Halmstad have lost six of their last seven matches, and they’ve lost five of their seven away matches this term. Hacken have scored twice or more in six of their eight home matches this term, but they’ve kept only one clean sheet, so back them to win a high-scoring contest.

Deportivo La Coruna have won seven of their last nine home league games (La Liga 2) while Elche have lost seven of their last nine away La Liga matches. Deportivo’s performance in a 1-0 friendly defeat to Real Madrid this week suggests they can overcome the lowly visitors, who finished 15th last term.

Cardiff have won their last four competitive home games and beat Roma 4-1 at their stadium in pre-season. Meanwhile, Wrexham have failed to score in three straight 1-0 defeats, including friendlies.

Benfica have won three of their last five trips to Casa Pia, and the hosts won only two of their 17 home matches last season on their way to finishing third from bottom.

Hacken have scored twice or more in six of their eight home matches, while they’ve managed only one clean sheet in those matches. Bottom side Halmstad have conceded 2.29 goals per game on their travels this season, so back a high-scoring encounter.

Cardiff have been scoring freely this summer with six against Cork, five at Forest Green, four at home to Roma and three in the cup against Swindon. Only five sides conceded more goals than Wrexham last season, so over 2.5 appeals here.

Halmstad have lost six of their last seven matches, and they’ve lost five of their seven away matches this term. Hacken have scored twice or more in six of their eight home matches this term, but they’ve kept only one clean sheet, so back them to win a high-scoring contest.

Elche have conceded twice in two of their last three pre-season games and in several of their away games during last season’s run-in. But they are capable of scoring, having bagged in their final eight La Liga matches last term and appear determined to play more front-foot football this term.

Elche have conceded twice in two of their last three pre-season games and in several of their away games during last season’s run-in. But they are capable of scoring, having bagged in their final eight La Liga matches last term and appear determined to play more front-foot football this term. Deportivo should overpower them 2-1 at home.

Cardiff have been scoring freely this summer with six against Cork, five at Forest Green, four at home to Roma and three in the cup against Swindon. They can bag at least twice against a side that conceded multiple goals in five of their final eight away matches last season. Wrexham scored in seven of those and are picked to lose this opener 2-1.

Deportivo La Coruna have won seven of their last nine home league games (La Liga 2) while Elche have lost seven of their last nine away La Liga matches. Deportivo’s performance in a 1-0 friendly defeat to Real Madrid this week suggests they can overcome the lowly visitors, who finished 15th last term.

Pavlidis has scored in three straight games for Benfica, netting six goals in that time. He scored 22 Primeira Liga goals last season, and he can find the net against Casa Pia on Monday night.

Portsmouth spent last season battling the drop and seem set for another season of struggle. They have made some bold transfer moves but they have signed players unproven in this league, and don’t necessarily seem any stronger than they were last season so they are among the contenders to drop down to League One.

Cambridge won promotion last term and are yet to really strengthen their team. The U’s spend four years in League One before a campaign in League Two last term, and they only finished higher than 18th in one of those seasons. Of all the promoted teams, Cambridge are perhaps the most likely to drop straight back down.

Tranmere lost 20 of their final 26 games last season and only avoided the drop by two points. The two teams that came up from the National League should be competitive and that should result in an intense relegation fight, and Rovers look likely to be involved.

Barcelona have won back-to-back La Liga titles and netted 95 times last season, and the return of Jose Mourinho to Real Madrid is unlikely to stop the Catalans from clinching a third successive title.

Mourinho has not won a league title since 2015 and there is almost certain to be friction among the big egos at the Bernabeu, especially with the Special One at the helm.

Arsenal landed a long-awaited Premier League title last season and have improved with the additions of Bruno Guimaraes and Christos Tzolis over the summer.

The main reason for their favouritism, however, is what is going on at their rivals.

Manchester City begin life without Pep Guardiola and both Chelsea and Liverpool have new managers to bed in, while Manchester United are still relatively unproven under Michael Carrick.

The Scudetto has not been successfully defended since 2020, but Inter can break that streak despite an upheaval at the back.

John Stones and Manuel Akanji arrive to compensate for the losses of Denzel Dumfries, Stefan de Vrij and Stefan de Vrij and, while the Nerazzurri may look weaker overall, many of their rivals have also taken a step backwards.

Napoli have an ageing squad and will have to do without Antonio Conte, while AC Milan have given Ruben Amorim a chance in the dugout and Juventus are still playing catch-up after a terrible period of recruitment.

Like Bayern Munich, PSG look almost untouchable at the top of Ligue 1 and, while Lens were last season’s surprise package, a host of departures bring the other Ligue 1 teams into play.

While other teams have suffered summer losses, sixth-place finishers Rennes have taken strides forward after cashing in on Jeremy Jacquet and boast last season’s top scorer in Esteban Lepaul.

It is hard to see anybody topping a rampant Bayern Munich, but Borussia Dortmund are the best chance of challenging the Bavarians after finishing second last season.

They have kept the majority of their squad together and added a host of exciting youngsters to their books, while last season’s third-place finishers, RB Leipzig, have lost Yan Diomande.

Bayer Leverkusen are unproven after the appointment of their third manager in the past year, while Stuttgart are unlikely to be able to bridge last season’s 11-point gap to Dortmund.

Portland have made six visits to MLS sides who have won more points than them this season, and they’ve lost all six. The visitors have seen both teams score in each of their previous five league games, while BTTS has landed in seven of Chicago’s last eight matches.

Portland have made six visits to MLS sides who have won more points than them this season, and they’ve lost all six. The visitors have seen both teams score in each of their previous five league games, while BTTS has landed in seven of Chicago’s last eight matches.

The Union have lost seven of their nine away trips this season, and they were beaten 2-1 at home by New York City earlier this season.

Austin FC are in poor form, but the hosts have won three of their last four home matches. They’ve been beaten in only two of their eight home matches this season, while Dallas have failed to win any of their last three MLS games.

The Whitecaps need to bounce back after a poor run of form, and facing a Seattle side that have lost six straight MLS matches looks like the perfect opportunity.