The Pulse of Football

Dec

2021

This Weekend: Der Klassiker, Royally approved match-ups and Conference Finals

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Saturday

🇩🇪 We’ll start today’s preview with one of Europe’s biggest games, Der Klassiker – Borussia Dortmund vs. Bayern München. The game which so often sets the course for how each Bundesliga season is going to play out.

Dortmund are the hosts this time around, and they go in to the game just a point behind the reigning champions. A positive COVID test looks to have denied us the chance to see all three of the league’s hottest marksmen though – at least in terms of minutes per goal, so we’ll have to make do with the battle between Haaland and Lewandowski.

🇪🇸 As it stands, all of the clubs currently sitting in the top five of La Liga play today. Sevilla (4th) kick proceedings off with a home game against Villarreal before their cross city Real Betis (5th) play at Barcelona.

Later, there’s the clash between Atlético (2nd), the unpredictable reigning champions and Mallorca. And then the day’s headliner, Real Sociedad (3rd) vs. Real Madrid (1st), two sides given the Royal prefix.

With La Real having kept the most clean sheets this season – 9 in 15 league games and Madrid scoring the most goals – at a rate of 2.3 per game, this should be an intriguing contest.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Similarly, the Premier League’s three runaway leaders feature in today’s fixtures. Leaders Chelsea perhaps have the toughest assignment, a trip across London to Champions League-challenging West Ham United.

Free-scoring Liverpool (averaging over 3 goals a game!) go to Wolves, who drew a blank against Burnley in the week. And Manchester City are also on the road, away at Watford, a side playing with a new found confidence under Claudio Ranieri. That is particular the case for striker Emmanuel Dennis, a goalscorer in each of his last 3 matches.

🇮🇹 And apologies if you’ve heard this one before – but the top five also play in Italy today. Current leaders Napoli play the ever-entertaining Atalanta (4th) in the evening kick-off.

Before that, Milan (2nd) play bottom side Salernitana and Inter (3rd) face Roma (5th) led, of course by their Champions League winning former manager, José Mourinho.

🇸🇪 As if all that wasn’t enough, you might also be interested in some final day drama in Sweden where the Allsvenskan title is still up for grabs.

Leaders, and current champions Malmö hold a two point advantage and a superior goal difference, meaning a point for them at home to Halmstads should be enough.

Should they slip up however, AIK will be waiting in the wings. They play at home vs. Sirius knowing that nothing but a win will do.

Sunday

🇺🇸 The MLS Play-offs have reached the Conference Finals stage and after the West gets settled between Portland and Real Salt Lake tonight, there’s the Eastern showdown to look forward to tomorrow.

This one pits two sides making their debut at this stage of the competition having put together some impressive post-season results. Philadelphia Union have beaten NYRBs and Nashville to make it this far whilst New York City saw off Atlanta AND New England Revolution, the side who broke the all-time points record during the regular season.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 There’s four fixtures in the Premier League tomorrow. Manchester United, now able to have new interim coach Ralf Rangnick sit in the dugout play Crystal Palace and there’s more managerial intrigue as Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa side host his former manager, Brendan Rodgers and Leicester City.

And staying in England, tomorrow is FA Cup Final day in the women’s game. In fact, the much delayed Final for the 2020/21 season is being played at Wembley Stadium between record winners Arsenal, and current league champions Chelsea.

📆 With the week ahead full to the brim with the final group games in Europe’s top club competitions – the Champions League et al, tomorrow’s fixture list does in truth, look a little sparse. But there’s still intrigue, if you know where to look!

In Serie A, Juventus won’t want to suffer another slip-up when they play struggling Genoa and in the Bundesliga, early season surprise package Freiburg go to Gladbach, a side that haven’t hit the heights they did last year.

And in Austria, there’s the always heated Vienna Derby between Rapid and Austria Wien.

🇨🇦 One of tomorrow’s lesser talked about games is the finale of the Premier League season in Canada. This is one of our favourite fledgling leagues and one we’ve been following since it’s inaugural season in 2019. Forge FC, the side who’ve won the two previous Championships are once again in the post-season final – this time going up against Pacific FC, who finished the regular season down in third but with the best goal scoring record.

