Saturday’s Key Games: Top 5
Manchester United v Crystal Palace
Today Manchester United will get their Premier League campaign underway when they host Crystal Palace. Crystal Palace started their season last weekend, when they won 1-0 against Southampton courtesy of a Wilfried Zaha goal.
For Manchester United, Donny Van De Beek is set to feature. Paul Pogba and Luke Shaw are also available for the game. Phil Jones, Axel Tuanzebe and Sergio Romero are all unavailable. The key decision for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be whether Spanish International David De Gea or Englishman Dean Henderson start in goal.
Crystal Palace are without Nathan Ferguson, Gary Cahill, James Tomkins and Patrick Van Aanholt. Mamadou Sakho, Jairo Riedewald, Christian Benteke and Conor Wickham have returned to training but are not deemed available for selection. Crystal Palace are likely to name the same side that won against Southampton.
Manchester United will be looking to lay down a marker and get their campaign off to a winning start, but Crystal Palace will be dangerous on the counter.
Borussia Dortmund v Borussia Mönchengladbach
The opening round of the Bundesliga sees two huge sides face each other with last season’s runner up Borussia Dortmund hosting Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Dortmund have seen Achraf Hakimi move on after the conclusion of his loan spell. Dortmund have strengthened with the signings of Thomas Meunier, Reinier Jesus and Jude Bellingham and they have so far kept Jadon Sancho who seemed destined to join Manchester United. Dortmund won during the week in the domestic cup when they beat Duisburg 5-0.
Mönchengladbach also won comfortably in the cup with an 8-0 win over against Oberneuland. They will want to end a 10-game losing streak against Dortmund. They have not won a game against Dortmund since 2015 and it is their longest losing streak they have against any opponent.
Roman Burki will likely come back in goal for Dortmund after missing the game against Duisburg. Marco Reus returned during the week from injury and came off the bench to score, although he is likely to start on the bench once more.
For Mönchengladbach Valentino Lazaro will miss the game and Denis Zakaria is a doubt.
This is the game of the weekend in the Bundesliga and will likely see goals with both having phenomenal attacking options.
Porto v Braga
The Primeira Liga returns with an exciting clash between the current league champions and last season’s third place side Braga.
Braga have won the last three games between the sides with a 2-1 home win in the league in July the most recent of the fixtures between the sides. Porto will want to get the defence of their title off to a winning start.
Porto have seen Vitinha and Fabio Silva leave for Premier League Wolves. They have signed Evanilson, Mehdi Taremi, Zaidu and Claudio Ramos.
Carlos Carvalhal has returned as manager after managing the side in 2006. They signed Abel Ruiz and Nicolas Gaitan.
Porto will not have Ivan Marcano and Mouhhamed Mbaye available due to long-term injuries. They have doubts over Claudio Ramos and Shoya Nakajima.
Carlos Carvalhal has nearly a whole squad to choose from with the only injury is that of Rui Fonte.
The game is likely to be close, as they are both strong sides, though Porto will be favourites.
Rennes v Monaco
Monaco will travel to Roazhon Park to face Rennes. Both sides have played three games this season with both sides winning two of their opening three games and drawing the other. Rennes are in second position, with Monaco in third.
Rennes will be without Sacha Boey who will serve the final game of his three-match suspension. Martin Terrier will be back from suspension a challenging to replace Flavien Tait for a starting spot. Chelsea target Edouard Mendy will not be involved amid interest from the London side.
Monaco’s Benjamin Lecomte is back in training and will return to the side and Youssouff Fofana returns from Suspension. Aleksandr Golovin is unlikely to feature due to a hamstring injury.
If there is a winner, they will go top of the league with league leaders St Etienne not playing to Sunday.
Young Boys v FC Zurich
The opening round of the Swiss Super League sees current league champions Young Boys try to get their title defence of to a winning start.
Young boys are looking to win their fourth league title in a row and face a side who have won the league 12 times, but not since 2009.
Young Boys will be without Sandro Lauper and Esteban Petignat. They also have doubts over David von Ballmoos and Christopher Martins.
FC Zurich will be without Vasilije Janjičić, Bećir Omeragić, Fabian Rohner and Tosin Aiyegun.
Young Boys won the last fixture between the two, they won 5-0 in July and they will be looking for more of the same.
