Preview

Apr

2025

Preview: Bayern meet Dortmund in Der Klassiker

Once one of the most exciting games in European football and a title tussle in the Bundesliga, a meeting of Germany’s giants this season, in isolation, is partly an exercise in assessing how far at least one of them has fallen.

By Karl Matchett

Fallen giants

Bayern Munich, at least, are still in the hunt for trophies this year. Yet even if they end up with a league title – and six points ahead with six to play, they should do – it certainly doesn’t feel close to a vintage year for the Bavarians. Bayer Leverkusen were always likely to have a bit of a hangover from last year’s success, of course. So while finishing above them would be an achievement, it does still feel…the minimum achievement, somewhat. It’s not a dominant, runaway year for Bayern, it’s not an unbeaten one – they lost to relegation-threatened Bochum a few weeks ago – and there remain long-term questions over some parts of the squad.

*27 points separates the two sides before kick-off*

That’s even without considering whether head coach Vincent Kompany really is cut out for elite level coaching, after he certainly wasn’t first choice last summer. Perhaps it’s a little harsh, but that is the type of standard Bayern have set for themselves: title at least, and a European challenge at best. The latter is in danger after a home defeat to Inter Milan.

Lost direction

At least Bayern still have a chance to reach the Champions League semis – Dortmund must be wondering what the point of their second leg is after a 4-0 drubbing at Barcelona. It’s not as if they can point to their yellow wall screaming them on to victory either; BVB have won precisely three home matches in three and a half months.

On the road they have more wins, but are as erratic as it gets: six defeats and five wins since the turn of the year. Dortmund have lost their way, turning over head coaches with rapidity, failing to replicate earlier successes in the transfer market and unlikely to be in Europe at all next term – they’re eighth in the table. The Westfalenstadion team need a hard reset.

Recent results

With 11 wins from their last 16, Bayern look in good form on the face of it – but they continually drop points or results at key moments and performances have fluctuated wildly. Celtic, Leverkusen and Union Berlin are among the sides to halt them, as well as Inter and Bochum. Consistency?

As for Dortmund, it’s now two league wins on the spin, but also four wins and four losses in eight.

Team news

Alphonso Davies is out for the long haul, Manuel Neuer is sidelined, Jamal Musiala might miss a month and Kingsley Coman always seems one game away from injury, even if he’s passed fit again for this match. Dortmund are without Nico Schlotterbeck for the rest of the season but Yan Couto is back from suspension.

Key man

Michael Olise tops or nearly tops the Bundesliga for xA (10.5), big chances created (24), possession won in final third (1.43/90) and penalties won (two).

*Olise player traits, comparison made against similar players from big five leagues*

Prediction

Home win but perhaps more goals than quality in this game: Bayern 3-1 Dortmund.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every Bundesliga game with FotMob this season — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Apr

2025

Preview: Man City and Crystal Palace kick off the Premier League weekend

Pep Guardiola’s team need points to boost their chances of finishing in the top five and qualifying for next season’s Champions League.

By Graham Ruthven

Soaring Eagles

Last weekend’s Manchester Derby was one to forget. Manchester City must find a higher level to get the better of high-flying Crystal Palace on Saturday with the Eagles currently on a run of six wins in their last seven games.

City struggled without Erling Haaland at Old Trafford. Omar Marmoush led the line, but struggled for space as Manchester United sat deep and stayed compact. The Egyptian must do more to affect things in the final third this weekend.

Palace aren’t exactly struggling for attacking firepower at the moment. Indeed, they have found the back of the net 14 times in their last six games in all competitions with Jean-Philippe Mateta back from injury.

*Mateta’s shot map, Premier League 2024/25*

Mateta found the back of the net in Crystal Palace’s 2-1 win over Brighton last weekend. Eberechi Eze has also been in excellent form of late, registering four goal involvements in his last three appearances. He will be a threat at the Etihad Stadium.

There’s only two points between fourth and seventh in the Premier League table with City in the race to qualify for next season’s Champions League. A positive result on Saturday would point them in the right direction again.