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!

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Nov

2021

This Weekend: Big league games and one of World football’s major finals

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Saturday

🏆 Today will see Brazilian sides Palmeiras and Flamengo go head-to-head in South America’s most important game – the final of the Copa Libertadores.

And for the first time in the 61 year history of the tournament, the final is being played by the last two clubs to win the trophy – 2019 champions Flamengo and current holders Palmeiras, who overcame another Brazilian side Santos at this stage 12 months ago.

That was the São Paulo club’s second Libertadores titles, which is incidentally the same amount as their rivals from Rio de Janeiro.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 In the Northern Hemisphere, today is a regular day of league action in Europe’s biggest leagues. That means we get five fixtures to look forward to in the Premier League, including Liverpool vs. Southampton and matches for some of the league’s newest managers.

Eddie Howe takes Newcastle to Arsenal looking for his first win, Dean Smith will oversee Norwich’s home game against Wolves and Steven Gerrard goes up against Patrick Vieira as Palace entertain Aston Villa.

🇮🇹 Two of the top four in Italy’s top flight play later. Fourth placed Atalanta go to Juventus, currently languishing down in eighth whilst defending champions Inter could end the day one point off the league’s joint leaders, if they win away at Venezia.

🇪🇸 It’s a relatively quiet day in La Liga but we will get to see if Barcelona can kick-start the so far, so familiar tenure of new manager Xavi. Following last weekend’s win over Derby rivals Espanyol, they stuttered to a goalless draw against Benfica in the Champions League and now, they face a road trip to Villarreal.

🇩🇪 The big game in the Bundesliga comes at the Volkswagen Arena as Wolfsburg welcome Borussia Dortmund, with both sides looking to recover from midweek setbacks in Europe.

Elsewhere Bayern go up against struggling Arminia Bielefeld. League top scorer Robert Lewandowski has five league goals more than the whole Arminia team have managed collectively so far this season.

Sunday

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 There’s another five games lined up in the Premier League for tomorrow, including two that feature teams who enjoyed a successful week in their respective continental competitions.

Manchester City, who confirmed top spot in their Champions League group with a win over PSG play West Ham, who did the same in the Europa League.

And in the day’s late kick-off league leaders Chelsea, handsome victors over Juventus in midweek take on Manchester United, who’ll be hoping to continue the interim manager bump under the tutelage of Michael Carrick.

🇪🇸 Its top versus third in La Liga’s headline game of the weekend, with Real Madrid testing their 8 game unbeaten run against Sevilla, who themselves have only lost one league game all season.

That game could become second versus third should Real Sociedad leapfrog Madrid with a win away to Espanyol earlier in the day.

🇮🇹 Serie A’s joint leaders, Milan and Napoli will both be looking to get back to winning ways after finally losing their unbeaten league records last weekend.

Milan did of course have that late Champions League win at Atlético Madrid in midweek but they’ll want to follow that up at home to Sassuolo. For Napoli though, who paired defeat to Inter with further disappointment at Spartak Moscow in the Europa League – nothing but a win will do against tomorrow’s opponents Lazio.

🇺🇸 Post-season continues in MLS with two Conference Semi-Finals taking place on Sunday. In the West, Sporting Kansas City take on surprise package Real Salt Lake. The latter got past regular favourites Seattle Sounders in the last round despite not taking a single shot on goal in 120 minutes of football – instead relying on the lottery of penalty kicks to see them through!

And in the East, the game between second and third seeds, Philadelphia Union and Nashville SC looks too close to call.

🇸🇪 Similarly, the Swedish title race is a particularly tight affair going in to the penultimate round, with games being played tomorrow and Monday. In fact, top four are separated by just three points!

Current leaders and defending champions Malmö go to Kalmar (6th) whilst Djurgården have a home game against Varbergs (11th). And then, if we look slightly further ahead that the usual remit of this article – 4th placed Elfsborg play 3rd placed AIK tomorrow evening.

Expect drama.

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!

