Another weekend of football lies ahead of us – check our preview for week 8!
Weekly Football Preview – Week 8
We’re back with another great weekend of football ahead of us, and as usual, NordicBet has taken a closer look at what’s in store for us in the football world in the coming days. You’ll find odds on all these big leagues on our site.
There were a number of big wins for some of the top teams around Europe last weekend including the likes of Bayern’s 7-0 win over Bochum, PSG’s 4-0 win over Marseille and Newcastle’s 8-0 thrashing of Sheffield United. Overall, it was another high-scoring round of fixtures with not too many surprises. Napoli’s poor start to the season continued as they could only draw at Bologna and Real Madrid fell to their first defeat of the season, a 3-1 loss at neighbours Atletico Madrid. Nice pulled off another impressive away win, this time at Monaco on Friday evening as they powered to second place in the table in France, whilst in England there were wins for leaders Manchester City, Liverpool, Brighton and Manchester United.
As we head into November we can expect another busy month with CL and EL matches sandwiched in between rounds of league football as well as an International break for qualification matches midway through the month. We start things off on Friday with the usual number of events from across Europe with Barcelona versus Sevilla and Benfica against Porto being the highlights. The biggest match on Saturday from the PL is Tottenham against Liverpool on what is a very busy day of action. A south coast derby is the highlight of the weekend in France as Monaco welcome Marseille to their home stadium whilst in Germany, the top two are both away from home as Leverkusen travel to Mainz and Bayern Munich face a difficult match at RB Leipzig. Real Madrid will hope to return to winning ways against Girona on Saturday, as will Juventus against Atalanta on Sunday.
Friday’s top action
Barcelona have an almost perfect record so far this season, they are undefeated with five wins out of seven matches and they will be hoping to continue that sequence as they host struggling Sevilla on Friday evening. The visiting team are once again struggling at the wrong end of the table, a feeling of deja vu as they had a horrible start last year too. In Germany, the Friday night Bundesliga match is Hoffenheim against Dortmund whilst in France’s top division the match is Strasbourg against Lens. There is a top clash from Portugal on Friday evening too as Porto travel to rivals Benfica in the first clash of the season between these two giants of the Portuguese game. With no Friday night PL match on offer from England, action comes from the Championship with Sheffield Wednesday hosting Sunderland.
Saturday’s English football
The majority of this weekend’s matches from the PL will be played on Saturday, eight in total, starting with Aston Villa versus Brighton. Both these teams had excellent seasons last year with both finishing in a European place and they will be looking to repeat that feat this time around. Aston Villa took all three points off Chelsea last week and Brighton beat south coast rivals Bournemouth so both teams are flying high in the table once again. Bournemouth face another tough match this week against Arsenal and Everton will be desperate for three points against Luton. Newcastle are flying high after their eight goal demolition of Sheffield United and they face another promoted team this weekend in Burnley. Sheffield United themselves face a test of character as they will need to redeem themselves but they face another tricky match away at West Ham. The two Manchester teams are both in action at 4 pm on Saturday with United at home to Crystal Palace, a repeat of their midweek cup tie and Manchester City will once again be expected to return home with all three points, this time from their visit to midlands to take on Wolves. The final game of the day is Tottenham against Liverpool, the tie of the round. Liverpool have had a very good start to the season and find themselves in second place with Tottenham only two points behind following their draw against Arsenal last week.
Saturday Highlights from around Europe
PSG will be hoping to build on their important win last week against Marseille with another three points from their match at Clermont this week. The evening match on Saturday will see Monaco and Marseille face off in a south coast battle. Both teams lost last week so will be desperate for a win in this heated fixture.
First and second in the Bundesliga are both in action on Saturday afternoon but it is Bayern with by far the tougher task as they travel to fourth placed RB Leipzig whereas Bayer Leverkusen head to bottom of the table Mainz. In Italy, last year’s winners Napoli are up against Lecce, followed by AC Milan against Lazio and leaders Inter travel to Salernitana for the late match. Real Madrid will be desperate to get back to winning ways following their loss to Atletico last week and they travel to a surprise team in form, Girona, who currently occupy second spot in La Liga.
Sunday’s English Football
Sunday is a quiet day in England with only one PL match being played. Nottingham Forest host Brentford at 3 pm with both teams looking to bounce back from defeats last weekend. They are only separated by one point in the league but it is Brentford who will be the more concerned as they only have one win so far this season and lost to Everton last week. An interesting match in the Championship sees promotion favourites Leicester travel to mid-table Blackburn.
