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Saturday
Football
8am (all times BST) Matchday live
David Tindall kickstarts the weekend’s football programme with our unmissable rolling blog that rises early to provide all the breaking news from around the grounds. There’ll be wash-up from Friday night’s Premier League meeting of Leeds and Nottingham Forest, buildup to Saturday’s bumper seven Premier League matches, a full Championship and lower-division programme, plus plenty of swirl around Serie A and La Liga, with Napoli and Barcelona in action. In Germany, Borussia Dortmund have cut Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga lead by five points, drawing six behind the leaders and reviving a title race long considered dead. Bayern’s shock home loss to Augsburg – their first league defeat in 10 months – along with a hard-fought draw in Hamburg last Saturday have allowed Niko Kovac’s Dortmund to edge closer. Dortmund play at wobbling Wolfsburg, a day before Bayern’s home clash with Hoffenheim. Why not join the conversation by sending your thoughts to matchday.live@theguardian.com?
Winter Olympics
9am-9pmMilano Cortina Games live
Twelve hours of entertaining live coverage from Italy begins early as our team keep the updates flowing from the four-site Olympiad. This is the most spread-out Games – summer or winter – in history, with competition venues dotting an area of about 8,500 square miles, roughly the size of Wales, with Merseyside tacked on. The hub is in Milan at San Siro, the celebrated football stadium which is due to be bulldozered in the next few years. Other venues include Cortina d’Ampezzo in the heart of the Dolomite mountains, Livigno in the Alps and Predazzo in Trento. There’s British interest in the women’s slopestyle qualifying (9.30am-11.35am) with the 21-year-old Scot Kirsty Muir in stellar form after winning X Games gold in January and her first World Cup gold last year. The men’s downhill is one of the Winter Games’ blue riband events (10.30am-12.50pm) and there’ll be some spectacular flicks and tricks in the snowboard men’s big air (6.30pm-7.50pm).
Premier League
12.30pmManchester United v Tottenham live
Fourth-placed United have been revitalised since Michael Carrick took over last month and claimed maximum points from his three matches in charge, including a 3-2 win at leaders Arsenal. Spurs – one of Carrick’s former clubs – make the trip to Old Trafford wallowing in 14th and have failed to build on last May’s victory over United in the Europa League final. Frank’s injury-ravaged team are unbeaten in four games, but have won only two of their last 15 league fixtures and are 12 points behind United. Scott Murray is our live blog host, with Jamie Jackson reporting from Old Trafford.
Six Nations
2.10pmItaly v Scotland live
Gregor Townsend will be hoping his Scotland side secure a convincing win over Italy in their Six Nations opener in Rome and ease some of the pressure on him. The 52-year-old head coach has been in his post since 2017, but despite a talented group of players they have failed to reach the last eight in two World Cups and under-performed in the Six Nations. The defeats in the autumn by New Zealand and Argentina typified Scotland under Townsend, promising much but failing to seize their chance or building a significant lead and then letting it slip. Townsend signed a new contract back in September but the brutal manner in which New Zealand fired head coach Scott Robertson in January serves as a salutary reminder there is no standing on ceremony if results fail to stack up. Townsend has also had to cope with the fallout from speculation he is to take over as Newcastle coach – he is a part-time consultant to club owners Red Bull – after the 2027 World Cup. Lee Calvert keeps the updates flowing.
Premier League
3pmClockwatch
Arsenal could take another stride towards the Premier League title with victory over Sunderland before Manchester City face a daunting trip to Liverpool on Sunday. The Gunners already enjoy a six-point lead at the top of the table as they close in on a first title since 2003-04. Despite an excellent first season back in the top flight for Sunderland, Arsenal will expect to take care of business at the Emirates and stretch their lead to nine points 24 hours before City travel to Anfield. Aston Villa, who face Bournemouth on the south coast, remain the best of the rest behind the top two, but a dip in form for Unai Emery’s men has allowed Manchester United, Chelsea – at Wolves on Saturday – and Liverpool to bunch up in the race for a place in next season’s Champions League. Billy Munday straps in to keep the updates flowing from across the five 3pm fixtures.
