LEAGUE FOOTBALL BEFORE WE HEAD INTO THE INTERNATIONAL BREAK:
Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, PSV Eindhoven, and Sporting CP are leading their respective title races with unbeaten starts. Fifteen clubs across Europe’s top seven leagues remain unbeaten in their domestic competitions, with PSV Eindhoven and Sporting CP being the only sides to maintain a 100% winning record. Juventus stands out as the only team to remain unbeaten without conceding a single league goal.
There are 13 clubs that have yet to grab a league win in the 2024/25 season among the top seven leagues in Europe.
The English Premier League holds five of the thirteen – Crystal Palace, Southampton, Leiceter City, and Ipswich Town, and Wolverhampton Wanderer.
There are two in the German Bundesligs, Bochum and Holstein Kiel, and another two in the Dutch Eredivisie – Almere City and RKC Waalwijk
Angers is the only team in the French Ligue 1 without a win, Farense is the only team in the Portuguese Primeira Liga without a win, Las Palmas is the only team in the Spanish La Liga without a win, and Monza is the only team in the Italian Serie A without a win.
THE HIGHLIGHTED FIXTURES FOR THE COMING WEEKEND:
Friday, October 4, 2024
🇫🇷 Almere City vs. Willem II
🇫🇷 Marseille vs. Angers
🇮🇹 Napoli vs. Como
Saturday, October 5, 2024
🏴 Arsenal vs. Southampton
🏴 Brentford vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers
🏴 Crystal Palace vs. Liverpool
🏴 Leicester City vs. Bournemouth
🏴 Manchester City vs. Fulham
🏴 West Ham United vs. Ipswich Town
🇳🇱 Utrecht vs. RKC Waalwijk
🇳🇱 PSV Eindhoven vs. Sparta Rotterdam
🇩🇪 Bayer Leverkusen vs. Holstein Kiel
🇩🇪 Bochum vs. Wolfsburg
🇪🇸 Real Madrid vs. Villarreal
🇪🇸 Las Palmas vs. Celta Vigo
🇫🇷 Rennes vs. Monaco
🇫🇷 Saint-Étienne vs. Auxerre
🇮🇹 Inter Milan vs. Torino
🇵🇹 Sporting CP vs. Casa Pia
Sunday, October 6, 20204
🇪🇸 Alavés vs. Barcelona
🇪🇸 Sevilla vs. Real Betis
🇪🇸 Real Sociedad vs. Atlético Madrid
🏴 Aston Villa vs. Manchester United
🇩🇪 Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Bayern Munich
🇩🇪 Heidenheim vs. RB Leipzig
🇳🇱 Feyenoord vs. Twente
🇫🇷 Strasbourg vs. Lens
🇫🇷 Nice vs. Paris Saint-Germain
🇮🇹 Juventus vs. Cagliari
🇮🇹 Lazio vs. Empoli
🇮🇹 Monza vs. Roma
🇵🇹 Porto vs. Braga
🇵🇹 Farense vs. Estoril
Friday, October 4, 2024
🎂 🇦🇷 Jorge Valdano turns 69, 🇮🇹 Mauro Camoranesi turns 48, 🇨🇿 Tomáš Rosický turns 44.
Almere City and Angers will hope to end their winless start to the league season.
🇳🇱 Almere City vs. Willem II –
Almere City have lost all their league games in the Eredivisie this season and will hope to earn their first point of the season when they host Willem II.
🇫🇷 Marseille vs. Angers –
Marseille dropped points in Ligue 1 for the first time this season when they lost to Strasbourg in the last round. The plan this weekend for Marseille is to recover with a home win against Angers, while Angers hopes to pick up their first win of the Ligue 1 season.
🇮🇹 Napoli vs. Como –
Como is aiming for their third win in a row. Napoli, looking to stay unbeaten since losing their opening game of the season, will try to grab a win against recently-promoted Como to remain at the top of the Serie A standings. Como is coming off consecutive league wins after starting the season winless.