Key players

While Marmoush was quiet against Manchester United in the derby, the Egyptian has still made a strong start to life at City, scoring five goals in just nine Premier League appearances.

Pep Guardiola deployed Kevin de Bruyne as a ‘False Nine’ against United, but is more likely to drop the Belgian back into the midfield unit to face Crystal Palace. City need the out-going creator to be at his inventive best.

*De Bruyne player traits, comparison against similar players in top five leagues*

Phil Foden has been a shadow of the player who was Player of the Year in the Premier League last season. Nonetheless, the England international is capable of producing something out of nothing and will almost certainly feature on Saturday.

Palace’s frontline of Mateta, Eze and Ismaïla Sarr has the potential to cause Manchester City all kinds of problems. Oliver Glasner likes his team to play at speed and this could expose the space in behind Guardiola’s backline.

Adam Wharton is also the sort of central midfielder Guardiola wishes he had. The England international is back to his best after a slow start to the season and will give Palace a foothold in the centre of the pitch.

Team news

Haaland is still unavailable through injury with the Norwegian striker expected to miss the rest of the season. Rodri is another long-term absentee, although the Spaniard could be back before the end of the 2024/25 campaign.

Manuel Akanji, Nathan Aké and John Stones are missing for Manchester City, leaving Guardiola short of options at the back. This could see Nico O’Reilly and Matheus Nunes continue in the full back positions.

Marc Guéhi and Eddie Nketiah are both suspended for the trip to the Etihad Stadium after seeing red in the win over Brighton while Cheick Doucouré and Chadi Riad are still sidelined through injury.

Otherwise, Glasner has a fully fit and available squad to choose from. Palace have the potential to shock City in front of their own fans.

Prediction

This could be another stumbling block in City’s efforts to reach next season’s Champions League with the visiting Eagles more than capable of securing an away win: Man City 1-2 Crystal Palace.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game from the Premier League with FotMob this season — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Apr

2025

Preview: Manchester United go to Lyon for Europa League quarterfinal

If a trophy can be simultaneously on the line and yet feel a million miles away, then that’s the prospect when Lyon face Manchester United in their Europa League quarter-final first leg on Thursday.

By Karl Matchett

Progress, or just halting the slide?

The bookies might list the Red Devils as second-favourites for this particular trophy, but it’s hard to suggest that’s anything other than optimistic on the evidence of performances and results under Ruben Amorim so far. United might have seen off Real Sociedad with ease and European cup competition certainly provides a mental release from their domestic struggles, but even so they don’t look to have the consistency, the quality or the belief at present to beat a succession of teams in the latter stages of a big competition.

And yet, a single result can change much. Going to France and earning a decent first-leg scoreline might raise spirits, expectations and ambitions to such an extent that those failing to find their feet in the Premier League suddenly look £30, 40, 50m players again. And so there remains hope that while this will undoubtedly be United’s worst-ever season in the Premier League era in positional terms, they might yet salvage something from the campaign to give a springboard for next year.

End-of-season sprint

By contrast, Lyon will head into the tie in arguably the form of their season and, while they are nowhere near the favourites in terms of odds to lift this trophy, that might not be hugely relevant to the tie. The Ligue 1 side have, for example, lost only once in this competition all season – an irrelevant league phase defeat to a Beşiktaş side who didn’t even make the playoffs. They’ve already beaten Rangers and Eintracht Frankfurt too, two more sides left in at the last eight stage. Should they really fear this Manchester United?

Recent form

Lyon have won eight of their last ten matches in all competitions, with the only defeats coming to PSG and Strasbourg in that time. Paulo Fonseca has his team scoring plenty, with former United man Nemanja Matić a regular in midfield and the super talented Rayan Cherki finally showing the end product to go with his undoubtedly outsized potential. As for United, it’s three wins in ten over a similar timeframe, with those victories against the aforementioned Real Sociedad plus relegation-bound Leicester and Ipswich. It doesn’t inspire terror, despite a 0-0 draw with Man City.

