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Saturday

8am-12pm (all times BST)

Matchday live

Football

Blink and it’s back – just 34 days after a captivating World Cup came to a close, the Premier League returned on Friday night as the champions Arsenal took on newly promoted Coventry – and Saturday sees five more fixtures. There’s no better way to launch your football weekend with our compelling rolling blog, with Cameron Ponsonby and Barry Glendenning keeping pace with all the day’s breaking news and vibes from around the grounds. In Scotland, Rangers and Celtic are in action, and there’s a full-fat programme in the Championship. Why not join the conversation: send your thoughts to matchday.live@theguardian.com. 

11am

County Championship live

Cricket

Tanya Aldred checks in from Derby where Ben Stokes’ Division Two frontrunners Durham are in action. Elsewhere, Surrey are taking on County Championship leaders Nottinghamshire at the Oval, title-challenging Somerset face Essex at Taunton, where New Zealand batter Henry Nicholls has been impressing on debut. At the Utilita Bowl, Yorkshire have been huffing and puffing against Hampshire, while at Grace Road rock-bottom Leicestershire are taking on Glamorgan. Then there’s Sussex against Warwickshire and the former England opener Zak Crawley has been in fine form for promotion hopefuls Kent against Middlesex at Merchant Taylors’ School. The other fixtures are Worcestershire against Gloucestershire and, at Old Trafford, Northamptonshire battling Lancashire.

12.30pm

Hull v Manchester United live

Premier League

Saturday’s Premier League action begins in Hull, where Manchester United ‌will start to discover whether last season’s resurgence under Michael Carrick can survive the burden of expectation. Hull’s return to the top flight guarantees a raucous atmosphere, while United, who reinforced their midfield with the close-season signing of Belgium international Youri Tielemans, will be ​eager to show that last season’s promising campaign was no one-off. Tim de Lisle helms our live blog, with Will Unwin reporting from the MKM Stadium.

11am and 3pm

Dutch Grand Prix sprint race and qualifying live

Formula One

With the ink drying on a fresh contract at Red Bull, Max Verstappen can give his home Dutch Grand Prix a fitting sendoff this weekend by becoming Formula One’s sixth different winner in ⁠six races. The old-school seaside circuit ⁠is slipping off the calendar after ​this year’s race and victory on Sunday would be a bittersweet occasion for Red Bull’s four-time world champion and his throngs of orange-shirted supporters. Verstappen has come close to winning this season, with two second places including Hungary ⁠before the August break that ended this week, and the 28-year-old has always been on the podium – three wins and two second places – since the track returned to the championship in 2021. Philip Cornwall will be keeping tans on the Dutchman’s fortunes in the sprint race and qualifying at the helm of our lap-by-lap blog. Giles Richards reports. 

3pm

Clockwatch

Football

Barry Glendenning is back at post, with two key Premier League fixtures fully on his radar. Everton host Crystal Palace eager to lay down an early season marker having lost their opening game in each of the past four seasons. Pierre Sage arrives from Lens as the visitors’ new manager with a similar stuttering-start hoodoo to shrug off: of the 16 previous Palace managers to oversee a Premier League match, just two have won their first. Another new manager, Oliver Glasner, will be eager to show Nottingham Forest can cope without Elliot Anderson against Leeds. The England international was sold to Manchester City for £116m during the World Cup. The Austrian has an enviable record on debut, however: he has won his first league game in charge with four of his five previous clubs.

5.10pm

South Africa v New Zealand

Rugby union

Billed as the Greatest Rivalry, the All Blacks are in South Africa for a four-Test series to see, one can only assume, which international team can be deemed the best around. Having beaten New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup final in 2023 the Springboks are the current world champions and, on home soil, many would fancy them to live up to that title. But never underestimate the All Blacks. The scene is set for a cracker. Daniel Gallan will have minute-by-minute updates from the first Test in Johannesburg.

5.30pm

Brentford v Tottenham live

Premier League

Big-spending Spurs travel to Brentford, hoping to make last season’s pitiful 17th-place finish a distant memory. Roberto De Zerbi arrived late last season but kept a divided, flagging Spurs up and the club have backed the Italian in the transfer market, with the Manchester ⁠City winger ⁠Savinho arriving on Friday for a cool £75m, but a consistent goalscorer is possibly the missing element to propel them into the front rank of contenders: Dominic Solanke, Dejan Kulusevski, Mohammed Kudus, Xavi Simons and Wilson Odobert are all injured. Brentford have again made a canny foray into the summer transfer market. In Mamadou Sangare, the £39m club record signing from Lens promises to become one of the season’s breakout players. Scott Murray hosts the MBM, with Jacob Steinberg reporting. 

Sunday

8am-12.30pm

Matchday live

Football

Emillia Hawkins and Yara el-Shaboury pick up the baton to preview the day’s action with breaking news and much more as we settle down for another engaging set of Premier League fixtures, with three games on offer. Email matchday.live@theguardian.com with your notions and queries.

2pm

Manchester City v Bournemouth live

Premier League

Emillia Hawkins pops up again for the first of the day’s match blogs as Manchester City begin a new post-Pep Guardiola era at home to Bournemouth. A new manager is in the dugout in Enzo Maresca, key players Rodri, Bernardo Silva and John Stones have departed and, for the first time in years, there are genuine questions about what City will look like. The challenge is no longer staying ahead of the pack, but perhaps keeping up with it. A debut too for Marco Rose in the Cherries’ corner. The German head coach has a tough act to follow after Andoni Iraola left the south coast club for Anfield. Jamie Jackson reports.

2pm

Dutch Grand Prix live

Formula One

While the season started a new era with dominant Mercedes winning six races in a row, one for George Russell and five for championship leader Kimi Antonelli, the past five have told another story with a different winner every weekend. Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, Russell, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Antonelli and McLaren’s Lando Norris have been the winners and now Max Verstappen and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri look most likely to keep the sequence running as the second half ‌of the season kicks off at Zandvoort. Champions McLaren have won the last two Dutch Grands ​Prix, current champion Norris in 2024 and Piastri in 2025, and will be going for a hat-trick with the team bringing the second part of an upgrade package introduced in Hungary. Mercedes, with Antonelli now 50 points clear of closest rival Hamilton, have not won at Zandvoort since Juan Manuel Fangio in 1955 and intend to rectify that at what will be the fifth of six sprint weekends this season. Yara el-Shaboury steers our lap-by-lap coverage.

4.30pm

Newcastle v Liverpool live

Premier League

Liverpool begin life after Mohamed Salah and with a new ​manager in Andoni Iraola when they travel to Newcastle, whose summer has been defined by sweeping change. Newcastle embark on a new chapter with Matthias Jaissle replacing Eddie Howe as manager ​and the likes of Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali ‌and Anthony Gordon having departed. Jaissle’s first competitive fixture is sure to be an emotional one as Newcastle and Liverpool come together to celebrate the life of Kevin Keegan, a man who meant so much to both clubs, before kick-off before resuming a rivalry which has sparked some classic encounters in the Premier League era. Michael Butler hosts the live blog, with Louise Taylor and Sam Dalling reporting from St James’ Park.