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Our final Boxset of the year sees the start of a very festive Afcon in Morocco.

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: Swansea City v Wrexham

20.00 on Sky Sports Football, Main Event & Ultra
By my reckoning this is the furthest up the English football pyramid that these sides from Wales have played each other. The pair rarely meet; their last encounter was the 2006 FAW Premier Cup Final. Swansea won 2-1 in an emotional last ever game at their old ground, the Vetch Field. Beyond that, there’s not a lot of a history between the two and this is not a classic Welsh derby. But there is enough interest in this fixture as both clubs look to consolidate their Championship seasons. After a poor start to the season, Swansea sacked coach Alan Sheehan and went leftfield with the appointment of Vitor Matos. The Portuguese was part of Jurgen Klopp’s coaching team at Liverpool and joined Portuguese second division club Maritimo in June before getting poached. Matos has managed five games with two wins and his team are now nineteenth. Wrexham’s recent rise through the leagues was so dramatic (and well told) that it’s a surprise to see them mid-table. Phil Parkinson’s team’s modest fifteenth place is nothing to be ashamed of and while the club spent big in the summer it was to stabilise themselves at this level which it looks like they have done. Wrexham’s owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have just sold an undisclosed stake in the club to a New York private equity firm which suggests that the pair may be reaching the upper limit of their own investment. A lot of that money will go towards stadium redevelopment so it’s possible that the Premier League dream could be put on hold and we could see this derby back next season. TD

Saturday

A-League: Perth Glory v Adelaide United

10.45 on TNT Sports 2
The result of this match will be somewhat moot given the sombre mood across Australia following Sunday’s horrific terror attack on the Jewish community in Bondi. Without wanting to sound too cliched, sport is something that brings communities together and in Sydney the Roosters NRL team was closely associated with Bondi and the Jewish community. It would be no surprise to see a lot of grief on display throughout the day from Sydney FC’s visit to Newcastle all the way to the west coast. It feels a little trite to write about football given the events of the past week, but here goes. The game itself is a fascinating match up. Perth had an awful start to the season but, in between dishing out zen quotes in his press conferences, new manager Adam Griffiths has got the Glory to step up to the level the squad list suggested they were capable of and a top six finish seems entirely feasible. Glory’s run came to an end against league leaders Sydney last week, but the Western Australians deserved at least a point if not more out of the match. Adelaide, meanwhile, are hard to get a read on. They’ve beaten Sydney and Melbourne City but are on a run of three straight losses against sides they would have expected to beat. And the Reds are terrible on the road, having yet to take a single point on their travels across Australia. All the signs point to a Perth victory, but with these teams so close to each other in the table, this would be a perfect match for Adelaide to kickstart their revival. GA

Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool

17.30 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
I’m told that the marketing guys at Spurs prefer the club to be referred to as either ‘Spurs’ or ‘Tottenham Hotspur’ and NOT simply ‘Tottenham’. With this in mind, I’ll be ignoring their brief and will solely use ‘Tottenham’ for the remainder of this preview and in every recording of the Sound of Football podcast from now on. Really! Who do they think they are? If you were ever scratching around for a reason to dislike Tottenham, which I doubt you were (there’s plenty readily available) here’s a prime candidate - you can thank me later. Tottenham, as a bin-fire of a club, is a gift that just keeps on giving. Although I was slightly concerned that they may have gotten all serious when Levy stepped down and they hired Thomas Frank, they still didn’t disappoint. Frank, a respected and relatively successful coach, finds himself in precisely the same situation as previous Tottenham head coaches: on the verge of the sack. Despite having one of the best away records in the Premier League, Tottenham’s home form is only slightly better than the three sides who currently occupy the relegation places. Why are they so poor at home? Something is rotten at Tottenham; it’s been rotten for years. Building a beautiful new stadium may have distracted us all for a short period of time, but, as they say, “you can’t polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter”. Ranged against them this evening are a Liverpool side coming out of their own funk. A procession of god-awful results finally gave way to a five match unbeaten run across all competitions starting in late November. What’s interesting about this particular statistic is that it coincides exactly with the exclusion of Mo Salah from the starting line-up. Not content with his team returning to winning ways, Salah decided to parade his fragile ego in front of a salivating press, proving, if it was ever in doubt, that for Salah there most certainly is an ‘I’ in team. This fixture last season was a mad affair with the Reds winning 6-3. Given the chaotic prelude to this tie, I’d imagine tonight’s result may be equally mad. JB

Mo Salah, Thomas Frank and Arne Slot are behind doors 11, 13 and 17 of our Advent Calendar podcast.