Team news

Malick Fofana is Lyon’s big absentee, so Cherki and Georges Mikautadze should both be handed starting roles – the latter may be up front rather than from wide. For the visitors, Matthijs de Ligt is the doubt in defence but Kobbie Mainoo may be fit to feature in midfield.

*Lyon goal + assist leaders, Ligue 1 2024/25*

Key player

The Georgian, Mikautadze is a creator as well as scorer for Lyon, averaging four shots per 90 in this competition. He’s 90th percentile or better for box touches, dribbles, assists and shots in the Europa League.

Prediction

A home win, but not enough of one to end the tie: Lyon 1-0 Man United.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game from the Europa League with FotMob this season — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, player ratings, and a new super-intuitive knockout stage bracket. Download the free app here.

Apr

2025

Preview: Chelsea visit Poland for their Conference League quarterfinal at Legia

Chelsea face an away trip for the first leg of their Europa Conference League quarter-final. They were less than convincing in the last round but a win over Legia Warszawa should be a given for the heavy tournament favourites.

By Alex Roberts

Legia have found some solace on the continent as they struggle domestically. They overturned a first-leg defeat against Molde thanks to a 2-0 home win last time out, but this one might be a step too far, however.

A chance to score some goals

It’s been a real Jekyll and Hyde season for Chelsea. In the first half, they were scoring goals for fun, the players had smiles on their faces, and Enzo Maresca was beloved as ‘we’ve got our Chelsea back’ was sung by the fans up and down the country.

A few months later, things aren’t quite as rosy. The football is dull and not even Cole Palmer can do anything about it. Chelsea have won three of their last five games across all competitions 1-0, drawing and losing the other two.

Maresca rested Palmer and Nicolas Jackson for the 0-0 draw against Brentford, then went to the press to say his plan ‘nearly worked’. The funny thing about something nearly working, is that it still didn’t. The game against Legia is a good chance to build some confidence in front of goal, let’s see if the Italian has a better plan this time out.

Luquinhas is a menace

Legia do have a few players that can do some damage to Chelsea, none more so than Brazilian winger/midfielder Luquinhas. He’s the Polish side’s Conference League top scorer with four goals (plus one in the qualifiers).

Surprisingly, he barely featured in the previous round against Molde, but he did come off the bench to score in the first-leg 3-2 defeat. Surely manager Gonçalo Feio can’t leave out their most potent attacking asset for their biggest game of the season!?

Capable of playing anywhere from the number eight position to left-wing, his versatility makes him a genuine threat to Chelsea, even if it will likely take the performance of a lifetime to beat them.

Christopher Nkunku is fighting for his future… if he wants it

When the Frenchman finally returned from his lengthy spell on the sidelines at the very end of last season, fans were convinced he was the missing piece to the puzzle. An impressive pre-season did little to change that mindset.

Unfortunately, it was pretty clear at the start of the season that Maresca didn’t fancy him. Nkunku was shoved behind Jackson in the pecking order, although he did shine in Europe, becoming Chelsea’s top scorer for a time.

Jackson picked up an injury at the start of the year and Nkunku was finally given his chance, he just hasn’t taken it. He very rarely makes the kind of runs his teammates need but most importantly, it doesn’t look like he cares to.

His future at the club is in serious doubt, now is the time to make a difference, unless, of course, he’s already got his heart set on a move.

*Nkunku player traits, comparison against similar players in big five leagues*

Prediction

We reckon Chelsea will manage to score more than one goal tonight, but not much more. FotMob’s prediction is 2-0 to the visitors.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

Apr

2025

Preview: Spurs meet Eintracht Frankfurt in Europa League last eight

It’s a big night at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Spurs take on Eintracht Frankfurt with, perhaps, their manager’s job at stake.

By Ian King

14th in England up against third in Germany

They stuttered along the way and they were playing arguably the worst team in the history of top flight English football, but Tottenham Hotspur WON A FOOTBALL MATCH against Southampton last weekend. It was only their fifth league win from their last 19, going back to November. After elimination from both domestic cups in the space of five January days and with them still 14th in the Premier League, the only realistic chance of Ange Postecoglou still being with the club by the summer would seem to be winning this competition, which would put them into next season’s Champions League. No pressure, Ange. But then, Eintracht Frankfurt haven’t been impressive recently either. They’ve lost four of their last six Bundesliga matches, though they do remain third, behind Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen.

