In this weekend preview we summarise the best five games to follow on your match feed. And make a couple of suggestions for matches that you may otherwise miss.
🏴 Premier League: Liverpool vs. Everton
As top level club football returns to the app, there are a number of intriguing looking Premier League fixtures, but perhaps none as hotly contested as Saturday’s early kick-off; the Merseyside Derby.
Yes, Everton have only won once at Anfield (their original home) since the turn of the century, with Liverpool enjoying 14 home league wins in the intervening 23 years. But there are reasons for optimism on the Blue half of the city. As Sam McGuire points out in his wider Premier League preview, Everton are actually leading their rivals in a number of attacking metrics (such as Big Chances Created). They just haven’t yet found a way to convert those chances in to goals – something that has resulted in five defeats from their eight games so far.
That is in contrast to the Reds, who have lost just once, scored twice as many goals (18 to Everton’s nine), and sit fourth in the table, three points below joint leaders Spurs and Arsenal.
Prior to the international break, Liverpool drew 2-2 with Brighton while Everton kept their first clean sheet of the season as they ran out 3-0 winners over Bournemouth.
Jürgen Klopp has been given a selection headache ahead of the Derby as Andy Robertson was injured in Scotland’s game vs. Spain. The full-back had been an ever present in the league this season.
🇪🇸 LaLiga: Sevilla vs. Real Madrid
Saturday’s most anticipated game in Spain’s top flight comes at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán where Sevilla take on league leaders Real Madrid. This is the first opportunity for former Madrid captain, Sergio Ramos, to play against his former side since his return to the league earlier in the season.
Ramos won 22 major titles with Madrid having originally joined them from Sevilla, in 2005, and he is now back at his boyhood club having re-signed following two disjointed, but league winning, seasons at PSG. The now 37-year-old centre-back has featured just twice in LaLiga so far but he has also played every minute of both Sevilla’s Champions League fixtures and should feature against Madrid.
Since suffering their only defeat of the season at city rivals Atlético, back in September, table-topping Madrid have won all three of their league games without conceding a goal. And they’ll be keen to keep that run going against a side who’s form has been so patchy that it’s already led to a change in manager.
Uruguayan Diego Alonso was appointed at the start of the international break and this will therefore be his first appearance in the home dugout. As starts go, they don’t come much tougher. Especially with a Champions League meeting with Arsenal to follow on Tuesday.
🇫🇷 Ligue 1: Nice vs. Marseille
Also on Saturday (and with leaders Monaco not playing until Sunday) Nice have the chance to go top of Ligue 1. But they’ll have to do so with a win over Mediterranean rivals Marseille in what will be a heated encounter in the south of France.
The INEOS-owned club have got their act together this season after a ninth placed finish in 2022/23 and they have the only unbeaten record in the division, having won four, drawn four under impressive up and coming coach Francesco Farioli. And their early success looks to be down to a tight defence – only five sides have scored less goals than them so far (just nine in eight!) but no one has conceded less than the four goals Nice have shipped (at a rate of 0.5 goals per game). And that is reflected in our average FotMob ratings for the team – with three defenders topping our chart, young Frenchmen Melvin Bard and Jean-Clair Todibo, along with veteran Brazilian Dante.
Giants Marseille have found the going a little tougher, and like Sevilla in Spain, they too have resorted to making an early managerial change with Italian enforcer, Gennaro Gattuso, replacing Marcelino in September. L’OM sit sixth but did win last time out. A 3-0 victory over Le Havre came after a double whammy of away games in Gattuso’s first fortnight in charge – a 4-0 defeat at rivals PSG and a 3-2 loss at leaders Monaco!
🇮🇹 Serie A: Milan vs. Juventus
There are no unbeaten records left to preserve over in Serie A and therefore, we’ll focus on the top of the table clash between early season pacesetters, Milan, and third placed Juventus, set for Sunday evening.
