Saturday
8am (all times BST)
Matchday live
Football
Yara El-Shaboury is on duty for our essential portal to the weekend’s bumper football programme. She’ll be looking forward to the day’s four Premier League games, Championship, EFL and Scottish Premiership fixtures, sharing breaking news and reader feedback. Why not join the conversation? Send your thoughts to matchday.live@theguardian.com.
12pm
Everton v Arsenal live
WSL
Saturday’s lunchtime Women’s Super League fixture sees Arsenal touching down at Goodison Park fresh from victories over Liverpool and Twente. The Gunners sit fourth in the table and while Everton stand at ninth they ended Chelsea’s long unbeaten run last weekend with a 1-0 win at Kingsmeadow. “They’re a very unpredictable team,” says Renée Slegers, the Arsenal head coach. “They can do different things, so it’s always, at the start of the game, having a good look at what their plan is and what their structure is and what they try to do. They’ve been extremely clinical from their transitions, so we have to manage that really well.” Alex Reid helms our minute-by-minute coverage, with Tom Garry reporting.
3pm
Clockwatch
Premier League
John Brewin is in the hotseat as we focus on two of Saturday afternoon’s key games. Chelsea are an erratic lot. Enzo Maresca’s callow side are without a win in their last three Premier League matches, having won five of their previous six games. They stumbled again in midweek against Atalanta and meet an Everton side at Stamford Bridge who are on a roll, having won four of their last five league matches, keeping a clean sheet in each victory, and a single point behind the other Blues. Jonathan Wilson reports. Liverpool are wobbling from a loss of form and the fallout from Mohamed Salah’s “under the bus” bombshell, though their defeat of Inter in midweek shows they are far from a spent force. The harsh truth, however, is that Arne Slot’s side have just 23 points and conceded 24 goals in the Premier League this season, the worst start by a defending champion in both metrics after 15 games since Leicester in 2016-17. They face Brighton, who beat Liverpool 3-2 in their last meeting in May. Andy Hunter reports.
8pm
Arsenal v Wolves live
Premier League
Top versus rock bottom and the signs are not good for Wolves. Arsenal have won their last eight Premier League games against them, their longest winning streak against a rival club since a run of 10 against Burnley from 2010 to 2019. What’s more, Wolves remain winless in all 15 Premier League games this season, with only QPR in 2012-13 (16) and Sheffield United in 2020-21 (17) having longer runs from the start of a campaign. Arsenal are looking to win five consecutive home Premier League matches for the first time since between January and April 2024 and shrug off their loss at Aston Villa last week. A 3-0 midweek win over Club Brugge in the Champions League suggests that 2-1 defeat at Villa Park was a blip, although a growing injury count is a concern for Mikel Arteta. Scott Murray staffs our live blog with David Hytner reporting from the Emirates.
Sunday
8am
Matchday live
Football
Tom Bassam and Emillia Hawkins clock on to keep you abreast of all Sunday’s football action, with five games in the Women’s Super League, the same number in the Premier League, the Scottish League Cup final as St Mirren take on Celtic, and an exciting set of European fixtures with Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Milan in action. Emillia will have goal updates from the lunchtime kick-offs in the WSL and there’ll be wash-up from Saturday’s games and a look ahead to Monday night’s Premier League meeting of Manchester United and Bournemouth.
2pm
Clockwatch
Premier League
Daniel Harris hosts our live blog with two key games front and centre. Crystal Palace confront Manchester City in their first meeting since Palace’s FA Cup triumph at Wembley, but the Eagles haven’t beaten Pep Guardiola’s side at home since a 2-1 win in April 2015. City arrive on the back of a thrilling 2-1 fightback at Real Madrid in midweek and topping the standings as the league’s leading scorers with 35 goals, and having won their last three league games while scoring at least three goals in each. Ed Aarons reports. Elsewhere, Tottenham travel to a struggling Nottingham Forest riding the uplift of wins over Brentford and Slavia Prague in the past week. Spurs may have struggled at home of late but their away record is strong: only Palace have won more away games (five) and taken more points (16) than Thomas Frank’s side this season (four wins, 14 points). Ben Fisher reports.
4.30pm
Brentford v Leeds
Premier League
Rob Smyth is on liveblog duty for the late afternoon kick-off, where Leeds touch down at the Gtech with a spring in their step thanks to a win over Chelsea and a draw with Liverpool in their last two outings. Daniel Farke’s decision to switch to 3-5-2 at half-time of a narrow loss at Manchester City has been the catalyst for a turnaround in fortunes. Brentford have lost their last two league games, losing 2-0 to Arsenal and Spurs. Given that Leeds have lost on their last nine top-flight visits to London, the Bees may expect to turnaround their home slump. John Brewin reports from west London.
6pm
NFL clockwatch
American football
Graham Searles hosts our essential companion to Sunday’s NFL programme. The New England Patriots can win their first AFC East title this decade by taking down the Buffalo Bills in Foxborough. The Patriots will be seeking their 11th straight victory, a streak that includes a 23-20 triumph in October. Buffalo (9-4) has won the past five AFC East crowns but the Patriots (11-2) have improved in Mike Vrabel’s first season as coach and the quarterback Drake Maye’s second with the club.With their decade-long streak of playoff appearances in jeopardy, the Kansas City Chiefs will try to ignite their long-shot postseason chances when they play host to the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chiefs (6-7) are on the outside of the playoff field, two games behind the Houston Texans, who hold the third and final AFC wildcard spot. The Chargers (9-4) are playoff eligible as a wildcard qualifier. The last time Kansas City missed out on the layoffs was 2014. Another defeat, which would be a season-long third consecutive loss, would only eliminate the Chiefs from playoff contention if each of the other AFC wildcard contenders were to win their games.
