21
Feb
2020
This Weekend: Everything you need to know in 5 minutes

This Weekend: Everything you need to know in 5 minutes

As usual, we’ve delved deep into the app to bring you a preview of all the essential, and non-essential football you need to know about over the coming weekend. If there’s a key match going on somewhere in the world, you’ll hear about it here first!

🍽 Friday Night.

Tuck into our pick of tonight’s games, with action in most of Europe’s big leagues there must something here that whets your appetite.

🇩🇪 Bundesliga leaders, Bayern München are perhaps the biggest draw of the night, with their game against SC Paderborn brought forward thanks to their Champions League commitments in the coming week.

They of course, play Chelsea in the Round of 16 but before that, they will hope for a somewhat easier ride at the Allianz Arena against the league’s bottom side.

Did you know… Bayern have scored 12 goals in the opening 15 minutes of Bundesliga games this season – a league high. Paderborn, on the other hand have let in 13 goals in the opening quarter of an hour, more than any other side.

🇹🇷 Before that game kicks-off though, we’ve highlighted the game between Sivasspor (4th) and Alanyaspor (5th) in the Turkish top flight.

Sivasspor were top going into last week’s games but after a disastrous set of results, in a congested league table they slipped 3 places in a matter of days. They’ll look to get back on track at home tonight.

After interesting fixtures in Serie A, the English Championship and Ligue 1, amongst others, we think you should end your day with a derby!

🇧🇴 The Clásico Paceńo is the clash between the two big sides in the Bolivian capital of La Paz and sees the country’s most decorated team, Bolívar take on their nearest rivals, The Strongest.

🔥 Saturday

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 After what’s felt like months where we’ve had to make do with one random Premier League fixture here and a token rearranged game there, the EPL finally returns to normal this weekend.

In reality, it’s been the shortest Winter Break on record but whatever!

Today starts at 100mph with a heated London derby at Stamford Bridge where Frank Lampard’s Chelsea host rivals Spurs, now managed of course by Chelsea hero of old, José Mourinho.

And there’s the prospect of an entertaining game in the late kick-off as Leicester City (3rd) take on Manchester City (2nd). We’re calling it the ‘Best of the Rest Derby’, a term we fully expect no one else to adopt!

🇩🇪 Following his heroics in the week, Erling Braut Haaland has now scored on his debut for Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga, DFB Pokal AND Champions League.

See how our favourite Norwegian wonderkid gets on back in the Bundesliga today as Dortmund travel to Werder Bremen, who find themselves in the thick of a relegation battle.

🇪🇸 In La Liga, there may only be four games today but we think most of the interest, at least from outside observers will be on these fixtures this weekend.

Barcelona play Basque side, Eibar at Camp Nou looking to match, or better Real Madrid’s result when they travel east to Valencia, where they face Levante.

Just one point separates the two traditional giants and with a 10-point gap opened up on third placed, Getafe it looks like we have another head-to-head battle for the La Liga title. It would be boring, but both sides have shown unlikely vulnerabilities this season and you never know when one of them might slip up!

🇦🇷 In Argentina, two of the countries grand old clubs meet in Buenos Aires as San Lorenzo welcome Racing Club whilst Diego Maradona’s struggling Gimnasia play away at Racing’s Avellaneda neighbours, Independiente.

Elsewhere, Juventus headline the day in Serie A – they are on their travels to SPAL whilst in Turkey, new league leaders Trabzonspor face Besiktas in the big game in the Super Lig.

🛌 Sunday

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Today is a busy one for Arsenal Football Club as the men’s team play Everton in the Premier League, whilst the women’s side have a FA Cup Round of 16 game against Lewes FC, the only club side in the world to pay their men’s and women’s teams equally.

And with Arsenal (3rd) busy elsewhere, there’s something of a title decider back in the WSL as league leaders Manchester City play the unbeaten Chelsea (2nd).

🇮🇹 The Serie A fixture list looks particularly top heavy today, with virtually all of the sides challenging for both the title, and the European places in action.

Lazio travel to Genoa at lunchtime, Atalanta need to follow their Champions League heroics with a strong showing back at their normal home ground when they face Sassuolo and Inter will look to get back to winning ways after last weekend’s defeat, at Lazio, when they take on Sampdoria.

🇯🇵 The new J. League season starts this weekend, but you’ll have to wait until today to see how defending champions, Yokohama F. Marinos kick-start their title defence.

Ange Postecoglou’s side smashed Sydney FC 4-0 in the Asian Champions League during the week so they’ll be high on confidence going into their game against Gamba Osaka.

