Change at the top in England?

There were a number of notable surprises last weekend with the likes of Juventus, Monaco, Manchester City, Dortmund, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Liverpool all failing to win their matches. This time of year, many teams are struggling with the amount of matches being played and as we approach Christmas the intensity shows no signs of slowing down.

The European Cups might have concluded their opening rounds but this week’s midweek slot was still packed with action from the EFL Cup in England as well as Coppa Italia, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and La Liga matches, amongst others.

Over the next two weeks there isn’t much of a regular pattern to the matches as the usual weekend fixtures are merged with the traditional Boxing day and New Year’s schedule. A number of European leagues, such as Ligue 1, Bundesliga and Serie A all take winter breaks with most resuming on or around the 12th of January so this is the last weekend of action for them. 

Starting with the English top division, the busiest of them all, we find that the first match takes place on Thursday between Crystal Palace and Brighton and there is one more match on Friday between Aston Villa and Sheffield United. There are then six matches scheduled for Saturday starting off with West Ham against Manchester United. Newcastle will have been very disappointed to lose out to Chelsea in the EFL Cup in midweek, but they will need to put that behind them as they face a potentially tricky match away at Luton. Fulham host Burnley and Nottingham Forest will have a new manager in place as they welcome Bournemouth to the City Ground. Tottenham will look to build on their recent return to winning ways as they host another team that was knocked out of the EFL Cup in midweek, Everton. The final match of the day should be a very entertaining one between the league’s top two sides as leaders Arsenal travel to Anfield to take on Liverpool. One point separates these two sides but having dropped two points at home to Manchester United last weekend, Liverpool will look to claim all three this time around. There is only one match on Sunday to round off this set of fixtures and that is Wolves against Chelsea. No matches are played on Christmas Day in England but another full set of fixtures is scheduled for Boxing Day and the following two days. 

Barcelona get things started in La Liga this week with their match on Wednesday evening against Almeria, hoping to get back to winning ways following their draw last weekend. There are two more Wednesday matches and on Thursday leaders Girona are on the road to Betis hoping to continue their excellent run. We are nearing the midpoint of the season and they still occupy top spot, an excellent effort so far from them. Real Madrid play on Thursday evening away at Alaves. The final match of this round of fixtures from La Liga takes place on Saturday between Atletico Madrid and Sevilla.

The first half of the La Liga season concludes on Wednesday with a full set of fixtures before we head into the winter break. The league will resume on the 12th of January giving teams two weeks to recover from their exploits so far this season. Leaders PSG play against struggling Metz and second placed Nice face a tricky match against fourth placed Lille whereas Monaco, in third and hoping to bounce back from last weekend’s defeat, are away at lowly Toulouse. Marseille are on a good run with four straight wins as they look to claw their way back into the top four following a poor start to the season and they are playing away at Montpellier. Lyon managed only their third win of the season last weekend, a much needed three points, but they are still in the bottom three. This time around they play at home to mid-table Nantes. 

The next round of Serie A matches takes place on Friday and Saturday of this week, with a one week gap till the next set of fixtures, allowing everyone involved a small one week break over Christmas. AC Milan will head to bottom team Salernitana on Friday evening, one of four matches scheduled. On Saturday the action starts with Juventus’s trip to Frosinone, the visiting team hoping for another three points as they continue to chase down leaders Inter. The gap at the top of the table now stands at four points as Inter continue to impress with thirteen wins from their sixteen matches and the best goal scoring and defensive records in the league. They play later in the day at home to mid-table Lecce and will be confident of adding another three points to the board. The match of the weekend is arguably the final one to take place and that is AS Roma against Napoli. Only two points separate these sides but both are underperforming this season with inconsistency being a big problem. Both teams have only two wins from their last five matches.

Thursday 21/12

Alaves vs Real Madrid

Mid-table Alaves are on a tricky run with only one win in the last five matches. The fixture list has not been kind to them as they faced leaders Girona last weekend and this time around face second placed Real Madrid. Their manager Luis Garcia called last weekend’s poor 3-0 defeat their worst performance of the season and they will need to up their game if they hope to get anything out of this match. They do have four home league wins this season but only one of those came against a team that was above them in the table, so that is not an encouraging statistic for the home side going into this match. 

Real Madrid managed a convincing 4-1 win over Villarreal last weekend to keep pace with Girona at the top of the table. The negative was that they lost David Alaba to a season-ending injury, the third player to suffer a serious ACL after keeper Courtois and fellow defender Eder Militato, leaving manager Carlo Ancelotti with a somewhat weakened defence. Another win here though will mean they go into Christmas in good form as the 1-1 draw with Betis is the only slight blip on their recent record. Real Madrid have only ever lost twice at Alaves in the seventeen visits they have made in the league since 1931 and they will go into this match expecting another win.

There have been no recent draws between these two sides as Real Madrid have won eight of the last ten with Alaves winning the remaining two matches. Last season the team from the capital won by a convincing 7-1 aggregate score over the two league matches. 

