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We start the season previewing games of all the sides looking to challenge for the title, and United.

Seven great matches to take you from Friday to Sunday. It’s the first Sound of Football Weekend Boxset of 2025/26.

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All times are UK

Friday

Premier League: Liverpool v Bournemouth

20.00 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
Liverpool’s Diogo Jota will be remembered before this game, as he will before all matches in the Premier League this weekend. Liverpool are favourites to defend their title but Arne Slot will face a tougher challenge than he did in his first season in charge. In the end, his side coasted to the title, with Arsenal providing the only meaningful jeopardy, and they were always playing catch-up. This season, Chelsea appear to be more settled, Arsenal have strengthened and it seems unlikely that City will be as bad as they were. Liverpool are also a team in transition: spending almost £300 million, mostly on players from the Bundesliga to replace players leaving. Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitiké replace Luis Diaz and Darwin Núnez in attack, while Jeremie Frimpong seems a natural replacement for Trent Alexander-Arnold, in that he prefers to do his defensive work in the opponent’s half. Bournemouth are also rebuilding after the defensive unit that served them so well last season was split amongst the European super-giants. Zabarnyi has gone to Paris Saint-Germain for £54.8m, Dean Huijsen going to Real Madrid for his release clause of £50m and Milos Kerkez part of Liverpool’s spending spree, replacing Andy Robertson. GS

Saturday

Championship: Wrexham v West Bromwich Albion

12.30 on ITV1, STV, ITVX and Sky Sports Football, Main Event & Ultra
Wrexham are back in England’s second tier for the first time in decades. It’s been quite a journey for the Red Dragons whose rise has been documented in the sometimes entertaining Disney Plus documentary series since they were bought by Hollywood pair Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. Despite what some of the more cynical voices may say, the initial idea of buying a struggling club to make a few quid off a streaming service gave way to the pair clearly falling in love with the local community, the fans and the club. In a sport dominated by billionaires using clubs as a plaything, or despotic states washing their grubby reputations, Wrexham is a refreshing change, and, on the odd occasion, I’ve enjoyed watching the show. Their first outing of the new season came last week at Southampton in a game which they lost 2-1 despite leading for 90 minutes. However, they pulled off a similar feat at home to Hull in the League Cup in midweek, coming back from 3-1 with two Ollie Palmer goals in the first and second minutes of injury time to take the tie to penalties, which they duly won. For the Baggies, now led by new manager, Ryan Mason (yes, him), this is a chance to build on last week’s win against Blackburn Rovers. Having finished ninth last term, just four points off the play-offs, expectations are high. The last time these sides met was an FA Cup tie back in 1930 so it’s anyone’s guess which way this one will go. For the record, my guess is a stale 1-1. This match is one of seven games Sky are showing at 12.30, but sadly not in their new Redzone/Konferenz inspired “Multiview” format - that’s just for the Premier league teams - boo! JB

Premier League: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Manchester City

17.30 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
Another season starts without any resolution in sight for the 115+ Premier League charges hanging over City. Until such time the panel’s decision is made public (and the inevitable appeals that follow) the Premier League continues as usual. City start in the unfamiliar position of being third favourites for the title - not outsiders by any stretch but certainly less fancied. Question marks remain over the fitness of Rodri. The talismanic Spanish midfielder’s assured play was sorely missed by City after he suffered a knee injury last September. He did return for a few minutes at the end of the season and played in four games at the Club World Cup (apparently), but a groin strain picked up in their quarter final defeat to Al-Hilal looks set to keep him out until at least the end of September. Some reports suggest that he is unlikely to be fully fit before the end of the year. Compared to their title rivals it feels as if City still have business to do in this transfer window. Rayan Ait Nouri has joined from today’s hosts, who have also lost Matheus Cunha to United. One exciting addition to the Wolves squad is 21-year-old Colombian, Jhon Airis, who had an excellent Club World Cup (apparently) for Fluminese. Wolves will be looking for a significantly better start to the campaign compared to last season, where they took just three points from their first ten games. It’s unlikely to start well here though. GS