🇨🇭 There’s also an intriguing day in store, in Switzerland as the Super League’s top four are all in action against each other.

The reinvigorated, St. Gallen lead the table and they play Young Boys (2nd) at a sold-out Kybunpark whilst FC Basel (3rd) look to keep in touch when they go up against Servette (4th).

🇵🇾 Lastly, it’s the big one in Paraguay as the countries top two teams meet in the Superclásico. And everyone, absolutely everyone wants to see the recently reunited, veteran strike partnership of Roque Santa Cruz and Emmanuel Adebayor start together for the first time at Olimpia.

Well, apart from fans of arch-rivals Cerro Porteno!

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!

Posted by Bill Biss
14
Feb
2020
🌹 Everything you need to know in 5 minutes

🌹 Everything you need to know in 5 minutes

Time for your weekly insight into what’s going on in football over the weekend, direct from us here at the FotMob office. Key fixtures, derby games and the more obscure, you’ll find it all here.

💔 Valentine’s Day? More like Football Day.

It may be a day for romance in many parts of the world today, but nobody told the powers that when they were organising the fixtures. There’s a lot on today.

🏆 The CAF SuperCup sees the winners of last season’s African Champions League and Confederations Cup meet in the now customary venue for these kind of showcase matches – Qatar.

The Zamalak fans were pretty excitable on Tuesday. Goodness knows what state they’re in now it’s actually match day!

🇦🇹 In Austria, the other Bundesliga finally re-starts with a clash between the top two – RB Salzburg vs. LASK. Just two points separates the sides with third place, Rapid a further 10 points back. So for all intents and purposes, this is the title decider!

Salzburg have won 10 out of the last 13 titles, with the last 6 coming on the bounce so this could be a real chance for LASK to break that stranglehold.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 And you probably think we’re playing it down but there’s actually a Premier League match on today with Wolves taking on Leicester City in the midst of this winter break madness!

Did you know… Wolves have won both of their previous Premier League home games against Leicester, by a 4-3 scoreline each time.

And of course, there are matches in La Liga, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga this evening. We may be a little too invested in the game between Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt.

🔥 Saturday

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Liverpool return to action today after their enforced break, made all the more political by Jürgen Klopp’s insistence that the first team didn’t feature in that FA Cup replay against Shrewsbury Town.

They go into today’s game at Norwich City knowing that just 6 more wins will guarantee them their first league title in the Premier League era. And look away now Norwich fans, but Liverpool have scored 4 or more against their opponents in 5 of their last 7 meetings.

If Liverpool lose their unbeaten record in this one, it will be a real upset.

🇩🇪 With just 6 points splitting the top 5 in the Bundesliga, Saturday’s games will prove interesting. And the league table might get even more congested with current leaders, Bayern not playing until tomorrow.

Dortmund’s result on Friday could see them go second but should Leipzig win against Bremen, they’ll go one better and return to the top of the table. Gladbach, in 4th and Bayer Leverkusen, in 5th both have away games where they’ll be expecting to pick up points.

🇪🇸 In La Liga, Barcelona have a rare afternoon kick-off as they welcome Getafe to Camp Nou looking to keep the pressure on Real Madrid in their own title battle. Getafe are, for many the surprise package in the league this season and they go into this game sitting in third, albeit 7 points behind Barça.

Did you know… Barcelona have won 21 of their last 23 La Liga home games, failing to score in only one of them… Which happened to be the one where the entire FotMob staff attended against Real Madrid in December 2019! 🙄

🇮🇪 The League of Ireland, Premier Division kicks off it’s 2020 season this weekend, and it looks like it might start with a bang as it’s two biggest rivals meet today.

Bohemians vs. Shamrock Rovers is a derby that’s been going for over 100 years and divides the city of Dublin north to south. Keep an eye on our twitter feed because we’ll be sharing videos from the stands for this one!

🇸🇪🆚🇳🇴 Lastly, our local team SK Brann continue their pre-season preparations with a real test away at the home of Swedish champions, Djurgården. Sadly, we’re not going, but we’ll be there in spirit.

🛌 Sunday

Today is a day for some of the league leaders around Europe’s top leagues to reassert themselves having watched those around them compete earlier in the weekend.

🇩🇪 In Germany, Bayern München travel to FC Köln hoping that the hosts, and their legendary goal mascots are already in party mood ahead of the carnival season that has made the city famous, due to start next week.

🇪🇸 Real Madrid will go into their game against Celta Vigo knowing what they need to do to maintain their lead at the top of La Liga against a side struggling for form this season. The Galicians sit just two points above the relegation places going into the weekend.