Six Nations
4.40pmEngland v Wales live
Rarely in the 145-year history of Anglo-Welsh rugby can England have been such overwhelming favourites as they face Wales in the old rivals’ Six Nations opener at Twickenham. England, 66-to-1 on with one bookmaker, are on an 11-game winning streak. Wales, by stark contrast, have lost 21 of their past 23 Tests, a sequence that includes a 68-14 Six Nations thrashing by England in Cardiff last season. England’s run suggests they are contenders to win the championship for the first time in six years. It is a decade since England last won a grand slam but coach Steve Borthwick, abandoning his usual caution, has already made it clear he wants his side competing for a clean sweep in their tournament finale against France on 14 March. Meanwhile, for Wales problems have been intensified by a bitter row over the Welsh Rugby Union’s plans to reduce the number of the nation’s professional regions from four to three, with the Ospreys facing the chop. Sarah Rendell has minute-by-minute commentary, with Robert Kitson, Gerard Meagher and Michael Aylwin at Twickenham.
Premier League
5.30pmNewcastle v Brentford live
Injury-hit Newcastle are seven points adrift of the top five but still in business in the Champions League – they face Azerbaijani side Qarabag over two legs for a place in the last 16 this month – and the FA Cup. Their home form has been reasonably solid – although Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa have won in the league at St James’ Park this season – but their return on the road during a campaign which already amounts to 38 games in all competitions has been below par. The Carabao Cup holders’ defence of their first major domestic trophy in 70 years ended on Wednesday night when Manchester City completed a 5-1 aggregate semi-final victory over Eddie Howe’s side, and they head into this clash with seventh-placed Brentford an underwhelming 11th in the table. Dominic Booth buckles up for minute-by-minute coverage and Louise Taylor reports from St James’ Park.
Sunday
Football
8am-1pmMatchday live
Our rolling football blog shakes the dust from a lively Saturday and looks eagerly forward to a day of more compelling action, with Brighton facing Crystal Palace and Liverpool playing host to Manchester City in the Premier League’s late afternoon kick-off. There’s a full WSL fixture list, topped by a mouthwatering clash of Arsenal and Manchester City. In the Scottish Cup fifth round, Rangers tackle Queens Park while in Europe Real Madrid, Inter, and Juventus are all in action. In France’s Ligue 1 Paris Saint-Germain confront fierce rivals Marseille. European champions PSG have won their last six league games but face an unexpected title challenge from a dogged Lens, who are just two points back and reached the French Cup quarter-finals in midweek.
Winter Olympics
9am-8pmMilano Cortina Games live
Our team keep you up to date with all the breaking news and action from Italy where one of Sunday’s highlights is indisputably the women’s downhill (10.30am-12.50pm) where the clamour surrounding Lindsey Vonn intensifies. The 41-year-old American ruptured the ACL in her left knee last week but remains undaunted in her pursuit of gold at the Olympia delle Tofane course. Vonn, who claimed downhill gold at Vancouver in 2010, is planning to compete with a large brace covering her knee after a crash in Switzerland that left her with an injury many athletes would consider career-ending. The American had a partial titanium replacement inserted in her right knee in 2024 and then returned to ski racing last season after nearly six years of retirement. She crashed during the final World Cup downhill before the Olympics in Crans-Montana last Friday, was airlifted off the course, only to post on social media later that day: “My Olympic dream is not over.” Encouragingly for the American, Vonn holds the record of 12 World Cup wins in Cortina. There’s more US interest later, and Beau Dure will be covering the figure skating team events (6.30pm-10pm), where Madison Chock and Evan Bates are big hopes for gold.
