Editors' Picks: Huge Wembley showdowns, Monaco Grand Prix and Roland Garros begins in style
Saturday, May 27th
Manchester City vs Manchester United - 16:00 CET
One of the biggest days of the English football season is the FA Cup final, and like last year, this season sees Premier League champions Manchester City and struggling local rivals Manchester United go head-to-head.
It has been another stunning campaign for City, who won the Premier League last weekend after pipping Arsenal to the title. In doing so, they became the first team to ever win four league titles on the bounce in England.
They won't be able to match last season's feat of the treble after they were knocked out in the Champions League quarter-finals to Real Madrid, but completing a domestic double will be another amazing achievement for Pep Guardiola and his team. And they will undoubtedly be the heavy favourites at Wembley.
On the other side of Manchester, United are enduring their worst season in recent memory. They finished eighth in the Premier League - the lowest final position since 1990 - were dumped out of the Champions League after finishing bottom of their group, and suffered a 3-0 thumping at home to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup.
There are strong rumours circulating regarding the future of Erik ten Hag, with his job seriously at risk come the summer. However, a shock win in the final this weekend may give him a lifeline, but even that is not a certainty.
City will be immensely confident that they can inflict another defeat on United - much like they did in the final last season. But United will give their all to pull off an upset, as a victory would be a stunning way to finish a really poor season.
Tolga Akdeniz
Sunday, May 26th
Roland Garros begins - 11:00 CET
The second Grand Slam of the tennis season begins on Sunday in Paris, and there are a number of dramatic matches and storylines to kick things off in the first round at Roland Garros.
The biggest headline grabber is the meeting between 14-time champion Rafael Nadal and No.4 seed Alexander Zverev. The Spaniard is likely playing at the tournament for the last time, and has been handed one of the toughest possible draws, coming up against Zverev - who is one of the favourites this year. Can the King of Clay conjure up one last trick?
Another really intriguing contest is between former Grand Slam champions Andy Murray and Stanislas Wawrinka. The pair are into the twilight years of their career and are nowhere near their best, but seeing these two former heavyweights slug it out will be a fun watch nonetheless.
Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz all begin their campaigns with relatively straightforward matchups, but there are question marks lingering over the form and fitness of all of them, which is what makes this year's French Open all the more intriguing.
On the women's side, three-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek is the heavy favourite to triumph yet again, and begins against a qualifier. She faces a potential encounter with fellow four-time major winner Naomi Osaka in the second round, while Danielle Collins also lurks in her quarter. Coco Gauff could await in the semis.
Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina could meet in the semi-finals, and both have been gifted a relatively kind draw up until that point.
An exciting first-round contest to keep an eye on is Qinwen Zheng vs home favourite Alize Cornet. The latter is playing in her last-ever Roland Garros and will want to go on one last run, with the talented Zheng standing in her way.
It promises to be a captivating and unpredictable two weeks in the French capital. You won't want to miss it.
Tolga Akdeniz
Monaco Grand Prix - 15:00 CET
Do we have a championship fight in Formula 1? It looked like Max Verstappen was running away with it as he has done for the last two years, but a first race win in Miami for Lando Norris followed by the pair finishing less than a second apart last week in Imola suggests they are closely matched.
The F1 circus now heads to the glitz and glamour of Monaco. The street circuit around Monte Carlo is infamous for its unforgiving barriers and tense racing action, where chaos can reign.
Saturday’s qualifying session will be pivotal to the race on Sunday with the person on pole having a huge advantage compared to other tracks. With that in mind, Verstappen will be favourite given he has been first in the last eight qualifying sessions. One more this weekend will beat the current record held by the late, great Ayrton Senna.
Senna, who passed away in 1994 at Imola after a tragic crash, will be remembered this weekend by his former team McLaren as Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri will wear a helmet donning the famous yellow of Senna. The car he will be driving will also be yellow, accented with green and blue to reflect the Brazilian flag - Senna’s home nation.
A fitting result will be a McLaren on the top step of the podium come Sunday afternoon. Norris and Piastri will be highly motivated to prove their team can fight with Red Bull on all fronts.
It is also a home race for Charles Leclerc. The Monagasque driver told the media on Thursday that it is always a special race for him, but on track, it has been the opposite. He has never finished above fourth on the streets where he would take the bus to school and even had a DNS after qualifying on pole in 2021.
A podium for the Ferrari driver would be just the tonic to lift the ‘Monaco curse’.
Whatever happens, the Monaco Grand Prix is always an event that is hard to miss and if Norris can overcome Verstappen for the second time in 2024, so will the rest of the season.
Josh Donaldson
Leeds United vs Southampton - 16:00 CET
Leeds United and Southampton are just one win away from the Premier League - simple, right?
However, in the Championship play-off final, it is anything but.
Billed as the most lucrative match in world football with the winner not only gaining promotion but also a massive eight-figure payday, there are few games in the calendar that matter more.
The taste of the Premier League still lingers for both sides. They were relegated together last year, meaning they are well acquainted with each other. After their two games played this season, it is Southampton who go to Wembley the more confident having won both their meetings.
The Elland Road side did finish higher in the table than their south coast opponents by a single point, and their 4-0 demolition of Norwich City in the semi-final second-leg would have struck fear into the hearts of the Saints.
They will also need to keep the league’s player of the year quiet. Crysencio Summerville netted 20 times in the regular season and his pace has frightened many a defence during the campaign. He will want to continue that form in the final.
Much will rest on Southampton's ability to control the game with their possession-based style that has become the fulcrum of their play under Russell Martin. They have the highest average possession of any team in the Championship this season, and the Saints will need a strong performance from West Ham loanee Flynn Downes if they are to secure promotion.
With 90,000 fans descending on the capital, the atmosphere will be raucous, but will we get a game to match?
Josh Donaldson