Premier League team news and more: weekend football countdown – live!

Hello. Right, that’s the formalities out of the way, now let’s talk about

anything but Brexit
football. After the thrills of international action, players across the world will soon return to the drudgery of domestic duty. In the Premier League, that means a potentially pivotal weekend in the title race, a crucial weekend in the jostling for a top four finish and a cheek-clenching weekend in the battle to avoid the drop. And we’ve got pretty much the same scenarios in the Championship, League One and League Two. In the Championship, for instance, Norwich go to Middlesbrough and Sheffield United host Bristol City, which means there’s a good chance of Leeds being back in the automatic promotion places if they can prevail in their always-cordial tête-à-tête with Millwall. Before all that, though, West Brom will try on this very day to foil Birmingham’s attempt to begin recovering from that nine-point deduction for financial mayhem. And in League One, half the division is still at risk of relegation – Southend v Shrewsbury has the makings of a particularly choice affair – while in League Two, Lincoln will try to stride closer to the third tier by nudging Macclesfield closer to non-league indignity. And in Scotland, Celtic and Rangers will meet on Sunday for a wholesome display of inter-faith friendship and a chat about the exact timing of Celtic’s coronation as Scottish champions. It’s all happening! But before it does, let us and managers spend a day talking about it. Yes!