The weekend is here, and there’s plenty to look forward to across Europe!
Week 18: New league leader in England?
Despite the lack of European tournament football action this week, there was no let up in matches for teams across Europe as we had PL matches taking place in England as well as cup ties in Spain, Germany, Italy and Turkey, amongst others. Therefore, teams head into this weekend without much rest at all and managers will need to pay attention to managing their squad as best they can, although some are already very stretched due to players not being available for one reason or another.
Friday’s action in England comes from the Championship, as two teams in poor form, Birmingham and Coventry take each other on. The PL bursts into life on Saturday with the early kick-off coming from London where Crystal Palace host Liverpool, the home team having a solid if underwhelming season whereas Liverpool are fighting it out with Arsenal and Manchester City for top spot. Later in the day, Brighton host Burnley and Sheffield United are home to Brentford whilst Wolves play against Nottingham Forest. Most eyes will be on Old Trafford though, as the pressure continues to build on the Red Devils. This time around they play Bournemouth in what is surely another must win game for them. There are three midafternoon games on Sunday with Everton hosting Chelsea, a London derby as Fulham play against West Ham and Luton, the best performing of the newly promoted teams face a tough task against Manchester City. The final game of the day should be a very entertaining one as Newcastle travel down to London to face Tottenham, an important match between two teams that are likely to be battling it out for a top four place.
The weekend’s opening fixture from France is Montpellier versus Lens on Friday evening, the visiting team pushing hard to catch the top four with three wins in a row and four wins from the last five matches. On Saturday, twelfth placed Rennes welcome third placed Monaco to their home stadium for what should be an intriguing battle between two teams in very different form. The late kick off is leaders PSG at home to eighth placed Nantes, who got the better of Nice last weekend. On Sunday, second placed Nice host Reims in the early kick off with these two teams looking to grab another three points to solidify their top four claims. Later in the day fourth placed Lille play at Clermont and the last match is Marseille, who got their first win in five matches last weekend, playing at bottom three side Lorient.
The Bundesliga starts this weekend with a match on Friday evening between Hoffenheim, currently in sixth place, against Bochum who are down in twelfth. Bayern Munich face a tricky match on Saturday afternoon as they must play away at Eintracht Frankfurt, who are in seventh spot but on a poor run of form. Last season’s surprise team, Union Berlin, are really struggling this season and are currently bottom of the table with only two wins to date. They are home to Borussia Monchengladbach in another of the mid afternoon slots. The match of the day comes in the late game where Dortmund welcome RB Leipzig to Signal Iduna Park, this being another difficult match for the home team who managed to get a draw from their match against table toppers Bayer Leverkusen last weekend. Leverkusen themselves play on Sunday away from home to Stuttgart, another interesting and challenging match for the league leaders.
It’s an exciting start to the weekend in Italy as Friday night’s offering is Juventus against Napoli, who are both giants of the Italian game. Napoli were the only team from the top six who failed to win last weekend, losing to leaders Inter. Their indifferent season continues despite changing manager and they are now eleven points behind the leaders. Juventus, with no distraction of European football are doing very well and are maintaining pace with Inter at the top of the table. Atalanta host AC Milan on Saturday in the late afternoon slot, the home team will need to start winning matches like these if they intend to close in on the top four. Leaders Inter host struggling Udinese in the late kick-off, a match that they will expect to take all three points from. The best of the rest is the matchup between AS Roma and Fiorentina on Sunday evening with the side from the capital only having a single point advantage going into this head to head.
Friday evening’s match from the Spanish top flight is a mid table clash between Getafe and Valencia, two teams on the same points and with the same goal difference. Both have only one win in the last five matches so there really is nothing to choose between the two teams and we can expect this to be a hard-fought match. Leaders Real Madrid play on Saturday against Betis, who are currently just outside of the European spots but are on a good undefeated run. Atletico Madrid will look to bounce back from their loss to Barcelona last week with a win over Almeria on Sunday and the late match of the day is certainly bound to interest many as Barcelona play against the surprise team of the season Girona, currently in second with only one defeat after fifteen matches.
Amongst some other interesting matches across Europe is the clash between Besiktas and Fenerbahce in the Turkish Super Lig on Saturday, undoubtedly a hard-fought and entertaining match.
Friday 08/12
Juventus vs Napoli
Juventus are now on a nine match unbeaten run and another three points here would take them top of the league, at least until Inter play their match. Last time out they managed a narrow 2-1 win over Monza but they must be ready for a tougher challenge this time around against the reigning champions. Defence has been keen to their success this season as they have conceded only nine goals in fourteen matches so far. Juventus are also unbeaten at home so far, claiming five wins from seven matches, but they don’t have the best recent record against Napoli as the last two meetings in Turin have resulted in a draw and an away win.
Napoli are currently on a tough run of games and last week they suffered a poor defeat at the hands of leaders Inter Milan. They also lost against Real Madrid but did manage a win against Atalanta. The defence of their title isn’t going to plan and a realistic target for them is top four now as they are already eleven points behind the current leaders. Away from home their form has actually been better and they have an unbeaten league record, although that will be severely tested in this match.
