The Boar Sport Weekend Preview: 23-24 January
James Roberts
Tennis: Australian Open
Saturday and Sunday, 12am, Eurosport 1 & 2
Two days, seven former champions and an endless amount of matches – the first weekend of the 2016 Australian Open is already here. Although Aussie hero Lleyton Hewitt has already been tearfully eliminated from his last major tournament there are numerous subtexts unfolding. British hopes are still alive on both sides of the draw as Andy Murray, four times a losing finalist, and Johanna Konta look to build on their promising performances in rounds one and two. Elsewhere, the seemingly flawless Roger Federer continues to defy age as he bids for an 18th Grand Slam. The Swiss is through to the fourth round in no time at all. In the women’s draw, Serena Williams will want to put the disappointment of missing out on the ‘Serena Slam’ behind her. Retaining her title in Melbourne would see her draw level with Steffi Graf as the second most successful singles player in tennis history.
There are a number of intriguing match-ups in store over the next few days. Jo Wilfried-Tsonga’s clash with Kei Nishikori is one to look out for, as is Belinda Bencic versus Maria Sharapova. This is always the stage of a Grand Slam when it becomes clear who the favourites are and the competition gets turned up a notch. Tennis fans: you only get eight weeks of major tournament action per year – make the most of it.
Nadal is out, but Federer battles on – can he go all the way?
Oscar Mayhew
Premier League Football: Arsenal v Chelsea
Sunday, 4pm, Sky Sports 1HD
It was meant to be the turning point for Chelsea. A 2-0 win at home to Arsenal back in early October, courtesy of a Zouma header, a Chambers own goal and a Gabriel Paulista red card after succumbing to Diego Costa’s antics. It was an impressively solid performance, reminiscent of their title-winning campaign last time around. Even if the title was already out of grasps by this point of the new season, most predicted Chelsea to fight back and comfortably make a Champions League spot. But three and a bit months on and Chelsea still lie firmly in the bottom half of the table. The 2-0 was no turning point, and things only got worse for Jose Mourinho, from a loss against Stoke to a loss against Bournemouth to a loss against Leicester. The players turned against him more and more, game by game.
Guus Hiddink has come in, and while the post-match conferences have become calmer and somewhat less bizarre, results have not improved markedly. Arsenal on the other hand have climbed up the league, leaving them the current bookies’ favourite to win the title come May. Their performances, aside from victories over Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Olympiakos have been far from sparkling, but they’ve overcome injury difficulties over the Christmas period to reach the last 16 of the Champions League and top the table. Yet, Sunday afternoon’s match remains difficult to predict. Wenger has a miserable record against his fellow London rivals and Arsenal fans will not be walking to their seats at the Emirates confident of a win. I’ll be firmly camped in Bar Fusion for the game, and I recommend that your eyes are firmly glued to the TV too, these two rarely fail to entertain.
Mertesacker and co. could not stop Chelsea earlier in the season. Will they have more success on Sunday?
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