CL football in Nottingham next year?
The excitement of the first leg of the knockout rounds of the CL is over, and we must once again turn our attention to domestic matters. There are few high profile clashes this weekend, the fixture list dictated as such, but nevertheless there are a fair few interesting matches to hold our attention. Let’s have a look at this weekend’s action!
Friday night is a relatively quiet one with no action from La Liga or from the PL. One match apiece from the top divisions in Germany, France, Portugal, Italy, Türkiye and Portugal should be enough to cover us until Saturday.
The early kick off from the PL is a fascinating battle in the fight for top four as this season’s surprise package, Nottingham Forest, host last year’s winners Manchester City, third against fourth. Brighton and Fulham meet later on with both having good seasons and leaders Liverpool will expect an easy ride against bottom team Southampton. Aston Villa face a tricky trip to Brentford and Wolves host Everton in the late match. In France, leaders PSG are on the road to Rennes and Lille and Marseille are both in action later in the day. Bundesliga champions in waiting Bayern host Bochum whilst second placed Leverkusen are home to Werder Bremen in the mid afternoon match but the clash of the day is the battle for a top four spot between Freiburg and RB Leipzig. AC Milan and Inter Milan both play on Saturday and La Liga leaders Barcelona also play in the late kick off from Spain’s top division.
The highlight of the day on Sunday is Manchester United against Arsenal, these two teams have a history of some epic battles but the home side are in such a bad way that they have nothing other than pride to play for. Prior to this match, Chelsea host Leicester and Tottenham play at home to Bournemouth. Nice and Lyon take each other on in the last match in France whilst Napoli face a tricky tie against Fiorentina before Juventus host Atalanta in Italy’s Serie A. Atlético Madrid play at Getafe in the early kick off on Sunday and they are followed by Real’s match against Rayo Vallecano as the two battle it out with Barcelona at the top of the table. Betis and Real Sociedad are among the teams in action later in the day.
Finally, on Monday, West Ham take on Newcastle in a battle between the only two English managers in the PL. Lazio play at home to Udinese and there are matches from Türkiye, Portugal, Spain and Scotland too.
Nottingham Forest vs Manchester City
City Ground, Saturday @ 13:30
Nottingham Forest’s incredible season continues as they are still on course for a top four finish and CL football next season. Given the fact that they only narrowly avoided relegation last season, few would have predicted this. Furthermore, they go into this match above their illustrious opponents in the table but they have hit a sticky patch in the last few weeks, only winning one of their last five league games, meaning the likes of City, Newcastle and Chelsea are getting closer and closer. A win against City would be their first in the league since 1977 and they will be hoping their impressive overall home form will help them as they have won seven of their last ten at the City Ground.
Manchester City are still coming to terms with the disappointing season they are midway through, they only have the FA Cup and a top four finish to aim for now. The coveted top four position will at least mean that they can head into next season’s CL, so no longer term damage will have been done by the forgettable 2024/25 season. Three points for the visitors will allow them to leapfrog Nottingham into third place and they could then focus on hunting down Arsenal, meaning that second place might even be on the cards, not a bad achievement for such a ‘bad’ season.
The visitors have won seven of the last ten meetings whereas Nottingham Forest have only won one.
Freiburg vs RB Leipzig
Europa-Park Stadion, Saturday @ 18:30
This has the potential to be a key match in the battle for European Football in the Bundesliga as fifth place Freiburg take on RB Leipzig, one spot below them in the table. The home side are in better form, winning four out of the last five, the exception being last weekend. Freiburg are benefitting from a lack of European football this season and are unbeaten since the start of February and go into this on the back of five successive clean sheets in the league. Goalscoring continues to be an issue though, they are the lowest scorers in the top ten with only 34 goals so far.
RB Leipzig will look at that clean sheet record and worry as they have failed to score in their last three away matches, putting further pressure on manager Marco Rose, with only one win in their last eleven matches on the road. Another defeat here will only amplify the pressure and club bosses might be forced to act as the threat of missing out on CL football is a real worry, especially as they have qualified for the last six years in a row. Benjamin Sesko has scored seventeen goals so far this season so the hope is he can do the business in front of goal for the visitors.
The visitors have by far the better record in this head to head, winning eight of the last ten. Freiburg have not managed a win of any sort against RB Leipzig since October 2019.
Manchester United vs Arsenal
Old Trafford, Sunday @ 17:30
It’s a short turnaround for Manchester United, who are in Spain for a match against Real Sociedad in the EL this evening. Harry Maguire and Manuel Ugarte are missing for today’s fixture, adding to a long list of unavailable players for Ruben Amorim as they prepare to take on old rivals Arsenal, with whom they have had many epic battles in the past. United go into this match as firm underdogs due to the disappointing season they have had, they find themselves in fourteenth place with only nine wins so far. That being said, they have a habit of performing better against some of the bigger teams so Old Trafford will be hoping for another big day to all but end Arsenal’s last remaining hopes of winning the title.
Arsenal go into this without a win in their last two league matches, results which have seen them drop thirteen points behind leaders Liverpool. They continue to have the best defence in the league, only conceding 23 goals so far and will be optimistic about keeping a misfiring Manchester United at bay. They have had some problems at the other end of the pitch though, with the lack of a proper goalscorer damaging their prospects this season. In midweek they thrashed PSV 7-1 away from home to pretty much guarantee their progress into the next round of the CL and will be looking forward to taking on their old rivals on Sunday.
The last meeting between these two was in the FA Cup, where Manchester United won on penalties. That was one of four wins in the last ten meetings between these two for the Red Devils, with Arsenal winning the last six matches.
Juventus vs Atalanta
Allianz Stadium, Sunday @ 20:45
The late Serie A kick off on Sunday is an important match in the battle for top four as third placed Atalanta travel to Turin to take on fourth placed Juventus. The home side are now the form team in the league, winning their last five league matches, including a 1-0 win over Inter a couple of weeks ago. The fact they are only six points off top spot has given them the belief that they can mount a late challenge for the league title, especially with the poor form of the three teams above them and with no European competition to distract them any more.
Atalanta only have three wins in their last ten matches and were dumped out of the CL by Club Brugge a couple of weeks ago. Last weekend they were forced to settle for a goalless draw at home to Venezia and will know they face a much tougher challenge this weekend against an in-form opponent. With 59 goals scored so far, they are the second highest scorers in the league and when they get things right they can score freely, as evidenced by the two wins they have had in their last five matches, in which they managed to score five goals in both. Retegui continues to lead the goalscoring charts with 21 goals to his name so far, six clear of the second highest scorer.
Draws between these two are common with six of the last ten finishing that way. Juventus have won three of the remaining four.
Last Updated: 06.03.2025
