Matchplug

These two teams would be looking to build on their success on English soil when they meet in this La Liga Matchday 8 fixture.

Barcelona beat Tottenham 4-2 with Lionel Messi putting on one of his best displays in a Barca shirt in recent memory, while Valencia succeeded in picking up a draw against an unmotivated Manchester United side in midweek too.

These two teams haven’t really had a good season domestically even though the visitors are currently top of the La Liga table.

Valencia secured just their first win of the season before travelling to Manchester, however, they have been beaten just once all season in the league while picking up 5 draws. They seem to be struggling to score goals, but defensively, they have been solid as well and they would be looking to shut out the in-form Messi.

Barcelona head into this match with no win in their last three La Liga games. It becomes worrying when you realised that their opponents in this games were Girona, Leganes, and Athletic Bilbao. The only reason why they are still top of the league table is that Real Madrid are also having a bad season.

Barca have won 5 of the last 6 meetings overall. Valencia have only won one of their last eight La Liga games against Barcelona (D2 L5), with that win coming away from home (1-2 in April 2016).

This clash sees two teams who have been hit hard by poor recent form and who are both looking for morale-boosting wins to get their seasons back on track.

Manchester United are a team in crisis and reports claim that this game could be Jose Mourinho’s last at the helm, so the Portuguese tactician would be looking for a serious effort and ultimately a win from his players who appear to have given up on him.

Manchester United head into this game, winless in their last four games in all competitions, and this is their worst start to a league season since the 80s, so things have to change for them as they have won just 4 of their opening 10 competitive games this season.

The stakes are not so much higher at Newcastle as the fans have decided to instead blame their very unpopular owner for the chaos going on at the club. With no wins in all competitions this season, and just 2 points earned from a possible 21 in the Premier League, there is no question that the players have to do better sooner rather than later.

Manchester United have won three, drawn two, and lost one of their last six meetings with Newcastle. However, the hosts have lost just one of their last 36 home games against Newcastle, winning 26 times.

Manchester City would be visiting the only ground that they were beaten last season, and Jurgen Klopp would be looking to continue his impressive record against Pep Guardiola here again.

These two teams are first and second on the Premier League table with Manchester City only topping the standings on goal difference. Liverpool suffered a defeat in midweek when they visited Napoli, while Manchester City won at Hoffenheim.

However, form or previous results usually doesn’t matter when these two teams meet. Manchester City hasn’t won a league game at Anfield since 2003, Sergio Aguero has never scored at Anfield in the Premier League, and Liverpool have won all of their last 5 home games against Manchester City in the Premier League.

A lot is at stake in this game as a Liverpool win would see them open up a 3 points gap on the defending champions, while a win for Manchester City would mean Liverpool have failed to win 4 consecutive games in all competitions.

With the international break on the horizon, both teams would be looking to get early bragging rights and seat at the top of the table at the end of the weekend.

Rangers would be hosting Rapid Vienna in what should be one of the most exciting clashes in the Europa League this week.

Steven Gerard has made a good start to his managerial career after surprisingly accepting to become the Bhoys’ manager in the summer. He has been a huge success in no other place than in Europe and he would be hoping to earn the first win of the group stages with his side in this game.

Rangers have not lost any of their games in the Europa League this season, a run which stretches to 9 matches. They earned an impressive 2-2 draw at Villarreal on Matchday 1 and they would be looking to get a home win here.

Rapid Vienna haven’t played as many games as Rangers in this competition this season. This would be their 6th game in the competition. They lost both of their away qualifying matches 2-1 each but earned a 2-0 win over Spartak Moscow in their last game in this competition.

Their Austrian Bundesliga campaign hasn’t got off to the best of starts as they sit way down in 8th place with just 9 points from their opening 9 games.

This will be the first meeting between the sides.

Celtic face a tough trip to Salzburg as they play last season’s semifinalists RB Salzburg, and Brendan Rodgers would wish this game had been played at a later date.

Since they initially qualified for a European competition in the 2009/2010 season, Salzburg have been regulars at European competitions, making it to the group stages on 8 occasions since that inaugural season.

They reached the semifinals last season only to be beaten by Olympique Marseille. This season they missed out on qualifying for the Champions League only on goal difference, and that goes to show you how good this Austrians are.

As a matter of fact, Salzburg are unbeaten in their last 16 competitive games and 14 of those matches have ended in wins for them. So the task facing Celtic in this game is a huge one.

There seems to be a minor crisis of confidence at Celtic Park at the moment after they dominated the Scottish game over the past two seasons.

They may have beaten Rosenborg by a lone goal at home in their first Europa League group games, but they are currently struggling for goals and wins, and they currently lie on the 5th position on the Scottish Premier League table.

Their main problem this season is how poor they are when they play away from home. They have played 8th away games in all competitions this season, and they have won just two of those matches. In that period of time, they have been beaten by Hearts, AEK, and Kilmarnock. They have also failed to win any of their last 12 away games in the Europa League, a run which stretches back to 2011.

These two sides meet in the 2014/15 Europa League group stage, with Red Bull Salzburg winning one and drawing one, scoring five goals and conceding three in the process.

This game would see Arsenal look to continue their impressive start to the season against a Qarabag side that has been building a reputation as regulars in European group stage competitions.

Arsenal are heavy favourites for this game, but Qarabag have been impressing especially at home since the 2014/2015 season and they would be looking to show Unai Emery’s men that they are no pushovers.

Qarabag held Atletico Madrid to a draw both home and away in the Champions League group stages last season, and in recent past, they have taken points from Monaco, Inter Milan, Anderlecht, and PAOK. They also come into this game in good form having won 5 of their last 6 games in all competition,  so they would certainly be up for a fight in this game.

Arsenal come into this game on the back of a seven-game winning streak as they seem to finally be taking Unai Emery’s lessons on how to play to heart.

However, it is worth noting that their last four games have all been played at home and they have won away games only at struggling Newcastle and Cardiff City this season.

Gunners did not win three of their seven away trips last season, and Qarabag have lost just three times at home in the Europa League since the 2014/2015 season, so the home side would feel they have a good chance of getting something from this game.

Tottenham would be looking to continue their recent run of good form and pile more misery on Barcelona as they welcome the Champions League favourites to the Wembley Stadium.

The Lilywhites have endured an up-and-down start to the season, but they come into this game on the back of a three games winning streak across two competitions.

Last season, they were placed in a tough Champions League group with eventual winners Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, and they won 5 of their 6 group games. While they still have the chance to repeat those heroics, they haven’t started this season’s edition well.

They were beaten 2-1 at Inter Milan in their first Champions League game this season, and that loss could largely be attributed to their inexperience after leading the Italians for much of the game. This game offers them the chance to get their first win.

Barcelona aren’t exactly flying at the moment and the end could be near for Ernesto Valverde. The La Liga leaders nearly slumped to a second consecutive defeat in midweek as they were led 1-0 deep into the dying minutes of their game against Athletic Bilbao.

Munir helped them salvage a point from that game, but they remain winless in their last 3 games. With the quality in their ranks, you wouldn’t expect them to have drawn with Girona, lost to Leganes before another draw against Bilbao in their last three games, so the stakes are high for them in this game.

Tottenham won all their home group games in the Champions League last season, while Barcelona have won just once in their last seven trips in the Champions League.