Saturday, October 5, 2024
🎂 🏴 Jock Stein would’ve been 102, 🇧🇷 Careca turns 64, 🇹🇹 Kenwyne Jones turns 40, 🇺🇸 Tim Ream turns 37, 🇧🇪 Kevin Mirallas turns 37, 🇦🇷 Exequiel Palacios turns 26.
Arsenal, Manchester City, Monaco, PSV Eindhoven, Real Madrid, Sporting CP, and Utrecht will look to extend their unbeaten start.
Bochum, Crystal Palace, Holstein Kiel, Ipswich Town, Las Palmas, Leicester City, RKC Waalwijk, Southampton, and Wolverhampton Wanderers will hope to end their winless start to the league season.
🏴 Arsenal vs. Southampton –
One point away from the top of the league table, Arsenal will look to keep their unbeaten run going in the Premier League with a win against a Southampton side that is still searching for their first league win of the season.
🏴 Brentford vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers –
Wolves will look for their first Premier League win of the season away against Brentford.
🏴 Crystal Palace vs. Liverpool –
Liverpool leads the Premier League title race by a point and will be away against Crystal Palace to get the result needed to hold their position. Crystal Palace is also one of the teams in the league still looking for their first league win of the season.
🏴 Leicester City vs. Bournemouth –
Leicester City will hope that playing Bournemouth at home will be how they secure their first win of the Premier League season.
🏴 Manchester City vs. Fulham –
With four points dropped in their last two league games, Manchester City will be hosting Fulham for the maximum points. An improbable win for Fulham would see them equal Manchester City in points.
🏴 West Ham United vs. Ipswich Town –
There is only one win separating West Ham United and winless Ipswich Town as they face each other for league points this weekend.
🇳🇱 Utrecht vs. RKC Waalwijk –
An unbeaten Utrecht, chasing PSV Eindhoven in the Eredivisie title race, will take on an RKC Waalwijk side that has lost every league game since the start of the season. Waalwijk wants their first point (or win) of the season, but the odds are stacked against them based on current form.
🇳🇱 PSV Eindhoven vs. Sparta Rotterdam –
PSV Eindhoven’s title defense season is going according to plan, as they’ve won all their league games to date. They will host Sparta Rotterdam for their next league match, aiming to make it 8 wins from 8. Unless Sparta Rotterdam has something to say about it.
🇩🇪 Bayer Leverkusen vs. Holstein Kiel –
Bayer Leverkusen’s title defense season will continue at home against bottom-placed Holstein Kiel. The expectation is that Holstein Kiel will remain without a league win, while Leverkusen secures a home victory to close in on the top of the Bundesliga standings.
🇩🇪 Bochum vs. Wolfsburg –
Bochum, still searching for their first win of the Bundesliga season, will host Wolfsburg. The difference between the two teams so far is one win.
🇪🇸 Real Madrid vs. Villarreal –
Real Madrid and Villarreal are a point apart in the La Liga standings as they both try to keep pace with the league leaders (Barcelona). There is a maximum of four points separating all three teams, with Atlético Madrid just a point behind. When Real Madrid hosts Villarreal this weekend, there will be little room for either side to drop points if they want to remain in the early title race.
🇪🇸 Las Palmas vs. Celta Vigo –
Las Palmas sits at the bottom of the La Liga standings and is the only team without a league win. They host Celta Vigo this weekend, hoping to end that streak. Celta Vigo is without a win in their last three matches, having lost two, and has only one win from their last six matches (losing four).
🇫🇷 Rennes vs. Monaco –
An unbeaten Monaco is tied in points with Paris Saint-Germain in the Ligue 1 standings as things stand. They will be away against Rennes, aiming for the points to put pressure on PSG.
🇮🇹 Inter Milan vs. Torino –
Inter Milan and Torino have identical records and are on equal points (11) after six games played in the Serie A season. The two teams will face off in Milan, both aiming to find the separator. They are two points off the top of the league, and five teams are in a position to leapfrog them with a win this weekend, so securing the maximum points will be the priority.
