Title decider in Manchester?
The season is progressing quickly and we are roughly ⅔ through the campaign so the battles in the various competitions will really start heating up now. The CL knockout play-off results are known so we now move on to the upcoming rounds and the domestic cups and leagues are reaching their most interesting stages. This weekend’s action on Friday starts with a PL match between relegation-threatened Leicester and Brentford with one match apiece from France, Germany, Italy and Spain to warm us up for the busy weekend ahead.
There are seven PL matches to be played on Saturday starting off with a meeting between two struggling teams as Everton host Manchester United with only one point separating these two and United slipping further and further down the table. Arsenal will hope for all three points at home to West Ham and Tottenham will look to build on last weekend’s win with another one, this time away at Ipswich. The late kick-off is the most interesting clash of the day between two teams who hope to be challenging for a European place but both have struggled somewhat of late, as Chelsea travel to the midlands to take on Aston Villa. Lille and Monaco take each other on in the pick of matches from Ligue 1 and Leverkusen will be desperate to take three points from struggling Holstein Kiel. Dortmund, who are currently in eleventh place, are also desperate for points when they play against Union Berlin. Both Milan teams play on Saturday in the Serie A whilst over in Spain, leaders Barcelona and third placed Atlético are both playing away from home.
Sunday provides two interesting offerings, as Newcastle host Nottingham Forest, a clash of two form teams in the top flight, followed by Manchester City at home to Liverpool. The highlight from the French top division will be the late match between Lyon and PSG whilst in the Bundesliga, the match of the day is leaders Bayern Munich versus Eintracht Frankfurt. First placed Napoli travel to Como in the early kick off from Serie A and later in the day fellow top four teams Atalanta and Juventus both play away from home against Empoli and Cagliari respectively. Real Madrid are home to Girona in one of four La Liga clashes.
The match of the day on Monday is the heated and passionate rivalry from Türkiye as Galatasaray host Fenerbahce in the Super Lig. The home side are first in the table with a six point gap over their rivals, so another win here will go a long way to guaranteeing the league title. Elsewhere, AS Roma host Monza and Sevilla clash with Mallorca and there are matches from the Championship in England as well as the top division in Portugal.
Aston Villa vs Chelsea
Villa Park, Saturday @ 18:30
Aston Villa managed a very credible 2-2 draw in their midweek fixture against leaders Liverpool, a good result in itself but their fourth draw out of their last five matches. They are now winless in their last five matches and they face another difficult match in this late kick-off on Saturday. Villa find themselves four points behind Chelsea going into this game and they know that a win would be a big step towards qualification for Europe next season. They have strengthened with the additions of the likes of Rashford, Asensio, Malen and Disasi and will hope they have the depth to carry on competing on various fronts. Aston Villa have only lost once at home all season and Ollie Watkins continues to be the man to lead the way, scoring again in midweek, his third goal in his last four appearances.
Chelsea’s form has dipped significantly of late and they now have just two wins in their last nine matches in the league. Their last match was a 3-0 loss at the hands of Brighton and they will be looking to get back to winning ways this time around, although this is not the easiest of fixtures to do so. That being said, they do have a good record at Villa Park, winning thirteen PL matches there so history will not hold them back. On the negative side, they are winless in their last five away matches.
Given their history, Chelsea are slight favourites to win, they have won five of the last ten clashes with a further two finishing as draws.
Newcastle vs Nottingham Forest
St James Park, Sunday @ 15:00
Newcastle will be looking to revive the excellent run they were on prior to the last few weeks. They have only two wins from the last five, a run of results which has seen them drop back down to seventh spot. This week they take on high-flying Nottingham Forest, who themselves came unstuck last week against Fulham. This, therefore, is an important clash as these two are likely to be competing for a CL spot by the end of the season, with the visitors currently six points ahead of Newcastle. The last time Newcastle lost three matches in a row was January 2024, so they will be hopeful of avoiding that. Alexander Isak has scored in every league match he has played against Forest, so he will be looking forward to this match.
Nottingham Forest manager Nuno will be wondering how his side went from thrashing Brighton 7-0 one week to losing 2-1 to Fulham the next. He will be hoping to bounce back to winning ways this week, but will be well aware that this is a tough fixture and, in reality, will probably be content with an away draw at St James Park. Morgan Gibbs White is likely to be key, he has provided nine goal contributions in his last eleven matches with him and Chris Wood being key to Nottingham’s excellent season so far.
Newcastle managed an away win in the earlier meeting this season and have six wins in the last ten clashes whereas Nottingham have four wins.