La Liga: Valencia v Real Sociedad

20.30 on Disney Plus
Thinking of cancelling your Disney Plus subscription until the new season of The Bear? Well think again, cousin, because the Mouse’s favourite streamer has picked up the La Liga Saturday evening games throughout the season. Week 1 features two of Spain’s most historic and best supported clubs. Both teams finished last season within kissing distance of each other in the middle of the table. Sociedad’s campaign was a huge disappointment given their recent successes. La Real also said goodbye to lynchpin midfielder Martin Zubimendi in the summer. The 26-year-old will be a big miss but £60 million pounds goes a long way in Spain, assuming the plan is to spend it on players. Valencia have no such options. This former European giant continues to suffer humiliation under their owner, Peter Lim, who ruthlessly extracts value from the club’s youth programme and brings almost nothing back in return. There have been six permanent coaching changes since June 2020. The pattern is the same: they start the season terribly, the coach is fired and their replacement guides them to safety. Last season it was Carlos Corberan who interrupted his career path of not getting Championship teams promoted to rescue Valencia, which he did with time to spare. It’s likely that history will repeat itself once again just in time for when Sheffield United need a new coach. In the meantime, the cycle of indignity continues in front of an increasingly disgruntled home crowd. It could be an emotional start to the season at the Mestalla. TD

Sunday

Championship: Ipswich Town v Southampton

12.00 on Sky Sports Football
I’m pretty sure this match was not shown live on the telly when it was a Premier League fixture. Both relegated teams were put through the ringer last season but Southampton had it worse. The Saints were effectively down in November with their possession-focused squad unable to make the cut in the Premier League. However, they should find the course a little easier in the second tier and it makes sense to recruit Will Still as the new head coach. The 32-year-old Belgium-born English coach earned many admirers at Reims and Lens. Moving to England is a risk but he seems a good fit for this team. Last weekend, they were made to work against newly-promoted Wrexham, coming back from 1-0 down to win 2-1, sealing their first home league win since November. The determination shown by the players to pull through will please the young coach. They are also through to the second round of the EFL Cup after beating Northampton on Tuesday. Ipswich, meanwhile, were beaten at League 2 Bromley in that competition on the same night. The Tractor Boys also had a tricky start to the season. Like Southampton they faced a newly promoted, documentary-funded, team in Birmingham City. They also needed injury time. A George Hirst goal on 90+5 minutes rescued a point. There will be easier games ahead for coach Kieran McKenna but not many. Already you sense that the pressure is on to lay down a marker against a fellow relegated club in their home opener. TD

Premier League: Chelsea v Crystal Palace

14.00 on Sky Sports Main Event & Ultra
Had Chelsea not suffered that extended wobble in the middle of last season, there would have been a much closer Premier League title race. Despite that, the Blues managed to purloin Nottingham Forest’s Champions League place, win the Conference League, and be crowned Club World Cup champions in June. Say what you like at the CWC but Chelsea are over $100 million better off after their adventures in Trumpland so it was probably worth the effort. There is a trade-off and that is a truncated pre-season. The players only returned in early August which may hinder a legitimate chance of winning the title. Inevitably there are new additions: Liam Delap and Joao Pedro from Ipswich and Brighton respectively being the most eye-catching. Their first challenge is a derby game against a Crystal Palace team who have developed an appetite for trophies. The Eagles’ league season may hinge on incomings and outgoings. Marc Guehi and Eberechi Eze could leave and coach Oliver Glasner has requested at least two new players before the transfer window closes. Until then, Glasner is likely to field much the same team that matched Liverpool in the Community Shield on Sunday. Right now, Palace are one of the Premier League’s more dangerous teams and will prove a stern test for the ring rusty Blues. TD

Premier League: Manchester United v Arsenal

16.30 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
Look after the pennies and the hundreds of millions of pounds will look after themselves, so the famous saying almost goes. After a season of austerity measures at Old Trafford the purse strings have been released for a ridiculous amount of summer spending. United have splashed out over £200 million (without any coming back in) on names like Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha, to replace talented young forwards they’ve ruined. Marcus Rashford has gone on loan to Barcelona, Jadon Sancho is still hanging around but rumoured to be heading to Roma. As for Hojlund and Zirksee, who knows? You would imagine though that in a season without any European football squad depth is less of an issue for Amorim. Would he have preferred to have signed Viktor Gyokeres, having coached him at Sporting CP? The 27 year old Swede is the biggest signing of the summer for the Gunners and fills a hole in the number 9 position that Kai Havertz rarely looked commanding in. It also means Mikel Moreno can drop back into midfield with old teammate, Martin Zubamendi. Those two, along Martin Odergaard made up the Real Sociedad midfield from 2019/20. Who knows maybe the Gunners will make a late swoop for Alexander Isak as well to get the whole gang back together. GS