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Palace vs. Liverpool, Madrid Derby, Milan vs. Napoli, and more
Wrapping up September in European's football elite leagues with The Assist
We’ve hit a weekend where the football season is hitting it’s stride, but one where the fixture schedule has been influenced by the start of the Europa League and next week’s second round of league phase games in the Champions League. Treat this as your regular diet of routine matchups but do enjoy the sprinkling of big game treats.
Palace vs. Liverpool rematch
This fixture is becoming a stalwart of the FotMob match feed in 2025.
The two sides played out a 1-1 draw on the final day of last season - the day that Liverpool lifted the Premier League trophy. Then, they kicked off this season with their meeting in the Community Shield. That, of course, was eventually won on penalties by FA Cup holders Palace.
Now, they play each other in the league having also just been drawn together in the next round of the Carabao Cup, a game set to be played in late October.
Oliver Glasner’s Eagles have acquitted themselves well following that victory in the traditional curtain raiser, picking up two wins and three draws in the league. In fact, they boast the only other unbeaten start in the division alongside leaders Liverpool.
The Reds have maximum points from their five league games but are developing a reputation for crucial late winners. Across all competitions, Liverpool have now won their last six games by a single goal, including the derby day win over Everton (2-1), and their Carabao Cup game against Championship side Southampton on Tuesday (2-1).
Newcastle United vs. Arsenal
Sunday’s big game in the Premier League pits Champions League qualifiers Newcastle and Arsenal against each other at St. James’ Park. Neither can really afford to get distracted by their upcoming commitments in Europe, not with both sides dropping points in recent games - the Magpies travel to Belgian side Union St. Gilloise while Arsenal host Olympiacos in the week.
Arsenal played out a cautious 1-1 draw against Man City last weekend but probably won’t set up in such a defensive fashion against Eddie Howe’s men, not when Newcastle have so far struggled for goals. They’ve only found the net three times in England’s top flight, and have won just once.
Newcastle did score four during the week, but that came against third tier opposition in the Carabao Cup. The Gunners currently boast the joint-best defensive record in the division, with two goals conceded, but Newcastle have only let in one more themselves.
Perhaps, then, we should be looking to one of the league’s fresh new attacking talents, Nick Woltemade or Viktor Gyökeres to light up this one.
Madrid Derby
The first derby of the 2025/26 season in Spain’s capital does not come at a good time for Atlético. With talk of a takeover in the offing and, for once, uncertainty over the future of Diego Simeone, the coach that has come to define the club over his 13 years in charge, results have not been great.
The return to full fitness of striker Julián Alvarez has, however, lifted the mood at the Metropolitano ahead of Saturday’s visit from city rivals Real. While putting in just his second full 90 of the season, Alvarez scored a midweek hattrick against Rayo Vallecano as Atlético recovered from 2-1 down to pick up their second win of the campaign.
There are no such concerns on the other side of town where the Xabi Alonso era has begun with six straight wins and an in-form Kylian Mbappé has already plundered nine goals across LaLiga and the Champions League.
Real will understandably start this game as favourites but the last three derbies played in the league have all ended 1-1 so don’t be surprised if we don’t see a winner in this one.
Made with the FotMob lineup builder - exclusive to FotMob.com - and based on average ratings in LaLiga this season
Meanwhile, Barcelona, the only side who could possibly capitalise on a potential slip-up for Real Madrid, play strugglers Real Sociedad on Sunday. If results go their way, Hansi Flick’s defending champions could go top of the league with a victory here.
Barca have scored a whopping 19 goals in their six games, including three at Oviedo on Thursday night. Real Sociedad have so far struggled to adapt to life without long-term coach Imanol Alguacil. His replacement, Sergio Francisco, did however, pick up his first win in midweek.
Antonio Conte asked for, and received the backing from his board to reinforce his Scudetto winning team, and Napoli have looked strong so far, winning their four league games by an aggregate score of 9-3.
On Sunday, they face their biggest test yet, a trip to San Siro where they’ll meet what looks like a Milan side that are somewhat rejuvenated under Maxi Allegri. With new signing Luka Modrić driving them forward and Christian Pulisic back in the goals, Milan have won their last four games without conceding - three in the league plus the midweek Coppa Italia tie against Lecce.
Fans of aging but seemingly still at elite-level playmakers may well be interested in following this battle between Kevin De Bruyne - now at Napoli - and the aforementioned Modrić.
U20 World Cup
The 24th edition of FIFA’s biannual U20 World Cup kicks off in Chile over the weekend, with 24 nations looking to take the crown claimed by Uruguay in 2023.
South American nations are expected to be strong again so watch out for Brazil and Argentina, who will be out for revenge having recently lost to their rivals in the final of this year’s CONMEBOL U20 tournament. We know football scouts will be flocking to the games involving those two.
The European threat is carried by Italy, who were runners-up last time around, Spain, France, Ukraine, and Norway. We’ll be looking out for the next Erling Haaland, who once scored nine goals in a single game, when he featured at the 2019 finals!
Unbeaten runs on the line
We’ve already dealt with a number of sides who are still to drop points in their respective leagues but looking elsewhere across Europe’s top 10 football nations, two form teams stand out having played and won their first six games of the season.
FC Porto have conceded just one goal in six straight victories at the start of the Liga Portugal campaign, with that coming in the 2-1 defeat they inflicted on defending champions Sporting in Lisbon. Having also got off to a successful start at Salzburg in the Europa league during the week, Porto don’t play their weekend fixture until Monday night - away at Arouca.
In Türkiye, Galatasaray have simply picked up where they left off in the Süper Lig, winning their first six as they look to defend the title for the fourth year in a row.
Unsurprisingly, for a squad that contains Mauro Icardi and Victor Osimhen, plus new signings such as Leroy Sané and İlkay Gündoğan, it’s been raining goals for the Istanbul giants - 18 coming so far, at a rate of precisely three per game.
Before a showdown against Liverpool in the Champions League next Tuesday, Gala travel to Alanyaspor on Friday night.
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: A number of other big clubs feature later, with Bundesliga leaders Bayern taking on Werder Bremen, and Marseille heading to Strasbourg in Ligue 1, fresh from ending the unbeaten start of archrivals PSG during the week. In the EFL Championship, West Brom meet Leicester, with both expected to be there or thereabouts this season. And in Dublin, League of Ireland leaders Shamrock Rovers play a fourth derby of the year against Bohemians. Bohs have won the previous three!
Saturday: Seven games will be played in the Premier League, and of those not mentioned so far, Brentford vs. Man United, Spurs vs. Wolves, Chelsea vs. Brighton, and Man City against Burnley are perhaps the stand outs. Juventus host Atalanta in a battle between two unbeaten teams in Serie A, while Inter look to make up some lost ground when they head to in-form Cagliari. And back in France, PSG’s Ballon d’Or-winning players and staff get back to business when they play Auxerre.
Sunday: Villa vs. Fulham is the warm-up game for Newcastle against Arsenal in the Premier League, Lille face Lyon, and Rapid Vienna face hated rivals Austria in one of the other Bundesliga’s biggest games. In Argentina, Racing host near neighbours Independiente, meaning the latter have to take the arduous 300 metre stroll from their stadium to Racing’s, with both grounds situated on the same block in the city of Avellaneda.
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Need an at-a-glance summary of a team’s season? Head to the lineup tab for an upcoming match and switch the view to Season Summary.
With that turned on, you’ll get each player’s average FotMob rating and their goal contributions, all in one handy view.
Spotted the danger man or form player? Screen shot the lineup and warn the group chat. You can always come back later and tell them ‘I told you so.’