By Canadian Press

MATCHDAY: Real Madrid visits Atletico in their first derby of the season, PSG hosts Marseille

Sep 23, 2023 | 4:14 PM

A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Sunday:

ENGLAND

Ange Postecoglou faces his first north London derby as Tottenham manager with Spurs flying high in the Premier League. A win at Arsenal on Sunday would be a statement of intent after Spurs’ unbeaten start in the league. But history is against Postecoglou. Arsenal has dominated this fixture, last losing at home to Tottenham in the league in 2011. Liverpool, which is level on points with Tottenham and Arsenal, hosts West Ham. Brighton faces Bournemouth at home. Chelsea is aiming to turn its form around at home to Aston Villa and Newcastle travels to Sheffield United.

SPAIN

Real Madrid visits Atletico Madrid in their first derby of the season. Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti says forward Vinícius Júnior will be ready to play after being sidelined with a hamstring injury for the past month. Atletico will try to stop Jude Bellingham from adding to his six goals in as many games since joining Madrid. A win for Madrid would restore its two-point lead of the league. Atletico needs to win to stay in touch with its top rival that is already eight points ahead. Real Betis and Villarreal play Cadiz and Rayo Vallecano, respectively, looking to bounce back from losses in the Europa League. Las Palmas hosts Granada in a clash of club promoted for this season.

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FRANCE

Marseille is in crisis as it prepares to face bitter rival Paris Saint-Germain in the French league’s biggest game. Still unbeaten and one point above PSG in the standings, Marseille is off to a decent start but has been rocked by fans’ protests ahead of the game that led to the departure of coach Marcelino this week. PSG hosts Marseille on the back of a solid 2-0 win over Dortmund in the Champions League during which Kylian Mbappé scored his eighth goal this season. Marco Asensio and Nuno Mendes remain sidelined with injuries.

ITALY

Inter Milan will be confident of maintaining its perfect start to the season when it visits Empoli in Serie A. Inter has maximum points from its four opening matches in the league, conceding just one goal in the process. That came in a 5-1 demolition of AC Milan last weekend. Empoli has lost all four of its matches and has yet to score a goal on its return to the Italian top flight. Defending champion Napoli will look to get back to winning ways in the league when it visits Bologna. After losing to Lazio, it had to fight back from two goals down to secure a 2-2 draw at Genoa last weekend. Roma won its first game of the season in style last weekend, beating Empoli 7-0, and will look to build on that at Torino. Cagliari and Udinese are still seeking their first wins of the season and they play Atalanta and Fiorentina, respectively.

GERMANY

Bayer Leverkusen is seeking a win over promoted Heidenheim to move back level on points with Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga. Leverkusen, coached by Xabi Alonso, remains unbeaten in all competitions this season and the only blemish on its otherwise-perfect record was a thrilling 2-2 draw with Bayern last week. Leverkusen is coming off a 4-0 win over Swedish club Hacken in the Europa League on Thursday while Heidenheim got its first-ever Bundesliga win last week against Werder Bremen. Eintracht Frankfurt hosts Freiburg in a meeting of two teams with mixed starts to the season.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

The Associated Press