Get the Weekend Boxset in an email every week

Some explosive ties this Bonfire weekend and not a damp squib in sight.

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

Get the Weekend Boxset in an email every week

Head over to Substack to get this newsletter in your inbox every week.
https://soundoffootball.substack.com/

Share this with someone on WhatsApp

All times are UK

Friday

Bundesliga: Werder Bremen v Wolfsburg

19.30 on BBC iPlayer and Bundesliga YouTube
Perhaps fifteen years ago this would have been a match up between two of the Bundesliga’s best teams. However, a combination of financial mismanagement and withdrawn investment have reduced them both to grey mouses. Werder. at least. are a proper football club with a decent fanbase but Wolfsburg will be forever plastic and soulless. There’s no Kevin de Bruyne, Edin Dzeko or Grafite to quicken the pulse. Excited yet? Well don’t allow my cynicism to put you off. Both teams are well matched and while neither are expecting to make much of a contribution to the Bundesliga in general, they have their own agendas and ambitions. Wolfsburg sporting director Sebastian Schindzielorz may be sitting uncomfortably in the away dugout as he sits next to the head coach, Paul Simonis who is under mounting pressure after having lost six of their last seven games including a defeat to second division Kiel in the German Cup last week. The forty-year-old Simonis joined Wolfsburg in June after a successful spell at Eredivisie side Go Ahead Eagles. To say he was a surprise appointment presupposed that anyone was interested to begin with. But with just two league wins all season he looks like a bad hire and anything other than three points will probably end in Schindzielorz and his coach having a difficult, if short, conversation. After having lost coach Ole Werner in the summer and following an underwhelming transfer window there were genuine fears that Werder would struggle this season under Horst Steffen. His appointment reflected the different approaches to recruitment of both clubs. Wolfsburg lumped for the untried rookie, whereas Werder selected a 56-year-old who, while never having coached in the top flight, did so with distinction at Elversberg for seven years, guiding the club from the Regionalliga to the Bundesliga 2. Bremen are unbeaten in the last four games. They have lost three games so far but two of those were to Bayern and Frankfurt so there is grounds for optimism. TD

Saturday

A-League: Melbourne Victory v Melbourne City

08.35 on TNT Sports 9
A re-run of last season’s grand final, the first Melbourne derby of the season is a hard game to read. Sure, a glance at the league table will show Victory in 7th and City in third but neither side have exactly looked convincing. And both sides only have a mark in the wins column thanks to an abject Perth Glory side. Victory shipped five on the road to Newcastle after holding Auckland to a creditable draw on the opening weekend, while City feel like they’re still getting up to speed, balancing Champions League fixtures with ties against A-League opponents who seem to have sussed out how to choke off supply to last season’s title winners. All of which makes for an intriguing match up. Victory are still adjusting after losing the spine of their team in the off-season but may feel that they’re in with a chance to get one over their cross-city rivals. City meanwhile will just want to get their season started. While the result is impossible to call, it should be a match where both sides go for it. GA

Women’s Super League: Arsenal v Chelsea

12.00 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
November could be a season defining month for Arsenal with tough Champions League ties against Bayern and Real Madrid. First though, they have this match which, should they lose, will effectively end any title hopes and give them a hill to climb to qualify for Europe next season. Having already dropped points against the Manchester clubs this season, Renée Slegers’ side sit five points behind Chelsea, which is a chasm when you only have 22 games in a season and champions who haven’t lost a domestic game in 18 months. While frustratingly inconsistent, this Arsenal side can beat anyone, and being Champions of Europe means something. 50,000 fans in the Emirates (myself included) will delight in reminding Chelsea that that prize is still missing from their bulging trophy cabinet. Chelsea go on to face their perennial hoodoo team Barcelona at the end of the month. Inevitably, the spotlight will fall on Chelsea and England goalkeeper Hannah Hampton following revelations in Mary Earps’ new autobiography accusing her of being a disruptive influence who shouldn’t have been allowed back into the Lionesses set up. Hampton has wisely distanced herself from fan and media reactions to this, allowing her accuser to rightly face the brunt of the criticism. GS

