A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Saturday:
ENGLAND
The Premier League resumes after the international break with Claudio Ranieri making his return to English soccer in charge of Watford — and he could hardly have a tougher first game. Liverpool travels to Vicarage Road as the only unbeaten team in the league after seven matches and is in second place, a point behind Chelsea. The 69-year-old Ranieri was hired last week and will be leading a fourth Premier League club, after Chelsea, Leicester — which he guided to the title in 2016 — and Fulham. Chelsea visits Brentford for a London derby in the late game while Manchester City and Manchester United, the other members of the top four, play Burnley at home and Leicester away, respectively. Burnley has lost 5-0 in its last four visits to City in all competitions. Norwich and Southampton are two of the four teams still without a win and they have home games against Brighton and Leeds, respectively.
SPAIN
Real Sociedad can take the Liga lead when it hosts Mallorca. The Basque Country club enters the weekend in third place and level on points with leader Real Madrid and defending champion Atlético Madrid. The two Madrid-based teams had their games originally scheduled for this round postponed to give more rest to players returning from international duty with South American nations. Sociedad will be without Spain forward Mikel Oyarzabal after he injured a right-leg muscle. That will leave Sweden striker Alexander Isak to lead its attack. Last season’s Copa del Rey winners have lost only once in eight league games this season. Levante hosts Getafe in its first match under new coach Javier Pereira, who replaced Paco López with the team in the relegation zone and winless.
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