Saturday
8am (all times BST)
Matchday live
Football
Billy Munday brings all the breaking news and sets the scene for the day’s football, which features five Premier League matches, 11 Championship games and a full lower leagues and Scottish football programme as well as a cluster of big games across Europe. He’ll keep you updated as the day unfurls in our essential gateway to the weekend’s action.
12pm
Arsenal Women v Chelsea Women
WSL
Normally Arsenal v Chelsea is a season-defining collision of first against second in the Women’s Super League, but not this time. Renée Slegers’ hosts are lagging way behind their undefeated London rivals in fifth and face the daunting task of making up a five-point deficit. Rob Smyth keeps on top of the action with our minute-by-minute live blog, while Suzanne Wrack reports from the Emirates Stadium.
12.30pm
Tottenham v Manchester United
Premier League
Meeting for the first time since Spurs claimed the Europa League trophy in Bilbao, the hosts sprung a double over United in the Premier League last season and a third consecutive league win in the lunchtime kick-off would be Tottenham’s first such unbroken run since the 1959-1960 campaign. A 4-0 Champions League victory over Copenhagen provided Spurs with a lift after a wretched 1-0 home defeat by Chelsea. United, meanwhile, are on the rise at last under Ruben Amorim, unbeaten in their last four league games (W3 D1), their joint best run under the Portuguese. The manager says: “We are more confident. We reached the Europa League final confident that we could win it. But in this moment, we are playing with a different confidence.” Tim de Lisle hosts our live blog, with Nick Ames and Jonathan Wilson reporting from Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
3pm
Everton v Fulham and West Ham v Burnley
Premier League
Barry Glendenning is your clockwatch host for Saturday’s 3pm kick-offs. Fulham travel to Hill Dickinson Stadium without an away victory in three games, though a home win over Wolves is proof of their inconsistency. Everton have likewise been erratic at home, drawing with West Ham and beating Crystal Palace, but suffering heavy defeats against Tottenham and Manchester City. Nuno Espírito Santo has challenged West Ham to take another “little step” when they face Burnley and build on his first win in charge. The Hammers came from behind to beat Newcastle 3-1 at the London Stadium last Sunday, ending a run of three defeats to offer some renewed hope of pulling clear of the bottom three. Burnley were 17th heading into the weekend’s fixtures and another three points for Nuno’s toilers would move them level. “We win one match, but you just made a little step on what we have to do moving forward,” the West Ham manager says. Andy Hunter reports from Everton, with John Brewin covering the action at the London Stadium.
3.10pm
Scotland v New Zealand
Rugby union
A first victory over the All Blacks would represent a significant shot in the arm for Gregor Townsend’s side. The Scots have never beaten New Zealand in 32 meetings over the past 120 years, although they did hold a 23-14 lead after an hour before losing 31-23 in the most recent meeting, in 2022. Having pulled off some long-awaited away victories over England, France and Wales in recent years, Scotland for once are quietly optimistic they can produce another landmark result against the most formidable team in world rugby, albeit without Duhan van der Merwe, Jamie Ritchie and Zander Fagerson. Lee Calvert helms our live blog, with Michael Aylwin reporting from Murrayfield.
4pm
WTA Finals
Tennis
Aryna Sabalenka, the world No 1, booked a WTA Finals title showdown with Elena Rybakina by overcoming Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in a gladiatorial semi-final on Friday. Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, had earlier come through her own three-set epic, battling back from a set down to defeat Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Taha Hashim has live coverage of the final in Riyadh as both players look to claim their first WTA Finals crown.
5.30pm
Sunderland v Arsenal
Premier League
While it is still early in the season, a beefed-up Arsenal look well-equipped to protect top spot, having conceded only three goals in 10 league games and none in the last four. That said, the Premier League pacemakers will be wary of a Sunderland side who have thrived back among the elite. Although Régis Le Bris’s team have enjoyed a favourable fixture list, they stand fourth before the weekend round, with 18 points after 10 games. No promoted team has had more points after 10 Premier League games since Hull managed 20 from 10 games in 2008, although that should be a cautionary tale for Sunderland as Hull later collapsed and were almost relegated. Arsenal are likely to be without Viktor Gyökeres for the trip to the north-east after he suffered a hamstring injury against Burnley last weekend while Martin Ødegaard is still not ready to return from injury. Scott Murray keeps you updated on our live blog, with Miles Starforth at the Stadium of Light.
5.40pm
England v Fiji
Rugby union
England beat Fiji in the quarter-finals of the 2023 Rugby World Cup, having lost to them for the first time, at Twickenham, in a warm-up for the tournament and won’t be taking the visitors’ return lightly. Steve Borthwick has overhauled his starting XV, with Marcus Smith at full-back and Fin Smith at fly-half handed starts. Ellis Genge will lead the team as one of two co-captains, with the regular skipper, Maro Itoje, on the bench for the first time since 2017. There are only eight survivors from the 25-7 victory over Australia that opened the autumn and just six retain the same starting jersey, with Tommy Freeman moving to the wing and Ben Earl slotting in at openside. Earl’s back-row move is to allow Chandler Cunningham-South’s first start at No 8. Next up, England face New Zealand and Argentina on the following two weekends. Lee Calvert has live coverage with our blog, while Robert Kitson, Gerard Meagher and Andy Bull report from Allianz Stadium in Twickenham.
