A new weekend of football awaits – here’s our preview for week 9!
Weekly Football Preview – Week 9
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.
Manchester City tasted defeat for the first time in the PL last weekend as they fell to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Wolves. This was not the only surprising and eventful match from England’s top flight as Luton claimed their first ever top flight win, over Everton and Manchester United’s woes continued as they put in an abysmal performance to lose at home to Crystal Palace. Brighton were on the end of a beating at the hands of Aston Villa and Tottenham got the better of Liverpool with the assistance of some disastrous officiating. Paris SG again struggled and Monaco beat Marseille whereas in Germany, Bayern Munich were held by RB Leipzig. Girona were brought back down to earth in La Liga as they were soundly beaten by Real Madrid whilst in Italy there were no real surprises as Napoli, Inter, AC Milan and AS Roma all won their matches.
This is the last weekend of top flight action in Europe before the next International break so it is an important time for many teams who will want to go into the break on the back of a favourable result. Friday is a relatively quiet evening and in England the big clashes take place on Sunday. The tie of the weekend is without a doubt Arsenal versus Manchester City in the late game but prior to that two teams who will be looking to get back to winning ways set things in motion as Brighton play Liverpool whilst at the same time West Ham host Newcastle and Wolves play Aston Villa. Highlights from Germany this weekend include Bayern versus Freiburg and Dortmund against Union Berlin. French league leaders Monaco play on Saturday at third placed Reims whilst on Saturday in the Serie A there is a Turin derby with Juventus welcoming neighbours Torino. Nothing is scheduled for Monday as players will be travelling to join up with their national teams.
Friday’s top action
The encounters from Europe’s top divisions on Friday evening are largely mid table clashes with the top teams being held back for Saturday and Sunday. In France, the first match of the weekend sees Strasbourg home to Nantes whilst in Germany it’s Gladbach versus Mainz, two teams with only one win between them so far this season. There are two Serie A matches due to be played on Friday starting with Empoli against Udinese followed by Lecce against Sassuolo. La Liga’s contribution is Athletic Bilbao against Almeria. With no PL football on Friday evening, fans of English football can entertain themselves with a second city derby between Birmingham and West Brom, two former top division teams that have fallen on tough times in recent years.
Saturday’s English football
The early kick off in the PL comes from Kenilworth Road as Luton will be looking to follow up their first points of the season on the road with a positive result at home. Their opponent is a lot tougher than either Everton or Burnley though, as they face high flying Tottenham. The visitors are only one point behind leaders Manchester City and will be confident of another three points here. There are four 4 pm matches, the first being Chelsea hoping to build on their win last Monday with another on the road to Burnley. At the same time, Everton host Bournemouth, Fulham play Sheffield United and Manchester United welcome Brentford. The late game sees Crystal Palace play against Nottingham.
Saturday Highlights from around Europe
Monaco took first place in Ligue 1 last weekend following their win over Marseille and they face another tricky match here, against third placed Reims. The other game from France’s top division sees another high flying team, Nice, travel to Metz. The match of the day from the Bundesliga is Dortmund against Union Berlin, two teams who finished in the top four last season. There are three other matches scheduled for the afternoon slot and the late match will see Werder Bremen take on Hoffenheim. Both Milan teams are in action on Saturday with Inter at home to Bologna and AC Milan facing a potentially tricky trip to Genoa. Only goal difference separates the two Milan giants at the top of the table as things stand.
The other Saturday game is Juventus, currently in fourth place, against Torino in midtable. Real Madrid returned to the top of the table last weekend, beating Girona to send them down to third place. This time around they play midtable Osasuna and Girona themselves play another mid table team in Cadiz. Valencia travel to Mallorca hoping to turn around a poor recent turn whilst in the evening, another team that has had a poor start, Sevilla are at home to Rayo Vallecano.
