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Lots of clubs enter the final weekend of the transfer window looking to finalise last minute deals.

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

Premier League: Crystal Palace v Manchester City

20.00 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
Another summer window, another August of Palace being messed about by Liverpool dithering in the transfer market. Last summer it was Marc Guehi who was destined to move to Merseyside (and didn’t), this summer it’s Ismaila Sarr, maybe, it might depend on whether or not they can get Bradley Barcola, or if they can get rid of Cody Gakpo. There are still four days left of the window for any, all or none of these things to happen. Guehi of course did leave in the following winter transfer window, but to City instead. Last weekend saw him score a late equaliser for his new club playing in an unfamiliar midfield role. It was a nervy opener for City against Bournemouth, one they will feel fortunate to have won, but it was certainly an improvement on their Community Shield performance. Palace’s defeat at Everton in their opener saw them spurn a number of chances and twice hit the woodwork. Palace could try out different attacking options in this match by giving a debut to Zavier Gozo. The 19-year-old MLS all-star has joined on a five year deal from Real Salt Lake for £11 million. GS

Alternative viewing: The Bundesliga season opens with coverage of Bayern Munich v Stuttgart which is available in the UK on the BBC iPlayer, and also on *checks notes* Jamie Vardy’s YouTube channel.

Saturday

Championship: Middlesbrough v West Bromwich Albion

12.30 on ITV1, ITX, STV, STV Player and Sky Sports Football & Ultra
On paper this looks like it could be an entertaining encounter between two sides who have made encouraging starts to the season. The Smoggies’ League Cup efforts have seen them drawn away to Europa Conference League champions Crystal Palace, while a comeback win in their Championship opener against Lincoln saw new signing Will Lankshear grab a brace on his league debut. A disappointing loss at Blackburn brought them down to earth, so today’s home tie offers Kim Hellberg’s side an opportunity to get back on track. Having missed out on promotion in the play-off final last term, Boro are expected to go one better this season. For the Baggies, last season’s disappointing nineteenth-place finish must be bettered, and their early showing is more than encouraging. Wins against Norwich and promotion hopefuls Burnley in the league have put them second in the early-season table. Sadly, their League Cup ambitions ended in a narrow loss to former Saudi favourites and last season’s worst North-East club, Newcastle. Scoring his third and fourth goals of the season in that fixture was Ulsterman Isaac Price, who will be short odds today to add to his tally. It’s a tough one to call with so much quality on both sides, but I think Boro may just nick it. JB

Bundesliga: Borussia Dortmund v Hamburg

17.30 on Sky Sports Football
Hamburg embark upon their second season back in the Bundesliga having done very well to stay out of relegation trouble, last season. This summer they lost Fabio Balde to Strasbourg and Luka Vuskovic who returned to Tottenham and is now a Brighton player. This summer’s transfer activity has been modest but considered: free agent Patson Daka arrived from Leicester and is likely to start up top, and the club have found some money behind the sofa to spend on Albert Gronbaek from Stade Rennais, Martin Adeline from Troyes and Terem Moffi from Nice. But the most exciting prospects come in the shape of 19-year-old striker Otto Stange and 16-year-old left-back Louis Lemke who scored in his team’s 3-0 win at SC Verl in the DFB Pokal. Dortmund are having a squad rebuild of their own. Julian Brandt and Karim Adeyemi left in the summer. Coming in are Joane Gadou and Joey Veerman from Leipzig, and PSV respectively. They have also signed a couple of Greek players. At 23, Giannis Konstantelias (PAOK) has a bit more pedigree than 18-year-old Konstantinos Karetsas (Genk). Euro football heads are excited to see what they will do but in reality, I think that BVB are setting up for a comfortable second placed finish and continued Champions League football. Moreover, while coach Niko Kovac has made Borussia a much more solid outfit he has sacrificed the vibey chaos that defines the club. For this reason, I start this season in a pessimistic mood. TD

