5 major talking points for European football weekend including Arsenal’s tough trip to Man City

The Manchester City vs Arsenal fixture in the Premier League and the Milan derby in Serie A headline this weekend’s major footballing action across Europe. We’re only more than a month into the 2024-25 season, but with the UEFA Champions League getting underway earlier in the week, a majority of the teams are facing fixture pile-ups already. The Europa League and the Conference League will get underway next week.

Premier League

Key fixtures

Manchester City vs Arsenal

Crystal Palace vs Manchester United

West Ham United vs Chelsea

Liverpool vs AFC Bournemouth

The biggest fixture in the English Premier League this weekend is undoubtedly Manchester City hosting Arsenal at the Etihad. As always, there is no clear favourite to win this match, given the rivalry the two teams have shared recently.

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But Manchester City might have an edge over the Gunners due to a few injury problems for the latter. Arsenal have been hit with an ankle injury to their skipper Martin Odegaard, who will be out of action for a significant time. Bukayo Saka sustained an injury during the North London Derby last week and Ricardo Calafiori missed that match completely due to a calf injury.

The duo, however, returned for the Atalanta match in the Champions League and both are expected to travel to Manchester. Come what may, the battle between one and two in the Premier League will be one to watch out for with two points separating leaders City (12) from Arsenal (10).

LaLiga

Key fixtures

Real Madrid vs Espanyol

Villareal vs Barcelona

Rayo Vallecano vs Atletico Madrid

Valencia vs Girona

Barcelona would very well be the only team in LaLiga with a 100 per cent win record, but one cannot forget the fact that they are coming off a
1-2 defeat to Monaco in the new-look Champions League. Early days this season, but Villareal too have got off to a promising start with 11 points from four matches. However, Villareal’s defence might be a cause for concern, having already given away eight goals in the Spanish top flight this season.

For Barcelona, this is an opportunity to return to winning ways and put away their disappointing Champions League outing in Monaco. Ronald Araujo, Gavi and Frenkie de Jong are some of the names who will miss this clash for the Catalans due to injury. Real Madrid, who have conceded just two goals so far, face Espanyol as they look to minimise the gap with Barcelona.

Serie A

Key fixtures

Inter vs Milan

Juventus vs Napoli

AS Roma vs Udinese

Three big fixtures headline Serie A this weekend. Udinese have made a strong start to the season and are in second place with 10 points from four matches. Fifth-placed Inter lock horns against 10th-placed
AC Milan at the San Siro, whereas on Saturday, third-placed Napoli (9 points) will look to go top of the standings, albeit momentarily, when they take on sixth-placed Juventus (8 points). Torino (11 points) are on top of the standings after having beaten Hellas Verona 3-2 on Friday night.

Ligue 1

Key fixtures

Reims vs Paris Saint-Germain (PSG)

AS Monaco vs Le Havre

Lyon vs Marseille

Reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain have got off to a flying start in the French Ligue 1 this season. In their first full season in the post Kylian Mbappe era, PSG have made it four wins in the first four matches of the new season and lead the standings with 12 points.

Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembele have shared seven goals between them in Ligue 1 this time out, with the former scoring a brace in PSG’s 6-0 thrashing of Monaco. The Parisians are surely to begin favourites against seventh-placed Reims.

Second-placed Marseille (10 points) and Monaco (10 points), who are third, will hope for victories in their matches against Le Havre and Lyon respectively.

Bundesliga

Key fixtures

Werder Bremen vs Bayern Munich

Bayer Leverkusen vs Wolfsburg

VfB Stuttgart vs Borussia Dortmund

Bayer Leverkusen have some catching up to do in the Bundesliga this season. The defending champions who had gone unbeaten last season, suffered their first loss in the German top flight in over a year, when they went down to Leipzig 2-3 at home. Since then, Xabi Alonso’s men have beaten Hoffenheim (4-1) in the Bundesliga and Feyenoord (4-0) in the Champions League.

Bayern lead the standings with nine points from three matches, whereas Leverkusen are in fifth place with six points from three matches. With Dortmund, Leipzig and Heidenheim in between Bayern and Leverkusen, the task has been cut out Die Werkseff, but it’s still too early to say which team has the advantage in the title race.