🇮🇹 Traditionally the busiest day for football in Italy, Sunday is no exception with 6 Serie A games lined up.

With not a lot to choose between the top three, the game between Inter – top only on goal difference (in a league where ultimately, head-to-head records take precedence) and 3rd place, Lazio – the top scorers in the league will be massive. 🔥

Elsewhere, Juventus have a home game against relegation-threatened Brescia. Remember too, that Cristiano Ronaldo could equal the all-time Serie A record by scoring in his 11th straight league game.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Today, it’s the turn of 4 more sides to return to action in the Premier League – Spurs travel to Aston Villa in the early kick-off before Arsenal play Newcastle United in the late game.

🇷🇴 There’s also a special game in Romania, as the country’s Eternal Derby takes place between Dinamo And Steaua București. Not that we should call them that, after the bitter dispute between the current and previous owners of the club, the Romanian Army meant the club lost it’s name and colours… but kept their history and honours. Steaua are now officially known as FCSB.

🇧🇷 Lastly, the Supercopa do Brasil will take place in Brasília, with this being just the 3rd time the country has held what elsewhere, is seen as the big season opener.

League champions Flamengo face Copo do Brasil winners, Athletico-PR for the relatively new honour. Both sides are of course deep in to the ongoing state championships, more traditional for this time of year – Athletico’s form looks a little patchy in theirs, whilst this week, Flamengo reached the 1st stage final in their part of the country.

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!

Posted by Bill Biss
07
Feb
2020
Everything you need to know in 5 minutes

Everything you need to know in 5 minutes

It’s Friday, you probably know the drill by now so let’s get to it – these are the matches around the world that we think you’ll be interested in this weekend!

🍽 Your Friday Appetisers

Less of an appetiser for the days to come and more of a smörgåsbord this week, as we’ve picked out a little something for everyone from tonight’s football.

There’s action from some of Europe’s top leagues with games in Serie A, the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 plus a chance to check in on Vincent Kompany’s Anderlecht side, in the Belgian League.

🇧🇪 His reign as manager is seemingly over, with him stepping down from match day duties to focus on playing whilst his assistant took charge but with the club sitting in 9th and that assistant now having quit the club, Kompany’s season is all kinds of trouble.

🌎 In South America, there’s a crucial tie in the Argentine Superliga as title outsiders Argentinos Juniors and Lanús face off with both sides having the chance to go second in the table behind River Plate.

Oh, and yes – Argentinos Juniors do run out of an inflatable Diego Maradona.

🇧🇷 In Brazil, the various state championships are in full swing at this time of year and in the Paulista, there’s a new-look team playing tonight.

Historic São Paulo club Bragantino have gotten the full Red Bull rebrand, with the energy drinks company taking control of the club last year they have only just now been allowed to change their name and colours.

🇩🇪 A mention too, for 2. Bundesliga club, Dynamo Dresden – they might be bottom, with tonight’s game all-important but their army of fans have not given up, and are as committed as ever to the cause.

🔥 Saturday

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 The English Premier League is taking a somewhat piecemeal, winter break over the next two weekends with just a skeleton crew left to hold things together whilst the rest of the teams sit, sunning themselves on a beach somewhere.

So today, there’s just two fixtures – Everton vs. Crystal Palace and Brighton vs. Watford.

🇩🇪 In Germany meanwhile, there’s much more going on with the majority of teams all in action today.

You’ll forgive us for getting carried away after his 8 goals in his first 4 games, but we’re particularly looking forward to seeing if Erling Braut Haaland can continue his run in the late kick-off between Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund.

🇮🇹 With the majority of the attention in Serie A headed towards the fixtures on Sunday, Juventus could quietly extend their lead at the top of the table today, should they win their away trip to Hellas Verona. And can Cristiano Ronaldo, who’s already into double figures in terms of goals this year, score in his 10th consecutive Serie A game? 11 back-to-back games is the league record here, so one to keep an eye on.

🇯🇵 This may prove to be a little early for you, depending on your time zone but the Japanese Supercup will be decided today, with J-League champions, Yokohama F. Marinos meeting Emperor Cup winners, Vissel Kobe.

But if it’s derbies you’re in to, we might just have something for you!

🇦🇺 The action starts early with the Sydney Derby between A-League rivals, Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers.

🤜 🤛 In Colombia’s second city, Deportivo and América de Cali go toe-to-toe, whilst in Paraguay, we’ll have the Clásico más añejo or oldest derby between Guaraní and Olimpia, where incidentally a certain Roque Santa Cruz is also on course to break a league record for scoring in consecutive games.

