Saturday<\/p>\n
Football<\/p>\n
8am (all times BST)Matchday live<\/p>\n
Ease into the football weekend with our essential rolling blog. Dominic Booth buckles up to bring you breaking news and insights from around the grounds with seven Premier League fixtures, kicking off at lunchtime with the Manchester derby. Jamie Jackson will be online at Old Trafford for a live Q&A before the match, so post your questions to matchday.live@theguardian.com. There\u2019s a full Championship programme, with an enticing clash as pacesetters Coventry face Leicester, plus two games in the fourth round of the Women\u2019s FA Cup, troubled Real Madrid facing Levante at 1pm and Hearts going up against Falkirk in the Scottish Cup on Saturday evening. Talking points galore, so why not join the conversation.<\/p>\n
Premier League<\/p>\n
12.30pmManchester United v Manchester City live<\/p>\n
Michael Carrick steps into the dugout as Manchester United\u2019s interim manager for the Manchester derby at Old Trafford, tasked with steadying a side that have wobbled through another bleak winter. United are seventh in the table with one win in their last six Premier League matches and last week\u2019s FA Cup exit underlined their parlous state, but Carrick\u2019s arrival, in the wake of Ruben Amorim\u2019s sacking, brings a flicker of hope. His first challenge? Attempt to outwit Pep Guardiola, whose City team are six points behind Arsenal and second in the table, despite three consecutive draws. Rob Smyth helms our live blog with Jamie Jackson and John Brewin reporting.<\/p>\n
Manchester United\u2019s Michael Carrick (right) and Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola are all smiles after their goalless Manchester derby at the Etihad in April 2017, but who\u2019ll have the last laugh after Saturday\u2019s match, Carrick\u2019s first game as United\u2019s interim manager? Photograph: Martin Rickett\/PA<\/p>\n
Premier League<\/p>\n
3pmClockwatch<\/p>\n
Xaymaca Awoyungbo keeps the updates flowing from the 3pm kick-offs as well as sweeping up the lunchtime results, with his attention firmly fixed on two intriguing clashes. Tottenham v West Ham features two managers under unremitting pressure \u2013 El Sackico. Spurs\u2019 Thomas Frank may not last the weekend in post should their relegation-bound London rivals pull off a shock away win. Frank could call on his new signing Conor Gallagher following his arrival from Atl\u00e9tico Madrid, while Nuno Esp\u00edrito Santo and the Hammers, seven points adrift of safety in 18th, are winless in their last 10 Premier League games. David Hytner and Jacob Steinberg report. Liverpool host Burnley unbeaten in their last 11 matches in all competitions, but they will be keen to end their run of three straight league draws. Andy Hunter is our man at Anfield.<\/p>\n
Premier League<\/p>\n
5.30pmNottingham Forest v Arsenal live<\/p>\n
Barry Glendenning hosts our minute-by-minute coverage and Peter Lansley reports on the big game. Mikel Arteta\u2019s pacesetters travel to the City Ground after a testing midweek win over Chelsea in the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-finals. However, Forest\u2019s home form is grim reading for Sean Dyche \u2013 his side have lost six of their 10 Premier League home games this season, one more than they lost at the City Ground in the whole of last season. With a Champions League meeting with Inter looming, Arteta may look to rotate his squad, and he said on Friday: \u201cWe have more players back now, we have better options. That\u2019s very helpful. We are giving game time to almost every player.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sunday<\/p>\n
Tennis<\/p>\n
7.30amAustralian Open live<\/p>\n
Up with the lark is Daniel Harris to cover all the action from day one in Melbourne. The women\u2019s draw sees Aryna Sabalenka and Emma Raducanu fire up their campaigns. The world No 1 faces the French player Titi Rakotomanga Rajaonah, ranked 118 in the world, while the British hope meets the Thai Mananchaya Sawangkaew (195), although rankings count little when it comes to the capricious Raducanu. A shock quarter-final loss to the world No 204 Taylah Preston at the Hobart International was hardly encouraging. In the men\u2019s draw, Carlos Alcaraz meets the local hope Adam Walton. The 22-year-old world No 1 would eclipse Don Budge as the youngest man to achieve the career grand slam by winning at Melbourne Park. There\u2019s also British interest with Cameron Norrie and Arthur Fery on court. Tumaini Carayol reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There\u2019ll be plenty of support for world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz in Melbourne. Photograph: David Gray\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Football<\/p>\n
