Following the conclusion of the penultimate international break of 2024, club football is back and there are plenty of intriguing games to look forward to across mutliple league.
Kicking off on Friday night is Leeds United against Sheffield United, a Yorskhire derby and a battle between fifth and second in the EFL Championship – Leeds would jump into the top two with a win.
Saturday lunchtime sees a London derby in the Premier League between Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, while Newcastle United later welcome Brighton & Hove Albion, two sides separated by only a point just adrift of the Champions League qualifying places. Over in Italy, Juventus and Lazio go up against each other, level on points in Serie A’s third and fourth places respectively.
Those are all games to cast an eye on, with the next seven your big ones to look forward to…
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Manchester United return to action looking for just a third Premier League win over the season, having also failed to score in their last three league outings.
They will have to deal with Brentford’s penchant for a fast start, with the Bees opening the scoring inside the first minute of three of their last four Premeir League games. In the other fixture during that run, they waited until the second minute.
United haven’t always responded well to conceding in recent seasons, so this could be a huge test.
Arsenal will play before their Premier League title rivals this weekend, meaning Mikel Arteta’s side have an opportunity to put the pressure on Liverpool and Manchester City here.
Victory on the south coast would see the Gunners move top of the table overnight. Bukayo Saka should overcome a fitness concern but captain Martin Odegaard isn’t back yet.
It is a similar story for Real Madrid in Spain, in action 24 hours before leaders Barcelona take to the pitch. However, only a victory by seven goals over Celta Vigo would actually get them into top spot.
Vinicius Junior, Kylian Mbappe and Eder Militao all sat out international duty this month. Meanwhile, Luka Modric is on the cusp of setting an all-time Madrid record.
Inter Miami’s place in this year’s MLS Cup play-offs has been nailed on for some time, while Lionel Messi and co. also clinched the Supporters’ Shield for winning the regular season two weeks ago.
It may not seem like there is anything left to play for in their final regular season fixture on Saturday night, but a Miami win over New England Revolution would set a new MLS regular season points record. They have 71 as it stands and the current record, held by the Revs from 2021, is 73.
With Arsenal playing on Saturday evening, it will be Manchester City‘s turn to make their statement in the burgeoning Premier League title race early on Sunday afternoon.
Wolves are bottom of the table thanks to a surprisingly awful start to 2024/25 – it’s just one point from a possible 21 at this stage – but they won this fixture when City visited Molineux last season.
There is a strong chance that Liverpool will have dropped to third in the Premier League by the time their kick-off against Chelsea comes around.
This rivalry has lost a competitive edge in recent seasons due to Chelsea slipping out of English football’s leading group. But Enzo Maresca’s Blues are bang in form and will hope that Cole Palmer has the keys to unlock the Premier League’s meanest defence.
Lamine Yamal avoided major damage when he suffered an injury while on international duty with Spain but is still a doubt to feature against Sevilla on Sunday night. Robert Lewandowski also limped away from Poland’s draw with Croatia.
Barcelona quickly recovered from a blip against Osasuna to record a victory over Alaves before the international break, but it could be tough without one or both of their most important attackers.
