Club Football Is Back With Three Huge Local Derbies

The international break gets a lot of hate, often by us, but it's not usually too bad really. This time though it was a bit of a stinker. Now we welcome back club football with a bit of a bang.

Usually we get international football and England games mixed up. All international football doesn't suck just because watching England does but the last 10 days have seen far too many nil-nils in matches that matter.

There hadn't been a 0-0 draw at Wembley for England in seven years before last week's shut out against Germany and then there was 180 minutes when Ruben Loftus-Cheek looking pretty good on debut was the only thing to talk about.

_{Loftus-Cheek was the highlight of England's two games. Image: PA}

So with all 32 places at the World Cup decided and friendlies out of the way until March we now get the longest stint of domestic football uninterrupted of the whole season.

And this weekend we kick the whole thing off with three local derbies, in three different leagues, all on Saturday.

It all starts with the early kick off in the Premier League with the north London derby at the Emirates Stadium at 12.30 with Arsenal trying to close the four point gap to local rivals Tottenham.

_{Kane loves a goal in the North London derby. Image: PA}

Then we have a few hour gap to soak in the 3 o'clock kick offs in which Liverpool take on their academy Southampton in probably the most intriguing tie the Premier League has to offer at that time.

After that you're more than welcome to watch Newcastle take on Manchester United at Old Trafford or there is a local derby from Serie A where Lazio travel all the way to their home ground the Stadio Olimpico to take on home side Roma.

The sides are separated by a single point right now with Lazio ahead in fourth place to Roma's fifth place.

Last, but by no means least, is the Madrid derby. For the first time ever the Wanda Metropolitano plays host to Atletico Madrid versus Real Madrid in a must win game for the visitors as they can't afford to lose any more ground on Barcelona.

If you happen to be missing international football then fear not Fiji vs Estonia is on at 2 am on Sunday morning...

Thank god for club football and everything being right with the world.

Topics: Spurs, Madrid derby, North London derby, Football News, Lazio, Tottenham Hotspur, Serie A, Atletico Madrid, Roma, Premier League, England, Arsenal, Spain, Real Madrid, La Liga, Italy

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a writer for SPORTbible. He covers all sport from football, formula one, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, mma and wrestling. He obviously hates YOUR football team and has no interest in synchronised swimming.

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