🇵🇹 Sporting CP vs. Casa Pia –
Sporting CP will look to extend their perfect winning start in their title defense season by beating Casa Pia to make it 8 wins from 8. With Casa Pia sitting midtable, the result seems to point in one direction.
Sunday, October 6, 2024
🎂 🇸🇪 Björn Nordqvist turns 82, 🇩🇪 Jürgen Kohler turns 59, 🇦🇺 Mark Schwarzer turns 52, 🇫🇷 Théo Hernandez turns 27, 🇩🇰 Kasper Dolberg turns 27.
Atlético Madrid, Bayern Munich, Empoli, Feyenoord, Juventus, Lens, Paris Saint-Germain, and RB Leipzig will all look to extend their unbeaten start in the league.
Farense and Monza will hope to end their winless start to the league season.
🇪🇸 Alavés vs. Barcelona –
Barcelona will look to bounce back from their first league defeat of the season (4-2 against Osasuna) when they visit Alavés. Back-to-back away games for Barcelona, and hopefully not back-to-back defeats.
🇪🇸 Sevilla vs. Real Betis –
Real Betis hold a three-point lead over Sevilla, which can be wiped away if Sevilla grabs a home victory in the Seville derby.
🇪🇸 Real Sociedad vs. Atlético Madrid –
Atlético Madrid remains unbeaten but has an equal number of wins and draws after eight rounds. How will they fare away against Real Sociedad?
🏴 Aston Villa vs. Manchester United –
Manchester United is in desperate need of a positive result in the Premier League, having already dropped more points than they’ve picked up. They are coming off a 3-0 home defeat to Tottenham and will be away at Aston Villa to try and amend that. Aston Villa sits two points from the top of the league table, so they have all the incentive to claim a home win and boost their odds.
🇩🇪 Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Bayern Munich –
It’s a top-of-the-table clash in the German Bundesliga between the top teams after five rounds of the season. Eintracht Frankfurt will try to hand Bayern Munich their first league defeat of the season or become the second club to take points off Bayern Munich after Bayer Leverkusen did so in the last round with a 1-all draw.
🇩🇪 Heidenheim vs. RB Leipzig –
Heidenheim will host an unbeaten RB Leipzig that has a two-point lead on them in the Bundesliga standings.
🇳🇱 Feyenoord vs. Twente –
Twente has played a game more and holds a four-point lead over Feyenoord. An unbeaten Feyenoord can close the gap to a point and have the advantage with a game in hand.
🇫🇷 Strasbourg vs. Lens –
Despite not being in the top three, Lens, along with Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco, are the unbeaten clubs in Ligue 1. Lens will have a demanding task to extend their unbeaten run in the league when they travel to face Strasbourg. There is only a point separating the two teams in the standings.
🇫🇷 Nice vs. Paris Saint-Germain –
Nice’s record in Ligue 1 after six games is evenly balanced with two wins, two draws, and two losses. Paris Saint-Germain will be at Nice aiming for the points to remain top of the table or regain some gap in the title race.
🇮🇹 Juventus vs. Cagliari –
Cagliari will try to become the first team to score a league goal against Juventus this season, while Juventus seeks the points to potentially end the round of games at the top of the Serie A standings.
🇮🇹 Lazio vs. Empoli –
Empoli, along with Juventus, are the only unbeaten teams left in Serie A. Despite this, they are on equal points with Lazio, and the two teams will meet in Rome this weekend.
🇮🇹 Monza vs. Roma –
Monza sits at the bottom of the Serie A standings without a win as they host a Roma side that has just started winning league games with consecutive victories (against Udinese and Venezia).
🇵🇹 Porto vs. Braga –
Porto, chasing the top spot in the Primeira Liga, will look to take the maximum points at home against Braga.
🇵🇹 Farense vs. Estoril –
Farense is the only team left in the Primeira Liga without a win, and they will be hoping that a home game against Estoril will be the opportunity to get a win on the board. Estoril has one league win to their name as things stand.
