It’s a busy weekend with the international break ending.
Pregame narrative: The Premier League, La Liga and Ligue 1 are all back with players returning from international duty. We’ve got one upset pick from each of those leagues.
Check out the best three soccer upset picks for the upcoming week.
Soccer upset picks
EPL prediction: Leicester City (0-1-2) over Crystal Palace (0-1-2)
When: Sept. 14: 10 a.m. ET
Crystal Palace and Leicester City enter this meeting with one point each, earning draws against Chelsea and Tottenham, respectively. There’s only been three matches and neither side has started in great form.
This was expected from Leicester, which has a new manager in Steve Cooper. But Palace closed last season as one of the better teams under Oliver Glasner.
The most glaring issue for Palace has been their inability to create and score following the departure of Michael Olise to Bayern Munich. Eberechi Eze has been trying to do it all, taking 15 shots with five on target, while no one else on the team has topped five.
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Their back line has also had an early-season makeover following the exit of Joachim Andersen and the injury to new signing Chadi Riad.
Similar to West Ham a couple of weeks ago, Leicester will hope to benefit from a vulnerable Palace side. Despite Palace being favoured, they’re far from the team that ended last season unbeaten in their final six.
As long as Leicester can keep Eze and Jean-Philippe Mateta from getting going early, a chance for a Jamie Vardy winner is always possible for the away side.
La Liga upset pick
Prediction: Osasuna (2-1-1) over Rayo Vallecano (1-1-2)
When: Sept. 16: 3 p.m. ET
Osasuna and new manager Vicente Moreno are looking for their first away points of the season in a trip to Vallecano. Osasuna is coming off an impressive win against Celta Vigo, while Rayo lost in a disappointing effort against Espanyol last time out.
Outside of Barcelona, every team in La Liga has lacked consistency week to week, which means upsets are always in play.
The tactics of Osasuna will be key with a less aggressive approach than Rayo. Osasuna prefers a slow build-up behind stout defending. If that works and it doesn’t allow a first-half goal, that could eventually force Rayo out of position, leaving the counterattack open for Osasuna.
Following an ugly result at Girona in its last away match, a trip to Vallecano figures to be a much better chance for points.
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Since a surprising win at Real Sociedad in its opener, Rayo has stumbled a bit, scoring just two goals in its last three matches. Rayo battled relegation most of last season and if it can’t take points from home matches like this one, a relegation battle could be on the horizon again.
In what’s expected to be another tight, low-scoring contest, taking a shot on the underdog is always worth it.
Soccer upset picks: Ligue 1
Prediction: Le Havre (2-0-1) over Toulouse (0-2-1)
When: Sept. 15: 11 a.m. ET
Le Havre has started the season incredibly well, already with two wins after winning just seven matches last season. A lot of that may be due to schedule, but it could also be more confident in its second straight season in Ligue 1.
Meanwhile, Toulouse has been slow out of the gates with two points despite a manageable schedule.
Le Havre used a bit more of an attacking approach in its wins. In addition to scoring six goals, it’s in the top half of the table in shots taken and chances created.
A lot of that may be the opponent, but Toulouse is playing like a bottom-half team and is also near the bottom of the table in possession.
While Toulouse figures to be in control playing at home, it hasn’t converted many of its chances in the early season.
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Toulouse was stable, if unexciting, last season en route to an 11th-place finish and -4 goal differential. It appears to be headed for a similar season, which means it’ll be ripe for an upset in most instances.
The hope for Le Havre in this spot is that it has some confidence and form coming out of the break to continue its surprising goalscoring run.
Player to pop: Bradley Barcola
Barcola has been on fire to start the campaign, scoring a goal in all three matches and totalling four in just 154 minutes.
The Paris Saint-Germain forward should continue the trend against Brest on Saturday given his club’s roaring start, scoring 13 goals through three matches. The loss of Kylian Mbappe has been a non-issue so far.
Brest is fresh off a clean sheet, but that came against newly-promoted St. Etienne, and PSG has dominated this matchup over the years (like most in Ligue 1).
In its first two matches, Brest gave up seven combined goals to Marseille and Lens, two teams closer to the level of PSG.
Barcola came off the bench in the opener (partly due to a late arrival following Euro 2024) but his minutes have gone up since, resulting in 74 played against Lille.
Despite the somewhat limited minutes, Barcola second in the league with 19 touches inside the opposing team’s box.
While Barcola has yet to create a chance, that’ll likely change at some point after finishing with more assists (seven) than goals (four) last season.
