Our Weekly Football Preview is back, and week 1 is as exciting as they get!
Weekly Football Preview – Week 1
The wait is over for Football fans around Europe as the season properly gets under way this weekend. As is normal, not all leagues start at the same time but this weekend sees the PL, La Liga and Ligue 1 all kick into action with the remaining top divisions in Europe set to follow in the coming weeks. Don’t forget to check out all our football odds on the big leagues.
The lack of any major tournament over the past couple of months meant that all we had to entertain us was some Nations League and European qualification matches in June, the Women’s international tournament in Austalia/NZ and some friendly tournaments. Nothing quite matches the high level of competitive club football though and fans will be looking forward to this weekend to watch their favourite teams in action, including their new managers and players.
As usual, it has been a busy transfer window with a number of star players on the move as clubs look to try to ensure they are in the best possible shape for the upcoming season. The window remains open until the end of the month and there will be, without a doubt, a number of big moves taking place as well as a fair few surprise transfers.
This upcoming week sees a full schedule from the English PL, with matches on Friday and Monday as well as the usual times on Saturday and Sunday. Furthermore, Ligue 1 and La Liga both kick into action on Friday too. The league season in Italy and in Germany will start next weekend so this weekend a round of cup fixtures is on the cards, with the DFB Pokal Cup and the Coppa Italia both taking place.
Friday’s top action
Friday night is certainly a busy one as we start the season with a bang. PL action starts with Friday Night Football as league newcomers Burnley host last season’s winners Manchester City. It could hardly be a tougher return to the top flight for Burnley than a match against last season’s treble winners but they will be hoping that a match at home in front of their noisy and passionate crowd will be just the start they need. Manager Vincent Kompany’s first match in the top flight comes against the team he captained for so many years. In France, Nice take on Lille in the first Ligue 1 match of the season and in Spain we start the season off with two matches on Friday as Almeria host Rayo Vallecano and later on Sevilla take on Valencia. The Turkey Super Lig also starts on Friday evening with one match taking place, between Trabzonspor and Antalyaspor and there is also one match to kick things off in Portugal, between Braga and Famalicao. As for the aforementioned cup matches, there are four Friday night matches in the Coppa Italia and also four matches from the DFB Cup taking place on Friday evening.
Saturday’s English Football
There are six PL matches scheduled for the first Saturday of the season. The early kick off sees Arsenal take on Nottingham Forest at the Emirates Stadium in North London. Arsenal claimed the first piece of silverware of the season as they got the better of Manchester City last Sunday, winning the penalty shootout after a last minute equaliser. Whilst not much importance is placed on winning the Community Shield, manager Mikel Arteta will be hoping to carry on the momentum and start the season in a positive fashion. Nottingham Forest will be looking to solidify their status in the top division after surviving their first year after being promoted. There are four midafternoon matches starting with Bournemouth at home to West Ham, with the fact that neither team having done much so far in the transfer window has left their fans a bit underwhelmed. Brighton take on newcomers Luton, who are making their first appearance in the PL and Everton host Fulham as well as Sheffield United at home to Crystal Palace. The late kick-off should be an interesting clash between two teams who performed very well last season, Newcastle and Aston Villa. The former will be playing in the CL this season and Aston Villa will be appearing in the ECL, so it remains to be seen how both squads are able to cope with the extra load. For the time being though, the focus will be on a good, solid start to the league season.
