The best action to follow this weekend
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Saturday
? The Club World Cup isn’t always a competition that grabs European football fans but that certainly can’t be said for South America where the tournament, and its predecessor – the Intercontinental Cup are revered by the clubs and fans alike.
Therefore, the pressure is on Chelsea to deliver a result when they meet Brazilian side Palmeiras in Saturday’s final, especially considering that the UEFA representatives have won in 13 of the previous 14 years. In fact, the only side in that run to lose a final was Chelsea back in 2012 when they went down 1-0 to Palmerias’ big São Paulo rivals Corinthians. The Verdão will be desperate to emulate that achievement.
?? Following last weekend’s Milan Derby, there’s another top of the table clash in Serie A as Inter travel to Napoli.
Napoli capitalised on Inter’s defeat to Milan in that game by beating Spezia to climb within a point of the summit. Another win here would see the first change in leadership since Napoli themselves were knocked off the top back in early December.
??????? There’s five fixtures scheduled in the Premier League with Manchester United starting proceedings at home against Southampton in the early kick-off. With the Saints winning at Spurs in midweek whilst United stumbled at Burnley it will be interesting to see how this one plays out.
Elsewhere, Everton meet Leeds United in a battle between two struggling teams looking to change the course of their season and later in the day, relegation threatened Norwich City host leaders Manchester City, who are unbeaten in 14 league games.
?? The new football season in Japan kicks off with the Super Cup, which is being held for the 37th time and features back-to-back J.League champions Kawasaki Frontale against Urawa Red Diamonds, who won last season’s Emperor’s Cup.
?? In La Liga, the big game of the day sees Real Madrid travel to sixth place Villarreal. Despite their cushion, in terms of points at the top of the table Madrid could be venerable to the Europa League holders who are on a fine run of form at home.
Madrid haven’t been at their fluent best in recent weeks – drawing with Elche at home, losing in the Copa del Rey and only narrowly beating Granada last weekend, thanks to a wonder strike from Marco Asensio.
?? Bayern München will be on the road on Saturday, visiting a Bochum side that they beat 7-0 in the early stages of this season. Bochum aren’t as bad as that result suggests and they’ve done well to consolidate in mid-table following their promotion as champions of the 2.Bundesliga.
Third placed Bayer Leverkusen also feature, at home to struggling Stuttgart. Always entertaining to watch, Leverkusen have smashed five goals in each of their last two fixtures – first beating Augsburg before the big win at Dortmund that narrowed the gap on the side directly above them in the table.
Sunday
??????? On Sunday, Premier League draw specialists Burnley will be hoping for another positive display as they host Liverpool, a second club from the ‘Big Six’ to visit Turf Moor this week. Burnley’s midweek 1-1 draw with United was their seventh in their last 10 league games!
Newcastle United are another side towards the bottom of the table with reasons to be cheerful but they face a stiff test on Sunday, with Steven Gerrard’s new-look Aston Villa the visitors to St. James’ Park.
Spurs (7th) will also be in action, taking on Wolves (8th) as both clubs look for a run of results that will break them in to the top six.
?? Its Derby Day in Barcelona as Espanyol host their more illustrious rivals from across Spain’s second city. Earlier in the season, the reverse fixture marked Xavi’s first game in charge of Barça and resulted in a narrow 1-0 win thanks to a penalty from Memphis Depay.
Since then, Barcelona have lost just once in the league and they’ll have been massively encouraged by last week’s 4-2 victory over Atlético Madrid, a performance seen by many as their best under the new manager.
?? In Germany, two sides at the top of the table and smarting from recent defeats will be out to prove a point against each other. Dortmund (2nd), who were on the wrong end of that 5-2 defeat to Leverkusen last weekend visit the capital to face Union Berlin (4th) who for their part, lost at lowly Augsburg.
?? We haven’t spoken about the Swiss Super League enough this season, which is an oversight when you consider that we could have our first title winners to break the Basel/Young Boys duopoly since 2009!
FC Zürich were the last side other than the big two to win the league and they currently sit top of the pile. Zürich play fourth placed Lugano on Sunday, with Young Boys clashing with Basel in the country’s most high profile fixture earlier in the day.
?? Lastly, we head back to Serie A where Sunday traditionally provides the best action of the weekend. Milan, who boast an in-form Olivier Giroud (4 goals in 2 games this week!) entertain Sampdoria in the early kick-off. And to close off proceedings, watch out for Atalanta as they welcome Juventus, seemingly their direct rivals for the fourth Champions League qualification spot this season.
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Cover Image from IMAGO