Your Guardian sport weekend: Women’s Rugby World Cup semis, Azerbaijan Grand Prix and more

Saturday

Football

8am (all times BST)Matchday live

Join Emillia Hawkins for your essential countdown to the day’s football action. We spin through the headlines and look ahead to Saturday’s seven Premier League fixtures, with team news and breaking stories. Plus updates from the Championship, where Chris Wilder returns for Sheffield United as the Blades face Charlton, and eight other games, including Leicester v Coventry. The first action of the day is the lunchtime kick-off in the Merseyside derby. While Everton have made a positive start to the season, their recent record against their city rivals is lamentable: just two wins in their last 29 league games against Liverpool. What’s more they’ve failed to score in five of their last seven.

Athletics

10.30amWorld championships live

A big day ahead for British athletes in Tokyo and Luke McLaughlin has all the latest breaking news and headline action. There is certain to be plenty of focus on Katarina Johnson-Thompson at her seventh world championships. Four years ago, the 32-year-old fell agonisingly short of Olympic gold after sustaining an injury in the 200m. The two-time world champion and Olympic silver medallist faces her nemesis Nafi Thiam in the javelin (11am) and 800m (1.11pm), the event where she missed out on gold by a mere two seconds the last time she raced in Tokyo. Sean Ingle reports.

Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam and Great Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson in action during the 100m hurdles part of the women’s heptathlon
Katarina Johnson-Thompson got the better of Nafi Thiam in the heptathlon 100m hurdles on day one, will the two-time world champion continue that form on the second day? Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
Premier League

12.30pmLiverpool v Everton live

Whether you are on the red or blue side of the Merseyside divide, there are promising signs aplenty for Saturday’s derby. With four wins from their opening four league games, Liverpool could win each of their first five matches of a campaign for the third time, after 2018-19 and 2019-20. Everton, meanwhile, have won six of their last 11 away league matches, as many as their previous 30 combined. All six wins have been in 2025 and included a 2-0 win at Anfield. Barry Glendenning helms our live blog, with Will Unwin at the ground.

Formula One

1pmAzerbaijan GP qualifying live

Welcome to Baku, where Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is chasing a fifth successive pole position. “We are historically always in good shape in Baku,” says Ferrari’s team principal, Fred Vasseur. Red Bull could also be back in the mix, with the four-time world champion Max Verstappen winning at Monza from pole. The Dutch driver had a hard time in Baku last year, finishing fifth and one place behind McLaren’s Lando Norris, who had started 15th. Giles Richards reports on Saturday’s race for pole.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc speeds through the streets of Baku during practice for the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc speeds through the streets of Baku during practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Photograph: Anton Vaganov/Reuters
Football

3pmPremier League clockwatch

The action comes thick and fast with a tranche of 3pm kick-offs keeping Billy Munday busy at the helm of our live blog. While keeping tabs on Burnley v Nottingham Forest, West Ham v Crystal Palace and Wolves v Leeds, he’ll be focusing on Brighton v Tottenham. The home side completed a Premier League double over Spurs last season. Against that, Tottenham have never before lost three successive visits to the south coast club and are buzzing under their new manager, Thomas Frank. His side kept a fourth clean sheet in the sixth match of his tenure at N17 with a 1-0 victory over Villarreal in their Champions League opener. That followed last Saturday’s 3-0 victory at West Ham, where the future of the Hammers manager, Graham Potter, is again on the line in a London derby against Palace.

Women’s Rugby World Cup

3.30pmFrance v England live

The Red Roses’ forward dominance offers the best route to victory in Saturday’s World Cup semi-final against France at Ashton Gate. Of the 38 tries England have scored in their four World Cup matches to date, 22 have been supplied by their hard-charging pack. Hannah Botterman, restored to the front row after recovering from a back spasm, will be a key cog for England and is one of four changes to the side that thumped Scotland 40-8, with the full-back Ellie Kildunne, the fly-half Zoe Harrison and the second-row Abbie Ward also given starts. In a boost for the Red Roses, Kildunne is available after recovering from the concussion that forced the world player of the year to miss the quarter-final. Lee Calvert helms our live coverage, with Sarah Rendell and Robert Kitson our reporting team in Bristol.

Premier League

5.30pmManchester United v Chelsea live

Ruben Amorim is clearly not a man for turning, yet his tactical obduracy shows no tangible improvement. The season is barely under way and United have lost two of their four league matches and been humiliated by Grimsby in the Carabao Cup. A sole home victory – against Burnley – was only secured by a Bruno Fernandes penalty in the closing minutes of a 3-2 win. With United thumped 3-0 by Manchester City last time out, it is little wonder that the Portuguese is the latest to find life as manager at Old Trafford an unrelenting misery. By contrast, Chelsea’s have claimed two wins and two draws from their opening four games and have Cole Palmer back from injury. The England international is a key component of Enzo Maresca’s team – he has been directly involved in 73 goals in 100 appearances for Chelsea. The Blues’ midweek Champions League defeat by Bayern Munich will have hurt, though. Scott Murray helms our live blog, with Jamie Jackson reporting from Old Trafford.