Until Juve were rocked by the latest gambling and drug scandals involving the playing squad, this season had started reasonably well on the pitch for the Bianconeri, and with no European football to distract them, they’d put together a run of eight games that only produced one defeat. As ever, Max Allegri’s style of football has been pragmatic with only Inter having conceded less goals (5 to Juve’s 6) in the league and no able to beat their record of five clean sheets.
For Milan, who do have a very tough Champions League group to navigate (they go to PSG on Wednesday), it’s been almost the perfect start to a campaign where the target will no doubt be another tilt at the Scudetto that they last won in 2021/22. The only blemish, so far, has been the 5-1 thrashing they took at the hands of eternal rivals Inter. Aside from that, they’ve ground out seven wins while boasting the second highest average possession in the league (56.7%), and the second highest number of accurate passes per match (454.5).
This could be a close affair.
🇩🇪 Bundesliga: Wolfsburg vs. Bayer Leverkusen
Lastly, from Europe’s top five leagues, we suggest you follow Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen as they visit Wolfsburg, who currently sit seventh in the German table.
Xabi Alonso’s coaching revolution at Leverkusen has been gathering pace ever since he took over last October, steadied the ship, then led them to a sixth placed finish in his first season. Now, he’s got a team outscoring everyone bar Bayern (both have 23 in seven games) and is putting together a title bid on a budget much less than the champions – look, for example, at the contrasting fees paid for Victor Boniface (circa €20m) and the one Bayern paid for Harry Kane’s services.
In fact, Leverkusen are finding goals from all over the pitch, with multiple goal contributions coming from first team regulars in virtually every position.
Alonso’s side are one of three unbeaten teams as we get back down to business (along with Bayern and Dortmund), only dropping points at Bayern back in round four. Wolfsburg, for their part, have won four and lost three, and have been reliant on the sensational form of Jonas Wind. The Danish international has seven of the Wolves’ 10 goals (the same as Boniface), the last of which came as a brace in their last win, against Frankfurt, two rounds ago.
Plus two hidden gems from a little deeper in your match feed…
🇺🇸 MLS: Charlotte vs. Inter Miami
In MLS, Saturday marks the final day of the regular season. And never being one to miss a trick, the league have branded it Decision Day. In the Eastern Conference, five teams are still fighting over two remaining post-season places – the eighth and ninth births in the table.
DC United currently sit ninth but having already fulfilled all their fixtures, they have been eliminated. Something that probably hastened coach Wayne Rooney’s departure and subsequent return to English football with Birmingham City.
Montréal therefore hold a narrow advantage but must go to the already qualified Columbus Crew. Elsewhere, New York City and Chicago Fire face each other, but we’ve chosen to focus on the match between Charlotte FC and the eliminated Inter Miami, who face each other for the second time this week.
Charlotte missed out on the chance to jump into the play-offs places when Miami equalised late in a 2-2 draw on Thursday night. But they must now beat the Herons to stand any chance of progression – and we’ll wait to see if Miami will be strengthened by the return of Argentina talisman Lionel Messi following the World Cup qualifiers in South America.
🇺🇸 MLS: Sporting KC vs. Minnesota United
The play-off situation is no clearer in the Western Conference where another five teams will battle for three remaining play-off places.
Here, Portland Timbers, FC Dallas, and San Jose Earthquakes have a two point advantage on the two sides who currently sit tenth and eleventh, below the cut-off point. And those two – Kansas City and Minnesota United face each other.
Both teams need a win, and the hope that at least one of the sides above them drops points, which should make for an enthralling contest. Particularly when you consider these two are geographically (reasonably)close rivals in the Conference.
Their previous meetings this season have resulted in two wins for Sporting KC, with a running aggregate of fours goals scored by them, and none by Minnesota. But since they last met in September, when new Minnesota striker Teemu Pukki drew a blank, the Finnish international has found his form and transformed their attack – scoring seven goals in five matches.
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Cover Image from IMAGO