Manchester City vs Liverpool
Etihad Stadium, Sunday @ 17:30
An important clash for both teams for differing reasons. Manchester City were humbled in midweek when they lost 3-1 away in Madrid, meaning they were dumped out of the CL by the defending champions with an aggregate score of 6-3. In reality, they barely landed a punch on Wednesday and their season is in serious danger of fizzling out completely. They return to the Etihad to take on the current league leaders Liverpool hoping that a few players will be able to return to the squad and that a few of the new arrivals can start to make a more positive impact than they have done so far. They are currently in fourth spot, seventeen points behind the leaders and face a fight to finish in the top four.
Liverpool were spared the CL play-off matches but they did play a league match in midweek, coming away from Villa Park with a point to extend their lead at the top to eight points, albeit having played a game more than second placed Arsenal. Conor Bradley seems highly unlikely to be fit for Sunday having been withdrawn in midweek but the exceptional form of Mo Salah continues as he equalled Wayne Rooney’s PL goal total at his home stadium with his strike against Wolves. He leads the way in the overall goalscoring charts this season with an impressive total of 24, whereas Liverpool overall have the best goal difference, courtesy of the most goals scored and the second least conceded.
Liverpool head into this big meeting as favourites to win the match. They have won four of the last ten whereas Manchester City have only won two of the last ten meetings, leaving the remaining four matches as draws.
Lyon vs PSG
Parc Olympique Lyonnais, Sunday @ 20:45
Lyon will be wary of facing leaders PSG, not only due to their league form but also the fact that they won their CL match 7-0 in midweek, against fellow Ligue 1 side Brest. Lyon themselves have come through a sticky patch and won their last two league matches, most recently a 4-1 away win over Montpellier. This season has been far better than the last and they find themselves in sixth spot currently, meaning they occupy the last European place. Qualification for Europe will mean it has been a successful season and, in reality, a loss against the mighty PSG won’t define their season. However, they are at home and will want to please their fans and go some way to make up for the fact that they have lost the last four meetings against the Parisians.
PSG made light work of their CL play-off and can now focus on the league again as they look to carry on their superb form of late. They have nine wins from their last ten matches overall, scoring 33 goals in that run. They will go into this match as firm favourites and know that all stats are in their favour, they are the leagues top scorers, have the best defence, and the top goalscorer in Ousmane Dembele.
The visitors have won seven of the last ten with Lyon managing two wins and 31 goals have been scored across the last ten meetings between these two teams.
Bayern Munich vs Eintracht Frankfurt
Allianz Arena, Sunday @ 17:30
First take on third in the standings in the late kick-off from the Bundesliga with the home team looking to return to winning ways after being held to a goalless draw last weekend by Leverkusen. This had the potential to be a difficult few weeks for the Bavarian giants, coming up against the second and third placed teams in such short notice but the fact that they prevented Leverkusen from winning last week means that they still hold an eight point advantage over them in the table. Eintracht Frankfurt are a further five points behind Leverkusen so are pretty much out of the title race but in a battle for the top four. A home win for Bayern will mean they are firmly in control of the destiny of the title with eleven matches to go after this week.
Eintracht Frankfurt returned to winning ways after an indifferent few weeks where they were winless across four matches in all competitions. This visit to Munich is a stern test of their abilities but will surely be viewed as somewhat of a free hit as they have a six point gap to Freiburg in fifth and surely the target for the club from Frankfurt is to finish in the top four. Having sold Omar Marmoush to Man City in January, the goalscoring responsibility now falls to Hugo Ekitike who has twelve goals so far in the league, nine behind top goalscorer, Bayern’s Harry Kane.
Bayern have not had it their own way in recent battles with Eintracht Frankfurt, only winning five of the last ten. Earlier this season they finished 3-3 in Frankfurt and the away side have won three of the previous ten meetings.
Galatasaray vs Fenerbahce
Rams Park, Monday @ 18:00
This is one of the fiercest rivalries in European football and is always a spicy affair when they clash. We can expect drama, action, lots of stoppage time and probably a late goal or two. Galatasaray hold the advantage so far this season, going into this match in first place in the Super Lig table with a six point lead over Monday’s opponents Fenerbahce. They have an almost identical goalscoring and defensive record but Galatasaray won the reverse fixture back in September, the 3-1 win giving them the advantage in the hunt for the title.
Fenerbahce are the form team in the league with five wins in a row and their last league defeat came against Besiktas all the way back in early December, one of only two defeats so far this season. The issue is that they are chasing an opponent with zero defeats so far, so they will be well aware that they need to somehow manage an away win if they are to reignite their title charge. A defeat for Fenerbahce will leave them with a mountain to climb. En-Nesyri and Osimhen lead the way for the two teams in terms of goals scored and both are likely to be key men on Monday in a fixture which historically produces goals, only two of the last ten have ended goalless.
Galatasaray have won five of the last ten meetings with Fenerbahce winning three and the home side are favourites to add another win to that list.
Last Updated: 21.02.2025
