Preview

Aug

2024

Preview: Liverpool vs. Brentford

Anfield was a fortress for Liverpool during the Jürgen Klopp era.

By Sam McGuire

The German lost just 12 of his 167 league games at Anfield in charge of the Reds and six of those occurred during that forgettable 2020/21 campaign when Liverpool were without senior centre-backs and no fans were allowed in stadiums.

Arne Slot will be hoping for a similarly formidable record on home soil. He takes charge of his first Premier League match at Anfield this weekend as Liverpool play host to Brentford on Sunday.

The Reds kicked off their 2024/25 campaign with a 2-0 win over Ipswich Town last weekend. After a difficult first half, a half in which chances were few and far between, Liverpool found their groove after the break. They carved out six big chances and had shots with an Expected Goals total of 2.56. By comparison, the Tractor Boys ran out of steam and could muster just three efforts after the break, with an Expected Goals total of just 0.15.

Mohamed Salah added to his opening-day tally. He now leads the way with a league record nine goals on scored on Matchday One in the Premier League. He also assisted the opener for Diogo Jota while Trent Alexander-Arnold looked back to his sensational best at Portman Road.

The signs were positive for Slot and his players. They’ll be favourites heading into this game against the Bees. But Thomas Frank’s side have the potential to cause an upset.

Yoane Wissa, in the starting XI in place of Ivan Toney, was the match-winner and the difference-maker for Brentford against Crystal Palace. He assisted the opener and found the back of the net late on to give the hosts all three points last Sunday. His showing against the Eagles earned him a FotMob rating of 8.7. He won five of his six ground duels and 100% of his aerial duels. He’s a real handful and Liverpool will be wary of this, especially after what happened against Ipswich.

Slot was forced to replace Jarell Quansah at the break after the young centre-back struggled to deal with the physicality of Liam Delap. Ibrahima Konate was brought on and helped the Reds control proceedings after the break. Who gets the nod alongside Virgil van Dijk this weekend will be interesting. Does Quansah get a second chance or will Ibrahima Konaté be brought in to deal with Wissa?

Interestingly, the Brentford forward enjoys playing against the Reds. He has two goals against Liverpool. The 27-year-old only has more scored more goals in the Premier League against West Ham.

The Bees will play to Wissa’s and their collective strengths and they’ll believe they can cause an upset at Anfield.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every Premier League game with FotMob this season — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Aug

2024

Preview: Wolfsburg vs. Bayern Munich

For the first time since 2012, Bayern Munich spent their summer smarting after failing to win Germany’s biggest prize, the Bundesliga title.

By Nathan Evans

Xavi Alonso and his Bayer Leverkusen side were the culprits as manager Thomas Tuchel failed to deliver the Bavarian club’s objectives and as a result, he’s since been relieved of his duties by the board. To a lot of people’s surprise, it was Burnley’s Vincent Kompany who was poached by the former German title holders for the vacant spot in the dugout, even despite the fact that he led the English side to Premier League relegation in 2023/24.

Now the challenge for him is much bigger, to turn around the fortunes of one of Europe’s biggest and most recognisable teams, and that starts with an opening day clash against Wolfsburg.

The optics could hardly look any better for him to grab a victory in this one when you take a glance at his new side’s prior results against the Wolves. Of the teams that Bayern have faced more than 10 times in the Bundesliga, their points-per-game average is higher against this opposition than versus any other side (2.52), whilst the Bavarians are also unbeaten in 18 Bundesliga games against the Wolves since a 4-1 defeat all the way back in January 2015

But this time around, things could be different given Bayern’s lacklustre 2023/24 campaign.

Overall, there’s still plenty of issues to still negotiate for Kompany, even in spite of Bayern’s near perfect pre-season campaign and accompanying 4-0 success in last weekend’s DFB-Pokal First Round outing. Picking his first Bundesliga starting XI is amongst them, with the depth of quality at the Allianz Arena meaning that a number of players are unlikely to be happy with any pending decisions. That includes midfielder Leon Goretzka in particular who remains on the fringes of the playing squad, with the club seemingly happy to let him leave over the next few weeks but with the player himself desperate to fight for his spot this campaign.

