Key events
In La Liga, leaders Barcelona face Espanyol in the Catalan derby at 8pm tonight. Victory would send them seven clear of Real Madrid, who host Real Betis on Sunday. Espanyol sit fifth in the table although they haven’t beaten Barca in La Liga since 2009. Come on lads, do it for the dreamers.
Get this, the action in Serie A today kicks off at 11.30 GMT. That’ll be Como hosting Udinese. Here’s a fact, sixth-placed Como have suffered fewer defeats in Serie A this season than Inter and Napoli! Admittedly, two of those have come in their last three matches (0-4 v Inter and 0-1 v Roma) although Perry’s boys bounced back with a 3-0 win at Lecce last time.
The top three aren’t in action but fourth-placed Roma travel to Atalanta tonight (7.45pm) while fifth-placed Juventus host Lecce earlier this evening (5pm).
An early contender for longest traveller. Christer Aakeroy emails this:
“Having travelled over 4,400 miles from Manhattan, Kansas (yes, it’s known as the ‘Little Apple’) to watch my beloved Seagulls, I really hope that they live up to their undoubted potential and bring plenty of warmth and joy to the Amex this afternoon.”
Brighton host Burnley (3pm) so the odds are in your favour/favor Christer. Then again, this Opta stat is a little concerning:
If you like an MBM (minute-by-minute), we have you covered. And then some!
12.30 p.m Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest – Sarah Rendell
12.30 p.m Celtic v Rangers – me, David Tindall
5.30 p.m Bournemouth v Arsenal – Barry Glendenning
Plus, Billy Munday will bring you live updates from the two 3pm Premier League kick-offs in his Saturday clockwatch while Dominic Booth is on hand with live coverage of the first two Afcon last-16 ties (4pm and 7pm kick-offs).
Oh, keep your eyes peeled for live coverage of the fifth and final Ashes Test (Tim de Lisle and Angus Fontaine) and the PDC World darts final (Rob Smyth)!
A few results around Europe from last night.
Serie A
Cagliari 0-1 AC Milan
The League
Rayo Vallecano 1-1 Getafe
Ligue 1
Toulouse 0-3 Lens
In Italy, Rafael Leao celebrated his return from injury with the first Serie A goal of 2026. His 50th-minute winner put Milan top of Serie A by two points although local rivals Inter can return to the summit when they host Bologna on Sunday.
In France, Lens increased their lead at the top to four points over champions PSG with a comfortable 3-0 success at eighth-place Toulouse, who were clearly hampered by being reduced to 10 men after just 20 minutes when striker Emersonn was sent off for a bad challenge on Odsonne Edouard. That’s seven straight wins now for Lens. They couldn’t, could they?
Heading to a Premier League match today? Or perhaps you’ve made a maverick trip to the Afcon? Send your thoughts and hopes to matchday.live@theguardian.com
Preamble
Hello. It’s … (checks diary) … Saturday. After the festive confusion, it’s now day three in the 2026 house although just four Premier League fixtures today suggests a routine hasn’t yet been established. Still, for many out there, this is the final weekend of the holiday so a chance to head to the match.
That quartet of Premier League offerings includes Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest at 12.30pm while, kicking off at the same time, we have the little matter of an Old Firm derby. One with particular intrigue given the current chaos at Celtic.
Later in the day at 5.30pm, leaders Arsenal travel to a Bournemouth side who can’t win anymore but are still capable of playing out entertaining draws with the glamour teams.
While the lower leagues have a day off, there is plenty of action in Serie A, La Liga and Ligue 1 while we’ve reached the last 16 of Afcon. Senegal v Sudan at 4pm and Mali v Tunisia at 7pm keep the fun flowing.
As usual with matchday live, we’re looking for interaction so hit us with comments and emails. Are you going to a game? Do you have fresh optimism for your team now the calendar has flipped? Or simply just tell us if your day consists of wall-to-wall football on the tellybox as you polish off the final chocolate oranges. I think we can all agree that the caramel version is nowhere near as good.
Right, let’s get this weekend started!
