Your Guardian sport weekend: rugby league Ashes, Lionesses v Brazil and F1’s title tussle

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Saturday

Football

8am (all times BST)Matchday live

Dominic Booth helms our essential gateway to the day’s football action. He will be looking forward to Saturday’s four Premier League fixtures – Chelsea v Sunderland, Newcastle v Fulham, Manchester United v Brighton and Brentford v Liverpool. There’s also the prospect of the Lionesses hosting Brazil at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium as well as Wales Women facing Australia in Cardiff. There’ll be team news and breaking stories as well as any wash-up from Friday night’s Leeds v West Ham match.

Rugby league

2.30pmEngland v Australia live

England’s head coach, Shaun Wane, has been waiting five years for a “smash-up” with Australia and is relishing the role of underdogs in the first of three long-awaited Tests. Wane took the England role in February 2020 but a mooted series later that year was abandoned because of the pandemic and the 61-year-old has been counting down the days to get another crack at the Kangaroos. “The chance to play against the best team in the world in an iconic stadium like this, it’s got the makings of a fantastic day,” he said of the game at Wembley. Wane believes he has a squad at his disposal that can build on series wins over Samoa and Tonga in the last two seasons and pull off a huge upset in the first Ashes for 22 years, when Great Britain faced the Australians. Lee Calvert is your liveblog host, with Aaron Bower reporting from Wembley.

Premier League

3pmChelsea v Sunderland and Newcastle v Fulham live

Billy Munday’s clockwatch keeps you updated for Saturday’s two 3pm kickoffs. Jacob Steinberg reports from Stamford Bridge as Sunderland arrive having made an impressive return to the top flight. Only six promoted clubs have ever had more points – 14 – at this stage of a Premier League season. However, Chelsea – who thrashed Ajax 5-1 at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday – are impressive at home. Only Manchester City (34) have earned more home points in the Premier League in 2025 than Chelsea (33). Louise Taylor is at St James’ Park, where Eddie Howe’s Newcastle are one place and one point above Fulham before the weekend round and tonked José Mourinho’s Benfica 3-0 in midweek.

Premier League

5.30pmManchester United v Brighton live

Are Ruben Amorim’s United finally on the up? Beating the champions, Liverpool, at Anfield last Sunday showed promise but United have lost six of their last seven league games against Brighton. That said, their home form is solid after winning their last three matches at Old Trafford. The visitors, however, beat Newcastle last time out and have lost just two of their last 13 league games. Scott Murray is at the controls of our live blog, with Jamie Jackson reporting from Old Trafford.

Women’s football

5.30pm England v Brazil women’s international friendly live

Sarina Wiegman’s England face Brazil in Manchester for their first match since defending their European Championship crown in the summer. The Homecoming Series – next up are Australia at Derby’s Pride Park on Tuesday – sees call-ups for the Spurs forward Jess Naz, who last featured for the Lionesses as a substitute in February’s 1-0 win against Spain at Wembley, and Grace Fisk. The Liverpool captain also comes in as an injury replacement to face the South American champions at the Etihad Stadium. Sarah Rendell has minute-by-minute coverage, with Suzanne Wrack and Sophie Downey reporting.

Jess Naz and her England teammates during a training session at St Georges Park ahead of the match against Brazil.

Premier League

8pmBrentford v Liverpool live

A thumping 5-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt in midweek lifted some of the Liverpool gloom after the home defeat by Manchester United meant Arne Slot’s defending champions slid to four points behind the title pacesetters, Arsenal. Liverpool have lost their last three league games, as many losses as they suffered in their previous 39. Brentford, meanwhile, are no pushovers under Keith Andrews, showing West Ham no mercy on Monday in a rollicking 3-0 victory at the London Stadium. The Bees have lost just one of their five home games under Andrews, and that was a 1-0 defeat by Manchester City. Rob Smyth hosts our live blog, while Jonathan Wilson reports from the Gtech Community Stadium.

Formula One

10pmMexico City GP qualifying live

Max Verstappen has roared back into title contention by winning three of the last four races. That has cut the Red Bull driver’s deficit to Oscar Piastri, the leader, from 104 points after Zandvoort in August to 40 points with five rounds remaining. Piastri’s McLaren teammate, Lando Norris, separates the pair in the standings, 14 points behind Piastri and 26 ahead of the defending world champion. With 141 points still up for grabs, a genuine three-way title race has emerged and Verstappen is giving his all to try to clinch the crown. That sets up a potentially crucial qualifying session, with Alex Reid offering lap-by-lap coverage and Giles Richards reporting.