8amMatchday live<\/p>\n
Emillia Hawkins and Billy\u00a0Munday also rise early to focus on the wash-up from Saturday\u2019s games, as well as looking forward to Sunday\u2019s fixtures with all the breaking news and the latest from around the grounds. As well as two Premier League games, Celtic are in action in the Scottish Cup against rank outsiders Auchinleck Talbot and there\u2019s European interest with Milan, Roma and Barcelona all playing, not forgetting 12 Women\u2019s FA Cup fourth round ties.<\/p>\n
Premier League<\/p>\n
2pmWolves v Newcastle live<\/p>\n
There have been signs of life at Molineux of late, but Wolves\u2019 awakening under Rob Edwards may have come too late. His side are unbeaten in three league games and have earned more points from those \u2013 five \u2013 than they did from their previous 22 (three). The visitors are on something of an upward tick too in the league, and a victory against the bottom club means the Magpies \u2013 beaten by Manchester City in Tuesday\u2019s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg \u2013 would have won their first three league games of a calendar year for the first time since 1996. John Brewin steers our live blog with Will Unwin at the ground.<\/p>\n
Hwang Hee-chan celebrates scoring Wolves\u2019 second goal against West Ham at Molineux. Photograph: Brett Patzke\/WWFC\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Premier League<\/p>\n
4.30pmAston Villa v Everton live<\/p>\n
Aston Villa\u2019s seemingly unstoppable surge lost some of its momentum last week as a goalless draw at Crystal Palace stalled their march on Arsenal\u2019s top spot. But after dumping Tottenham out of the FA Cup, they approach Sunday\u2019s late game against Everton with energy restored. Unai Emery\u2019s side are unbeaten in 11 home games in all competitions but face an Everton\u00a0team who have won nine of their 19 league away games in David Moyes\u2019 second spell. Billy Munday helms our live blog, with Ben Fisher at Villa Park.<\/p>\n
Africa Cup of Nations final<\/p>\n
7pmSenegal v Morocco live<\/p>\n
The rankings proved spot-on as Africa\u2019s top two teams advanced to the final, with Morocco and Senegal setting up a heavyweight clash. But while Senegal overcame Egypt 1-0 in 90 minutes in Tangier on Wednesday, Morocco needed Youssef En-Nesyri\u2019s calm spot-kick in a penalty shootout before disposing of Nigeria after a goalless draw in Rabat to book their place in Sunday\u2019s decider. Morocco, whose only Cup of Nations triumph came half a century ago, are one of several underachievers, notably in recent years when the quality of their squad suggested they could win the trophy, but are now on the verge of success after going 26 matches unbeaten. At this Cup of Nations as hosts they looked nervy initially under the burden of expectation but in their last two matches have shown the form that has seen them ranked top on the continent since their World Cup exploits in Qatar in 2022, when they became the first African country to reach a semi-final. Rob Smyth keeps the updates coming with Jonathan Wilson reporting.<\/p>\n
NFL playoffs<\/p>\n
8pm Patriots v Texans live<\/p>\n
Graham Searles straps in for our unmissable NFL live blog as the Houston Texans face the New England Patriots in the AFC divisional round on Sunday night at Foxborough when an immovable force meets an unstoppable object. The Patriots coach, Mike Vrabel, says of the Texans\u2019 defense: \u201cThey chase the football and they get a lot of hats to the football. They create turnovers. They play physical.\u201d His Texans counterpart DeMeco Ryans rates the Patriots\u2019 QB Drake Maye as the key threat. \u201cI think it really doesn\u2019t get talked about much, but his athletic ability, his ability to escape the pocket has been really clutch for them. He\u2019s made some big runs to really hurt a lot of defenses, so we have to be conscious of that,\u201d the former two-time Pro Bowl linebacker says.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saturday Football 8am (all times BST)Matchday live Ease into the football weekend with our essential rolling blog. Dominic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-417392","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}