This weekend sees the ninth round of games since the season kicked off in the French Ligue 1, and the biggest game in the competition sees reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain taking on last season’s runners-up Monaco on Sunday afternoon, with PSG goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu leading the way for the club’s points scorers on 150. Monaco’s biggest points earner is defender Layvin Kurzawa with 95, and so with PSG’s defenders tending to score more points than their counterparts from the principality, their psychological edge of being champions and also holding the home advantage, it could be a good afternoon for strikers Zlatan Ibrahimovic (100 points) and co.
One striker Monaco will be without is their departed Colombian Radamel Falcao (60 points), who could well feature for loan club Man Utd when the former Premier League champions take on Everton at Old Trafford, also on Sunday afternoon. The Red Devils’ early season optimism after a fantastic pre-season has been stunted thanks to some very sub-par results in the league, and Everton will fancy their chances of making the short journey home to Merseyside with at least a point in the bag from the game. However, the Toffees have only won one of their first six games, and despite Utd’s disappointing start they still sit seventh, well above Everton, so one could be forgiven for anticipating another home win in this one.
In Germany, meanwhile, fans of Bayer Leverkusen will be expecting a comfortable Saturday afternoon when they see bottom club Hamburger arrive at the BayArena. The latter have really struggled, and have a goal difference of -7 after the first six games, with two draws the only bright spots among four defeats. Leverkusen defender Tin Jedvaj will hope to add to his 90 point tally though, so expect the hosts to go gung-ho for a convincing win.
Moving over to Spain, champions Atletico Madrid travel to Valencia in a second against third place match, and with the sides tied on points this is a valuable early season clash for either club. Atletico’s top striker this season, Raúl Jiménez, has only managed to earn 20 points thus far, and while there are plenty of players with higher tallies this is something Diego Simeone’s men will surely be looking to rectify – goals equal point potential, after all. Valencia’s top front man this season, Paco Alcacer, has a much healthier 110 point total so far owing to four goals from six games – so a home win could certainly be a plausible outcome, though with neither side having tasted defeat yet in the league this season there is much at stake – this one should be a cracker.
Finally, in Italy, we have another top of the table clash as champions – and league leaders – Juventus play host to second placed Roma. The two sides have 15 league points apiece, and both sides have had some great defensive outings since the season kicked off a few weeks ago, with goalkeepers and defenders dominating the biggest fantasy points scorers of either side. It should be yet another fantastic match, but could be very tight at the back – a goalless draw seems a tempting option, or perhaps a 1-1 outcome – goalkeepers Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus, 200 points) and Morgan De Sanctis (Roma, 170 points) have been in fine fettle this season and would have made fantastic inclusions for any managers with either name in their squad.
