All of Europe’s four major domestic leagues, the Premier League, La Liga, the German Bundesliga and Serie A are all in full swing as we’re about to hit October.
Every reigning champion from the top leagues, Manchester City, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus have all encountered slip ups, some bigger than others. Yet, the bookies are still backing last year’s winners despite them all showing signs of weaknesses.
The race for the Premier League title is on, with Liverpool still the favourites to lift the trophy. This has been the deal for the past three years and it seems this term is going in the same direction.
The Red have 100 percent record after three games, and they are widely expected to see off Burnley despite it being an away fixture. This would leave them with 12 maximum points but still far away from the 38-game haul for the season.
The off-season in Spain has been filled with transfer activities from the top three clubs in the top flight. Real Madrid as expected made a huge splash in the market signing the likes of Eden Hazard and Luka Jovic.
Barcelona not to be undone signed Antoine Griezmann from rivals Atletico Madrid. Atletico Madrid meanwhile secured Portuguese golden boy Joao Felix from Benfica for a club record fee. All the sehappeningsmean that we are in for an amazing season.
Gareth Southgate’s England are scheduled to face the Netherlands at the semi-final stage of the Nations League next week. The Three Lions have had a brilliant run over the past year where they made the semi-final stage of the World Cup while also beating the likes of Spain and Croatia en route to topping their Nations League group.
Since then, Southgate has experimented with a number of younger players getting the chance to impress, and the Three Lions boss is certainly spoilt for choices when they face off against the Netherlands, who have gone through a fascinating resurgence under the guidance of Ronald Koeman over the past year.
Manchester City have the opportunity to secure a domestic treble when they face Watford during this weekend’s FA Cup final. Pep Guardiola’s side have already landed the League Cup and the Premier League crown and they are now the bookies favourites to secure the FA Cup against the Hornets at the Wembley.
It’s hardly surprising that the Citizens have been the best team in England this campaign and they recently wrapped up the Premier League title after beating Brighton & Hove Albion on the final matchday of the season. In comparison, Watford went off the boil during the run-in and they ended the Premier League campaign on a rather disappointing note as three successive defeats dropped them to the bottom half of the table from a position of good strength in seventh.
Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri has said that the Blues have enjoyed a successful campaign under his management. The Blues are currently placed fourth in the league table with the chance of progressing to next season’s Champions League, but Sarri insists that the campaign can’t be deemed a failure, should they fail to qualify for the elite competition.
Speaking in a press conference, Sarri said that the season has been fairly successful with the team having impressed in the League Cup final where they only lost to Manchester City on penalties. He acknowledged that the club are still in the running for the top four in the Premier League as well as the Europa League title and he would like to achieve both objectives at the end of the season.
Napoli has sent down Chievo with their victory by 3-1 in the Serie A match on Sunday in between the two sides. Kalidou Koudibaly, the captain scored 2 goals on either side of the strike of Arkadiusz Milik. This sent Chievo to Serie B. As a matter of fact, this has also delayed the title celebration of Juventus for another week.
Carlo Ancelotti is now concentrating on the team’s second leg quarter-final of Europa League against Arsenal which is to take place on Thursday as the squad attempts on overturning the 2 goal deficit and move on to the next round of the competition.
Manchester United defender Marcos Rojo has said that he remains part of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s plans at the club after recovering from a series of injuries. The Argentine has made just the single substitute appearance since the turn of the year but he is likely to feature from the starting lineup this weekend with Luke Shaw suspended for the next two matches after reaching the 10 yellow card limit.
Speaking to MUTV, Rojo revealed that he has been pleased with the recent developments following injury and he is hoping to play a part in the club’s run-in, he said: “It’s been very good. Since he [Ole] arrived, he’s had an incredible relationship with me. When he got here, he told me I was part of his plans and that he wanted me to get myself fully fit.
England international Luke Shaw has said that he has more room for improvement with Manchester United despite bagging the man of the match award during the recent Premier League clash against Liverpool. The left-back had a dominant performance against Mohamed Salah on Sunday where United managed to settle for a 0-0 draw against their fierce rivals.
Speaking after the game, Shaw was pleased to have produced a strong showing against Jurgen Klopp’s side, who are currently leading the Premier League standings. He added that he is currently at an age where he can display further improvement in terms of the performances, he said: "Defensively definitely, yeah, but these are the games that you want to try and step up in, you want to try and prove why you're here.
LA Galaxy manager Guillermo Barros Schelotto claims that the club are a work in progress after the club has experienced a mixed set of results in pre-season. The latest set of friendly matches for the team has seen back-to-back losses against Colorado Rapids. The team are also winless in any of the pre-season friendly games and this has increased doubts on Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who is already feeling the pressure. There have been several key changes to the squad over the summer and this can get more worrying for the manager if their form does not improve straightaway.
Galaxy open the new campaign with a home game against Chicago Fire. The main aim of the club this season would be the possibility of winning the MLS Cup, as they have missed out on the play-offs in the last two seasons. Schelotto is of the opinion that the team needs to build an identity before they can start to be successful. One process of creating an identity is changing the entire squad in terms of the approach to the game and this wholesome change can often be detrimental to the current set of results. Galaxy cannot afford to make another poor start to the campaign as they have been disappointing in recent seasons.