Wolfsburg aren’t immune to similar problems themselves; especially as key central defender Maxence Lacroix reportedly remains locked in negotiations to leave the German club for Premier League side Crystal Palace this transfer window. On the whole, their recruitment has also fallen well short in the supporters’ collective opinion, with just five players joining the Wolves, three of whom are aged 20 or under and lack vital first team experience across their careers to date. After finishing in a very disappointing 12^th spot last season, it’ll be on manager Ralph Hassenhuttl to improve their standing in the Bundesliga but with Bayern having a point to prove this season, the hosts could struggle to make an impact in this curtain raising fixture.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game from LaLiga with FotMob this season — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Aug

2024

Preview: Spurs vs. Everton

Tottenham host Everton at home this weekend as both sides are looking to get their first win of the new Premier League season.

By Matt Smith

Ange Postecoglou’s men will be disappointed not to have taken home the three points in their opening fixture after a dominant first half against Leicester. The north London outfit looked incredibly comfortable, creating a host of chances while limiting their opposition.

The momentum shifted in the second half as the Foxes looked to get back into the game, but there were plenty of positive signs for Spurs supporters. Dominic Solanke may not have found the back of the net, but he was getting into some dangerous positions due to his clever movement (albeit, he will not miss this upcoming game due to injury).

The game against Everton is an opportunity for Postecoglou to showcase what he’s been working on in pre-season in front of the home fans for the first time this term. New signings are starting to bed in, with an impressive cameo from Lucas Bergvall against Leicester.

The young midfielder came off the bench later in the game, creating a chance, completing two dribbles, and winning five duels. Postecoglou might be considering offering him a few more minutes this weekend against Everton.

The Toffees currently find themselves sitting at the bottom of the table after a heavy 3-0 defeat at home to Brighton in their first fixture. If the hammering at Goodison Park wasn’t enough, Ashley Young’s red card means Everton head to Tottenham without a fit senior right-back.

Young is now suspended while Seamus Coleman and Nathan Patterson are both injured, so the right-back position is likely to be somewhere Spurs expose consider they talent they have out wide. A lack of possession and chances created, it was a drab display from Sean Dyche’s men on Merseyside.

Summer signings Jake O’Brien, Iliman Ndiaye, and Jesper Lindstrøm were all named on the bench against Brighton, so it could be time for Dyche to unleash the trio after a disappointing home performance.

The attacking output, similarly to last season, wasn’t good enough from Everton’s perspective, and the threat of Lindstrom and Ndiaye in transition could be useful against Spurs and their high line.

It’s a chance for Dyche and his team to make a real statement after a poor start, but their season won’t be defined by their opening two fixtures considering the quality of the opposition they’re facing.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game from the Premier League with FotMob this season — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Aug

2024

Preview: Aston Villa vs. Arsenal

The first meeting of two of the Premier League’s sides featuring in this season’s Champions League takes place on Saturday evening, with Aston Villa hosting Arsenal after both won their campaign opener last weekend.

By Karl Matchett

While the Gunners were generally dominant throughout in their 2-0 win over Wolves, it was – as might be expected at this early stage – not a totally refined performance and one which offered more probing than penetration at many points, needing a couple of well-taken goals at key moments to swing the points their way.

There were clear standouts for Arsenal in attack, though, with Mikel Arteta likely to once again be leaning on Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka in both chance creation and chance-taking stakes: both managed five shots apiece in the opener, both were comfortably the top two for xG+xA in that first game and, most importantly, both found the back of the net.

While the ongoing question of Gabriel Martinelli’s top form and how to produce it on a regular basis remains a key riddle for Arteta to solve, the ability of players from all over the park to play incisive balls into the final third is going to be one of their strengths yet again. Between right- and left-backs, 14 passes into that attacking zone were made on the opening weekend – that’s without even considering captain and chief schemer Martin Ødegaard’s contribution. The front line will get service; keeping Saka and Havertz sharp will mean the Gunners score goals again.

Yet this time they face a tougher task to do so on paper – though Villa didn’t make an amazing start from a defensive standpoint in their 2-1 win at West Ham. The Hammers created four big chances against an established Villa backline, yielding a total xG conceded of 2.46. Clearly, a profligate West Ham let them off the hook somewhat, but Villa have attacking talent of their own, bolstered by a strong summer transfer window.

Unai Emery could bring in the likes of Ian Maatsen and Ross Barkley for their first starts, should he want to add a little more speed and drive from deep, and especially given Villa are at home against one of his own former clubs.

