Weekend Boxset: Awfully good

By Graham Sibley November 28, 2025

Weekend Boxset: Awfully good

Yet another all-Brazil Libertadores final, the Serie A rollercoaster and United back to banter.

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: Oxford United v Ipswich Town

20.00 on Sky Sports Football, Main Event & Ultra
It’s fair to say that Oxford United are having a very poor season. Manager, Gary Rowett, recently voiced his frustration at the lack of consistency, decrying the absence of energy and a mentality which is in stark contrast to last season’s battling spirit. They now sit third bottom of the Championship table, having failed to win any of their last five games. Indeed, recent draws against Boro and Norwich says more about the struggles of those sides than any kind of resurrection for the Yellows. Captain, Cameron Brannagan, misses tonight’s game due to a calf problem, adding to a growing list of missing players in both defence and attack. Conversely, Ipswich Town’s form is in stark contrast to that of their host’s, having avoided defeat in their last six outings. A win this evening could see them go second, behind runaway leaders Coventry City. It’s encouraging to see that Kieran McKenna has turned his side around after the ignominy of last season’s capitulation in the Premier League. The recent interest in his services from Celtic also doesn’t seem to have fazed the young coach who is rightly admired and respected across the game. Usually predicting an outcome offers some kind of jeopardy, but it’s hard to see that this won’t be anything other than a one-sided affair. The Tractor Boys should be too good for the home side, and Oxford’s struggles will continue. JB

Saturday

A-League: Western Sydney Wanderers v Sydney

08.35 on TNT Sports 4
At the start of the season, this writer confidently predicted that Wanderers would be challenging for the top spot and Sydney would take time to adjust with a new forward line and a coach under pressure in Ufuk Talay. If early season form is anything to go by, these predictions were completely inaccurate. Sydney sit at the top of the table, having galvanised since an abject opening round performance against Adelaide. Wanderers, meanwhile, opened with three points against Central Coast and haven’t won a match since then. It is still early days, and former Sky Blue Kosta Barbarouses has been in good form since moving to Wanderland, but Alen Stajcic really needs the rest of the team to contribute, as Wanderers need to be more clinical in front of goal with an average of one goal per match, despite having the fourth highest xG in the competition. A win against their cross-city rivals would be just the tonic to kick start their season, but Sydney have a decent record at the CommBank stadium and are the form side right now. That said, the Sky Blues do have a habit of starting games slowly and will give their opponents chances, even if they’re far less leaky at the back this since since the addition of Marcel Tisserand and Paul Okon Jr. Expect Wanderers to give it all they’ve got, but even that might not be enough. GA

Bundesliga: Bayer Leverkusen v Borussia Dortmund

17.30 on Sky Sports Football
This match is part one of a league and cup double header. Leverkusen travel to Dortmund on Tuesday for the DFB Pokal’s round of 32. Both teams had impressive Champions League results this week: Dortmund eventually made short work of ten-man Villareal but could have added to their 4-0 scoreline had Fabio Silva not missed a penalty. Silva joined from Wolves in the summer and has been publicly bellyaching about lack of minutes and a possible January departure. The undisputed star of the game was Karim Adeyemi who capped off a terrific performance with a goal, a yellow card, a touchline bollocking from his coach, Niko Kovac, who then, after the game proclaimed the young German international as world class. Life comes at you pretty fast in Dortmund. The result covers up some indifferent recent league form. When Adeyemi scored in the 89th minute against Stuttgart on Saturday to make the score 3-2 it looked like BVB might snatch second in the Bundesliga. But Deniz Undav grabbed his hat-trick goal to level things up in injury time. Leverkusen’s 2-0 win at Manchester City was a testimony to the team’s resilience but also reflects City’s inability to make good on their possession and chances created. It is not for nothing that B04’s Mark Flekken was one of the highest rated players. The goalkeeper made nine saves to keep his clean sheet. Dortmund will be a different kind of opponent but the home side have every reason to be confident given their league form. Kasper Hjulmand’s team have only lost once since he dramatically replaced Erik ten Hag in September, and that was to Bayern Munich which does not count. TD

