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.

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.

Huddersfield begins their bid to avoid the second season syndrome when they host Chelsea in this opening game of the Premier League season. The Terriers made a lucky escape from the Premier League last season when they picked up a valuable draw at Stamford Bridge. Much of their survival last season is owed to a solid start to the season that even saw them top the Premier League table at some point. They have made some good new signings including Eric Durm who won the 2014 World Cup with Germany and David Wagner would be looking to start the season on a bright note again. Chelsea have had a tough preseason and their fans would hope that they are finally ready for the season after the end of the transfer window. The Blues had to fire Antonio after he fell out with the board despite the Italian winning the FA Cup last season. Maurizio Sarri implemented an exciting brand of football at Napoli last season, but he has never won a trophy in his professional career and may find life much more difficult in England than it was at Naples. The Blues have signed Jorginho and Matteo Kovacic to bolster their midfield, while a £71 million signing of Kepa Arrizabalaga as a replacement for Thibaut Courtois is a gamble that they hope would pay off. Chelsea have won four and drawn two of their last six meetings with Huddersfield, but have conceded at least one goal in all of these encounters.

This match pitches two teams who have endured frustrating summers to some degree against each other and they would both be looking to get a good start to the new season. It has been another frustrating summer for Rafa Benitez as Mike Ashley continues to fail in his promise to provide funds for Newcastle to sign new players. However, the former Liverpool manager would be happy he was able to land Salomon Rondon, Yoshinori Muto, Kenedy, Fabian Schar among others at last and we expect this to be another season of struggling for the Magpies. Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham became the first team not to sign a single player in a transfer window since it was introduced in 2003 and their fans would be wondering if they have the players to help them compete in four competitions this season. The Lilywhites would have a small squad ready for this game as the likes of Harry Kane, Toby Alderweireld, Mousa Dembele all came back from holiday this week and would need more training to be ready for the new season. Tottenham have won four and lost two of their last six meetings with Newcastle, including winning both league meetings last season. However, two of the three goals Spurs scored in those matches came from Dele Alli and Harry Kane, both of whom are likely to be rested here.

This Wolves team is so hyped that even if they end up winning the Premier League this season, it would come as a surprise to only a few people, despite the fact that they just got promoted to the Premier League. They stormed to the top of the Championship table last season with 99 points and scored 81 goals along the way. Winning the Championship came as a surprise to only a few people considering that they signed so many top quality players on loan from Portugal, the likes of Diogo Jota and Ruben Neves have since made their loan moves permanent. They have also added the experienced likes of Joao Moutinho and Rui Patricio so they have huge expectations to live up, and their preseason form shows that they won’t struggle much. They won 3 and drew 3 of their seven preseason games which included wins over Basel and Villarreal. Their fans would be expecting a good start here. Everton are also expected to make an impact in the league this season after they signed Marcos Silva as their manager and brought in some exciting players from Europe. The Toffees has signed Yerry Mina, Andre Gomes and Lucas Digne from Barcelona, they have also added Richarlison and Bernard to their team and their fans are expecting an exciting brand of football. However, they may struggle at first as most of their signings came late and they have allowed Funes Ramiro Mori and Ashley Williams leave the club this summer, leaving them thin at the back. The Toffees also did not have the best of preseasons as they lost 4 and drew 2 of their last 6 preseason games, conceding 12 goals along the way.

Fenerbahce make a return to the Champions League after a two years absence from Europe’s premier competition, and they would be looking to make it to the group stage. The Turks were eliminated by eventual semifinalists, AS Monaco is 2016, but they would consider Benfica not as tough as the Kylian Mbappe led Monaco. Benfica would be hoping to make a return to the group stage that they failed to win a single match last season, failure to do so would mean that Portugal would have just a single representative in the competition. Benfica lost all their group games last season and that is understandable as they had several departures whom they failed to adjust to. They eventually found some form in their domestic league and pushed FC Porto all the way in the title race, that should give them some confidence of a home win in this third round matchup. Fenerbahce were unlucky to exit the Champions League qualifiers in 2016 following a 4-3 aggregate loss to Monaco, but they look a better team now after scoring 78 goals in their league last season. We expect them to follow up on that in this game and punish this Benfica defence that is still struggling.

This game sees two good teams come together on Tuesday in this Brazilian Serie A, and we expect to see plenty of goalmouth actions at both ends of the pitch in this game. Athletico have collected 27 points so far this season and that has moved them to an impressive 4th position. Expectations were not so high for them ahead of the new season, so their fans would consider this a great season so far as they look set to end in a Copa Libertadores position. The host have won an impressive six games in their last 8 home fixtures, and while their away form is still questionable, they would look to bag all three points here. Internacional, on the other hand, are having a season so fine that no one would have predicted. They bounced back from Serie B at the first time of asking this season, and have collected 29 points at this stage already. That points haul has taken them to 3rd on the league table, and this game offers them the chance to prove that they deserve their position on the league table. The sides last met in August last year, with Atletico Mineiro running out 1-0 winners. The last league meetings between the two came in 2016, with each side winning their home game against the other. 3 of the last 4 meetings between Atletico and Internacional have seen goals at both ends.

The last round wasn’t the toughest for Ajax, and they would be hoping to continue their push for a place in the group stage by eliminating their Belgian host in this round. Standard Liege are returning to this competition after a four years absence, they would be keen on getting a good first-leg advantage to take to Holland. Liege do not measure up to the standard of Ajax in terms of European reputation, and they would have to be at their best to eliminate the Dutchmen, however, Ajax have struggled in Europe in recent times. They were eliminated from the Champions League and Europa League in a matter of days last season, they would want to avoid such a shameful scenario here again. Ajax last met Standard in 2016 on their way to the Europa League final, drawing 1-1 in a trip here during the group stage. Standard have won one of their last eight Champions League games.