What to watch this weekend in the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga - October 3
Shaun Botterill
(click to expand schedule)
Premier League
Saturday October 4
10:00 ET Hull City vs. Crystal Palace
10:00 ET Leicester City vs. Burnley
10:00 ET Liverpool vs. West Bromwich Albion
10:00 ET Sunderland vs. Stoke City
10:00 ET Swansea City vs. Newcastle United
12:30 ET Aston Villa vs. Manchester City
Sunday October 5
7:00 ET Manchester United vs. Everton
9:05 ET Chelsea vs. Arsenal
9:05 ET Tottenham Hotspur vs. Southampton
11:15 ET West Ham United vs. Queens Park Rangers
La Liga
Friday October 3
Saturday October 4
10:00 ET Valencia vs. Atlético Madrid
12:00 ET Rayo Vallecano vs. Barcelona
14:00 ET Eibar vs. Levante
16:00 ET Almería vs. Elche
16:00 ET Málaga vs. Granada
Sunday October 5
06:00 ET Sevilla vs. Deportivo La Coruña
11:00 ET Celta de Vigo vs. Villarreal
13:00 ET Espanyol vs. Real Sociedad
15:00 ET Real Madrid vs. Athletic Bilbao
Bundesliga
Friday October 3
14:30 ET Hertha BSC vs. Stuttgart
Saturday October 4
09:30 ET Bayer Leverkusen vs. Paderborn
09:30 ET Bayern Munich vs. Hannover 96
09:30 ET Borussia Dortmund vs. Hamburg SV
09:30 ET Hoffenheim vs. Schalke 04
09:30 ET Werder Bremen vs. Freiburg
12:30 ET Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Köln
Sunday October 5
09:30 ET Wolfsburg vs. Augsburg
11:30 ET Borussia Mönchengladbach vs. Mainz 05
Serie A
Saturday October 4
12:00 ET Hellas Verona vs. Cagliari
14:45 ET AC Milan vs. Chievo
Sunday October 5
06:30 ET Empoli vs. Palermo
09:00 ET Lazio vs. Sassuolo
09:00 ET Parma vs. Genoa
09:00 ET Sampdoria vs. Atalanta
09:00 ET Udinese vs. Cesena
12:00 ET Juventus vs. Roma
14:45 ET Fiorentina vs. Inter Milan
14:45 ET Napoli vs. Torino
3 To Watch
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Chelsea vs. Arsenal
Of all the many and varied indignities visited upon Arsenal last season -- losing at home to Aston Villa; losing to David Moyes' Manchester United; getting shredded by Manchester City and Liverpool -- it was arguably the 6-0 loss at Stamford Bridge that was the most humiliating. When a referee sends off the wrong player and isn't obviously the most incompetent person on the pitch, then something's gone very wrong somewhere.
Speaking ahead of this weekend's rematch, Arsene Wenger was under no illusions just how badly his team had played last time around, on the occasion of his 1,000th game at the club. "It was not a bad day for us last year -- it was a horrendous day. We never forget.'' And what they won't have forgotten is the surgical precision with which Chelsea cut open the Arsenal defence. It was a counter-attacking clinic, an object lesson in how a few quick, well-drilled attacking players running the right lines and playing the right passes can expose an inadequately constructed, inadequately protected defence. It was brutal. It was embarrassing. It was, thinking about it, a little bit reminiscent of Wenger's early Arsenal sides.
What will worry Arsenal fans ahead of the rematch, though, is that of the two teams, it's Chelsea that seem to have made the most marked improvement from last season. The addition of Diego Costa up front -- fitness issues notwithstanding -- has sharpened their edge, while the arrival of former Ashburton Grove darling Cesc Fabregas in the middle has added new potency to their passing. Though they've looked unusually vulnerable at the back, conceding three to Everton and two to Swansea, all the evidence suggests that Mourinho, who hasn't lost to Wenger in eleven meetings, has got his team humming along nicely. Top of the league and unbeaten in all competitions. Can't ask for better than that.