Friday 22/12

Aston Villa vs Sheffield United

Aston Villa continue to impress this season as they have managed their European campaign very well, alongside an even more impressive domestic charge. This was always a question posed of teams like Newcastle, Brighton and Villa who are somewhat unfamiliar with having to play the amount of matches required but they have taken well to the challenge and find themselves in third spot in the league, only one point behind leaders Arsenal. Overall they are the form team with thirteen points from their last five matches and they have the third best home record in the league. They have fifteen straight wins at home and another one here will see them go top of the table, until Arsenal play against Liverpool.

Chris Wilder has been unable to turn the fortunes of Sheffield United since his return and has only managed one point from the last three matches he has been in charge. This is another tough ask and few will be expecting the visiting team to pick up any points here. They have not scored in seven of their league matches and it is clear that the lack of investment in the squad in summer has left them with a Championship team playing in the PL. They are currently six points away from safety and unless things take a significant turn for the better it is hard to see them surviving this season. They have conceded sixteen goals on their travels and only scored two. 

The last time these two met it was Sheffield United that won 1-0 and they have won four of the last ten meetings between the two, whereas Aston Villa have three wins.

Saturday 23/12

West Ham vs Manchester United

It’s a short turnaround for West Ham who played in the EFL Cup against Liverpool on Wednesday but nevertheless they go into this match as slight favourites to beat Manchester United. Only one point separates these two teams in the league table with West Ham having yet another solid campaign under David Moyes. They have navigated their way out of their EL group and can now focus on the league for the next few weeks. Their recent form has been somewhat inconsistent with impressive wins over Wolves and Tottenham dampened by a heavy defeat to Fulham. It is hard to know what to expect from West Ham and their home form isn’t a guarantee of anything as they have four wins from the eight matches. Jarrod Bowen continues to impress though, he is the top scoring English player in the league with ten goals so far. 

Manchester United will be grateful for the lack of a midweek fixture as they attempt to recover from the tough shift that they put in at Anfield on Sunday to leave with a hard-earned point. Their list of unavailable players is a serious worry for them, as is their overall lack of goalscoring threat. They have only scored eighteen goals in the league this season, only teams in the bottom five have scored less and new signing Rasmus Højlund is struggling to adapt to life in the PL. Captain Bruno Fernandes will be available again after missing out due to suspension and Raphael Varane is back in favour following his man of the match display against Liverpool. Manchester United’s recent form has seen them record only one win in their last six matches. 

West Ham have only managed two wins from the last ten meetings with Manchester United but will view this as a very good chance to get another one on the board. They won this fixture 1-0 last season. United have six wins from the last ten including knocking West Ham out of the FA Cup last season. 

Liverpool vs Arsenal

The late match on Saturday should be one to savour as first take on second at Anfield. The home side will be looking to improve on the goalless display against Manchester United last week but will need to be careful as Arsenal have been far more dangerous this season. Liverpool will be slight favourites due to their impressive home record but recent performances have not quite been up to the usual standard, with a lucky win over Crystal Palace being the last time they managed three points. Mo Salah continues to be their star man with eleven goals already this season but next on the list is Darwin Nunez with only four goals. Liverpool’s defence is the second best in the league having only conceded five goals so far this season. 

Arsenal come into this match in a confident mood, with four wins in the last five matches, their only recent blip being a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa. Last time out they beat another potentially tricky opponent, Brighton, 2-0 and they can look back on last season when they claimed four points against Liverpool. A draw might be considered a good result here but if they really want to emphasise their title credentials there is no better place to do so than to win at Anfield. The lack of a real goalscorer continues to concern many, Bukayo Saka is their top scorer with five league goals.

Liverpool have five wins in the last ten meetings whereas Arsenal have managed three wins, including last season’s home league match. This is normally a high-scoring match-up, with six of the last ten seeing three or more goals being scored. 

AS Roma vs Napoli

The tie of the round from Italy is the last match to take place on Saturday between two very inconsistent teams, AS Roma and Napoli. There is very little to choose between the two in terms of who is more likely to win the match as the unpredictable nature of their respective seasons emphasises. AS Roma are in eighth place but still only two points off a European spot but they only have two league wins in their last five matches. Last time out they lost 2-0 to high-flying Bologna. The fact they have conceded nineteen goals, the joint highest in the top half of Serie A, is not something that will please manager Jose Mourinho and they will need to be alert to top Napoli scoring. Lukaku is their top scorer with seven goals, less than half of the goals scored by the league’s top scorer Lautaro Martinez. 

Napoli have had a very frustrating season and are not doing a good job of defending their title. They lost 4-0 at home in the Coppa Italia to Frosinone in midweek, piling more pressure on manager Walter Mazzari, who has only been in place a few weeks having replaced Rudi Garcia who joined at the start of the season. They did win their last league match, 2-1 against Cagliari and they also have the second best away record in the league with five wins from eight matches, so that indicates they are happier playing away from home this season for some reason. 

AS Roma do not have a good record in this fixture and have only won one of the last ten meetings between these two, back in 2019. Napoli have won six of the last ten, including both meetings last season.

Enjoy!