: The League Cup finals

Before the fun and games of Thomas Tuchel's first international break as England manager we have two league cup finals to look forward to.

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

Share this with someone on WhatsApp

All times are UK

Friday

Championship: Bristol City v Norwich City

20.00 on Sky Sports Football
You have to go back as far as 2008 for the last time Bristol City were involved in the play-offs. In that year, they narrowly lost out to Phil Brown’s Hull City, denying everyone the opportunity of seeing Lee Trundle in the Premier League. (In case you’re interested, at 48, Trundle is still playing, in the second tier of the Welsh league for Trefelin BGC). For Bristol City to get to the play-offs this season, you feel they just need to keep the steady progress they’ve enjoyed since Christmas and let everyone else around them step on the banana skins (and being the Championship there are plenty). For Bristol City boss Liam Manning it would be even more of an achievement, having taken a leave of absence in October following the tragic death of his new born son Theo. The 39 year old (one of a six 30-something managers in the Championship) was born in Norwich and was a youth player for his local club. He signed for Ipswich as a teenager but never broke through as a professional, he did though become an academy coach there, then New York City FC and West Ham. He got his first head coach role in Belgium in the summer of 2020 for Lommel, followed by manager positions at MK Dons and Oxford United. Norwich meanwhile are six points short of today’s host and in danger of slipping from the reckoning with just nine games remaining. Their coach, Johannes Hoff Thorup, three years younger than Manning, also never played professionally. Having been on the coaching staff at Danish club Nordjaelland since his mid-20s, he took the head coach role in January 2023, guiding the club to a second place finish in the Superliga in his first few months in charge. GS

Saturday

A-League: Western Sydney Wanderers v Melbourne Victory

08.35 on TNT Sports 3
To call things tight in the A League would be an understatement. MacArthur’s Friday night win at Adelaide means there’s only 8 points separating second place to seventh, and with both Wanderers and Victory in the middle of the pack, both could just as easily drop out of the top six and finals football altogether as they could finish second and enjoy a significant advantage going into the post-season. And this is a very hard match to call. After a poor start to the season, Wanderers at times now look like a proper side under former Matildas boss Alen Stajcic, while Victory started strongly, went on a terrible run and have now stabilised and are scrapping for points to keep their finals hopes alive. Wanderers are in slightly better form than Victory, but both sides have had a run of playing teams whose seasons are realistically over. Earlier in the season, the two sides played out a 2-2 draw and that’s likely to be a realistic scoreline here. Neither side are short of firepower but there’s a reason they’re not pushing Auckland all the way for the Premier’s Plate and it’s nothing to do with their respective abilities to put the ball in the net. GA

Women’s League Cup Final: Chelsea v Manchester City

12.15 on BBC One & iPlayer
It’s often disappointing when women’s football apes the men’s game. Tottenham’s decision to fire Jose Mourinho just day before their 2021 EFL Cup Final seemed like one of those bizarre Spurs-doing-Spurs things, but here we are three years later with Manchester City doing exactly the same in the week running up to this final. Gareth Taylor’s five years in charge of the club ended on Monday night, five days after his side dropped precious WSL points against bottom-half West Ham. What makes the timing even more strange is that this is the first of four consecutive games these sides play in just twelve days. Next weekend’s WSL match at City is sandwiched between Women’s Champions League quarter-final legs. City have been hampered by injuries to key players this season but there is strong speculation that some players were unhappy with him. Chloe Kelly’s exit from the club in January, hinted strongly at a breakdown in relations, and another former player Ellie Roebuck has also made telling social media posts, but no one at this point has directly criticised Taylor’s management. Nick Cushing comes in as interim for the remainder of the season, returning to women’s football and to City after five years at New York City in MLS, two as head coach. Can the last minute change get City back on track and cause a genuine upset against Sonia Bompastor’s unstoppable Chelsea side. It didn’t work for Spurs men at Wembley, it probably won’t work for City’s women at Pride Park. GS

Bundesliga: RB Leipzig v Borussia Dortmund

17.30 on Sky Sports Football
Both teams have been poor this season and need to turn things around if they want a top four finish. Since the start of the Rukrunde in January sixth placed Leipzig have only won four games and exited the Champions League with a whimper. Their prospects of returning to that competition are a little better than Dortmund's but the feeling is that coach Marco Rose will not be there to see it, even if they win the DFB Pokal (and they might). Such is the speculation that there will be a change of leadership that Crystal Palace are moving to extend and improve the contract of their coach, Oliver Glasner, who is thought to be Jürgen Klopp's (Red Bull's Global Head of Everything) preferred choice as replacement. After their 1-0 home defeat to Augsburg last Saturday, tenth placed Dortmund have to make up a seven points gap if they're to have any chance of a top four finish. They won't give up but with Bayern, Mainz and Leverkusen still to play I wouldn't blame new coach Niko Kovac if he focussed his attention on staying in this season's Champions League for as long as possible. Not straightforward given that their next opponents are Barcelona. Frankly, Borussia could use a season with as few mid-week games as possible so making the most of European competition now plus a vigorous run in the Club World Cup in the summer would help mitigate the loss of UEFA lucre and give them the space to rebuild. TD

