Club football is back this weekend – check out the highlights from week 11!
Weekly Football Preview – Week 11
Following the conclusion of another round of International fixtures, we return to our normal schedule as the domestic leagues across Europe return to action. Whether a fan of International football or not, it will be good to get back to the intensity of club football, at least until the final break of the calendar year which takes place in November.
The most notable results over the last few days include Turkey’s win in Croatia, Spain’s win over Scotland and France’s 2-1 win over the Netherlands as well as England’s comfortable 3-1 win over Italy. Portugal managed two wins from two, but Croatia’s bid for qualification has crumpled as they lost both matches, giving Wales the advantage when it comes to making it to Germany next summer.
A couple of quiet days leading up to the weekend as players make their way back to their teams and the action kicks off on Friday with a match apiece from Ligue 1, Bundesliga and La Liga with the highlight being Dortmund against Werder Bremen. There are some top matches from the PL scheduled starting off with a Merseyside derby on Saturday as Liverpool host Everton. Later in the day Manchester City host Brighton and Chelsea welcome Arsenal to Stamford Bridge, these being the highlights of eight matches from England’s top flight on Saturday.
Nice against Marseille is the highlight of the day in France whilst RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich are all playing away from home in the Bundesliga. The two Madrid giants both play away from home on Saturday in La Liga too. The highlight of the weekend from Serie A in Italy is the last match on Sunday which sees AC Milan clash with Juventus in the San Siro. The last of the PL matches this weekend takes place on Monday with Tottenham hosting Fulham and we also have the option of watching matches from Serie A, La Liga and Turkey’s Super Lig.
The CL also makes a welcome return to our screens next week with fixtures on Tuesday and Wednesday as well as EL and ECL on Thursday.
Friday’s top action
The first set of matches of the weekend on Friday are not the most inspiring for the neutral and the lack of a PL match does not help matters. The Friday night match from the Championship is Rotherham against high flying Ipswich. The best match of the day takes place in the Bundesliga as fourth placed Dortmund are at home to struggling Werder Bremen. In France, Le Havre host Lens with both teams on eight points at the wrong end of the table whilst the match from Spain sees two teams from the bottom half of the table, Osasuna and Granada, take each other on.
Saturday’s English Football
Saturday is an excellent day of fixtures in the England, starting with a Merseyside derby between Liverpool and Everton. The two teams are a long way apart with Everton going through another season of struggle and Liverpool nearly always get the better of their local rivals, but it will nevertheless be a passionate and feisty affair. There are five mid-afternoon matches with the pick of the bunch being Manchester City at home to Brighton. The defending champions have slipped to third place after suffering two defeats in a row and will be desperate to get back to winning ways, although Brighton will not be the easiest of opponents. The likes of Newcastle, Wolves and Brentford are amongst the other teams in action in the same time slot.
The match of the weekend, arguably, takes place later in the day as Chelsea host Arsenal. The hosts might be having another underwhelming season as Mauricio Pochettino struggles to get the right balance in his team but they will be up for this match against their high-flying London rivals, whose win over Manchester City last week sent them up to second in the table. The late match sees Sheffield United, still looking for their first win this season, against Manchester United who have been struggling for much of the season too and find themselves in tenth place.
Saturday Highlights from around Europe
Both Saturday matches in Ligue 1 are important ones, starting with PSG against Strasbourg. The Parisians have not had the best of starts to their season and find themselves in third place having only won four of their eight matches so far. Later in the day, second placed Nice host sixth placed Marseille in what should be an interesting encounter. Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen are in action on Saturday afternoon away from home at Wolfsburg, another good test for them. RB Leipzig are also on the road to mid-table Darmstadt whereas Bayern Munich play in the late match against struggling Mainz.
Last season’s Serie A winners Napoli start things off on Saturday in Italy with an away trip at Verona, followed by Inter playing at Torino and finally Sassuolo hosting Lazio. There are four La Liga matches scheduled for Saturday with both Madrid teams in action and both playing away. Real play at Sevilla, who recently fired their manager, again, whilst Atletico play at struggling Celta Vigo. A big match takes place in Turkey on Saturday as Galatasaray host Besiktas in what is always a feisty affair.
Sunday’s English Football
There is only one PL match set to be played on Sunday and this is Aston Villa versus West Ham. Both teams are having very solid seasons so far and find themselves in fifth and seventh spots respectively. They are both involved in European competitions too but this has, so far at least, not taken too much of a toll on their squads as they continue to fight on both fronts. Both teams had to settle for draws in their last matches, against Wolves and Newcastle respectively, and this should be an evenly fought encounter between two well managed teams.
