Even with the decision still pending on just what will happen to the remainder of the current Premier League season, there can be little doubt that the Liverpool side that has dominated the league will go down in history.
We’ve picked out the five games that could come to define this season for the club, and added a couple more for fun.
The marker put down against Manchester City in November that proved to be a real statement of intent.
December’s win at the FIFA Club World Cup, making Liverpool the first English club to win the competition since Alex Ferguson’s great Manchester United side in 2008.
The scrappy win over Spurs that saw the club make the best ever start to a season recorded across Europe’s top 5 leagues.
Jürgen Klopp’s decision to field the kids for the Merseyside Derby in the FA Cup… and their victory only adding to the confidence around the club.
Despite all the postponements and all the suspended leaguesaround the world we still want to get you your football fix this weekend. If there’s any sort of action going on out there, we’ve found it and we’ve collected it all together in this article.
In what follows, you’ll find links to every league mentioned. Those will take you straight to the relevant page in the app where you’ll be able to hit the star icon to favourite the league, or click the bell to set your alerts for all the key matches.
?? Turkish Super Lig.
It’s a busy weekend in Turkey’s top flight – the Super Lig, with the games due on Sunday looking particularly juicy.
The top two, separated by goal difference go head-to-head with Trabzonspor hosting İstanbul Başakşehir. Then, there’s the massive derby between Galatasaray and Beşiktaş. Radamel Falcao has 9 goals in 13 matches for Galatasaray this season, and will be coming up against Loris Karius, Mohamed Elneny, and Kevin-Prince Boateng.
Matches are streamed live in English on the league’s YouTube channel, for a monthly fee around the price of a cup of coffee.
?? Liga MX
We’re only in Round 10 of the Clausura in Mexico’s Liga MX, with Sunday giving us Toluca at home to Atlas. Their last matchup, in January in the Copa MX, was a five-goal thriller.
The headline of the matchday is Club América (3rd) vs. Cruz Azul (2nd), which kicks off Sunday evening. América boast World Cup 2014 star Memo Ochoa between the sticks and Giovani dos Santos in attack.
The main league season ended in a typically crazy fashion last weekend in Argentina and now, just a week later all of the same top flight sides start another shorter tournament – the Copa de La Superliga.
Boca traveled to Godoy Cruz for a 4-1 win on Saturday night – probably still on a high after the drama of last weekend.
Carlos Tevez adds another chapter to his own legacy at La Bombonera. ?
Despite all the postponements and all the suspended leaguesaround the world we still want to get you your football fix this weekend. If there’s any sort of action going on out there, we’ve found it and we’ve collected it all together in this article.
In what follows, you’ll find links to every league mentioned. Those will take you straight to the relevant page in the app where you’ll be able to hit the star icon to favourite the league, or click the bell to set your alerts for all the key matches.
??????? Non-League Football in England.
There are games at Steps 1, 2 and 3 of the English non-league game following a FA mandate to allow each level of the pyramid to decide whether to carry on playing.
Dropping a level, you’ll forgive us for having an eye on the fortunes of Hampton & Richmond Borough in the National League South. We’re the main shirt sponsors at the club this season and as such, we’ll be backing The Beavers as they take on Oxford City.
There’s a big game in the Northern League Premier as well, where two of the best supported clubs happen not only to be sitting 1st and 2nd in the table, but also playing each other today – South Shields vs. FC United.
?? Turkish Super Lig.
It’s a busy weekend in Turkey’s top flight – the Super Lig, with the games due on Sunday looking particularly juicy.
We’re only in Round 10 of the Clausura in Mexico’s Liga MX, but the weekend’s biggest game is probably the clash between two of the early pacesetters, León (2nd) vs. Pumas UNAM (4th).
?? Copa de la Superliga in Argentina.
The main league season ended in a typically crazy fashion last weekend in Argentina and now, just a week later all of the same top flight sides start another shorter tournament – the Copa de La Superliga.
We’re one step further along in the Indian Super League, where the grand final is set to go ahead this weekend. The teams who finished 2nd and 4th in the regular season have got through the play-offs and now face each other to decide the champions – ATK vs. Chennaiyin FC, who are managed by Owen Coyle.
If that wasn’t enough to keep you going though, don’t worry there is all of this as well!
