France began their first competitive competition after winning the World Cup with a 0-0 draw against Germany on Thursday, and Didier Deschamp’s men would be looking to get their first win against the Netherlands in this game. That draw against the Germans was far from the impressive showing they showcased in the Russia 2018 World Cup, but a team that has no space for the talents of Ousmane Dembele, Nabil Fekir, Benjamin Mendy shows that the French men can turn things around quickly in this match. France may have lost a friendly game prior to the World Cup, however, they are unbeaten in competitive football in 15 months, and they haven’t lost a competitive home fixture in normal time since 2013. The Netherlands are beginning a new era under Ronald Koeman after they failed to qualify for the last two major competitions, and the former Everton manager has gotten them playing better than before, but they have still not reached the heights that saw them reach the final of the 2010 World Cup. Wesley Sneijder retired on Thursday and that means Virgil van Dijk would be leading the likes of Frankie de Jong and Mattijs de Ligt into the new era. He would have help from the experienced likes of Ryan Babel and Memphis Depay, but this game marks a tough beginning to their UEFA Nations League campaign.

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.

Crystal Palace would be looking to end a run of back to back defeats by making progress in the League Cup here. They were beaten by Liverpool on Monday and lost at the weekend to Watford as well, these losses have put a stop to a good start to the season for the Eagles but they can get back on track against this struggling Swansea side. Swansea surprisingly won this competition in 2013, but having suffered relegation last season, and seen most of their star men leave, they would be more than happy to get past this round. The Swans have started their Championship campaign well, however, they lost their first game of the season at the weekend. Bristol City took all three points with a 1-0 win at the Liberty Stadium. For a team looking to get back to the Premier League at the end of this season, this game offers them the chance to show they are ready to bounce back. This has not been a happy hunting ground for Palace as they have not won any of their last six visits to this ground. However, the two teams have been scoring in the last few encounters between them including a 9 goals thriller in 2016.

This is one of the most important games the teams that have made it to this round would be playing this season, and these two teams would be looking to be among the teams for the group stage draw on Thursday. Dynamo Kiev are trailing 3-1 from the first leg and the Ukrainians know that they would have to be at their very best to get the result that would pull them through in this game. After their 3-1 loss, they dropped their first points of the season in their domestic league. However, they have still collected 13 points from a possible 15 this season, that should boost their confidence ahead of this game. Ajax have missed the group stage of the Champions League in the last four seasons, however, after their 3-1 win in the first leg, they are on the cusp of returning to the big stage again this season. The Dutch giants are enjoying a resurgence thanks to the impact of the likes of Dusan Tadic and Jan Klas Huntelaar, and they should finish the job here.

These two teams face off in the only all-Premier League clash in this second round of the English league cup and they would both be looking to go further in this competition. Brighton have started their season in an average way. They may have collected just three points from their opening three league games,  but their 3-2 win over Manchester United is the kind of result that Southampton dream of. After beating the Red Devils on matchday 2, they were impressive in their last Premier League game when they visited Liverpool at Anfield. They lost the game 1-0, no thanks to a Mohamed Salah 23rd minute strike. However, the Seagulls were very brave in that game and almost got an equalizer in the second half. Southampton have started their season like they ended the last campaign and they might be fighting for relegation yet again this season. Despite their struggles in the league, the Saints have a good record in this competition. They reached the finals in the 2016/2017 season where they lost 3-2 to Manchester United. Prior to that season, they had reached the quarterfinals in consecutive seasons. However, they were eliminated at the first hurdle last season, so they would be looking to do better in this game.

Gent have been in fine form in this competition until now and they face a Bordeaux side who have recently run into some crisis that could spoil the hard work they have done until now. After beating Mariupol last week to reach this round Bordeaux fired Gus Poyet after he openly criticised the club’s decision to sell striker Gaetan Laborde against his will. He had told them to only sell when they have replaced him, but the club did not heed his advice and the Uruguayan branded their action a disgrace. The club’s president thought he went too far and decided to fire him to show him who the boss was. This situation would certainly affect their players when they take to the team for this game and that would give Gent an advantage which they should take in this first leg. Gent come into this game in fine form having won their last four games and they would be looking for a fifth consecutive win against this French visitors who struggled without their manager in their last game against Toulouse. Gent haven’t lost any of their last six home games and they have scored 11 goals in their last four games so they have both form and momentum on their side ahead of this game. This is the first meeting between these teams.

Besiktas have begun their league campaign with two wins from as many games and they would be looking to get through to the Europa League group stage in this game as well. The Turks competed in the Champions League last season and they were impressive, whether they can eliminate Partizan Belgrade would depend largely on how they perform in this first leg away from home. Partizan would be keen to get a good first-leg advantage at home here so they can stop Besiktas. They have shown that they are not a team that seats back and defend after winning both legs against Nodjelland in the last round. They have collected 7 points from four games in their domestic league this season. Besiktas are hoping to win back their league crown at the end of this season and they have started well. They reached the Europa League quarterfinals in 2017 and topped their Champions League group last season before exiting at the Round of 16, so reaching the group stage is the only thinkable outcome from this round for their fans. Besiktas won 2-1 in their last meeting with Partizan, however, that was about four years ago and they may be facing a stronger team this time around.