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Nov

2021

This Weekend: Club football returns

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Saturday

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 The Premier League hits the post-International Break ground running with eight games lined up for today. And for every heavyweight clash – Leicester vs. leaders Chelsea, or the day’s late kick-off Liverpool vs. Arsenal, there will be lots to look out for in the other fixtures.

Dean Smith takes charge of his first game for struggling Norwich City, against Southampton – the side he faced in his final match as manager of Aston Villa.

And Steven Gerrard, one of the most famous players of his generation makes his managerial debut in the league as his replacement in the Villa Park dugout, as they go up against Brighton.

🇪🇸 Today is Derby Day for Barcelona as Espanyol make their first trip across town since their rivals consigned them to relegation from La Liga with a 1-0 win at Camp Nou in 2020.

Famously, this is one of the most one-sided rivalries in world football (124 wins to 44) but following their promotion back to the top flight at the first time of asking, Espanyol go in to the game level on points with Barcelona and optimistic of ending their 12-year wait for an away win in this fixture.

Earlier in the day, Sevilla could go top of the league with a win over Alavés whilst defending champions Atlético Madrid can close the gap on the top three by beating Osasuna at home.

🇮🇹 In Italy, Milan will test one of only two unbeaten records across Europe’s top five leagues when they visit Fiorentina.

And in the day’s biggest game, Juventus look to snap their three game winless run at high-scoring Lazio.

🇩🇪 For those of you who enjoy the cut and thrust of Derby Day, the Bundesliga fixtures include the battle between Union and Hertha Berlin. The first chance fans will have had to attend this game since before the start of the pandemic.

Borussia Dortmund are also in action, at home to Stuttgart and RB Leipzig face a road trip to mid-table Hoffenheim.

🏆 Two continental finals shape the next week in South American football and for the first time, all four finalists in today’s Copa Sudamericana and next weekend’s Copa Libertadores showpiece come from Brazil.

First up, in what is the equivalent of the Europa League, Athletico Paranaense who won this tournament as recently as 2018 face relative minnows, Red Bull Bragantino. This is the club’s biggest ever game, either in their previous guise or during their rapid rise to Brazil’s top table since the involvement of a certain energy drinks company.

🇺🇸 It’s also an important day in the US, with post-season now in full swing – not least for Washington Spirit and Chicago Red Stars, who meet to decide the 9th NWSL Championship.

The MLS play-offs begin with the tie between Philadelphia Union and NY Red Bulls and it is Conference Finals day in the second tier, USL Championship.

And finally, there’s also the Championship game in the third tier, USL League One – a game between Union Omaha and Greenville Triumph.

Sunday

🇮🇹 Tomorrow, Serie A leads the way in headline entertainment with the only other unbeaten record in Europe’s big five leagues on the line as Napoli go to defending champions Inter Milan.

Both sides went in to the international break having won three and drawn two of their last five games, across all competitions but with Inter perhaps having the tougher run having played both their major rivals – Milan and Juve during that time.

🇪🇸 Ahead of any changes caused by today’s results, Real Sociedad went in to the weekend top of La Liga, one point clear of Madrid having also played one game more. And tomorrow, we’ll see if either side can increase that slender gap.

Madrid visit Granada, who sit outside of the relegation zone on goal difference alone and Real Sociedad close the weekend action with an evening kick-off at home to Valencia.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Two games wrap-up the full round in the Premier League as England’s top flight looks to give it’s sides as long as possible to recover going in a busy week of continental competition in the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League.

Tottenham Hotspur play host to Leeds United and Manchester City look to extend their 9-game unbeaten run against an Everton side who’ve not won a match in five attempts.

🇹🇷 Turkish football should provide tomorrow’s quota of big Derby action with Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe meeting in one of football’s more exotic sounding rivalries, the Intercontinental Derby – named as such due to the two sides being based and most widely supported on either side of the Bosphorus Straight in Istanbul.

So far this season, it’s the ‘Europeans’ of Galatasaray who have fared slightly better than ‘Asian’ side Fenerbahçe but both trail league leaders Trabzonspor by nine and ten points respectively.

