After the feast of football over the festive period, its back to the grind of a regular January weekend in the calendar. That’s not to say there isn’t plenty to look forward to though, so read on for a selection of what’s on offer around the leagues.
? Friday Night
?? The pick of this evening’s games comes from Germany where Borussia Mönchengladbach vs. Bayern München is, for fans of a certain age – the original Klassiker. For much of the 1970s and into the 1980s, it was these two that contested for honours most regularly, even sharing the league title between them for 9 consecutive seasons. Now, it’s started to feel like the big game history says it should – with Gladbach resurgent in recent seasons and European Champions Bayern being… well, Bayern.
? The English FA Cup Third Round, the stage at which all Premier League and Championship sides enter the competition gets underway this evening.
But you’ll have to wait for the usual David vs. Goliath stories of part-time sides from outside the football league taking on top flight giants – tonight’s fixtures are an all Premier League affair – Aston Villa, or according to the latest rumours (at the time of writing), Aston Villa U23 side entertain Liverpool whilst just across the midlands, Wolves take on Crystal Palace.
?? In La Liga, 5th meets 8th with Villarreal travelling to Celta Vigo. The latter have been much improved since the appointment of Argentine coach Eduardo ‘El Chacho’ Coudet but they were one of a number of top flight sides humiliated by lower league opposition in the Copa Del Rey this week.
? Saturday
?? Sticking with the action in Spain, and sides who were knocked out of the country’s biggest cup competition this week – Atlético Madrid will be looking to bounce back from that shock 1-0 defeat by Segunda B outfit, UE Cornellà to retain top spot in La Liga as they host Athletic Club Bilbao.
Elsewhere, the rest of the top four are all in action with Real Sociedad perhaps facing the toughest test – on the road to 6th placed Sevilla.
?? And there’s also another big fixture lined up for tomorrow in the Bundesliga as the ‘Best of the Rest’ at least, in the past couple of years – Red Bull Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund go head-to-head. Dortmund have a great record in these games, losing just once to Leipzig since they were promoted to the Bundesliga back in 2016.
Another game to keep your eye on is Schalke’s home tie against Hoffenheim, if only to see whether Schalke will equal the all-time league record of 31 games without a win! The now 5th tier, Tasmania Berlin set the yardstick for this, failing to win a single game across their only full season in the top flight back in the 1960s. And fans of the club are actually cheering Schalke on as they want to keep that rather dubious claim to fame all to themselves!
??????? In England, the FA Cup 3rd Round struggles on through the worsening coronavirus pandemic, with Derby County another side forced to field a youth team for their tie at non-league Chorley.
Elsewhere, defending champions Arsenal take on fellow Premier League club Newcastle United. And there’s an evening kick-off for Manchester United who face Watford, currently lying 6th in the Championship.
? Across the Irish sea, our tip for the obscurest derby of the weekend takes place between Northern Ireland’s Big Two – Linfield and Glentoran, a game with a lot of history for supporters of both clubs.
?? And in Ligue 1, Mauricio Pochettino will take charge of his first home game since becoming manager of PSG, as they host Brest. Pochettino started with a draw at Saint Etienne in midweek and go into the weekend 3 points down on league leaders Lyon.
? Sunday
? The romantics amongst you will have to wait until Sunday for the biggest story in this year’s FA Cup as José Mourinho takes his Spurs side to Marine FC, a part-time outfit who play in the Northern Premier League Division One North West, which sits at the 8th tier of England’s football pyramid.
?? The Serie A title race got a whole lot more interesting in the week, with Juventus ending Milan’s 15-game unbeaten start to the campaign and Inter also suffering defeat. Now, with Milan playing Saturday, Juve will know what they need to further cut the difference between them at the top of the table by the time they kick-off against high-flying Sassuolo on Sunday evening.
And in perhaps, the other pick of the weekend’s games in Italy, Inter go to Roma in the day’s early kick-off.
?? Last but not least in this round-up, the Dutch Eredivisie returns to action with a bang after the Christmas break. First, there’s a Rotterdam Derby between Sparta Rotterdam (9th) and Feyenoord (3rd), then later in the day, it’s time for De Topper – the name given to the heavyweight clash featuring Ajax and PSV Eindhoven. The match has extra significance this time around due to the current make-up of the league table. ?
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