Club football is back this weekend – check out the highlights from week 12!
Weekly Football Preview – Week 12
Our preview from some of the biggest domestic leagues across Europe returns. If you haven’t already found a few matches to watch this weekend, read on for info on some of this weekend’s biggest games!
There were not so many surprises last weekend as most of the big teams across Europe managed to pick up wins. The exceptions would be Real Madrid, who were held to a 1-1 draw by Sevilla and AC Milan, who lost at home to Juventus, although neither of these would fall into the category of shock results. Dortmund managed a narrow win over Werder Bremen on Friday on what was a relatively quiet evening. The Merseyside derby got things started on Saturday and Liverpool ended with a somewhat controversial win over their rivals Everton whereas other highlights from the PL over the weekend were wins for Manchester City, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Tottenham and Manchester United. The biggest clash of the weekend saw Arsenal come from two goals down to draw against London rivals Chelsea.
In France, there were wins for the top three teams, Monaco, Nice and Paris SG whilst in Germany the top five all picked up maximum points, meaning Bayer Leverkusen remain in first place. In Serie A, there were wins for Inter, Juventus and Napoli, but AC Milan and Fiorentina both suffered losses. Real Madrid’s lead at the top of the table was slashed as they could only manage a draw against Sevilla whilst there were wins for Girona, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. The big match in Turkey went the way of Galatasaray as they got the better of Besiktas.
Highlights from midweek included wins for most favourites including Bayern Munich, Inter, Real Madrid, Arsenal and Manchester United as well as Barcelona, PSG and Manchester City.
The upcoming week is another busy one, as are most now that the season is in full swing. This time around there is a Friday night match from the English PL and it’s another London derby with Crystal Palace hosting Tottenham. Chelsea and Arsenal both play at home on Saturday, as do the likes of Bayern Munich and Juventus. The highlight of the day is, without a doubt, Barcelona against Real Madrid though as the two Spanish giants clash for the first time this season.
The better matches overall are played on Sunday though, starting with the PL. West Ham kick things off at home to Everton in one of five matches, culminating in the Manchester derby from Old Trafford. PSG take on another high flying team from France, Brest and top team Monaco will play against fourth placed Lille. In Germany, leaders Leverkusen are also in action on Sunday and the day ends with two top matches from Italy as Inter host AS Roma and Napoli play against AC Milan.
Friday’s top action
For the first time in a few weeks, we kick things off with a Friday Night Football offering from the PL as Crystal Palace host high-flying Tottenham. The visitors have made an excellent start to the season and are two points clear at the top of the PL. Their last match was a comfortable win over Fulham on Monday night and they will be hoping for another straightforward win here. In France, Clermont take on Nice whilst in Germany, Bochum host Mainz. The Serie A match on Friday comes from Genoa, who host Salernitana. In Spain, surprise team Girona play against Celta Vigo and there are two matches from the Turkey Super Lig also.
Saturday’s English Football
The majority of PL action is scheduled for Sunday this weekend, there are only four matches on Saturday starting with Chelsea at home to Brentford. It’s a short journey for the visiting team as they will stay in West London to travel to their illustrious neighbours. Chelsea’s season has picked up following a poor start and they can consider themselves somewhat unlucky not to be able to hold on to three points against Arsenal last weekend.
The two mid-afternoon matches involve Arsenal, who take on bottom team Sheffield United, and Bournemouth against Burnley. The final match of the day is Wolves against Newcastle. The visitors are in good form after an indifferent start to the season and find themselves in sixth spot and they take on a Wolves side who have also shown an improvement in performance of late.
Saturday Highlights from around Europe
The two matches from France Ligue 1 are Reims against Lorient followed by Lens against Nantes so none of the top four play on Saturday. In the Bundesliga on Saturday, last year’s champions Bayern Munich take on newly promoted Darmstadt in one of five midafternoon kick offs. In the late match, RB Leipzig host FC Koln with the home team going into this weekend three points outside the top four.
Juventus will be hoping to follow up their important away win at AC Milan last weekend with another three points as they host Verona in the late match from Serie A on Saturday. The big match of the weekend from Spain is ‘the ‘El Clasico’ between Barcelona and Real Madrid. Only one point separates the two teams going into this much anticipated clash with Real currently holding the advantage in first place.
Sunday’s English Football
Sunday is the busiest day of the weekend in the top flight in England and the action starts at 2 pm with West Ham hosting Everton. Both teams suffered defeats last time out with West Ham on the end of a 4-1 thrashing at Aston Villa and Everton losing against rivals Liverpool so this is a chance for both to return to winning ways. One hour later Aston Villa host Luton, Brighton play against Fulham and Liverpool are up against Nottingham Forest. The clash of the weekend is the final match on Sunday and this sees Manchester United take on City in one of the clashes of the season. The home team have not been in their best form so far this year but they have at least managed a few hard fought wins in a row, including in the CL, but there is no doubt that this will be a far tougher test.