🇺🇸 Lastly, two intriguing games in the MLS play-offs to look forward to. In the East, NYCFC and the league’s top regular season scorer Valentín Castellanos (19 goals) take on Atlanta United with the sides otherwise equally matched heading in to post-season having collected 51 points and finishing fourth and fifth in the table.

And in the West, Portland Timbers play Minnesota United. Again, these sides finished the regular season fourth and fifth in their conference, albeit with Minnesota only scrapping through to this stage thanks to avoiding defeat against LA Galaxy on the final day.

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!

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Nov

2021

This Weekend: Heavyweight Derby games and unbeaten records on the line

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Saturday

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 The very first game of the weekend in the Premier League is undoubtably the biggest of the round as the two Manchester clubs meet at Old Trafford.

United come in to the game off the back of their last gasp draw at Atalanta during the week, a result that came after the morale boosting win over Spurs on Sunday – can Solskjær keep his hands on the wheel with another three points against Pep Guardiola? He’s the only long-standing Premier League manager to have more wins than losses against his opposite number across the city.

There are four other matches in England’s top flight today, including a home game for Chelsea versus Burnley – a contest the European Champions have only dropped points in once since 2017 and Newcastle’s trip to Brighton, where they’ve not won in the same time period (4 attempts).

🇩🇪 In the Bundesliga, Freiburg have been defying all expectations this season with the club from the Black Forest yet to have lost 10 games in to the season. With six wins and four draws to their name they sit three points behind leaders Bayern München, the side where they’ll be putting their unbeaten record on the line today.

Elsewhere, usual there or thereabouts title challengers Leipzig and Dortmund clash in the day’s late kick-off.

🇪🇸 Spain’s biggest clubs are also in action later. Barcelona go to Celta Vigo perhaps under the tutelage of interim coach Sergi Barjuan for the last time as they await the return of club legend and likely new manager Xavi Hernández.

And Real Madrid take on the third largest club in their home city, Rayo Vallecano who are currently being inspired by the goals of former Atlético Madrid hero Radamel Falcao.

Not to be outdone, the big boys of Serie A and Ligue 1 play today. Juventus, dominant in Europe but indifferent at home in Italy play Fiorentina whilst PSG travel south west to face Bordeaux.

🚨 Following the big Cairo Derby on Friday night (won by Al Ahly), two more of Africa’s biggest club games are lined up for today.

In South Africa, Kaizer Chiefs play Orlando Pirates in the Soweto Derby and further north, Moroccan giants Wydad and Raja clash in Casablanca.

There’s also a massive game between rivals in Brazil where Internacional go up against fellow Porto Alegre club Grêmio in a game known as the Grenal. This one has some added spice as defeat for Grêmio would keep them in the relegation zone and at least seven points adrift of safety, with eight games to play.

Sunday

🇮🇹 The Derby day feel to the weekend continues unabated tomorrow, not least at the San Siro.

Unbeaten Milan sit second in Serie A, five points above reigning champions Inter and with both sides on form, this edition of the Derby della Madonnina could be a hot one!

Napoli, the only side matching and indeed bettering Milan (in terms of goal difference) this season play Hellas Verona earlier in the day. Verona will be looking for more from their loan striker and famous footballing son, Giovanni Simeone.

The Argentine scored both in their shock win at Juve last time out, taking him to eight league goals in 10 appearances this season.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 With this weekend falling after a midway round in all of UEFA’s continental competitions, there are four Premier League games held over for tomorrow.

Arsenal go up against their training ground neighbours Watford (literally, look it up!), Rafa Benítez’s Everton play Antonio Conte’s Tottenham, Leeds entertain Leicester and the league’s top scorers Liverpool go to West Ham.

🇪🇸 La Liga is similarly busy tomorrow with five of the current top seven sides all featuring. Real Sociedad (1st) play Osasuna (7th), Atlético Madrid (4th) look to snap back in to gear away at Valencia and the weekend is rounded off nicely by the most competitive looking Grand Derbi for years, Betis vs. Sevilla.

🇺🇸 Amazingly, progression to the knockout stages in this years’ MLS season is still up in the air with only tomorrow’s final round of regular season games to play.

In the Eastern Conference six sides are fighting over three remaining slots whilst in the West, it’s a similar tale with five sides competing for the last three on their side of the league.

