Our weekly preview column returns with a special edition to cover all the best action taking place over the weekend, through to the Premier League’s return on Boxing Day, and beyond!
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Monday
🏴 Just eight days after one of the most dramatic World Cup Finals of all time, arguably the world’s biggest domestic league returns to action. Boxing Day is always a significant day in England’s football calendar and that’s only intensified in the Premier League this year as we’re effectively starting all over again for the second ‘half’ of the 2022/23 season.
As it stands, Arsenal hold an impressive five point lead on reigning champions Manchester City, and it’s the Gunners who round off a day filled with seven Premier League games. Mikel Arteta’s men face West Ham at the Emirates, who despite languishing down in 16th, are unbeaten in four away games.
Three other top six sides are also involved on Monday. Newcastle, who along with Arsenal have the best defensive record in the division, go to Leicester City. Both sides won their respective Carabao Cup games in the week before Christmas so will have perhaps shaken off some of that ring rustiness ahead of this one.
Fourth placed Spurs, and possibly their returning World Cup stars – Harry Kane, Hugo Lloris and Son Heung-min – to name just a few, have a short trip across London to face Brentford while Liverpool play at Aston Villa. That’s a fixture that Jürgen Klopp’s side haven’t lost since that memorable Jack Grealish-inspired 7-2 mauling back in 2020.
The day’s other games see Crystal Palace play Fulham in another London Derby, Everton and Wolves meet in what could already be described as a six-pointer, and Southampton entertain high-flying Brighton.
Further down the English pyramid, we’ll have one eye on the Championship game between Sheffield United and Coventry City. Having recently signed up to become the Blades’ official livescore partner, we’re excited to see what they can do in the second half of the season – and three points on Monday would move them level with Burnley at the top of the table.
🇧🇪 Elsewhere, Europe’s next biggest league in play is the Belgian Pro League. Runaway leaders Genk, who are unbeaten in 16 games since the opening day of the season (W15, D1), go to relegation threatened Kortrijk. And three-time reigning champions Club Brugge are at home to OH Leuven, who sit eighth.
🇮🇹 Italy’s Serie B might not be a league you pay much attention to, but with so many famous old sides involved, not to mention a smattering of former World Cup managers in the dugouts – Filippo Inzaghi at Reggina, Fabio Cannavaro at Benevento and Daniele De Rossi at SPAL, you might want to make an exception for the rest of the season.
Six points separate the top four and two of those – Bari and Genoa – go head-to-head on Boxing Day. Bari were a Serie A regular in the 1990s but haven’t featured in the top flight since 2011 while Genoa were only relegated last season after a 15-year spell at the top.
Tuesday
🏴 On Tuesday, which is also a Bank Holiday in the UK, there’s two further Premier League fixtures to look forward to.
Chelsea will want to shake off a worrying a run of form that saw them lose four of their last five competitive games before the World Cup when they play Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge. And Manchester United begin the post-Ronaldo era with a home fixture against Nottingham Forest.
United lost recent friendlies against LaLiga sides Cadíz and Betis but bounced back to life with a solid 2-0 win over Vincent Kompany’s Burnley in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night. And perhaps crucially, returning World Cup stars Marcus Rashford and Christian Eriksen were both on the scoresheet.
Wednesday
🇫🇷 Stretching the premise of this column, as far as we possibly can, Wednesday will see the return of France’s Ligue 1. Unbeaten league leaders PSG feature in one of six top flight games taking place, as they face lowly Strasbourg. At the time of writing, we’re yet to find out exactly how many of their World Cup superstars will be on the team sheet. But we do know that Kylian Mbappé, at least, is back in training after he, alongside Lionel Messi, were the main protagonists in that memorable final.
This graphic perhaps best illustrates how important that front two, along with the likes of Neymar and Hakimi are to coach Christophe Galtier’s plans.
🏴 The one remaining Premier League game in the first round back will see Jesse Marsch’s Leeds United come up against Manchester City on Wednesday night. City will, of course, boast a well-rested Erling Haaland as they look to continue their run as the league’s most prolific scorers against a side who are without a clean sheet in their last 10 games.
And judging by Thursday night’s 3-2 win over heavyweight rivals Liverpool in the Carabao Cup, you won’t have to worry about Pep Guardiola’s side taking some time to get going – they’ve already hit the ground running. Not least, Kevin De Bruyne, who put the disappointment of Belgium’s World Cup campaign to one side and delivered a 9.0 rated performance that featured assists for Haaland and Nathan Aké.
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Cover Image from IMAGO