Week 17: Super Sunday for European Football

We roll into December this week with the season picking up pace quickly. This month is always a very busy one, especially in England. We also have the final rounds of the group stages of European competition to look forward to and some of the top leagues will take a break over the Christmas period. This weekend gets off to a relatively slow start with the main matches between major teams taking place on the Sunday.

There is no Premier League match on Friday evening this weekend and there is also no early kick off on Saturday so we need to wait until the afternoon session before things get underway. There are then three late afternoon matches with the most interesting being league leaders Arsenal taking on Wolves. The visiting team felt very hard done by last weekend when they felt they were the victims of an unjust decision that robbed them of a result at Fulham so they will be fired up for this match. Arsenal returned to the top of the table and will be aiming to stay there, especially as Manchester City face a tough match on Sunday. Brentford are at home to Luton and Burnley host Sheffield United in the other two matches with the latter of the two being a pressure match for both managers due to their very poor form this season. The late afternoon match is Nottingham against Everton and this is followed by Newcastle versus Manchester United, two teams that had eventful matches in the CL in midweek. Only one point separates these two teams but both are currently searching for wins as they are out of the European places at this stage. 

Sunday starts with Aston Villa’s match at Bournemouth and is followed by three late afternoon matches. Chelsea host Brighton in a tricky looking encounter whilst Liverpool are home to Fulham, a match they will think should bring them three points and closer to the top two in the table. West Ham face Crystal Palace in another match at the same time. The final match of the day is Manchester City against Tottenham, the latter have now lost three in a row following their excellent start to the season and are down to fifth in the table. This will be a tough ask for them due to the ever growing injury list, whereas City are boosted by the comeback win over RB Leipzig in midweek. 

Ligue 1 action starts on Friday with Reims taking on Strasbourg, the home team looking to close the gap on the top four. On Saturday, sixth place Lens will welcome struggling Lyon and second placed Nice travel to Nantes. Leaders PSG play in the early match on Sunday, at midtable Le Havre and Monaco will look to get back to winning ways against lowly Montpellier. Lille are home to Metz and Marseille, another struggling giant this season, play at home to Rennes. 

Friday night Bundesliga action comes courtesy of Darmstadt against FC Koln,  two teams struggling badly at the bottom of the table. There are five matches on Saturday with the likes of Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig and high flying Stuttgart all playing. The game of the weekend will take place on Sunday though, as fourth placed Dortmund host leaders Bayer Leverkusen, with the visiting team one of only two who are unbeaten in the Bundesliga this season now. 

Juventus play at Monza on Friday evening to get things started in Serie A with the visitors only two points behind leaders Inter. Monza are having a solid season and are currently in ninth spot, although they have only won one in their last five matches. The likes of Lazio and AC Milan will both be expecting three points from their matches on Saturday afternoon against Cagliari and Frosinone respectively. On Sunday, the match of the weekend is a battle between two of the current top four as last season’s winners Napoli host current leaders Inter hoping to cut the gap between the two teams. Monday’s match is Atalanta away at Torino. 

Girona missed their chance to hold on to top spot in La Liga as they could only draw against Athletic Bilbao last weekend. This time they play another home match against a tricky opponent, Valencia. New leaders Real Madrid play in the late afternoon match on Sunday at home to bottom three side Granada, so anything other than three points will be a surprise. The match of the weekend will take place on Sunday evening as the third and fourth clash as Atletico Madrid play at Barcelona. 

Saturday 02/12

Newcastle vs Manchester United

Over the years this contest has offered up many classic matches and with both teams battling it out for a place in the top four, we can hope for another eventful ninety minutes here. Both teams suffered somewhat disappointing midweek matches with Newcastle conceding a wrongly awarded stoppage time penalty in Paris and United ending up with a 3-3 draw in Turkey. A return to league matters is just what they need to get the disappointment out of their system. Newcastle are continuing to battle a significant injury toll and they have only lost one of their last nine league matches. They have the second best attack and a formidable home record which has seen them win their last five consecutive matches. Eddie Howe continues to impress at St James Park and only Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City have left the North East with all three points since his appointment. 

Manchester United have not really impressed in many matches but they have managed to work their way up the table and are one point ahead of Newcastle and only two behind Tottenham now. Progress in the CL looks unlikely and they have already been eliminated from the EFL Cup, by Newcastle, so they can fully focus on the league in the coming weeks. The biggest worry for the visiting team is their defensive frailty, they have conceded 33 goals in their opening 20 matches this season and it appears likely that goalkeeper Andre Onana might be dropped, possibly even for this match. 