To try and make sense of it all, please give this article a read ahead of tomorrow’s Decision Day.

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!

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Oct

2021

This Weekend: Jobs on the line, in-form strikers and Derby games

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Saturday

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 There will be plenty of intrigue around the seven games scheduled in the Premier League this afternoon with the media having us believe that at least one managerial job is on the line in the late fixture between Spurs and Manchester United.

Earlier in the day, Arsenal go to Leicester City for the early kick-off before a run of games involving sides towards the top of the table. Liverpool (2nd) host Brighton (5th), Manchester City (3rd) take on Crystal Palace and leaders Chelsea go to newly-minted but winless Newcastle United.

🇪🇸 In La Liga, where the top seven are currently separated by five points there’s a chance for two of those to join leaders Real Sociedad on 24 from their first 11 games.

Real Madrid kick-off first, away to an Elche side who are unbeaten in seven home games before Sevilla go on to play Osasuna, who it might surprise you to learn have the best away record of anyone in the league this season.

Meanwhile at Barcelona, new interim coach Sergi Barjuán faces his first test at home to Alavés.

🇮🇹 There are just three games in Serie A today but at least two of them should be worth a watch. Juventus, who suffered that late defeat to Sassuolo in midweek visit the high scoring but unpredictable Hellas Verona. The Verona front-line includes Giovanni Simeone, son of Diego who scored all four goals in their win over Lazio last weekend.

Two of the leagues other in-form strikers, Duván Zapata and Ciro Immobile should also be on display as Atalanta go up against the aforementioned Lazio.

🇺🇸 The MLS season is coming to a head nicely, with some sides playing their final games of the regular season later tonight. Across the two conferences there are still nine play-off places up for grabs and three seeded spots available.

Check out the remaining games and have some fun plotting out the various post-season connotations via our profile for the league – found here.

🇩🇪 Lastly for today, the Bundesliga should provide some interesting storylines with six games on offer. Bayern will be looking to bounce back from their heaviest ever defeat in the DFB Pokal (suffered against Gladbach on Wednesday) when they get back to the nitty gritty of the league with a road trip to Union Berlin.

Elsewhere, Dortmund take on FC Köln and this season’s surprise package, Freiburg will want to extend the unbeaten start to their season in to double figures against Greuther Fürth, one of two sides still to pick up a win.

Sunday

In truth, with the Champions League and other UEFA competitions coming up in the week, tomorrow’s fixture highlights are a little harder to come by but we think there’s still enough out there to keep you going.

🚨 In Spain, or more specifically the Basque country there will be a massive derby taking place as Real Sociedad meet historic rivals Athletic Club at the Anoeta. And the extra significance this time around is that La Real go in to the weekend top of a very congested La Liga table.

Their three point lead could be cut by the time they take the field but the fact that a win against the old enemy would ensure they go straight back to the summit should give them that extra motivation, should any be necessary. For their part, Athletic are unbeaten in seven away from Bilbao and have only lost one league game this season despite sitting well off the pace set by their rivals.

Also in La Liga, watch out for Atlético Madrid‘s game against fellow high flyers Real Betis as a win for the defending champions could take them in to the top four. But they’ll probably have to do without Diego Simeone in the dugout after his sending off during their disappointing midweek draw at Levante.

🇮🇹 With the two Milan clubs not in Champions League action until Wednesday, their respective weekend fixtures remain in their traditional Sunday slots. Inter at home to Udinese at lunchtime whilst Milan face a tough trip to the slightly unpredictable Roma.

Milan are neck and neck with Napoli at the head of the division, level on points with identical won 9, drawn 1, lost 0 records. And of the two, Napoli will probably think they have the easier away fixture of the two, visiting promoted side Salernitana.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Back in the Premier League, only two games are on the slate for tomorrow with Norwich City facing fellow strugglers Leeds United and Aston Villa lining up for the kit clash derby against another claret and blue side West Ham United.

Staying in England, it’s Semi-Final day in the Women’s FA Cup. Manchester City, who have been plagued by injury and a lack of form in the league will hope to park that for the day as they go up against Chelsea and current league leaders Arsenal play a Brighton side who have reached this stage of the competition for the first time since 1976.

