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It’s three years today since Manchester City were charged with 115 breaches of Premier League rules. Expect a party atmosphere at Anfield.

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

Scottish Cup fifth round: Airdrieonians v St Mirren

19.45 on BBC Scotland & iPlayer
Back in 2017/18 St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson took Motherwell to both domestic finals in Scotland, losing to Celtic each time. He’s already taken the Buddies one step further this season by winning the League Cup, and now the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup are in sight. Before this week, you’d be forgiven for saying that staying in the top flight should be the focus for St Mirren, having gone on a run of seven league games without a win, but Wednesday’s victory over table-toppers Hearts has put breathing space between themselves and the bottom two. Results like that and the League Cup final win over Celtic seem to be the way of things in Scotland this season, so what are the chances of another shock here? It’s unlikely. Airdrie sit just two points from the foot of the Championship with the teams below them having games in hand. Of their five league wins season only one has come on the 3G at New Broomfield. They did however manage a win against Premiership opposition at the start of the League Cup back in mid-July, beating Dundee 1-0. Both side required penalties to get through the fourth round, against teams from the same division. Airdrie will be doing well to take St Mirren the full distance here. GS

Saturday

A-League: Western Sydney Wanderers v Melbourne City

08.35 on TNT Sports 1
A match between two expected title challengers who are both in seriously inconsistent form and face the prospect of missing out on finals football altogether if they can’t put a run together. Wanderers have had a dreadful season, contrary to my bold prediction the Parramatta side would top the table come April. Instead, with a wooden spoon in sight, Alen Stajcic is gone, replaced by veteran coach Gary Van Egmond, who last coached in the A-League with Newcastle in 2014, although has served stints as a technical director at both the Jets and Wanderers since then. After a promising win at home to Perth Glory, Van Egmond’s side were thoroughly outclassed by crosstown rivals Sydney FC, continuing their miserable away form. Wanderers big issue is a set of misfiring strikers and poor service into the box. With an average of 0.8 goals per game, nobody has scored fewer times than the Red and Blacks. January import Ryan Fraser has scored 2 in 2 since joining, but desperately needs his team mates to chip in. Only veteran Kiwi Kosta Barbarouses has scored more, with four goals to his name, two of them penalties. That said, you could see what Van Egmond was trying to do against Sydney, but after a calamitous goalkeeping error from the usually-reliable Lawrence Thomas let the Sky Blues back into the game, you could see the confidence draining out of Wanderers. As for Melbourne City, they’re curiously drifting around in mid-table. They’re capable of beating top-of-the-table sides like Auckland and Brisbane, but seem to struggle with teams around them in the table: a 6-2 loss at equally indifferent Macarthur being a particularly low point. Aurelio Vidmar has just lost his best player in Kai Trewin to the MLS and, like Wanderers, is struggling to get Andrew Nabbout firing, leaving most of the burden on young striker Max Caputo. Vidmar will be hoping the arrival of Daniel Arzani on loan from Ferencvaros will be the spark his side desperately need, but given Arzani’s close association with cross-town rivals Melbourne Victory, he’ll need to get the (quiet) City crowd on his side quickly. It’s hard to call or know if one or both sides will decide to turn up, but both Wanderers and City desperately need three points. GA

Bonus viewing: If you’re up early on Sunday morning, Gary also recommends tuning in to TNT Sports 3 for Adelaide United v Newcastle Jets, which he says should be a cracker. Kick off is at 6am.

Premier League: Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur

12.30 on TNT Sport 1 & Ultimate
Well, things are starting to look a little more familiar in the Premier League. Manchester United are sitting fourth having vanquished City and champions-in-waiting Arsenal in a three match spell that nobody saw coming. Perhaps Michael Carrick did? His installation at the expense of Ruben Amorim kick-started the current streak and he looks like a man comfortable with the challenge he’s been given. Officially, of course, he’s the interim head coach, but Benjamin Šeško’s late winner against Fulham last week had barely settled in the back of the net when the speculation started that he may be… whisper it… the one. Conversely, someone who certainly isn’t seen as any kind of messiah is Thomas Frank. That is, however, unless you count the final forty-five minutes of last week’s match against City. Two-nil down at half time, and facing another wall of discontent from the home fans, up stepped Dominic Solanke with a stunning brace. A lot has been made of his second, a scorpion kick which I’m still not quite sure was deliberate, but Conor Gallagher’s herculean effort to wrestle back possession and deliver a precise cross was equally beautiful. Sadly, this gave way to a social media rant from Cristian Romero who appeared to criticise the club for allowing the squad to deplete to the point that there were only eleven fit first-teamers. He does have a point; Tottenham’s injury list is longer than your average VAR review. Quite what is driving that is another mystery, inside the enigma that is Tottenham. On a more sober note, Friday 6 February marks the anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster. As such, the players will wear black arm-bands in memory of the Busby Babes whose lives were cut short 68 years ago. JB

