London — Rarely has a Sunday of football been this “super”. Titanic matches both at home and on the continent fill the afternoon and evening, making for the ultimate excuse not to leave the sofa.
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Kicking off with the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park, we go through Ajax vs PSV, Arsenal vs Manchester United, Bayern Munich vs Borussia Dortmund, the Madrid derby and PSG vs Marseille, to name just the star attractions. We’ve organised your Sunday so you don’t have to think about it…
Everton vs Liverpool We begin on Merseyside with one of the most-anticipated derbies in the English football calendar and an occasion with even more riding on it than usual given Liverpool’s poor start to the season.
The pressure increased further on manager Brendan Rodgers following their tame 1-1 draw with Sion in the Europa League on Thursday and they have looked unconvincing in far too many games.
Everton enter the fixture in fifth place and have enjoyed some notable successes this season, including that 3-1 win over Chelsea, a 3-0 success at Southampton and Monday’s comeback from two down to win at West Brom.
Ajax vs PSV Eindhoven This is one of the most intense rivalries in Holland, between defending Eredivisie champions PSV Eindhoven and the current league leaders Ajax.
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Frank de Boer’s Ajax, who have home advantage for this one, remain unbeaten with six wins from seven as they chase what would be a 34th Dutch title.
PSV, managed by Phillip Cocu, lost star turns Memphis Depay and Georginio Wijnaldum over the summer and enter the fixture in fourth place, having also lost to CSKA Moscow in Europe on Wednesday.
Arsenal vs Manchester United This fixture may have lost some of the spice of a decade ago, when both were genuine title challengers year-after-year, but it still carries plenty of significance.
Louis van Gaal’s United are sitting proudly at the top of the table for the first time since Sir Alex Ferguson left them as champions in 2013, but this fixture represents their toughest challenge yet.
Arsenal have been hit-and-miss at times but are fourth, just three points behind United. The sides met three times last season, with United winning 2-1 at the Emirates, the league return ending in a 1-1 draw and Arsenal progressing in the FA Cup.
Bayern Munich vs Borussia Dortmund At the same time, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, currently first and second in the Bundesliga, meet in the German Klassiker.
Although only the eighth round of fixtures in the German top flight, this has the feeling of a must-not-lose game for Thomas Tuchel’s revived Dortmund side.
While they have played well this season, Bayern have been better and with a 100% record, already have a handy four-point lead that they’ll want to increase to seven.
Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid A big derby in Spain too as Atletico meet Real in the febrile atmosphere of the Vicente Calderon.
All eyes will be on Cristiano Ronaldo, who surpassed 500 career goals in midweek, to see if he can make more history by surpassing Raul’s club record of 323. Having drawn level in Malmo, he requires just one more.
Diego Simeone’s team were beaten by early pace-setters Villarreal last weekend and also lost to Benfica in the Champions League on Tuesday night, so aren’t in the best of form.
Paris Saint-Germain vs Marseille From one enduring grudge match to another as Paris Saint-Germain meet Marseille in the fixture known in France as “Le Classique”.
The Parisians are certainly the form team ahead of the fixture, sitting four points clear at the Ligue 1 summit as they bid to win their fourth successive title. They also recorded an impressive 3-0 win at Shakhtar Donetsk in midweek.
Marseille have already lost five times this season and sit in a lowly 15th position. They have lost two homes games this week, to Angers in the league and Slovan Liberec in the Europa League.
