Week 16: Changes at the top in Europe?

The last International break of the calendar year is over and we can now focus our attention on club football for the coming weeks and months. With the upcoming league matches, domestic cups as well as European competitions on offer, there will certainly be plenty for followers of all leagues across Europe to keep themselves entertained.

After a gap of a few quiet days we head straight back into league action on Friday evening with matches from the top divisions in France, Germany and Spain. Top matches this weekend include PSG vs Monaco in France, Manchester City vs Liverpool in England and Juventus against Inter in Italy’s Serie A.

Starting off with English Football, we have to wait until Saturday afternoon for our first match from the PL, as there is no Friday Night Football this time around. Things get off to an exciting start though, as leaders Manchester City are home to one of their biggest rivals for the title this season, Liverpool. There is only one point, and one place in the table, between these two teams so it really should be a top level clash. All three of the promoted teams play at home this weekend with Burnley at home to West Ham, Luton home to Crystal Palace and Sheffield United hosting Bournemouth. Another very interesting match in the afternoon on Saturday will see Chelsea travel north to face an injury-hit Newcastle before the final match of the day is a London derby between Brentford and Arsenal. 

There are two matches scheduled for Sunday and both should be interesting clashes. Tottenham will be desperate to get back to winning ways after two defeats saw them drop from first to fourth in the table but this is a tough match against fifth placed Aston Villa. The late match sees Everton host Manchester United. The home team is likely to be very vocal in backing their team following the recent ruling that will see them deducted 10 points in the league, something everyone associated with the club is dismayed by. The final PL match is a Monday Night Football offering between Fulham and Wolves. 

Bayern Munich get things going on Friday evening from Germany’s top division as they travel to FC Köln. This should be a relatively straightforward win for the Bavarian giants who are in second spot in the table against a team struggling down in seventeenth. On Saturday, Dortmund will be desperate to get back to winning ways at home to Gladbach having lost the last two matches and league leaders travel to mid table Werder Bremen. Two teams fighting for a top four spot, Stuttgart and Eintracht Frankfurt round things off on Saturday. There are two matches on Sunday with Hoffenheim against Mainz being the pick of the two.

It is probably fair to say that the highlight of the weekend from Ligue 1 is on Friday evening as leaders PSG host third placed Monaco. After a somewhat dodgy start to the season, PSG have really picked up the pace and have stormed to the top of the table and Monaco are currently three points behind them. Marseille, struggling in tenth spot, travel to Strasbourg on Saturday and Lens are on the road to a team in the bottom three, Clermont. Nice, the surprise team this season starts things off on Sunday with a match against Toulouse and the final match of the day is Lyon, who are last in the table, against fourth placed Lille. 

The first match of the weekend from La Liga in Spain sees Alaves host Granada, a battle between two teams at the wrong end of the table. Saturday starts with Barcelona’s visit to Rayo Vallecano in the first of four matches. Valencia play struggling Celta Vigo and the day ends with Atletico Madrid, currently in fourth place, against another struggling team, Mallorca. On Sunday, two underperforming teams are in action in the first two matches as Villareal and Valencia look to get three points under their belts when they play Osasuna and Real Sociedad respectively. Real Madrid play at Cadiz as they continue to attempt to catch surprise leaders Girona and the final match of the is Betis versus Las Palmas. The final match of the weekend, the Monday night fixture is league leaders Girona at home to Athletic Bilbao. 

There is no Serie A action on Friday night so the first match in this round is a 3 pm kick off between Salernitana and Lazio. This is followed by what should be an interesting match between two teams separated by only one point in the table, Napoli and Atalanta. The final match of the day is AC Milan against Fiorentina, another intriguing encounter. The highlights on Sunday are definitely the two late matches as AS Roma host Udinese followed by Juventus versus Inter, a clash between the top two in the league who are bang in form at the moment and only separated by two points at the top of the Serie A table. The weekend concludes with two matches on Monday, Verona versus Lecce and Bologna against Torino. 

Friday 24/11

PSG vs Monaco

Paris SG finally managed to reach top spot in Ligue 1 for the first time last week after a sluggish start to the season and they will be hoping to solidify that spot with another win here. They are currently on a five game winning streak and they have scored three goals in all of those matches. A win against Monaco would extend their lead over one of their closest rivals in the table and they will be looking to both their attacking and their defensive stars to ensure three points. PSG haven’t conceded a single goal at home in their last five matches but they traditionally struggle to stop Monaco from scoring, having failed to do so in their last twelve home clashes in Ligue 1.

Monaco have only one win from their last three matches and will probably have welcomed the international break in order to regroup. They are currently four points ahead of fourth placed Lille and will want to do all they can to maintain that top three spot, which ensures automatic qualification for next season’s CL. Whether or not they can mount a serious challenge to PSG remains to be seen, but we might be able to get a decent idea from this match. Their away record is far from the best, they only one one win in the previous five away matches in the top flight and have failed to score in the last two. On top of that, they only have one clean sheet in the last eleven away league matches. 

Monaco won the last meeting between these two in February and the record between these two teams is close, with both winning four of the last eight matches played. 

Saturday 25/11

Manchester City vs Liverpool

The first PL match of the weekend is a top of the table clash between these two giants of English football. The home side currently have a one point advantage over their opponents going into this match after gaining a point from their last match in London against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. That match was certainly a memorable one and highly entertaining for neutral fans but manager Pep Guardiola will be urging his team to have more control in this home match against a dangerous Liverpool side. They are currently on a 23 game winning streak in all competitions at the Etihad Stadium and that is one short of the record that was set by Sunderland all the way back in 1892.