Best events from around Europe
Lyon’s poor start to the season continues as they find themselves in the bottom three and they start things off on Sunday away at Reims. Surprise leaders Brest host second place Nice in the tie of the day. The two Bundesliga matches this Sunday are Darmstadt versus Werder Bremen and Freiburg against Augsburg. Only one point separates Atalanta and Juventus and these two will clash on Sunday afternoon whilst in the evening, AS Roma will hope to kick-start their season with a home win over Frosinone.
Valencia are performing much better this season so far in La Liga and they will hope to continue that by collecting some points on their travels as they head to Betis on Sunday before the final game of the day sees Atletico Madrid host mid table Cadiz. The home team are up to fifth following their impressive win over Real Madrid last week and will want to build on that with another three points here.
Rest of the week
The final match of the PL week takes place on Monday evening and it is a west London derby as Fulham host struggling Chelsea. The only league win for big spending Chelsea this season has come over Luton and they only have five points on the board so far. The pressure is mounting as it is clear that the approach of their owners is so far not having the desired effect and many of the new players have yet to settle. There are three Serie A matches scheduled for Monday evening and one from La Liga in Spain as well as a match apiece from Turkey’s top division and Portugal’s Liga.
Our attention will switch to European competitions this weekend with a round of CL, EL and ECL fixtures to keep us entertained. Highlights include Napoli versus Real Madrid, Dortmund against AC Milan and Newcastle at home to PSG. There is one rescheduled PL match on Tuesday as Luton, who were unable to make use of their home stadium in the opening weeks, take on fellow newcomers Burnley.
Friday 29/09
Hoffenheim vs Dortmund
There is very little to choose between these two teams at this stage in the season, with Hoffenheim in fifth place one point above Dortmund. The home team won their last four matches, recovering from a defeat on the opening day. Last weekend they got the better of Union Berlin and this time around they face another team that finished in the top four last season. Manager Pellegrino Matarazzo doesn’t have a very good record against Dortmund and neither does Hoffenheim as a team, with only one win from the last five games.
Dortmund are unbeaten this season so far but the fact they have two draws mean they find themselves behind their opponents. The last time Dortmund started the season with five matches unbeaten was back in 2018/19. This is the kind of match they will need to win if they hope to overhaul their arch rivals Bayern this time around. One clean sheet in their last eleven away matches is a worry though and is something that forces them to rely on their attacking players more than they should. This should be another high-scoring match, in keeping with the Bundesliga in general which has more goals on average than any of the other top European leagues.
Dortmund have won five of the last ten meetings, whereas Hoffenheim have two wins. The last two meetings were narrow 1-0 wins home and away for Dortmund but prior to that, six of the previous eight all saw three or more goals scored.
Barcelona vs Sevilla
The first match of the weekend from La Liga is a significant one as last season’s winners look to get back to winning ways following their disappointing 2-2 draw with Mallorca last weekend. That was their second draw of the campaign so far and dropped them down to third place, behind surprise leaders Girona and Real Madrid. Manager Xavi admitted that his team made too many mistakes on the day and he will be hoping that a return to their temporary home, where they have won all four games so far, will provide the boost they need. Barcelona have not lost to Sevilla in La Liga since 2015 and given the form of their opponents, they will be hoping that record will carry on.
Sevilla’s last win in La Liga at Camp Nou was way back in 2002 so they will hope that the fact that this match is being played in Estadio Olimpico might work in their favour. Following their four losses at the start of the season, they are at least unbeaten in the last four games so that is something for them to build on. In midweek they thrashed Almeria 5-1 so that will certainly provide encouragement for manager Jose Luis Mendilibar.
Barcelona have won six of the last ten meetings with Sevilla only winning one, a Copa del Rey tie back in 2021. The last two meetings have both been 3-0 wins for Barcelona.
Saturday 30/09
Tottenham vs Liverpool
The match of the weekend from the PL comes from North London where Tottenham host Liverpool on Saturday evening. The home team have gotten off to a bright start under new manager Ange Postecoglu and showed good spirit to come from behind twice in their draw against Arsenal last week, so that can be considered a point gained. The only other Spurs manager to begin their tenure as manager with a seven match unbeaten run was Antonio Conte. Son Heung-min scored twice last week as he has taken on the captaincy as well as more goalscoring responsibility since the departure of Harry Kane.
Liverpool needed to come from behind to win in the cup in midweek and manager Jurgen Klopp will hope that hasn’t taken too much out of them. They have also had an excellent start to the season with five wins from six matches and will be optimistic of another good result here, given their recent record against Tottenham. Jurgen Klopp has only lost one of his eighteen meetings with Tottenham. One reason for Liverpool’s considerable improvement this season is surely the vastly reduced injury list, something that really hampered them last year.
