The best action to follow this weekend
Saturday
🏴 As England and the wider UK continues to deal with the logistical challenges around staging major sporting events at the same time as a change in the Head of State, and arrangements for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, the Premier League will be running a reduced number of games this weekend. They start with two fixtures on Friday evening – at Villa and Forest, then continue with three games on Saturday.
Manchester City return to league action after consecutive wins over Sevilla and Dortmund in the Champions League when they face Wolves. Bruno Lage has seen his ranks bolstered by the signing of Diego Costa in recent days and they’ll be hoping he can improve their record of three goals from their first six games of the season.
Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United welcome Bournemouth (his former charges) to Tyneside as they look to halt a run of five games without a win in the league. And the day ends with third placed Tottenham Hotspur testing their unbeaten record against bottom side Leicester City.
🇩🇪 In Germany, Schalke have endured a slow start to life back in the top flight, only picking up their first win at the sixth time of asking, last weekend. The 3-1 victory over Bochum should at least give them a little confidence going in to their reunion with Borussia Dortmund in the Revierderby – perhaps the Bundesliga’s most fierce rivalry.
Dortmund scored seven unanswered goals against their rivals in Schalke’s relegation season (2020/2021) and are on a run of four clean sheets in the derby dating back to 2018/19. They do however come in to this game after morale-sapping defeats to City in the Champions League and against former manager Marco Rose, at Leipzig.
Bayern also have a Derby on Saturday as they make the short trip to Bavarian neighbours Augsburg. The 10-time reigning champions are technically on their worst start to a season since 2010/11 (3 wins, 3 draws) so now might not be a good time to remind their fans of the 2-1 defeat they suffered in this fixture last year!
Having nullified the threat of Barcelona, and former striker Robert Lewandowski, in Tuesday night’s Champions League win however, Bayern are probably looking to build on that impressive result rather than dwell on old news.
🇪🇸 Speaking of Barcelona, the Catalan club are back in LaLiga action with a game against Elche on Saturday afternoon. In fact, a win would take Xavi’s side top of the table – at least until Madrid play in Sunday’s headline game against Atlético.
Since drawing a blank in their season opener, Barça have matched Madrid in terms of goals scored and have proved miserly at the back, conceding just once, in a run of four league wins.
Athletic Club – managed by former Barça coach Ernesto Valverde, also boast an impressive defensive record this season. They sit sixth after five rounds with a goal difference of +7 and will test their unbeaten home run against Rayo Vallecano on Saturday night.
🇺🇸 We’re reaching crunch time in the MLS regular season with most sides having just three games to play before the top seven from the East and West conferences progress to the play-offs. New York Red Bulls are one of three Eastern sides who’ve already confirmed their post-season spot but they still face a very important game this weekend – against rivals New York City, in the Hudson River Derby.
NYCFC might be the reigning MLS Cup champions but they currently find themselves in the midst of a winless run that has seen them pick up just one point in their last six. They still sit fourth in the conference but with all the sides below them having games in hand they really need to pick up a win soon, and there’s no better time to do that than against your main rivals.
Atlanta United are one of the sides who currently sit outside the play-off picture looking in but they face the daunting task of a home game against Eastern Conference and Supporters’ Shield leaders Philadelphia Union.
🇲🇽 We also have a longer-running feud to look forward to elsewhere in the Concacaf region on Saturday. That comes in the form of Mexico’s Súper Clásico between national rivals América and Chivas.
And as if this fixture needed any more riding on it, both teams need a win. América are unbeaten in ten and currently lead the Apertura table but still require three points to guarantee their place in the play-offs. And despite their poor start to the season, Chivas still have a mathematical chance of reaching the top four – but only if they get one over their rivals at the Azteca. Something they’ve not done in the last three derby games.
This rivalry dates back to the 1940s, with América having the upper hand in both the all-time head-to-head record, and more recently – as the FotMob records show (from 2010 onwards)!
Sunday
🇪🇸 The major Derbies keep coming on Sunday with the Estadio Metropolitano the setting for the biggest LaLiga game of the season so far. Atlético Madrid host city-rivals Real in Round 6 hoping to repeat last season’s 1-0 home win and put a stop to Madrid’s perfect start to the campaign.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side lifted the UEFA Super Cup in August and haven’t looked back – winning seven straight games and scoring 15 goals in the process. And that run has continued despite the absence of talisman Karim Benzema through injury in recent weeks.
