Real Madrid can take advantage of a favourable September calendar to finish the month on top of La Liga, assuming that they manage to get their players back from international duty in a healthy condition.
Of course, at first sight this statement sounds like an extremely hasty chicken count. Before starting the daunting task of winning their next four matches, Real Madrid can't forget that they have a staggering 14 players wearing their respective national teams' shirts during this international break. If we judge by recent precedents, chances are that a few of them will come back with some kind of injury or simply exhausted from the transatlantic trip in cases such as that of James Rodriguez.
If no major injuries happen in this break -- Luka Modric, Marcelo and Casemiro sound like irreplaceable names -- Real Madrid fans are entitled to feel confident that their team can win all four September matches. In a period of two weeks, Real Madrid will host Osasuna and Villarreal, they will also travel to Barcelona to visit Espanyol and finally to Las Palmas in their last match of the month.
Osasuna have just come back to La Liga after two seasons in Segunda's purgatory. Their squad looks painfully limited, and quite naive in the attacking third if we judge by what we saw in their first two matches. Real Madrid likely will have to break Osasuna's line of five at the back without Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, so they will need Alvaro Morata at his finest.
However, the Santiago Bernabeu feels like a bit too much for the Navarros this early in the season. They earned a famous 4-0 win back in 1990, but that team oozed talent, and that is not the case with the current squad.
In previous seasons, a visit by Villarreal would be motive for concern. However, the unexpected dismissal of their manager Marcelino Garcia a few days before the start of the season has left both the club and the squad out of sorts. If that wasn't enough, a long-term injury to Roberto Soldado was all the Amarillos needed to look legitimately lost in their first two matches of the season: two draws against Granada and Sevilla.
If those two home matches look promising, so does Real Madrid's visit to Espanyol. Matches against the other team from the city of Barcelona tend to generate a decent amount of mocking among Barcelona and Atletico Madrid fans. Last season's aggregate 12-0 scoreline did not help to appease their protests over Espanyol's dismal efforts on the pitch when they face the Madridistas. In any case, this looks like a match in which Real Madrid should prevail, even if with a shorter score than those of last season.
The toughest match comes at the final weekend of September. Zinedine Zidane's team will travel to Gran Canaria to face current leaders Las Palmas. Real Madrid already suffered mightily to win there last season, and only a surprising header from Casemiro a few minutes from time gave them the three points in a 2-1 victory.
After a fantastic second half of the season last year, Las Palmas have picked things up where they left them, and with solid reinforcements they now look Europe-bound. Not only they lead La Liga, but they also look entertaining and solid.
The big calendar gift for the Madridistas in September is that they will play in the island of Gran Canaria only three days after their two biggest rivals, Barcelona and Atletico de Madrid, face each other at the Camp Nou. During September, both of them have otherwise manageable opponents -- Barcelona play Alaves, Leganes and Sporting; while Atletico will meet Celta, Sporting and Deportivo de La Coruna -- but their date on Sept. 21 means that at least one of them will drop points, a great chance for Real Madrid to profit from.
Last season, Los Blancos started the season off the wrong foot. Three draws -- against Sporting de Gijon, Malaga and Atletico -- in the first seven matches, plus consecutive defeats at Sevilla and against Barcelona at the Bernabeu well before midseason meant that Zidane had no room for error when he took over if he wanted to fight for the title.
It's still early, but this season already feels different. If Real Madrid do their homework and take advantage of a favourable calendar in September, Zidane might be able to plan the season looking at his rearview mirror, rather than hoping for Barcelona or Atletico to make mistakes.