New Season Match Preview – Week 3

We roll on to another busy weekend of action with top-quality matches from all across Europe. A couple of teams are yet to get into their stride with the likes of Liverpool yet to win in England. On the continent, Barcelona laboured to a goalless draw in their first match. Overall, though, even at this early stage in the season one can see most of the major teams are off to good starts with the likes of Manchester City, Real Madrid, Paris SG, Bayern Munich, Dortmund, Juventus and the Milan giants all starting with wins.

The main headlines over the past few days have been around Manchester United, however, and one wonders how bad it can get at Old Trafford before things get better.

Weekend Highlights

This weekend’s action kicks off on Friday with one match a piece from France Ligue 1, the German Bundesliga and the Turkey Super Lig whilst there are two matches in Spain. Action from England comes only from the Championship where favourites to get promoted Norwich are up against Millwall.

The early kick-off on Saturday from the Premier League sees Tottenham welcome Wolves to their state-of-the-art new stadium in what should be an entertaining encounter. Tottenham look good at this early stage and seem likely to challenge for a top four spot. Wolves are adding yet more Portuguese players to their ranks as they look to improve on last season. There are four afternoon matches and the late kick-off sees Arsenal travel to the south coast to take on Bournemouth.

European Football

European action on Saturday sees only two matches taking place in France with Monaco and Marseille both involved. In Germany, there are six matches on Saturday with Dortmund welcoming Hoffenheim to their stadium in the afternoon. The late match sees RB Leipzig travel to Union Berlin. Many of the major teams in Italy play on Sunday so the highlight is Inter against Spezia on Saturday. In Spain, the match of the day is the late one between Celta Vigo and Real Madrid.

Sunday is a better day in terms of quality of match ups and it starts with Leeds welcoming Chelsea and West Ham up against Brighton at 15:00. Both matches should be tough and whilst there are clear favourites they will need to be sure to be wary of their opponents. Early pace setters Manchester City travel north to Newcastle who will be looking to build on their positive end to last season. Newcastle haven’t spent as much money as many thought they would this summer but seem to be building slowly and surely rather than in a rush.

In France, the match of the day sees the two most recent champions up against each other as Paris SG travel to Lille in the late match. Bayern Munich travel to Bochum and will be very confident of continuing their winning start to the season whilst in Italy Napoli are up against Monza and Atalanta clash with AC Milan. The best two matches in Spain see Atletico Madrid take on Villareal and Real Sociedad host Barcelona in the evening.

Finally, Monday sees a match that many Manchester United supporters are dreading, up against arch-rivals Liverpool. With protests planned before and during the match, the team low on confidence and the club generally in disarray this is the last match that new coach Erik Ten Hag will want. Liverpool started with two draws and will want to make a statement that they are, in fact, going to compete with Manchester City this season and what better place to do so than at Old Trafford.

Saturday 20/08

Tottenham vs Wolves

Wolves have a surprisingly good recent record at Tottenham, having won three of their last four visits to North London. Last season was a 2-0 victory for the midlands team so they will travel south with nothing to fear. Antonio Conte was sent off in last week’s heated match against Chelsea. Tottenham certainly look like a team to watch out for this season having added quality players to their team which allows them to bring the likes of Richarlison off the bench if things are not going their way.

Harry Kane has started the season well, unusually, as he is generally a slow starter and he seems to be in a good frame of mind this season. Tottenham have a largely fit squad to choose from so don’t expect many changes to their team or set up.

Wolves have not had the best start to the season as they lost on the opening day to Leeds and could only manage a goalless draw against newly promoted Fulham. They will be hoping for an upturn in fortunes soon but this will not be an easy task for them. This Wolves team feels like it needs re-energising and the limited activity in the transfer market will be a concern. They have only taken four points from their last eight away matches.

The home side are pretty strong favourites here and Wolves haven’t quite clicked into gear yet this season so it is hard to look past a home win in this match. Heung-Min Son has yet to score for Tottenham this season so he could be a player to keep an eye on, given how prolific he was last year.

Dortmund vs Bremen

Dortmund are one of only two sides left in the Bundesliga with a 100% record and will be optimistic about carrying that on when they come up against Bremen. Having said that, recent matches between these two have only resulted in four wins for Dortmund with four of the encounters ending as draws.

