England v Spain at Wembley and Baku’s Azerbaijan GP headline a packed sport weekend
England host Spain at Wembley on Saturday evening, their first match since the World Cup semi-final against Argentina, while the Azerbaijan Grand Prix runs on Saturday at the Baku City Circuit.
The Premier League is on a break but coverage continues across international fixtures, county cricket’s finale and the Baku race; Manchester City’s legal battle will also feature in the weekend’s reporting. Scotland begin their Nations League campaign away to Slovenia at 2pm under new boss Sébastien Pocognoli, and coverage will extend to Leagues One and Two and the National League for grassroots supporters.
Sébastien Pocognoli, the former Union Saint-Gilloise and Monaco manager, said: “We arrive in the timeline of the Scotland national team [where], in the natural way, you will have some changes. But I don’t see this as a bad challenge, I think it’s a needed challenge.” Barry Glendenning will live blog the match with Ewan Murray reporting from Ljubljana’s Stadion Stožice.
England’s meeting with Spain at Wembley arrives amid reflection on their World Cup semi-final collapse against Argentina and fresh scrutiny of Thomas Tuchel’s defensive substitutions that preceded two late goals; Tuchel admitted to being left “unfulfilled” by failing to achieve his target of a second star on the England jersey. Bukayo Saka said in midweek that “there’s still a scar in us” from what happened in Atlanta. Rob Smyth will keep the live blog updates flowing and the national-stadium coverage will feature David Hytner, Barney Ronay and Jacob Steinberg.
Azerbaijan marks 10 years since its first F1 race and this year’s Grand Prix is held on Saturday because Sunday is a national holiday, Remembrance Day; the Baku City Circuit is about 105 miles from the nearest point on Azerbaijan’s southern border with Iran. The World Rally Championship last week scrapped its season-ending event in Saudi Arabia after travel concerns from teams, and the World Endurance Championship cancelled races in Bahrain and Qatar in July and replaced them with European venues. Kimi Antonelli leads the standings by 81 points over his Mercedes teammate George Russell, Antonelli is coming off back-to-back wins, and Dominic Booth will provide lap-by-lap coverage with Giles Richards reporting.
The domestic season reaches its climax at Edgbaston where Warwickshire can clinch the County Championship by beating relegation-threatened Leicestershire, which would be their first pennant since the Covid-shortened 2021 campaign; second-placed Somerset have faltered against Surrey. In Division Two promotion hopefuls Kent meet rock-bottom Gloucestershire at Canterbury while Northamptonshire, four points behind second-placed Kent, face Middlesex. Tanya Aldred will steer the live blog through the season’s final day.
Rob Smyth and Tim de Lisle have over-by-over coverage of the third ODI after Sri Lanka levelled the series in a last-over finish at Headingley; England had been chasing 322 with Tom Banton making 73 and Ben Duckett 67 in a 143 opening stand before Dunith Wellalage removed both openers and captain Harry Brook to leave England 157 for three. Wellalage finished with three for 49 and Kusal Mendis hit a fine century. Brook said: “We’ve got a great opportunity now to try to win this series, and a great opportunity for 12 months’ time. In pressure situations, like the one that awaits us at the Oval, it will be great to see where we are as a team.”
Renée Slegers’ unbeaten Arsenal travel to Stamford Bridge after draws with Crystal Palace and Manchester United, having scored two goals and taken five points from three WSL matches, though they beat HB Køge 1-0 in the Champions League while resting several first-choice players. Chelsea also won 1-0 in the Champions League, Wieke Kapteina scoring against Austria Vienna after a weekend in which they had struggled to impose themselves on Birmingham City. Will Unwin hosts the women’s live blog with Sophie Downey reporting.
Graham Searles’ NFL rolling blog will focus on Dolphins v Chiefs and Bills v Chargers; Miami lost 35-13 to the San Francisco 49ers, unraveling in the second half, while the Chiefs start 2-0 with Kenneth Walker III bolstering a balanced offence. The Chiefs are averaging an NFL-best 457.5 yards through two games, about 137 more than their per-game average last season; Buffalo have won twice and the Los Angeles Chargers remain winless. John Brewin’s international coverage will concentrate on the Republic of Ireland’s match against Israel in Debrecen ahead of a designated “home” fixture in Serbia on 4 October amid protests and calls for a boycott, with no Irish supporters in the stadium, no home match in Ireland, and no pundits or Irish commentary on television; Ireland’s manager Heimir Hallgrimsson said: “We’re not playing with genocide, we’re playing against genocide,” a comment the Israel Football Association described as “hypocrisy and stupidity.”
The next immediate fixture of note sees England and Sri Lanka head to London for a series-decider at the Oval, while Saturday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix proceeds at the Baku City Circuit as part of this packed sporting weekend.