Best events from around Europe
Leaders Monaco are in action on Sunday in France’s top division as they host Metz in one of six matches on the day. The late match is a clash between the bottom two, Lyon and Clermont. In Germany, FC Koln take on Gladbach and Heidenheim play against Augsburg. The early Serie A match sees AS Roma host Monza and later in the day Atalanta take on Genoa before the match of the weekend from Italy, leaders AC Milan versus Juventus, a classic encounter between two European giants. There are four matches scheduled in La Liga on Sunday with the highlight being the last match where Barcelona are in action against Athletic Bilbao.
Monday night Football
The final PL match of the weekend is a Monday Night Football selection and is another London derby. Tottenham host Fulham hoping to extend their stay at the top of the table as their solid start to the season continues. Fulham are in mid-table and won their last match before the international break but this is a fixture that generally always goes Tottenham’s way. There are two Serie A matches on Monday evening with Udinese taking on Lecce and Fiorentina playing against Empoli. Elsewhere there is one La Liga match between Valencia and Cadiz as well as the final fixtures of the Turkey Super Lig round.
Rest of the week
The rest of the week is dominated by European competitions with CL action being the highlight on Tuesday and Wednesday. Bayern face a tricky trip to Galatasaray and Manchester United know that nothing less than a win at home to Copenhagen will do. Napoli, Arsenal and Real Madrid are all on the road. Once again it’s Group F that provides the best of the action on Wednesday with Newcastle looking to hold their place at the top of the table with another three points at St James Park against Dortmund. AC Milan travel to Paris to take on PSG and Atletico Madrid and Manchester City both travel for their matches. The EL and ECL are back on Thursday with highlights including Marseille against AEK Athens, Olympiacos vs West Ham, Brighton against Ajax and Liverpool welcome Toulouse to Anfield.
Friday 20/10
Dortmund vs Werder Bremen
The Bundesliga returns to action with this fixture on Friday evening and it’s one that the home team will be hoping will end with a better result than last season. After leading 2-0, Dortmund went on to lose 3-2 following a collapse in the final minutes. The chances of that happening again are remote though, and anything other than a home win will be viewed as a surprise here. Dortmund are on a good run of four straight wins and are unbeaten in the league so far this season. Not only that, but this is their best start since the 2018/19 season and they haven’t lost in the Bundesliga for the last 15 matches.
The situation isn’t as positive for Werder Bremen as their struggles from last season have continued on into this one. They now have 21 points from their 26 matches in all of 2023 and the pressure is on their manager Ole Werner. They are currently in 14th position in the league and have a poor record against Dortmund, having only won one of the last nine league meetings. Former Werder frontman Niclas Fulkrug will line up against his old team in this match.
Dortmund have won five of the last ten overall whereas Werder Bremen have two wins, one coming in the league last year and another in the cup in 2020.
Saturday 21/10
Liverpool vs Everton
The PL roars back into life with this early kick off from Anfield on Saturday afternoon. The Merseyside derby is one of football’s iconic clashes as the red and blue teams of this football mad area clash for the first time this season. Liverpool will be favourites here without a doubt but it is worth keeping in mind that no fixture in the history of English football has seen more draws than this one, with 69 in total so far. This match also produced the most red cards in PL history, 22 so far, as the passion on the pitch and on the terraces can sometimes go a bit too far. Liverpool have struggled defensively somewhat of late, with only one clean sheet in the last ten league matches but at least goalscoring hasn’t been much of an issue.
Everton’s results have picked up somewhat as they managed two wins from their last three matches in the league. This has meant that they have been able to move away from the bottom three and will be pleased by the results as well as the performances in the 3-0 home win over Bournemouth as well as the 3-1 away win at Brentford.
Liverpool have five wins in the last ten meetings whereas Everton have just the one. There have been three goalless matches in that timeframe too and only three of the last ten matches have seen over 2 goals being scored.
Manchester City vs Brighton
Manchester City had to deal with the unusual feeling of losing two games in a row prior to the International break so they will be hoping that they will be able to return to their normal winning ways now. That run of two defeats in a row was only the second time Pep Guardiola lost successive matches since he took over at Manchester City. They return to the Etihad Stadium for this match and their home form has been nothing short of perfect as they have won 20 consecutive matches. Another factor favouring Manchester City here is that they have never lost at home to Brighton in the 99 year history of this fixture.
