Derby d’Italia and Title Match in Germany
Following the midweek distraction of CL and EL knockout play-offs, our focus switches back to league action with one match apiece from the PL, Ligue 1, Bundesliga, La Liga and Serie A on Friday evening. Let’s take a closer look at this weekend’s big games.
Arsenal travel to struggling Leicester in the early kick-off on Saturday with the likes of Aston Villa, high-flying Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth among the teams in action in the mid afternoon slot. The highlight of the day is Manchester City’s match against Newcastle with both teams battling it out for a top four place. PSG, Monaco and Marseille all play on Saturday in Ligue 1 and the afternoon kick offs in Germany involve the likes of Dortmund and Stuttgart. The highlight of the weekend from the Bundesliga is without a doubt the late kick off as the top two take on each other with Bayern Munich travelling to Leverkusen knowing that an away win will surely almost guarantee that the title returns to Munich. Serie A leaders Napoli face a tricky match away to Lazio with Atalanta at home to mid table Cagliari and AC Milan home to Verona. Leaders Real Madrid will be bouncing after their midweek win in Manchester and they travel to Osasuna on Saturday afternoon, one of four fixtures. Second placed Atlético Madrid are home to Celta Vigo whereas fifth placed Villarreal are home to struggling Valencia.
Only two matches on Sunday in the PL as Liverpool will expect all three points at home to Wolves in the 3pm kick-off followed by an important clash between two struggling teams as Manchester United make the journey to London to take on Tottenham with both teams on terrible runs of late. Other highlights on Sunday come mostly from Italy where AS Roma look to continue on their good recent run when they travel to Parma and the late match sees one of the matches of the season as Juventus host Inter.
Manchester City vs Newcastle
Etihad Stadium, Saturday @ 16:00
Manchester City’s turbulent season continues as they threw away another lead in midweek to lose at home in the first leg of their CL knockout round and they now face a very difficult task if they wish to progress. Attention must now switch back to the league as they face one of the leagues in form teams in Newcastle, with the two teams level on points going into this clash. One positive is their recent head to head record against Newcastle, which reads 15 wins from their last 15 matches at the Etihad and Newcastle have failed to score in any of those last six wins. This, therefore, could be the ideal opponent for them to get back to winning ways. Manchester City have a terrible record at the start of matches, where they have the second worst record for goals conceded in the first ten minutes.
Newcastle have the advantage of not having played in midweek, so they are the fresher of the two teams and they are on an excellent run of form which has seen them get the better of Arsenal to reach the League Cup final. The away win at Arsenal ended a horrendous record that they had at the Emirates Stadium and the hope will be that they can end another poor record this weekend, this time at the Etihad. Newcastle have won their last six away matches and have one of the most in form strikers in Alexander Isak banging in the goals for fun, ably assisted by the likes of Gordon and Murphy on either wing.
Manchester City have won seven of the last ten with Newcastle only managing one win, a 1-0 cup victory in 2023.
Lazio vs Napoli
Stadio Olimpico, Saturday @ 18:00
Lazio thrashed bottom side Monza last weekend, their third win in the last four matches, indicating that they are back in form. This recent run sees them back in the top four but they have Juventus and Fiorentina chasing hard though so this clash with top of the table Napoli is even more important. This is the third meeting between these two this season already and Lazio have won the previous two but Lazio will be apprehensive as, overall, they have a poor record against Napoli, with eight losses out of their last eleven home head to heads.
Napoli’s grip on top spot has loosened somewhat as they have had to be happy with a pair of 1-1 draws in their last two matches, after taking the lead on both occasions. This has allowed defending champions Inter to close the gap to a single point, meaning that a win here is even more important. The last time they drew three consecutive matches was in December 2014 and they will be somewhat concerned by the fact they have not managed to score in their last two meetings with Lazio.
Lazio have won five of the last ten with Napoli managing four wins so there is very little to choose between these two.
Bayer Leverkusen vs Bayern Munich
BayArena, Saturday @ 18:30
It appears that this is pretty much a must win game for the home side if they want to retain the league trophy for another season. They are currently eight points behind leaders Bayern with thirteen matches remaining. Last weekend’s goalless encounter with Wolfsburg certainly didn’t help their cause and they have now drawn two of their last three league matches. Last season they got the better of Bayern courtesy of an impressive 3-0 win, a result that helped swing the title race in their favour. A similar result will reignite their campaign this time around and make the run in far more interesting.
Bayern are on their way to redeeming themselves for last season’s trophyless campaign but regaining the Bundesliga title this time around and they will be acutely aware of how important a win at the BayArena could be. The visitors have won their last seven league games, scoring an average of 3.29 goals per game. They have found life slightly tougher on the road though with three wins from their last five and they managed a tight but important away win against Celtic in the CL in midweek.
Bayer Leverkusen have won three of the last ten whereas Bayern Munich have managed four wins, emphasising how close this battle is likely to be.
Tottenham vs Manchester United
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Sunday @ 17:30
Two teams who are having difficult seasons clash on Sunday afternoon as Manchester United make the journey to London to take on Tottenham. Tottenham’s season took a turn for the worse over recent weeks as they were eliminated from the League Cup and then the FA Cup, losing to Aston Villa last weekend. The fact they are down in 14th place with only one win in their last five matches in the league is very worrying for all associated with the club. They do at least have a ten point buffer to the relegation places but if some teams below them pick up form they might find themselves in trouble, especially if their long injury list doesn’t improve.
Manchester United are only faring marginally better as they are one place above Spurs in the table and have two wins from their last five. They also managed to progress in the FA Cup last weekend courtesy of a last minute winning goal against Leicester. However, they don’t have the injury concerns that Spurs do so they have very few excuses for being on such a poor run. The home defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace was their eleventh loss in the league this season so far and only four teams have scored fewer goals than United (28) in the league this season. Marcus Rashford and Antony departed in the recent transfer window and have not been replaced.
This match between two unpredictable teams could go either way with the home team only very slight favourites to win. Tottenham have won four of the last ten meetings between the two with United also winning four.
Juventus vs Inter
Stamford Bridge, Monday @ 21:00
The last match of the day from the Serie A should be a cracker as two old rivals clash in Turin. Juventus are battling to finish in the top four and are eleven points behind Inter but anything can happen when these two teams take each other on. Three wins in the last five matches has helped to shift the pattern of draws this season, which has blighted their progress up the table. Juventus have the second best defensive record in the league with only 21 goals conceded and they will need that to continue as they come up against the most potent attack in Serie A.
Inter are closing in on top spot in Serie A, only one point behind leaders Napoli as they look to defend their title. A win in this match will certainly mean a lot but they will know that they will need to work hard to return to Milan with any points in hand. Being in good form with three wins from five matches and the league’s top scorers certainly helps, with Marcus Thuram and Lautaro Martinez both contributing plenty of goals this season. Inter will go into this match as favourites but will be under no illusions just how tricky the task ahead of them is.
Juventus have only won two of the last ten meetings between these two whereas Inter have won five. The last meeting was a highly entertaining 4-4 clash that took place last October.
Last Updated: 14.02.2025