While there is little scope for dropping points and staying in a title fight as far as Arsenal are concerned, it might be that there’s more pressure on Villa simply by weight of numbers. After all, following a fourth-place finish there’s expectation on them to do so again…yet more teams than ever before are fighting for Champions League spots.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every Premier League game with FotMob this season — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Aug

2024

Preview: Barcelona vs. Athletic Club

It proved to be a successful start to the season for Barcelona as they fought back from a goal down away to Valencia on Matchday one to claim a 2-1 victory and three important points to kick off their campaign.

By Nathan Evans

They had veteran striker Robert Lewandowski to thank for that, as the decorated Polish striker added another two goals to his already impressive haul in professional football after Hugo Duro had broken the deadlock for Valencia at the Mestalla.

In truth, Barca deserved the win, especially as they dominated long spells of the match at both ends of the field. Not only did they many to record 18 shots in total, but their defence marshalled their opposition well throughout to concede just two shots on target which will have impressed new manager Hansi Flick.

The German boss will now have to chart a way past Athletic Club on his home debut with the Catalan giants and that will be far easier said than done given this Bilbao side’s higher level of talent and quality across the field than their matchday one opponents.

The pick of the bunch for the visiting side remains winger Nico Williams who is still with the club even in the face of huge transfer speculation this summer. His main suitors were reportedly Barcelona themselves, which will make his likely appearance here all the more intriguing and you wouldn’t put it past him to make an impact again in this latest clash given the fact that he both scored and assisted against Barca in their Copa del Rey tie last season.

But Athletic hardly made the ideal start to their own campaign as they were held 1-1 at home to Getafe. Oihan Sancet opened the scoring at San Memes with a lovely, curling effort from just outside the penalty area, but despite largely bossing the possession after that first half breakthrough, the home side couldn’t hold on as the Madrid outfit equalised through a towering header from a corner.

Ernesto Valverde’s side will move their attentions swiftly on to making a little bit of history in this outing instead then, and that’s because they haven’t won an away league match against Barcelona in 22 attempts since a 2-1 victory back in November 2001.

Simply put, if they’re to break that streak this time around, their key players such as Williams will need to be at their very best.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game from LaLiga with FotMob this season — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Aug

2024

Preview: Manchester City vs. Ipswich Town

It’s all looking very familiar already for Manchester City: one game down, one rival beaten, Erling Haaland off and running…

By Karl Matchett

…And City will soon have İlkay Gündoğan back in the team. The midfielder looks set to rejoin from Barcelona, adding to Pep Guardiola’s ranks – just a week after they showed they can cope perfectly well without Rodri, their key component in that area of the park, in dispatching Chelsea on the opening weekend.

If that performance – polished and comfortable – and result wasn’t enough to present an ominous sense of “here we go again” regarding the Cityzens, the arrival of Gündoğan for free might well do, even if Savinho’s injury at Stamford Bridge was a blow given how well he started.

Yet irrespective of fitness and transfers, City will certainly imagine they’ve been handed a rather routine start to the campaign. Chelsea are still trying to find out who they are, or rather who they are made of under Enzo Maresca, and this week’s opponents Ipswich Town have the toughest start of all having been newly promoted: they lost at home to Liverpool and now face the only side better than the Reds over the last few years.

It’s worth noting that City weren’t exactly firing on all cylinders – an xG of just 0.77 showed their clinical, not creative, edge – and it might also have been a slight surprise that Guardiola only made a single sub, clearly valuing minutes in his starters at this stage of the campaign.

Ipswich will find it tough to limit City to such a paucity of chances, however. They conceded six big chances to Liverpool, who were wasteful despite a 2-0 win, tallying 18 shots in total against them for a combined xG of 2.65. That’s despite the Tractor Boys being energetic and disciplined in the first half; a tiring side against a better one was cut apart at will from the hour mark onwards. That’s a lesson for Man City to take on board this weekend if they struggle on home soil early on, and patience has long been a virtue of Guardiola’s teams.

For the visitors, though they’ll know their season doesn’t really count as starting until next time out, hopes for a first Premier League goal – or even point – in over 20 years will come from registering almost 0.3 of their total 0.45 xG against Liverpool from set plays, while City keeper Ederson looked far from his best against Chelsea. Even so, it’s a huge ask to expect anything other than another defeat to nil.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every Premier League game with FotMob this season — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Aug

2024

Preview: Brighton vs. Manchester United

The Premier League reaches its second weekend of the new season with Brighton & Hove Albion leading the pack.