Premier League: Sunderland v Arsenal

17.30 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
I think it’s fair to say that, going into this season, I was more than a little pessimistic about Sunderland’s chances of achieving anything but a spectacular return to the Championship. Of course, there’s still time for that to happen, but, had you told me that ten games in the Lads would be fourth in the table, I’d have called the men in white coats. Strange then, that going into Monday night’s home game against Everton, I experienced actual optimism about our chances. Predictably, the football gods immediately punished me with a risible display in the first twenty minutes that could have seen the visitors score two or three. Thankfully, the tide turned and Sunderland dominated the rest of the game, but only managed a 1-1, which proves that only a fool would tempt the football gods with blind optimism. Still, they go into this one against the mighty Arsenal with an unbeaten home record, having found the net each time. This last fact gives an interesting thread to pull at as the visitors haven’t conceded in eight games. Could the tricky Wilson Isidor be the first to breach the Arsenal defence, or even, just whisper it, Granit Xhaka? There’s been a lot made of Xhaka and his influence on Sunderland’s impressive start to the campaign, and, not to put too fine a point on it, it’s all completely accurate. Great leaders don’t just strive for success, they take people with them, and Xhaka certainly deserves credit for helping bring a disparate set of newbie’s together in a common endeavour. Within that set are some fine players who are worth looking out for: defenders Nordi Mukiele and Omar Alderete, midfielders Traoré and Sadiki as well as keeper, Robin Roefs. However, what is most impressive is the form of the Norn Iron pair, Trai Hume and Dan Ballard. Both have made the steep step up to the Premier League and are as important as the expensive new signings in Sunderland’s early success. Predictions? Well, with the gods looking on, you’re not going to get anything out of me. JB

Sunday

Premier League: Crystal Palace v Brighton & Hove Albion

14.00 on Sky Sports Plus
This is the seventeenth consecutive top flight derby between these two clubs which is comfortably the longest run of fixtures in any division since it was forged back in the seventies. In recent encounters Palace have had the upper hand. The latest being last April at Selhurst where nine-man Palace beat ten-man Brighton in a ridiculous game. JP Mateta and Daniel Munoz were on the scoresheet for Palace along with Danny Welbeck for the Seagulls. All three players are the type to relish playing through a storm of chaos and will want to play a decisive role in this game. As will Palace’s Ismaila Sarr who scored a brace in the derby game at Falmer last December. Sarr occupies that space in the shadow of Mateta. But he has made some decisive contributions to Palace’s recent good times. The all action attacking midfielder scored another brace last night in the 3-1win against Alkmaar in the Conference League and he could have had a hat-trick. Both clubs are coached by highly regarded former Bundesliga managers who will set their teams up for the high press and the mid block but both have been around the English game long enough to understand that fixtures like this can easily devolve into a basketball match. Some of Seagulls’ coach Fabian Hertzler’s sterner critics point to a lack of creativity in the centre of the park. There is something in that criticism but strip out the emotion of the game and these are two well-matched middle-class Premier League sides. I imagine that Hertzler will be looking to suck the energy out of the match and try to catch Palace napping. TD

Premier League: Manchester City v Liverpool

16.30 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
Two teams supposedly in crisis but still very much in the title race. Sure, Arsenal have a six point lead but Arsenal aren’t beyond doing Arsenal things and as long as either of these sides stay close enough to the Gunners over the course of the season, they’ll be in with a chance. Even so, by the standards of both City and Liverpool, the first third of the season has been disappointing. Liverpool have pulled themselves out of what has been Arne Slot’s first major slump with victories over Aston Villa and Real Madrid. City, meanwhile, have got over their slow start and are starting to feel much closer to the cohesion you’d expect from a Pep team. Of course with City there’s a big Erling Haaland shaped elephant in the room. The Norwegian is the only player to score more than one goal. Admittedly hitting 13 by November is an impressive feat but City are only one hamstring tweak away from a striking problem. Liverpool’s problem is too many attackers and not a clear view on how to fit them all in. Given Haaland’s red hot form, it wouldn’t be a shock if Liverpool’s mini revival comes to a halt in Manchester. Both sides have questions hanging over them but City seem better equipped to answer them right now. GA

Serie A: Inter v Lazio

19.45 on TNT Sports 1 and DAZN
The allenatore giostra is turning once again in Italy with two more head coaches leaving their post in the days after Luciano Spalletti replaced Igor Tudor at Juventus. Stefano Pioli was fired after his dismal Fiorentino side lost yet another home game - this time to Lecce. His exit followed Patrick Vieira resigning as Genoa head coach to be replaced by Daniele De Rossi. The head coaches in this encounter are safe, for now at least (you would imagine but this is Italy). Cristian Chivu is quickly building respect in his first year as a head coach for his somewhat un-Italian direct style of play. His tactics are certainly reaping goals - for both Inter and their opponents. His side survived a scare midweek against Kairat Almaty, conceding a second half equaliser to the Kazakh side in the Champions League. Carlos Augusto restored Inter’s lead to maintain their 100% start in that competition. Sarri’s Lazio are significantly less adventurous but five clean sheets in an unbeaten run of six games has seen them slowly climb the table after a poor start. This is the first of two visits to the San Siro this month for Lazio. This week the two Milan clubs secured control of the old stadium and surrounding land from the local authority, meaning they can now demolish and rebuild it in time for the 2032 Euros. GS


Whatever you watch, have a great weekend.

Graham, Terry, Jan and Gary