Sunday

Premier League: Arsenal v Chelsea

13.30 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
Let’s be honest, Gunners fans. The Premier League title isn’t going to happen, no matter what Mikel Arteta says. 15 points is too big a gap to overcome, especially when your main rivals for silverware are as consistent as Liverpool. And Arsenal really only have themselves to blame. As good a side as they are, their lack of cover up front and tendency to make unnecessarily hard work of matches they should by all rights be winning means 2nd place may even flatter them. That puts the Gunners in a strange place of having their league season sputter out despite being comfortably ensconced in the top four. But they can’t be too complacent - a few dropped points here and there and it’s not inconceivable that they could be in a battle to secure a Champions League spot on the final day of the season. Much of their current malaise stems from - like Chelsea - their inability to bring in cover for injured strikers. Mikel Merino is manfully trying to fill the gap up front but when you’re relying on late goals to salvage points against an abysmal Manchester United side, it shines a light on your deficiencies. Chelsea, meanwhile, are a curious beast this season. Enzo Maresca deserves a huge amount of credit for getting the Blues to function like a proper team, and has got a side that’s capable of giving anyone a game. But they have been a bit streaky of late and will have been grateful the fixture gods gave them back to back matches against Southampton and Leicester to restore a smidge of confidence. Both sides could use a win to prove their Top Club credentials this season, but given Arsenal’s struggles of late and Chelsea’s air of fragility, this could be a fascinating, if not necessarily high quality encounter. GA

League Cup Final: Liverpool v Newcastle United

16.30 on ITV1, ITVX, STV, Sky Showcase and Sky Sports Football, Main Event & Ultra
The first major domestic final of the season sees serial winners, Liverpool, take on the N*wcastle, who haven’t lifted more than a feather-duster to polish the replica of the 1955 FA Cup they no doubt have somewhere in St James’ Park. I’m told it sits proudly next to a lock of Alan Shearer’s hair and a sizable portrait of Mohammed bin Salman. By the end of Sunday the (dirty) Mags could be preparing to add the League Cup to this grizzly shrine firmly establishing themselves as a major force in English football. Standing in their way is the collective might of a Liverpool side looking to add to the Premier League title which they have all but won already. A year ago, Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool won this trophy in the dying minutes of extra-time; today his successor seeks to do the same with his side as firm favourites. That’s quite a journey for the Dutchman. Klopp’s departure left a sizable void, but Slot seemed to ease into the role and build on the German’s legacy without issue. Clearly, it’s not all been plain sailing; an embarrassing FA Cup exit at Plymouth was followed this week by defeat at the hands of PSG in the Champions League. They’ll be without the influential Trent Alexander-Arnold who limped off in the PSG defeat, but still have a stellar cast of players available. The barcodes are without Lewis Hall and Sven Botman who are both injured, and Anthony Gordon, because he’s an idiot. In 2023, Eddie Howe’s side failed to show up in this fixture. He’ll have learned from that, but will it be enough to overcome the colossus that is Liverpool? In a word, no. JB

La Liga: Atlético Madrid v Barcelona

20.00 on ITV4, ITVX, Premier Sports 2 and LaLigaTV
It could take all of Diego Simone’s motivational skills to pick up his Atléti side from Wednesday’s Champions League exit at the hands of Real Madrid. After the game he was visibly trying to reinvigorate his crestfallen players to thank their home support after losing the shootout in bizarre fashion. VAR intervened to prove that Julian Alvarez had accidentally touched the ball twice, slipping as he took his spot-kick. Although the ball went in, VAR ruled the kick illegal. There are no retakes for this, it has been suggested that IFAB may look at that for unintentional double touches. Of course Simeone has been here before, losing the Champions League final on penalties to Real Madrid back in 2016, but at least then they had the summer to lick their wounds. Atléti missed out on going top last week, losing to Getafe in another match dominated by VAR decisions. Simeone’s side had lead through a soft penalty awarded by the video official but conceded twice after Angel Correra saw red in the 88th minute. Again the VAR overturned the referees on-field decision. Correa now faces a five match ban for abuse he hurled in the direction of the official after being given his marching orders. Barcelona still lead the table on goal difference over Real, with Atléti just a point behind, but both Madrid sides have played a game more. The Catalans’ away game to Osasuna was postponed last Saturday following the death of club doctor Carles Minarro Garcia at the team’s training camp in the hours before. GS

Whatever you watch, have a great weekend.

Graham, Terry, Jan and Gary