T20 World Cup
9.30amEngland v Nepal live
Wounded after another Ashes humiliation, England go again in arguably their best format right now and how they fare may seal head coach Brendon McCullum’s fate. Equally, Harry Brook’s nightclub fracas in Wellington the day before a match against New Zealand on Halloween and the subsequent botched cover-up has led to calls for him to be replaced as England’s white-ball captain. The off-field headlines do not appear to have distracted Brook, who has overseen ODI and T20 series wins in Sri Lanka to give England some momentum before their opener against Nepal. Brook has played some astonishing innings to underline his status as an all-format star, but he has done so from the middle-order, having never batted higher than four in the order in T20s. The 2010 and 2022 champions have enviable batting depth but struggle against world-class spin. James Wallace hosts our over-by-over coverage, with Simon Burnton reporting from Mumbai.
Women’s Super League
12pmArsenal v Manchester City live
Manchester City increased their gap at the top last weekend with a 5-1 thrashing of the defending WSL champions, Chelsea, and meet an Arsenal side riding high from yet another European triumph. Renee Slegers’s side made history by winning the first Women’s Champions Cup, a 3-2 victory over Corinthians last Sunday sealed by Caitlin Foord’s winner in extra-time. That followed the Gunners’ 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge. When they met earlier in the season, Andrée Jeglertz City sealed it thanks to a late winner from substitute Iman Beney in a thrilling 3-2 victory. Xaymaca Awoyungbo has minute-by-minute coverage with Suzanne Wrack reporting from the Emirates.
Premier League
2pmBrighton v Crystal Palace live
Since the start of December, only Wolves (with six) and Burnley (five) have won fewer points than Brighton and Palace, who have scrambled nine each. Palace – who signed Wolves’ Jørgen Strand Larsen for £48m on deadline day and held on to the unsettled Jean-Philippe Mateta – are without a win in nine league games against a backdrop of disquiet swirling around their manager Oliver Glasner. Fabian Hürzeler’s Seagulls, meanwhile, sit in 13th and are just two points above their opponents, after a run of one win from 11 league matches, but three points in the M23 derby could prove difficult against a side that have spent big in the January transfer window. Daniel Harris helms the live blog, with Ed Aarons at the Amex.
Premier League
4.30pmLiverpool v Manchester City live
Florian Wirtz’s recent good form at Liverpool has been a relief for the Reds after the £100m summer signing had a tough start to life in the Premier League after his arrival from Bayer Leverkusen, with no assists or goals until he set up Alexander Isak in the 2-1 win over Tottenham on 20 December. The 22-year-old German scored his first league goal for Liverpool a week later. Now Wirtz goes into Sunday’s match at home to Manchester City on a fine run of six goals in his past 10 appearances for the defending champions. Arne Slot’s decision to ignore the initial criticism of Wirtz and keep fielding him in his side is certainly now reaping dividends. “Maybe now he has a better connection with his teammates because he played more and more together,” says Slot. City’s away-day blues continued with the latest in a series of second half-collapses at Tottenham last weekend to blow a two-goal lead that leaves Pep Guardiola’s side with precious little margin for error left in the title race. What’s more, City’s only victory at Anfield since 2003 came in an empty stadium during coronavirus restrictions in 2021. Michael Butler hosts our live blog, while David Hytner and Andy Hunter provide reports and analysis.
Super Bowl LX
11.30pmPatriots v Seahawks live
The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks square off in one of the more unlikely championship matchups in NFL history. Leading the Patriots’ charge is the dynamic duo of first-year head coach Mike Vrabel and second-year quarterback Drake Maye. Vrabel, who won three Super Bowls with the Patriots as a player, has pushed all the right buttons this season while guiding Maye and the NFL’s second-ranked scoring offense. Seattle arrive riding a nine-game winning streak. Their unlikely hero is quarterback Sam Darnold, third pick of the 2018 NFL draft who bounced around the league before joining the Seahawks last March, transforming them into NFC champions in just one season. We’ll be live blogging the NFL climax from start to glorious finish.
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