The Premier League Returns, As Ligue 1 Enters Week Two

ENGLAND

The Premier League returns in England starting from Friday night at the Emirates Stadium following a three-month break.

Arsenal will take on Leicester City-who have clearly been busy in the transfer market- in a game Arsene Wenger’s side need to set an early season marker.

Alexis Sanchez is confirmed absent for the next couple of Arsenal games, following an abdominal strain sustained in training. The Nigerian interest will be the trio of Ahmed Musa, Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho. Iheanacho a new signing for the Foxes will look to force his way into the starting.

The Nigerian interest will be the trio of Ahmed Musa, Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho. Iheanacho a new signing for the Foxes will look to force his way into the starting lineup in the coming weeks but might have to be content with a place on the bench behind Shinji Okazaki for Friday’s match.

Champions Chelsea begins the season with an all-too-familiar fixture against Burnley at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

It would be recalled that ahead of the Blues league triumph in 2015, they started the season with a 3-1 against Burnley, before repeating same last season on Matchday 3 with a comprehensive 3-0 victory.

Eden Hazard expectedly will be missing as he continues his recovery from injury, while Antonio Conte has to decide between the pair of Michy Batshuayi and record signing Alvaro Morata for the sole slot to lead the forward line.

On Burnley’s part, forward Andre Gray has departed the club to sign for Watford in a £18milion switch, leaving Sean Dyche’s men short of bodies in attack.

On Sunday at Saint James Park, Newcastle United mark their return to the top flight after a year’s absence with a tough and testing fixture against Tottenham Hotspur.

In the days leading up to the season opener, Spurs left-back Danny Rose, categorically frowned at the clubs inactivity in the transfer market, demanding for world class players to walk through the door, rather than players whose names and profile have to be searched on Google.

Newcastle United on their part have had a fairly quiet summer, recruiting Christian Atsu permanently from Chelsea, added to Javier Manquillo from Atletico Madrid, as Rafael Benitez looks to bolster his squad.

The last time the pair met in the Premier League on this ground, coincidentally on the last day of 2015/16-Newcastle last in the top flight- the Magpies handed Spurs a comprehensive dressing down, running out 5-1 winners on the day.

 

FRANCE

Early pace setters Lyon, appear to be coping admirably following life after the departure of Alexandre Lacazette. They dumped Strasbourg 4-0 last weekend to race to the top of the summit.

They have another opportunity to bag maximum points away from home on Friday, albeit against more difficult opponents Rennes. It will be a difficult but not impossible task for OL, who can count on the goals and industry of Mariano Diaz and Nabil Fekir for a second successive weekend.

Champions Monaco are on the road to face a Dijon side who were blown apart 3-0 by a rejuvenated Marseille team at the Stade Velodrome on the opening weekend.

Monaco needs to tighten things at the back if they are to enjoy a successful title defence this campaign, though they shouldn’t break much sweat discarding Dijon based on the gulf in class between both teams.

Big spending Paris Saint Germain, who are fifth on the table, plays their first away game of the season against Guingamp. They comfortably secured maximum points on the opening weekend without world record signing Neymar, who watched from the stands. Despite the bureaucratic bottle neck still involved in getting the Brazilian internationals paperwork signed off by erstwhile club Barcelona, it will be in the interest of all parties involved including the watching global audience for the star player to make his official PSG debut on Sunday, in order to begin to justify the huge figures splashed on him.

They comfortably secured maximum points on the opening weekend without world record signing Neymar, who watched from the stands. Despite the bureaucratic bottle neck still involved in getting the Brazilian internationals paperwork signed off by erstwhile club Barcelona, it will be in the interest of all parties involved including the watching global audience for the star player to make his official PSG debut on Sunday, in order to begin to justify the huge figures splashed on him.

Despite the bureaucratic bottle neck still involved in getting the Brazilian internationals paperwork signed off by erstwhile club Barcelona, it will be in the interest of all parties involved including the watching global audience for the star player to make his official PSG debut on Sunday, in order to begin to justify the huge figures splashed on him.