Last weekend’s watchlist was just the beginning.
Now that the Premier League and Serie A are in full swing, as well as La Liga and several other European leagues, there’s so much football to watch on a given weekend. That’s not to mention the NFL preseason, which, despite my general trepidation toward giving that any sort of meaningful attention, is still somewhat fun given that it’s football and we all love football — in all its forms.
There’s so much to chew on with this weekend’s slate of games. From the Premier League’s opening match with Arsenal and Coventry City, to Inter Milan’s quest to repeat as Serie A champions with its first game against Monza, to the Seattle Seahawks battling the Tennessee Titans on national television in the preseason, there’s just a lot to like.
As usual, I’m going to try my best to tell you what you need to have on your screens. This is not a comprehensive list of every game that’s happening this weekend, though there are quite a few here. It’s simply just a list of contests that I believe are interesting and highlight the stories that football is trying to tell us. From fun, wacky La Liga matches to important bouts in the Premier League, there’s something for everybody here.
So, without further ado, let’s figure out what deserves the big screen.
Note: All times are CT.
Friday Afternoon
Primary Screen: Arsenal vs. Coventry City — 2 p.m. — USA Network
Secondary Screen: Real Betis vs. Real Sociedad — 2 p.m. — ESPN Deportes/ESPN+
Welcome back, Premier League.
The opening game of the EPL season features plenty of intrigue. Arsenal’s title defense begins, and all indications from the summer are that it’s going to be an easy-breezy march right back to the top. While there won’t be any answers to whether that’s actually the case before, during or after this game, this is the start of the journey no matter what. For Coventry, this is its first match in the top flight in 25 years. Congrats, you get the reigning champions!
If that somehow gets boring, Real Betis and Real Sociedad are sitting right there on the second screen. I don’t have some grand argument for why you need to watch every second of that one, but it’s La Liga soccer on a Friday afternoon between two teams capable of at least being interesting this season. That’ll do.
Friday Night
Primary Screen: Jets at Steelers — 6 p.m. — NFL Network
Secondary Screen: Packers at Broncos — 8 p.m. — NFL Network
The Aaron Rodgers revenge tour!
Except he’s not playing.
Whomp whomp.
That leaves us with two NFL preseason games that I’m not going to sit here and pretend are anything more than NFL preseason games. But it’s Friday night, the regular season is only a couple of weeks away and there are worse ways to spend an evening than convincing yourself that the fourth-string receiver who catches six passes against a bunch of insurance salesmen is about to become a star.
Saturday Morning
Primary Screen: Brentford vs. Tottenham Hotspur — 11:30 a.m. — NBC
Secondary Screen: Nottingham Forest vs. Leeds United — 9 a.m. — Peacock
Tertiary Screen: Athletic Club vs. Sevilla — 10 a.m. — ESPN2
Also worth tracking:
Hull City vs. Manchester United — 6:30 a.m. — USA Network
Everton vs. Crystal Palace — 9 a.m. — USA Network
We are so back.
Saturday begins at 6:30 in the morning with Manchester United traveling to newly promoted Hull City and basically doesn’t stop from there. United should wipe the floor with Hull on any given day, but this is sports; weird things happen. More importantly, it’s the first game of the first Premier League Saturday, something I’ve been waiting for months. Set the alarm, make some coffee and enjoy.
The real meat of the window comes a little later. Brentford enters the season with what might be its most talented squad of all time, while Tottenham, on the heels of back-to-back 17th-place finishes, looks to utilize the talent curated this past summer into a team that is once again near the top of the table. As a Tottenham fan, I will obviously be watching. I’m also fully aware that optimism involving this particular football club has historically been a dangerous endeavor.
Then there’s Leeds. For a variety of reasons, Leeds is just a squad I’ve gravitated toward over the last week or so. I don’t really know why. I’m fully aware that’s not great football analysis, but I’m not going to simply make something up. They’re playing Nottingham Forest, a team I’m considerably less optimistic about, and I want to see whether my completely unscientific belief in Leeds survives even one weekend.
Saturday Afternoon
Primary Screen: Espanyol vs. Real Madrid — 3 p.m. — ABC
Secondary Screen: Inter Milan vs. Monza — 11:30 a.m. — Paramount+
Tertiary Screen: Valencia vs. Celta Vigo — 12:30 p.m. — ESPN Deportes/ESPN+
Real Madrid’s first game of the season. An absolutely loaded cast of characters — Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior and so much more. And José Mourinho at the top.
The reality television simply doesn’t get better than this.
Before that, Inter Milan begins its Serie A campaign against Monza. Inter enters (haha, get it?) as the heavy favorite and is unbeaten over its last 19 matches, meaning any sort of upset would be quite the achievement. Valencia and Celta Vigo are also hanging around if you have another screen available and would like to fully commit your Saturday to the cause.
Saturday Night
Primary Screen: Cowboys at Cardinals — 9 p.m. — NFL Network
Secondary Screen: Bills at Browns — 12 p.m. — NFL Network
Tertiary Screen: Eagles at Patriots — 6 p.m. — NFL Network
Also worth tracking:
Giants at Dolphins — 3 p.m. — NFL Network
OK, yes, Bills-Browns starts at noon. I understand how clocks work. But the NFL slate basically stretches across the entire day, so we’re grouping all of this together and moving on with our lives.
