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Christmas comes early with the World Cup draw, the FA Cup and two old men fighting over a comb.

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

FIFA World Cup 2026 draw

17.00 BBC Two & iPlayer
Three hosts and 45 qualifying nations will be drawn into twelve groups for next summer’s World Cup in North America. England have been seeded which means they will avoid Spain and Argentina until the semi-finals and France until the final (assuming they all finish top of their groups). If Scotland are drawn into group A they will open the tournament against co-hosts Mexico. Who knows how long it will take from them to start picking teams out of the bowl; first up on the schedule there’s the small matter of Donald Trump receiving the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize. Maybe check in at 17.30 and see how it’s going. GS

FA Cup second round: Salford City v Leyton Orient

19.30 on TNT Sports 1 and Discovery Plus
It’s FA Cup weekend, so it must be time for Salford City to get their annual TV slot. Look, it’s hard to be too down on Salford. Yes, the Class of 92’s cash helped propel them out of non-league, but Nicky Butt et al have been relatively sensible with spending since their arrival in League Two and they’ve become a solid basement division club with aspirations for League One. Nothing wrong with that, but because of the Manchester United connection, TV executives love The Ammies. As a non-league club, TV coverage was probably justified. A trip to Manchester City was definitely justified. But a home match against Leyton Orient in the second round? It doesn’t exactly set the pulses racing. Grimsby’s match against Wealdstone or Cheltenham against Buxton are probably more interesting matches with both non-league sides fancying their chances of making the third round. Orient, a division above Salford and moving steadily into mid-table, could be described as an upset in waiting, but as Salford are also pushing for promotion, there might not be too much difference between the sides. Certainly Orient have somewhat of a leaky defence and a pretty average record on the road this season, but Salford are also in indifferent form, and will be hoping their recent 4-3 victory in a see-saw match against Crawley will get them back on track. So, yes, annoyingly, this does have the potential to be an entertaining game of football, but that probably wasn’t top of mind when TNT put a big green tick next to this fixture. GA

Saturday

Premier League: Aston Villa v Arsenal

12.30 on TNT Sports 1 & Ultimate
Before the last match day of September things looked very different in the Premier League. Five games in, about the time when the table actually starts to means something, Liverpool had already accrued a five point lead at the top of the table while Villa were second from bottom. Nine games later and Villa are the form team in the Premier League having only dropped points in an increasingly inexplicable 2-0 defeat at Anfield. Here they come up against a Gunners side on a run of 18 games unbeaten in all competitions, their longest since Unai Emery was in charge in 2018. Fixture pressure and mounting injuries may prove too much for that run to continue much further: just as their attacking players are returning the Gunners’ injury crisis has shifted to their defence with both first choice centrebacks Gabriel and Saliba out and now summer signing Cristian Mosquera is a doubt having come off in the first half of their win against Brentford on Wednesday night. Jurien Timber, who was meant to be rested for that game, was pressed into service as a centre-back, a position he does play for the Netherlands, but Arsenal’s new found depth is being tested to its very limit. Personally, I won’t be watching this one thanks to the short-sighted scheduling that puts this match on at the same time as when I’ll be at the Emirates watching Arsenal take on Liverpool in the WSL. GS

FA Cup second round: Sutton United v Shrewsbury Town

17.15 on BBC Two & iPlayer, TNT Sports 2 and Discovery Plus
Few clubs are more aware of the Magic of the FA Cup than Sutton United. In 1989, as an Isthmian League side, they inflicted one of the most famous giant-killings in the competition’s history, knocking out top-flight Coventry City, who had won the Cup just eighteen months earlier. And in 2017 they had a famous fourth round win over Leeds. This season the magic is working a little differently. When Sutton were drawn out of the hat for the second round, after their win at home to Telford, they were bottom of the National League. Since then they are unbeaten and are now out of the relegation zone. Michael Appleton will be hoping his Shrewsbury side can turn a similar corner having struggled since being relegated to League Two last season and now sat just a point above the relegation line. In the league, the Shrews have just one win away from New Meadow, but did make short work of their first round opponents South Shields, who they led 3-0 at half time in the North East. GS

MLS Cup Final: Inter Miami v Vancouver Whitecaps

19.30 on Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video
There have been a number of huge encounters between Lionel Messi and Thomas Müller over the years for club and country. It could even be argued that a rivalry between the two has been played on bigger stages than that of Messi and Ronaldo, which was almost entirely limited to domestic football in Spain (and Ballon d’Or voting slips). From the 2014 World Cup final to the 8-2 Covid Champions League quarter final, Thomas Müller has been there to spoil Messi’s party. Could he do it one more time? In August, after winning his 13th Bundesliga title with Bayern, Müller joined Whitecaps and helped them secure their place in their first ever MLS Cup final. His impact was almost immediate - scoring a hat-trick in his third game, a 7-0 win against Philadelphia Union, the side that would go on to win the Supporters’ Shield. Messi is this season’s top scorer with 29; his Miami side has three former Barcelona teammates: Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez, but manager Javier Mascherano could almost put out a full team of Argentinians. Miami are expected to win but Whitecaps are proving extremely hard to beat. Given this happens just 24 hours after the World Cup draw takes place in DC expect many of the dignitaries to make the trip to Florida to lig around on the side-lines, looking awkward when Messi trudges up to them for his runner’s-up medal. GS