Elsewhere, Switzerland’s big intercity rivalry sees FC Zürich host Basel whilst we’ll have a vested interest in the match between Portugal’s biggest clubs – with our favourite YouTuber, Ellis in the stands supporting Porto as they welcome Benfica to the Estádio do Dragão.

🛌 Sunday

🇮🇹 As mentioned, there will be a lot of eyes on the games in Serie A today, not least at the San Siro, where we’ll see the second Derby di Milano of the 2019/20 season.

Inter are the ‘hosts’ this time around and they will need to complete the double over the side they share a stadium with, if they’re to maintain their title challenge. Goals from Marcelo Brozović and Romelu Lukaku secured a 2-0 win the last time they met.

🇪🇸 Sunday is a busy day in La Liga as well, with both Real Madrid and Barcelona on their travels – Zidane’s men heading to Osasuna in the afternoon before Quique Setién must return to his former club, Real Betis in the evening kick-off.

There will also be an unusual amount of Scandinavian interest in the big Basque Derby as well, with Real Sociedad’s Norwegian/Swedish combo – Martin Ødegaard and Alexander Isak set to face Athletic Club Bilbao.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 In the Premier League, it’s the turn of Sheffield United, AFC Bournemouth, Manchester City and West Ham United to pull the short straw and play on during the winter break.

Bournemouth travel to Sheffield and Manchester City will look to make it 12 wins on the bounce versus West Ham.

Did you know… Man City have lost six Premier League games this season, as many as they had in their previous two campaigns combined. Manager Pep Guardiola has never lost seven matches in any of his previous 10 top-flight campaigns.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bizarrely, West Ham United and Manchester City also meet in the WSL today, albeit at the opposite end of the country.

City will also be looking to rivals, Manchester United to put a dent in Chelsea’s recent form when they face the side currently sitting second behind City in the table.

It looks like being a famous day all round in the women’s top flight – with derbies in North London and on Merseryside, where Everton will host Liverpool at Goodison Park for the first time. Over 23,000 watched the side’s last meeting – the first to be held at Liverpool’s main stadium, Anfield.

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!

Posted by Bill Biss
31
Jan
2020
Everything you need to know in 5 minutes

Everything you need to know in 5 minutes

As usual here at the FotMob office, we’ve been hard at work picking through the Matches Tab and selecting what games you should be following this weekend. From the obscure, to the massive, we’ve got it all covered!

🍽 Your Friday Appetisers

There’s plenty to get you going tonight so we’ve highlighted just a few of the great matches taking place around the world.

In Europe, there’s the chance to follow Benfica, the runaway leaders in the Portuguese Primeira plus you can catch up with how Wayne Rooney is doing back in English football. The Friday night game in the Bundesliga should be good, with two heavyweights going up against each other – Hertha vs. Schalke, whilst in France there’s the Breton Derby. 🔥

🏆 With some countries still enjoying their winter breaks, the Atlantic Cup, hosted on the Algarve Coast in Portugal has been providing some much needed friendly competition for 10 years now. This year’s edition starts tonight and include sides from Sweden, Denmark, Kazakhstan, the Czech Republic and Norway.

🇳🇱 And hopefully the Dutch FA have listened to our call, and got this mascot in again for the game at AZ Alkmaar.

🔥 Saturday

🇪🇸 Usually, you’d wait half a season for El Derbi to come along but today’s meeting between Real Madrid and Atlético is the club’s second meeting in three weeks!

The last game was of course, the Supercopa which finished 0-0. Only made memorable for Federico Valverde’s textbook definition of a professional foul – denying Atleti a certain goal in extra-time before Real went on to win on penalties.

More of the same today please, and maybe some goals!

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 The Premier League is in overdrive with eight games spread across the day! Starting with an intriguing tie at Leicester City we then see key matches at the top and bottom of the table – Liverpool hosting Southampton whilst both Bournemouth vs. Aston Villa and West Ham vs. Brighton look like relegation six-pointers.

🇩🇪 Bayern München have the chance to go top of the Bundesliga for a few short hours on Saturday, with RB Leipzig featuring in the evening kick-off. Leipzig do face 3rd placed, Gladbach though so that could prove crucial in this season’s title race.

🇺🇸 If you’ve been missing international football, there’s an off-season friendly for the USMNT, against Costa Rica. The US were supposed to be taking a development squad to train in Qatar but with sensitivities in the region at a high, they’ve quickly rearranged this game in California.