Time for our weeklylook ahead to the weekend in World Football. Remember, if there’s a big game happening anywhere, you’ll hear about it first from the FotMob matches tab.
? Friday Night
There’s plenty to get yourself stuck into tonight!
??????? In the ever unpredictable EFL Championship, Nottingham Forest (4th) meet Millwall (10th). The hosts have just one win in five but pick up another here and they’ll go third, just about keeping in touch with the top two in the race for the automatic promotion places.
?? Kickstarting the weekend in La Liga, Valencia (7th) travel to Deportivo Alavés (13th). After another turbulent season at the Mestalla, Valencia might have one eye on saving next week’s Champions League game vs. Atalanta, where they need to turn around a 4-1 deficit. That could just play in to the hands of the home side in this one.
Did you know… None of the last 10 games between Alavés and Valencia have ended in a draw (Alavés W2, Valencia W8) with the last draw between them in La Liga coming in December 2002.
?? One of our favourite leagues, the USL Championship returns for the start of its 2020 season on Friday night. Officially the second tier of football in the United States, the league is home to an array of interesting teams and stories, such as US legend Tim Howard, already co-owner and sporting director at Memphis 901 FC announcing this week, that he is coming out of retirement to play for his own team!
??????? ‘Crisis club’ Liverpool look to get back on track.
Following a week in which the Premier League champions-elect lost both their first league game of the campaign and got knocked out of the FA Cup by Chelsea, there seemed to be some media speculation that the club is in crisis! The facts remain the same though, Liverpool start Saturday’s EPL action against AFC Bournemouth looking for one of the final four wins they need to lift their first title in 30 years.
Lower down the English football pyramid on Saturday, we’ll be giving a bit back to the brilliant fans of the club that we sponsor in the National League South, Hampton and Richmond Borough.
As a thank you for their support home and away this season, we’re taking a coach load of fans on an away day to watch their team, Hampton face promotion hopefuls, Havant and Waterlooville. Check out our social media over the weekend, for coverage of this one.
?? Superliga title on the line in Argentina.
The league season comes to a head in Argentina on Saturday with the countries most famous and eternal rival clubs fighting it out for the title, in the very last round of games!
Boca’s opponents are of course, managed by one of their former heroes, Diego Maradona but with his current side very much threatened by relegation he may be in no mood to help out!
?? Borussen pride at stake in the Bundesliga.
Not rivals geographically, but still very much rivals on the pitch Saturday’s headline game in Germany is the clash between the two sides who sport Borussia in their name!
United (5th) have already lost to City (2nd) in the league and the League Cup this season, but this one is about pride. For City, fresh off the back of their triumph in the Carabao Cup Final, another victory here would kick off a period of 10 days that could define their season. In that period they also face Arsenal in the League, and host Real Madrid for the second leg of their all-important Champions League R16 tie.
Did you know… Manchester United have lost their last three home games against Manchester City in all competitions – they have only lost four against them consecutively once before, between January 1926 and February 1931!
?? Can Madrid stick it out at the top?
Speaking of Real Madrid, they will go to Real Betis on Sunday night knowing exactly what they need to do to either retain top spot, or return to the summit of La Liga. That’s because Barcelona play on Saturday and their next nearest rivals are already 10 points adrift.
?? Serie A returns, behind closed doors.
We should see a full programme of league fixtures in Italy this weekend as the European country, worst affected by the coronavirus outbreak gets to grips with the spread of the infection.
All matches have been ordered to be played in empty stadiums, and it was announced mid-week that the scheduled games have been pushed back to allow last weekend’s postponed matches to be played instead. That means the game to look out for will be in Turin, where Juventus (2nd) host Inter (3rd) in a massive clash at the top of the table.
These clubs have been at it since the very first meeting between them, in 1928! Alianza had five players sent off in what proved to be a surprise victory for Universitario that also saw violence break out in the stands.
The hosts currently top of the table, enjoying a 23 point lead on their rivals, Sparta down in 7th but as always, there will be no love lost between them – as you can see from this film, when our favourite vlogger, Ellis went to the earlier game this season.
We’re starting this week’s preview of the weekend in world football especially early, essentially because there’s so much to fit in!
