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Man City vs. Liverpool, Barcelona at Celta, Turin Derby, and more
Enjoy all the top club football coming your way before the November international break
This week, we take a look at the big games in the Premier League, catch up with Barca, PSG, and Juventus, now under the management of Luciano Spalletti. There’s also time to preview the Superclásico, Boca vs. River, and for our regular tips to get the best out of your FotMob app.
Man City vs. Liverpool
In previous years, this is the sort of fixture that might decide the destination of the Premier League title, but perhaps not this season. This clash between the reigning champions and the champions before them comes too early in the campaign and with City second in the table and Liverpool third, six and seven points down on Arsenal, respectively.
Manchester City’s rise to such a lofty position is fueled by the goals of Erling Haaland, with their only defeat in their last 13 coming against Aston Villa, the only game in that run in which Haaland both played and failed to find the net. The Norwegian has 13 goals in the league and scored his fifth in the Champions League during the midweek win over former club Dortmund. Increasingly, it appears, City’s tactics revolve around creating goalscoring opportunities for their No. 9.
It is not the same story at Liverpool where their Scandinavian No.9, Alexander Isak, has played just 253 minutes in the league and has one goal to his name, scored in the Carabao Cup back in September.
The Reds ended a run of four league defeats with their victory over Villa last weekend, and confidence in Arne Slot’s team will have been further boosted by the 1-0 win recorded against Spanish league leaders Real Madrid at Anfield in the Champions League. It appears they may have turned a corner.
The champions won both fixtures against City by two goals to nil last season, with the two matches in the previous year finishing 1-1, meaning they have not lost to their usual title rivals since April 2023.
Sunderland vs. Arsenal
This is a game dripping with narrative, given the context of the season played so far. Sunderland, captained by Granit Xhaka, who used to fulfil the same role at Arsenal, are fourth in the Premier League, and have 18 points from their opening 10 games. That’s more points than any promoted side have managed at this stage in the campaign since Hull City in the 2008/9 season.
Arsenal, famously, have a very tight defence. Their run of eight clean sheets, reached with the midweek away win in Prague, equals an English top flight record set by Preston North End in 1889 and Liverpool in 1920.
The Gunners are conceding goals at a rate of 0.3 per game in the Premier League but Sunderland have only given up eight goals themselves, and have the second best record in the division. The Black Cats are unbeaten at home with their only defeats on the road coming against Burnley and Manchester United. A positive result against the league leader would be outstanding but perhaps understandable given the form book.
With the game between City and Liverpool not taking place until Sunday, a win for Mikel Arteta’s side could put Arsenal nine points clear at the top of the table.
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Juventus vs. Torino
The Turin Derby might be one of the more lopsided rivalries in the modern game but it is still a massive occasion, particularly for Juventus, with new manager Luciano Spalletti just two games in to his return to club football.
Juve are unbeaten in their last 22 meetings with city-rivals Torino, with the Bulls not tasting victory since April 2015. Two draws in the most recent of three derby games does, however, mark a relative high point.
Torino come in to this one sat 13th in the table but on a run of three draws and two wins in their last five, including a victory over defending Serie A champions Napoli. Their form under Marco Baroni has generally been much improved and is perhaps not reflected in their table position.
Spalletti is notorious for saying that he would never manage another club side in Italy having led Napoli to their previous title win in 2023 but two years is a long time in football and he is most certainly back. So far, he has overseen a nervy win over Cremonese and Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with Sporting in the Champions League, and has looked to instil more dynamism in the side, making certain tactical tweaks that include the move of key midfielder Teun Koopmeiners to centre back.
You can read more on the new Spalletti era at Juventus via the link below:
Lyon vs. PSG
This season, PSG have already dropped as many points as they did on their way to winning the Ligue 1 championship in the 2024/25 campaign. As a result, the current table looks pretty congested, with four points separating the perennial leaders and their opponents this weekend, the sixth placed Lyon.
The French and European champions did win last time out in the league (vs. Nice) but were left frustrated by Bayern Munich during the week. Luis Enrique’s side recorded 25 shots against the Germans but only managed João Neves’ relatively late consolation goal in a 2-1 defeat.
Domestically, PSG are only being outscored by rivals Marseille and they currently boast the best defence, conceding just 0.8 goals per game on average. Lyon have given up more but they do match the league leaders for clean sheets, recording six so far.
The club, who won seven Ligue 1 titles back-to-back in the 2000s, are sat in the same table position in which they’ve finished the last two seasons, and that’s despite the ongoing touchline ban for coach Paulo Fonseca.
The Portuguese manager is allowed in the dugout for Lyon’s European matches but doesn’t see his ninth-month domestic ban, given for aggressively confronting a match referee, run out until the end of the month.
Fans of Celta Vigo have come to expect a certain level of performance at home this season, with all of their previous five league games finishing 1-1 at the Estadio de Balaídos!
Since the last of those draws, however, the Galician side have gone on to win the consequent five games across league, cup, and Europa League. They come in to Sunday’s clash with Barcelona as the form side in Spain and unbeaten in eight.
Can Hansi Flick’s swashbuckling high line break that run of home draws for Celta? You’d think LaLiga’s top scorers are well placed to do so but they do concede goalscoring opportunities, with Barca not keeping a clean sheet in any of their last nine, and requiring an own goal to draw 3-3 with Belgian side Club Brugge during the week.
Traditionally seen as one of the biggest games in club football, Sunday’s Superclásico between Boca Juniors and River Plate comes at a difficult moment for both sides.
Boca suffered the tragic loss of manager Miguel Angel Russo, who died of prostrate cancer in October, but despite that, remain joint top of Zona A in the Argentinian league’s Clausura season.
In Zona B, River Plate sit sixth having lost five of their last six games in the league during a run of two wins in 10 across all competitions. That run has also seen them knocked out of the Copa Argentina by eventual winners Independiente Rivadavia and lose home and away to Palmeiras in the Copa Libertadores.
If you’re not subscribed to our Women’s football newsletter (why not!?), you may have missed our interview with Chelsea midfielder Erin Cuthbert, who spoke to us ahead of the Blues’ big WSL clash with Arsenal this weekend.
Learn everything you need to know about the Argentine frontman being closely watched by Europe’s elite clubs following nine goals in his first 11 games since arriving in Ligue 1 this season.
We all know Erling Haaland scores goals but have you seen the extent of his underlying numbers this season? Sam McGuire talks us through them in this xG-heavy statistical analysis.
Have you tried the FotMob predictor game? Every week we select seven random big games and you predict the scores. You get three points for the exact score, and two points for the correct outcome.
The prize is the pride in yourself that you know ball. It’s all for fun. But you can also compete against other users in the worldwide league or create your own league to challenge your mates.
Head to the More tab in the app or click where you see FotMobPredict to start playing.
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.
Friday: The U17 World Cup continues in Qatar, and we’ll see whether the young England side can recover from their shock opening game defeat to Venezuela, when they take on Haiti. Later, Jamie Vardy’s Cremonese face fellow promoted side Pisa in Serie A.
Saturday: On top of the Premier League games covered above, Spurs face Manchester United and Chelsea play Wolves (again). In the WSL, there’s that big game between leaders Chelsea and rivals Arsenal, Milan go to Parma in Serie A, Bayern are at Union Berlin in the Bundesliga, and Inter Miami have the third and final game of their playoff series against Nashville.
Sunday: Palace vs. Brighton is the headline gathering game in the Premier League, LaLiga leaders Real Madrid visit Rayo Vallecano, Napoli face Bologna, and Gent play Genk in a game where there is always very little between the two sides!