Day: August 17, 2018

These two teams started their domestic campaign with different degrees of success and this match offers them both a chance to get early bragging rights over the other in the London Derby.

Chelsea beat Huddersfield 3-0 at the John Smith Stadium last weekend, while Arsenal were beaten 2-0 at home by Manchester City.

Chelsea players showed in their win over the Terriers that they have begun taking in the lessons of Maurizio Sarri, while Arsenal struggled to show that there has been any improvement in their play under Unai Emery.

The Gunners wanted to play from the back as Emery’s teams always do, but they were always caught in possession by Manchester City who pressed them relentlessly to the point that Petr Cech almost scored himself by passing the ball straight into his own net.

Chelsea would be welcoming Eden Hazard for this game, and the Belgian who gave an assist for the 3rd goal last weekend comes with extra goals threat in him.

Arsenal’s defensive issues has not been helped by news that Maitland-Niles is set to be sidelined for the next two months, that leaves Emery with no recognized left fullback at the moment.

Five of the last six meetings between these sides have ended in draws, with Arsenal winning the remaining one game. However, The Gunners have failed to score in four of their last five Premier League visits to Stamford Bridge, with Chelsea winning four of these five encounters as well.

Tottenham were expected to field a weakened side in their Premier League opener against Newcastle as several of their key players returned late from the World Cup following their team progress to the semifinal stage.

However, Mauricio Pochettino thought otherwise and the Argentine boss fielded six players who played at the World Cup semifinals, and it was obvious that most of them were match rusty.

However, they still got the job done with a 2-1 win over Rafa Benitez’s side with goals from Jan Vertoghen and Dele Ali coming on either side of an equalizer from Joselu.

Fulham won the Playoff last season and they are determined to spend some time in the English top flight after that. This desire has prompted them to spend some money in the last transfer window, even more than some established names and at least £100 million more than their host in this game.

However, their return to the top flight did not start on a very good note as they lost their first game 2-0 at home last weekend to  Crystal Palace. That must have been a very rude welcoming and they would be determined not to lose a second London derby is as many matches.

Fulham have lost their last 18 away games against Spurs.

Barcelona begin their La Liga title defence when Alaves comes to town for this fixture, and their fans would be expecting them to start their season with three points.

The Catalans won the league title by 14  points last season, but this season should be a lot tougher with renewed competition from Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.

Apart from Andres Iniesta, there has been no major departures from Camp Nou. Philippe Coutinho is expected to perform even better than he did last season now that he is with them from the beginning, while Ousmane Dembele who scored a stunner in the Super Cup win over Sevilla is expected to also shine having struggled with injuries last season.

Alaves were expected to be relegated by the time December came around last season. At that point, they had already fired two managers, however, Abelardo Fernández took charge and helped them surprisingly avoid relegation in an unexpectedly easy manner.

That survival now means more would be demanded from them this season, and this game offers them the chance to start the season as they wish to go on. They would be looking to sit back and hit Barca on the break in this game, and the Catalans have shown that teams who play that way can get results from them.