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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

Bundesliga: St Pauli v Hamburg

19.30 on BBC iPlayer
Back in August, the first topflight Hamburg derby since 2011 took place in the faded glory of the Volksparkstadion and the visitors took the spoils with a 2-0 win. The two reconvene hostilities in the very different atmosphere of St Pauli’s Millerntor. HSV’s stadium, rebuilt in 2006, is bigger and reflects their status as the mainstream club in the city. When things go well it can be a fortress, when they go badly, a prison. The Millerntor, while modernised, still has its roots in the club’s working-class community and has a vociferous, principled following, albeit peppered with the odd tourist, attracted by the prospect of colour and left-wing politics. Hamburg and St Pauli reflect different facets of the same city and it is a shame that we don’t see more city derbies across Germany. But there is more riding on this match than city pride. Both are candidates for a return to Bundesliga 2. After having avoided the drop last season, St Pauli are bottom of the league on twelve points. But the situation is far from irretrievable with only five points between them and HSV in twelfth. The home fans will not be too discouraged after their performance against Dortmund, last week when they fought back from 2-0 down only to lose 3-2 in injury time. Spirit is not an issue for the St Pauli players and they’ll have plenty of it for this game. TD

Saturday

Women’s Super League: Chelsea v Arsenal

12.30 on BBC One & iPlayer
In Australia, where this writer resides, this is undoubtedly the biggest game of the weekend as most of the Matilda’s biggest stars will be on display. On the blue side, Ellie Carpenter, who has been in scintillating form since moving to West London, and Sam Kerr, finding her goalscoring touch after nearly two years out with an ACL. On the red side, the ever dependable Steph Catley in defence and star attacker Caitlin Foord (third Matilda, Kyra Cooney-Cross, is unlikely to be involved after her mother was sadly diagnosed with a rare cancer). Of course, while there’s more to both sides than Australia, this is undoubtedly one of the standout fixtures of the weekend. Chelsea find themselves in the unusual position of second place, a full six points behind Manchester City. For Arsenal, this is already another frustrating season, ten points off the pace despite an exceptionally strong squad. But then Chelsea’s riches in both attack and defence are quite something, with USA striker Alyssa Thompson well settled after her summer move from Angel City and one of the first names on the team sheet. Chelsea’s undoing this season has been their indifferent away form, with too many draws. At home, they’re a different proposition and are in ominous goalscoring form. Arsenal, meanwhile, are coming off the back of two poor results against Manchester United, and while the Gunners did hold Chelsea to a draw earlier this season, it would be an impressive result if they could achieve the same result at Stamford Bridge. This should have goals and a lot of entertainment. GA

Premier League: Bournemouth v Liverpool

17.30 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
You might think a 13 game unbeaten run in all competitions for Liverpool would be cause for celebration. But while that run has almost assured them of a top eight place in the Champions League mega table, they continue to drop points in the Premier League and go into this match on a run of four straight draws. Bournemouth may only be three places above the relegation line but in respect of points they are closer to Liverpool in 4th than they are to West Ham in 18th. If Bournemouth can keep their discipline they should have a chance. Liverpool have not won an away game in the Premier League against eleven players in nine months. In the thirteen away games since beating Leicester in April, their four wins have all came in games where the hosts had a least one player sent off. The other games were three draws and six defeats. While there has been plenty in recent news about the dissatisfaction of Oliver Glasner as he runs his contract down, there has been little speculation about the future of Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola, who is also in the last months of his contract and by rights should be very bored of having his best players sold from under him. Richard Hughes the man who brought Iraola over to Bournemouth from Rayo Vallecano is now Liverpool’s Sporting Director. Should the Reds consider a change from Slot at the end of the season, it would still be a left field choice to go for Iraola with Alonso out of work, but it’s certainly not unthinkable. Bournemouth still have a good home record and a strong performance here would look very good on Iraola’s CV. GS