Saturday Highlights from around Europe
There are only two matches on Saturday from France’s top flight as last year’s winners will start their title defence at home to Lorient in the evening. Earlier in the day, Marseille host Reims. In Germany, the highlight of the weekend is the German Super Cup between league winners Bayern Munich and cup winners RB Leipzig, a match which takes place on Saturday evening and will decide the winners of the first piece of German silverware this season. In Spain, Saturday brings three matches from the top division with Real Sociedad hosting Girona, Las Palmas up against Mallorca and Real Madrid travelling to Athletic Bilbao in the evening match. The Scottish Premiership started last week so this is the second week of action and Rangers are amongst six teams that play on Saturday afternoon. There are four afternoon matches from the Turkey Super Lig and three from Liga Portugal. In Italy, the Coppa Italia continues on Saturday with four matches being played. Amongst the teams in action are Empoli, Verona and Cagliari from the top flight. Rounding off the major countries, there are eleven matches from the DFB Cup in Germany played throughout the day on Saturday with the likes of Dortmund, Leverkusen and Bochum all in action.
Sunday’s English Football
There are two matches played in West London on offer from the English PL on Sunday. Brentford, one of the success stories of recent years, start their season with a home tie against Tottenham. The home team will be hoping for much of the same, as the feelgood vibe around the club should mean they remain safe from trouble once again. Tottenham, on the other hand, are still waiting to hear the final outcome of the discussions surrounding their captain Harry Kane, something which has cast a shadow over their summer. Later in the day, Chelsea host Liverpool in what should be an intriguing encounter on the first weekend of the season. Chelsea had an awful season last year and will be desperate to put that behind them. Once again there has been a high turnover of players and they have yet another new manager in place but no one quite knows what to expect from them. They surely cannot be as bad as last year and with no European Football to distract them the chances are they will have a better league season. Liverpool will also be looking for an improvement, but this away trip to Stamford Bridge is far from the easiest start to their season.
Best events from around Europe
Six matches are lined up from France Ligue 1 on Sunday, starting with Brest against last season’s runners up Lens. Later in the day Monaco and Lyon are both in action away from home, against Clermont and Strasbourg, respectively. German Cup action continues with eleven matches to be played on Sunday with the likes of Dusseldorf, Eintracht Frankfurt and Union Berlin all in action. There are also another four matches from the Coppa Italia in Italy as well as further league fixtures from Portugal, Scotland and Turkey. Last season’s winners Barcelona play in the late match in Spain, against Getafe, in one of three Sunday matches.
Monday Night Football
The PL weekend is rounded off with a match from Manchester, as Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United host Wolves. The Red Devils will be optimistic of getting their season off to a winning start and this is the kind of fixture that they need to be winning without much fuss if they are hoping to fight at the top. New signings Andre Onana and Mason Mount are likely to be involved but recent addition Rasmus Højlund is carrying an injury and will not be involved. Wolves lost a number of key men over the summer, as Raul Jimenez moved to Fulham and, more importantly, Ruben Neves made the move over to Saudi. Furthermore, Conor Coady made the move to Leicester and fellow defender Nathan Collins left for PL rivals Brentford. There are further cup matches from Germany and Italy on Monday evening as well as two matches from the top divisions in Portugal and Turkey. The final two matches of the weekend from Spain are Cadiz vs Alaves and Atletico Madrid against Granada.
Rest of the week
The highlight of the upcoming midweek is the Super Cup on Wednesday between Manchester City and Sevilla. This annual encounter between the winners of the CL and the EL will take place in Piraeus with both clubs looking to add yet more silverware to their collections. There is another round of EL and ECL qualifying matches taking place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as we get closer to discovering who will join the giants of the game in the draw for the group stages.
Friday 11/08
Burnley vs Manchester City
There is no tougher opponent Burnley could start their season against than last season’s treble winners Manchester City. They do have the small consolation of at least starting with a home match under the lights at Turf Moor on Friday evening, so the crowd will certainly be fully behind their team. Burnley manager Vincent Kompany will be up against his old team where he won multiple honours, but he surely won’t expect Pep Guardiola and his players to go easy on him.
Burnley have a horrible record against Manchester City, losing the last eleven matches with an aggregate score of 40-1. It is unlikely that they will be able to avoid defeat here but the aim will be to keep the scoreline respectable as they will surely not want to start life in the PL with a morale-sapping defeat.
