The best matches to follow this weekend
Friday
🏴 After a brief hiatus for the latest round of FA Cup games, the Premier League returns with tonight’s South West London Derby between Chelsea and virtual next door neighbours, Fulham. This game comes less than a month after the last meeting between these two saw Fulham end a 16 year wait to get one over on the Blues. Goals from Willian and Vinicius came either side of an equaliser from Kalidou Koulibaly in a 2-1 win for the home side.
Since then, Graham Potter’s side have beaten Palace and drawn with Liverpool while Fulham lost consecutive games against Newcastle and Spurs before drawing with Championship side Sunderland in the Cup. The Cottagers sit seventh in the table, two points clear of Chelsea down in 10th.
Saturday
🏴 To make up for lost time, seven Premier League games take us through Saturday, starting with Sean Dyche’s debut / baptism of fire as the new boss of Everton as they take on leaders Arsenal at lunchtime. These two proud sides have spent more consecutive seasons in England’s top flight than anyone else and Dyche’s number one task is maintaining that status for a club that last suffered relegation back in 1951. He might just have to concentrate on the games that follow this clash against the Gunners who are currently unbeaten in 13 league games.
Everton’s next opponents are city rivals Liverpool (Monday 13 February) who find themselves in a relative crisis of their own. The Reds face a trip to Wolves, the only team they’ve beaten in a run of six competitive games – that win coming in an FA Cup replay played last week after an initial 2-2 draw in the first of what has turned out to be three meetings in a little over four weeks between these two.
Games involving sides higher up the table include third placed Newcastle United‘s home game at West Ham United and fourth placed Manchester United‘s clash with Crystal Palace. The St. James Park faithful will no doubt give their heroes a raucous reception following the midweek semi-final win in the Carabao Cup that secured Newcastle’s first major final of the 21st century but perhaps that won’t be the case at Old Trafford after United went on to win the other semi-final on Wednesday night. That’s just what they expect for a club of United’s stature!
🇩🇪 The Bundesliga has got off to an exciting start since German football resumed last month – thanks, in the main – to leaders Bayern dropping points across three successive draws. And with the Munich giants not playing until Sunday, that gives two in-form sides the opportunity to leapfrog them in the table, should they win their respective games.
Union Berlin are best placed, sitting second and one point below the leaders. They are at home to Mainz and will be looking to extend their unbeaten start to 2023 having won all three of their league games plus this week’s R16 tie in the DFB Pokal. RB Leipzig also progressed in the cup this week and they’ll be waiting in the wings for any slip-ups as the third placed side travel to FC Köln. In the day’s other big game fourth meets fifth as Borussia Dortmund and Freiburg face off.
🏆 FIFA’s delayed 2022 Club World Cup tournament got underway in Morocco this week with CAF representatives, and indeed, African football’s most successful club, Al Ahly beating OFC Champions League holders Auckland City in the opening play-off game. That means that the Egyptian giants have set up a tie with Concacaf Champions League winners Seattle Sounders on Saturday evening.
The Sounders, famously, are the first MLS side ever to participate in this tournament with the North and Central American place usually reserved for sides from Mexico due to their dominance in the federation’s largest club competition.
In the day’s other game, current African champions, and local representatives Wydad Casablanca take on Saudi club Al Hilal. The winners of that tie then go on to face Copa Libertadores winners Flamengo, of Brazil on Tuesday while the winners between Al Ahly and Seattle must play the might of Real Madrid.
❓Back in Europe’s big five leagues, we’ll be keen to see whether either of the teams still awaiting their first win of the season can finally break their duck in their respective games being played on Saturday.
Elche have gone 19 games without a win in LaLiga, scoring just 12 goals and amassing six points so far. They face a Villarreal side who sit fifth in the table but have only won two of their last five, albeit one of those wins did come against Madrid!
Things looks slightly rosier for Cremonese, who appear to be playing themselves into form in Serie A. Okay, so there record reads P20 W0 D8 L12 but they have drawn with Bologna in recent weeks and have made it to the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia after unlikely victories over Napoli and Roma! Now, they face Lecce at home.
Sunday
🇮🇹 The main event in Serie A on Sunday is the Derby della Madonnina, the Milan Derby, between Inter and AC Milan. And frankly, it’s scheduling is terrible timing for the ‘visitors’ with the defending champions having failed to win any of their last six matches. That runs includes a very poor performance in the Supercoppa, which was won 3-0 by Inter back in mid-January.
For their part, Inter have lost just once since the turn of the year and now sit second in the league behind runaway leaders Napoli. Their defence of the Coppa Italia is also going well having beaten the free-scoring Atalanta in midweek to reach the final four.
This weekend, Napoli will look to defend their 13 point lead in the title race when they go to Spezia in a lunchtime kick-off on Sunday. The home side have lost their last three, conceding nine goals in the process, so Luciano Spalletti won’t accept any slip-ups from his high-flying Partenopei.
🇪🇸 Before they jet off to Morocco to represent Europe in the Club World Cup, Real Madrid must first stop off in the Balearic Islands to play Mallorca. A win will – at least – maintain the current five point gap between them and leaders Barcelona after both sides completed the first half of the current campaign with midweek wins.
Marco Asencio and Vinícius Juníor were on target as Madrid beat Valencia on Thursday, maintaining a five-game unbeaten run since returning from their last international trip where they suffered defeat to Barcelona in the final of the Supercopa.
Barça have made hard work of their consequent fixtures since lifting that trophy, recording three back-to-back 1-0 wins while Robert Lewandowski sat out through suspension. Their Polish top scorer returned to score their winner in a hard thought 2-1 victory over Betis on Wednesday and he’ll be available again for Sunday’s clash with Sevilla, who are still working their way out of trouble after a slow start to the season.
🏴 Back in the Premier League two remaining games wrap up Round 22 on Sunday. With both sides active (or very active) in the transfer window ahead of Tuesday’s deadline, Nottingham Forest and Leeds United fans will be looking forward to seeing which, if any, of their new signings feature as the two clash at the City Ground.
And fifth meets second as Tottenham Hotspur host Manchester City later in the day. The last two meetings between these two have produced 11 goals – a dramatic 3-2 win for Spurs last February, and Manchester City’s 4-2 win just a few weeks ago in January. Spurs took a 2-0 lead in to the break in that game before City regrouped and stormed back in the second period. Pep Guardiola was particularly angry with his sides’ shortcomings during that match but will perhaps have been soothed by the consequent wins against Wolves, and Arsenal, in the FA Cup.
🇩🇪 As mentioned above, Bayern München’s form post-winter break has not been impressive in the Bundesliga, not by their own high standards. Julian Nagelsmann even went so far to call it a ‘crisis of results’ but his side did at least stop the run of three successive 1-1 draws by blasting Mainz away in the DFB Pokal during the week. Choupo-Moting, Musiala, Sané and Davies were all on target in that one and they’ll be looking for more of the same during Sunday’s game at Wolfsburg. The hosts smashed 11 goals in their first two games back but have since lost to Werder and been knocked out of the cup so they start the weekend outside of the top six.
🇳🇱 It seems like we give the Eredivisie a shout out every weekend at the moment but with one of the most interesting title races anywhere in Europe at present, the big games just keep on coming. This weekend sees leaders Feyenoord take on third placed PSV. The hosts have built themselves a slender two point lead but with the top five separated by just six points, the games between them become increasingly important – something Feyenoord can testify to after playing out cagy 1-1 draws with Ajax and Twente in recent weeks.
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Cover Image from IMAGO