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The Manchester Derby, Juve vs. Inter, and more
The big leagues are back in action and there’s some heavy on the narrative fixtures coming your way.
Before the Champions League gets underway next week, Europe’s biggest teams have to negotiate some tough looking domestic fixtures, a host of which we preview here. As usual, the powers that be have provided plenty of big Derbies and culturally significant games to cleanse the pallet after the international break.
Manchester Derby
It wouldn’t be a post-international break weekend without a headliner like Sunday’s clash between rivals City and United in the Premier League.
Last season’s corresponding fixture saw Ruben Amorim enjoy perhaps his best game since becoming the manager of Manchester United as the Red Devils came away from the Etihad with a 2-1 victory.
United’s squad will look quite different this weekend, particularly with the majority of the so-called ‘Bomb Squad’ now sold or out on loan, plus the departure of goalkeeper André Onana, who joined Turkish side Trabzonspor during the week.
The Derby comes at a puzzling time for City. Pep Guardiola’s side started the campaign with a 4-0 win at Wolves but have since lost to Spurs and Brighton. For all the changes that Pep has made in recent transfer windows, victory in this fixture may come down to the reliability of Erling Haaland, his goalscoring machine.
The Norwegian scored FIVE goals and got two assists against Moldova in the week, enough to get him an ultra-rare perfect 10 in the FotMob match ratings.
Arsenal vs. Big Ange
Nottingham Forest owner, the larger than life, Evangelos Marinakis took an uncharacteristically long time to dismiss Nuno Espírito Santo, following a break down in relations that has hung over the City ground like a storm cloud since the start of the season. He did not, however, waste any time in bringing in Ange Postecoglou as his replacement.
The Europa League winning ex-Spurs boss arrives just in time for Forest to face Arsenal, his former foes, at the Emirates, in the Saturday lunchtime kickoff. Postecoglou failed to win any of his three North London Derbies while at Spurs, but will be hoping for a positive start to life at Forest, with the club also preparing their first return to European football since the 1995/96 season.
London Derbies x2
Also taking place in the English capital over the weekend are not one, but two Premier League Derby games.
Out East, in Saturday’s evening kickoff, West Ham take on Thomas Frank’s Tottenham Hotspur. The two sides have made contrasting starts to the season - the Hammers losing two, then winning their third game while Spurs won their first two, before going on to lose on Matchday 3.
With just one goal conceded, Spurs have the joint best defensive record in the division. Again, in contrast, West Ham have the joint worst, with only Wolves matching their tally of eight goals conceded.
Out West, Brentford host Chelsea in the last of Saturday’s eight games in the Premier League. The Bees started the post-Thomas Frank era in positive fashion, beating Aston Villa and Bournemouth, but new manager Keith Andrews did suffer a first defeat at Sunderland just prior to the break.
Chelsea are one of only three teams still unbeaten in the top flight, and go into the weekend with seven points from a possible nine, and boasting some underlying numbers that suggest their new-look attack is performing well. The Blues have created more big chances than any one else (12) and have the second highest xG in the division (6.7).
The Old Lady have started the season in fine form, winning both their opening fixtures without conceding a goal. New signing Jonathan David is off the mark and out of favour Dušan Vlahović scored in both. Whisper it, but the real Juventus might be back.
Cristian Chivu’s first Serie A game in charge of Inter couldn’t have gone better, with the tried and tested Marcus Thuram and Lautaro Martínez strike partnership responsible for three of the five unanswered goals they put past Torino. However, Chivu’s side suffered a humbling 2-1 defeat to Udinese at the San Siro in their next game, which has rather cooled the mood.
An early season win in this, the battle between Italy’s two most successful teams, will set the tone for at least the first half of the campaign.
LaLiga’s big two
In Spain, Barcelona have been dominating the headlines during the international break, with the saga of their return to a redeveloped Camp Nou taking another turn.
After agreeing to play their first three games of the season away from home, Sunday’s meeting with Valencia was supposed to mark Barca’s triumphant homecoming. Instead, with the required permits not obtained from the city council, we’ll have the spectacle of one of the biggest teams in the world playing a proper league fixture at the 6,000 capacity Estadí Johan Cruyff.
Situated at Barcelona’s training complex. This is the same ground that hosts Barcelona Femení games (one of which falls on Friday) and will be the smallest ground used for a game with spectators present in LaLiga this century.
Such worries are a distant memory for Real Madrid, who of course, went through a similar redevelopment process for their beloved Santiago Bernabéu. This weekend, though, they are on the road to San Sebastián, where they play Real Sociedad on Saturday. That means coach Xabi Alonso is returning to the club where he started both his illustrious playing career, and also his time in management.
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: In the EFL Championship, winless Ipswich Town host the pointless Sheffield United in a big battle near the bottom of the table. Which of these promotion contenders will kickstart their season?
Saturday: German champions Bayern Munich face newly promoted Hamburg, with the latter looking for a first win since their long awaited return to the Bundesliga. Elsewhere, the derby-day theme continues. Steve Cooper takes charge of his first game as the new manager of Brøndby, who face city rivals FC København in Denmark’s biggest game. And Mexican giants Club América and Chivas meet in the Superclásico.
Sunday: Arch-rivals Southampton and Portsmouth find themselves in the same division for the first time since 2012, and play their first competitive derby of any kind since a 2019 meeting in the League Cup. In Sweden, Djurgården and Hammarby, two of Stockholm’s big three, face off in a what will be a pyro frenzy. And ahead of the Manchester Derby later in the day, Premier League champions Liverpool go to Burnley. In France, European champions PSG test their early season form at home to Lens.
On the field, at least, Chelsea are looking good. They’ve started the season with some impressive results that is backed up by some solid underlying numbers. Sam McGuire argues that the Blues might just be the dark horses in the Premier League title race.
With Santos teetering just above the relegation zone, and relations with the fans more than a little strained, Neymar is cutting a frustrated figure back at his boyhood club. Here, Alex Roberts charts the story of the Brazilian season so far.
The former-Bournemouth centre-back has slotted into life at the Santiago Bernabéu like he was born to be there. Citing Sergio Ramos as his hero, Huijsen is on course to become Real Madrid’s next best defender, and Graham Ruthven explains exactly why that suits Xabi Alonso’s new look side.
With the League Phases of all the major European competitions kicking off next week, you may want to remind yourself of the home and away fixtures involving your favourite team.
For example, to do so for Newcastle United, who return to the Champions League for the first time in over a decade, you would head to Leagues > Champions League > Fixtures.
From there, you can use the filters to narrow down the fixture list by team.