Best events from around Europe
Ligue 1 action starts with a clash of two teams in the top five as Brest host PSG and it is followed by another big match with Lille welcoming Monaco to the northern city. The final match of the day is Marseille against struggling French giants Lyon. There are two intriguing matches to be played in the Bundesliga on Sunday as Eintracht Frankfurt welcome Dortmund and leaders Bayer Leverkusen take on Freiburg. There are four Serie A matches scheduled with the latter two being clashes between giants of the Italian game. Inter are at home to AS Roma first up before last season’s winners Napoli face the task of playing AC Milan in the evening match. There are four matches scheduled from La Liga on Sunday with the likes of Betis, Real Sociedad and Valencia all in action. The final match of the day is fourth placed Atletico Madrid against out of form Alaves.
Monday night Football
Monday is a relatively quiet day with one match from La Liga, Granada versus Villareal and two from the top flight in Italy, Empoli against Atalanta and Lazio versus Fiorentina, being the highlights of the day. Elsewhere there is a match from the Championship in England, Coventry versus West Brom and an interesting clash in Portugal between Boavista and Sporting, as well as one match from Turkey Super Lig between Besiktas and Gaziantep.
Rest of the week
With no CL or EL action taking place next week there is an opportunity to squeeze in a round of domestic cup action. The Copa del Rey, Coppa Italia, DFB Pokal and EFL Cups are all in action, helping to fill in the gap between one weekend and the next. Highlights include West Ham versus Arsenal and Manchester United against Newcastle in the EFL Cup and Dortmund taking on Hoffenheim in the DFB Pokal.
Friday 27/10
Crystal Palace vs Tottenham
The first PL match of the weekend takes place on Friday evening and kicks off the tenth round of fixtures. Crystal Palace are the home team and they will play against high-flying fellow London team Tottenham at Selhurst Park. It has been a solid, if unremarkable, start to the season for the home team who have three wins from their opening nine matches. Their main aim for this season should be another one of stability with a possible top half finish and manager Roy Hodgson is likely to be a man capable of that. Last weekend was a tough 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Newcastle and this match will certainly be another tough challenge, although they will at least have home advantage here.
Tottenham have enjoyed this fixture in recent years, winning thirteen of the last sixteen meetings between the two. They will be optimistic of continuing on their excellent run so far this season, one which sees them at the top of the table with a two point lead. It has been a record start for manager Ange Postecoglou, with the 23 points gained so far being the best ever start for a new manager in the PL as well as Tottenham’s best start to a season since 1960/61.
Tottenham have six wins from the last ten meetings with Crystal Palace only managing two. The last time Crystal Palace scored against Tottenham was in September 2021.
Saturday 28/10
Chelsea vs Brentford
It seems that, after an underwhelming start, things are slowly starting to come together for Chelsea and their new manager Mauricio Pochettino. They will be somewhat frustrated that they only ended up with a point having blown a two goal lead against Arsenal last weekend but will be looking to take the positives from that performance into this week. This match against their near neighbours will surely be viewed as an opportunity to grab all three points and continue to build on their recent upturn. Chelsea have managed eight goals in their last three matches.
Brentford will be wary coming into this match as they haven’t yet reached the heights of last season. They did manage a morale boosting 3-0 win over Burnley last weekend, a result that helps them to make up for the disappointment of the last minute defeat at Old Trafford in the previous round. The fact they had been on a six game winless streak would have been a worry for manager Thomas Frank, as his side struggle with injuries and suspensions this season. Since their promotion to the PL, Brentford have a remarkably good record at Stamford Bridge so that should certainly give them confidence going into this match.
These sides have met eight times before and Chelsea have four wins. However, Brentford have won their last two visits to Stamford Bridge and the last time Chelsea managed to get three points off Brentford in the league was in October 2021.
Barcelona vs Real Madrid
The first El Clasico of the season will take place on Saturday afternoon as Barcelona host Real Madrid in this intriguing encounter. Whilst still early in the season, this is a chance to land a significant blow, especially with both teams only separated by one point. Barcelona won this match last season but it is the visitors that have the better H2H record in the league. A win for the home team would take them above their rivals and possibly into first place, depending on the result for Girona. Barcelona remain unbeaten this season with ten wins and three draws in all competitions and are the only unbeaten La Liga side remaining. Barcelona won all five of their home matches this season and only conceded in one of those matches but they will be somewhat concerned by their mounting injury concerns with the likes of Pedri, de Jong and Lewandowski amongst the players missing.