La Liga: Villarreal v Real Madrid

20.00 on Disney Plus
What’s Spanish for “he gets the club”? Álvaro Arbeloa has quickly risen through the managerial ranks at Real Madrid. After first being put in charge of the U14s in 2020, promotions through the U19s and the reserves to the big chair have come in quick succession. Life in the hottest seat of club football didn’t start well, with Copa del Rey elimination to Albacete side who up to that point were having an unspectacular season in Spain’s second tier. His two games since have been better albeit a home win against a relegation threatened Levante and a Champions League thumping over a properly out of sorts Monaco — Killian Mbappe showing no mercy to his old club. This match should provide a much sterner test. Defeat for Villareal at Betis last weekend has opened up a seven point gap between them in third and Real in second place. With Barcelona losing to an improving Real Sociedad last weekend, there’s now just a point between the top two. Villarreal do still have a game in hand to help close the gap again. They also now have the benefit of only having the league to concentrate on following confirmation of their exit from the Champions League with another home defeat, this time to Ajax. One of the biggest thing to come out of this week’s results in the Champions League (concerning to the Spanish football press at least) is how dominant English clubs now look with all six in the top eleven places, five in the top eight. For Spain, Villarreal are out, Athletic Club are in danger and Barcelona and Atléti are both outside the top eight. What is perhaps even more concerning is that Real Madrid’s only loses in the competition have both came against English opposition. Perez is certain to start drafting yet another version of his Super League plans very soon. GS

Sunday

Premier League: Crystal Palace v Chelsea

14.00 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
The Blues arrive at Selhurst Park having emerged from a period of mild turmoil with a new coach and grounds for optimism. Enzo Maresca’s departure was preceded by public melodrama which put a spotlight on the processes the club have adopted since Todd Boehly and his billionaire bros took over the club. The appointment of Leroy Rosenior seems risky given his age and lack of topflight experience. The 41-year old’s record at Strasbourg was also unremarkable (seven wins, three draws and seven defeats) although his best work was done in the Conference League as Crystal Palace found out when they lost there, 2-1, in November. But while Rosenior lacks pedigree, his stock is high and great things are anticipated. Moreover, as Strasbourg is owned by the owners of Chelsea, he is a company man and his appointment is best understood as a safe internal promotion. Four games in and he’s already won his first Champions League game which three of his predecessors failed to do and has lost just the League Cup semi-final first leg at home to Arsenal, 3-2. This is only Rosenior’s second Premier League match and it takes place at a stadium where they have not lost since 2017. When it comes to drama, Chelsea are merely holding Crystal Palace’s beer. The Eagles are caught in the grip of run of ten game winless run, one of which being the worst defeat in the club’s history, a truculent coach serving notice, the club captain sold and star striker Jean-Philippe Mateta, asking to leave. Palace badly need a win to find equilibrium. Despite his public criticisms after last week’s defeat to Sunderland (congrats, Jan) Oliver Glasner is still the coach but with a disgruntled board and seething fanbase the Austrian must tread carefully in the coming weeks. A bad result here and things could turn really toxic at Selhurst. TD

Premier League: Arsenal v Manchester United

16.30 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
United are back! The good times and the trophies are on their way. Well, they could be at least. Given the cobbled defensive unit City put against them at Old Trafford last week, United should have won comfortably, and they did, only three narrow offside calls stopped it from being a deserved hammering. But of course Amorim’s United were a side that would struggle to take advantage of such an opportunity. Carrick has arrived with his bucket loads of DNA and seems to have found the formula to unlock the undoubted talent his side has. However, the problem with new dawns is that you can only tell them apart from false dawns in hindsight. A good performance away from home against the (whisper it) Champions-elect could get everyone believing in a brighter future at Old Trafford. Arsenal have not scored in their last two Premier League games but somehow still managed to extend their lead at the top of the table. They did however manage to find the net three times in the Champions League in midweek away to Inter. The home side could only offer one goal in reply but did create a number chances with the same direct counter-accounting play that was profitable for United against City. If United are afforded the same opportunities it could be another good afternoon for the interim. GS

Serie A: Roma v Milan

19.45 on TNT Sports 1 and DAZN
In a tight, tight, tight Serie A race, any advantage, no matter how small, could be the difference between a title challenge, a Champions League place, or missing Europe altogether. And for that, although Roma put out a fringe side in their Europa League win over Stuttgart on Thursday night, AC Milan are free of European distractions. Roma briefly topped the table towards the back end of last year but immediately hit some indifferent form, while Milan have been incredibly consistent as they chase down Internazionale at the top of the table. And both sides have invested in more firepower upfront with immediate impact, in what is the Battle of Good Players Who Couldn’t Quite Make An Impact In The Premier League But Are Going To Be Quite Good In A Slower League Like Serie A (might not catch on as a title, but I like it). Donyell Malen showed promise at Villa, but has already etched himself in Roma history by scoring on his debut against Torino (and perhaps more significantly Pablo Dyabla broke his goal drought). And the lesser-scoring Niclas Füllkrug, late of the West Ham parish, came off the bench to score a late winner against Lecce. Both strikers should help round out their respective squads as they make a title charge. Hammers and Villa fans may want to look away for this one though. GA


Whatever you watch, have a great weekend.

Graham, Terry and Gary