In this weekend preview we summarise the best five games to follow on your match feed. And make a couple of suggestions for matches that you may otherwise miss.
🏴 Premier League: Arsenal vs. Manchester United
With the international break looming on the horizon, the Premier League have spread the pleasure over the next few days, with round four of the new campaign closing with the heavyweight clash between old rivals Arsenal and Manchester United, on Sunday afternoon.
These two sides dominated English football in the 1990s and in to the 2000s when this rivalry became one of the Premier League’s main draws. And now, with Arsenal looking to build on what was so close to being a successful 2022/23 season, and United still re-building under Erik ten Hag, we should be in for another top game.
Matches between the two have been full of goals in recent years – last season’s meetings ending in a 3-2 victory for Arsenal back in January, and a 3-1 win for United at Old Trafford last September. That was the only league defeat that the Gunners suffered from August until early February across a campaign in which they were beaten six times.
So far this season, United have won against Wolves and Nottingham Forest, coming back from 2-0 down last weekend, but have lost at Tottenham – the first of two trips to North London that have come in quick succession. Arsenal, on the other hand, remain unbeaten. They started with wins over Forest and Crystal Palace, but were held to a 2-2 draw by Fulham at the Emirates last time out.
Back in the summer, United beat Arsenal in a friendly game played in the United States – Bruno Fernandes and Jadon Sancho scoring in a 2-0 win that was followed – for the sake of practice – by a penalty shootout, also won by United.
🇪🇸 LaLiga: Real Madrid vs. Getafe
Saturday also sees Real Madrid is action, as one of LaLiga’s giant teams welcome Getafe, from the neighbouring municipality, to the new-look Bernabéu. Indeed, this is the club’s first home game of the season, having agreed to start the campaign with three away fixtures to allow renovation work to be completed. On that note – our friend, the photographer Danny Last, visited the Bernabéu this week as part of The Tour, a project we’ve been running with Copa90, and you can view a selection of his images – here.
In terms of results thus far, Madrid are the only side in the division to have started with three wins from three; recording victories at Athletic Club, Almería, and Celta Vigo. Three games that have included four goals from new summer signing, England international, Jude Bellingham. Getafe come in to the weekend with a win, a loss, and a draw. Having survived a relegation scare last season, they started with an encouraging goalless draw against champions Barcelona but then lost heavily at Girona. But last time out, they were 1-0 winners over Deportivo Alavés thanks to a late penalty from main man Borja Mayoral.
Elsewhere, Barcelona will look to continue their unbeaten start away at Osasuna, on Sunday night.
🇮🇹 Serie A: Napoli vs. Lazio
Yes, Roma clash with early table toppers Milan on Friday night, but Saturday sees a battle between the sides who finished first and (a distant) second in Italy last season.
The defending champions host former manager, Maurizio Sarri, and his Lazio team at the Diego Maradona. In the corresponding game last season, played in March, the Romans left with a 1-0 win that temporarily delayed Napoli’s march to the Scudetto – one of only four defeats they suffered all season.
In the early stages of the new campaign however, Lazio have not been setting the world alight, suffering back-to-back defeats against Lecce and most recently, at home, to newly promoted Genoa. That contrasts with Napoli, who’s title defence under new coach Rudi Garcia has started with convincing wins over Frosinone and Sassuolo. Results made all the better by the fact that last season’s top scorer Victor Osimhen has already been firing – scoring three of the club’s five league goals to date.
🇩🇪 Bundesliga: Borussia Mönchengladbach vs. Bayern München
As you might expect for a side that boasts the experience of defending their title for 11 seasons in a row, Bayern have started the new Bundesliga season comfortably. First, Werder Bremen were dispatched 4-0, and then last weekend, that was followed with a 3-1 win over neighbours Augsburg, with both games featuring goals from new main striker, Harry Kane. And if you’ve seen the videos of him in lederhosen this week, you’ll know that he’s settling in to life in Germany on the field better than he is off of it.
But before we get carried away with the early season form, the Bundesliga have thrown a spanner in the works – an away trip to bogey team Borussia Mönchengladbach, just ahead of the international break! Gladbach are the one side seemingly to have Bayern’s number in recent years. In fact, they’re unbeaten against the champions in six meetings going back to 2021.
And if you look at the H2H record since the creation of the FotMob app (below), they have a very strong record against them.
However, Gladbach have started the season with some bizarre results – a 4-4 draw at Augsburg, a game in which they led 2-0 and 3-1 only to rescue a point with a stoppage time penalty, and a 3-0 defeat to a solid looking Leverkusen side. Having finished 10th in each of the last two seasons, another famous win over Bayern would be a fine way to kickstart Gladbach’s season under new coach Gerry Seoane.
🇫🇷 Ligue 1: Lyon vs. PSG
The big game of the Ligue 1 weekend falls on Sunday night, but it pits two sides struggling to find their form so far this season. Lyon come into their clash with PSG sat second bottom in the league and winless in their opening three games. That may change though, after American owner John Textor found a clever / devious way to get around ongoing transfer scrutiny from the French football authorities.
Lyon were able to bring exciting Ghanaian prospect Ernest Nuamah to the club this week, on loan from Belgian side RWD Molenbeek – a side also owned by John Textor – straight after Molenbeek bought Nuamah from Danish club Nordsjælland. The hype around Nuamah stems from the five goals he scored in the first four games of the season, in Denmark, which added to the 12 that the 19-year-old scored after breaking into the first team during 2022/23.
For their part, PSG, now under the management of Luis Enrique, have drawn twice and won only once, and currently sit eighth in the table. The champions racked up 36 shots but only one goal in draws against Lorient and Toulouse but did look a little better in last weekend’s 3-1 win over last season’s title rivals Lens. Kylian Mbappé started in that game and scored twice.
Plus two hidden gems from a little deeper in your match feed…
🏴 Scottish Premiership: Rangers vs. Celtic
Sunday also sees the first meeting of the Glasgow giants in the new SPFL season, with champions Celtic heading across the city to Ibrox.
The hosts may well still be smarting from their midweek 5-1 defeat at PSV in the Champions League qualifiers, a result that saw them enter Friday’s Europa League draw rather than the more lucrative, but ultimately, harder Champions League draw that featured Celtic on Thursday (they share a group with Feyenoord, Atlético Madrid, and Lazio).
But putting European distractions to the side for one moment, such an early meeting between the big two is a great opportunity for the winners to stamp their authority on the fledgling new campaign. Celtic have begun with two wins and a draw – at St. Johnstone last weekend – and currently sit top of the table on goal difference, while Rangers lie in fourth, having lost to Kilmarnock on the opening day, but with wins over Livingston and Ross County now under their belt.
🇺🇸 MLS: LAFC vs. Inter Miami
Bookending the weekend is perhaps the toughest test yet faced by the new look Inter Miami side following the Lionel Messi revolution. The Herons are unbeaten in 10 competitive games post-Messi and only Nashville, the side they beat in the Leagues Cup Final, but then played again in MLS during the week, that have managed to stop Argentina’s World Cup winning captain from finding the net during that run.
Now, Messi’s attempts to get Miami off the foot of the Eastern Conference continue with a long trip to LAFC, the defending MLS Cup champions, and the side currently sat second in the Western Conference. The Champions’ form was, however, looking patchy heading in to the Leagues Cup break, and they didn’t perform particularly well during that tournament, so their defeat at Charlotte last weekend can only have been a further blow.
It should be an intriguing match-up with LAFC looking to rekindle their form and Inter Miami still riding the wave, with Messi, Busquets, and Alba, bringing the best out of the rest of a squad that looked lost up until a month ago.
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Cover Image from IMAGO