By Ian King

Their 3-0 win at Everton last weekend was enough to put them on top of the table at the end of the first round of matches, and their performance on Merseyside will only further have built confidence that new manager Fabian Hürzeler can unlock something in his squad to propel them up the league table.

Hürzeler is a gamble, of that there is little question. At 31 years old he’s the youngest permanent head coach or manager in the history of the Premier League and the only one to be younger than the league itself. But at Goodison Park his team was fluid and well-organised. There had been some concern over Brighton’s wellbeing at the time of the departure of Roberto De Zerbi. It’s fair to say that many of those fears have already evaporated.

Manchester United, meanwhile, may be under new management – if not quite new ownership yet – but their opening game against Fulham hinted that not quite as much might have changed at Old Trafford over the summer months as many supporters would like. It took a late goal from substitute Joshua Zirkzee to finally secure all three points, but it was a somewhat stodgy performance from a match that they were expected to win. Zirkzee or fellow substitute Matthijs de Ligt could start, if Erik Ten Hag feels that his team needs a freshen up after the Fulham match.

But recent form between the two teams favour Brighton. Manchester United have won two of the last six meetings between the teams in all conmpetitions, and one of those was their FA Cup semi-final at Wembley in April 2023, a match which United might easily have lost and eventually only won on penalty kicks. Brighton have won each of the other four meetings between the two teams.

United can take some comfort from the fact that their other win from these last six fixtures came in the last meeting between the two clubs, at the Amex at the very end of last season. United’s win that day wasn’t enough to improve their final league position of 8th, but it was a decent win which contributed towards a positive end to their season. A win for Brighton will keep them top of the table for a couple of hours. A win for United would be further proof that things might finally be starting to change at Old Trafford.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every Premier League game with FotMob this season — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Aug

2024

Preview: Leicester City vs. Tottenham Hotspur

A newly promoted side against a giant of the league is always a bit of a nervous contest, especially if they take each other on in the first game of the season. That is exactly what will happen when Leicester host Tottenham on Monday evening.

By Kaustubh Pandey

Tottenham have signed Dominic Solanke, Wilson Odobert and Archie Gray, fixing holes in the squad that needed fixing. Ange Postecoglou needed that, more than anything, as he looks to step into the second stage of the team’s revolution.

While there might still be room to fix other areas of the squad, they come up against a side that is undergoing a stylistic change, as they go from having Enzo Maresca in-charge to having Steve Cooper as manager. Leicester lost both Kelechi Iheanacho and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall but only the new Chelsea signing was seen worthy enough of replacing, with Blues youngster Michael Golding having arrived.

Spurs have generally had a big upper hand in the fixture, having won four of the last six contests and ex-icon Harry Kane had a terrific goalscoring record against them. But Spurs still have Son, who has scored nine times in 14 games against the Foxes.

Leicester themselves aren’t short of players who have played in the Premier League before, with one being Harry Winks, whose exit from Spurs still disappoints many Lilywhites fans. But Patson Daka, Wilfried Ndidi, Hamza Choudhury, Bobby Reid, Wout Faes, James Justin, Jannik Vestergaard and Ricardo Pereira are recognisable figures who could start.

Jamie Vardy is out injured, which could see Stephy Mavididi make the starting XI. Abdul Fatawu should also start, having joined the club permanently after an initial and impressive loan spell at the King Power.

For Spurs, Dominic Solanke should play from the off and so could stars like Son, James Maddison, Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Dejan Kulusevski, Pedro Porro and Rodrigo Bentancur.

And unfortunately, Postecoglou’s side will have too much for Leicester to deal with. History is also against them, as Spurs have only failed to score against the Foxes twice in the 21 games played between the two clubs over the last decade, and this Tottenham side, on their day, can be as good an attacking unit as any of their peers.

Cooper’s side will have to be alert on the counter as Spurs’ defensive shape off the ball was an issue last season and it will be interesting to see how Postecoglou has worked on that over the summer. But that potential weakness should be enough to give Leicester some hope.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game from the Premier League with FotMob this season — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Aug

2024

Preview: Mallorca vs. Real Madrid

Real Madrid start their La Liga title defence away to RCD Mallorca just a few days after Carlo Ancelotti’s team beat Atalanta in the UEFA Super Cup.