La Liga: Real Madrid v Sevilla

20.00 on Disney Plus
There aren’t many people who know more than Xabi Alonso about how things work at Real Madrid. In his five seasons at the club he played under three different managers: Pellegrini, Mourinho and Ancelotti. He will be more than aware of the weight of expectation on anyone who takes the job and how little time he has to deliver results. A run of injuries in defence hasn’t helped his cause but it’s the lack of goals — from anyone than Mbappe — that is the most obvious issue. Unhappy Vini Jr is without a goal in 13 games but at least Rodrygo appears to be out of his goalless fug, scoring his first goals since March. Former Argentine international Matías Ameyda took over at Seville in the summer having previously won the league in Greece with AEK Athens. In the 1990s he spent a season with the club as a player but that ended in relegation. Last season Sevilla only escaped relegation by a single point. While they currently sit in mid-table they are only one point better off than they were at this stage in 24/25. The start of Afcon means that Sevilla will be missing their Nigerian players Akor Adams and Chidera Ejuke, while Real are without Morocco’s Brahim Diaz. This was the match day that was due to see Villarreal play Barcelona in Miami. Thankfully that game is being played at the Stadio de la Ceramica on Sunday afternoon. With both sides either side of Real in the top three, one or both sides dropping points along with a home win should ease the pressure on Alonso. For now at least. GS

Xabi Alonso is behind door 6 of our Advent Calendar podcast.

Sunday

Scottish Premiership: Hearts v Rangers

13.30 on Sky Sports Football, Main Event & Ultra
Having seemingly got past their flat period, Hearts have retaken the lead at the top of the table, opening up a six point gap between themselves and Celtic. That run saw Derek McInnes’ side win just one game out of six, dropping 11 points, but the 3-1 win against Celtic in Wilfred Nancy’s first game in charge has reignited their title push. Rangers are unbeaten in the eight league games since Danny Rohl took charge and have been steadily reducing the gap between themselves and the top two. A win here for Rangers would put them just six points behind Hearts with a game in hand, and, with Celtic playing in-form Aberdeen this weekend, they could even move up to second place. Of course, that would rely on a win and Derek McInnes seems to have a taste for beating Old Firm sides. Should he win this match it would be a fourth in a row against either of the Glasgow giants, making Hearts the first team to achieve that feat in forty years. With the added spice of the transfer window about to open, more twists and turns await in this season’s title race north of the border. Both sides are each missing a player to Afcon: Rangers’ centre-back Nasser Djiga and Hearts’ forward Pierre Landry Kabore, who both play for Burkina Faso. GS

Hearts are behind door 5 of our Advent Calendar podcast.

Premier League: Aston Villa v Manchester United

16.30 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
Questions abound over both these two teams. Are United, whisper it, turning a corner? Are Villa in the title race? Are either team actually any good or are their league positions misleading? When it comes to Villa, there's absolutely no question that this is an excellent team that, yes, should be mentioned in the title mix. Gone is the poor form at the start of the season that hinted Unai Emery had peaked last season. Instead, the Spaniard has Villa ticking like a well-oiled machine and there's no question that his side are the Premier League’s in-form team, with the loss to Liverpool in early November looking more and more like an aberration rather than losing to a better team. If there’s one criticism of Villa, it’s that they could be a little more clinical in front of goal, but this is a team with depth, heart and clearly a complete belief in their coach, which isn't something that’s often said about Ruben Amorim. Even so, the much-maligned manager has seen a mini-revival in recent weeks, even if the frankly bonkers draw against Bournemouth showed the best and worst of the Portuguese’s mercurial side. United are definitely a work in progress, but unlike recent years, there are signs of progress and if you’d told United fans they'd be sitting above Liverpool with almost half the season gone, they’d have bitten your hand, arm, and possibly torso off. It’s a bit much to say that this will be a test of United’s credentials to finish in the European spots as it’s impossible to predict what side will actually turn up. Despite all this, on their day, the Red Devils can be quite entertaining to watch. This usually involves throwing away easy goals as well as some free-flowing attacking moves, but there’s still a beauty in fragility. As with all good runs, Villa’s will undoubtedly come to an end at some point but, with trips to Chelsea and Arsenal over Christmas and Villa Park somewhat of a fortress, it would be a major upset if United were to come away from the Midlands with a point or three. GA

Africa Cup of Nations 2025 Group A: Morocco v Comoros

19.00 on E4, All4 and Channel 4 Sports YouTube
So begins the Africa Cup of Nations, and the drama begins with the giants vs the minnows. These two teams met only last month at the Arab Cup, a four year pan-Arab tournament hosted by Qatar. Both teams had different squads and coaches although Comoros’ may have a higher proportion of players that lined up for that game, in this fixture than Morocco who fielded a B squad, so there is not much to be gleaned from Morocco’s 3-1 win. Walid Regragui will have his suite of European league players, including Brahim Diaz, Youssef En-Nesyri, and Sofyan Amrabat. Achraf Hakimi of PSG has an ankle sprain and has been out of action since early November and may miss this match. The full back is one of the senior professionals in the Moroccan team. The Atlas Lions are the clear favourites but that comes with its own pressure and Hakimi’s presence on the pitch would help steady those opening night nerves, especially given their opponents underdog status. This is only the second time that Comoros has qualified for Afcon, the last being in 2021. Much of the squad are French lower league players from the Comoran diaspora in that country which gives them a base of solid professionals. In front of a packed stadium in Rabat, Les Coelacantes will likely keep the block low and hope the hosts are jittery under the spotlight. They also have the slight advantage of having spent a bit more time with each other than the hosts. Morocco’s European contingent only being released from their clubs with a week to spare. TD


Whatever you watch, have a great Christmas. The Boxset returns in the new year.

Graham, Terry, Gary and Jan