The best matches to follow this weekend
Saturday
🏴 It’s going to be an action-packed day in the Premier League with a total of eight fixtures lined up – including games for the top two, meaning that we’ll find out whether it’s Arsenal, or Manchester City that lead the way heading in to the World Cup break.
Arsenal must bounce back from their shock midweek defeat to Brighton in the Carabao Cup when they travel to Wolves in the day’s late kick-off. The West Midlanders have started to find the net in recent weeks, scoring four in their last three after a run of two goals in their previous six, and they were triumphant in their Cup game – beating Leeds 1-0 on Wednesday night.
The Gunners will have the advantage of playing last, knowing exactly what result they’ll need, as Manchester City take on Brentford in the lunchtime game. Pep Guardiola’s side come in to this one on the back of four straight wins while the Bees have stagnated of late – and were #Cupset by fourth tier Gillingham during the week.
Among the other fixtures; new Southampton boss Nathan Jones takes charge of his first Premier League game as the Saints go to Liverpool, fourth placed Spurs will look to shake off recent set-backs when they entertain Leeds, and Graham Potter’s misfiring Chelsea face Newcastle United, the side with the joint-best defensive record in the division.
🇩🇪 Bayern München finally overhauled Union Berlin at the top of the Bundesliga last weekend and they further cemented that position with a 6-1 win over Werder Bremen on Tuesday, while Union dropped points again, drawing 2-2 at home to Augsburg. Bayern, therefore, will definitely go in to the World Cup sitting pretty whatever the result of their final fixture – away at Schalke. The hosts are still bottom of the league despite ending a run of seven defeats with a much needed win over Mainz during the week.
Meanwhile, in-form Leipzig are the next side to go up against Bremen. The Red Bull club are unbeaten in 12 games across all competitions and recent wins over Hoffenheim and Freiburg have seen them move in to the European places after a poor start to the campaign.
🇮🇹 Like Bayern, Napoli are assured of their position at the top of Serie A heading in to the break. Luciano Spalletti’s side are eight points clear of the rest of Italy’s giant clubs and they remain unbeaten in the league – that recent Champions League loss, to Liverpool, still the only blot on their copybook this season. On Saturday, they play Udinese, who despite failing to win their last seven, are actually unbeaten in six away games.
🇪🇸 LaLiga wrapped up early for the World Cup break, playing a full midweek round in order to squeeze in the first round of the Copa del Rey over the weekend.
The four sides set to compete in the Supercopa do not enter at this stage (this includes Barça and Madrid) so the most high profile team involved are ‘crisis club’ Atlético Madrid. Without a win in five and having been beaten by Mallorca during the week, Diego Simeone will be desperate to avoid further embarrassment as they play at fifth tier, semi-pro Almazán.
🇵🇹 Elsewhere, there’s a local derby in Liga Portugal as Boavista host city-rivals Porto. The defending champions haven’t slipped up against Boavista in 17 meetings – or in other words, as long as FotMob and thus, our records have been going. Porto have, however, been a little more fallible this season, losing two of their 12 domestic games, having only lost once across the entirety of last season and only twice in the season before that.
Boavista would have to snap a six game run without a win but just imagine what it would mean to their fans if they could.
Sunday
🇮🇹 All five of the sides currently massing below Napoli in the Serie A table feature in Sunday’s games. Lazio head the pack, on goal difference, and they’ll face perhaps the toughest fixture as they travel to in-form Juventus. Max Allegri appears to have weathered the storm at the Turin giants – at least domestically speaking – and the Old Lady have won all of their last five without conceding a goal.
Inter – who Juve beat convincingly in last weekend’s Derby d’Italia – bounced back with a 6-1 win over Bologna in the week and they now face an Atalanta side with whom they sit level on points in the table. After their positive start to the campaign, Atalanta have lost three of their last four – against Lazio and Napoli understandably, but also at strugglers Lecce.
For their part, defending champions Milan will welcome back key man Olivier Giroud (following his suspension) for their clash with tenth placed Fiorentina at the San Siro.
🏴 There are two further games in the Premier League that’ll wrap things up until the league re-starts on 26 December. Both Brighton and their opponents Aston Villa will be desperate for a win to keep up their respective resurgences – albeit, Unai Emery’s winning start over Manchester United may have been undone a little by Villa’s defeat to the same side in the Carabao Cup four days later.
Erik ten Hag’s United feature in the final fixture – against a Fulham side they’ve not lost to since 2009. A win for the Red Devils will ensure that they finish this portion of the season in the top five.
Further down the English pyramid, there’s a huge clash in the Championship. Burnley vs. Blackburn Rovers isn’t just a battle between the sides currently sat first and second in the league, it’s a meeting between Lancashire rivals who’s grounds are separated by just 11 miles, as the crow flies. Vincent Kompany’s Clarets lost their 17-game unbeaten run quite spectacularly – losing 5-2 at Sheffield United last weekend but they did recover to win their Cup game in the week while Blackburn took West Ham to penalties but ultimately lost out to the higher league opposition.
🇩🇪 It’s third vs. second in the Bundesliga on Sunday as the now deposed early-season pacesetters Union Berlin head in to the Black Forest to face Freiburg. With now identical W8, D3, L3 records and the same amount of goals conceded (16), it’s only Union’s superior strike force (23 goals scored to Freiburg’s 21!) that separates the two sides. On paper, this should be a close one.
In the day’s other game – Eintracht Frankfurt go to Mainz hoping to ride the high of recent successes in to the league’s extended World Cup and traditional winter break. A record of one defeat in eight since the middle of October has seen them progress in the DFB Pokal, move in to the top four in the league, and reach the knockout stages of the Champions League – where they’ll meet Napoli next February.
🇫🇷 It’s been business as usual for PSG in Ligue 1 – a few scares along the way but largely dominant and still unbeaten as we head in to the 15th round of the season. They face Auxerre, at home on Sunday with coach Christophe Galtier promising not to rest the club’s stars despite the likes of Lionel Messi nursing injuries ahead of the World Cup.
Also on the agenda, two of Ligue 1’s most famous sides – Monaco and Marseille meet in the Principality. A win for either could move them in to the top three and keep them vaguely in touch with the league leaders.
🇧🇪 And there’s also two big games in Belgium. The format of the country’s top league often means that the side dominating at this point doesn’t actually go on to lift the trophy but things might just be different this time around. Later, the league will split with the top four going on into a mini-league where their regular season points are halved and more often than not, Club Brugge win the title! At least, that’s been the case for the past three years.
At the moment though, the champions sit down in fourth but that could change again if they’re able to beat second placed Royal Antwerp. Antwerp were unbeaten for the first nine rounds of the season but have consequently lost four while most of the sides around them have also dropped points.
The same can’t be said for current leaders Genk, who face struggling giants Anderlecht in their game on Sunday. Genk took off when Antwerp faltered and remain unbeaten since the opening round – a run now totalling 15 games. That means they start the weekend nine points clear of the pack.
Just lastly, if you’re looking forward to the World Cup, try out our tournament predictor game – here.
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Cover Image from IMAGO