Saturday
Boxing
1am (all times BST) Paul v Joshua
Bryan Armen Graham straps in for live coverage of events in Miami as the former two-time world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua meets the YouTuber turned boxer Jake Paul across eight three-minute rounds. Given Paul’s 13-fight career consists mainly of former UFC stars or faded boxing greats, this contest and Joshua’s involvement has sparked a backlash, particularly since Paul, who has regularly fought at cruiserweight since he swapped life as an influencer to enter the world of boxing, came in at 15st 6lb to give away a hefty 26.8lb difference to his British opponent.
Football
8am-12pmMatchday live
There’s no better way into the weekend’s footballing action than our rolling blog as Dominic Booth sets up Saturday’s big matches. Breaking news, team updates and the vibe from around the grounds keeps you bang up to date with all the latest developments. There’s a bumper eight Premier League fixtures, Championship, EFL and Scottish Premiership games to stay across and readers are cordially invited to join the conversation. Send your thoughts to matchday.live@theguardian.com
Premier League
12.30pmNewcastle v Chelsea live
The Premier League soon gets under way with the lunchtime kick-off that pits 12th against fourth. Eddie Howe is hoping Yoane Wissa can bring the best out of Nick Woltemade with his new-look £124m Newcastle strikeforce now fit and available. The record £69m signing Woltemade has had to lead the line this season after his fellow summer arrival Wissa picked up a knee injury on international duty before he had kicked a ball for the club, but the £55m capture started and scored for the first time in Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup quarter-final win over Fulham. Niall McVeigh helms our live blog and Louise Taylor reports.
Premier League
3pmClockwatch
Among the host of 3pm kick-offs, Emillia Hawkins will be paying particular attention to two of Saturday’s key games. Relegation-threatened West Ham are seeking to snap a five-match winless run at Manchester City. The Hammers have surrendered leads in their past two matches and sit 17th, three points from safety. After Sunday’s 3-2 home defeat by Aston Villa, they have picked up 10 points from 11 games since Nuno Espírito Santo replaced Graham Potter as head coach in September. Jamie Jackson reports from the Etihad Stadium. Sunderland travel to Brighton buoyed up by their derby victory over Newcastle. The Black Cats extended their unbeaten Wear-Tyne derby run to 10 league games with a 1-0 win against their bitter rivals at the Stadium of Light. The hosts are in a dip, having gone three games without a win. Ed Aarons is our reporter at the Amex.
Premier League
5.30pmTottenham v Liverpool live
Thomas Frank is certainly riding the Spurs switchback and, despite winning their last home match, against the Dane’s former club Brentford, Tottenham have not won consecutive matches at home since November 2024. Liverpool have been through a period of turbulence of late and their troubled manager, Arne Slot, is certainly taking no chances against Spurs. “It took us 92 minutes to score away against Brentford last season, a Thomas Frank team,” said the Liverpool manager. “They’ve added a few players and have a new manager, so I don’t think you can compare our games of last season to this season. We have added but lost a lot of players as well.” Barry Glendenning hosts our minute-by-minute coverage, with Nick Ames reporting from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Premier League
8pmEverton v Arsenal live
Arsenal may have dropped from the top of the table by the time Everton roll into the Emirates. That said, Mikel Arteta’s side will face a team who are without a win in their past five league meetings with the Gunners, albeit last season’s clashes were both drawn. Should Arsenal claim three points, they will top the table at Christmas for the third time in the past four seasons but will know only too well that they have gone on to finish second on the previous two such occasions. Scott Murray is your minute-by-minute host, with Andy Hunter reporting.
The Ashes
11.30pmAustralia v England live
James Wallace and Angus Fontaine bring over-by-over coverage of day five of the third Test at Adelaide Oval. Who knows where the tourists will be by Saturday night, but whatever the outcome our crack team of Ali Martin, Barney Ronay and Geoff Lemon will offer the latest news, reports and analysis.
Sunday
Football
8am-2.30pmMatchday live
Tom Bassam and Billy Munday pick up the thread of our unbeatable football blog. They will be looking forward to Sunday’s Premier League meeting of Aston Villa and Manchester United as well as key matches in the Scottish Premiership as the leaders, Hearts, take on Rangers, and Celtic – tanking under their new manager, Wilfried Nancy – meet Aberdeen. In Europe, Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich meet relegation-threatened Heidenheim after a rare slip-up in a 2-2 draw with Mainz last week. Plus a clutch of Women’s League Cup quarter-finals to monitor. Looking further afield, the Africa Cup of Nations kicks off with the hosts, Morocco, facing Comoros, who proved giantkillers at the 2021 finals in Cameroon when they eliminated Ghana.
Premier League
4.30pmAston Villa v Manchester United live
Tim de Lisle hosts our live coverage as third-place Aston Villa, three points behind Arsenal, take on a wildly oscillating United, who sit in sixth on 26 points. If the task was not already tough enough against the division’s form team, Ruben Amorim’s United are missing Bryan Mbeumo, Noussair Mazraoui and Amad Diallo to Afcon. Villa have won their past nine home games in all competitions as well as nine straight matches home and away. They will face a United side who threw away the lead three times in Monday’s eight-goal thriller against Bournemouth. Ben Fisher and Jonathan Wilson report.
American football
6pmNFL live
Graham Searle’s essential Sunday evening companion to the NFL this weekend keeps tabs on two key games. Home for the holidays, the Carolina Panthers entertain the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with control of the NFC South on the line. Since the start of the 2021 season, the Bucs can claim ownership of the South, holding at least a share of the division lead for 73 of the 87 weeks with four consecutive division titles. The Panthers are 3-3 since the beginning of November with wins over the Rams and Packers, but last week’s 20-17 loss at New Orleans, a penalty-filled outing, was deflating. The Buffalo Bills look to clinch a playoff berth for the seventh consecutive season when they visit the Cleveland Browns. The Bills (10-4) also have an eye on first place in the AFC East after overcoming a 21-point deficit in a 35-31 victory over the New England Patriots (11-3). Buffalo have won the division in each of the last five seasons. First, the Bills need a win and either a loss by the Houston Texans (9-5) or Indianapolis Colts (8-6) in order to punch their ticket to the playoffs.
