Premier League buildup, La Liga, Afcon last 16 and Celtic v Rangers – matchday live | Soccer
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Key events
Jacob Steinberg
A huge day for West Ham. Four points off 17th place before they visit Wolves later and I’m hearing that the key midfielder Lucas Paquetá is looking unlikely to start due to injury. That would be a huge blow for West Ham. They’ll hope he’s at least able to make it on the bench but would obviously prefer that he makes it into the starting 11.
Celtic v Rangers kicks off at 12.30pm and the stakes are high (as they always are) in the first Old Firm derby of 2026. Neither side want to lose anymore ground to Hearts, who top the table with 41 points. The hosts could move level on points with the leaders with a win at Celtic Park. They would need to win by a seven-goal margin to leapfrog to the summit.
Team news coming up soon.
Aston Villa … can they bounce back today against Forest after that Arsenal thrashing?
Unai Emery’s side have been fantastic this season and have really turned things around after their poor start. The Arsenal match was their first loss in 12, but it was the matter of the defeat that truly stung. A strong first-half showing felt like a waste after a lopsided defensive shape handed Arsenal the opportunities to speed forward.
The question now becomes: why did the defence collapse? Was it just a few lapses of concentration? Or is the tempo of which they have been playing at catching up to them? It will be a cause for concern if it is the latter, with notawelshsinger lamenting the squad depth below the line.
The Villa squad is getting stretched. We ended the last game with 8 players out/unavailable (Cash Pau Mings Kamara Onana Barkley Elliott Guessand) from a 23 man senior squad and only very inexperienced kids on the fringes.
Cash and Kamara are back for Forest. Maatsen wasn’t used so can come in for more energy. The rest of the team are knackered, with another 2 games to come next week.
I’m a little worried looking at the physicality and tenacity in that Forest team that this isn’t going to be a good match up for us. Especially at set pieces with Mings and Onana out, Martinez previously fantastic in the air but inexplicably flapping at anything that comes his way this season.
As always, thank you for sending in your comments to our dedicated matchday live email and contributing below the line – so much fun reading them all.
Is this the lowest quality league we’ve seen for some time? Of the ‘big’ clubs only Arsenal are fully functional. The much touted ‘middle class’ ( Brighton, Bournemouth, Palace) have been shown to lack the resources to be consistently good enough. Sunderland ( and possibly Leeds) are the only team to be really exceeding expectations. The lack of quality on show over the New Years fixtures was pretty stark.
This criticism was certainly making the rounds last year as well. I wonder how much, if any of it, stems from the high standards that Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp’s peak Manchester City and Liverpool teams set. Do we expect more from the “big” clubs because of that era? How about all three of the newly promoted teams being relegated in back-to-back seasons? Is that a failure of the league or a sign of its quality?
Just past the tuning point in the Premier League into the second half, an observation has been made that the majority of the teams, including the league leaders are playing more a low block than has ever been the case. Goals are down, XG is down, all the stats to back this up. So, whilst acknowledging that we should and could be playing at a faster tempo in games and moving it faster, any Liverpool fans bemoaning the lack of Klopp like gegenpressing should bear this in mind. There needs to be an attack to counter. But nor am I happy with this horseshoe type press we set up with.
That said Liverpool need to find other ways in which we can find the key to unlocking defences and I hope that we at least get more space against a more open Fulham side, then to Arsenal next week away, this should be an interesting game, though not an exciting one for the ‘neutrals’ , the story of many a game this season.
Old Firm should be good for goals and frayed tempers today.
I have seen Bournemouth 3 times this season and they were very good in each game so i think us Arsenal supporters know this will be a tough match today.
Looking at the squads on paper in the EPL i think Arsenal and Liverpool have the best at the moment but that doesn’t seem to count for much in this league with everyone so evenly matched, a bit better squad depth but that’s about it as good teamwork can counter big money signings usually.
I think Villa will get back to winning ways and if Arsenal can get more than a point today they have done very well for themselves.
