Our first tip comes from the Dutch Eredivisie where NEC goes up against FC Twente.
This fixture will be the first of NEC’s season, but, they have played two fairly recent pre-season friendlies that saw them beat Heracles 3-1 after being thumped 5-0 by Koln.
FC Twente’s only competitive fixture so far this campaign saw them defeat Serbian outfit FK Cukaricki 3-1 in Europa Conference League qualifying, as Daan Rots, Michel Vlap and Joshua Brenet all scored in the first half.
Lille hosts Auxerre on the opening weekend of Ligue 1 this Sunday.
This is the first meeting between the two since Lille defeated Auxerre 3-1 in the Coupe de France back in December 2021.
Last season, Lille could only manage a 10th place finish as they failed to retain their title, whilst Auxerre were promoted via the play-offs from Ligue 2.
In pre-season Lille showed signs of inconsistency, having beaten Cadiz 1-0, lost 2-0 against Espanyol and drawn 2-2 with Las Palmas. On the other hand, Auxerre managed to beat both Red Star and Troyes 3-2 and 1-0, as well as UNFP 3-1.
Sunday sees Premier League champions Manchester City travel to the London Stadium where they’ll face West Ham United in what should be an entertaining encounter.
When these two met back in mid-May, City earned a crucial point on their way to winning their fourth title in five seasons, as a Jack Grealish strike and Vladimir Coufal's own goal drew the scores level as the Hammers had initially taken a 2-0 lead through Jarrod Bowen. All of this action was before Riyad Mahrez had a late penalty saved by Lukasz Fabianski.
City’s only competitive match this season saw them lose 3-1 to Liverpool in the Community Shield, whilst West Ham drew 0-0 and 1-1 with Lens and Luton Town in pre-season after being beaten 3-1 by Rangers.
FC Koln and Schalke go head to head in the opening weekend of the German Bundesliga season.
Last time out, Koln finished seventh in the table, qualifying them for the Europa Conference League, whilst the visitors won Bundesliga 2 at the first time of asking.
The home side suffered a shock loss to Jahn Regensburg on penalties in the DFB Pokal last weekend, as they drew 2-2 having come back from 2-0 down.
Meanwhile, Schalke hammered Bremer SV 5-0 thanks to goals by Rodrigo Zalazar, Dominick Drexler (2), Sebastien Kmiec (own goal) and Marcin Kaminski.
The final tip on this list comes from the Coppa Italia where Serie A outfit Hellas Verona goes up against Serie C champions Bari.
Verona’s last competitive match was a 3-3 draw with Lazio at the tail end of the 2021/22 season, whilst their most recent pre-season fixture saw them play out another thriller as they defeated Cremonense 4-3.
To get to this round of the Coppa Italia, Bari managed to beat Calcio Padova 3-0 as Ruben Botta scored, whilst Walid Cheddira added a brace.
On Saturday (23/11/24) Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur go head-to-head at the Etihad Stadium in what is expected to be an intense Premier League showdown. This is your chanc...
