The best action to follow this weekend
Saturday
??????? The Premier League isn’t holding back on the top level drama this weekend, with Chelsea vs. Manchester City one of two early kick-offs coming up today.
The other is Manchester United‘s home game against Aston Villa, two sides that suffered defeat in the midweek round of the EFL Cup.
There are seven EPL games in total, with the day rounded off with Liverpool‘s first ever trip to the new Brentford Community Stadium. These sides contributed a total of seven players to our Team of the Week last weekend, so we’re expecting fireworks in that one.
?? There was a rare midweek round in La Liga this week but as they say, there’s no rest for the wicked and three of the top four all play today.
Leaders Real Madrid face Europa League holders Villarreal at the Bernabéu.
Meanwhile Atlético, who scored another injury-time goal to win at Getafe on Tuesday are on their travels again, this time to Deportivo Alavés. And lastly, Sevilla play an Espanyol side who are fresh from picking up their first win since their top flight return.
?? In Italy, both Milan clubs feature this afternoon. The two have enjoyed a similar start to the season, winning four and drawing one of their opening five games.
Milan go to Spezia, who gave Juventus a scare in the week before ultimately going down to a 3-2 defeat.
And Inter, who’ve scored 18 goals so far will test that impressive record against Atalanta.
?? The Bundesliga schedule for the day includes the Borussen Derby, the battle for bragging rights over who is the best Borussia – Mönchengladbach or Dortmund. Neither side really see each other as their greatest rivals, but this is still a big game between relatively near-neighbours who just so happen to share a prefix.
?? Unbeaten PSG, another side to have enjoyed an injury-time winner in midweek (winning 2-1 at Metz) also play today. At home to Montpellier.
Elsewhere, two of Ligue 1’s other big sides Lille and Lyon are also in action. At home to Lorient and on the road to Strasbourg respectively.
? Lastly, on this busy day of football – some massive derbies to tell you about further afield.
?? Arguably the most heated fixture in Brazilian football takes place today, with São Paulo rivals Corinthians and Palmeiras contesting the Paulista Derby.
?? And in Mexico, there’s not one but two traditional classics. First, the battle between university sides (and big cats!) Tigres UANL and UNAM aka Pumas kicks things off.
Then there’s El Súper Clásico itself, Club América versus Guadalajara, or Chivas as you may prefer to call them.
For more on Mexican football, give our Spanish language twitter account a follow by clicking here.
Sunday
??????? The Derby theme continues tomorrow, with the Premier League providing us with the latest instalment of the North London Derby; Arsenal vs. Tottenham Hotspur.
Since FotMob records began (with the app starting in 2010), this one has been very evenly contested with the sides sharing seven draws and each enjoying ten wins.
And there’s also a decent test for Arsenal Women in the WSL, as our friends Two Girls Talk Balls explain:
“Amongst the Sunday fixtures are two huge games: Manchester United vs. Chelsea and Arsenal vs. Manchester City.
Shock early defeats for both Chelsea and City mean their star-studded squads must take home the points.
Arsenal, however, have got off to a flying start and could be favourites to claim yet another blue scalp.”
?? Serie A is another league serving up the big guns this weekend, with Sunday’s headliner Lazio vs. Roma set to give José Mourinho his first taste of the Derby della Capitale.
Elsewhere Juventus, who finally picked up their first league win of the season in midweek entertain Sampdoria and unbeaten, rampaging Napoli go in to their game against Cagliari on the back of consecutive 4-0 victories.
?? The last game on our radar this weekend comes in La Liga, where Barcelona host Levante.
The Catalan giants are still unbeaten in the league up to this point but one wonders whether Ronald Koeman – sent off during the lacklustre draw against Cadíz on Thursday will still be in the dugout if Barça produce anything other than a win in this one.
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Cover Image from IMAGO