Europa League pedigree

These two have met in European competition twice before. In 1981/82, Spurs won 3-2 on aggregate in the Third Round of the European Cup Winners Cup, while they also met in the 2021/22 Champions League, drawing 0-0 in Frankfurt before Spurs won the return match 3-2 at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. These two have also each won this competition twice before; Spurs in 1972 and 1984, and Eintracht Frankfurt in 1980 and as recently as 2022, when they beat Rangers in the final.

Key players

This hasn’t been an especially brilliant season for many Spurs players, but one who’s coming of age is Brennan Johnson, who’s scored 16 this season in all competitions. He’s now their top scorer in both the Premier League and the Europa League.

The main goalscoring threat for Eintracht Frankfurt is Hugo Ekitike, who signed on loan from PSG last season before making his transfer permanent last summer. He’s scored 19 in 40 in all competitions so far this season.

Team News

Spurs remain without Radu Drăgușin, Dejan Kulusevski and Kevin Danso. Drăgușin will be missing for the remainder of the season, and while Kulusevski and Danso could return for the second leg in Frankfurt next week, though it’s touch and go and they may well be held back for the following weekend’s match against Nottingham Forest. Richarlison is understood to be close to returning, but this hasn’t been confirmed yet.

Eintracht Frankfurt have a fairly substantial injury list at the moment, but their big current concern will be the absence of experienced goalkeeper Kevin Trapp. He should be available for the second leg, but his experience – he has 9 caps for the Germany national team – will surely be missed.

Prediction

It’s Spurs, so there’s always going to be some degree of fatalism in the air, but Eintracht Frankfurt haven’t been in stellar form themselves of late and were eliminated in the first knockout stage of last year’s Europa Conference League. In line with their previous European meetings, I’ll go large on this one with a 3-2 win for Spurs, setting up a tight second leg in Germany next week.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

Apr

2025

Preview: Barcelona meet Dortmund in Champions League last eight

Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund go head-to-head in the Champions League quarter-final first-leg at the Estadi Olímpic Lluis Companys. Last year’s finalists Dortmund will be hoping to go one further in the competition this time around, but they’ll have to get past one of the most in-form teams in the world.

By Matt Smith

Considering the two sides don’t play each other too often, it’s not been long since they last faced. Dortmund and Barcelona met earlier in the competition this campaign, with Hansi Flick’s side coming away with a 3-2 victory. Ferran Torres came off the bench to strike twice for the Catalan outfit.

*The league phase meeting between the two sides*

Team news

Barcelona will be without long-term absentees Marc Casado, Marc Bernal and first-choice goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen, while Dani Olmo is also on the treatment table. Iñigo Martínez was ruled out of Barcelona’s game against Real Betis at the weekend, but there’s a chance he returns for this one.

Dortmund have been dealt a double blow when it comes to injuries, with Marcel Sabitzer and Nico Schlotterbeck set to miss out for the away side. Pascal Gross will also be unavailable due to suspension.

Flick’s side are free-flowing in attack

Barcelona have undoubtedly been one of the teams to watch in the competition so far this season. Flick’s men have scored 3.2 goals on average, more than any other side. The Blaugrana also lost just once in the League Phase, finishing second behind Liverpool in the 36-team table.

It’s not just in the Champions League where Barcelona have been on fire. Flick’s side have not lost in since the turn of the year in all competitions and currently sit at the top of their domestic league. The attacking trio of Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, and Robert Lewandowski is up there with the best in the world at the moment, and Dortmund are going to have a task on their hands containing them.

Tricky season for Dortmund

Although Dortmund managed to qualify through the play-off stage of the Champions League, it’s been a difficult season overall for the Bundesliga side. Niko Kovač’s side currently sit in eight place in the German top tier and face an uphill battle to qualify for the Champions League ahead of next term.