🌎 To round off the weekend, we’ve picked out two of South America’s biggest derbies to tempt you down a rabbit hole of league tables, wikipedia and historical stats! Cerro Porteño clash with Olimpia in Paraguay’s Superclasico, a game that looks particularly critical for Olimpia with one of the country’s giant sides currently languishing at the foot of the table.

And there’s also the equivalent clash between Uruguay’s two main sides, Peñarol and Nacional. The most widely known fact about this contest is that it’s the first cross-city derby game to develop anywhere in the world outside the UK, with the first match between the two sides taking place way back in 1900.

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!

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Oct

2021

This Weekend: Get ready for some of the biggest games in world football

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Saturday

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 We’ll start our preview with a look at today’s games in the Premier League. There’s six matches scheduled, starting with the clash between top and bottom, Chelsea vs. Norwich City in the early kick-off.

The Canaries are without a win since their top flight return and have failed to score in each of their last four league outings, which is not the kind of form you want to take to the home of the side with the joint-meanest defence in the division.

In the regular afternoon slot, the most intriguing game probably comes at Selhurst Park where Newcastle United take on Crystal Palace in their first outing since the departure of Steve Bruce and their new owners start to look to what will no doubt be a rollercoaster future.

Lastly, it’s 4th vs. 3rd as Brighton host Manchester City. City lost the corresponding fixture last season having already confirmed the league title but it was a result that probably set Brighton up for the brilliant campaign they’ve been having so far in 2021/22.

🇩🇪 The Bundesliga’s big two are both in action today and go in to the weekend separated by just a point at the top of the table. Second, as it stands are Borussia Dortmund and they’ll go to Arminia where they’ll be without the services of Erling Haaland as he recovers from a hip-flexor injury.

Leaders Bayern will be at home against Hoffenheim, a side who have been known to give the Champions a bit of trouble in the past – not least the 4-1 thrashing in last season’s away fixture back in September 2020.

Elsewhere in Europe there is not a lot to shout about – Milan face Bologna in Serie A, Athletic Club vs. Villarreal is probably the biggest game in La Liga whilst struggling French champions Lille host Stade Brestois looking to get the points they need to get themselves at least in to the top half of the table.

🇺🇸 Further afield, the two sides top of the pile in MLS’s Western Conference meet in what for many is just a warm-up for the looming post-season play-offs. Seattle Sounders go in the game looking for their first win since they won at opponents Sporting KC three rounds ago.

🇧🇷 And in Brazil there’s something of a precursor to the standard of fixture to expect tomorrow as Rio de Janeiro rivals Fluminense and Flamengo will meet in the Fla-Flu Derby at the mythical Maracaña stadium.

Sunday

Put simply, tomorrow is a massive day in the football calendar. There are big derbies and huge matches taking place everywhere from Russia, where old rivals Zenit play Spartak to Ecuador, with Emelec facing Barcelona in the Shipyard Derby and in Denmark too where Brøndby clash with FC København.

And in Europe’s big leagues in particular it seems the stars have aligned, or at least the governing bodies have got together with the television companies to give us a day packed full of highlights.

🇪🇸 El Clásico should need no introduction, but with both sides going through something of a transitional period it will be even more interesting to see who comes out on top – Barcelona, who boast the best home record so far in La Liga, or Madrid by far the highest goal scorers in the league.

Also in Spain tomorrow, current league leaders Real Sociedad go to the defending champions, Atlético Madrid.

🇮🇹 In Italy, the clash between Napoli and José Mourinho’s AS Roma, who are no doubt still smarting from their 6-1 defeat in Norway this week is just a starter for the main event. The Derby d’Italia is the big Sunday night closer here as Inter host in-form Juventus in the battle between the country’s two most decorated sides.

🇫🇷 Not to be outdone, France gives us Le Classique, Marseille vs. PSG. The sides couldn’t be from two cities more opposed to each other, geographically, politically or culturally and it is usually for those reasons, plus the actual football on display that makes this game the biggest in Ligue 1.

