Weekend Boxset: It's still 2025 in Morocco

By Graham Sibley January 16, 2026

Weekend Boxset: It's still 2025 in Morocco

It’s the final of Afcon 2025 with hosts Morocco facing Senegal.

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

Share this with someone on WhatsApp

All times are UK

Friday

Women’s FA Cup fourth round: Newcastle United v West Ham United

19.30 on TNT Sports 1
In the women’s version of the FA Cup it’s the fourth round where the top sides join the competition. This tie has added interest in that it may be repeated in May as a play-off to see who will be in the WSL next season. With the WSL expanding to 14 teams, instead of the usual one-up one-down there will be two teams promoted automatically with the side finishing third in WSL2 playing-off against the side finishing bottom of the WSL. Newcastle sit fourth in a very competitive WSL2 within touching distance of that play-off berth while West Ham sit just one place and one point above bottom club Liverpool in the WSL. It’s been three years since the last time a top flight club was eliminated from the competition by lower league opponents, could it happen here? Former Lionesses Demi Stokes and Jordan Nobbs provide an experienced spine for a Newcastle side that has already caused problems in cups this season, with Manchester City requiring penalties to get past them in the League Cup after a 3-3 draw. West Ham in contrast are a bit of a shambles right now. Estelle Cascarino (twin sister of the higher profile Delphine) may make her debut for the Hammers, if she can figure out how to remove her jewellery. The French international loan signing from Juventus was not allowed to come on as sub in the 5-0 drubbing at Chelsea last weekend as she was unable to take off an earring — something she’s not had to do playing outside of England. GS

Saturday

Premier League: Manchester United v Manchester City

12.30 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
For all United’s travails in recent years, it’s somewhat of a surprise that their cross-city rivals have only beaten them twice in this fixture over the past two years. Before Ruben Amorim’s side lost 3-0 at the Etihad earlier this season, their last defeat was as far back as March 2024 (if you don’t count losing on penalties in the Community Shield, and I’m being a pedant and judging the sides over 90 minutes). Yes, City have also had minor funks under Pep during that time, but given the respective levels of the two sides, City should really have a better head-to-head. This one is a bit hard to read, given the respective results over the last weekend. Under interim-interim manager Darren Fletcher, United laboured to a loss against Brighton, whereas a ruthless, merciless, joy-sucking Pep put out a nearly full-strength side against Exeter City (not that I’m bitter) and was rewarded with a 10-1 scoreline (Stop! Stop! He’s already dead!), before seeing off Newcastle midweek. There’s no doubt that City are looking like title contenders again, even if they had a run of unexpected draws towards the end of the year, and Antoine Semenyo has clicked immediately since his move from Bournemouth. That’s ominous for United, who have no real coherence and shape, but occasionally get the vibes right and find a way to victory. As for actual-interim manager Michael Carrick, he’s never come across as a man who goes by vibes, at least not in the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sense, and his record as Middlesbrough coach was more ok than great, but he will have learnt a lot in the dugout. At risk of repeating the old cliche, he will ‘get’ what the club is about and can generate respect from the dressing room due to this. There is a half decent if very unbalanced squad at Old Trafford, but with some players in wretched form and the expectations of United being, well, United, this is about as tough an introduction as Carrick will get as manager. The midweek match may just be in Carrick’s favour, but City have clicked well this season and will be in the mood to make a statement. It’ll be hard to read too much into whatever result we get but there’s a nice frisson of unpredictability to this match. GA

Bundesliga: Bayern Munich v RB Leipzig

17.30 on Sky Sports Plus
The resumption of the Bundesliga after its winter break began with a cavalcade of goals. Last weekend the German topflight amassed thirty-five goals with a further thirty-nine balls nesting into the back of the net during the Englisher Woche these few days passed. In one sense the Bundesliga remains one of the most entertaining leagues in Europe. But from the point of view of the title race it’s pretty much as you were. Bayern Munich’s second successive championship (their nineteenth since the turn of the century) is surely a formality. Their dominance was brutally expressed last Sunday when they sent Wolfsburg fans home to trash their living rooms after an 8-1 defeat. But there are still some moderately diverting sub plots: Can Harry Kane beat Robert Lewandowski’s record for goals scored in a single season (41)? Can they match that great Bayer Leverkusen side of three seasons ago and have an invincible league campaign? Plus, there is the emergence of a new star in 17-year-old Lennart Karl. The attacking midfielder was promoted from the Under 19 team and had scored six goals in twenty-three games. His latest was in the 3-1 win at Koln on Wednesday. Technically Leipzig are one of the challengers for Bayern’s crown but this is nonsense given the 15 (fifteen) point gap between the two side. In fairness the RB club have a game in hand after their weekend match at St Pauli was postponed. Ole Werner’s side restarted their campaign with a 2-0 win against Freiburg. Leipzig’s loyal customers will remember the 6-0 thrashing they received at the hands of the Champions on the opening fixture and will be hoping that Yan Diamante will be fit to play after his return from Afcon duty after Ivory Coast were knocked out in the quarter finals. TD

