African players to watch this weekend

Zaha, Ayew vs Mendy

The opening game of gameweek four in the Premier League sees Crystal Palace travel to cross-town rivals Chelsea who are already seemingly under increasing pressure after an underwhelming start to the season.

Wilfried Zaha and Andre Ayew will want to bounce back from last week’s defeat by Everton which ended their 100-percent start to the season and they’ll come up against Edouard Mendy, who’s expected to make his first Blues start in the Prem.

The Senegal goalkeeper did alright on his debut in the west London club’s elimination by Tottenham Hotspur, making a few expected saves and sought to dominate his area whenever possible.

After going two league games without a win, Frank Lampard’s side badly need the three points on their turf to go into the international break in better spirits.

Riyad Mahrez Mahrez’s brilliant strike for Manchester City last time out against old side Leicester City will probably never be remembered given the Foxes romped to a 5-2 success at the Etihad Stadium.

That result sent shockwaves through the league and Pep Guardiola will demand a response from his players in Saturday’s potentially daunting trip to Leeds United.

Marcelo Bielsa’s team have picked up six points from their first three games and are definitely going to give it a go at Elland Road.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Arsenal’s unbeaten run finally came to an end last time out when they were beaten 3-1 by defending champions, Liverpool.

Aubameyang cut a peripheral figure for large periods and has now scored just once this season, leaving the Gabon star four behind pacesetters Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jamie Vardy.

Mikel Arteta’s men play host to out-of-form Sheffield United looking to return to winning ways at the Emirates Stadium. The Gunners didn’t win both fixtures vs the Blades last term but will back themselves on home turf against Chris Wilder’s team without a point after three games.

Nicolas Pepe might play a part in the fixture but he’s likely to come off the bench with Willian likely to return to the XI after being rested for Thursday’s EFL Cup success over Liverpool.

Kalidou Koulibaly

K2 has been imperious so far for Napoli — although when put in perspective, Parma and Genoa aren’t the strongest opponents to pose a threat — helping Gennaro Gattuso’s troops to a pair of clean sheets.

Gli Azzurri ought to face their sternest test of the season so far when they travel to Juventus who dropped points last week in an entertaining game at Roma.

Koulibaly and co. may have their rearguard breached against the Old Lady on Sunday, however, a win or even a draw will be welcome by their intense boss.

Riyad Mahrez

Mahrez’s brilliant strike for Manchester City last time out against old side Leicester City will probably never be remembered given the Foxes romped to a 5-2 success at the Etihad Stadium.

That result sent shockwaves through the league and Pep Guardiola will demand a response from his players in Saturday’s potentially daunting trip to Leeds United.

Marcelo Bielsa’s team have picked up six points from their first three games and are definitely going to give it a go at Elland Road.

Achraf Hakimi

After an encouraging cameo in Inter Milan’s entertaining 4-3 success over Fiorentina on Saturday, Hakimi started on Wednesday at Benevento to devastating effect.

The Morocco superstar assisted Romelu Lukaku inside the first minute before scoring himself just before half-time.

The ex-Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund wing-back is expected to keep his place in the side when the Nerazzurri travel to Lazio on Sunday afternoon.

After getting the better of Filippo Inzaghi during the week, Antonio Conte will fancy himself against Simone Inzaghi at Stadio Olimpico this weekend, especially after Lazio were thrashed by Atalanta 4-1 on Wednesday.