🇳🇱 Two of the historically dominant sides in the Netherlands, Ajax and PSV Eindhoven meet in a fixture known as De Topper. There have been 176 meetings between them, with Ajax traditionally having the upper hand, although PSV did beat them 4-0 in the Super Cup just prior to this season starting.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Not to be outdone, the Premier League have also been saving up a special game. Or two, should you count West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur’s London Derby.

The other is the battle for supremacy in the North West of England, Manchester United against Liverpool, the last unbeaten side in the division.

United have won just one of their last 10 games against Jürgen Klopp’s side but despite Liverpool winning the corresponding fixture last season, the Reds have failed to record consecutive league wins at Old Trafford since 2002.

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!

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Oct

2021

This Weekend: Club football returns

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Saturday

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 There’ll be no time to relax post-International Break with seven games lined up in the Premier League alone. We open with Watford vs. Liverpool and the return of a certain Claudio Ranieri to England’s top flight.

The former Chelsea, Fulham and famously, Leicester City coach will be responsible for maintaining what has, on paper looked like an okay start to the season for Watford as they welcome the only unbeaten side left in the division to Vicarage Road.

Elsewhere, Leicester against Manchester United has been known to produce interesting results of late, Manchester City host Burnley and current leaders Chelsea are the latest big side to run the gauntlet at newly promoted West London neighbours Brentford. As Arsenal and Liverpool will attest, it isn’t the easiest place to go.

🇪🇸 With both Real and Atlético Madrid having their weekend fixtures postponed due to the late running World Cup qualifiers in South America, Real Sociedad are the only one of the top three due to play this weekend.

And as all three sides are level on 17 points, a draw against Mallorca would be enough to take La Real clear in the table. Should they lose however, Sevilla and Osasuna (both playing Sunday) will have the opportunity to make it a five-way tie by the end of this round.

🇮🇹 Two big games appear on the slate for Serie A today. Defending champions Inter (3rd) head to the capital in order to face Lazio (6th) whilst Milan (2nd) are at home against Hellas Verona.

And despite both Milan clubs remaining unbeaten in the league, it’s the Rossoneri, or black and red side of the city who can temporarily oust Napoli from top spot with a win.

🇫🇷 PSG managed to mount a comeback to beat Angers 2-1 in Ligue 1’s Friday night game, a result that puts the pressure on the other title contenders playing today.

Lille go to Clermont Foot, who seem to be adapting to life in what is their first ever season at this level and Lyon host Monaco.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 In Scotland, we’ll see top of the table action when Rangers (1st) meet Hearts (2nd). The latter have been something of a surprise package with a solitary League Cup defeat to Celtic the only blot on their copy book across 13 games played during the campaign to date.

Sunday

🇩🇪 Looking ahead to tomorrow and one of the biggest games of the weekend takes place in the Bundesliga. Here again, we get a battle between the sides who are second and first in the table, Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern München.

You may have seen a series of articles delving in to the current form of Leverkusen and their 18-year old sensation Florian Wirtz published in the app recently, with perhaps this here being the best example.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Only two games to bring you in the Premier League tomorrow, and most eyes will be on just one of them as we wait to see how Newcastle United get on against Spurs in what is their first fixture since the must-talked about takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Group.

The other game pits Everton against West Ham. Albeit very early stages, a win for Rafa Benitez’s side could take them in to the Champions League places.

🇮🇹 Back in Serie A, José Mourinho’s Roma should guarantee some entertainment as they travel to Juventus. And Napoli will be defending their 100% start to the season at home to Torino.

🚨 Because we know everybody loves a derby game, here’s three to keep your eye on tomorrow.

In MLS, NYRB and NYCFC play each other for the third time in a month.

A week after the women’s derby set a league record attendance of 18,537 for the Stockholm Derby, it’s the turn of Hammarby and AIK‘s mens teams to bash heads in Sweden’s top flight.

And back in the English Championship, the two biggest Welsh sides, Swansea and Cardiff City will continue their longstanding rivalry.

🏆 Finally, and despite not being a derby as such, the quarter finals of the Asian Champions League have thrown up a meeting between two teams who’ve been fighting over the K League title in South Korea for the last few seasons.

