Day: August 31, 2018

This is the second time Real Madrid are playing a league game at home this season and it is the second time that a Madrid based side is visiting the Bernabeu, they would be looking to make it three wins from three to start the season.

Julen Lopetegui’s side have started their post-Ronaldo era in commendable form despite losing the Super Cup to Atletico Madrid. Last week, they were easily the most impressive team as they came from a goal down to down Girona 4-1 away from home.

Two of their goals in that match were penalties, but there is plenty to take away from their performances. Gareth Bale looks set to score many goals this season, and Karim Benzema who netted just five league goals last season has also started this campaign well after being moved into a more central position.

Leganes have it all to do this weekend after staging a comeback of their own to earn a first point of the season the last time out. They needed a late strike from Nabil El Zhar to help them earn a 2-2 draw against Real Sociedad after going 2-0 down.

They are still searching for their first win of the season, but this game doesn’t look like where they can get it.

There have been 6 meetings since Leganes won promotion to La Liga in 2016. Real have won 5 of them but they were eliminated by their city rivals in the Copa del Rey last season. Last term’s meetings at the Bernabeu produced two 2-1 scorelines, one in favour of each team.

Manchester City’s Premier League defence started very well until last weekend when they visited new boys, Wolves. The Cityzens were held to a 1-1 draw at the Molineux, and they would be desperate to get back to winning ways against this out of form Newcastle United side.

Manchester City are currently 5th on the league table as Liverpool, Chelsea, Watford and Tottenham have maintained a 100 percent record in the new season, but they would expect one of them to slip up this weekend and open the door for them to get into the top four.

Newcastle United have made another unsurprisingly poor start to the season and they would be looking to avoid relegation back to the Championship at the end of this campaign.

They lost their first league game of the season before earning a point in a 0-0 draw at Cardiff City. Last weekend they unluckily lost 2-1 to Chelsea as Rafa Benitez almost succeeded in parking the bus before an unfortunate own goal gave Chelsea the win.

Benitez’s side lost 3-1 after Extra time in the Carabao Cup in midweek, but they have shown that they can frustrate big teams and they would need to do that here to even lose by a respectable scoreline.

Manchester City have won their last 9 home games against Newcastle.