There’s been a major gulf in class between Barcelona and Dortmund this season, with the latter undoubtedly going into this game as underdogs. Flick’s side will still have to be wary of Dortmund’s attacking threat, with only Bayern Munich, Arsenal, and of course, Barcelona scoring more goals per game than the Germans.

Raphinha battling for player of the competition

There’s an argument to suggest any of Barcelona’s attacking trio are ones to watch in this game, but Raphinha has stolen the show in the competition this season. The Brazilian winger had provided a combined 16 goals and assists in the Champions League this term, more than any other player.

*Raphinha’s shot map, Champions League 2024/25*

Scoring 11 goals from just 4.33 xG shows the variety of strikes Raphinha has produced. Keeping him quiet out wide is one thing, but he’s incredibly dangerous when he drifts into central areas and is afforded time and space to fire at goal.

Prediction

With Barcelona playing at home in the opening leg, we’re going for a 2-0 victory to the side from LaLiga on Wednesday.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game from the Champions League with FotMob this season — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, player ratings, and a new super-intuitive knockout stage bracket. Download the free app here.

Apr

2025

Preview: Arsenal host holders Madrid as the UCL quarterfinals get underway

If Arsenal are to win their first Champions League, they first have to get past the competition’s greatest force of nature.

By Ian King

Second in England vs. Second in Spain

Both teams have been having a bit of a domestic wobble recently. Arsenal have only won two of their last six in the Premier League, while Real were somewhat surprisingly beaten at home by struggling Valencia last weekend. In Europe, however, both have shown their strength, with Arsenal destroying PSV 7-1 in Eindhoven in the last round while Real Madrid have already seen off two extremely difficult knockout matches, brushing Manchester City aside with barely a thought in the playoffs and then beating city rival Atlético on penalties in the last round.

History

Somewhat surprisingly, these two clubs have only ever met in Europe once before, and this makes for good omens for Arsenal. In 2006 they won 1-0 at the Bernabéu and then drew the return match 0-0 on the way to their only appearance in a Champions League final. But if we’re talking history, no-one needs much telling about Real’s pedigree. Of the 69 previous iterations of the Champions League and European Cup they’ve won it 15 times. Nice.

Key players

Despite the PSV battering, Arsenal have been struggling a little in front of goal recently. They’ve only scored more than two goals in a Premier League match once since New Year’s Day. But with top scorer Kai Havertz out for the season, where are those goals coming from? Mikel Merino and Bukayo Saka are their joint highest league scorers in the league behind Havertz with six each, but Leandro Trossard’s spritely performance and goal at Goodison on Saturday could mean that he starts and he may be their best chance of ensuring that a lead is taken to Madrid for the second leg. Real were concerned that Kylian Mbappé, Dani Ceballos, Antonio Rüdiger and Vinícius Júnior would miss this match due to suspension, but they escaped with fines after a UEFA investigation into their celebrations against Atlético. That would have been quite a quartet to miss.

*Champions League xG leaders, with Arsenal’s figure shown as comparison*

Team News

Saka returned to the Arsenal team with no ill effects last weekend and should start again. Otherwise, Gabriel Jesus, Kai Havertz, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Gabriel Magalhães are all long-term absentees for Arsenal, while Riccardo Calafiori is injured and Raheem Sterling is suspended. Aurélien Tchouaméni is suspended for Real while Dani Carvajal and Éder Militão are long-term injuries. Ferland Mendy, Thibaut Courtois and Dani Ceballos all missed the Valencia game but should all return for this.

Prediction

When you play Real Madrid, you’re playing an entire weight of history. That’s the scale of the task ahead of Arsenal in this quarter-final. It’s now been almost twenty years since they reached their only Champions League final, but home advantage will count for something and recent domestic defeats against Real Betis and Valencia have left a little bit of a question mark over this Real team, so I’ll go for a relatively low-key 1-1 draw and all back to the Bernabéu for a tense second leg.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

Apr

2025

Preview: Inter Miami host Toronto in MLS

Inter Miami will face Canadian opposition for the first time this season when they host Toronto in Fort Lauderdale this weekend. Lionel Messi has been back in the team after missing Argentina’s World Cup qualifiers, but will he play on Sunday night?