Jeonbuk and Ulsan will take a break from a domestic rivalry where Ulsan lead Jeonbuk by a single point having finished second to them in the previous two years to battle instead, for Asia’s biggest club competition. To add some extra spice to proceedings, Ulsan are actually the current holders of the Champions League.

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!

Cover Image from IMAGO

Oct

2021

This Weekend: The best of club football before the international break

The best action to follow this weekend

Saturday

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 As usual, the Premier League provides plenty to look forward to today with six fixtures scheduled to take place. The first of them pits Manchester United against Everton, two sides who have started the season in an identical fashion with 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat.

Later, Chelsea face Southampton, one of the five sides in the division yet to win a game and in-form Brighton welcome a rapidly improving Arsenal to the Amex.

There’s also two big games coming up in the Women’s Super League but we’ll let our friends Two Girls Talk Balls preview those ones:

‘The WSL gameweek starts with the two teams shaping up to be this year’s title rivals, Chelsea and Arsenal.

Emma Hayes’ Chelsea face a tough Brighton squad who’ve only conceded one goal in three league outings.

Whilst Arsenal face the only other WSL team to be undefeated in the League and Cup so far this season, Aston Villa.’

🇮🇹 In the first of a string of big derby games coming up this weekend, Juventus go to Torino.

As you can probably guess, Juventus have rather dominated this fixture in recent times and they are unbeaten in 14 meetings (11 wins, 3 draws) against their Turin city rivals.

Staying in Serie A, defending champions Inter are also on the road as they visit Sassuolo.

🇪🇸 On paper, the biggest game of the day comes in La Liga where Atlético Madrid entertain Barcelona.

This would be a massive match at any point in the season but with the new lows coming thick and fast for Ronald Koeman’s side, plus the threat that recent headline departees Antoine Griezmann and Luis Suárez pose now that they play for Atleti, this one has more than a little spice about it.

🇩🇪 And in the Bundesliga, take note of the fixtures involving the sides who currently sit third and fourth in the table. Wolfsburg (3rd) are at home to Gladbach whilst Borussia Dortmund (4th) face struggling Augsburg.

Sunday

🇦🇷 The Superclásico, perhaps the greatest club rivalry of them all tops our agenda for tomorrow as River Plate host Boca Juniors in Buenos Aires. The game, rather conveniently falls on the weekend that fans have been allowed back in to the stadiums in Argentina so this edition of the derby should provide its usual spectacle.

Looking at the season so far, River have had by far the better time of it but don’t discount Boca – particularly if omens from the reserve team fixture played between the two yesterday afternoon are anything to go by. The Xeneizes won that one 3-0.

🇫🇷 In France too, there is a clash between big local rivals in the Rhône-Alpes region – Saint-Etienne and Lyon, a game often referred to as quite simply, Le Derby.

Elsewhere, PSG will look to carry on where they left off against Man City in the week when they visit Rennes. And Lionel Messi, having relinquished the burden that was scoring his first PSG goal should now be free to show us what he can really do in Ligue 1.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 All three of England’s Europa League representatives are in action tomorrow – Leicester City at Crystal Palace, Spurs at home to Villa and also in London, West Ham hosting Brentford.

But undoubtably the most anticipated game of the day will be the battle between the last two league champions and at time of writing, top two in the division, Liverpool vs. Manchester City.

🇮🇹 There’s also a good curtain closer to the weekend in Serie A with second placed Milan looking to maintain their unbeaten start to the season at Atalanta.

Earlier in the day, Napoli go to Fiorentina. The Neapolitans boast a 100% record and sit top of the league after six rounds so we’ll have to see what response they have to that shock Europa League defeat at home to Spartak Moscow on Thursday night.

🇪🇸 Lastly, in Spain the three sides that lead the way all play tomorrow. Real Madrid visit Espanyol in Barcelona, a dry run perhaps before the real Clásico when they return to play Barcelona later this month.

Real Sociedad, unbeaten in their last eight go to Getafe who are without a point so far this season. And Sevilla will fancy their chances against another winless side, Granada.

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!

Cover Image from IMAGO