After one of the most meaningless international breaks in the history of international breaks (aka pretty fucking meaningless), the action moves back to its rightful place for this time of year with a very decent opening game, as City travel down to London to play Arsenal in another early test to the Gunners' ambition. It's looking likely that Wenger will put the Sanogo experiment on hold for now and go with Welbeck at the front, which could be fruitful if his form against Switzerland is to be believed. LVG had some fairly harsh words for the young striker but he could very well be the short-term answer in Giroud's absence. Straight after that game the only two unbeaten teams will meet at Stamford Bridge as Swansea will try to keep their fantastic start going. Could be a tall order considering how efficient the Blues have been. One of the big themes this matchday will be the introduction of various players for their new squads, and none can expect more scrutiny than alleged 20-something Radamel Falcao. United have yet another "easy" game to try to get their season back on track, might Redknapp's QPR be the team that finally lets them open their win counter? Speaking of new boys Liverpool will be able to count on all their recruits for the first time, which means Adam Lallana could be making his debut for the Reds against the surprising Aston Villa. On the murkier side of things Newcastle will play their first game post-Ben Arfa, a move which seemed to make the coach as happy as it made the fans mad. However Southampton have looked a lot more solid than the Magpies thus far, which means things could get yet more tense for Pardew.

Spain: The Madrid derby has always been a highlight of the Liga calendar, but things are on a whole different level now, and clearly Real have a strong imperative to come out victorious at the Bernabeu, after the bizzare performance they had at Sociedad. Barcelona will be hoping for an easier time as they go to Bilbao to face Athletic, with Messi and Neymar both fit and game-ready.

Italy: Fernando Torres will be making his eagerly awaited debut for Milan this weekend when they go to Parma, an interesting matchup considering they signed Jonathan Biabiany from that club on the very last day of the transfer window. There are exactly 0 big-time matchups this weekend in the league so this one might have to do for the headlines

Germany: None of the big clubs will be facing otherwordly opposition this weekend, which might suit them very well since the Champions League is coming up next week. Dortmund-Arsenal, Bayern-City, Shalke-Chelsea; should be sehr gut, ja?

France: we now have our first full-blown Bielsa crisis, with the Chilean coach calling a press conference during the break to announce he had 0 control over transfers. Odd timing considering the club had won two on the bounce, but tumult tends to be a way of life at Marseille. They face winless Evian so at least they should be able to keep the chaos off the field. Fresh off their shellacking of St Etienne, PSG go to Rennes where they have won their last two confrontations. Look for Zlatan to keep zlatanizing, ie score goals while questioning defenders who dare touch him (https://vine.co/v/Oze6nwi5pDe)


EPL
Saturday 13 September 2014
7:45 Arsenal v Man City
10:00 Chelsea v Swansea
10:00 Crystal Palace v Burnley
10:00 Southampton v Newcastle
10:00 Stoke v Leicester
10:00 Sunderland v Spurs
10:00 West Brom v Everton
12:30 Liverpool v Aston Villa
Sunday 14 September 2014
11:00 Man Utd v QPR
Monday 15 September 2014
3:00 Hull v West Ham