Liverpool are also on an excellent run of their own, losing only one of their last 23 league matches. That run started following the loss they suffered at the Etihad last April and Jurgen Klopp has yet to win on any of his league visits to the blue side of Manchester. One statistic that is in Liverpool’s favour is the fact that City have not beaten Liverpool in back to back league matches since 1937. Manager Jurgen Klopp will be hoping his key players all return back from their International commitments without any added injuries as he looks to ensure that it is his club that emerge as this season’s main challengers to Manchester City. 

Manchester City have marginally the better recent head to head in this fixture having won four of the last ten, whereas Liverpool have won three. 

Newcastle vs Chelsea

It seems that playing in the CL for the first time in such a long while is taking its toll on the Newcastle squad as the amount of injuries is a worry for manager Eddie Howe. Prior to the break, Newcastle fell to two 2-0 defeats, one at Dortmund and one at Bournemouth with the latter meaning Newcastle find themselves down in seventh spot having already lost four matches this season. Chelsea are a difficult opponent for Newcastle, not only historically but also due to the fact they have finally hit some better form and they have a big squad that doesn’t play in Europe this season. With key players like Botman, Burn, Barnes, Wilson and Isak all unavailable, Eddie Howe has a big job on his hands in the coming weeks. 

The mood in and around Chelsea is a bit better of late and they have scored four times in both of their last two matches, including the thrilling 4-4 draw at home to Manchester City. Manager Mauricio Pochettino has stated that this squad is a work in progress and with so many new players it’s a fair statement to make. This is another big test for them but if they play as they have been doing of late they will certainly cause Newcastle problems. They have the third highest XG in the league, so their style of play dictates that they should score goals. A win of any sort at Newcastle will be regarded as a very good result. 

Newcastle have only beaten Chelsea twice in their last ten meetings whereas Chelsea can point to six wins in that same time period. The last two meetings were both 1-1 draws.

Atalanta vs Napoli

One point separates these two sides going into this match with Atalanta just missing the chance to go above Napoli last time out as they were held to a draw by Udinese whilst Napoli lost at home to Empoli. Whilst it is still early in the season, matches like this will prove key to deciding who ends the season in the top four and claims one of the coveted Champions League spots. Atalanta will also see this as an ideal opportunity to end a run of three consecutive defeats against Napoli. Home comforts should certainly help and they will remind themselves that they have six clean sheets in their seven home matches so far this season, with five of those matches being wins. 

Napoli decided to bring to an end the tenure of manager Rudi Garcia in the international break, allowing him only sixteen matches to make an impression. Their defeat at home to Empoli was the final straw as that left them ten points off top spot, so they turned to one of their former managers Walter Mazzarri, who joins until the end of the season. It appears likely to be a stopgap appointment with Antonio Conte rumoured to be the man being targeted. Napoli won both encounters between these two last season and have four wins out of the last ten with Atalanta winning four too. Traditionally this head to head contains goals with seven of the last ten seeing three or more goals scored. 

Sunday 26/11

Tottenham vs Aston Villa

A tricky match for both these teams and one that should result in an evenly balanced and hard fought clash. Tottenham will go into this as favourites but they are only one point ahead of Aston Villa as they suffered two defeats prior to the International break. Prior to that Tottenham were unbeaten this season but they have suffered a horrendous injury list and the next few weeks are likely to be challenging for the team from North London. 

Aston Villa are top of the table when it comes to home form but they have only managed two wins from six away matches, so a trip to London might be a tough challenge for them. They have won four of the last five matches with the only defeat coming in a surprising 2-0 loss at Nottingham Forest. Last time out they got the better of Fulham and they will look back to last season for inspiration as they beat Tottenham both home and away. Ollie Watkins is their main man, with the striker being in form this season and already scoring six goals as well as having five assists to his name. 

Overall, Tottenham have a good record against Aston Villa, having won seven of the last ten meetings with the visitors winning the remaining three including the two meetings last season. 

Juventus vs Inter

Serie A’s top two sides meet in this eagerly anticipated clash on Sunday evening with only two points separating them at the top of the table. Juventus are on a five game winning streak and they know that another win here will send them to the top of the table, overtaking Inter. Should they manage this feat it will be the first time since 2021 that they have managed six wins in a row. Juventus’ lack of European Football might work in their favour this season as the lack of fixture congestion will ensure they are fresher than their opponents when it comes to domestic league action. They continue to state that top four is their ambition but if things continue to go in their favour they will surely see winning the league as a realistic target. The home team have only conceded seven league goals so far this season and only let one goal past them in the past seven league matches. Only Inter have a better defensive record than Juventus so far this season. 

Inter are the league’s top scorers so far with 29 goals to their name and that, coupled with the best defensive record justifies their place at the top of the table. In their last match they managed yet another clean sheet, a 2-0 win over Frosinone. Inter have managed clean sheets in each of their last five away matches but they will have to perform better than last season when they lost both home and away against Juventus. 

Juventus have three wins from the last ten meetings between these two giants of the Italian game whereas Inter have four wins. The last meeting was a narrow 1-0 win for Inter in the Coppa Italia but draws are very common between these two 

Enjoy!