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West London will be the scene of a huge derby Saturday as Arsene Wenger looks for his second straight win over Jose Mourinho and Chelsea.
Mourinho and the Blues have struggled since these sides first met in the Community Shield match at Wembley at the beginning of August.
Arsenal took home the hardware that day with a 1-0 victory and Wenger enjoyed his first ever victory over the “Special One”.
Petr Cech, who made 333 appearances for Chelsea over 11 seasons, will seek his fourth straight clean sheet for the Gunners. Arsenal is unbeaten in the League since the first match of the season that saw Cech struggle in a 2-0 loss to West Ham at the Emirates.
However, a shaky trip to Croatia that resulted in a 2-1 Champions League loss to Dinamo Zagreb on Wednesday (with Cech on the bench) will have the Gunners arriving at Stamford Bridge with more than a little doubt.
Chelsea, who currently sit one spot out of the relegation zone, are hoping to build off their 4-0 midweek victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The Blues have been awful on both sides of the ball in the first month of the Premier League. On defense, Chelsea has allowed a league worst 12 goals while only scoring seven of their own in the first five matches.
With Thibaut Courtois out for the foreseeable future after knee surgery, Mourinho will turn to Asmir Begovic in goal. On the attacking side, Eden Hazard will look to slot home his first goal of the year. The 2014-15 League Player of the Year has struggled to find his place with the addition of Pedro from Barcelona.
Hazard will also be smarting from an awful penalty miss that found the Belgian wunderkind watching Oscar slot home the second penalty awarded to the Blues against Maccabi.
All of the action from the Bridge can be seen on NBCSN at 7:45 AM EST on Saturday. Othe big matches in the Premier League include Manchester City hosting West Ham, Saturday at 12:30 p.m. EST on NBCSN while Manchester United travels to the South Coast to face Southampton on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. EST on NBCSN.
Sunday’s match of the day is in Portugal as the country’s two most successful clubs and also two of Mourinho’s former managerial posts, Porto and Benfica clash in O’Classico.
Benfica, owner of 34 Primeira Liga titles travel to the Estadio do Dragao to face their biggest rival, Porto, who has won the league 27 times.
While this is the biggest match in Portugal, the fixture will have great interest for fans of the Mexican National Team as well. The Dragons of Porto will likely start three Mexicans; Hector Herrera, Jesus “Tecatito” Corona and Miguel Layun. Herrera, in his third year with the club anchors the midfield and can unleash golazos!
Tecatito, a summer transfer from Dutch side Twente, will look to stay hot after scoring two goals in his debut last week in a 3-1 victory over FC Arouca.
Layun, on loan from Watford City in the Premier League, will look to stretch Benfica’s defenses with long runs from his Left back position.
The Eagles of Benfica enter the match flying high after crushing Belenenses 6-0 in their last league match and handling FK Astana 2-0 in their first match of Champions League group stages.
Jonas will look to add to his league-leading five goals, while Mexican striker Raul Jimenez hopes to continue a successful adjustment to the Portuguese game after his summer transfer from Atletico Madrid. The match can be seen Sunday at 2:15 p.m. EST on Univision Deportes.
In France, Zlatan and Paris Saint-Germain look to remain undefeated as they travel to third place Reims on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. EST on beIN Sports. Also, American Alejandro Bedoya and Nantes look to end a two game skid when they take the pitch against Saint-Etienne on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. ET on beIN Sports.
On to Italy, where the top two in the table meet as Inter Milan pays a visit to Chievo on Sunday at 6:30 a.m. EST on beIN Sports.
Juventus, still seeking their first league victory of season, will look to build off their European win at the Etihad over Manchester City on Tuesday when they visit Genoa on the Italian Riviera, Sunday at 9:00 a.m. EST on beIN Sports Espanol.
Roma, still humming from Alessandro Florenzi’s goal against Barcelona, welcome Sassuolo on Sunday at 9:00 a.m. EST on beIN Sports.
In La Liga, Real Madrid welcomes Granada to the Bernabeu on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. EST on beIN Sports as Cristiano Ronaldo looks to remain red hot. CR7 followed his five-goal performance against Espanyol last weekend with a hat trick on Tuesday against Shahktar Donetsk. Atletico Madrid travels to the Basque Country to face Eibar on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. EST on beIN Sports Espanol. Barcelona host Levante on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. EST on beIN Sports.
In the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich travel to newly promoted Darmstadt 98, which is undefeated through four games, Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. EST on Fox Sports 1, while Borussia Dortmund will try to keep pace as they host Chicharito and Bayer Leverkusen on Fox Sports 2, Sunday at 11:30 AM EST.
Moving to the western hemisphere, where in Liga MX, first place Pumas UNAM visit Mexico City to face struggling Cruz Azul on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. EST on Univision Deportes. Chiapas, fresh off thrashing then-league-leaders Leon 6-2 last weekend, travel to Toluca to face the Red Devils Sunday at 1:00 p.m. EST on Univision Deportes.
The MLS weekend showcase finds Bradley Wright-Philips and the Eastern Conference leading New York Red Bulls flying cross-country to face the Portland Timbers on Sunday at 5:00 p.m. EST on ESPN2. The other nationally broadcasted fixture sees the Philadelphia Union hosting the Houston Dynamo on Sunday night at 7:00 p.m. EST on Fox Sports 1.
