A Weekend of Big Clashes

This is the final weekend before we take yet another mid season break for a round of international fixtures. In midweek we had a full round of European matches, but now our attention switches back to domestic football. The usual single matches from most of the top leagues will take place on Friday, the PL being the exception before we dive into two busy days on Saturday and Sunday. Let’s take a quick look at some of the top matches on offer over the weekend!

Liverpool vs Aston Villa – Saturday @ 21:00

Liverpool fans could hardly have hoped for a better start to life under new manager Arne Slot. Their good form continued as they won their matches leading into this game, beating Brighton and Bayer Leverkusen to extend their unbeaten run all the way back to the 14th of September when they lost at home to Nottingham Forest. This meeting between them and Aston Villa will be the 100th time the two teams have clashed at Anfield and a win for the home team would mean that Slot will become only the fourth manager to win nine of his first eleven matches in charge. Aston Villa are a good opponent for Liverpool to face as they have scored more goals against them than any other PL opponent and have five wins from the last six meetings between the two teams at Anfield. Luis Diaz is the front man on form, having scored a hattrick in midweek. Alisson, Chiesa and Diogo Jota remain unavailable for the home side. 

Aston Villa will be looking to bounce back after a poor defeat in midweek when they lost 1-0 to Club Brugge. The loss will come as somewhat of a surprise after the very positive start that the midlands club have made in the CL so far. That was their third loss in a row in all competitions, which means Villa are going through a tough run. This fixture will not fill their fans with confidence and many will be fearing a fourth defeat incoming. Manager Unai Emery himself has a poor record against Liverpool, only managing one win in eleven attempts with various clubs. Jhon Duran will be hoping to be given the nod up front as he continues to battle it out with Ollie Watkins for the number one striking role at the club. Ross Barkley and Matty Cash are both likely to be missing for the visitors as they look to arrest their alarming drop off in form. 

The last win for Villa over Liverpool came in October 2020, a 7-2 goal fest. That was the only time they have beaten these opponents in their last ten meetings though.

Chelsea vs Arsenal – Sunday @ 17:30

Chelsea fans will surely be more than happy with the start to the season that they have had with the club from West London in fourth place going into this match and one place above Arsenal, many pundits’ favourites to win the title this season. Enzo Maresca has himself exceeded the expectations of many and Chelsea have only lost one of their last nine league matches going into this game. Their 8-0 thrashing of Noah in the ECL in midweek will certainly not have harmed their confidence too. They are averaging two goals per game in each of their last four home matches and they certainly have many attacking options at their disposal. The key man, much as he was last season, is Cole Palmer and he is not sure of being able to play in this match after the knock he received at the end of the match against Manchester United last week. Moises Caicedo has certainly looked more like himself this season and put in a superb performance last week, he will look to dominate midfield again. 

Arsenal tasted defeat on their travels in midweek as they lost 1-0 to Inter Milan, despite managing 20 goal attempts. One positive from that match was the return of their captain, a player that they have certainly missed over the past weeks as he makes them tick. They will be looking to avoid a third defeat in a row here as they also lost by the same narrow scoreline last weekend in the early kick off against Newcastle. Arsenal’s recent poor run sees them outside the top four going into this match and they are without a win in their last three league games. Stamford Bridge is a favourable location for them though as they are unbeaten in their last five visits to Chelsea’s home stadium. A big worry for Arsenal is the likely absence of Declan Rice, his absence will certainly leave a void in their midfield. 

The last time Chelsea beat Arsenal was back in August 2021 and the Gunners have seven wins from the last ten meetings whereas Chelsea have only two.

Inter vs Napoli – Sunday @ 20:45

A midweek CL win for Inter saw them extend their excellent run to eight wins in their last nine matches so they will go into this game full of confidence. Inter are currently one point behind league leaders Napoli so they will have an added incentive to do well in this game. This top of the table clash is therefore without doubt one of the matches to watch out for this weekend. Inter have a very good recent record against Napoli having won six of the last ten league meetings between the two. One negative for the home side to try to address is their somewhat underwhelming home form that reads only two wins from their last four matches played at San Siro. Goalscoring is not a problem though as they have scored in their last 28 Serie A home matches, one of the best records across Europe. 

Napoli will be hoping to bounce back from what was a disappointing result last week when they were beaten by Atalanta, a comprehensive 3-0 loss that saw their lead at the top of the table cut to just a single point. That was only the second time that manager Antonio Conte has ever lost a Serie A match by three goals and they will be hoping to avoid consecutive league defeats, something that they haven’t had to endure since December last year. Napoli will need to try to get over their result last weekend as prior to that they were on a run that saw them record six competitive wins. They can also look to the fact they are unbeaten in their last four away matches and kept clean sheets in all of those games. 

Inter have won six of the last ten meetings with Napoli only registering one win in that same timeframe and the last meeting was a 1-1 draw in March of this year. 

Benfica vs Porto  – Sunday @ 21:45

The late match on Sunday is a clash between two giants over in Portugal as second placed Porto travel to Benfica. These two rivals find themselves behind Sporting in the table, although it remains to be seen how the league leaders handle the departure of their coach Ruben Amorim. Both these two teams will therefore be looking to take three points from this match to put pressure on the current leaders. Benfica are five points behind Porto and therefore eight points off the lead so they really need three points here, so they will be heartened by the fact they haven’t dropped any league points since the draw against Moreirense at the end of August. They fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat away to Bayern Munich in midweek and last time out managed three points away to SC Farense. 

Porto have a better record than Benfica so far this season with more goals scored and fewer conceded. They might be five points ahead of Benfica but they have played a game more so they will know that if they lose this match and Benfica win their game in hand they will be overtaken by their rivals. Porto also tasted defeat in midweek in the CL when they lost to Lazio, also a narrow away defeat. Prior to that, they made easy work of getting the better of Estoril, managing a 4-0 win last weekend. 

The last meeting between these two was an impressive 5-0 win for FC Porto so the home side will be looking for some revenge for that rather embarrassing result. FC Porto have won five of the last ten with Benfica winning three. 

PS: Odds might have changed since the writing and publication of this article.

Last updated: 08.11.24