The Browns’ quarterback competition is probably one of the more fascinating stories of the NFL preseason. Deshaun Watson got the start last week, and now it’s Shedeur Sanders’ turn to take the reins in the first quarter against Buffalo. All indications say that Sanders is the one chasing the spot more so than Watson, though an outstanding day at the office for Shedeur could be something that changes the tide of the battle. At the very least, it would provide us with several days of completely reasonable and level-headed quarterback discourse.
Dallas and Arizona also give us one of those rare instances where teams that will play each other during the regular season match up in August. We probably won’t get much insight into how that game is actually going to go on Nov. 1, but it’s an interesting storyline nonetheless. Plus, the Cowboys have somehow made it through an offseason without anything completely insane happening, so perhaps we should enjoy this peaceful bliss while it lasts.
Sunday Morning
Primary Screen: Newcastle United vs. Liverpool — 10:30 a.m. — USA Network
Secondary Screen: Manchester City vs. Bournemouth — 8 a.m. — USA Network
Tertiary Screen: Atlético Madrid vs. Villarreal — 10 a.m. — ESPN2
The post-Pep Guardiola era at Manchester City officially begins against Bournemouth, and I’m eager to see what this operation looks like without the man who has defined it for the last decade. Bournemouth was also one of the upstart teams from last season, so City isn’t exactly being handed a ceremonial opening opponent while everyone waves goodbye to Pep.
But Newcastle-Liverpool gets the big television. Andoni Iraola gets his first crack at a league game with Liverpool, and he gets to do it at St. James’ Park. That seems like a perfectly calm and reasonable place to begin a new era. Liverpool has enormous expectations, and Newcastle — despite one of the most lackluster and disappointing summers of my lifetime — is still more than capable of pulling off a stunner. Oh, and the atmosphere should be absolutely tremendous. Can’t-miss stuff.
Atlético and Villarreal give us a perfectly good third-screen option at the same time. Atlético began its season with a 2-0 win over Málaga, while Villarreal settled for a 2-2 draw against Racing Santander. If either has dreams of making the Spanish title race something more than another Barcelona-Real Madrid affair, these are the kinds of games that become rather important.
Sunday Afternoon
Primary Screen: Elche vs. Barcelona — 2:30 p.m. — ABC
Secondary Screen: Torino vs. AC Milan — 1:45 p.m. — Paramount+
Tertiary Screen: Getafe vs. Racing Santander — 12:30 p.m. — ESPN Deportes/ESPN+
Also worth tracking:
Frosinone vs. Juventus — 11:30 a.m. — Paramount+
Barcelona’s first game of the season. Rodri is on the scene. So is Anthony Gordon. This team is the favorite to win La Liga, and I’d be hard-pressed to believe it won’t make an attempt at the Champions League, too. Elche isn’t exactly expected to derail those plans on opening weekend, but our first real look at this Barcelona team is enough to put it on the Primary Screen.
There are a couple of ways to approach Torino-AC Milan. From an American perspective — which I am, and I know many readers of The Football Corner are as well — Christian Pulisic is a major draw. The caveat is that he might not play, though he did recently return to training following his recovery from the bone bruise and microfracture he suffered in his lower leg during the United States’ Round of 16 defeat to Belgium in early July. Regardless of how you feel about Pulisic after his performance in this past World Cup — I’ve made my thoughts well known on how disappointed I was in him — he’s still a draw for an American audience.
And if you’re still desperate for more, Getafe-Racing Santander exists. I make no promises about what that experience will entail.
Sunday Night
Primary Screen: Seahawks at Titans — 7 p.m. — FOX
Don’t have NFL Network but have been pining to watch the NFL for months? Well, you get your first chance — at least on a national level — to do so with the Seahawks and Titans on Sunday night.
Is it preseason football? Yes.
Are we going to learn anything that completely changes our understanding of either team? Probably not.
But it’s an NFL game on FOX on a Sunday night. Squint hard enough and you can almost convince yourself September is already here.
Monday Afternoon
Primary Screen: Fulham vs. Chelsea — 2 p.m. — USA Network
Secondary Screen: Roma vs. Fiorentina — 1:45 p.m. — Paramount+
Tertiary Screen: Bologna vs. Lazio — 11:30 a.m. — Paramount+
The Battle of Fulham!
That’s not what it’s called. That’s simply what I’ve made it up to be.
Fulham is looking to start a season where it stays up in the Premier League, while Chelsea is chasing rings. That’s a fairly significant difference in expectations, but the beauty of the opening weekend is that everybody starts with the same number of points and can convince themselves for at least a few hours that this might be their year.
Roma has always kind of been a personal favorite for me in Italy, so I’ll be keeping an eye on its game against Fiorentina, too. Additionally, Florence is one of my favorite cities that I’ve ever visited, and I consider it a shame that I wasn’t able to visit Fiorentina’s ground. There are obviously some actual talking points when it comes to the game that are important, but it’s the personal side of this contest that interests me the most.
And Bologna-Lazio starts the whole thing before lunch.
Monday morning soccer. Monday afternoon soccer. Premier League and Serie A simultaneously while most of us are theoretically supposed to be accomplishing something productive.
What’s not to love?