Sunday’s English Football
Sunday is a bumper day of Football from the PL with four top fixtures on offer. There are three 3 pm matches and all three are worth a watch, starting with Brighton against Liverpool. Both these teams lost last weekend and will be looking to make amends this time around, there is much on the line for these two in this match. In east London, West Ham take on Newcastle with the home team one point ahead of their visitors but Newcastle being in better form. The final match at this time slot is a midlands derby between Wolves and Aston Villa. Both these two had impressive results last weekend, Wolves inflicting a first defeat on Manchester City and Aston Villa thrashing Brighton 6-1. The final match of the day is one of the most important of the whole season as last season’s top two clash for the first time in the league. Arsenal are only one point behind City following the results of last weekend and will be hoping to finally get the better of their opponents in the league. The last meeting was a win for Arteta’s Arsenal in the Community Shield but the defending champions have been dominant in recent head to heads.
Best events from around Europe
Marseille start things off in France on Sunday and will be looking to get back to winning ways after four matches without a win as they take on midtable Le Havre. The match of the day is sixth placed Rennes at home to fifth place PSG in the evening. In Germany, Bayern play at home to Freiburg in the second of three matches scheduled for the day and Leverkusen get things up and running as they host FC Koln.
There are five Serie A matches in Italy with last year’s champions Napoli playing in the last of those matches, at home to Fiorentina. The likes of Lazio, Roma and Atalanta are also in action on Sunday. Second placed Barcelona travel to the surprise team of the season so far, Girona, in the late match on Sunday evening. This is another tough test for Girona, who suffered their first defeat of the season last week at the hands of Real Madrid.
Rest of the week
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are all very quiet days in Europe as national teams gear up for another round of fixtures. The action starts on Thursday with the likes of Spain, Turkey and Poland all in action on the first day of six days of International fixtures.
Saturday 07/10
Manchester United vs Brentford
Manchester United’s season went from bad to worse as they followed up their awful loss at home to Crystal Palace with another home defeat in the CL, against Galatasaray. This has prompted all sorts of negativity in and around the club with fans unrest growing by the day. Next up is their fourth home match in a row but that has failed to provide much comfort of late. United have lost six of their first ten matches for the first time since the 1986/87 season. This, therefore, is a must win match but it won’t be easy as Brentford gave them a tough time last season. Should the home team lose again here, it would be the first time they have lost three matches at Old Trafford since 1979. There are not too many positives right now but Rasmus Højlund has looked like a real threat up front and Antony is back in the squad following his exclusion in recent weeks.
Brentford have a poor away record of late and they have lost five consecutive away H2H’s. They have not won at Old Trafford since 1937 and their season has not gotten off to the best of starts. They only have one win in their last seven matches overall, and that was against Newport County in the cup. They have certainly missed star striker Ivan Toney but they will hope his replacement up front, Bryan Mbeumo, can exploit the obvious weaknesses in Manchester United’s defence.
This match ended in a narrow 1-0 win for United last season whereas Brentford won their home tie comfortably by a scoreline of 4-0.
Dortmund vs Union Berlin
Dortmund will be aiming to end the day in first place in the Bundesliga but they face a potentially tricky opponent in Union Berlin. They have tended to start well in the league, scoring within the opening twenty minutes of three of their last four matches. They are undefeated so far with four wins from six matches and are two points behind early leaders Bayer Leverkusen. Dortmund will be hoping their excellent home record continues as they are unbeaten in their last eighteen matches, including last season’s win over Union Berlin.
Union Berlin haven’t quite lived up to the standards that they set last season and their form is poor, losing their last six matches in a row including the midweek 3-2 defeat to Braga in the CL final. It seems that their squad isn’t equipped to deal with the pressures of both European and domestic action and this will be a tough match to follow that home defeat in midweek. They find themselves in the bottom half of the table, a long way from the heights that they were able to reach last season. They have never won at Dortmund in the Bundesliga and have four straight losses on the road.
Last season both these teams won their home league matches in this H2H but over the last ten meetings it is Dortmund that have the better record, winning six of the last ten.
Genoa vs AC Milan
Genoa looked as though they were heading for an important win last weekend but an unfortunate own goal meant they had to settle for a 2-2 draw with Udinese. It is a familiar story for the home side who have thrown away leads on multiple occasions already this season, something that their coach Alberto Gilardino will want to get to the bottom of. Eight points at this stage of the season will be regarded as a solid start though and overall they have performed well, including a draw with last season’s champions Napoli and defeating AS Roma convincingly. Those results will give them confidence going into this match against another high profile opponent and they will hope to upset the odds here with another battling performance.