🇿🇦 🆚 🇲🇦 Lastly, the CAF Champions League group stage continues this weekend, so one to keep an eye on there – South African side and 2016 winners, Mamelodi Sundowns take on 2-time winners Wydad Casablanca, one of the biggest sides on the continent.

And we hope things have cooled down a bit for the games in the Argentine Superliga tonight. Last week was a bit much, for everybody!

🛌 Sunday

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mourinho and Guardiola meet once again in the Premier League today, one of the greatest managerial rivalries in the modern game. Or Tottenham Hotspur vs. Manchester City, as it’s otherwise known.

Did you know… This is the 23rd meeting in all competitions between José Mourinho and Pep Guardiola – Mourinho has lost 10 games against the Spaniard, four more than he has against any other manager.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Staying in England, Manchester City’s Women’s team also have an important game as they take on Arsenal in the WSL. Both sides have an identical W11 D0 L2 record this season, so something has to give!

In the midweek League Cup Semi-Final meeting between the two, it was Arsenal that came out on top so City will be after immediate revenge.

Elsewhere, it’s a day for some of the grand old names in European football: There’s De Topper, with Ajax facing PSV Eindhoven in the Eredivisie, the away side really needing something to kickstart their ailing campaign. In Italy, leaders Juventus look to bounce back from last weekend’s defeat at Napoli, with Fiorentina visiting Turin, whilst Inter Milan travel to Udinese. And in La Liga, Barcelona will need a similar recovery to keep in touch with Madrid at the top of the table – they host Levante at Camp Nou.

🇧🇴 In our final pick of the weekend, watch out for a result in Bolivia, where two of our favourite named clubs, in a league full of great names go head-to-head – Always Ready vs. The Strongest.

We’ll be spending far too much time trying to think up funny tweets about that one on Sunday night.

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!

Posted by Bill Biss
24
Jan
2020
Everything you need to know in 5 minutes

Everything you need to know in 5 minutes

We’ve done the hard bit, so you don’t have to! After searching through the app, here are all the games you should be following over the next three days.

🍽 Your Friday Appetisers

To ease you in, we’ve picked out a few tasty morsels for you to get stuck into before the real action starts tomorrow.

🇳🇱 First up, keep an eye on the Eredivisie game at Utrecht. Relegation threatened Den Haag have brought in English coaches Alan Pardew and Chris Powell to save their season. Last week, the fans welcomed them with an eye-catching tifo. It seemed to work, but will lightening strike twice?

🇩🇪 We’ll also have a vested interest in the evening’s big Bundesliga clash, what with Norway’s next big hope, Erling Haaland set to make his home debut as Dortmund host FC Köln.

After his hat-trick, from the bench in his first Dortmund game last weekend, you better believe the hype is real!

Elsewhere, there are interesting contests in Serie A and Ligue 1 whilst the FA Cup 4th Round gets underway in England – we’ve gone for the all-Championship tie as the stand-out fixture.

🔥 Saturday

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 There’s 10 games in the FA Cup, with 5 featuring Premier League clubs up against sides from outside the top flight.

Oxford United, who’ve already enjoyed a run to the quarter-finals of the League Cup this season will see if they can repeat the trick as they take on Newcastle United.

And Coventry City vs. Birmingham City should have a strange atmosphere. With Coventry groundsharing at St Andrews this season, that means the Birmingham fans will be in the away end at their own ground! 🤯

🇪🇸 In La Liga, just a few days after playing Ibiza in the Copa, Barcelona are on their travels again, as they go to Valencia hoping to cement their place at the top of the table.

🇩🇪 Meanwhile, the top three are all in action in Germany – RB Leipzig play away in Frankfurt, Gladbach host Mainz and perhaps in the toughest test of the day – Bayern welcome Schalke to the Allianz Arena.

🇦🇷 Further afield, the Argentine Superliga is back in full swing after their summer break, and tonight could see Javier Mascherano play his first game on home soil since leaving the league back in 2005 as his new club, Estudiantes travel to San Lorenzo.

🇧🇪 Lastly, the game in the Belgium that always seem to confuse non-Belgians! Just ask the Liverpool fans who booked travel and accommodation to Genk, when their side were playing Gent in the Champions League earlier this season!

🛌 Sunday

🇮🇹 All eyes on Italy today, where the Serie A fixture computer has thrown out some great games.

There’s the small matter of the Derby della Capitale as the two Roman giants clash in their shared Stadio Olimpico home.