La Liga: Real Betis v Villarreal

20.00 on Disney Plus
The second half of the Spanish season kicks off with Villarreal still very much in the mix. While their Champions League run has been woeful (just one point from their six games) their domestic form has seen them tally a club record number of points for the first half of a season — and they still have a game to play (their tie away to relegation threatened Levante before Christmas was postponed due to storms). Betis are, of course, sixth in the table, where they’ve finished in three of the last five seasons (and when they didn’t finish sixth they were only one place either side). Villarreal are still without Papa Gueye at Afcon, but Nicolas Pepe was excluded from the Ivory Coast squad, supposedly for mocking the hosts Morocco on a podcast before the tournament. Betis are still missing their young Moroccan winger Abde Ezzalzouli to the tournament. In the first half of the season this fixture ended 2-2. Villarreal went in at half time two up and hadn’t conceded a shot on target, but after the break Antony scored twice for Betis to share the points. GS

Sunday

Premier League: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Newcastle United

14.00 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
Despite being in dire straits, things have the potential to become interesting at Wolves. Rob Edwards returned to the club where he started his coaching career, in mid-November and continued precisely where his predecessor left off with a parade of defeats. However, the turning of the year saw them put together a four-match unbeaten run which included wins against West Ham and Shrewsbury along with draws against Man U and Everton. Okay, okay, beating a League Two side in the FA Cup and taking points off three out-of-form teams isn’t that impressive, but given the context, it’s quite a turnaround. Although it pains me to say it, the (dirty) Mags have improved too. A few disappointing results across December gave way to decent wins against Palace and Burnley as well as a pair of cracking encounters against (also dirty) Leeds and Bournemouth last weekend in the Cup. Their cutting edge was blunted somewhat in a midweek first-leg League Cup loss to City where they threatened up top, but looked vulnerable at the back. A few injuries to key players didn’t help, but they’ll have to tighten up with Strand Larsen finding his touch again for this afternoon’s hosts. Still, not a bad place for Howe to be at this stage of the season, sixth in the league, in with a shout of the Champions’ League knock-out stages and in both domestic cups — couldn’t beat Sunderland, though, could they? Away win. JB

Premier League: Aston Villa v Everton

16.30 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
A few weeks ago, there was genuine, not unjustified chatter that Villa may be title contenders. And while Unai Emery's team are still in the mix in theory, the 4-1 loss to Arsenal over Christmas was a real statement by the Gunners while simultaneously putting a large kibosh on the Villains' ambitions. That doesn't mean that Villa still aren't a very good team, and all good runs come to an end at some point, but Villa have responded as well as they could have done with two wins and a draw. And ominously for Everton, Emery has created a team that is very good at home, dropping just four points from a possible 30 at Villa Park all season. That said, Everton are not an easy proposition, as you'd expect from a David Moyes team, and are slowly regaining their belief after several traumatic seasons spent battling relegation under a revolving door of managers. Where Everton are light is up front, with Beto and Thierno Barry netting just five times between them. That puts a lot of pressure on - NARRATIVE ALERT - Jack Grealish on his return to Villa Park. He-of-the-ankle-socks seems to be enjoying life on Merseyside after being pushed out the exit door by Manchester City, and his six assists have gone a long way to helping Everton to the security of mid-table, with a dash for Europe not totally out of the question. While Toffees fans undoubtedly want their club to return to past glories, you suspect a season of relative stability would be welcome. That said, a win away to an excellent Villa side could have fans dreaming of a European adventure. It would be an extremely unlikely win, but Moyes is more than capable of getting his side to grind out draws against stronger opposition. It's an awkward, if winnable fixture for the home side, but they'll have to work hard for it. GA

Africa Cup of Nations 2025 Final: Senegal v Morocco

19.00 on E4 and All4
After a fantastic few weeks it’s not too surprising that we were served with two disappointing semi-finals. Sadio Mané scored the winner for Senegal in a largely unwatchable semi-final against Egypt. It was a game which saw both sides focused more on not losing rather than winning. Morocco’s semi-final against Nigeria ended goalless. The Super Eagles had dazzled during the tournament with their seemingly unstoppable attack but ran out of goals against Morocco’s organised defence. The tie was eventually sorted out by penalties. It’s easy to imagine that extra time and penalties await in this tie too. Like many managers handed a golden generation of talent, Morocco head coach Walid Regragui has been criticised for his side playing with the handbrake on. He played in their last Afcon final, a 2-1 defeat to hosts Tunisia in 2004, but he was less than a year old when they achieved their only success in the competition in 1976. In this final Morocco have the players and home advantage but Senegal have the experience, having won the tournament as recently as 2021. GS

Whatever you watch, have a great weekend.

Graham, Terry and Jan