Newcastle have won three of the last ten meetings but two of those have been the last two meetings between the sides. Manchester United have won four of the last ten, including last season’s EFL Cup final. 

Sunday 03/12

Chelsea vs Brighton

It looked like Chelsea had really turned a corner of late but a heavy 4-1 loss at the hands of Newcastle certainly set them back again. This time they face a Brighton side who are not quite the force they were last season and who played in Greece on Thursday. This is the type of match that Chelsea, fresh from a week’s rest, should be winning as they aim to push up the table. Goalscoring remains an issue for them with only Manchester United scoring less than them out of the top ten sides whilst the four goals conceded last weekend illustrates their defensive frailties. 

Brighton managed an impressive away win at AEK Athens on Thursday to make it two away wins in a row. Last week they won 3-2 at Nottingham Forest but this, their third away day in a row, is surely their toughest assignment. Brighton’s European adventure seems to be taking its toll somewhat but they are still performing well and find themselves in a comfortable eighth place. 

Chelsea knocked Brighton out of the EFL Cup earlier this season but Brighton won both home and away league fixtures last season. Draws are the speciality between these two with five of the last ten matches seeing the points shared. 

Manchester City vs Tottenham

Manchester City relinquished top spot in the league to Arsenal last week as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Liverpool. They are at home again against another team that has had a very positive start to the season overall, Tottenham. Their CL match was eventful as they had to come from two goals down to get the better of RB Leipzig. Matches between these two are usually entertaining and high-scoring, with the last four producing an average of 4.5 goals per game and with City being the league’s top scorers with 33 goals, it is likely we will once again see a fair few goals here. 

Tottenham had an excellent start to the season but injuries have really had an impact on them. They have now lost three matches in a row in the league despite scoring first in each of them. Despite this poor form and falling from first to fifth in the table, they know that a win in this match will take them level on points with their opponents. Whether or not manager Ange Postecoglu persists with his gung-ho attacking style of football given the opponents and the long injury list remains to be seen. 

Tottenham won the last match between these two, in February last year, and have a decent record against Manchester City having won five of the last ten. The home team have won four with the final meeting ending in a draw.

Napoli vs Inter

It seems that Napoli will struggle to make it out of their CL group following their loss to Real Madrid in midweek but they will need to brush that off and focus on league matters as the battle for top four in Serie A is certainly a tight one this season. Should they manage a win here it will be the first time they have managed that in two months. New manager Walter Mazzarri has been tasked with making them more solid and organised following the ill-fated short reign of Rudi Garcia. Last season Napoli beat Inter 3-1 and another win would be their first consecutive win over Inter since 2016/17 and the fact they have such a strong record at home to Inter, only losing once in their last seventeen matches, will fill them with confidence. 

Inter are top of the league and have the best scoring record as well as the best defensive record in Serie A, so they certainly have nothing to fear going into this match. They have scored an average of 2.4 goals across their last eleven away Serie A matches and they have been keeping clean sheets for fun of late. In midweek they fought back from being three goals down against Benfica to manage a draw and they will be hoping to protect the two point lead they have at the top of the Serie A table. 

Napoli have two wins from the last ten meetings whereas Inter have five. Seven of the last ten matches have seen less than three goals scored. 

Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid

The match of the weekend from La Liga is the final match on Sunday between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, two clubs who are trying to keep up with surprise team Girona and usual suspects Real Madrid at the top of the table. Barcelona only have one defeat so far this season, but they have too many draws to their name at this stage, including one last weekend at Rayo Vallecano. They did manage a midweek CL in against Porto though, ensuring their progress to the next round but they have a bad habit of conceding first in matches, something they will want to avoid against Atletico.

The visiting team have the same number of points as Barcelona but a better goal difference and have also played one game less. They look much more like themselves this season and they too have booked their place in the next round of the CL following a straightforward win over Feyenoord. That midweek win was their fourth in a row, a run on which they have scored thirteen goals and only conceded two, so they can certainly travel to Barcelona with confidence. 

Barcelona have won five of the last ten with Atletico managing three wins but the last three matches have all gone the way of Barcelona.  

Enjoy!