La Liga: Sevilla v Atlético Madrid

20.30 on Disney Plus
You have to go back five years for the last time Sevilla won either of the first two league games of a season; they’ve won both of them this campaign. A side that not long ago had three consecutive fourth place finishes, and won yet another Europa League as recently as 2023, has become a lower-half side and for the last two seasons has sailed dangerously close to relegation. It’s too early to gauge if they have truly turned a corner but wins against Rayo Vallecano and away to Athletic Bilbao have them going into this match with genuine hopes of getting something out of it. Last season Atleti lost more games on the road than they won (including a 2-1 defeat to Sevilla). Atleti legend Antoine Griezmann has left to see out his career in Orlando. In his number 7 shirt is Lee Kang-in, joining from PSG, whose career started in Spain with Valencia and Mallorca. He had a scoring debut in the home win against newly-promoted Malaga, cutting in from the right wing to hit a left-footed drive from the edge of the box. However, uncertainty remains for Diego Simeone over the future of Julian Alvarez with Barcelona and Arsenal interested. What’s Spanish for “wantaway”? GS

Sunday

Scottish Premiership: Aberdeen v Rangers

12.00 on Sky Sports Football, Main Event & Ultra
The drama of last season’s title race in Scotland coupled with the national team’s first World Cup in 28 years could have heralded a era of optimism north of the border. This week however saw one of the most embarrassing weeks for Scottish clubs in Europe. Celtic had both feet in the league phase of the Champions League, leading Austrian side LASK 4-0 on aggregate, only to lose the tie in extra time. The following day Rangers crashed out of the Conference League on penalties after a display against Czech side Jablonec which left their manager Derek McInnes “mortified”. McInnes, of course, lead Hearts almost to the title last season, but left in the summer to join Rangers (along with his top scorer Lawrence Shankland) replacing Danny Rohl who left to become head coach at RB Salzburg. The European exit comes after Rangers had already fallen out of the Europa League and failed to win either of their first two league games. Pittodrie is not an ideal place to go to look for a change of fortune especially against an Aberdeen side who beat McInnes’ former club Hearts on the opening weekend. GS

Premier League: Chelsea v Brighton & Hove Albion

14.00 on Sky Sports Main Event & Ultra
Each season, Brighton resemble a Marvel comic book arc. Just when you think the main character has been killed off, they draw on their superpower, aka a superior recruiting network, to regenerate and come back stronger. Although, given Chelsea’s propensity to rely on the Seagulls scouting team to do a job for them, a move for the evergreen Danny Welbeck was one of the more surprising summer transfers. And while Brighton come off the back of an opening day demolition of a Villa side who’ve entered the season in a mini-crisis, Chelsea are a work in progress under Xabi Alonso. That said, recruitment at Stamford Bridge has been unusually sensible and the squad looks surprisingly balanced. Whisper it, this may even be even be a title-challenging team if Alonso can wrangle his charges into shape. With Brighton full of confidence after their opening day win, this should be the kind of challenge the Blues need to show the type of resolve that title winners are made of. GA

Serie A: Napoli v Como

17.30 on TNT Sports 1, HBO Max and DAZN
Last season, Napoli ran out of steam as they pushed for back-to-back Scudettos. I Partenopei were good value but when you have Antonio Conte as your manager for more than a season, the probability of burnout is high. Conte has now, predictably, departed Naples, albeit without the usual combustion. In his place comes Massimillano Allegri, fresh off *checks notes* overseeing the collapse of AC Milan’s title challenge. Maybe Allegri is what’s needed after the intensity of Conte, but at 59, this could be the Italian’s last big job. In another multiverse, Cesc Fabregas could be in the Napoli dugout. Fabregas won a lot of admirers at Como last season and has opted to stay in Northern Italy for a second campaign. Risky, given the short lifespan of Serie A managers, but another strong showing should give the Spaniard the pick of the jobs if he wants one. Give Napoli an early bloody nose, and his stock will rise even further. GA

Whatever you watch, have a great weekend.

Graham, Terry, Jan and Gary