Copa Libertadores Final: Palmeiras v Flamengo

21.00 on BBC Three & iPlayer
The final of South America’s equivalent of the Champions League sees yet another all-Brazil pairing — the fifth time this has happened in the past seven seasons. Whoever wins will take the total number of Copa Liberatdores titles to be won by Brazilian sides to 25, finally matching the number won by Argentinian clubs. The dominance of Brazilian clubs in this competition is a relatively recent thing and shows no sign of easing, but Palmeiras needed a small miracle to get here having to overturn a 3-0 first leg deficit in their semi-final against LDU Quito of Ecuador. They won 4-0 in Sao Paulo, a sensational performance especially considering how their league form has collapsed over the past month. Before their 3-2 defeat when these sides met in the Brasileirao last month, Palmeiras had a three point lead at the top of the table, now they trail Flamengo by five with just two games to play. Flamengo’s push in the second half of the season has been aided by key signings of Jorginho and Emerson Royal, either side of the Club World Cup. This final is a repeat of the 2021 final played at the Centenario in Montevideo. Palmeiras had the edge that day winning 2-1 in extra time but they will have to produce something special to do the same in Lima. GS

Sunday

Premier League: Crystal Palace v Manchester United

12.00 on TNT Sports 1 and Ultimate
If it weren’t for Tottenham’s laughable display in the North London derby the afternoon before, Manchester United’s performance against 10-man Everton would have gone down as the worst of the weekend, if not the season so far. Ruben Amorim had to work hard to set up a team to be outnumbered in the attacking third of the pitch despite having more players but he managed it. United’s recent form had been decent prior to Monday, having gone undefeated in their previous five. A win would have seen the Red Devils rise to fourth, such is the tightness of the top half of the Premier League table. Their opponents go into this game surely as the bookies’ favourites. United have not beaten Palace in the Premier League since February 2023 and not at Selhurst since 2016. That said, Palace have to recover from their 2-1 defeat at Strasbourg; a ridiculous game in which the Eagles hit the post twice in front of open goals and missed a bevy of chances against a superb French side. The Eagles’ xG is one of the highest in the League but they could do with a few more actual goals. Strikers Jean-Phillipe Mateta and Ismaila Sarr have nine between them but they need support from elsewhere. Yeremy Pino’s first goal since arriving from Villareal was welcome but if Palace are to fulfil their early season promise then the likes of Daichi Kamada or Adam Wharton et al need to contribute. TD

Premier League: Chelsea v Arsenal

16.30 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
With other sides seemingly uninterested in challenging Arsenal in the title race it falls to Chelsea to stop the North London side from extending their six point lead at the top of the table. While Chelsea are An Awful Football Club they are actually a very good football team and, having gone a month without having someone sent off, are in the sort of form you’d expect from genuine title contenders. Both sides made statements wins in the Champions League in midweek with dominant home wins over traditional powers. Maybe the Swiss model takes some of the jeopardy or meaning from these kinds of wins, but Chelsea’s 3-0 defeat of Barcelona has the feeling of a defining moment for Maresca. The same could be said for Arteta with Arsenal’s 3-1 win over Bayern, an opponent who has repeatedly pulled the Gunners’ pants down in that competition over the years. As London derbies go, this will be in stark contrast to the gimme that Arsenal were offered last weekend against Spurs, with Chelsea providing defensive steel as well as a meaningful threat in attack. GS

Serie A: Roma v Napoli

19.45 on TNT Sports 1 and DAZN
The game of musical chairs at the top of Serie A continues. Last week we flagged the Milan derby result could see a shuffling of the chasing pack, and AC’s win over Inter saw I Nerazzurri drop from first to fourth and Milan up to second. The main beneficiaries of this result was Roma who were comfortable 3-1 winners on the road at Cremonese, moving I Giallorossi two points clear at the top of the table. Not that leading the race means anything, with just three points separating first from fifth, and the unlikely challengers of Como sitting six points behind. There’s been very little consistency amongst the top teams in Italy this season, which is why the sides are so bunched up, and a two goal margin of victory for Napoli in this fixture could push Antonio Conte’s team to the top of the table, assuming Milan fail to beat Lazio. Napoli have a slightly more full treatment table than their hosts, with both Kevin De Bryune and Andre-Frank Anguissa out of the reckoning. This means the goalscoring burden falls on Rasmus Højiland, which is never a great position for any side to find themselves in, although on the plus side, Scott McTominay is fit and firing. Roma have found their way to the top spot somewhat by stealth and, despite a lack of high profile names, are quietly and efficiently making a claim for a first Scudetto since 2001. Of course, this being Serie A, the top six could all swap positions come Sunday night, but a win for Roma would go a long way to establish Gian Piero Gasperini’s side as the team to beat. For the sake of neutrals, though, long may this chaotic, tight race continue this season. GA

Whatever you watch, have a great weekend.

Graham, Terry, Jan and Gary