The Fußball Chatter

After the completion of the playoff rounds, the UEFA Champions League draw for the group stages where done yesterday as the road to Istanbul, the venue of this season's final has began with the first round of games starting on the 16th and 17th of September. Let's see all eight groups and see who are likely to go through to the knockout stages. Group A: Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Club Brugge and Galatasaray PSG and Real Madrid are heavy favourites to go through with Club Brugge and Galatasaray having a very thin chance of going through. For PSG and Real, it's who that will top the group. Both teams underwhelmed last season getting eliminated in the Round of 16 in incredible fashion. Madrid have brought Zidane back to shake up the squad while the Parisians still have the Neymar situation going on with his future still uncertain. With Zidane's experience and wealth of talent at his disposal, Madrid will top the group with PSG going through as well. Fina

The Premier League season is still at its infancy but we have a pulsating game to look forward to when Liverpool host Arsenal on Saturday at Anfield. Both teams are the only ones that have a hundred percent over their last two games meaning something's got to give. History is not on the Gunner's side. They have won at Anfield since September 2012 and have conceded 22 goals in their last six games. Given their poor record away from home last season, this is something Arsenal need to rectify. Liverpool do have their fearsome front three plus the presence of Virgil van Dijk but the Gunners do have weapons of their own that could Liverpool. Aresnal's record signing, Nicolas Pépé will be given his full debut and will play alongside Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre Emerick-Aubamenyang, with a lot of attention on the Ivorian. Pépé will enable Arsenal to exploit the flanks with Pépé's direct running as well as his pressing which will be important in defending from the front

The Italian Serie A starts this weekend as the defending champions Juventus play against Parma on Saturday at the Ennio Tardini. Serie A looks set to different as Juventus' rivals are stepping up their game to challenge the Old Lady for the Scudetto. Here's the preview on the top six this upcoming season. AS Roma The Giallorossi were unable to replicate what they did in the 2017/2018 season where they finished 3rd and reached the semifinals of the Champions League. They lost Radja Nainggolan and Alisson and spent a lot of money on new recruits under former director of football Monchi. They finished 6th last season, three points behind Inter Milan who finished fourth, unrest from the ultras and the sacking of Eusebio Di Francesco. Claudio Ranieri steadied the ship towards the end of last season but it was evident that this season is a reset. Former Shaktar Donetsk coach Paulo Fonseca was appointed during the summer and has largely kept the squad intact. However,

Philippe Coutinho has moved to German heavyweights Bayern Munich on a season long loan deal from Barcelona with an option to buy at around €120m. Just after moving to Catalonia from Liverpool for £142m just over 18 months ago, making him the fourth most expensive signing of all-time, Barcelona have shipped him out of the Camp Nou. Did Barcelona utilized him well enough which he could get at Bayern or is he a big fish that needs a smaller pond? Coutinho's time at the Camp Nou was a short but unsuccessful one. Seen as the successor to Andrés Iniesta, the Brazilian actually started off quite well scoring 10 goals in 22 appearances for the Catalan club. That's not to the form he displayed in his final six months at Liverpool, scoring 12 goals and creating 8 assists in 20 appearances in all competitions including 2017/18. Following the departure of Iniesta, Coutinho, aside from Messi, would become the creative hub of the team but that wasn't to be. He was unable to replic

VAR deny City win over Tottenham Video Assistant Referee or VAR as it has been called left its mark very early in the season as it denied a late winner from Gabriel Jesus for Manchester City as the Champions were held to a 2-2 draw against Tottenham on Saturday at the Etihad. City were at their dominant best from the get go with 30 shots, 10 on target compared to Spurs 3 shots with 2 on target. xG even started a similar story with City's expected goals at 3.23 to Spurs' 0.11. Pep's side went in front from Raheem Sterling, who headed the ball from the near post with an excellent cross from Kevin De Bruyne. Spurs exploited an error from Ederson, who was out of position, allowing Érik Lamela to score from Spurs' only shot in the game at that point. City will score again from Kevin De Bruyne supplying another cross, this time for Sergio Agüero. In the second half, Lucas Moura came off the bench to score the equaliser from a corner forcing Guardiola to remove Agüero for