La Liga: Real Sociedad v Elche

20.00 on Disney Plus
It’s been another lacklustre season for La Real but results are slowly showing signs of improvement. When they were under Imanol Alguacil, the 22/23 manager of the year, they had five consecutive top six placings and won the Copa del Rey. After a disappointing 2024/25, his fourteen year association with the club came to an end when he left for the Saudi Pro League. He was replaced by the reserve team manager Sergio Francisco but he was fired in December having won just six of eighteen games. This time they went outside the club to find their next head coach and landed upon American Pellegrino Matarazzo, the man who secured promotion for Stuttgart in 2020. They are unbeaten in the seven games he’s been in charge so far, a run that has seen them beat Barcelona, climb out of the bottom half and reach the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey (where they face Barcelona again). But while results have improved discipline has not: they’ve lost players to straight red cards in each of their last three league games. Elche meanwhile are on a five match winless run that has seen them drop from the top half to just two points above the relegation line. While that may sound alarming they do have an advantage over sides with genuine relegation concerns in that they always seem to be able to find the goal. Part of their attacking success is 21 year old Uruguayan Álvaro Rodríguez. The rangy winger has nine goal contributions since joining in the summer from Real Madrid on a free (free-ish, reportedly Madrid held on to a 50% sell-on clause). He scored against Barcelona in the 3-1 defeat last weekend and in the 1-1 draw against Real Sociedad back in November. GS

Sunday

Premier League: Brighton & Hove Albion v Crystal Palace

14.00 on Sky Sport Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
The last “M23 Derby” (we really need to think of a better name) was a soulless bore-draw. Both teams decided to have a bottle episode in anticipation of exciting adventures to come. Things have changed since and both the Eagles and the Seagulls could use a big derby game to focus minds and get a morale boosting win to set up the business end of the season. Neither team are in terrific form (although Brighton fans can still remember the last time their team won a football match) but both have cause for optimism. Palace and Brighton have cup interest via the Conference League and FA Cup respectively. Relegation is more of a concern for Palace but the time to worry about that is if they get nothing from Burnley and Wolves later this month. Palace have added to their squad with a couple of Deadline Day signings in the shape of Evann Guessand from Villa and record £48 million Jørgen Strand Larsen. With nearly a full week to prepare I expect the big Norwegian to start this game with JP Mateta in reserve. With players returning from injury, the only concerns Palace have is at the back. Marc Guehi has gone and the squad has only two front line centre backs in a defensive shape that requires a back three. Much depends on Chadi Riad. The 22-year-old Moroccan looks good but tore his ACL a year ago and is only just returning to fitness. Brighton have just one win in five but have taken points from City and Bournemouth in that time. The common gripe of the fans is coach Fabian Hürzeler conservative tactics. In fact, both coaches prefer reactive football so it may take a while for this match to get going. TD

Premier League: Liverpool v Manchester City

16.30 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
It’s not quite the table topping earthshaking clash of titans as the Pep-Klopp era of fixtures between these two clubs, but this match can certainly influence the outcome of the title race. City spent a productive mid-week seeing off Newcastle in the EFL Cup semi final second leg and booking their place at Wembley against Arsenal in the final. That result should be something of a palate cleanser after the doings at White Hart Lane when the team fell foul of a Dominic Solanke scorpion kick and gave up a 2-0 lead against Tottenham. Pep Guardiola’s team are unbeaten in four but that Tottenham result and recent defeats to Manchester United and Bodo Glimt have rightly skewed the narrative. It looks like City don’t have enough to win the title; they would have to inherit it from Arsenal should the Gunners expire before the end of the season. A win at Anfield would shift the narrative, but Liverpool look to be putting their bad times behind them. It’s true that defeat at home to Bournemouth was a blow but that is one defeat in all competitions since losing to PSV in November. Finding his place in the side is Florian Wirtz. The German international struggled in the first half of the season but has bounced back in January with four goals. Realistically, Liverpool are looking to finish in the top four but competition is stiff. Moreover, while coach Arne Slot may be sitting a little more comfortably in the seat in his dugout, he needs to deliver big wins against big teams to keep the Anfield crowd onside. TD

Serie A: Juventus v Lazio

19.45 on TNT Sports 1 and DAZN
You suspect Italy won’t be paying quite as much attention to the football this weekend, given there’s a small event going in across Cortina and Milan. But if you’re tired of people slipping over on ice, sliding down hills on tea trays, or artificially enhancing their johnsons in an effort to jump further than anyone else, then this promises to be a fascinating match. Lazio are one of those awkward sides in Serie A — a decent team under Maurizio Sarri that’s better than the rest of mid-table, but not quite good enough for a European spot. Flat track bullies may be a less generous assessment, as they’ve slipped up regularly when coming up against the title challenges, with one major exception: Juventus. The I Biancocelesti defeated Juve back in October in a match that seriously dented the Old Lady’s hopes of a title challenge, and while results have picked up since Luciano Spalletti took over in Turin, this is an awkward looking fixture, albeit one Juve should be expected to win. Although a 3-0 loss to Atalanta in the Coppa Italia isn’t a great result for Spalletti’s side to bring into this game. Lazio are inconsistent on the road, but capable of grinding out draws, and with 5th placed Roma waiting for Juventus to drop points, Spalletti will be under pressure to keep the good league form going. GA


Whatever you watch, have a great weekend.

Graham, Terry, Jan and Gary