All articles by: Jools Jordan-Probert

Benfica vs Man Utd – Champions League Group A Preview

Benfica vs Man Utd – Champions League Preview – Jose Mourinho leads his undefeated Manchester United team to one of his former clubs seeking to all but secure The Red Devils passage through to the knockout stage of the Champions League.

Manchester United maintained their unbeaten start to the campaign with a resilient 0-0 draw at Anfield on Saturday and despite the turgid performance on the weekend, Mourinho seemed relatively pleased to have taken a point at a rival, with his side remaining in 2nd place in the Premier League in the process – just behind neighbours Manchester City.

The Red Devils have also started excellently in Europe, with convincing results and performances against both FC Basel and CSKA Moscow in 3-0 and 4-1 wins respectively. This blistering start means that victory in Portugal will almost guarantee qualification for the knockout stages, with just three matches played.

Jonas is Benfica’s top scorer so far this season Photo Credit: skysports.com

This is down to Benfica’s inability to pick up a single point to date, most notably after a 5-0 demolishing at the hands of Basel, and the fact that the Swiss side and CSKA are three points afield of United and are now to play each other in consecutive fixtures – the twice European Cup victors will be a minimum of five points ahead of third place with a win against Benfica.

Rui Vitoria’s outfit aren’t enjoying the best start to the season. Alongside their European deficiencies, the Encarnados are 3rd in Liga Nos, already three points behind fellow Lisbon team Sporting and five behind domestic nemesis Porto. A big performance against one of the world’s biggest teams could be the spark Benfica need.

There is history between the two clubs, in fact, one of the aforementioned European Cup victories – and indeed United and an English club’s first in the competition – was against Benfica, where a George Best inspired Manchester United claimed the trophy 4-1 (a.e.t) against Eusebio’s Benfica at Wembley.

Matic returns to a former club when facing Benfica Photo Credit: skysports.com

Additionally, it isn’t only Mourinho that has represented Benfica before but Nemanja Matic and most recently Victor Lindelof too –  the latter switching to Lisbon for Manchester for approximately £30m fee in the summer.

Team News –

Long term injuries to the goliaths Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic see them still ruled out. There are major doubts over the fitness of the near-returning Marcos Rojo, and Michael Carrick, Marouane Fellaini and Eric Bailly who all missed Saturday’s crunch fixture with Liverpool.

Benfica right-back Andre Almeida is unavailable through suspension, after his ridiculously idiotic tackle against Basel drew a deserved straight-red card.

 

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Leicester City vs West Brom – Match Preview

Leicester City vs West Brom – Match Preview – 2016 Premier League Champions Leicester City are desperate for a win to get themselves out of the relegation zone against fellow Midlands side and also out-of-form, West Bromwich Albion.

Both sides are winless from the 19th August, nearly two months ago, and after eventual solid mid-table finishes last campaign, will be concerned about the current state of results.

A far cry from the title winning team, as current manager Craig Shakespeare steadied the sinking ship left by Claudio Ranieri (amidst conspicuous circumstances) and remarkably led the club to the Champions League quarter-finals last season.

This year Leicester have just one win and five points to their name and currently sit in 18th position in the table, just ahead of Bournemouth and Palace. A win would take The Foxes level on points with a host of clubs and push them right up into 13th on goal difference – so panic is not required at this stage. Generally speaking though, the departure of Danny Drinkwater and the mix-up regarding the signing of Adrien Silva has left Shakespeare’s side lightweight in central midfield.

Tony Pulis will be aggrieved but not overly surprised at his erratic team’s results, quite often a hot and cold team, after winning both of the season’s opening matches 2-0, only three more points have been picked up in the five games since.

Krychowiak has quality but is yet to perform to his best for the Baggies Photo Credit: skysports.com

The signing of Gregor Krychowiak – and the massive estimated wages of 110k that comes with – signal West Brom’s intent to be more than just ‘safe’ every season, so recent results will be concerning. However, once again worth reiterating is the campaign’s early stage and a win over Leicester would elevate The Baggies into the top half.

For teams like Leicester and West Brom picking up points in games against sides of similar standing could be crucial. Both sides want to kick on and progress, but ultimately staying afloat in the Premier League and experiencing the riches and exposure that comes with it is the be all and end all – and either team elongating their poor form could prove costly in such a competitive division.

Team News
Shakespeare doesn’t have too many injury concerns, with just Matty James and Robert Huth unlikely to feature.

Pulis may be more worried, as both James Morrison and Nacer Chadli are major doubts for the trip, while Hal Robson-Kanu may be lacking match fitness following his international exertions with Wales.

Player to Watch
As mentioned above, Polish international Gregor Krychowiak came to The Hawthorns with big wages but arrives with a reputation to match. Despite his struggles at Paris Saint-Germain, the defensive midfielder has proven himself as an exceptional player both in Spain and Europe with Sevilla on countless occasions and on the international stage with Poland too. Excellent in the transition, 47-times capped Krychowiak reads the game superbly and has great passing ability to both prevent opposition moves and instigate his own for the team. Alongside all the necessary physical attributes to thrive in the Premier League, if the ex-PSG man can find his feet then West Brom have truly landed a major coup.

 

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Wolves vs Aston Villa – Match Preview

Wolves vs Aston Villa – Match Preview – The Midlands plays host to the Championship’s most exciting game of the weekend as 2nd place Wolves look to continue their excellent start to the season at home against the division’s form team Aston Villa.

Two of England’s true sleeping giants, both Wolves and Villa are desperate to improve on last campaign’s languid respective 15th and 13th place finishes and return to the country’s top tier.

Ex-Porto and Valencia manager Nuno Espirito Santo has been appointed to achieve just that, in what many have stated is a huge coup for the West Midlands side, and enjoyed his start to life in England – he has led Wolves to within one point of topping the division, including wins over Middlesbrough, Derby County and Hull City on the way.

Since the inevitable relegation from the Premier League, Aston Villa have spent an awful lot of money to make the stay in the Championship as short as possible.
After another sluggish start, Steve Bruce’s team have won their last four on the bounce, with 5 clean sheets in their last six.

In fact, Villa haven’t lost since 15th August, and Bruce will be looking to prolong this resurgence to increase his record of the most promotions from the second tier into the Premier League come the end of the season. Currently just outside the play-off places in 7th, a win would surely put Villa right where they want to be in amongst the promotion mixer.

In an ever-exciting season, this game will surely prove to highlight its unpredictable nature – it truly could go either way.
With just four points separating the sides, gaining a victory over the other team could prove vital – damaging a potential promotion rival would be a bonus.

Coady returns from a one match ban this weekend Photo Credit: skysports.com

Team News 
Conor Coady returns from suspension to become available again for Wolves, while the international players – Romain Saiss, Ruben Neves all return to club action fit and firing.
Willy Boly and Ryan Bennett are unlikely to recover from their injuries in time to make the squad.

For Villa, Jack Grealish will remain unable to make his first appearance of the season and Mile Jedinak, Andre Green, Keinan Davis and Henri Lansbury all face late fitness tests before a decision is made on their inclusion.

Kodjia can fire Villa into the promotion places this season Photo Credit: skysports.com

Player to Watch
Despite a sluggish start to this season, Jonathan Kodjia has hit the ground running at Villa Park since his £12-13m switch from Bristol City last summer. The Ivory Coast international got off the mark in Villa’s last game, scoring the only goal against Bolton Wanderers to help his side claim all three points. A return to form could signal trouble for Wolves and the rest of the league, and not many would bet against him firing Villa into the play-offs or possibly beyond if he matches or betters his 19 league goals from last campaign.

 

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