Live Sport on TV this weekend – January 26th, 27th & 28th
Friday
Football
FA Cup Fourth Round
Tottenham v Man City – ITV 1/ITVX – 20.00
An early start to the weekend with the biggest game of the FA Cup fourth round pitching Spurs, fifth in the Premier League, against Man City second. Man City now seem to be well into their stride with the loss of Erling Haaland being tempered with the return of Kevin de Bruyne. Just wait until they have both back together! Spurs are still without their major playmaker James Maddison but their form has held up well after their fast start to the season when they briefly topped the table. Pep Guadiola’s side will have too much class which will negate Spurs’ home advantage – Man City to win and de Bruyne to score the winner
Saturday
Football
FA Cup Fourth Round
Fulham v Newcastle – ITV 4/ITVX – 19.00
Fulham missed the chance of a second Wembley appearance in a major cup competition when they drew with Liverpool on Wednesday and lost 2-3 on aggregate. Their only other appearance was in the FA Cup Final in 1975, when despite the presence of Bobby Moore and Alan Mullery in the side, they lost 2-0 to West Ham. They now have a second chance to redeem themselves. The Magpies beat Fulham 3-0 at St James’ Park in December so shouldn’t be too worried about facing them. With Eddie Howe suddenly looking under pressure after a stellar first full season, Fulham are a side Newcastle should beat either home or away. A closer game than when they last met could end with a replay back up in the North East.
Rugby Union
English Premiership
Northampton v Newcastle – TNT Sports Extra – 14.00
Bristol Bears v Bath Rugby – TNT Sports 1 – 15.05
Saracens v Exeter – TNT Sports 1 – 17.30
Top of the table Northampton, fresh from an excellent win against Munster last weekend with 14 men for much of the match, should easily beat bottom of the table Newcastle, Northampton’s excellent form this season in both domestic and European games has been recognised with a call ups for Alex Mitchell, Fin Smith, Tommy Freeman, George Furbank, Fraser Dingwall, Tom Pearson and Alex Coles for England and Rory Hutchinson for Scotland Six Nations squads. And arguably their best player so far this season, Courtney Lawes, has retired as an England international. An easy win for Northampton.
Both Bristol and Bath suffered European Champions Cup defeats last weekend, but at least Bath managed to qualify for the last sixteen knockout stages. Bath beat their West Country rivals by one pint in the early league at the Rec in October. Expect another very close game, but Bath to win with all their international stars, including Finn Russell, there for the last time for a while as the Six Nations starts.
Both Saracens and Exeter both qualified for the knockout stage of the European Champions Cup last weekend, with Saracens berating Lyon and Exeter rather surprisingly losing to Bayonne. Exeter, a team in transition, have been playing well this, but home advantage should give Saracens, a team about to be in transition with Owen Farrell off to Racing 92, the edge.
Tennis
Australian Open – Women’s Final
Aryna Sabalenka v Zheng Qinwen – Eurosport 1 – 08.00
Zheng Qinwen can become only the second Chinese player to win a Grand Slam after Li Na last won the Australian Open 10 years ago. But first she has to defeat defending champion Aryna Sabalenka. The Belarusian has yet to drop a set in the competition this year and the first time she was taken to a tie-break was in the semi-final against US Champion Coco Gauff, where she avenged her defeat in the final. Sabalenka to retain her title for her second Grand Slam.
Sunday
Football
FA Cup Fourth Round
Liverpool v Norwich – ITV 1/ITVX – 14.30
Having secured a place in the first domestic Cup Final with the midweek draw against Fulham, Liverpool can now concentrate on a second. They have already overcome one of their main rivals in the third round when they beat Arsenal and have now been given slightly easier opposition in Norwich. The Canaries, who lost to Leeds midweek in the Championship, sit just below the play-off places and shouldn’t prove a too difficult obstacle to Jurgen Klopp’s side. Liverpool have not seemed to miss Mo Salah, which just as well as he might be off for sometime with a hamstring injury. Luis Diaz, Diego Jota and Darwin Núñez are proving to be a formidable front line with backup from Cody Gakpo. In defence Ibrahima Konaté has proved a very able lieutenant to Virgil van Dijk and Conor Bradley, on his Premier League debut last weekend, looked extremely composed. With Andy Robinson back on the bench against Fulham, Liverpool are almost back to a full-strength squad. Easy progress to the FA Cup fifth round for Liverpool.
Rugby Union
English Premiership
Gloucester v Sale – TNT Sports 1 – 15.00
Gloucester languish near the bottom of the Premiership table and now they’ve also lost possibly their best player in Welsh international winger Louis Rees-Zammit, who has decided to try his luck with the NFL. Sale were well beaten at home last week against La Rochelle in the Champions Cup, so will be looking for a bounce back after five defeats in six games. Sale were top of the league, but are now down to fifth. Gloucester at home with the backing of the Shed, Sale on paper the better team – a difficult game to call, but I take Sale to win a close contest.
American Football
Kansas City Chiefs @ Baltimore Ravens – Sky Sports NFL – 20.00
Detroit Lions @ San Francisco 49ers – Sky Sports NFL – 23.30
Tennis
Australian Open – Men’s Final
– Eurosport 1 – 08.00
