2017/18 German Bundesliga season commences on Friday night, defending champions Bayern Munich take on Bayer Leverkusen at the Allianz Arena. French Ligue 1 and Premier League action also continues, though early days, teams are gradually laying down a marker for the season.
ENGLAND
The big game of the weekend in the Premier League sees the defending champions Chelsea take on Tottenham Hotspurs at Wembley Stadium-the adopted home ground for Spurs this season.
Chelsea were shock losers at home last weekend to Burnley and will look to avoid successive defeats against a Tottenham side that looked convincing on the eye against Newcastle United.
One major consolation for the Blues is their recent FA Cup semi-final success over Spurs at the Wembley Stadium back in April.
Manchester United expectedly should nick maximum points away at Swansea City, to continue their bullish start to the league season, while Manchester City and Everton, complete with new £45million record signing Gylfi Sigurdsson, meet in a potentially mouth-watering encounter on Monday night, both teams managed by two former Barcelona teammates, Pep Guardiola and Ronald Koeman.
FRANCE
The French League enters its third week starting from Friday with the champions Monaco away at Metz. Monaco have continued from where they left off last campaign scoring goals with reckless abandon but equally failing to keep it tight at the back, conceding in successive league matches. Leaders Lyon
Leaders Lyon are home to Bordeaux in a testy encounter. Both teams are experiencing an unbeaten start to the new season and it remains to be seen if either team will let their guard down and record a first loss of the season on Saturday.
Finally, on Sunday PSG complete with Neymar take on Toulouse at the Parc des Princes. The world record signing who made a goal scoring debut to his French League career away at Guingamp on Sunday will certainly be excitedly looking forward to his maiden home game at his new arena.
GERMANY
Defending champions Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen kickoff the new Bundesliga season at the Allianz Arena on Friday night. Bayern Munich has had a rather forgettable pre-season, churning out mixed results which certainly will make the most loyal fan uncomfortable.
The visiting team lost the duo of Hakan Calhanoglu and Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez to AC Milan and West Ham United over the course of the summer transfer window and will be eager to settle down to life after the departure of both undisputed starters from the previous campaign.
Last season’s surprise package RB Leipzig are away to Schalke 04 in what should be an interesting game considering the visiting team have lost the ‘X’ factor which they capitalised on in finishing as runner-up last season.