Manchester City are hunting for their fourth successive league title and only a brave person would bet against them achieving that. No club has ever managed four in a row so that itself would be a huge achievement. They will be confident of getting off to a winning start as they have won eleven of their last twelve opening day fixtures. Pep Guardiola will also be demanding a return to winning ways following the defeat suffered in the Community Shield last week at the hands of Arsenal.
The last meeting between these two came last season, a 6-0 FA Cup win for City.
Sevilla vs Valencia
Sevilla started last season in a very poor fashion and that is something they will be keen to avoid this year. They spent much of the first half of the season in and around the relegation zone before their fortunes improved dramatically. The arrival of coach Jose Luis Mendilibar allowed them to return to winning ways as they finished the season in good league form and went on to win yet another EL title.
The target this season will likely be to break into the top four, a position that they managed three years in a row prior to last season. Therefore, it can be said that last season’s poor overall performance in the league was an anomaly and we can surely expect them to start much stronger this year. Sevilla have a good record against opponents Valencia, not losing any of the last nine meetings between the two.
Valencia had a very poor season last year, only just avoiding relegation to the second tier. They ended a lowly 16th but they decided to keep hold of their manager Ruben Baraja after he led them to safety. The squad still needs improvement but they are impacted by the financial issues surrounding the club. Valencia have lost ten of their last fourteen away matches, so all things considered this is likely to be a tough start.
Sevilla have won six of the last ten encounters including the last meeting. There have been three draws out of the last ten with Valencia’s last win coming back in March of 2019.
Saturday 12/08
Newcastle vs Aston Villa
Newcastle will face a big task this season in trying to live up to the achievements of last year when they finished fourth and secured CL football. There will be pressure on the squad as playing an extra match per week in Europe is something that can take some adjusting. Newcastle added some quality and depth to the squad with the likes of Harvey Barnes and Sandro Tonali.
Newcastle have had a good pre-season with wins over the likes of Villarreal and Fiorentina and will be hoping to manage another top four finish along with adding some much coveted silverware to their trophy cabinet. The last trophy that was won by Newcastle was all the way back in 1969, although they did manage to reach a cup final last season, losing out to Manchester United. Manager Eddie Howe does not have a good record against Unai Emery, losing all four meetings. The first home match of the season at St James Park is likely to be a lively affair and Newcastle have not lost at home to Aston Villa since the 2005/06 season.
After a poor start to last season, Aston Villa ended the season strongly to finish in a European spot. This has generated lots of excitement around the club with fans looking forward to a positive season where they can solidify a top six place and enjoy their European adventure. Ollie Watkins ended last season in excellent form and started this one well too, with a strong pre-season record of four goals in six matches.
Both meetings in the league last year were convincing home wins and there has been no away win in any of the last ten meetings. Newcastle have won three and Aston Villa four of the last ten meetings.
Bayern Munich vs RB Leipzig
The Super Cup match is the event that kick starts the Bundesliga season in Germany and this year is an even more exciting one as this is the 60th anniversary of the German top flight. Unsurprisingly, Bayern Munich are one of the teams involved in this season’s curtain raiser, the Bavarian giants having won the league eleven times in a row now. They will play against last season’s cup winners RB Leipzig, who finished third in the league.
No team has won the Super Cup more than Bayern, with ten titles to their name. They have been involved in this match in all but one of the last ten editions, a show of their dominance of German Football. Their pre-season has gone well, they scored eight goals against Liverpool and Monaco and they are still pursuing England captain Harry Kane, although they appear to be running out of time to complete the signing.
RB Leipzig cannot be underestimated as they only finished five points behind Bayern last year and they managed to score seven goals in total against Bayern last season. RB Leipzig have sold a number of their star players over summer though, including Christopher Nkunku, Josko Gvardiol and Dominik Szoboszlai but they have started to reinvest some of that money in new signings. Whether or not they are able to compete at the same level is something that remains to be seen though.
