This Weekend: Everything you need to know in 5 minutes
With the amount of midweek football taking place in the world’s biggest leagues, you may be surprised to hear that the weekend – traditionally home to the majority of fixtures is here once again! And with it comes our usual guide to the games that may pique your interest over the next few days.
? Friday Night.
?? There are two matches in La Liga tonight – Real Sociedad, out of sorts since the re-start host mid-table Granada and league leaders, Real Madrid play Deportivo Alavés.
Zidane’s side have won all seven on their games since the league resumed, the last four without conceding a goal and if they win another one tonight, they’ll re-open a 4 point lead over Barcelona at the top of the table.
?? The imaginatively entitled, MLS is Back Tournament got underway this week, with all the league’s clubs shielded away from the rest of the US in the bubble of ESPN’s Wide World of Sports complex at Disney World, Florida.
The tournament features a 3 match group stage, with results counting to the overall season before a straight knock-out competition. Tonight’s headline game gives us a chance to see 2019 champions Seattle Sounders open their account in Group B, against San Jose Earthquakes.
?? And for Premier League fans of a certain age, there will be an instantly recognisable name on the team sheet of Alta IF, a third tier Norwegian side who are set to start their season against Tromsdalen later today.
The club, based in the second most northernly city in the world have signed 38-year-old, former Blackburn Rovers hero, Morten Gamst Pedersen.
? Saturday
??????? The top three all play in the Premier League on Saturday and we may see the season’s first casualty.
If Watford pick up so much as a point at home to Newcastle United, Norwich City will be relegated – regardless of the result of their game against West Ham.
At the top, Liverpool continue their quest to reach 100 points in their epic season as they take on Burnley whilst Manchester City and Chelsea are on the road, at Brighton and Sheffield United respectively.
?? There’s a top of the table clash in Serie A, where Juventus will take on Atalanta, a side even more on form than themselves! Across all competitions, the side from Bergamo are unbeaten in 13, winning 12 of those dating back to January.
?? Only 3 La Liga games to look forward to on Saturday, but one of them will see Barcelona go to Real Valladolid looking to either close the gap on Real Madrid, or indeed overtake them if there’s any slip ups in their game tonight.
?? Following on from the NWSL and the MLS, one of our favourite US leagues – the USL Championship will return over the weekend. On Saturday night, we’ll see how last year’s champions, Real Monarchs – the B side of Real Salt Lake have handled the extended break as they get back underway against Landon Donovan’s as yet unbeaten new club, San Diego Loyal.
? Sunday
??????? One game dominates the schedule on Sunday, with the first ever North London Derby set to take place at Tottenham’s new stadium.
A lot has been written about the indifferent form shown by Spurs since the return of Premier League action but they’ve only lost one of their four games so far – that’s less than Arsenal. Although, the Gunners have seemingly recovered from a difficult start to win their last four on the bounce.
?? PSG were declared winners of Ligue 1 way back on the 30th April, with the French football season curtailed in the wake of the pandemic. But this weekend, as the Parisians gear up for their tilt at the Champions League in August, they will be back in domestic action for the first time. Mbappe and co are in Le Harve on Sunday for a friendly against the Ligue 2 side.
?? With Zlatan Ibrahimović back to match fitness, Milan have beaten the top two in Serie A, Lazio and Juventus within the space of a week. The Swede scored in both victories, and after the Juve game, he claimed they would be winning the title this year, if only he’d been back at the club for the start of the season! This weekend and back to reality, the best Milan can hope for is to leapfrog Sunday’s opponents Napoli in to 5th.
?? Lastly, we wanted to point you in the direction of one of the stranger aspects of the MLS is Back tournament. Due to the hot and humid summer climate in Florida and all games taking place in the same stadium, the league made the bold decision to have some matches kick-off when it’s a little cooler… at 9am local time. That’s right, football at breakfast time!
Toronto FC vs. DC United is one such game coming up bright and early on Sunday.
We’ve never heard of competitive games being played that early anywhere in the world but if you have – please get in touch with us via our social channels as that is some trivia we need to know about!
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