Bournemouth have slightly regressed if we are comparing them to the start of the season. It will be interesting to watch Antoine Semenyo. May be his last game for Bournemouth and surely, his possible new employers would be quite pleased if he stutters Arsenal’s title charge.
And Christer writes in from Brighton:
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.
How does one from the Little Apple become a Brighton fan? Must be a fascinating story.
Have you played On the Ball – our new football game exclusive to our app? The daily puzzle involves guessing the identity of the Premier League footballers, past and present.
My score today … 31 which puts me in the top 51% of players. Would have been a bit higher had I not prematurely guessed twice (every wrong guess is -2 points). Not my best score to start the new year but it can only go up from here …
But we also award our own Guardian Footballer of the Year. This award is given to a player who has done something remarkable, whether by overcoming adversity, helping others or setting a sporting example by acting with exceptional honesty.
Previous winners include Marcus Rashford in 2020 who forced the issue of child hunger in the UK on to the national stage and Jenni Hermoso in 2023 who, after her triumph as at the World Cup, became the focal point of football’s battle against misogyny.
In 2025, the prize goes to England and Gotham FC’s Jess Carter, who ended the year as a title winner for club and country after publicly confronting online racist abuse at the Euros.
It makes it really difficult to speak up on different things. There’s a lot of things I’d like to say or do, and I maybe would if I didn’t have that pressure either as a black woman or as an England athlete, but we have to always act the right way, behave a certain way. I used to find it tough when I was a bit younger. I like directness so I used to be direct too.
Her full conversation with Suzanne Wrack is below.
Thanks Dave, sterling shift as always. Happy New Year all. 2025 was a memorable year in football. Here at the Guardian we rank the 100 best men and women players of the year …
And with that, I’ll hand you over to Yara El-Shaboury for further build-up to today’s action. I’ll be back on soon with a live blog of the Old Firm derby.
We’re down to the final 16 at Afcon. Fancy some analysis of all eight matches? Osasu Obayiuwana is your man in Morocco.
A quick odds update to give extra context. Hosts Morocco are 2/1 favourites ahead of 4/1 Senegal, 6/1 Nigeria and 7/1 Algeria. Mo Salah’s Egypt are 8/1.
Fantasy football corner. Don’t know about you but I need a big week after a miserable slide in recent times. Triple-captaining Hugo Ekitike at home to Leeds was a maverick move that failed spectacularly. Should have done Haaland v West Ham but I forgot to make the deadline in time. Today’s is 11am by the way.
So, with two transfers to burn, this week I’ve brought in Gabriel to give me an Arsenal defensive double-up (with Raya) and also re-signed Rayan Cherki after binning him far too quickly earlier in the campaign. Keeping Florian Wirtz may seem daft although he has banked 36pts in his last six games, including 21 in the last three. So, therefore, expect Cherki (home to Chelsea) and Wirtz (away to Fulham) to be dropped to the bench!
Let me know your transfer moves/line-ups ahead of Gameweek 20.
Bargains can still be had in the transfer window as highlighted by Chelsea pinching Cole Palmer from Manchester City for just £40m a couple of years ago. Ahead of the two sides’ meeting on Sunday, Will Unwin looks at the five current Chelsea players who were nutured at City’s academy.
The transfer window is open so how many new players do you want to see come through the door? One or two shrewd, well thought out signings that fit into the structure or just loads you’ve never seen or heard of but your mate has watched some clips on YouTube.
Two London sides have already got the ball rollling. Brennan Johnson certainly knows where the goal is so adds to Crystal Palace’s hit-and-miss attacking threat while West Ham are certainly backing Nuno Espirito Santo as the Hammers try and stave off relegation.
Surely the best thing you’ll read today.
May I also recommend the Kenny Dalglish documentary on Amazon Prime. Peter Bradshaw reviewed it for the Guardian here.
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!
12.30pm Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest – Sarah Rendell
12.30pm Celtic v Rangers – me, David Tindall
5.30pm 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
La Liga
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!
