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: Tottenham Hotspur vs. Liverpool
Saturday features a heavy schedule of Premier League action with eight games on the slate. The last of those eight comes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and is, for many, the rightful headliner.
Spurs are unbeaten and sit fourth in the table, two points below Liverpool, who are second, and also unbeaten. Both have 15 goals to their name but Spurs have conceded more goals – two of which came in last weekend’s draw with Arsenal in the North London Derby.
In a bizarre sequence, Liverpool have won their last seven games in all competitions, scoring three goals in each of their last five, with the last four all ending in a 3-1 scoreline. And Liverpool fans needn’t worry too much should Spurs take the lead, Wednesday’s Carabao Cup victory over Leicester City was the fifth time they’ve come back to win from a losing position already this season (although that trend of going behind might be worrying in itself).
And there should be no surprise really, that this fixture was selected for the prize TV game with the last meeting between the two being one of the most exciting games of last season. Back in April, at Anfield, the Reds were three goals up within 15 minutes. Spurs then came back, with Richarlison scoring an equaliser in the third minute of added time at the end of the 90 minutes. Liverpool weren’t done though, and went straight down the other end to make it 4-3 through Diogo Jota.
Here’s hoping for similar drama this weekend.
🇪🇸 LaLiga: Real Sociedad vs. Athletic Club
It’s been hard to select just one game to highlight from Spain’s top flight but we’ve gone for the Basque Derby between fourth and sixth as in-form Athletic visit arch-rivals Real Sociedad.
We could equally have gone for Barcelona vs. Sevilla in the Friday night fixture, or the battle between unbeaten Girona and Real Madrid, which as it stands, are the top two in the table. That could change though, should Barça get back to winning ways this evening.
But let’s get back to the Derby in San Sebastian on Saturday night. Athletic Club come in the game unbeaten in six and with four clean sheets to their name – more than anyone else in the division. Their only defeat came against Real Madrid on the opening weekend and while they remain tight at the back, they are also scoring at a rate of 1.9 goals per game.
Despite having amassed two points less over their seven games, Real Sociedad can boast a very similar record – they too have 13 goals to their name, and their only defeat came to Real Madrid. We could be in for a very close contest here, fittingly for a derby that historically, has been finely balanced – Athletic having won 78 games to La Real’s 61, with 50 games drawn.
Real Sociedad do, of course, have the welcome distraction of the Champions League this season, with a trip to Salzburg coming up on Tuesday night.
🇩🇪 Bundesliga: RB Leipzig vs. Bayern München
Saturday sees this season’s second meeting between RB Leipzig and Bayern, with Leipzig having come out on top in the Super Cup, played back in August. 3-0 was the surprise scoreline that day, but that did back up Leipzig’s 3-1 win at the Allianz in May’s last league encounter between the two.
Those back-to-back wins mean that Leipzig are on their best ever run against the 11-time defending champions, and the Red Bull club have started well in the Bundesliga, recovering from a loss at Leverkusen to win their next four matches. In fact, they’ve won six games on the bounce in all competitions.
That includes Wednesday’s game in the DFB Pokal, a competition Bayern were also successful in during the week. The champions rotated their squad to face lower league side Preussen Münster but still came away with a 4-0 win to back up last weekend’s 7-0 thrashing of Bochum. That was a result that took them to the top of the table, above form side Leverkusen, the only team to take points off them so far.
Both sides are in Champions League action on Tuesday – Leipzig host Manchester City on Wednesday, while Bayern go to FC København on Tuesday.
🇮🇹 Serie A: Milan vs. Lazio
We last featured Milan in this column ahead of the demoralising 5-1 defeat to city rivals Inter, but the Rossoneri have bounced back since then, winning both of their Serie A fixtures and drawing with Newcastle United in the Champions League.
And should they beat Lazio at the San Siro on Saturday night, they’ll briefly go above Inter and in to top spot in the league (Inter kick off later the same evening).
Following last season’s finish as runners-up to runaway champions Napoli, Lazio have not started the new campaign in the same fashion, winning just twice so far. One of those did come in midweek though, a solid 2-0 victory at home to Torino. That lifted Maurizio Sarri’s side in to mid-table and perhaps signals a turn in fortunes.
On the same night, Milan were 3-1 victors at Cagliari with goals coming from new boy Noah Okafor, and Englishmen, Fikayo Tomori and Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Whatever happens in this one, a draw is an unlikely event – there hasn’t been one in 11 meetings dating back to 2019.
🇫🇷 Ligue 1: Nice vs. Brest
As in Spain, we’ve selected this game between the top two in Ligue 1, at the time of writing. With Stade Brestois’ trip to Nice not coming until Sunday, PSG will have had the chance to leapfrog one, or both of them, and so could Monaco, who play Marseille on Saturday night.
But let’s not diminish the achievements of any side that manages a better points haul than the biggest clubs in the league, at any stage in the season. Brest have lost only once, and dropped points in just one of their other five games to date, beating the likes of Lens, Reims, and Lyon along the way. For their part, Nice are one of only two unbeaten sides in the league (along with draw specialists Rennes). And they’ve managed to win away to PSG and at derby rivals Monaco in their last two games – arguably, the trickiest back-to-back fixtures they’ll face all season.
Which is all good news for 34-year-old Italian coach Francesco Farioli, who is new to his role, and is making waves for himself having only broken in to the game as a goalkeeper coach under Roberto De Zerbi at the end of the 2010s.
Plus two hidden gems from a little deeper in your match feed…
🇦🇷 Copa de la Liga Profesional: Boca Juniors vs. River Plate
As you’ll know if you’ve been following us on social media, this weekend is a bit of a special one in Argentina. The powers that be have scheduled all of the country’s craziest derbies for the same round of games, in fact, every game is a derby of sorts, but they don’t come any bigger than the Superclásico – Boca vs. River.
Perhaps the most passionate derby in the world, the Buenos Aires giants go head-to-head in a Sunday night headline slot, which, thanks to our friends at Fanatiz, you can watch from anywhere in the world. Just follow the link – here.
The timing of the game isn’t great for Boca, with it falling between the two legs of their semi-final against Brazilian side Palmeiras in the Copa Libertadores, South America’s most prestigious tournament (the first leg ended goalless on Thursday evening). In such circumstances, Argentine sides routinely send out rotated line-ups for their domestic games but Boca won’t have that option this time. They’ll need to be at their best to face a River who are unbeaten in their last three games in this Copa and were so dominant in winning the regular league campaign completed back in July.
The atmosphere at Boca’s La Bombonera should be unreal and we highly recommend tuning in if you can.
🇦🇷 Copa de la Liga Profesional: Rosario Central vs. Newell’s Old Boys
Ahead of the big one on Sunday night, Saturday sees the Rosario Derby, a battle that is not as well known, but is arguably even fiercer than Boca vs. River. So much so, even the recent meeting between the reserve sides of the two clubs was postponed just minutes before kick-off when Rosario refused to play, accusing Newell’s of letting fans in to the stadium at a fixture that was supposedly set to be behind closed doors.
And if you’ve seen the video of Newell’s fans giving their side the traditional pre-Derby send off at training on Thursday night, you’ll know they’re a passionate bunch.
Recent matches between the two Rosario teams have favoured Central, with Newell’s winning just two of the last 18 games covered on FotMob, but with both sides coming in to the game out of form and winless in three, this one is in the balance.
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Cover Image from IMAGO