Liverpool have dominated this fixture recently, winning eight of the last ten with the remaining two ending in draws. Seven of the last ten have seen three or more goals scored.
Monaco vs Marseille
Monaco have had a good start to the season and find themselves in fourth place despite losing at home to Nice last weekend. This has given them confidence that they can have a run at fighting for only their second Ligue 1 title in the last twenty years. Prior to the home loss last weekend, their defensive record at home was excellent, scoring six without conceding a single goal so they will certainly be hoping to go back to that form. That being said, they lost this fixture in both of the previous two seasons.
Marseille also have one defeat in the league so far this season and that was also last weekend when they were thrashed by PSG, eventually losing 4-0. Their previous two matches were drawn meaning that they last tasted victory on the 26th of August against current league leaders Brest. Their away form is poor with their last victory coming in April and they have conceded seven goals in their last two matches.
Monaco have won three of the last ten meetings with Marseille triumphant on five of the last ten occasions and this fixture has a tendency to see goals in it, including the last time these two met at this stadium last year which ended in a 3-2 win for Marseille.
RB Leipzig vs Bayern Munich
The season didn’t get off to the best of starts for RB Leipzig as they suffered defeat on the opening day but they certainly have turned things around since then as they have racked up four wins in a row. They find themselves on twelve points and this match will be a good test to see whether they are really going to be up for mounting a genuine title challenge this time around. The fact that the home team triumphed over Bayern in the Super Cup a few weeks ago should give them some edge going into this too and Leipzig are chasing their fourth successive meeting against Bayern without losing.
Following the defeat in the Super Cup, Bayern got on with things and have a near perfect record in the Bundesliga. The only dropped points came against Bayer Leverkusen, which is hardly a shock result given their form this season. Goalscoring certainly has not been a problem so far with fifteen scored across their last three matches and they also have a good record at Leipzig, scoring ten goals in their last three visits.
Whilst RB Leipzig won this match last season it is Bayern that have marginally the better record in this head to head, with four wins to two. Goals are expected as this is generally a high-scoring match up with 38 goals scored in the last ten meetings.
AC Milan vs Lazio
AC Milan needed to come from behind in midweek to get the better of Cagliari, making it back to back wins in Serie A. This means that they find themselves in second spot, behind Inter only on goal difference with the 5-1 loss at the hands of their rivals being the only blemish on their season so far. Another win here would extend their eleven match unbeaten run at home and that includes a win over Lazio towards the end of last season.
Lazio also managed a midweek win, 2-0 over Torino and that result lifts them up to eleventh place in the table. This season they have yet to hit the heights of the last as they only have seven points from their opening six matches. There is still much for manager Maurizio Sarri to work on, and this match will be a tough ask for him and his team.
Draws are a rarity in this head to head, with none in the last ten meetings. AC Milan have won six and Lazio have four wins. Both teams won their home matches last season with neither team managing an away goal.
Sunday 01/10
Atalanta vs Juventus
Only one point separates these two sides going into this match on Sunday with both teams looking to build on their promising starts to the league campaigns. Atalanta have twelve points from their opening six matches and in midweek they picked up all three points on the road to Verona. They are back at home on Sunday and welcome Juventus in what should be an intriguing clash as they look for their fourth win in a row in all competitions. There is very little to choose between these two lately and Atalanta will be hoping for their first home win over Juventus since 2021.
The visitors have had a good start to life in Serie A and the lack of European Football has meant they have been able to fully focus on domestic matters. They bounced back from a shock 4-2 defeat at the hands of Sassuolo with a narrow 1-0 home win over Lecce in midweek but will know this match will be a tougher challenge.
The last meeting between these two was a goalless friendly in summer and another four of the last ten were also drawn matches. Juventus have marginally the better record with three wins from the last ten as compared to two for Atalanta.
Betis vs Valencia
Betis will certainly have been hoping for a better start to their season having finished in sixth spot last year having looked like genuine top four challengers for most of the season. This time around they have two wins from their opening six matches and could only manage a draw at home to Cadiz last weekend. There was no shortage of effort but things just don’t appear to have clicked so far this season. This will be a tricky match as there has been very little to choose between the two in recent times.
Valencia have had a much more positive start to their season than recent times as they only just avoided relegation last time out. They head into this match in eight place, two points ahead of their opponents. So far they have three wins from seven matches but they lost their last game at home to Real Sociedad. They will view this fixture as an opportunity to return home with some points, to help solidify their position in the top half of the table.
Recent history has shown that these two are quite evenly matched with Betis winning four of the last ten and Valencia winning three. The visitors had the better of things last season with four points from the two meetings.