? Thursday
Technically due to be played in the early hours of Friday morning in Europe, where we are based, but prime time Thursday evening in the US, we wanted to give a heads up to a big game in the SheBelieves Cup.
You can read more of their preview for the game here.
? Friday Night
Skipping forward 24 hours, there’s plenty to get stuck in to on Friday evening.
??????? In the ever unpredictable EFL Championship, Nottingham Forest (4th) meet Millwall (10th). The hosts have just one win in five but pick up another here and they’ll go third, just about keeping in touch with the top two in the race for the automatic promotion places.
?? Kickstarting the weekend in La Liga, Valencia (7th) travel to Deportivo Alavés (13th). After another turbulent season at the Mestalla, Valencia might have one eye on saving next week’s Champions League game vs. Atalanta, where they need to turn around a 4-1 deficit. That could just play in to the hands of the home side in this one.
Did you know… None of the last 10 games between Alavés and Valencia have ended in a draw (Alavés W2, Valencia W8) with the last draw between them in La Liga coming in December 2002.
?? One of our favourite leagues, the USL Championship returns for the start of its 2020 season on Friday night. Officially the second tier of football in the United States, the league is home to an array of interesting teams and stories, such as US legend Tim Howard, already co-owner and sporting director at Memphis 901 FC announcing this week, that he is coming out of retirement to play for his own team!
??????? ‘Crisis club’ Liverpool look to get back on track.
Following a week in which the Premier League champions-elect lost both their first league game of the campaign and got knocked out of the FA Cup by Chelsea, there seemed to be some media speculation that the club is in crisis! The facts remain the same though, Liverpool start Saturday’s EPL action against AFC Bournemouth looking for one of the final four wins they need to lift their first title in 30 years.
Lower down the English football pyramid on Saturday, we’ll be giving a bit back to the brilliant fans of the club that we sponsor in the National League South, Hampton and Richmond Borough.
As a thank you for their support home and away this season, we’re taking a coach load of fans on an away day to watch their team, Hampton face promotion hopefuls, Havant and Waterlooville. Check out our social media over the weekend, for coverage of this one.
?? Superliga title on the line in Argentina.
The league season comes to a head in Argentina on Saturday with the countries most famous and eternal rival clubs fighting it out for the title, in the very last round of games!
Boca’s opponents are of course, managed by one of their former heroes, Diego Maradona but with his current side very much threatened by relegation he may be in no mood to help out!
?? Borussen pride at stake in the Bundesliga.
Not rivals geographically, but still very much rivals on the pitch Saturday’s headline game in Germany is the clash between the two sides who sport Borussia in their name!
United (5th) have already lost to City (2nd) in the league and the League Cup this season, but this one is about pride. For City, fresh off the back of their triumph in the Carabao Cup Final, another victory here would kick off a period of 10 days that could define their season. In that period they also face Arsenal in the League, and host Real Madrid for the second leg of their all-important Champions League R16 tie.
Did you know… Manchester United have lost their last three home games against Manchester City in all competitions – they have only lost four against them consecutively once before, between January 1926 and February 1931!
?? Can Madrid stick it out at the top?
Speaking of Real Madrid, they will go to Real Betis on Sunday night knowing exactly what they need to do to either retain top spot, or return to the summit of La Liga. That’s because Barcelona play on Saturday and their next nearest rivals are already 10 points adrift.
?? Serie A returns, behind closed doors.
We should see a full programme of league fixtures in Italy this weekend as the European country, worst affected by the coronavirus outbreak gets to grips with the spread of the infection.
These clubs have been at it since the very first meeting between them, in 1928! Alianza had five players sent off in what proved to be a surprise victory for Universitario that also saw violence break out in the stands.
The hosts currently top of the table, enjoying a 23 point lead on their rivals, Sparta down in 7th but as always, there will be no love lost between them – as you can see from this film, when our favourite vlogger, Ellis went to the earlier game this season.
We’ve gathered together the best goals that we’ve seen over the last couple of days and collected them all here for you to watch at your leisure.
?? Dundalk’s Jordan Flores breaks the internet with an amazing volley in the League of Ireland.
