After suffering a post-World Cup slump, England Women are fancied to return to winning ways when hosting Brazil in a Middlesbrough friendly. The Lionesses enjoyed a 2-1 victory when these teams met in the SheBelieves Cup in America in February and prevailed 1-0 in Nottingham last October.
Real Madrid made the worst possible start to their Champions League campaign but are firm favourites to bounce back with a victory on Matchday 2. Zinedine Zidane’s men crashed to a 3-0 defeat against Paris St Germain at Parc des Princes and are out to 12/1 in the outright winner odds.
Kenny Jackett will ease some of the growing pressure on the Portsmouth manager if he can mastermind an EFL Cup win against bitter rivals Southampton. Pompey fans chanted for Jackett to be sacked during Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Wycombe and the team have made a poor start to their League One campaign.
Liverpool have bigger fish to fry this season but are firm favourites to avoid an upset when they start their EFL Cup campaign with a trip to League One opposition. MK Dons are huge underdogs and back-to-back home defeats suggests this should be a routine win for the Reds regardless of team selection.
Leeds are sure to be fired up for Saturday’s Championship clash with Derby, having been knocked out of the play-offs by the Rams last season. United were surprisingly beaten 4-2 at Elland Road in mid-May after coming out on top in three previous meetings during that campaign.
Barcelona have had some horror shows on the road in Europe over the past couple of years and may settle for starting out with a draw at Borussia Dortmund. The Catalan giants are unbeaten in 14 Champions League pool-stage games, but will see this as a tough trip to make first up in Group F.
Both Derby and Cardiff are not doing as well as expected in the Championship and each manager may settle for a draw when they meet. The Rams are yet to win at Pride Park after three league matches on home turf, while the Bluebirds have only picked up one point from the same number of away games.
Scotland’s hopes of qualifying for Euro 2020 are hanging by a thread after Friday’s loss to Russia and they face another daunting test against Belgium next. The Red Devils prevailed 3-0 when these teams met in Brussels and have rattled off five straight wins in Group I, with 15 goals scored and only one conceded.
Mexico have gone nine games against Argentina without a win but may be a value bet to buck that trend when they meet in a San Antonio friendly. El Tri have named an experienced squad for this contest, which takes place a week ahead of their Independence Day, and are coming off a 3-0 triumph over USA.
Bitter rivals Germany and Netherlands are set for another blockbuster battle in Hamburg but we just favour the hosts in this Euro 2020 qualifier. Die Mannschaft have already defeated the Dutch 3-2 in Amsterdam in Group C and that should allow them to play with more freedom here.
Torino played to Wolves’ strengths in the first leg of their Europa League tie and it may be a case of more of the same at Molineux. Wanderers returned from Italy with a 3-2 lead, despite only having 37 per cent of the possession, and can again catch their opponents out on the counter-attack.
Rangers returned from Poland with a satisfactory goalless stalemate against Legia Warsaw and will now be confident of reaching the Europa League group stage. Steven Gerrard’s side have rattled off four straight home wins this season, with 17 goals scored and just two conceded at Ibrox.
Celtic were good value for last week’s 2-0 Europa League win over AIK and are fancied to confirm their superiority with another success in Sweden. The Hoops had chances to increase that advantage when their opponents were forced to chase the game late on and can capitalise on a similar scenario.
A new era has begun for both Derby and West Brom and Saturday’s Pride Park clash will help to show which is in better shape to push for a return to the Premier League. Both teams went close last season but missed out in the Championship play-offs and now have new managers in charge.