By Graham Ruthven

Kylian Mbappé scored on his much anticipated competitive debut for Los Blancos with the French forward deployed through the middle in a frontline that also included Vinícius Júnior, Rodrygo and Jude Bellingham.

Victory at Son Moix on Sunday would set the tone for what could be another impressive season for Real Madrid after a 2023/24 campaign that saw them ultimately run away with the Spanish title.

Mallorca enter this season on the back of a 15th place finish that saw the Balearic outfit take a step backwards from an impressive top half finish the season before. However, an historic run to the Copa del Rey final made up for regression in La Liga.

Javier Aguirre departed Son Moix at the end of last season and has been replaced by former Osasuna boss Jagoba Arrasate. Besides this, though, there hasn’t been a huge amount of change at Mallorca over the summer.

Last season, Real Madrid notched 87 goals in 38 league games and with Mbappé now part of the frontline there’s a good chance they will be even more dangerous in the attacking third of the pitch this term.

Los Blancos were just as strong at the back, conceding just 26 league goals all season. Their Expected Goals (xG) amounted to less than a goal a-game (35.4), also keeping 21 clean sheets – and this was without Thibaut Courtois who has since returned from a long-term injury.

On the other hand, Mallorca struggled for attacking firepower last season, scoring just 33 goals in 38 games. It should be noted, however, that they underperformed their xG by 7.5 goals. A better season beckons if Los Piratas can take more of their chances.

It’s possible Carlo Ancelotti could rotate his starting lineup having played Atalanta in Warsaw only a few days ago. However, Madrid have a full week between Saturday’s game in Mallorca and their next fixture at home to Real Valladolid. Ancelotti might prefer to build chemistry between Mbappé and his new teammates by running out the same XI.

Madrid won both league matches against Mallorca last season by a scoreline of 1-0 and it’s difficult to envisage the island team changing this trend on Sunday. The Mbappé era has started for last season’s Spanish and European champions and there might not be anyone who can stop them.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game from LaLiga with FotMob this season — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Aug

2024

Preview: Chelsea vs. Manchester City

Brand new Premier League seasons don’t always kick off with a heavyweight clash but when they do, there are two conclusions we can immediately draw…

By Karl Matchett

One is that supporters of the club with a trickier preseason behind them will be grumbling about unfairness or their campaign “really” starting in gameweek two; the second is that hot takes will be rushing out of every conceivable former-players’ orifices come the final whistle on that first weekend.

So let’s get ahead of the curve, and eye up exactly why both of those are angled at Chelsea here.

The first has nothing to do with them at all: It’s because Manchester City are so inherently inevitable, so absolutely immovable…unless as a result of financial doping bans and points deductions, perhaps. But that’s for months from now. Right at the start of 2024/25, the expectation is that Pep Guardiola’s team will once again steamroller all before them, whether that’s this coming weekend at Stamford Bridge or merely in the nine or so months which follow.

As a result, a City win will mean hot takes on where Chelsea are right now, and a City non-win will mean…exactly the same.

Because let’s face it, if City are the league’s example of continuity and consistency – Guardiola now the longest-serving manager in the division – then Chelsea are the exact polar opposite. Since the changes at boardroom level brought Todd Boehly and the gang to west London, dugout alterations have been conducted almost at the same speed introductions could be made.

As for the playing staff, the less said the better. Whether erratic, scattergun or reckless is the adjective of choice, there’s very little cohesion and joined-up planning behind their summer batch of additions at first glance – again. The same was said last year, and proved to be mostly right. A squad list which now contains eight senior goalkeepers – two out on loan, admittedly – does not even reach the outfield contingent before concerns of imbalance and impracticality start to weigh down.

Which of seven attacking midfielders get the nod? Which central midfield partnership is supposed to work? Will Reece James ever be fit for a full season again? So many questions, and that’s before even getting to the (latest) new head coach, with Enzo Maresca not just set for his first competitive Chelsea game against the champions, but his first-ever top-division game as a boss, against the greatest one of the modern generation.

The opening challenge couldn’t be any higher for the Blues, but regardless of the result, they’ll at least know it can only get easier from here on out.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every Premier League game with FotMob this season — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.