Can Serie A’s top scorer make the difference? 🤔

Then, in the final game of the day – Maurizio Sarri returns to Napoli with his new side, Juventus. That will be a quiet night at the library. 👀

Did you know… Maurizio Sarri is the manager with the best points average with a single team in the 3 points era in Serie A (2.55 with Juventus). In addition, the current Juventus coach has the best average with Napoli during the same period (2.27).

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 In our final pick of the weekend, watch out for the Shrews!

One of the lowest ranked side left in the FA Cup, Shrewsbury Town face the daunting task of welcoming Liverpool to their New Meadow home.

Amazingly, the sides have only met once before, in any competition – with that being an FA Cup tie at the same stage back in 1996. Liverpool won 4-0 that day, with Stan Collymore, Jason McAteer, Robbie Fowler and an OG registering on the scoresheet. That was the year they went all the way to the final, wore white Armani suits to Wembley… and lost.

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!

Posted by Bill Biss
17
Jan
2020
Everything you need to know in 5 minutes

Everything you need to know in 5 minutes

It’s Friday, you know the drill! Time for us to scour the Matches Tab and pick out the games that you absolutely need to know about over the next few days.

🍽 Your Friday Appetisers

Today is looking busy, with some top quality football taking place all over the world.

🇩🇪 The Bundesliga returns from it’s winter hibernation, with one of this season’s surprise packages, Borussia Mönchengladbach on the road at Schalke. Can they pick up where they left off at the end of 2019?

🇵🇹 There’s also a massive derby in Lisbon tonight, with Sporting hosting rivals Benfica at the Estádio José Alvalade. Ridiculously, Sporting may already be out of the title race with Benfica having lost just one of their opening 16 games, conceding just 6 in the process – but this is a chance to restore some pride.

Elsewhere, we’re highlighting a potential Cupset in the Coupe de France, games in La Liga and the EFL Championship.

🔥 Saturday

🇫🇷 If you follow us on twitter already, you’ll know all about the Coupe de France this season – and with the Round of 32 carrying on tomorrow, we’re featuring it again!

Thanks to it’s extraordinary format, the cup is almost guaranteed to produce upsets. This year is no exception with a total of 13 teams left from outside France’s professional divisions.

One of the biggest stories so far, JS Saint-Pierroise – the side from an island out in the Indian Ocean have already gone further than any side from one of France’s overseas departments in 30 years. They now face 4th tier side, SAS Épinal in one of the most exciting ties in this round!

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 The Premier League gives us 8 games tomorrow, starting with José Mourinho’s Spurs side making the short trip out of North London to nearby Watford. Later, there’s a rare Saturday afternoon kick-off for Manchester City and the day ends with Chelsea taking on the injury-plagued Newcastle United.

If you’re a Fantasy Premier League fan, don’t forget to get your changes in for your side by 11.30am Saturday morning. And just a reminder that you can check live #FPL points anytime during any Premier League match. Head to a game in the app, scroll across to the Lineups tab and tap that button marked FANTASY.

🛌 Sunday

No rest for the wicked this week, with Sunday being a busy day in a lot of the top leagues.

🇦🇷 The second half of the Argentine Superliga kicks-off with a clash between two of the Cinco Grandes, Indepediente vs. River Plate.

🇧🇪 Belgium gives us a derby to get our teeth into, with Flemmish rivals, Anderlecht and Club Brugge facing off. Brugge are currently 10 points clear at the top of the table.

🔥 Barcelona are in La Liga action, Bayern München get their 2020 underway away at Hertha Berlin whilst in Serie A, title rivals Juventus and Inter both feature in a hectic programme of games.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Last, but not least there’s the small matter of Liverpool vs. Manchester United – the battle between England’s two most decorated teams. You don’t want to miss that one.

Did you know… Liverpool have lost 28 Premier League matches against Manchester United, eight more than against any other club.

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!

Posted by Bill Biss
10
Jan
2020
Everything you need to know in 5 minutes

Everything you need to know in 5 minutes

Every Friday we trawl through the Matches Tab to ensure that you’re ahead of the game. Read on for our pick of the best, the most obscure and the plain unmissable football scheduled for this weekend.

🍽 Your Friday Appetisers

We’ve gone global today, with some suggestions that should get you going.

🌍 Two of Saudi Arabia’s oldest clubs go head-to-head, with top of the league Al-Nassr looking to inflict more pain on the relegation threatened, Al-Ittihad.

The CAF Champions League Group Stage rolls on, and we’ve picked out the clash between Zambia’s state electricity suppliers and Egyptian giants Zamalek, 5-time winners of the competition.

Its third against second in Ligue 1, whilst the Premier League gives us Sheffield United hosting West Ham and we’ve also picked out Porto’s away game as they look to go 12 games unbeaten.