Sunday

Cricket

1am and 5.30amNew Zealand v England – men and women

There’s coverage of two England clashes with New Zealand. First up, the men, whose T20 series against the Black Caps was something of a washout. Just 22 balls were bowled at Eden Park on Thursday, the second abandonment of the three-match T20 series which England won 1-0 after thrashing the Black Caps by 65 runs in Christchurch on Monday. The first of three ODIs is on Sunday at Mount Maunganui, with Rob Smyth and Taha Hashim on duty for our over-by-over coverage. Then cricket fans’ attention shifts to the Women’s World Cup where England finish their group stage matches in Visakhapatnam. England can only finish in second or third place, meaning they will avoid facing hosts India in the last four. Tanya Aldred and James Wallace are our early risers on the live blog.

Football

8amMatchday live

Emillia Hawkins sifts through the fallout from Saturday’s programme before our unmissable live football countdown blog looks forward to a Sunday fixture list that features five Premier League games as well as a top-of-the-table clash in Scotland that for once is not solely an Old Firm concern. Derek McInnes’s Hearts are setting the pace north of the border and meet a misfiring Celtic. The unbeaten Jambos are being touted as title contenders after soaring five points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership following a summer of shrewd recruitment aided by Jamestown Analytics and almost £10m of investment from the Brighton owner, Tony Bloom.

Premier League

2pmClockwatch

Tom Bassam has live coverage of Sunday’s four 2pm kick-offs: Arsenal v Crystal Palace, Aston Villa v Manchester City, Bournemouth v Nottingham Forest and Wolves v Burnley. Pick of the bunch is the London derby where the Gunners are running hot from a 4-0 Champions League defeat of Atlético Madrid on Tuesday. The title frontrunners cannot be displaced from the summit before kick-off but Palace are no pushovers, having drawn eight of their last 14 Premier League matches, including a 3-3 against Bournemouth last week, though Oliver Glasner’s side were embarrassed by a 1-0 home loss to the Cypriot minnows Larnaca in the Conference League on Thursday. Manchester City are three points behind Arsenal and, after a routine 2-0 Champions League win at Villarreal, travel to Villa Park. Unai Emery’s side are on an upswing having won their last three league matches, having started the season with a five-game winless streak. However, Go Ahead Eagles shocked them in midweek in the Europa League.

Emiliano Buendia celebrates with Morgan Rogers and Matty Cash after scoring Aston Villa’s winner at Tottenham.

El clásico

3.15pmReal Madrid v Barcelona live

Billy Munday helms our blog for the clásico rivals’ first meeting of the season. The La Liga clubs are separated by two points at the top as Barça chase a slice of history at the Bernabéu. Last season, Hansi Flick’s side recorded four straight wins over Real, beating Madrid 4-0 and 4-3 in the league, 3-2 in extra time in the Copa del Rey final and 5-2 in the Supercopa. Barça could now match their longest winning run against Madrid in all competitions, having won five straight clásicos only under Pep Guardiola from 2008 to 2010. Sid Lowe reports.

Premier League

4.30pmEverton v Tottenham live

Spurs visit Everton after a goalless Champions League draw at Monaco and last week’s defeat by Aston Villa. Still, Thomas Frank’s side have been formidable on the road this season, garnering the most away points in the Premier League. Against that is Everton’s impressive home form. David Moyes’s team have lost just one of their last 13 Premier League home matches and remain unbeaten in all four this season since their move to Hill Dickinson Stadium. Something has to give and Tim de Lisle hosts our live clockwatch with Andy Hunter reporting from Everton’s new home.

American football

5pmNFL clockwatch

Graham Searles’ rolling blog on Sundays is gaining a following among NFL aficionados and week eight sees a clutch of compelling fixtures as the season hits the midway point including: San Francisco 49ers v Houston Texans, Cleveland Browns v New England Patriots, Chicago Bears v Baltimore Ravens, New York Giants v Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos v Dallas Cowboys.

Star quarterback Lamar Jackson could return for struggling Baltimore against Chicago.

Formula One

8pmMexico City Grand Prix live

Join Billy Munday for lap-by-lap coverage, where the pressure is on Oscar Piastri now that Max Verstappen has charged into the world championship frame. Red Bull are expected to be strong again at a track where Verstappen has won five times and another successful weekend for the four-time world champion would deeply trouble the McLaren camp. Giles Richards reports.

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