By James Nalton

Inter Miami re-take their place at the top

It feels like Inter Miami still haven’t hit their stride this season, yet they can return to the top of both the Eastern Conference and the overall standings with a win here. And they’ll still have a game in hand on most of their rivals.

Even at this early stage, they look set to successfully defend the Supporters’ Shield they won last season in record-breaking fashion.

Who can stop them? On this early evidence, it seems no one will, at least not in the MLS regular season…

A Champions Cup hiccup

Most of Inter Miami’s early season MLS games have arrived in the context of their involvement in the Concacaf Champions Cup.

That tournament is reaching the business end as Miami face fellow MLS heavyweight Los Angeles FC in the quarterfinals.

LAFC won the first leg in California last week and take a 1-0 lead to Miami for the second leg this Wednesday night (or the early hours of early Thursday morning for those in a European time zone).

That was Inter Miami’s first loss of 2025 and ended a run of seven consecutive wins — an indication of how well they have started the season not just in MLS, but in the Champions Cup, too.

Messi is back, but will he play?

Messi returned to MLS action last week having missed Argentina’s recent World Cup qualifiers through injury.

He came off the bench in Inter Miami’s 2-1 win against Philadelphia Union, scoring what turned out to be the winning goal.

Messi then played the full 90 minutes in Los Angeles in midweek, but his involvement is never guaranteed.

Indeed, LAFC sent a response to some ticket holders informing them that “LAFC cannot guarantee specific player appearances,” which was clearly a reference to Messi.

There’s a chance he might not start against Toronto, as head coach Javier Mascherano will have the important Concacaf game in mind, but you’d imagine he’d make some kind of appearance to maintain some rhythm.

Do Toronto have a chance?

It’s safe to say that Toronto FC’s much-hyped big-name Italian signings have not lived up to expectations.

Despite this, Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernadeschi did not get their reputations by chance and can still be difference-makers on their day.

Toronto also has a goalkeeper, Sean Johnson, who can also put in a matchwinning performance, or at least one that means his team doesn’t lose.

Like many players TFC have signed, Johnson hasn’t shown the form he did at his previous club, in this case New York City FC where he was a key part of a MLS Cup-winning team, but the American, who has 13 caps to his name, was named Man of the Match in Toronto’s draw with Vancouver last week, and will need to put in another standout display in Sunday Night Football.

Prediction

Inter Miami should navigate this game with minimal fuss compared to many of their others so far this season. If Messi is fit and firing, even only for part of the game, then it could be their biggest margin of victory this season so far.

(Cover Image from IMAGO)

You can follow every match from MLS live this season with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including shot maps, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Apr

2025

Preview: Brentford host near-neighbours Chelsea in West London

Chelsea remain in the top four thanks to a 1-0 win over Tottenham, even if they have been at their best for the past few months, while Brentford will be hoping for some sort of consistency going into the last few games of the season. It’s the derby that isn’t quite a derby.

By Alex Roberts

Thomas Frank’s side have 12 wins, five draws, and 13 defeats in their 30 Premier League games. They’ve been hot and cold all season, particularly away from home – as evidenced by the 2-1 defeat in the earlier fixture between these two this season.

Champions League qualification is the ultimate goal for Enzo Maresca’s side, and they appear to be on track to achieve just that. Still, inconsistency and defeats to ‘lesser’ sides have frustrated fans. The Italian is in need of a statement win.

Cole Palmer is back baby

It took ten games, but Palmer finally bagged a goal contribution, providing the assist for Enzo Fernández’s winner against Spurs in midweek. That’s not for the want of trying, however, he remains top of the charts for Premier League chance creation.

Brentford have been somewhat of a bogey team for Palmer, he’s provided one assist in his four games against them. Only champions elect Liverpool have managed to keep him quieter since he joined the Blues.

Chelsea will need him at his best for their last few games and Palmer will doubtless be desperate to challenge himself against the best of the best next season.