The German Top Flight or the Bundesliga starts this weekend as the defending champions Bayern Munich kick things off tonight at the Allianz Arena against Hertha Berlin. The Bundesliga is renowned for its promotion of youth, heavy pressing and infrastructure. This preview will be on teams who are the top four teams in the league and where they will likely finish come May next year.  Bayer Leverkusen After missing out on the Champions League spots on the final day of the season in 2017/18, Leverkusen took it to the last day of the season again but they made it into the top four with 58 points. Three points more than 5th placed Borussia Mönchengladbach. Peter Bosz, who was previously in Borussia Dortmund, steadied the ship when he arrived at the BayArena after Leverkusen endured a slow start to last season. Bosz has signed four new players with Kerem Dimirbay, their biggest money signing from Hoffenheim. However, they lost their playmaker in Julian Brandt, who moved

The Spanish La Liga makes its return this weekend with all 20 teams have a renewed feeling of hope and success this upcoming season. This will be exclusively be on the top three teams in the division namely Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid. All three teams have done a tremendous amount of business this summer but what will that bring this season for each of them? Atlético Madrid Last season, many tipped Atlético Madrid to take Barcelona all the way in the title race. However, that wasn't the case. Los Rojiblancos finished 2nd but were 11 points behind the Champions Barcelona which was very disappointing as they were far behind for much of last season. This season is one for change in Atléti. The likes of Juanfran, Felipe Luís and Diego Godín, who have been crucial to Atlético's success under Simeone are gone. Key assets like Antonie Grizemann, Rodri, Lucas Hernández have also gone for big money with a combined total of €270m. Atlético have lost k

With the Premier League now underway, there are various players that we will be looking out for this season and to see how important they will be for their sides this season. Here are the ten players to watch this season. Nicolas Pépé After their humiliating defeat in the Europa League Final in May, many thought that the Gunners wouldn't be able make any big money signings this summer after failing to qualify for the Champions League for the three consecutive year. However, they have arguably pulled off the biggest coup of the transfer window by signing Ivorian winger Nicolas Pépé from Lille for a club record fee of £72 million. With 33 goals involvements last season in Ligue 1, Pépé will give the Gunners more speed and width to their attack making them more threatening on the counter attack. Gunner fans have every right to be excited about Pépé and the prospect of him playing alongside Lacazette and Aubameyang as they have improved on an attack that scored 73 goal

Opening Weekend to the EPL After three months away, the Premier League returned for another season. The game was between Liverpool and Norwich City at Anfield on Friday. The Reds laid down an early marker, winning the game 4-1 with Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Divock Origi all getting on the scoresheet. The victory was however soured with Alisson being forced out due to injury with Adrián making his debut in the process. Manchester started off their campaign with a 5-0 win away at West Ham with Raheem Sterling scoring a hat-trick with Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Agüero netting as well. It was also the first game where we saw the effect of VAR, which is introduced to the Premier League this season, as the defending champions had two decisions go against them during the game. Both Spurs and Arsenal started their campaigns with wins, Sheffield United earned a decent draw against Bournemouth, Brighton and Burnley got big wins while the games between Everton against Crystal Palace

The Premier League returns tomorrow as we continue the buildup to the new season previewing all the teams and where they will finish come May next year. Our final preview is on the top six. Manchester United. Final Position: 6th Manchester United endured a disappointing year last season. They fired José Mourinho and appointed club legend Ole Gunnar Solskjær who started off with a big lift but fell flat at the end, finishing 6th with 66 points. 31 points behind Liverpool and 32 points behind Manchester City. They have changed their approach in the transfer market, going for youth rather than the star player. They have let go of striker Romelu Lukaku but have signed defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka from Crystal Palace, Daniel James from Swansea City and Harry Maguire from Leicester City for £80m, a record fee for a defender. Despite the signings they have made, there's still some holes in the United squad particularly in their midfield as they short on bodies and are heavily re