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.
🏴 FA Cup: Newport County vs. Manchester United
We start this week, with one of Sunday’s fourth round clashes, in the FA Cup. And this is a proper cup tie, befitting of the tradition and values of the world’s oldest national cup competition. Newport County, from South Wales, and currently sat 14th in League Two, take on giants Manchester United, from three divisions above them, and 12-time winners of the trophy.
Rodney Parade will be full the rafters for the visit of the Premier League side, and their still somewhat under pressure manager, Erik Ten Hag, and even the slightest sniff of an upset (or ‘Cupset’) will be jumped upon.
Newport have some decent recent history in the competition having reached this round for the third time in the last seven seasons but make no mistake, a win here would be their biggest ever result. This season, in particular, Manchester United can not afford to let that happen and Ten Hag will be keen for his side to take control of the game as early on as possible.
🏴 FA Cup: West Brom vs. Wolves
Just like the third round throwing up a rare derby between Sunderland and Newcastle United, the fourth round has given us the Black Country Derby between West Bromwich Albion, from the Championship, and Wolverhampton Wanderers, of the Premier League.
Sunday’s meeting between the two will be the first since 2021 when Albion were ultimately relegated from England’s top flight but their absence will only have intensified the animosity between the two local rivals.
West Brom haven’t lost a home game to Wolves since 1996 and they’ve only lost three of the 24 games played against each other since then. So Gary O’Neil’s visitors will be particularly motivated to end that historical hoodoo. Especially with his side unbeaten in six (all comps) and up to 11th in the Premier League. Albion did lose to Norwich City in their last outing but they do still sit fifth in the Championship, the best of the rest behind a breakaway top four of Leicester, Ipswich, Southampton, and Leeds.
🇪🇸 LaLiga: Celta Vigo vs. Girona
Elsewhere on Sunday, we’ll be focusing on the unlikely title race in LaLiga, where once again, Girona will be playing catch up when they head to Celta Vigo.
They sit one point ahead of Real Madrid at the top of the table but with Carlo Ancelotti’s side in action on Saturday, the pressure will likely be on Girona to respond. They did just that last weekend, thrashing Sevilla 5-1 after Madrid had rescued a 3-2 win against bottom side Almería earlier that same day. But the league leaders were upset in the week, when they lost a Copa Del Rey quarter-final at Mallorca.
Celta Vigo were also involved in that round, where they went down to a 2-1 defeat to Real Sociedad on Tuesday. Rafa Benítez might just be glad to see the back of them having watched his side also lose to Real Sociedad in the league last Saturday! Celta currently sit two points above the relegation zone but were on a decent run of form before that double blow.
🇩🇪 Bundesliga: Bayer Leverkusen vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach
To Germany now, where another unlikely side are looking to claim what would be their first ever top flight title. Bayer Leverkusen saw their lead in the table drop to four points following the playing of Bayern’s game in hand during the week, but with their unbeaten start still in tact, they should be confident going in to Saturday’s meeting with Rhine rivals Gladbach.
In fact, it’s a weekend full of local (and local-ish) rivalries in the Bundesliga. Bayern travel to Bavarian neighbours Augsburg, and with Schalke currently absent from the top flight, Borussia Dortmund play Bochum in the Mini-Revierderby.
Going back to Leverkusen though, Xabi Alonso’s side have won their last five competitive games, coming through tricky ties against Augsburg and Leipzig in the two rounds played since the winter break. And back in Round 2, in August, they were 3-0 winners at Gladbach, a game in which top scorer Victor Boniface scored twice.
Gladbach come in to Saturday’s game sat 12th in the table, and with one win in their last five league games. Their manager this season is Gerardo Seoane, the man who Xabi Alonso replaced at Leverkusen with the club then sat second bottom of the division in October 2022. Something that should add a little more spice to this derby fixture!
🇮🇹 Serie A: Fiorentina vs. Inter
In Serie A, fourth meets second on Sunday evening as the Viola meet the Nerazzurri. Both sides were in Supercoppa action last weekend, a tournament that Inter won for the third season in a row following Monday’s victory over Napoli in the final, with Napoli having beaten Fiorentina in their semi-final.
Inter’s absence did allow Juventus to leapfrog them at the top of the league table, but only by a point, and the two do, of course, meet in what looks like a particularly important Derby d’Italia next up, over the first weekend of February.
But ahead of that potential title decider, Inter must be wary of a Fiorentina side who looked inspired during the first half of the season. They have won just one of their last five competitive games but they were unbeaten in eight before that, and they also topped their group in the Europa Conference League.
Simone Inzaghi’s Inter have lost just once in the league all season and just once in their last 22 in all competitions. They are also the top scorers in the division, averaging 2.5 goals per game, and conceding just 0.5 goals per game at the other end.
Plus two suggestions from the ongoing international tournaments, as their respective knockout stages begin…
🏆 AFCON 2023: Nigeria vs. Cameroon
Running roughly one day ahead of their Asian counterparts, the Africa Cup of Nations reaches the Round of 16 on Saturday. And it’s the second of the day’s two games that will take most of the attention; the clash between West African neighbours and continental heavyweights, Nigeria and Cameroon. The Super Eagles vs. The Indomitable Lions.
The group stage of the tournament was one for the ages, but where so many of the favourites failed or faltered, these two have at least made it through. Nigeria went unbeaten and look steady, but not spectacular, scoring just three goals as they beat Ivory Coast and Guinea-Bissau (both 1-0), and drew with Equatorial Guinea (1-1). Cameroon looked shakier. They started with a 1-1 draw against 10-men Guinea and were then beaten soundly by reigning champions Senegal. Trailing 2-1 against Gambia, they needed a late own-goal and a stoppage time winner to get the points they needed to progress as the runners-up from their group.
🏆 Asian Cup 2023: Australia vs. Indonesia
In the AFC’s flagship tournament, the Round of 16 gets going on Sunday. And we’ve picked out the meeting between 2015 winners Australia and Indonesia, who have reached this stage for the first time, in what is their fifth appearance at the finals.
Ranked 146th in the world to Australia’s current status as FIFA’s 25th best international side, Indonesia are the rank outsiders. But in scoring against both Iraq and Japan, and beating Vietnam to progress, they have shown some potential for causing an upset.
The Socceroos have done what has been expected of them, but they have perhaps lacked a cutting edge having only put two past lowly-seeded India and one past Syria in their two group stage wins. Their last result was a disappointing 1-1 draw with Uzbekistan.
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Cover Image from IMAGO