Whereas Arsenal come in to the game off the back of one very good win against a slapdash Galatasaray side, but with disappointing draws in the league and a hiding at the hands of Borussia Dortmund still fresh in the memory. Worse, they still suffer from the same weaknesses that were so brutally exposed last time around. Alexis Sanchez is an attacking upgrade, but unless Wenger does something utterly maverick, Mathieu Flamini is going to be charged with screening a defence that will contain three of the same four defenders, plus 19-year-old Calum Chambers in place of Bacary Sagna. As for Danny Welbeck, while he took his hat-trick against the Turks with uncharacteristic precision, he's unlikely to be given such a warm welcome by John Terry and Gary Cahill. Last season, Olivier Giroud missed an excellent chance at 0-0; it's all too easy to imagine the new man doing the same.
There is, in short, no reason to think that Arsenal going to the Bridge and playing like Arsenal won't result in anything other than Arsenal getting beaten like Arsenal, again. Whether Wenger has the personnel to try anything else may be a moot point, since he never appears to have the inclination to do so anyway. Let's end with another pre-match quote from Wenger. "Football is not made of history," he mused, a trifle gnomically. "Football is made of performance." Fair enough. But those who will not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.
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Juventus vs. Roma
We're only five games into the Serie A season, but the margins between Juventus and AS Roma have been so fine that their meeting in Turin on Sunday can already reasonably be seen as having title race significance. Heading into the match they're joint-top of the Serie A table, with neither having dropped a single point so far this season. Juve haven't even conceded a goal. It should be a brilliantly tense affair.
But it's not only interesting because these sides are by far and away the two best teams in Italy at present, but because it will once again see two clashing footballing ideologies go head-to-head. Juventus have won the last three Serie A titles playing dominant, possession-based football, with the constant recycling of possession eventually wearing their opponents into submission. When that doesn't work, they have the brute force of Paul Pogba and Arturo Vidal to create chances.
Roma, meanwhile, are a much more explosive team, who regularly lull their opponents into a false sense of security before pouncing on the counter-attack. Their wide array of attacking talents enable them to shift across the field, with their attackers constantly on the prowl for space they can exploit on the break. All it takes is a crisp pass from Miralem Pjanić, and they're through on goal. They could hardly be more different to Juve.
What's more, both of these sides are looking at the peak of their powers. Despite fears that Juventus would dip after the departure of coach Antonio Conte in the summer, his replacement Max Allegri has only made minor tweaks. If anything, the changes have made them look even more dangerous. Roma, meanwhile, have now had over a year to learn the ways of Rudi García, and some smart summer spending has given them depth they didn't have last season. Perversely, playing in the Champions League may have even bolstered their hopes of winning Serie A.
In short, these teams are very good, and this match is very important. Don't miss it.
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Real Madrid vs. Athletic Club
Real Madrid won the Champions League last season. Athletic Bilbao finished fourth in La Liga. That should indicate that both are great teams, but at times this season it hasn’t quite looked like that.
The Merengues find themselves in fifth, already four points off of the pace set by Barcelona, and having surrendered a whopping nine goals. But Real’s poor start still beats Athletic’s: they’re in 16th place, out of the relegation zone on goal difference with just four goals scored from six matches.
When they meet on Sunday, what will crumble first: Real's defense or Athletic's attack?
Real Madrid's defense isn't actually that terrible -- it's just regular terrible -- but put no defensive midfielders in front of it and it will be left in shreds, which it has been. Repeatedly. They can't handle teams running at them with pace, or slowly, and spend much of the match watching Sergio Ramos defending one-on-one, which has a habit of going a bit wrong. Athletic haven't looked like a team that can do much about that, though. They play shockingly slowly, and haven't been able to push forward fluidly and in numbers, which mades it seem unlikely that they can actually punish Real Madrid’s glaring issues. But Athletic also haven't played a team that has been so cavalier defensively as Real, so maybe this is the opportunity they need to remember where the goal is.
This is a match-up of two flawed sides. They're flaws that could prove to be fatal, not just on Sunday, but for the season. It has only been six weeks, but the evidence is beginning to mount: Real cannot defend, Athletic cannot attack. Can they change the narrative? Can they fix their problems? They will get the chance against each other at the Bernabeu. One can set the course for a season that can meet expectations, while the other will begin to face the realization that their issues may be too big to overcome.