🔥 Saturday

Every week, YouTube creator, Ellis goes to a game hoping for some #scenes. His channel, Away Days currently boasts over 62,000 subscribers and we’re proud to support his films shot at the likes of English sides, Sutton United and Swindon Town. This week however, he’s going further afield!

🇮🇹 Ellis is off to Inter Milan vs. Atalanta, a huge game in the Serie A title race as Antonio Conte’s side look to continue their impressive form at the San Siro.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 After it’s enforced break for the latest round of the FA Cup, the Premier League is back in England, and we have 7 games lined up for Saturday – starting with a trip to South London for Mikel Arteta’s revitalised Arsenal side in the day’s early kick-off.

🏆 Further down the English pyramid, we’re giving another shout out to Hampton & Richmond Borough. As you know, we’re the main shirt sponsors for the West London club and this weekend, they travel to Yeovil Town for the 2nd Round of the FA Trophy.

This is the non-league game’s premier Cup competition and it’s pitted our boys against a professional side who were playing Championship football as recently as 2014. Win this though, and Hampton will be just 3 wins away from a date at Wembley Stadium! 💪

Look out for alternative match commentary from the game, via the app from our friends at Mundial Magazine.

🛌 Sunday

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 There’s a big derby to get you started on Sunday, as Welsh clubs Cardiff and Swansea City meet in the EFL Championship. Always tasty these games.

🔥 Elsewhere, in Europe’s big leagues Juventus travel to Roma in Serie A’s headline game of the day whilst PSG welcome Monaco to the Parc des Princes in Ligue 1 and Premier League Champions, Manchester City face Aston Villa.

Did you know… Aston Villa have won only three of their 49 Premier League matches against the reigning champions, losing each of their last 11 in a row.

🇸🇦 King Abdullah Sports City, just north of Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia is the host city for the Supercopa de España – a bizarre twist on the traditional Supercup format where perhaps, a country’s domestic league and cup champions go head-to-head as a curtain-raiser or early on, at the start of the next season.

Well, La Liga are doing it differently this year with 4 sides heading to the Middle East! With Real and Atlético winning their respective semi-finals in the week – we’re left with the spectacle of a Madrid Derby in Sunday’s final.

Neither side won the league or cup last season, by the way.

🇪🇸 Back home at least, all Spanish eyes will be on this season’s edition of the Copa del Rey, where we have reached the second round. Here, the remaining La Liga sides have all been drawn against sides from either the third, or fourth tier of Spanish football. We’ll be looking out for some Cupsets here!

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!

Posted by Bill Biss
03
Jan
2020
Everything you need to know in 5 minutes

Everything you need to know in 5 minutes

Looking for some football to get interested in over the next couple of days? We got you. And while a lot of leagues take a break, there’s still plenty going on and we’ve trawled the Matches Tab to bring you the best games on offer!

🍽 Your Friday Appetisers

Admittedly, today’s a quiet one but there are a couple of crackers out there.

🇪🇸 No need for a Winter Break in Spain, so it’s as you were in La Liga and the weekend’s programme starts with two games tonight. Leganes could claw themselves out of the relegation zone with a win at a bang out of form, Valladolid. And two of Spain’s old grandees go head-to-head, with Sevilla hosting the only side, other than Barcelona or Real Madrid never be relegated from La Liga; Athletic Bilbao.

Did you know… Sevilla have won their last five home La Liga games against Athletic, without conceding a goal. The Andalusian side have never won six consecutive games against the same opponent whilst keeping a clean sheet in the history of the competition.

🇫🇷 Elsewhere, the Coupe de France – one of the world’s oldest and all-encompassing cup competitions has reached the Round of 64. That means they’ve already whittled down the original 8000 plus amateur and professional sides from France AND all it’s overseas departments and territories to the 64 that remain!

The round kicks-off with a clash between Ligue 1 side, Bordeaux and second division Le Mans. Yep, they have a football team as well as the 24hr race!

🏆 Saturday

Not a lot of league action on this weekend, with Cup competitions taking centre-stage in some of the headline grabbing countries we track in the app.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 In England, its FA Cup 3rd Round day, the stage at which the Premier League and Championship heavyweights join the party.

If you see these games listed with what looks like a strange kick-off time, don’t worry – we haven’t gone mad!

🇫🇷 Turning our attention back to the Coupe de France, and away from our usual coverage of the top three divisions in France, it’s been great to learn about some of the teams who have made it this far, from lower down the pyramid.

