Weekend Boxset: Get a grip

By Graham Sibley March 06, 2026

Weekend Boxset: Get a grip

If you can stand to watch football right now, the FA Cup fifth round has some cracking fixtures.

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

FA Cup fifth round: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Liverpool

20.00 on BBC One & iPlayer, TNT Sports 1 & Ultimate and Discovery Plus
This match is the second in a league and cup double-header. The first, on Tuesday evening, was a whole bunch of not much for the first seventy-five-odd minutes, although it illustrated where both teams are. Wolves are compact and rapid on the break and playing with a renewed confidence from their win at the weekend against Villa, and one defeat in three prior to that. Too often this season we’ve seen Liverpool lack confidence and belief in each other. The game was won with two terrific counter attacking goals and a little bit of luck: Liverpool hit the woodwork twice. However, few could argue that the home side had not earned the win. It has taken a while but Wolves look compact under coach Rob Edwards and while Premier League survival seems very unlikely their almost inevitable relegation may free the players’ minds of anxiety and make them very tough opponents. Arne Slot at least has the benefit of familiarity with the opposition but, like all managers of top teams, has squad management considerations ahead of an early start in Istanbul on Tuesday against Galatasaray in the Champion League. I don’t think he has enough credit with the Liverpool fans to overly rotate and risk what for Liverpool would be considered an early exit from the tournament. TD

Saturday

Women’s World Cup 2027 qualifying, UEFA group A3: England v Iceland

12.30 on ITV1, STV and ITVX
In the end, it was a comfortable win for the Lionesses in their opening World Cup qualifying on Tuesday against Ukraine. Played in Turkey, it finished 6-1 after a goalless first half; Alessia Russo, Georgia Stanway and Jess Park all scoring braces. Iceland’s campaign started with a 3-0 defeat to the holders Spain. It seems strange that the world champions and the European champions should both be in the same group but qualification for major tournaments in the women’s game is now linked with the Nations League. At this stage only the winner of the group qualifies automatically but all sides in the top league are guaranteed play-off places (and if the qualification for the last Euros is anything to go by there will be few surprises in those play-off rounds). The movement towards professionalism has wildly varying pace across Europe and using the Nations League format allows developing countries the opportunity to test themselves without having to endure double-figure hammerings. One valid criticism of using the Nations League format for qualification is that it leads to the same sides facing each other again and again: eleven out of the sixteen sides in the top league have been there in each of the four season it’s been running. That’s not the case here though as this is the first time the sides have met in 17 years. GS

Alternative viewing: If you’re worried you’re not going to see enough FA Cup action this weekend Mansfield v Arsenal kicks off at 12.15 on TNT Sports 1 & Ultimate and Discovery Plus.

FA Cup fifth round: Wrexham v Chelsea

17.45 on BBC One & iPlayer, TNT Sports 2 and Discovery Plus
It’s somewhat mind-blowing to think that this could be a Premier League fixture next season. Wrexham — or, as they’re officially known globally, The World’s Most Romantic Football Story — are sitting comfortably in the last Championship playoff spot and haven’t lost in nearly a month after going down 2-0 at home to play-off rivals Millwall. Boardroom star power aside, Phil Parkinson has done an excellent job assembling a solid squad of Championship players into slightly more than the sum of their parts. They’ve dispatched 3rd place Ipswich twice in the matter of weeks in both League and Cup, and confidence is high in North Wales. Given Chelsea’s somewhat mercurial nature this season and a promising, if equally mercurial coach in Liam Rosenior, the Red Dragons will fancy their chances of taking a second Premier League scalp (although whether beating Nottingham Forest counts as a shock is somewhat debatable) as well as showing that they’ll be capable of mixing it in the top flight. This is also a very annoying fixture for Rosenior, as Chelsea are more than capable of winning the competition, but will be mindful that they can’t afford to slip up as they chase a Champions League spot, plus there’s a small matter of a match against Paris Saint-Germain next week, followed by Newcastle, Everton, and both Manchester clubs. In short, this is the start of a month that will define Chelsea’s season and show the supporters what Rosenior is made of. It would be no surprise if we saw a very different side from the team that defeated Aston Villa 4-1 midweek. Of course, none of that will matter to The Narrative. The Romance! The Dreams! The Funding Of A Club Through Hollywood Superstars Who Subsequently Sold A Stake To Private Equity! Glenn Hoddle Offering Less Than Nothing On Co-Commentary! This, as Peter Drury would say, is football. GA