6pm
São Paulo Grand Prix qualifying
Formula One
Max Verstappen showed in Brazil last year, winning from 17th on the grid, that he can never be counted out but McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri need no reminding of that in São Paulo. The battle at the top between Norris and Piastri is on a knife-edge with four rounds remaining, with the Briton a point clear of the Australian. Norris has momentum and has beaten his teammate in the past five races, although they collided in the most recent sprint in Austin. But Piastri showed signs of a comeback and return to form in the Mexico race, if not qualifying, and, with a Saturday sprint also in the mix in Brazil and paying extra points, the gap is set to widen one way or another. Mark Dobson has lap-by-lap coverage of the race for pole, with Giles Richards reporting.
8pm
Chelsea v Wolves
Premier League
Chelsea host rock-bottom and rudderless Wolves (just two points from 10 matches) in Saturday’s late kick-off, but there’s nothing straightforward about the Blues of late. Enzo Maresca’s young cohort came close to squandering a three-goal lead when beating Wolves in the Carabao Cup just over a week ago, only to follow that with a strident 1-0 win at Tottenham. Then a rejigged XI could only fettle a draw in Azerbaijan against Qarabag in the Champions League in midweek. Barry Glendenning steers our minute-by-minute coverage with Jacob Steinberg reporting from Stamford Bridge.
Sunday
8am
Matchday live
Football
John Brewin and Alex Reid sift through the fallout from Saturday’s programme before our unmissable live football countdown blog looks forward to a Sunday fixture list that features Brentford v Newcastle and Nottingham Forest seeking their first Premier League win under Sean Dyche as they host Leeds. They will also be keeping a watch on the WSL games and the Scottish Premiership – with the leaders, Hearts, in action, alongside the Glasgow giants, Celtic and Rangers.
2pm
Crystal Palace v Brighton and Aston Villa v Bournemouth
Premier League
Clockwatch hosts John Brewin and Tom Bassam keep track of two early afternoon kick-offs. In the mid-table tussle between Crystal Palace and Brighton, Oliver Glasner’s team beat Brentford 2-0 last time out, while the visitors’ record against their M23 derby rivals reads a grim winless in six away games. Fifth-placed Bournemouth travel to Aston Villa, who despite being 11th are only four points behind second-placed Manchester City before Saturday’s matches.
2.30pm
NFL live blog
American football
The Indianapolis Colts lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers last time out and have rebounded from that upset by signalling their Super Bowl ambitions with a blockbuster trade for the cornerback Sauce Gardner from the Jets this week. They will seek to follow that up with a win against the Atlanta Falcons, who have lost three in a row. It’s the opener to a day of compelling action that also features Jacksonville Jaguars v Houston Texans, New Orleans Saints v Carolina Panthers, New York Giants v Chicago Bears, Buffalo Bills v Miami Dolphins, Baltimore Ravens v Minnesota Vikings, Cleveland Browns v New York Jets, New England Patriots v Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Arizona Cardinals v Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Rams v San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions v Washington Commanders. Graham Searles steers our rolling blog as the campaign reaches its midway point, with nine weeks left to play in the regular season.
4.30pm
Manchester City v Liverpool
Premier League
Marquee meetings between Manchester City and Liverpool are usually key fixtures in Premier League title races but Sunday’s encounter may merely point to which of these clubs is best equipped to chase down Arsenal. By the time the weekend’s big game kicks off at the Etihad, Arsenal, who will have faced Sunderland on Saturday, could be 10 points clear of Liverpool and nine ahead of Pep Guardiola’s City. That would increase the pressure on City and Liverpool, who head into the last round of fixtures before another international break second and third respectively. At least there are signs that both clubs are finding form. City have lost only once in their last 13 games in all competitions and on Wednesday pummelled Borussia Dortmund 4-1 in the Champions League. Arne Slot’s champions have likewise emerged from a run of six defeats in seven matches in all competitions to beat Aston Villa and Real Madrid in their last two games. Rob Smyth hosts our clockwatch with David Hytner, Barney Ronay and Jamie Jackson reporting from the Etihad Stadium.
5pm
São Paulo Grand Prix
Formula One
With a bumper 33-point haul to be claimed from the weekend’s races, Max Verstappen will be looking to further reel in McLaren’s pacemakers. Red Bull’s four-times world champion was 36 points behind Norris before Saturday’s sprint race, after being 104 adrift of the then leader, Oscar Piastri, at the end of August, and São Paulo’s bowl-like Interlagos circuit is an old favourite. The Dutch driver is going for his third successive win there and fourth in all. Alex Reid calls the race lap-by-lap with and Giles Richards reports.
