24.08. (Sat) 13:45 Fulham - Arsenal

Arsenal are confident that they can bounce back from a shock home loss to Aston Villa when they visit Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday.



Arsene Wenger's men made a dreadful start to their league campaign, suffering a 3-1 home defeat to a Villa side who only just avoided relegation last term but the Gunners recovered strongly on Wednesday, posting a terrific 3-0 win at Fenerbahce in the first leg of their Champions League play-off.



Theo Walcott starred for Arsenal, creating two of the goals, and feels that his side can beat anyone at their best.



"If everyone works hard for each other, we can get the results," the forward told the club's official website. "I think at the weekend that probably wasn't the case and we knew how disappointing it was. You don't want to start a season like that.



"We've forgotten about that and we're concentrating on Fulham. And if we perform like [Wednesday], with that intensity, we can beat anyone."



Defender Laurent Koscielny suffered a deep cut to the head against Fenerbahce but was suspended for the trip to Craven Cottage anyway, while Wenger is also without club captain Thomas Vermaelen as he recovers from a back injury. Bacary Sagna is expected to fill in at centre-back.



Midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (knee) is sidelined for up to three months, leaving Wenger short of midfield options with Abou Diaby (knee) and Mikel Arteta (thigh) not expected back any time soon.



Left-back Nacho Monreal has recovered from a back problem, though, and featured against Fenerbahce.



Fulham enjoyed a far better opening day to the season as they claimed a 1-0 win at Sunderland thanks to Pajtim Kasami's second-half strike.



New signings Scott Parker and Darren Bent could make their debuts on Saturday. Parker joined from Tottenham for an undisclosed fee on Monday, while Bent, on a season's loan from Villa, did not feature from the bench at Sunderland.



Fulham will be without goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg (shoulder) and Kieran Richardson (hamstring), who both limped off at the Stadium of Light, but attacker Alexander Kacaniklic has a chance of returning from a hamstring problem of his own. David Stockdale is likely to deputise in goal for Martin Jol's side after coming off the bench for Stekelenburg.



Fulham have enjoyed a good record against Arsenal in recent times, losing just one of their last five fixtures, but Arsenal did win the most recent meeting as Per Mertesacker scored the only goal in a 1-0 away win in April that saw both sides end the match with 10 men.

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24.08. (Sat) 20:45 Sampdoria - Juventus

Juventus kick off the defence of their Serie A crown with a testing trip to Sampdoria on Saturday.



The reigning champions lost just five league fixtures on their way to the title last term, but two of those came against Delio Rossi's men.



Sampdoria earned a shock 2-1 victory over Juve away from home despite Gaetano Berardi receiving an early red card, and also defeated Antonio Conte's men 3-2 at Stadio Luigi Ferraris on the final day of the season.



However, the scorer of three of their five goals against Juve, Mauro Icardi, will not be available this time around following his close-season switch to Inter.



Rossi will hope that young striker Manolo Gabbiadini, whose economic rights remain split between Sampdoria and Juventus, can fill the goalscoring void this term.



Juventus come into the game off the back of a morale-boosting Supercoppa Italiana victory over Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico.



An early strike from Paul Pogba and second-half goals from Giorgio Chiellini, Stephan Lichtsteiner and Carlos Tevez handed the Turin club the win, and ensured they will open their Serie A campaign full of confidence.



Sampdoria in fact kicked off the 2012-13 campaign with three consecutive victories, but separate winless runs of nine and 10 games saw them go on to finish in 14th position in the Italian top flight.



And if they are to get off to a similarly encouraging start this term then they will need to cope with a Juve side who will be keen to lay down an early marker.

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24.08. (Sat) 18:00 Hellas Verona - Milan

AC Milan will play their 4,000th competitive game when they face Verona in Serie A's opening game at Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi on Saturday.



Massimiliano Allegri is likely to see this campaign as an opportunity to move on from what was a mixed season last time out.



After a poor start, which saw Milan win just one of their opening four games, Allegri was quickly under fire.



However, he eventually secured a place in the UEFA Champions League play-offs thanks to a dramatic 2-1 win in the final game against Siena to ensure they finished third.



Verona enjoyed a much more positive season as they finished second behind Sassuolo to secured promotion from Serie B.



Milan full-back Ignazio Abate believes their opponents will see the arrival of the 18-time Scudetto winners as a "dream".



Abate, who assisted Stephan El Shaarawy's header in Milan's 1-1 Champions League draw with PSV on Tuesday, told the club's official website: "We will have a big game on a difficult pitch.



"We expect it will be sold out in Verona, it has been their desire and dream so we need to watch out."



The 26-year-old also believes a boosted togetherness within the camp can help Milan improve on their third-place finish last season.



"We are an amazing group, it is an adjective that is taken for granted, but it is. We are very united and we get on well," he continued.



"Since last year the group has cemented itself a lot, and Massimiliano Allegri has squared the circle. It will be a long season, and there will be difficult moments where we will suffer.



"Our objectives are to remain attached to the top teams, then we'll see what happens in the last two months."



Allegri could have defender Mattia De Sciglio (knee) and Brazilian forward Robinho (thigh) available after injury, with both players returning to training after Tuesday's draw in Eindhoven.



While Milan come into the game having only managed a draw with PSV, Verona picked up a 1-0 win in the Coppa Italia over Palermo on Saturday thanks to a Luca Toni goal.



Andrea Mandorlini has since strengthened his side with the loan acquisition of Samuele Longo from Inter, with the 21-year-old anticipating a challenge this season - starting with a clash against his parent club's fierce rivals.



The 21-year-old told the club's official website: "(Verona) was one of the first teams to look for me and I immediately accepted the offer to come to Verona.



"It's a challenge that I'm ready to deal with, I cannot wait (to) start."

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24.08. (Sat) 15:30 Bayern Munchen - Nurnberg

Bayern Munich will look to break a club record 27 Bundesliga games without defeat when they contest the Bavarian derby with Nurnberg.



Mario Mandzukic scored the only goal of the game as Pep Guardiola's men continued their 100 per cent winning start to the new league campaign at Eintracht Frankfurt last weekend.



That result also meant they drew level with their club record of 27 Bundesliga matches undefeated - and they can go beyond that figure by avoiding an upset against Nuremberg at the Allianz Arena on Saturday.



Bayern forward Thomas Muller says the squad know of their achievement, but insisted they are solely focused on the task of taking another three points.



"We're obviously aware of it and we're delighted, but the priority in Frankfurt was three points, which we were determined to take," he told the club's official website.



"We've generally done well at home to Nurnberg, and we obviously want that to continue. Nurnberg are very strong in the air and come with enormous presence.



"They play with great determination, so we have to resist that. We're superior to them technically and tactically, but we have to show that on the field."



Bayern have no fresh injury worries ahead of the game, but centre-back Holger Badstuber remains a long-term absentee after suffering a recurrence of a cruciate ligament tear in May.



Nurnberg have started their league campaign with consecutive 2-2 draws against Hoffenheim and Hertha Berlin respectively.



Michael Wiesinger's side have shown fighting spirit in those fixtures, coming back from losing positions in both matches to take a share of the spoils.



However, they have issues in defence ahead of the game. Marcos Antonio is set to miss the whole campaign with a hyaline cartilage injury picked up in pre-season, while Per Nilsson is doubtful with a hamstring problem.

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