AC Milan settled for a creditable draw in midweek in the CL, although with two points to their name after two matches they will need to pick up their first win soon. Their league form has been excellent though, winning six out of seven of the matches this season, their only loss coming against Inter. Defence has been key for the visiting team as they have only conceded once in their last five matches since that heavy defeat against Inter.
Recent history certainly favours the visitors here as they have won seven of the last ten meetings with Genoa triumphing only once.
Real Madrid vs Osasuna
Real Madrid are in a good run of form and won an epic tie against Napoli in midweek, earning high praise from their manager Carlo Ancelotti in the process. This was the second game in a row that they scored three goals in a game. Their last league match was a comfortable 3-0 win over Girona and they will be hoping for a simple match this time around against a team that they have not lost to at home since 2004.
Osasuna themselves managed a solid win last weekend, beating Alaves 2-0 to end a five match winless run in all competitions. Last season they held on to a 1-1 draw in this fixture despite having a player sent off and they have scored twice in each of their last four away league matches. Their three wins this season see them occupying tenth place in the league.
Real Madrid have won seven of the last ten meetings and the aggregate score over the last ten matches is 19-5.
Sunday 08/10
Brighton vs Liverpool
Last weekend was a tough one for both of these teams as they both fell to defeats. Brighton had by far the worst result of the two as they lost 6-1 to Aston Villa so they will be well aware that they will need a much better performance this time around. Their first European adventure, in the EL, might well be taking away some of the edge that they have had in recent times but it is an issue that manager De Zerbi will need to solve if they hope to get close to the heights reached last season. Goalscoring hasn’t been an issue for Brighton as they are the top scorers in the league so far with 19 goals but on the flip side, only the bottom three teams have conceded more goals than them.
Liverpool are still sore about the way last weekend’s loss to Tottenham unfolded and have even proposed that the match be replayed. Whilst their frustrations are justified they will need to put that match behind them and focus on what comes next as they face another tough match this time around. They go into this match as favourites and they have the advantage of a home European tie on Thursday whereas Brighton must travel to France.
Brighton had the better of things last season as they knocked Liverpool out of the FA Cup and took four points from the two league encounters, including a comprehensive 3-0 win at home. There hasn’t been much between these two teams with Brighton winning three of the last ten and Liverpool managing four wins.
Arsenal vs Manchester City
This is the match of the weekend from the PL as last season’s top two clash for the first time this season. Only one point separates the two teams but it is Arsenal in third who are one of only two teams left in the league who are unbeaten. Their midweek result in Lens was a disappointment but manager Mikel Arteta will try to use it as motivation to get them back to winning ways against the team that pipped them to the title last time round. Despite being at home, Arsenal’s recent poor record against Manchester City means that they go into this match as underdogs and they will be slightly concerned that their only dropped points this season have come in two home matches.
Manchester City got back to winning ways in the CL with a routine win over RB Leipzig after falling to a surprise first loss of the season to Wolves last weekend. Despite dominating the game as usual they were unable to convert their 23 goal attempts and left the midlands with a 2-1 defeat on their record. This means they go into this match only one point ahead of their opponents but they can take comfort from the fact that they have an outstanding record against the team from North London.
Arsenal have only won two of the last ten meetings between these two teams but one of them was the last clash, the Community Shield played in August which Arsenal won on penalties.
Atletico Madrid vs Real Sociedad
Fourth take on fifth in this La Liga clash on Sunday with the home team one point ahead of their guests. Both have identical recent records with four wins from the last five and both recorded CL wins in midweek. Both teams will be pushing to go into the international break on the back of a win and there are rumours that Atletico are debating offering manager Diego Simeone a new contract. Both Antoine Griezmann and Mikel Oyarzabal have scored in each of their respective teams last three victories so they are likely to be key players again in this contest.
Real Sociedad return home from obtaining three points on the road in the CL following their 2-0 victory in Austria over Salzburg and their manager will be very pleased by the overall performance in that match. It was the eighth time in ten matches this season that they led at half time and they are certainly fast starters.
This match last season went the way of Atletico Madrid, a narrow 2-1 win and they have won four of the last ten meetings with Real Sociedad only managing two wins. Most contests between these two have been tight with only three being settled with a difference of more than one goal.
