The best action to follow this weekend
Saturday
🏴 There’s virtually a full programme of Premier League games to look forward to on Saturday with eight fixtures spread across the afternoon and evening. We start with Manchester City’s trip to Leicester City, where Pep Guardiola will be looking for the points that will, once again, take City above Arsenal in the table. But they’ll be dealing with a resurgent Foxes side who’ve conceded just twice in their last five matches.
Among the English standard 3pm kick-offs there are games for three of the top five – Spurs and Chelsea both have trips to the south coast – to face Bournemouth, and Brighton respectively. And St. James Park will be the scene for Unai Emery’s first game back in the Premier League as Aston Villa visit Newcastle United.
The day ends with Fulham vs. Everton – a fixture that hasn’t resulted in a draw since 2012. And Liverpool‘s meeting with struggling Leeds, who are winless in eight.
🇮🇹 In contrast, there’s only three games lined up in Serie A, but all three do feature one of the big names of Italian football. Napoli, who’ve been so dominant at home, and in the Champions League will be out to extend their lead at the top of the table when they take on Sassuolo, at home.
Then, later in the day, Inter face Sampdoria as both sides look to continue their recent upwards tick in form. After a slow start, Inter are unbeaten in six across all competitions and sealed their progression to the knockout stages of the Champions League during the week. Meanwhile, Sampdoria sit in the relegation zone but finally won their first game of the season last weekend, away at Cremonese.
Lastly, Juventus go to struggling Lecce once again looking to bounce back from a midweek set-back in their failed Champions League campaign.
🇪🇸 In Spain – and speaking of Champions League disappointment – second placed Barcelona will park Wednesday’s defeat to Bayern and confirmation of their transfer to the Europa League knockout play-offs, as they attempt to close the three-point gap to rivals Madrid. To do that, they’ll need to win at Gennaro Gattuso’s Valencia.
It’s a similar story for Atlético, who were also consigned to Thursday night European football following results in the week. On Saturday, they go to Cadíz, the side with the worst goalscoring record (0.5 goals per match) in the league.
🇩🇪 Germany’s big two both feature in top six clashes in the Bundesliga. Bayern München (2nd) could even return to their familiar perch at the top of the table if they pick up at least a point against Mainz 05 (6th). Bo Svensson’s side are a decent proposition for earning that point, with Mainz currently boasting the best away record in the league.
In the evening fixture, Borussia Dortmund (5th) will be battling it out with Eintracht Frankfurt, the side just above them in fourth. One factor that might come into play in this one is the side’s upcoming games on Matchday 6 in the Champions League – Dortmund are safely through after the draw with City but Frankfurt still need to go to Sporting on Tuesday and get a win to ensure qualification for the knockout stages.
🏆 The showcase game in South American club football is another fixture we’re really looking forward to this weekend as Flamengo meet fellow Brazilians, Athletico Paranaense, in what is the 63rd Copa Libertadores Final.
This will be Flamengo’s third finals appearance in the last four years – they beat River Plate to lift the 2019 edition but lost to Palmeiras in 2021. In what has been a period of dominance for the Rio side, they’ve also won the Brazilian league twice and finished runners-up once. And there’s still a chance that they’ll match that this year. They’ll take on an Athletico side who’ve never won the top prize in South America but who have finished runners-up once, back in 2005.
Athletico are coached by the legendary Luiz Felipe Scolari, who’s enjoying something of a surprise swansong having only agreed to take on a sporting director job at the start of the year before heading down to takeover in the dugout after the side’s slow start. A win would be give him the third Libertadores title of his long and illustrious career.
🇿🇦 Finally for Saturday, watch out for one of Africa’s biggest match-ups – the Soweto Derby between South African giants Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs. Both sides are somewhat off the pace in the Premier League, sitting fourth and fifth, but that won’t matter as the Pirates look to stop a three game losing run against their rivals.
Sunday
🇪🇸 There’s two games of note in LaLiga on Sunday, the first of which involves leaders Real Madrid as they face Girona at the Bernabéu. The visitors have struggled their way to nine points following promotion but that’s not enough to see them sit any higher than 18th and inside the relegation zone. And Madrid’s surprise midweek defeat to RB Leipzig – their first defeat all season – probably doesn’t bode well for a side that haven’t kept a clean sheet in 15 matches.
The other game pits fourth against fifth as Real Sociedad take on Real Betis. Both have threatened to break the status quo of the top three this season but inconsistency may yet be their undoing – Real Sociedad won five straight games before losing at Valladolid last weekend and Betis have won just two of their last six.
🏴 In England, its top vs. bottom (at the time of writing) as Arsenal take on Nottingham Forest. The Tricky Trees did, of course, cause the surprise of the round as they beat Liverpool last time out but do they stand a chance of repeating that at the Emirates? They knocked Mikel Arteta’s side out of the FA Cup last season but the Gunners look transformed since then – Thursday’s defeat at PSV not withstanding.
The day’s only other game in England’s top tier sees Manchester United host West Ham. Both secured their progression from their groups in UEFA’s Thursday night competitions this week – United in the Europa League, and West Ham in the Europa Conference League. Six points and four places separate them going in to this league meeting.
🇩🇪 This weekend might be the one that sees Union Berlin‘s lead in the Bundesliga finally overhauled but we’ve said that before and the club from the capital will no doubt be fully confident they can restore their advantage – whatever Bayern do – when they face Borussia Mönchengladbach on Sunday.
Third placed Freiburg are also in action – they visit bottom of the table Schalke.
🇺🇸 The MLS Cup Play-offs reach the Conference Finals stage as the weekend draws to a close. True to form, both games feature the side who finished top of their region – Supporters Shield winners LAFC in the West, and Philadelphia Union in the East.
After their derby win over their city rivals in the last round, LAFC now face Austin FC, who won a regional derby of their own – beating Dallas, their fellow Texans. During the regular season, LA only lost nine of their 34 games but two of those defeats came against Austin. The Verde won 2-1 in LA back in May before battering them 4-1 at home in August.
On the other side of the draw, the Union come up against MLS Cup holders New York City. No one has retained the title since LA Galaxy did so a decade ago and NYCFC will have their work cut out against a side who accrued 12 points more than them – and beat them twice – during the regular season.
🇮🇹 Back in Serie A, Sunday’s schedule includes fixtures for those sides sat closest to leaders Napoli as we head in to the weekend. Defending champions Milan (2nd) go to Torino – a side they’ve not conceded so much as a goal to in six previous meetings. And Lazio (3rd) will test their eight game unbeaten run – and the best defensive record in the division – against Salernitana at home.
🇸🇪 Häcken could be crowned as Swedish champions for the first time in their 82 year history as the Allsvenskan season comes to a head. A win, at city rivals IFK Göteborg in the penultimate round would be enough to seal the title.
This is no mean feat for a side who’s previous best finish came back in 2012 and in a league dominated by Malmö and the Stockholm clubs in recent years.
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Cover Image from IMAGO