Nottingham Forest host Sheffield United on Friday evening
Nottingham Forest welcome Sheffield United to the City Ground on Friday evening as both sides aim to bounce back from defeat on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.
Steve Cooper‘s side suffered a 2-1 loss at Arsenal in their first match of the new campaign, while the Blades were beaten 1-0 by Crystal Palace at Bramall Lane.
Having avoided humiliation against Arsenal, the Tricky Trees will back themselves to pick up a positive result on their return to the City Ground, where they enjoyed plenty of success last term, losing only five of their 19 home league games in 2022-23.
In fact, Nottingham Forest claimed 30 of their 38 Premier League points on home soil last season, defeating the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool while drawing with Manchester City and Chelsea, so they will be hopeful of overcoming newly-promoted Sheffield United.
Sheffield United’s need for new signings was made even clearer last weekend as the Premier League newcomers lost 1-0 to Crystal Palace at Bramall Lane, with the final scoreline undoubtedly flattering the home side.
Having gained automatic promotion from the Championship last season, it was vital that Sheff Utd bolstered their squad ahead of the new campaign, but manager Paul Heckingbottom has seen two of his best players leave Bramall Lane this summer.
With the City Ground faithful behind Nottingham Forest, they have proved that they can compete with – and get the better of – the Premier League’s top teams on home soil.
Newly-promoted Sheffield United will not make life easy for the hosts, but Cooper’s side should have enough quality to claim all three points on Friday.
Credit: sportsmole.co.uk
Valencia welcome newly-promoted Las Palmas today
Valencia will be aiming to make it successive wins at the start of their 2023-24 La Liga campaign when they welcome newly-promoted Las Palmas to Mestalla on Friday night.
Los Che will enter the contest off the back of an impressive 2-1 victory over Sevilla at Estadio Ramon, while Las Palmas began life back at this level of football with a 1-1 draw at home to Mallorca.
Valencia finished a disappointing 16th in La Liga last season, which was their worst campaign in Spain’s top flight since their relegation to the Segunda Division in 1985-86.
Under the circumstances, a top-half finish in La Liga this season would be considered a success, and they will be aiming to improve their away form in 2023-24, having only picked up 13 points from their 19 matches on their travels last term.
Las Palmas were last in La Liga during the 2017-18 campaign, spending five years in the second tier before securing a return by finishing second in the Segunda Division last season.
As a result, anything above 18th would be considered a success this season, and it will be fascinating to see how the team perform this term under highly-rated head coach Garcia Pimienta.
This game has all of the makings of a very interesting match, and both sides will certainly believe that they can hurt the other in the final third of the field. It would not be a surprise to see a draw here, but we have a feeling that Valencia will edge a close match in front of their own supporters.
Credit: sportsmole.co.uk
Tottenham, Manchester Unitedclashin EPL headline fixture
The headline fixture in gameweek two of the 2023-24 Premier League season sees Tottenham Hotspur welcome Manchester United to their North London headquarters on Saturday evening.
Ange Postecoglou‘s side began their new campaign with a 2-2 draw away to London rivals Brentford last weekend, while the Red Devils scraped a controversial 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Andre Onana earned his keep for the most part, but the Cameroonian shot-stopper survived a heart-in-mouth moment in the dying embers, as neither Simon Hooper nor VAR official Michael Salisbury deemed his collision with Sasa Kalajdzic inside the box to be penalty-worthy.
Manchester United now travel to North London having avoided defeat in each of their last five matches with Tottenham.
The early attacking indications for Tottenham under Postecoglou are promising, and James Maddison in particular ought to have been licking his lips while watching Wolves create chance after chance on Monday night.
Not one of Man United’s attackers did themselves justice on the opening matchweek either, and while the permeable Spurs backline is still unlikely to emerge unscathed, we have faith in Postecoglou to mastermind a noteworthy win in his first Premier League home contest.
Credit: sportsmole.co.uk
Napoli start title defence away toFrosinone
Beginning the defence of their Scudetto in Saturday’s Serie A opener, reigning champions Napoli start the 2023-24 season at promoted Frosinone.
While the hosts have returned to Italy’s top flight for the third time in 10 years, their first visitors stormed to the title last term; ending 33 years of hurt.
Lifting the Scudetto for the first time since 1990 brought both relief and joy to the one-club city of Naples last season, as a scintillating Napoli side wrapped up top spot in Serie A with five games to spare.
After such a stellar campaign, in which they also suffered a disappointing Champions League exit to Milan after sprinting through the group stage, Napoli then lost their cherished coach Luciano Spalletti.
Napoli tackle their first Serie A fixture having won each of their last six games on matchday one – already a club record.In addition, the reigning champion of Italy has won their opening game in 10 of the last 11 years, while Napoli have never before lost their first Serie A fixture when facing a promoted side.
Such is the size of their task this weekend, Serie B champions Frosinone will host the Scudetto holders with some trepidation; having lost all four of the clubs’ previous top-flight meetings Napoli, conceding 15 goals in the process.
Although Napoli must adapt to life without their Scudetto-winning coach, they can get off to a winning start against promoted opponents who may need some time to settle back into Serie A.
Credit: sportsmole.co.uk