Real Madrid only have one loss to their name this season and they managed to claim all three points in the CL in midweek. Jude Bellingham has been the driving force for the team from the capital but manager Carlo Ancelotti will be most relieved by the performances of Rodrygo and Vinicius Jr. as both look to get back to their peak levels. Real Madrid will not travel to Barcelona with a great deal of apprehension as they have only lost one of the last six away H2H’s .
Both league matches last season were home wins, Real Madrid won the Copa del Rey clash and Barcelona won the Super Cup. Of the last ten meetings, Barcelona have won six with Real Madrid winning three.
Sunday 29/10
Liverpool vs Nottingham Forest
Liverpool got back to winning ways last weekend following a frustrating couple of results as they got the better of neighbours Everton in a 2-0 win. This time around they will expect another positive result against Nottingham Forest, with this being their third home match in a row following their 5-1 thrashing of Toulouse in the EL. Liverpool are unbeaten in their last sixteen home league matches, winning thirteen of those.
Nottingham Forest arrive at Anfield having lost only once in their last six PL matches. However, it is worth noting that four of those matches ended in a draw and last weekend’s point against Luton will have felt like a defeat, considering they were leading 2-0. They do have a decent buffer to the relegation zone at least, six points ahead of Burnley, and manager Steve Cooper will certainly be happy with another point from this match, especially since Forest have not won at Anfield in any of their last 24 league visits.
Last season Nottingham Forest pulled off a surprise win over Liverpool at home and only lost 3-2 at Anfield so they can be proud of that effort. Over recent years, Liverpool have won five of the last ten with Nottingham claiming two wins.
Manchester United vs Manchester City
The final match of the weekend from the PL is the Manchester derby, one of the most iconic fixtures on the calendar. This is the 191st time these two teams will clash and it is City that have by far the better recent record, having won four of the last five meetings. Last season, United had to stand and watch as City matched their famous treble by winning the league, FA Cup and CL, with the final of the FA Cup being between these two teams. Last season was certainly a positive one for United and they made significant progress on the field but this season they appear to have taken a step backwards again. Their poor start to the season sees them down in eighth place and the visit of their neighbours will be a tough fixture for them. United did win this fixture last season, however, so they can take heart from that.
Manchester City got back to winning ways by beating Brighton last weekend after suffering two successive league defeats. This unusual dip in form sees them two points behind leaders Tottenham heading into this fixture. They will be hoping to avoid back to back defeats at Old Trafford for the first time since 2011 as they continue their journey towards their fourth successive league title, which is something that United never managed, despite all their success over the years. In midweek they managed a comfortable 3-1 win over Young Boys, a welcome result as they had lost three of their last four matches away from home.
A draw is somewhat unlikely here given United’s recent form, they have not been involved in one for the last 21 matches. United have won four of the last ten meetings whereas City have won six, including last season’s FA Cup final.
Inter vs AS Roma
Inter recorded a narrow 2-1 win over RB Salzburg in midweek and they face another tricky opponent in this match against the team from the capital. So far, Inter have managed to follow up their European matches with one win and a draw so they will be hoping to have enough fuel in the tank for another positive result here. Inter have by far the better record in this H2H as they have only lost once in the last twelve Serie A meetings between the two and have beaten them more than any other team in Serie A history. One subplot for both teams is the return of Romelu Lukaku to the San Siro, a player who more than likely will not receive a warm welcome from his former fans.
AS Roma’s season has certainly picked up and they have managed five successive league wins without conceding a single goal. Their excellent defensive record continued in midweek as they got the better of Slavia Prague with a scoreline of 2-0 but they have the disadvantage of having two days less rest than their opponents who had the luxury of playing on Tuesday night. With four goals in his last four matches, the aforementioned Lukaku will be hoping to have his say against his former team.
Inter have won five of the last ten meetings with Roma, whereas the visitors only have one win. There were six draws in a row in clashes between these two between January 2018 and January 2021.
Napoli vs AC Milan
The final match of the day is a meeting between the last two winners of the Serie A title as Napoli host AC Milan. Last year’s champions had a poor start to the season but they have looked more like themselves in recent weeks and they returned to the top four following their win last weekend. In midweek they got the better of Union Berlin in the CL to move a step closer towards qualification for the knockout rounds. Their home form is not the best though and they run the risk of losing three consecutive home matches for the first time since November 2020.
AC Milan will head south to Naples in a confident mood as they have a good record there, they are unbeaten in their last five visits including three wins. The last meeting at this venue was a 4-0 win for AC Milan back in April in the league and AC Milan also knocked Napoli out of the CL last season. Last weekend’s loss at home to Juventus was a disappointing result and one that meant they gave up their position at the top of the Serie A table. Their midweek result was also a poor one as they lost heavily at PSG in the CL.
Napoli have won three of the last ten meetings between these two whereas AC Milan have triumphed on four occasions.
Enjoy!