Brighton are another team who will have been grateful for the international break as they were on a four game winless streak. It could be that the departures of high-profile players in summer as well as the added European Cup matches are taking their toll on the squad as manager De Zerbi tries to balance things out. Goalscoring certainly doesn’t appear to be a problem at least, as they have scored 37 so far in the league this season, more than anyone else.
Brighton have won only one of the last ten meetings between these two teams with the other nine all going the way of Manchester City. Seven of the last ten have seen three or more goals scored so this is a high scoring fixture.
Chelsea vs Arsenal
It has been another slow start to the season for Chelsea, who were desperately trying to avoid having a season like last. The amount of change in the squad and behind the scenes, yet again, doesn’t make life easy but at least there were signs that things were heading in the right direction prior to the international break. The team from West London managed three wins in a row and those wins included their first comeback win for a whole year and the first time they scored four goals in over seventy attempts. This is a tough task for the team in blue though, as they face one of the form teams in the league. Recent history has not been kind and the visiting team are hoping to secure their fourth straight win at Stamford Bridge.
Arsenal have started the season in a very positive manner, reinforcing their title claims despite many thinking that they might not be able to replicate last season’s results. They are unbeaten so far this season with six wins from eight matches and one of those wins was a 1-0 success of last year’s champions Manchester City. Should they stop Chelsea from scoring in this match they will make history by making it four away clean sheets in a row at the start of the season.
Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has never lost a home match against Arsenal, winning three and drawing three so far, but that record will be tested here as Arsenal have won seven of the last ten meetings including the last four in a row. This is a traditionally high-scoring match with seven of the last ten seeing three or more goals.
Nice vs Marseille
Nice are certainly having a better season than most expected, finding themselves up in second spot after eight games. Last season was mediocre, with an eventual ninth placed finish, but this year they are unbeaten and only one point behind leaders Monaco. Defence has been key this season, and it is something that new coach Francesco Farioli has clearly worked on. Nice have five clean sheets already and no team in Europe’s top five leagues can better that.
Marseille have had a mixed start to their season with three wins from their opening eight matches. A win in this one would be their first back to back wins of the season and they will be looking to replicate the result last season when they won 3-0. Marseille have a superb record against their hosts and have beaten them more than any other in the French top flight so this is a real opportunity, despite the very positive start to the season made by the home team.
Nice have three wins out of the last ten H2H’s whereas Marseille have six so the visiting team have certainly had the edge in recent history. This is traditionally a high-scoring encounter with seven of the last ten containing three or more goals.
Sevilla vs Real Madrid
League leaders Real Madrid are the latest visitors to struggling Sevilla, the toughest of challenges for the team down in fourteenth place. Despite the strong end to the season for the Spanish team, they once again started this year in disappointing fashion and only have two wins from the eight matches so far. Their last match was a 2-2 draw at Rayo Vallecano and since then they have a new manager in charge, Uruguayan Diego Alonso.
Real Madrid will go into this match as a clear favourite given the form of both teams so far this season. Having won eight of the nine matches so far they are two points clear of surprise package Girona at the top of the table and they will surely expect another three points here. The match before the break was an easy 4-0 win over Osasuna with Jude Bellingham once again the star of the show.
The team from the capital won both meetings last year with a combined score of 5-2 and have won eight of the last ten overall. Sevilla have only won once in the last ten and that was all the way back in September 2018.
Sunday 22/10
AC Milan vs Juventus
The highlight of the round from Serie A is the late match on Sunday that sees Juventus travel to AC Milan for what should be a tough fought encounter. The home team are two points clear of city rivals Inter at the top of the table and are four ahead of opponents Juventus so a win here will give them some breathing space. The last round didn’t quite go according to plan but they did manage a narrow 1-0 win over Genoa, despite ending up with Olivier Giroud in goal. Prior to that they have been on a run that has seen them lose only once in all competitions this season, to Inter and they have seven wins from eight matches in the league.
Despite off-the -pitch drama for Juventus, on the pitch though things are going quite well, especially since their ban from European Football means they can concentrate fully on the league. They are currently in third place with five wins from eight matches and are on a three game unbeaten run with their last match being a 2-0 win over Torino.
The last meeting between these two was a friendly match in summer that Juventus won and prior to that AC Milan have had the better of things with four wins from the last two as compared to the one win for Juventus.