Napoli have the better recent record between the two, winning five of the last ten meetings. Juventus have three wins in that same timeframe, but their last win was in April 2021.
Saturday 09/12
Aston Villa vs Arsenal
A tough match for both teams on Saturday evening, although Arsenal have the slight advantage of having played on Tuesday whereas Aston Villa played on Wednesday. The home team managed an excellent win against Manchester City in midweek, leapfrogging them in the table up to third place, four points off leaders Arsenal. This really has been an excellent season so far for Aston Villa as they look to build on a very positive last year and seem capable, so far, of managing the demands of a top four battle as well as European football. They are at home again this weekend, where they have the best record in the league with seven wins from seven matches having scored 24 goals.
Arsenal played an eventful match on Tuesday, eventually getting the better of Luton thanks to a 98th minute winner from Declan Rice. That win sent them top of the table over now second placed Liverpool. Their away form is the best in the league, they have five wins from seven matches played on the road, giving them sixteen points in total. They go into this match as favourites but claiming three points at Villa Park will be a tough ask.
Arsenal have traditionally done well in this fixture, winning seven of the last ten meetings. None of the last ten have ended in a draw and the London team have won the last four meetings.
Dortmund vs RB Leipzig
Dortmund managed a creditable draw against leaders Bayer Leverkusen last weekend but they certainly struggled in the game. They might have only lost twice this season in the league but they don’t seem to be the force that they were last season, with rumours of problems behind the scenes surfacing again. They have only one win in their last five league matches and are ten points behind the leaders so they will be hoping that home comforts will be able to drive them to a better performance and, more importantly, to all three points against a rival for a top four spot.
RB Leipzig have had another solid start to the season, with eight wins so far from the thirteen league matches played. They can go into this match with confidence knowing that not only are they ahead of Dortmund in the table but they have a great recent record against them, with four wins and just one loss. That being said, it is also worth factoring in their poor away form of late, they have lost four of the last five matches away from home in all competitions.
Dortmund have won five of the last ten with RB Leipzig winning four. Eight of the last ten meetings between these two sides have seen three or more goals scored.
Atalanta vs AC Milan
The odds suggest that this should be a balanced match despite the fact that the visitors are nine points ahead in the league table. Atalanta have not won in their last four matches, a run of results which has seen them slip down to eight place in Serie A. Last time out they lost 3-0 to Torino and we have to go back to October to find their last league win, away at Empoli.
AC Milan currently occupy third place in the league, six points behind leaders and local rivals Inter Milan. After a poor run of results they are back to winning ways, with two wins in their last two matches. Last time out was a comfortable 3-1 win over Frosinone and they are undefeated against Atalanta in almost three years.
AC Milan have won five of the last ten meetings between these two whereas Atalanta have only won two in the same timeframe. Five of the last ten have seen three or more goals scored and the last goalless meeting was in December 2016.
Sunday 10/12
Tottenham vs Newcastle
The final PL game of the weekend should be a very entertaining one between two teams that are generally very pleasing on the eye. Tottenham fought hard to earn a draw at Manchester City last weekend, ending a run of three losses in a row. The point was not enough to send them back into the top four, though, and they currently find themselves only one point ahead of opponents Newcastle. Their injury list remains significant, although Richarlison did appear off the bench last week. Tottenham’s attacking play has earned many plaudits so far this season, but they will have their work cut out against a team with the joint best defensive record in the league.
Newcastle dominated against Manchester United last weekend but only managed a 1-0 win, so the only negative to take out of that match was the fact they were unable to take their chances. Once again manager Eddie Howe named an unchanged starting line up and made barely no use of his substitutes bench due to the significant injury crisis engulfing the club. The latest important player to suffer what looked like a serious injury was goalkeeper Nick Pope, so a decision needs to be made whether they will have to go into the market for a replacement. It is likely that we will once again see the same players start the match but Tottenham’s high energy football could prove to be a difficult problem to deal with for Newcastle.
Newcastle won both matches last season including a 6-1 thrashing at St James Park so some form of revenge will be on the minds of the Tottenham players. Over the last ten matches, Tottenham have the slightly better record with five wins to Newcastle’s three.
Barcelona vs Girona
Sunday evening’s La Liga match is a fascinating encounter between two high-flying teams. Barcelona will certainly be favourites going into the match, especially as they have the best home record in the league with seven wins from eight matches played at the Estadio Olimpico, their new temporary home. Barcelona managed to claim all three points from a hard fought match against Atletico Madrid last weekend, with on loan forward Joao Felix getting the only goal of a 1-0 win. Six wins in their last ten in all competitions indicates that despite their place in the league, they are far from perfect though.
Girona have the joint-best away record in La Liga and are only being kept off top spot by Real Madrid on goal difference. Their four point gap to Barcelona in third means that no matter what happens they will not lose a place this weekend and they will go into this match with the confidence that four wins from the five matches will bring. Last time out they got the better of Valencia, recording a 2-1 win but they will do well not to pay attention to their recent record against Barcelona.
The Catalan giants have dominated this fixture recently, managing seven wins from the last ten. Girona have only beaten Barcelona once in that time frame but the last meeting between the two was a goalless encounter last April.
Enjoy!
