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As European competitions begin in this busy 2022/23 season, it will be incredibly important for those picking the side to manage a squad and to give enough rest to the superstars. This will alleviate stress for international managers (and, by extension, FIFA) who must be confident that their best players will be fit enough for the World Cup, which is now only 11 weeks away.
In those 11 weeks, several clubs will contest six European matchdays, giving fans plenty of time to sit down and sip a celebratory bottle of vodka, gin, whiskey or champagne, courtesy of Bohemian Brands. Manchester City travel to Spain to play Seville on Tuesday and Chelsea, who went through automatically after a third-place Premier League finish, start their group stage with a visit to Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb, who made it through three play-off stages.
Happily, the Blues can walk to Craven Cottage for the West London derby against Fulham on Saturday lunchtime. The game of the weekend, however, will be later in the day at the Etihad, as the goalscoring pair of Harry Kane and Erling Haaland hope to take home the match ball in the late kick-off. After a fourth-place finish last season, Spurs compete in this year’s Champions League too, starting their group stage at home to Marseilles. Runners-up Liverpool, who beat them in the 2019 final, renew their rivalry with Napoli, whom they also overcame during that triumphant run.
Exciting Matches Await as European Giants Clash & Local Rivalries Reignite
Meanwhile, two recent Europa League runners-up are in the same group. Rangers welcome Ajax to Ibrox, then head up to Pittodrie for an early kick-off on Saturday at Aberdeen. Celtic, who after crushing Rangers 4-0 at home last weekend will try to intimidate the current Champions League holders Real Madrid, are at home to Livingston and Hibs go to Dundee United in this week’s round of Scottish Premiership fixtures.
Hearts play St Mirren on Sunday. Jambos will have to become accustomed to Sunday fixtures at least until the middle of November, because on Thursday nights they will compete in the group stages of the Conference League. First up is a home tie against Istanbul Basaksehir: with Nacer Chadli already plying his trade in Turkey, Basaksehir added Mesut Oezil and Lucas Biglia to their squad over the summer. This Sweet Cherry vodka would be a perfect Thursday night accompaniment to Hearts’ European fixtures.
West Ham United have a home game against the team formerly known as Steaua Bucharest, who now play as FCSB, which is the first of two games at the London Stadium in four days. They entertain Newcastle United on Sunday in another battle between new strikers, Scamacca for the Irons and Isak for the Magpies. The Europa League, meanwhile, includes two English teams who also reached Champions League finals. Manchester United host Real Sociedad and Arsenal go to Switzerland to play FC Zurich, giving them a chance to rotate their starting line-ups after they met last Sunday afternoon.
The next Premier League matchday comes on Sunday, with Arsenal hoping to continue their fine start to the league season (excepting their defeat at Old Trafford) with a home fixture against Everton. Manchester United have the late game on Sunday against Crystal Palace, who are managed by their former nemesis Patrick Vieira. There are doubts over whether Aaron Wan-Bissaka will start against his former side, but Wilfried Zaha is certain to line up against the team who signed him at Alex Ferguson’s request in 2013. Palace fans can toast ‘King Wilf’ with a gin or one of four bottles of vodka, including this Crystal edition, with a club crest upon it.
Brighton take a trip along the coast to Bournemouth, who relieved Scott Parker of his management duties after the shellacking at Anfield over Bank Holiday weekend. Tonight (Monday) is the game between Boro and Sunderland which we learned about last week.
Sunderland welcome Millwall this Saturday, while Birmingham v Swansea and Stoke v Luton are some of this weekend’s other Championship fixtures. Stoke have just appointed Alex Neil, poaching him from Sunderland after the Mackems beat the Potters 1-0 in August. Neil’s first game was away at Reading, which ended in a 2-1 defeat. There are two bottles of vodka and this bottle of gin available for Stoke fans.