This is traditionally a high scoring match as all but one of the last six matches has seen four or more goals being scored. Bayern have won five of the last ten meetings between the two teams with RB Leipzig only managing one win, that being the last meeting in May.
Athletic Bilbao vs Real Madrid
Real Madrid will head into this season hoping to win back the La Liga title that they lost out on last time out and will start with this away trip to Bilbao. The home side are a very consistent La Liga team and have finished between eighth and eleventh in their last five seasons. They will be looking to improve and go one step further with European qualification surely on their minds for this season. They ended last season in poor form, losing three from their final four home games so will hope that they can start this season refreshed and ready to go and there aren’t many tougher challenges than facing off against Real Madrid. The last time Athletic Bilbao won this fixture was back in 2015.
Real Madrid traditionally start the season strongly and have not lost their opening league fixture since the 2008/09 season. Karim Benzema has left the club and will surely be missed but the arrival of Jude Bellingham from Dortmund will add even more quality to their excellent squad. Benzema has yet to be replaced so more will be expected from Vinicius Jr in terms of goals this season but one cannot rule out a new striker being brought in. Real Madrid also ended last season in poor form once it became apparent that they had no hope of winning the league title.
Real Madrid have won seven of the last ten meetings with Athletic Bilbao winning two. The only recent draw came in the last meeting at the end of last season, a 1-1 tie.
Sunday 13/08
Chelsea vs Liverpool
This is arguably the best match of the weekend in England as two of the most successful PL teams of recent years clash at Stamford Bridge. Both these teams had underwhelming seasons last season, with no trophies for either team. Liverpool definitely had the better season of the two though, as after a very poor start they finished in European places whilst Chelsea languished in the bottom half of the table.
Chelsea have had another year of change, with Mauricio Pochettino now in charge. The hope is that his management of big name players will help manage their bloated squad and get the best out of a number of underperforming stars. A number of big names have left the club, including the likes of Mason Mount, Kai Havertz and club captain Cesar Azpilacueta. Reece James takes over as the new captain and a number of new players have joined. The lack of European football means that all focus will be on the PL and the expectation will be for a far better performance, with top 4 the likely target this season.
Liverpool have also had a significant turnover of players, with the likes of captain Jordan Henderson, Bobby Firmino, Fabinho and James Milner all leaving the club. There have been some quality incomings but the squad is certainly lighter this season. The focus will be on returning to the top four and hopefully a cup triumph. Both teams had decent pre-season results but the form from last season means that Liverpool travel to London as favourites to win this match.
The last four matches between these two have ended goalless, with Liverpool eliminating Chelsea from both domestic cups last season on penalties. Six of the last ten matches between these two have ended in draws and another draw is certainly possible here. Only two games out of the last ten have seen three or more goals scored.
Monday 14/08
Manchester United vs Wolves
Manchester United go into this season hoping to build on the improvements made last year and will be optimistic of getting off to a good start at home to Wolves. Having addressed a number of issues in the squad, manager Erik Ten Hag can be relatively pleased going into the new season and will be aiming for some sort of a title challenge and some silverware this season. Pre season was overall positive for the Red Devils and the hope is for a much better start to this season than the last. Expect newcomers Andre Onana and Mason Mount to start but new striker Rasmus Højlund is missing due to a slight injury.
Wolves, on the other hand, have had a poor summer and their hands are somewhat tied by Financial Fair Play rules. This left manager Julien Lopetegui frustrated and he left the club only days before the start of the new season. Gary O’Neill replaces him and he faces another tough job this season after performing so well in keeping Bournemouth in the PL last year. The loss of Ruben Neves, Raul Jimenez, Conor Coady and Nathan Collins without proper replacements has left the squad looking thin and they might struggle this season.
This is traditionally a low scoring match, with only one of the last ten matches saw more than two goals. Manchester United have had the better of this fixture, winning six of the last ten whereas Wolves have won only once.
Enjoy!