Shamrock Rovers 1-1 Dundalk – Wow! Jordan Flores scores a goal of the season contender to level things at Tallaght. You'll be watching this goal for years to come. #rtesocerpic.twitter.com/tIhtCrKfml
There is a lot of football this weekend so here’s our attempt to condense the next 72 hours in the life of the FotMob Matches tabdown tobite-size chunks for you to digest, at your leisure.
? Friday Night.
As a warm-up for what’s to come, how about these tasty looking appetisers.
??????? The Premier League’s bottom side, Norwich City take on Leicester City (3rd) in what should be an important game for both sides. Leicester will look to cement their Champions League aspirations whilst Norwich need to cut the 7 point gap from themselves to that all-important 17th place.
Did you know… After a run of nine consecutive Premier League home game in which they conceded at least two goals, Norwich have shipped just twice across their last three at Carrow Road (W1, D1, L1).
?? In La Liga, the resurgent Real Sociedad host Real Vallalodid, owned of course by the original Ronaldo. Fired on by their Scandinavian duo, Martin Ødegaard and Alexander Isak, La Real are looking up at the moment with a European place a distinct possibility.
After Zamalek’s request to postpone the Cairo Derby against Al Ahly due to be played earlier in the week was denied, they then failed to show up and therefore forfeited that game. That’s how seriously they’re taking the Champions League. ?
? Saturday
?? The 25th MLS season kicks off.
The top league in the United States is going all out for this special anniversary season, even dragging in Hollywood film score composer, Hans Zimmer to produce them a theme tune!
The action on the pitch gets underway with 8 games on Saturday, including the inaugural match for new expansion side, Nashville who start against 2018 champions, Atlanta United. Those awaiting a first look at David Beckham’s Inter Miami side will have to wait until Sunday night when they travel to LAFC.
??????? Liverpool closing in on EPL title.
The current Club World Cup champions head to Watford in Saturday’s late kick-off in the Prem. Honing in on their first English league triumph in the Premier League era, Liverpool need just four more wins – regardless of what points their nearest rivals, Man City and Leicester pick up over the remainder of the season.
The Bundesliga’s biggest clubs continue their respective tilts at the title on Saturday. Bayern go to Hoffenheim looking to strengthen that grip on what would be a thirtieth Meisterschale trophy whilst a win for Dortmund, when they entertain Freiburg would see them move second, above RB Leipzig at least for 24 hours.
?? Top two meet in Poland.
You can add the Polish Ekstraklasa to the list of exciting European title races you’ve been looking for this year! Just 8 points separates the current top six and on Saturday night, the top two face each other in Warsaw as second place, Cracovia look to close the gap on leaders, Legia.
It’s the biggest game in world football and will therefore dominate proceedings for us on Sunday. Real Madrid go in their home game with Barcelona knowing that a win will take them back to the top of La Liga, at the expense of Barça and go some way to decide the destination of the title.
With both sides showing some unfamiliar frailties during the campaign, and suffering perhaps surprising results in the Champions League this week, whoever comes out on top in this one will look to use it as a springboard for the rest of their season.
?? The big game in Serie A.
With the Italian football calendar heavily disrupted by the outbreak of coronavirus in the northern half of the country, this weekend’s schedule could look a little different by Sunday.
But, if all goes to plan – we’ll have the spectacle of Juventus versus Inter being played behind closed doors in Turin. It will be a strange atmosphere for a game of such magnitude, perhaps increasing the tension as both sides look to keep up the pace at the top of the table.
Going into the weekend, Juve sit top with Inter third but that might be different by kick-off as second place Lazio play on Saturday.
City are looking to make it a hat-trick of wins in this competition, with Pep Guardiola always taking what is England’s 3rd most important domestic trophy relatively seriously. Villa have a proud record of Cup wins themselves, albeit the last of their 5 titles came back in 1996.
?? Le Derby in Southern France.
Generally, the Derby Rhône-Alpes between Lyon and Saint Etienne goes off! Not as well known as other derbies in Ligue 1 but guaranteed to be as intense as anything you’ll see in the French game, these games are always worth looking out for.
Here’s a clip from their last meeting to give you some idea of what to expect. ?
The goal that…
☑️ Gave Puel his first win as Saint-Etienne manager ☑️ Got Sylvinho sacked by Lyon ☑️ And won the Derby Rhone-Alpes