Dortmund know that the pressure is on right from the beginning of the season as they cannot afford to drop any points if they hope to challenge the mighty Bayern Munich. They have added to their squad well and look well prepared at the start of this season.

Werder Bremen started the year with two draws and would probably take a third from this match if offered it. This is their second season back in the top division after being promoted but are on a rather worrying run of twelve matches without a win. Last season Dortmund won this match convincingly 4-1 so they will need to be better at the back. They do at least manage to score goals, managing to do so in each of the last 21 matches and have scored in every match against Dortmund since 2013.

Goals are expected in this match as neither team are that well equipped at keeping clean sheets. Bremen forward Fulkrug has scored in his last three matches and Dortmund might have their hands on yet another young English talent with Jamie Bynoe-Gittens scoring last weekend. A high scoring home win is the most likely outcome here.

Sunday 21/08

Newcastle vs Manchester City

Newcastle have had a solid, if unremarkable, start to their season with a home win against Nottingham Forest followed up with a battling away point at Brighton. This time round they face by far their toughest task as they welcome defending champions Manchester City to St James Park. This is a fixture that has heavily favoured City over recent years with the Mancunians winning nine out of the last ten encounters. Eddie Howe has done an excellent job so far at Newcastle but will need something special from his team to get something out of this match.

Manchester City dominated Newcastle last season, winning 9-0 on aggregate. It might not be as easy this time around as their hosts are getting better as a team but it would be hard to look beyond an away win here. City have started in ominous form, winning their opening two matches without many problems at all.

Nick Pope will likely have a busy match in goal for Newcastle and how he performs could be key. City are likely to be too strong for their hosts but probably won’t blow them away the same way they did last season. They will dominate possession as they usually do but might find it harder work to break down a more organised side and will need to be careful they don’t concede a counter attacking or set piece goal.

Lille vs Paris SG

Unsurprisingly Paris SG go into this match as relatively big favourites, as they do with every domestic match they play. They have started the season with two wins from two but this will definitely be their toughest test so far. Last season the Parisians won both matches against Lille but the season before the roles were reversed as Lille marched on to win the league title. This season Lille have started with a draw and a win as they look for a big improvement on last season when they finished the season down in tenth place. It was certainly a disappointing defence of their title but they have been rebuilding and will hope to challenge the top four or five at least.

Paris have yet another new coach, with Christophe Galtier coming in to replace Mauricio Pochettino. His aim appears to bring in more French players and younger players as perhaps the philosophy of the club shifts away from superstar signings towards a longer-term approach. They have added three quality Portuguese players too and have a number of their current squad available for transfer. The club will expect to win the league easily again this season so once again the main focus will be on how well they can do in Europe.

Anything other than three points for the visiting team would be a surprise and goals are pretty much guaranteed with both these teams finding the net easily in their first two matches, especially with the star-studded attacking options available to Paris SG.

Monday 22/08

Manchester United vs Liverpool

The final match of the Premier League weekend sees these two old rivals up against each other in what is usually one of the most eagerly anticipated matches of the season. The fortunes of these two clubs has been very different over recent years with United struggling for 10 years and Liverpool returning to their best. This match is one that United fans will fear following their horrible start to the season so far.

Last time out they lost 4-0 to Brentford and last season Liverpool won both matches with an aggregate score of 9-0. There are likely to be protests before and during the match with many United fans just hoping the final scoreline won’t be too embarrassing. Whether Erik Ten Hag can come up with a formula that works for this match is more likely down to whether he can motivate his players and give them the confidence they seem to so lack.

Liverpool have themselves not had a very good start to the season. They have drawn their opening two matches, against Fulham and Crystal Palace, and already find themselves 4 points behind Manchester City. This fixture is one that no longer holds much fear for them, but it is nevertheless a big match and a big occasion and Jurgen Klopp will be hoping that his team can get their first three points of the season on the board. They will have to do without their new striker Nunez though, as he is suspended for three matches having naively got himself sent off last weekend against Fulham.

Liverpool are pretty strong favourites to win this match, one will probably need to go quite far back to find a point when they were such a short price to win at Old Trafford. It is hard to see United stopping their old rivals from returning to Liverpool with three points and it also looks unlikely that they will even score. Liverpool’s attacking options are a bit limited though with Nunez suspended, Jota injured and Firmino unlikely to be fit enough, so perhaps a low scoring away win is the most likely this time round. 

---