FA Cup fifth round: Newcastle United v Manchester City

20.00 on TNT Sports 1 & Ultimate and Discovery Plus
In recent years, this fixture has taken on some additional narrative as both clubs are owned by two Gulf states with poor human rights records and imperialist ambitions. How long both clubs enjoy their patronage depends on how many drones Iran can launch at them before the UAE and Saudi regimes decide to focus more on internal matters. City and United have met 4 (four) times this season in the Premier League and the EFL Cup. Their last encounter was a league match just two weeks ago in which a brace by Nico O’Reilly saw off Newcastle at the Etihad. City also had the upper hand in their cup encounter with a 5-1 aggregate drubbing that booked a place for Pep Guardiola’s team at Wembley for the final against Arsenal. It’s too soon to say but having dropped points at Forest on Wednesday the title pendulum has swung back in favour of Arsenal in the title race so it may be that Cups are cool again for peace lovin’ Pep. Newcastle on the other hand would love it if they could go back to Wembley this season. Their league campaign has been a disappointment and they need more cup adventures to prolong the season. A morale-boosting win on Wednesday against Michael Carrick’s Manchester United helped, especially with only ten men; William Osula’s injury time winner being a thing of beauty. TD

Sunday

FA Cup fifth round: Port Vale v Sunderland

13.30 on TNT Sports 1 & Ultimate and Discovery Plus
While not exactly the tie of the round, this fixture joins Mansfield v Arsenal and Wrexham v Chelsea as one of three potential banana skins. However, given the Valiants currently sit bottom of League One, this certainly has the potential to be the upset of the round. Sunderland’s midweek victory at (dirty) Leeds saw them reach forty points, effectively ruling out relegation, which means my anxiety has now shifted from Premier League survival to FA Cup humiliation — will this torture never end, Gemini? For today’s hosts, reaching round five for the first time in thirty years is a welcome distraction from the misery that comes with propping up English football’s third tier. Despite picking up a few points of late, they still have a mountain to climb to reach safety. That said, they’ve got very good at winning FA Cup matches with Tuesday’s extra time win over Championship mid-tablers, Bristol City, their fourth in the competition so far. This run will have earned the Potteries’ side over £375,000 in prize money which will come in very handy in League Two next season. For the Lads, today’s match is their first appearance in the fifth round since 2014-15 where they were knocked out by Bradford. As we’ve seen, the years since have been a turbulent time for Sunderland and I doubt there’s anyone on Wearside that wouldn’t welcome a decent cup-run. With safety all but wrapped up, I expect Régis Le Bris to field a fairly strong side with Luke O’Nien continuing with the captaincy and Granit Xhaka probably rested having only recently returned from injury. JB

FA Cup fifth round: Leeds United v Norwich City

16.30 on TNT Sports 1 & Ultimate and Discovery Plus
Some might tell you that the FA Cup is an unnecessary distraction but for Norwich City it’s seen a transformation in their fortunes. Results were already improving for the Canaries in the weeks after Philippe Clement took charge in mid-November but they were still four points adrift in the Championship relegation zone by the time they played Walsall in the third round. Since then they have won nine of eleven including wins against Coventry and Wrexham. There is now a comfortable 11 point gap between them and the danger zone. Were it next season, they would be contemplating a tilt at the extended play-off places. As it is they have a chance to spring an upset against their former manager and give their fans the quarter-final they missed out on a few years back. Daniel Farke took Norwich to the quarter finals in 2020, losing to Manchester United in an empty Carrow Road to a Harry Maguire goal at the end of extra time. Leeds could be forgiven for wanting to concentrate on other things. A tough run in the league and the resurgence of clubs below them in the table has seen them pulled back into a now four-way race to avoid Premier League relegation. They will feel they should have got something from their midweek defeat to Sunderland — a game they largely controlled — maybe this will get back on winning ways. Farke has a excellent record against his old club: at Elland Road it’s three clean sheet wins from three including a 4-0 play-off semi-final in 2024. GS

Serie A: Milan v Inter

19.45 on TNT Sports 1 and DAZN
Back in November it felt like Milan had struck a decisive psychological blow in the Serie A title race. With five teams jostling for pole position, Max Allegri’s side saw off Inter by a single Christian Pulisic goal and a Mike Maignan penalty save. Advantage AC. Since then Inter haven’t lost a match in Serie A and have opened up a ten point lead at the top of the table, turning a tight title race into something closer to a coronation. Milan are realistically the only side who can haul their cross-city rivals back, baring an unlikely surge from Napoli, and this match would be the place to start. While Christian Chivu’s team have been imperious in Serie A, it’s been a different story in the Champions League, with both Bodø/Glimt and Arsenal showing how Inter can be beaten. Neutrals should be cheering on an AC win as a Milano title race would be a wonderful sight. If Inter do Inter things though, I Rossoneri can shut the trophy cabinet closed, as there’s little prospect of their cross-city rivals being caught. GA

Whatever you watch, have a great weekend.

Graham, Terry, Jan and Gary