Preview

Aug

2024

Preview: Rayo Vallecano vs. Barcelona

The third matchday of the 2024/25 LaLiga season is already underway. But the first headline fixture sees Barcelona visit Rayo Vallecano, aiming to preserve the only remaining 100% record in the league.

By Neel Shelat

Do Barcelona Want Control or Chaos?

Traditionally, Barcelona have always been a team that seek to dominate possession and control matches. Even during a tough campaign such as 2023/24, they had by far the highest possession average in LaLiga – at nearly 65%. The trouble, however, was that they could not quite control matches as their midfield proved porous and allowed opponents to counter them.

That was among the main issues that plagued Xavi and ultimately led to his departure, so it was one of the big question marks Hansi Flick had to address after taking over. He wasn’t given too much more to work with – on the contrary, Barcelona lost two noteworthy midfielders in the transfer window as both İlkay Gündoğan and Oriol Romeu left. Besides poor squad building, Barça have already faced lots of injury issues this season, forcing Flick to turn to 17-year-old Marc Bernal to hold down defensive midfield in his first matches.

Crucially, though, he has allowed his side to pile forward by way of attack without predominantly focusing on controlling possession and preventing counterattacking chances from being conceded. That has led to them conceding in both games so far, but they have managed to create a great deal of chances worth about five xG altogether. It would seem that this is the best way forward for the Blaugrana, at least for now.

*Both Villarreal and Celta Vigo have played a game more than Barcelona

Rayo Promise Grit With A Creative Spark

Barcelona have faced a couple of sturdy defences so far – against Valencia and Athletic Club – and that trend should continue against Rayo Vallecano. They have conceded just one goal across their two matches, defeating Real Sociedad in the opener and grinding out a goalless draw against Getafe.

Besides organising a solid defensive block, Rayo will hope to pose a significant attacking threat in this match. Iñigo Pérez’s side can pose a direct threat as striker Sergio Camello is a great runner in behind, but they also have some ball-to-feet magicians in their squad. New signing James Rodríguez certainly has to be considered among them but he will not feature in this match, so Isi Palazón could well be the player to watch.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

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Aug

2024

Preview: Real Madrid vs. Real Valladolid

The Kylian Mbappé era in LaLiga started with a somewhat underwhelming draw away to Mallorca for Madrid on the opening weekend of the 2024/25 season.

By Graham Ruthven

Indeed, the Spanish and European champions could have suffered defeat in their first game of the campaign and will therefore be expecting a more assertive performance against Real Valladolid at the Santiago Bernabéu on Sunday.

Ferland Mendy will be unavailable for Real Madrid’s home opener after the Frenchman was shown red against Mallorca, giving Carlo Ancelotti a selection headache on the left side of his defence.

Eduardo Camavinga played at left back on occasion last season, but he too will be unavailable for the match against Valladolid after suffering a knee injury last week. David Alaba, another left back option, is also injured. Fran García could subsequently start.

Real Valladolid started their 2024/25 campaign with a 1-0 home win over Espanyol which saw summer signing Raúl Moro score the game’s only goal in the first half.

However, Moro’s goal came from Real Valladolid’s only shot on target which suggests they may struggle to create opportunities against the defending champions on their own patch this weekend.

Paulo Pezzolano is known for being an attack-minded manager, but will almost certainly have to adopt a more pragmatic approach at the Bernabéu otherwise his team could be picked off. Valladolid are expected to line up in a relatively rigid 4-5-1 formation.

Madrid are currently on an unbeaten run in LaLiga that stretches back 33 games. On top of this, they have won eight of their last nine home matches against Valladolid in all competitions and haven’t conceded to the Pucela in their last five meetings.

Nonetheless, Ancelotti’s side have yet to find top gear in the early stages of this season with Mbappé still being integrated into the forward line. The Frenchman touched the ball 44 times against Mallorca and was somewhat isolated.

Ancelotti is having to balance the attacking talents of Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo with Jude Bellingham now being pushed deeper into midfield (although he is now injured according to the latest reports) to give Real Madrid some sort of structure.

If Valladolid can gain a foothold in the centre of the pitch, like Mallorca did on opening weekend, they could pose a threat in the capital. Otherwise, it’s probable that they will be smothered by the sheer weight of Real Madrid’s attacking talent.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

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Aug

2024

Preview: Wolves vs. Chelsea

Sunday afternoon sees Wolves open their Molineux doors to Chelsea and with both teams succumbing to defeat in the opening weekend of this new Premier League season, each will be looking to earn their first points of the campaign.

By Dan Tracey

Defeat for Wolves at title hopefuls Arsenal on Saturday. Defeat for Chelsea at home to defending champions Manchester City a day later. The reverse for Gary O’Neil’s men was nothing more than a training exercise for the Gunners, the same could be said for the Cityzens at Stamford Bridge.

For the West Midlands outfit, they can at least tick off their trip to the red half of North London early on and defeat at the Emirates is unlikely to define the next nine months. For the West London outfit, their loss to Manchester City shows how far the chasm between these two big six members has become.

Among a backdrop of player unrest – something that was always likely with a senior squad bursting at the seems with more than 40 professionals listed, Enzo Maresca’s debut as a Premier League manager was overshadowed by Raheem Sterling’s statement an hour before kick-off.

The England international highlighting his displeasure at being cast adrift and with the way that Chelsea are buying players this summer, the 29-year-old may not be the last superstar to be persona non grata within their Cobham training facility.

However, there were reasons for Chelsea fans to be cheerful on Thursday night, as the Blues got the better of Servette in the first leg of their Europa Conference League qualifier. A 2-0 lead to take to Switzerland should be comfortable enough, in fairness it should have been three.

Whether Marc Guiu’s miss has a bearing on the tie’s outcome remains to be seen but with the Spaniard missing a chance with an xG of 0.94, he may have to go to the back of the forward queue on Sunday.

This game will possibly see Pedro Neto go up against his former club after his summer switch and although the Portuguese star did not feature the last time these two teams met at Molineux, Wolves still managed to win 2-1 last Christmas Eve.

Back then, it was Wolves who took advantage of a Chelsea side that were still very much a work in progress under former manager Mauricio Pochettino. Now they will look to take advantage against a team that is a work in progress under new boss Enzo Maresca.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

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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)

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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.