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Liverpool vs. Everton, Arsenal vs. Man City, Lazio vs. Roma, and more
There's no let up in the football calendar as the big match-ups keep on coming!
Straight off the back of an amazing week of fixtures in the Champions League comes a weekend full of hard-hitting games all across Europe. From the Premier League Big Six to derbies in Italy, France, and beyond, we’ll preview it all here.
Merseyside Derby
We’re starting strong in England this weekend, with the classic rivalry between Liverpool and Everton acting as Saturday’s lunchtime kickoff.
After scoring a late goal to win a game for the fifth time in a row, against Atlético Madrid on Wednesday, clock watchers will be checking to see if the Reds can extend this particularly quirky run when their city neighbours turn up at Anfield. Everyone else of the Liverpool persuasion may be hoping to get it done much earlier, as they have done when winning each of the last four home derbies - including April’s 1-0 victory in their most recent meeting.
Everton have failed to score a goal across that sequence but the mood has been much more positive for David Moyes and his side this season. In fact, you could probably pinpoint the start of Everton’s recent uptick to James Tarkowski’s dramatic late equaliser back in February, in the final derby played at Goodison Park.
The Toffees are unbeaten in four games and will look to newboys Jack Grealish and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to take the charge to their long-term foes.
Arsenal vs. Man City
On Sunday, the two sides most likely to challenge Liverpool for the Premier League title clash at the Emirates. Always an intriguing encounter, this meeting comes just as Mikel Arteta’s newly strengthened Gunners can look to exploit the uncharacteristic early season frailties shown by the latest incarnation of Pep Guardiola’s City.
Admittedly, there was little sign of that when they put three unanswered goals past Manchester United last weekend, or dominated against Napoli in the Champions League during the week. But the table still shows that City have started slowly. And if Arsenal can pick up a result here, it’ll put six points between them, and leave City at least six, possibly nine points down on Liverpool.
While still a Sporting player, Viktor Gyökeres scored a hattrick the last time he played City, and with three goals in his first four Premier League games, the Swede will be relishing the chance to impress in such a high profile game. Only City’s Erling Haaland has scored more in the league so far - with the Norwegian having bagged 10 in his last five for club and country.
Man United vs. Chelsea
As if that wasn’t enough, Manchester United take on Chelsea in a third Premier League headliner of the weekend.
Ruben Amorim is under some serious pressure, with the Portuguese coach having failed to improve results this season. A third defeat to one of the league’s big six in their first five games (after losing to Arsenal and Man City already) would be disastrous.
Chelsea are one of three unbeaten sides left in the division (alongside Liverpool and Palace), and although they arrive at Old Trafford after a midweek humbling at Bayern Munich, the Club World Cup Champions will remain confident.
One record that Amorim may wish to cling to, is the fact that United are unbeaten in their last 12 home games against the Blues, a run dating back to 2013. That’s Chelsea’s worst away run against any side they’ve faced more than 10 times during the Premier League era.
Ligue 1 is on one in Matchday 5! Perhaps taking a leaf from other leagues, such as Argentina, where they have special rounds of games where everyone plays their closest rivals, the French authorities have put three big derbies in to the fixture list for this weekend.
On Saturday, Nantes and Rennes, the two traditional seats of power in the Breton region meet in the Derby de l’Ouest (there hasn’t been a draw in the last ten meetings between those two!). And later, Lens try to end a six-game winless run against Lille, their near neighbours in the even more heated Derby du Nord.
Then, on Sunday night, it’s time for France’s top fixture: Le Classique, Marseille vs. PSG.
After years of PSG dominance domestically, Roberto De Zerbi’s side need to change the narrative. Marseille fans can’t even cling to the fact that they were the only French side ever to be crowned European Champions any more. Bar a Coupe de France win over PSG back in 2023, it’s been pure misery all the way back to 2020.
This season, L’OM have followed a pattern of winning big at home (5-2 and 4-0) but losing narrowly away (1-0, 1-0, and 2-1 at Madrid in midweek). PSG have, of course, won all four of their Ligue 1 games with an aggregate score of 13-3, so Luis Enrique will look for another high-scoring win against their southern rivals.
Lazio vs. Roma
Following on from last weekend’s 4-3 thriller in the Derby d’Italia (won by Juventus), the next heavyweight clash in Italian football takes place at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
Here, Roma, who are now managed by former-Atalanta boss Gian Piero Gasperini, act as the away side in the stadium they share with Lazio. Gasperini’s side have started the season with two wins and a defeat, and have been fairly solid defensively, conceding just once so far.
After resigning back in January 2014, Maurizio Sarri returned to Lazio for a second spell as head coach in June. So far, he has overseen disappointing defeats to Como and Sassuolo, but Lazio did beat Hellas Verona 4-0 prior to the international break.
Sarri lost just one of six derbies played during his first spell at Lazio and really needs a statement result to kickstart this new era.
LaLiga’s Big Two
After picking up three points in their Champions League openers, Real Madrid and Barcelona return to league action sat first and second in the table.
Madrid have four wins from four under Xabi Alonso in LaLiga and they will test that against Espanyol on Saturday. The Barcelona-based side are unbeaten so far - turning heads with their victory over Atlético Madrid on the opening weekend - and sit level with their city rivals in third, two points below Madrid.
For their part, Barcelona play another game at the 6,000 capacity stadium at their training complex, the Estadi Johan Cruyff, on Sunday. And Hansi Flick will be glad for the home comforts (sort of) as they face bogey side Getafe. Barcelona have failed to win at Getafe in five attempts dating back to 2020 but it’s a different story at home, where they have not lost to them this century.
Pro Tip: Click on any of the matches below, then tap the star in the right hand side of the match page. This will automatically bring them to the top of your main feed in the app.
Saturday: If all the derbies mentioned above weren’t enough for you, check out Croatia’s Eternal Derby, the battle between Hajduk Split and Dinamo Zagreb. In Germany, the Bayern Munich juggernaut rolls in to Hoffenheim, while Juventus test their 100% Serie A record away at Hellas Verona. And watch out for Rangers’ Scottish League Cup quarterfinal against Hibs - that could turn nasty, particularly for struggling Rangers boss Russell Martin.
Sunday: Before Arsenal vs. Man City, Bournemouth vs. Newcastle and Sunderland vs. goalless Aston Villa provide the Premier League entertainment. There’s a early clash between PSV and Ajax, the teams that finished first and second in the Eredivisie last season. Back in Serie A, Inter take on Sassuolo, and in the Bundesliga, second placed Dortmund face Wolfsburg.
Monday: Antonio Conte’s Napoli play catch up in Italy, with newly promoted Pisa the visitors to the Diego Maradona.
With Rangers enduring their worse start to a season in 47 years, and ahead of Saturday’s game, where the atmosphere is expected to be toxic regardless of a result, catch up on what has been a disastrous few months for Russell Martin.
After almost single handedly taking Alkmaar to the UEFA Youth League in 2023 and the Dutch to the U19 Euros this summer, Kees Smit is the next big thing to come out of the Eredivisie. Learn the name before he makes his big move.
Ahead of Sunday’s showdown between Manchester City and Arsenal, Sam McGuire talks us through the threat that City winger Jérémy Doku may pose, a player so unpredictable that even Mikel Arteta may struggle to plan for.
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