For example, JS Saint-Pierroise – who face 2nd division side Niort come from outside France all together. They are based in Réunion, an island in the Indian Ocean closer to both Madagascar and Mauritius than they are the mainland!

And researching the club crests, so we can bring them in to the app has thrown up some stonewall design classics – like 5th tier, ESM Gonfreville.

🇪🇸 Lastly for Saturday, you know we like a derby – so how about the one between Espanyol and Barcelona. Albeit, the form guide makes this a rather unequal rivalry.

Did you know… Espanyol are winless in the their last 20 La Liga games against Barcelona, failing to score in 15 of them. They last won against the Blaugrana in the competition in February 2009.

🛌 Sunday

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Speaking of rather bad records against your fiercest rivals, Everton fans won’t have been too happy to be drawn away across the city, against Liverpool in the FA Cup.

They last met in the league, exactly one month a go at Anfield and it was not a happy time for the Blues with Liverpool running out 5-2 winners. You can relive that one here. Or not, depending on your allegiance.

Here’s our pick of Sunday’s 3rd Round games.

🇬🇷 And for our last tip this weekend, look no further than the battle between Greece’s big two AKA the Derby of the Eternal Enemies, or the Mother of All Derbies!

Olympiacos vs. Panathinaikos. 🔥

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!

Posted by Bill Biss
20
Dec
2019
Everything you need to know in 5 minutes

Everything you need to know in 5 minutes

We’ve run through the weekend’s football fixtures and worked out the games that you absolutely have to look out for over the coming days. From the obvious match-ups, to the obscure – we got you.

🍽 Your Friday Appetisers

You know we like to ease you into the weekend, but tonight there’s a few tasty games around.

🇩🇪 Borussia Dortmund have the chance to keep the pressure on the sides above them in the Bundesliga table with a Friday night test at Hoffenheim. After letting a 2-goal lead slip in the week, to draw 3-3 with leaders, RB Leipzig – they’ll want to act fast to get that disappointment out of their system.

Did you know… Hoffenheim have scored in all of their home games against Dortmund since winning promotion to the Bundesliga in 2008.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 In Scotland, Steven Gerrard’s Glasgow Rangers head to Hibernian for a fixture that has produced fireworks in recent seasons. Jermaine Defoe scored a hat-trick the last time they met and Rangers might need the ex-England international to shine again as top scorer, Alfredo Morelos serves a ban after his rather inflammatory goal celebration last week.

🔥 Saturday

It’s not every weekend that a club side has the opportunity to be crowned champions of the world, but that’s exactly the fate awaiting either, Liverpool or Flamengo!

🏆 FIFA’s Club World Cup Final, in Qatar pits the holders of the Champions League, and Premier League leaders versus Brazil’s most supported team – with Flamengo fresh from conquering all they could in South America.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 With Liverpool out of the way, there’s still plenty of intrigue back home in England.

Not least across town at Everton, where a couple of new managers could be in opposing dugouts.

🇪🇸 Three of the top four in La Liga are also in action on Saturday, and after the drama of El Clásico did nothing to separate Barcelona and Real Madrid in the week, Barça need a win – they host Alavés at Camp Nou.

🛌 Sunday

The games just keep coming this weekend but we’ve picked out three in particular that should keep you interested on a sleepy Sunday.

🇸🇦 The King Saud University Stadium, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is the surprise venue choice for the Supercoppa Italiana – the annual fixture between the last winners of the Italian league and Cup competitions.

Juventus vs. Lazio will be the second edition of the Supercoppa to be played outside of Italy itself.

🇲🇦 In Morocco, all eyes will be on the Casablanca Derby as the cities two biggest clubs, Raja and Wydad go head-to-head in what is, one of Africa’s most fiercely fought contests.

That’s both on and off the field, with these games famous for some outrageous tifos and pyro displays from the fans in the stands.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Last but not least, you can’t ignore one of the day’s two Premier League fixtures.

Spurs manager José Mourinho welcomes Chelsea, the club at which he made his name in England – and who share a heated rivalry with his new side in North London. There will be fireworks! 🧨

Did you know… Chelsea have had 53 different Premier League goalscorers against Spurs, more than any side has had against another in the competition.

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!

Posted by Bill Biss
16
Dec
2019
🏆 Follow the Champions League Draw LIVE

🏆 Follow the Champions League Draw LIVE

The draw for the Champions League round of 16 took place at 12:00 CET in Nyon, Switzerland.

If you missed it, you can still catch up with the full draw via our Twitter page!

Still to come… We’ll be live tweeting the Europa League round of 32 draw, so join us for that one!

Posted by Curt Baker