After enduring a slightly rockier path to date, Atlético looked strong in wins against Porto and Celta Vigo last week, before then coming unstuck, at Bayer Leverkusen on Matchday 2 in the Champions League. Diego Simeone will be wondering which version of his side will turn up for the Derby.
Also among the games taking place on Sunday, high-flying Betis face Girona, who’ve had an encouraging return to LaLiga (W2, D1, L2) and Villarreal host Sevilla. The Yellow Submarine and the Blanquirrojos couldn’t have had more contrasting season starts – Villarreal going four goals without conceding a goal until last weekend’s defeat at Betis, and Sevilla failing to pick up a win until a nervy 3-2 victory, at Espanyol last Saturday.
🇮🇹 All of the key action in Italy comes towards the end of the weekend with six fixtures lined up across the day.
Udinese – who’ve impressed so far, kick things off with a home game against Inter. That’s fourth vs. sixth in the fledgling Serie A table.
Later, joint leaders Atalanta travel to José Mourinho’s Roma (second vs. fifth) and then just to cap things off, there’s the real heavyweight clash between reigning champions Milan (third) and Napoli (first) – perhaps this season’s most interesting story among the form teams.
Unbeaten in their Champions League group and in the league, Luciano Spalletti’s totally refreshed squad have outscored everyone while maintaining the second best defensive record. Central to that has been the form of newcomers Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, a winger with four goals and one assist in his first six games. And South Korean centre-back Kim Min-jae. Kim has weighed in with two goals himself and currently has the second best FotMob average rating in the league behind Paulo Dybala (7.96 to Dybala’s 8.04).
🏴 Back in the Premier League, two of four scheduled games are taking place. Chelsea vs. Liverpool and Manchester United vs. Leeds United are the headline clashes that have been postponed but there’s still the prospect of leaders Arsenal playing away at Brentford. And Everton‘s meeting with West Ham at Goodison Park.
Arsenal famously came unstuck at the Bees in the very first game of last season but Mikel Arteta’s side look much more settled this time around – albeit they did lose their 100% record in spectacular fashion at Manchester United before the enforced break in their fixtures.
For their part, both Everton and West Ham are lingering towards the bottom of the table, with goals, or the lack of them seemingly being the root cause of the issue. Everton have found the net just three times and are on a run of four straight draws while there have at least been more encouraging signs for West Ham in the Europa Conference League. They’ve only won once in the league but have scored six across consecutive wins over FCSB and Sikeborg.
🇩🇪 Going in to the weekend, Union Berlin are the somewhat surprise leaders in the Bundesliga and depending on other results – they may well need a win against Wolfsburg in Sunday’s game to take that position in to the international break. The East Berliners’ historic unbeaten start to the campaign has seen them win four of their six games and only Bayern München have scored more than their 13 goals.
The match between Hoffenheim (fourth) and Freiburg (second) should also be worth a watch as two of the league’s early pacesetters meet at the PreZero Arena. Hoffenheim put four past Mainz last week while Freiburg are on a run of six unbeaten games, including impressive wins over Qarabağ and Greek champions Olympiacos in the Europa League.
🇫🇷 The form of France’s big two has been the talk of the opening months in Ligue 1 – with Marseille matching PSG point-for-point. In fact, with 19 points from their first seven games, this is Marseille’s best ever start in the top flight.
On Sunday, L’OM face sixth placed Rennes while PSG face a tough trip to Lyon, who sit fifth. Christophe Galtier will be hoping that his superstar front three can once again come good. The resurgent Neymar, Mbappé and Messi all scored in PSG’s Champions League win at Maccabi Haifa in midweek and all three have looked unstoppable in the league.
🚨 We’ve already mentioned the weekend’s big Derbies in the UEFA and Concacaf federations so we’ll end this preview with two of the biggest games coming up in Conmebol.
The Maracanã plays host to the latest edition of the Fla-Flu, the major Rio de Janeiro clash between Flamengo and Fluminense. This is a rivalry that has been somewhat revived with the upswing in fortunes that Fluminense have enjoyed this season and the sides go in to this one locked level on points, third and fourth in the Brasileirão.
And in Ecuador, there’s the Clásico del Astillero that pits together the two Guayaquil clubs, Emelec and Barcelona. You can expect plenty of colour in this game, albeit TV coverage might be harder to come by.
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Cover Image from IMAGO