One of the best duos in the league

Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo have been electric all season, scoring 30 of Brentford’s 51 Premier League goals so far this campaign between them. Integral isn’t a strong enough word to describe how important they are to Franks’s side.

It’s the type of strike partnership that Chelsea would dream of at the moment, only Palmer has similar numbers for Maresca’s side, and they’ve only scored three Premier League goals more than Brentford across their 30 games.

*Brentford top goalscorer, Premier League 2024/25*

The issue for Brentford is the other end, conceding 47 goals. There is still an outside chance of European qualification but they’ll have to sort that defence out for what’s left of the season.

Poor Wesley Fofana

It’s been another season to forget for the French centre back. He was ruled out for the game against Tottenham due to yet another injury, and it remains to be seen exactly when he’ll be back.

Thankfully for Chelsea, Trevoh Chalobah has been arguably their best player since making the return from his loan at Crystal Palace, stepping in like he never even left in the first place.

Chelsea spent a lot of money to bring Fofana to the club and when he’s played, he’s impressed. That injury record is starting to become a worry, however, and the club may be forced to cash in should it not improve in the near future.

Prediction

This is exactly the kind of game Chelsea have struggled in this season. Brentford are no pushovers, that’s for sure, so we’re going to go with a hard-fought 2-0 win for the home side.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game from the Premier League with FotMob this season – featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Apr

2025

Preview: The Manchester Derby

It’s been a rough season for both Manchester clubs, although admittedly it’s been a lot worse for the red half than it has been for the blue one. At least City still have something other than pride to play for in the last derby of the season.

By Alex Roberts

Funnily enough, Champions League qualification is still possible for both sides with Pep Guardiola’s side hoping to finish in the top four, potentially five should the Premier League secure an extra spot based on UEFA coefficient rating, while United’s only hope is through the Europa League.

The impetus is on City to win this game, and while they are the favourites, form usually goes out the window in the Manchester derby. It’s a cliché, but it will likely come down to who wants it more.

*Shot map and xG from the last Manchester Derby*

No Haaland, no problem

The big Norwegian will have to watch this, and potentially the rest of the season, from the sidelines after picking up an ankle injury in City’s 2-1 FA Cup win over Bournemouth last month. He will be missed, but his side have options.

Omar Marmoush is already looking like a quality piece of business for the current champions, scoring six goals in his 12 games across all competitions, five of which have come in the league.

He’s a different kind of handful to Haaland, instead of relying on brute strength, it’s smart movement and pace that makes Marmoush such an impressive forward. The United defenders may be glad to see the robot isn’t playing, but they can’t keep their eyes off his understudy.

*Marmoush player traits – comparison made against strikers in big five leagues*

Playing the hand he was dealt

It took Ruben Amorim roughly five months before he stuck Harry Maguire up top. Remarkably he accumulated more xG in added time against Nottingham Forest than Rasmus Højlund has in his last 15 appearances.

Amorim’s attacking options, other than Bruno Fernandes, simply aren’t good enough. Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee are so bereft of confidence it’s unlikely they’ll get it back so long as they’re at the club.

He now faces the same dilemma that haunted Erik ten Hag. Does he deviate from his system to help accommodate players that can’t seem to grasp it in hopes of short-term success? Or does he stick with it, knowing it will likely get worse before it gets better? Perhaps he should have insisted on taking the job in the summer.

Going out with a bang?

It’s official, Kevin de Bruyne will be leaving Man City once his contract expires at the end of the season. He’s be departing with one hell of a legacy, winning six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, and a Champions League, among others.

So, this WILL be his last Manchester derby, something we’re sure City fans across the globe were dreading. The Belgian has not been up to his own very high standards this season but no one at City has.

He was uncharacteristically invisible in the last derby as Fernandes and Amad Diallo secured a smash and grab win. There is a little more at stake here, and De Bruyne will no doubt be hoping to make at least one more memory for himself and the fans.

Prediction

This is one of the hardest games to predict in the Premier League but that won’t stop us. We reckon bragging rights will go to United, 2-1.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

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