The best action to follow this weekend
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Saturday
?? We start this week with two Bundesliga games that should guarantee plenty of goals. The leaders, and top scorers Bayern take on third placed Leverkusen whilst Leipzig (4th) face Freiburg (5th) in a clash between two sides who won their respective DFB Pokal quarter-finals on Wednesday night.
Second only to Bayern in terms of away form, Leverkusen also have the third highest number of goals to their name and boast exciting talents to watch out for like Moussa Diaby (12 goals, 7 assists) and Florian Wirtz (7 goals, 10 assists).
?? There’s a top of the table clash in France too where Nice (3rd) welcome PSG (1st) to the Mediterranean coast. In truth, PSG are coasting to the title in Ligue 1 and sit 16 points above Nice but with Christophe Galtier at the helm, the man who beat the Parisians to top spot with Lille last season they’re a strong proposition. The sides have met twice already during the campaign with both games ending goalless – Nice going on to knock PSG out of the Coupe de France on penalties in the latter.
??????? In England, a busy Saturday schedule sees a total of seven games lined up for us. Among them, Chelsea visit a Burnley side who were seemingly on the up until a midweek setback against Leicester City saw their three game unbeaten run come to an end. The Club World Cup champions survived a scare of their own at Championship side Luton Town in the week and are facing a particularly turbulent time off the field with owner Roman Abramovich set to sell the club.
Elsewhere, Liverpool can halve the six point gap to leaders Manchester City with a win over Champions League chasing West Ham and watch out for Jesse Marsch as the US coach takes charge of his first Premier League game when Leeds United visit Leicester.
?? Real Sociedad, the early season pacesetters in La Liga travel to Real Madrid on Saturday, the side who took over from them at the top in Round 14 and haven’t looked back since. The Basque club now sit down in sixth but with just two points separating them and Betis in third, a top level European birth looks achievable for them come the end of the campaign.
The league’s form side Villarreal (nine goals in their last two) go to Osasuna where a win would add their name to the increasingly intense battle for position in the top six.
?? The big game in Serie A comes as sixth play fifth, with Roma welcoming Atalanta to the Olimpico. Fresh from a 4-0 win over Sampdoria on Monday night, Atalanta look to be playing themselves in to form just at the right time whilst José Mourinho’s side have lost only one of their last eight games, in all competitions.
?? The new MLS season kicked off in style last weekend so we’re looking forward to the second round of games coming up over the next few days. Last season’s MLS Cup winners New York City go to Vancouver Whitecaps, who suffered a heavy defeat at Columbus in their first game and reigning Supporter’s Shield holders New England Revolution host Dallas.
All eyes though, will be on new expansion side Charlotte who play their first ever home game, against LA Galaxy in front of what will be a MLS-record crowd of over 73,500 fans.
Sunday
??????? Sunday is Derby Day in Manchester as the blue and red halves of the city meet at the Etihad. The home side do, of course sit top of the table, 22 points better off than United and with the best defensive record in the Premier League. But looking at the last five meetings between the two sides, the results have been a lot more even with United winning two, City winning two and the other game ending in a goalless draw. All four of those games with goals have ended in a 2-0 scoreline so if you’re looking for a prediction, there’s your starting point!
?? There’s yet more top of the table action to come in La Liga on Sunday with Atlético Madrid (5th) due to visit Real Betis (3rd). The home side were celebrating long in to the night on Thursday after securing their place in the final of the Copa del Rey so we’ll have to see how well they’ve recovered for this one!
Fourth placed Barcelona are also on their travels as they go to Elche. The reverse fixture was an exciting one with Barça amazingly conceding twice in the space of a minute to let slip a two goal lead before 17-year-old Gavi spared their blushes with a late winner.
?? With Borussia Dortmund’s game against Mainz postponed due to a coronavirus outbreak in the Mainz camp, there’s just one Bundesliga fixture to look forward to as FC Köln (8th) play in-form Hoffenheim (6th). The visitors have a particularly strong record against Köln and are unbeaten in their last nine meetings.
?? This weekend’s headline game in Serie A couldn’t get much bigger as Napoli and Milan, the two sides level on points at the top of the standings go head-to-head on Sunday evening. The only difference between them is Napoli’s superior goal difference, and the fact they won at the San Siro back in December.
Milan drew a blank with rivals Inter in the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final during the week, their third draw on the trot but that did extend their unbeaten run to seven games. For their part, Napoli haven’t lost a league game since December with defeat to Fiorentina in the Coppa and Barcelona in the Europa League the only blots on their copy book so far in 2022.
? Lastly, we’ll round off with two more derby games from world football as we know you always enjoy these. In Europe, Slavia and Sparta Prague meet in the Czech Republic’s most historic rivalry – a game that’s been played since 1896. And in Chile, where we’re just four games in to the current season, Santiago giants Colo-Colo and Universidad de Chile will be looking to kickstart their campaign with a win in the country’s fierce Superclásico.
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Cover Image from IMAGO