Top Flight Buildup and Fresh Football Updates

This comment strikes a familiar chord personally. Christmas time is always prioritizing the beautiful game, family gatherings after.

It's often a challenging period for soccer fans. Can we manage to maintain the required focus on our club while displaying suitable excitement for presents, holiday meals, and family events...? We'll give it a damned good try! Apologies, could you repeat that...?

Man Utd Eye Neves and Gallagher

The Red Devils are searching for a midfielder. This can’t be good news for Kobbie Mainoo… as a pair of former Premier League stars are on the radar of the Old Trafford club.

Newcastle v Chelsea Pre-Match Preview

Newcastle v Chelsea in the early Saturday slot is a great way to kick off the football. The Magpies are down in 12th while Chelsea are in fourth. Only six points separate them, with the Magpies’ formidable home record likely to make it tough for Chelsea.

The home side could be hindered, however, by their sheer number of unavailable defenders. The full-back has added to Sven Botman, Dan Burn, Emil Krafth, Jamaal Lascelles, Kieran Trippier and goalkeeper Nick Pope in the medical room, and Lewis Hall is questionable.

Even so, and even with the manager stating his growing admiration for the squad earlier this week, it's unwise to predict an easy Chelsea win on Tyneside. Can Maresca settle on a regular forward line? Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho were substitutes in the Carabao Cup against Cardiff to score and look like contenders to start this one.

Predicting games like Newcastle v Chelsea in the current campaign has proven exceptionally tough.

Top 100 Players Discussion

Observations show considerable debate in the comments about the Guardian’s Top 100 players… such lists are inherently opinion-based, naturally. One thing you cannot argue with is Ousmane Dembélé’s place at the very summit.

10 Things to Look Out For

Major plotlines this weekend include: From pressure on Scott Parker at Burnley, to Wolves’ long search for a win, appeals for the striker's inclusion in the national team setup, it’s all here.

Friday Night Round-Up

For those who didn't see late drama unfolded during the Welsh derby. Wrexham goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo handed victory to Swansea with a last-minute error when he dropped Ben Cabango’s header right into the path of Adam Idah. Idah was left with a tap-in to score for the decisive goal.

A gift from the Arsenal academy graduate, incidentally, and local supremacy for Swansea.

Steve Evans steered his team to a draw ending a poor run, but stated the 1-1 draw at Crewe was disappointing given the home side had 10 men for most of the game. Elsewhere in League Two, Cambridge United jumped into the playoff spots with a 2-0 win against Accrington Stanley while Cheltenham won at struggling Barrow.

Northampton cruised beyond AFC Wimbledon 3-1 in League One.

And in the Bundesliga, the battle of the Borussias went Dortmund's way, Max Beier scoring in the 97th minute to see off Mönchengladbach following an early Brandt strike.

Introduction

Hello everyone and welcome to another matchday live blog. Saturday is here meaning pre-match excitement! And we can safely call it a packed schedule featuring eight top-flight matches, starting with the early kick-off, followed by four afternoon games, the evening fixture, and concluding with two late matches: the Merseyside and London clashes (all times GMT).

Additionally, there's a full schedule of games in the Scottish Premiership, Championship, League One and League Two, plus lower down the pyramids and in Spain, Germany and beyond too. See – bumper.

Following our usual format, we encourage your comments and emails, so let me know your predictions for the day ahead, reflections on the year as it concludes, or your plans for a day of festive footy-ball. Enjoy!