3 To See - Arsenal, Saint-Etienne, Sporting Braga - The Weekend's Football (31.10.09 - 02.11.09)

Last week's 3 To See saw wins for Liverpool, Fenerbahce and a draw in the Argentine superclasico between Boca and River. This weekend we've got some triffic games for you, as one of the managers involved might say:

1, Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur (English Premier League) 12.45 GMT, Saturday 31st October 2009

Robbie Keane, that bastion of commitment to the Spurs cause, has done his bit to raise tensions heading into the 162nd league meeting between these two North London rivals by claiming that, all things considered, Tottenham have a better squad than Arsenal. "If you look at the last four or five years, for some reason Arsenal always got ahead of us slightly, but if you look now, it's certainly even. And if you look at the squads, the bench that we have is probably a little bit stronger than their bench," Keane stated ahead of Saturday's game, and that statement will be put to the test this weekend.

Is Spurs' bench better than Arsenal's? Well, judge for yourself. Spurs' substitutes for their last league game against Stoke City (a 1-0 defeat for Harry Redknapp's team) were Carlo Cudicini, Alan Hutton, Gareth Bale, Kyle Naughton, Michael Dawson, Jermaine Jenas and Roman Pavlyuchenko. Arsenal had Manuel Almunia, Kieran Gibbs, Mikael Silvestre, Samir Nasri, Aaron Ramsey, Eduardo and Nicklas Bendtner for their 2-2 draw at West Ham last week. Both sides of course have injury problems, but the fact you wouldn't automatically look at the two benches and conclude Arsenal are far stronger does I think hint that Keane has a semblance of a point - namely, the gap has been closed to a certain degree.

Despite this, Arsene Wenger has not lost a league game against Tottenham for 10 years now, an incredible statistic stretching back 19 matches. The two go into Saturday's derby level on points, 3rd and 4th respectively with Arsenal boasting a game in hand. Is another 4-4 on the cards?

2, Saint-Etienne vs Olympique Lyonnais (French Ligue 1) 20.00 GMT, Saturday 31st October 2009

Olympique Lyonnais raised eyebrows around Europe a week last Tuesday when they managed a famous 2-1 win over Liverpool at Anfield in the Champions League, but domestically things are not going so well for Claude Puel's team right now. That European exploit was sandwiched between two shock league defeats, 2-0 at home to Sochaux and 4-1 at Nice. This Saturday, Lyon make the trip to bitter rivals Saint-Etienne to try and get their Ligue 1 title bid back on track in the Rhône derby.

Les Verts have made a topsy-turvy start to their Ligue 1 campaign this year beating champions Bordeaux and high-flyers Monaco away but then losing to, well, almost everyone else. 6 out of 10 defeats for Alain Perrin's side see the club in lowly 16th, 10 points behind Saturday's opponents who are currently 3rd.

Both Perrin and Lyon striker Bafetimbi Gomis will be renewing old acquaintances this weekend. Perrin led Lyon to a league double in 2007/2008 before being replaced by Puel, while Gomis was a fans' favourite at Saint-Etienne before defecting to the enemy. The French international will likely face an unfavourable reception at Stade Geoffrey-Guichard. The two clubs both have injury worries (Boumsong, Bodmer, Lloris, Kallstrom and Cissokho all either doubtful or unavailable for OL likewise Moustapha Bayal Sall, Monsoreau, Dabo and Sanogo for Les Verts) but either way it should be a good game played in a hot atmosphere.

3, Sporting Braga vs Benfica (Portuguese Liga Sagres) 21.15 GMT, Saturday 31st October 2009

The top two teams in the Portuguese league battle it out this weekend as surprise package Sporting Braga take on Benfica at the Estadio AXA in Braga. Known as the Arsenalistas (Braga's home kit is frighteningly similar to Arsenal's), Sporting Braga have upset the applecart in Portugal so far this season, showing little respect to the holy trinity of Porto, Sporting Lisbon and Benfica by breaking their way into the upper echelons of the table.

Coach Domingos Paciencia's side had won all their league games until the run ended with a 1-1 draw at Rio Ave last week, but dropping those points allowed Benfica to draw level with them on points at the top of the table. Still, Braga have been full of enterprise this season with exciting players like Brazilian forward Alan and former Newcastle and Valencia attacking midfielder Hugo Viana playing well, and having already beaten both Porto and Sporting all that remains is the scalp of Jorge Jesus' Benfica to make it a clean sweep.

Having said that it will not be easy for the Arsenalistas. Benfica are playing some magnificent football this season, as demonstrated by their 5-0 thumping of Everton in the *shudder* Europa League, and Jorge Jesus has moulded a squad full of South American flair and attacking verve into a potent, cohesive unit. "Perhaps Benfica are recapturing what it was in Eusebio’s day," enthused the Benfica coach after a recent victory, and with players like Angel Di Maria, Ramires, Oscar Cardozo, Javier Saviola and Pablo Aimar all on form the fans are happy and the club are looking a decent bet for the title. This should certainly prove an entertaining game, and a big test of Braga's title credentials.