Sunday

Scottish Premiership: Celtic v Hearts

15.00 on Sky Sports Football & Ultra
It’s possible that Hearts’ title race is run. The Edinburgh club’s form has dipped in the last few weeks; winning only one of their last five matches. They should have won on Wednesday, only for Bruce Anderson to score a late equaliser for Kilmarnock. With that 1-1 draw Hearts’ lead at the top of the table has been reduced from commanding to goal difference. But the mere fact that Hearts have stayed in contention for this long speaks well of Derek McInnes’ team. With extra investment coming in from Tony Bloom we may see more from this club. Part of Hearts success are the pratfalls of the Old Firm. Celtic failed to qualify for the Champions League and suffered an indifferent start to the league season. Manager Brendan Rodgers’ bizarre Partridge-esque references to Honda Civics were followed by direct criticism of the board for lack of investment which led to his departure. While the ownership pondered Rodgers’ replacement they brought back former manager Martin O’Neill as caretaker. The 73-year-old relished his return to club management and lifted the team to second in the table in time for this match, winning all five league games. His final match was a 1-0 win against Dundee on Wednesday. He leaves the seat nice and hot for Wilfred Nancy, a 48-year-old Frenchman who joins from MLS club Columbus Crew. This is an extremely bold and imaginative hire by the club. Nancy had never coached in Europe before but he has impeccable credentials, guiding what is a small franchise with a modest budget to an MLS Cup win and a place in the CONCACAF Champions Cup Final. This move could prove to be the springboard for a future superstar coach. Or he could be the next Ange Postecoglou. TD

FA Cup second round: Blackpool v Carlisle United

17.30 on TNT Sports 2 and Discovery Plus
Of these sides, it’s Blackpool who have history with the FA Cup, winning it in 1953 with Stanley Matthews, but few have as much history with the competition as Carlisle manager Mark Hughes. “Sparky” has four winners medals as a player and, as a manager, took Blackburn to three consecutive semi-finals in the mid-2000s. More than a year after being sacked by Bradford City, Hughes took over at Brunton Park in February but was unable to escape relegation to the National League, the club’s second drop in two seasons. Things are now looking rosier for Cumbrians, joint top of the National League with Rochdale in a congested push for promotion and a first round extra time win away to League One Reading. Hughes’ former United teammate Steve Bruce was sacked as Blackpool manager in October and was replaced by former player Ian Evatt. The change saw an initial bounce of two wins in League One and a home 1-0 win against National League Scunthorpe in the first round, but they are now without a league win in three and still in the relegation zone. GS

The draw for the third round is on Monday evening, before Brackley Town v Burton Albion on TNT Sports 1.

Serie A: Napoli v Juventus

19.45 on TNT Sports 4 and DAZN
Serie A may just be Europe’s most exciting title race. Each week we feature them in the Boxset, each week it’s a new league leader. This week, AC Milan lead the pack after Roma slipped up at home to Napoli, although Milan are only top by virtue of scoring one more goal than I Partenopi. One point behind the top two sit Inter and Roma, with Como and Bologna four points. And behind them? Here come Juve. After Igor Tudor was given the Italian equivalent of his P45 on October, Luciano Spalletti has overseen a major uptick in form that’s hauled The Old Lady back into contention for the Scudetto. Given the topsy-turvy nature of the title race, making up five points might not be an insurmountable task. Then again, Napoli are a very different proposition from wins against teams in the lower reaches of the table. Their win over Roma was even more impressive given the lengthy injury list in the middle of the park, and Antonio Conte will be desperate to land back-to-back titles before the inevitable burn-out that occurs playing for the highly demanding coach. As ever with this league, any result will have knock-on effects on the top seven. If Juve beat Napoli, then they’ll have taken a significant step to catching the reigning champions. A Napoli win risks Juve being cut adrift from the title contenders. And a draw will as likely see several teams swapping places. Of all the top seven, it’s league leaders Milan who have the kindest looking fixture, travelling to mid-table Torino, while Roma will also be looking to regain top spot with a trip to Cagliari. Inter and Como play each other in a battle of 3rd v 5th, while Bologna have a tricky looking trip to Lazio. Life in Serie A is rarely dull. GA


Whatever you watch, have a great weekend.

Graham, Terry and Gary