Title deciders in Italy and England?
A full weekend schedule of fixtures awaits us in the upcoming weekend with some interesting clashes coming our way, as always. There was a full schedule of PL matches during midweek so there is no Friday evening match but there are matches from France, Germany, Italy and Spain, amongst others to kick things off.
Highlights of the weekend include a battle for the top four in Germany between Frankfurt and Dortmund and Aston Villa’s trip to Arsenal in the PL on Saturday late afternoon. Bayern will be hoping for three points at home to Wolfsburg and Leverkusen will hope for the same against Gladbach in the Bundesliga. There are two excellent match ups in the Serie A on Saturday when Juventus host AC Milan and Atalanta welcome Napoli whilst in Spain, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid both play away from home.
Tottenham, Manchester United and Manchester City are amongst the teams in action on Sunday, all hoping for valuable points. Elsewhere, the likes of Marseille, Inter and Real Madrid all play on Sunday and the highlight on Monday is the clash between Chelsea and Wolves. Next week heralds the return of European club competitions following the Christmas break.
Eintracht Frankfurt vs Dortmund
Deutsche Bank Park, Friday @ 20:30
Eintracht Frankfurt started the second part of the Bundesliga season in a positive fashion as they have managed consecutive wins, lifting them up to third in the table, nine points behind leaders Bayern. They were unbeaten at home until late December when they lost to Mainz but they have a formidable home record with only two defeats on their home turf in all of 2024. They have struggled in recent times against Dortmund however, not managing a home win in any of their last seven clashes.
Dortmund are not having a good season by any means and they fell to another defeat in midweek, to newly promoted Holstein Kiel. Managing Director Lars Ricken stated that the result was ‘shameful’, a comment which further increases the pressure on manager Nuri Sahin. They have now suffered consecutive losses and the first half of their season was the worst since the 2014/15 campaign. Mario Götze faces his former team and he managed an assist in Frankfurt’s last win whereas Jamie Gittens has been one of the better players for Dortmund this season.
Dortmund have won seven of the last ten meetings whereas Frankfurt have only managed a solitary win.
Arsenal vs Aston Villa
Emirates Stadium, Saturday @ 18:30
Arsenal needed to dig deep in midweek to come from behind to win their local derby match against rivals Tottenham. They will hope that effort hasn’t taken too much out of them as they face another big match against a rival for a top four spot on Saturday in the late kick off. That win was their first in four matches and moved them to within four points of leaders Liverpool. The win against Tottenham meant that their long unbeaten run against their local rivals continues, it now stands at eleven meetings in total. Arsenal are unbeaten in the league at home since losing this very fixture against Villa back in April. Leandro Trossard will be hoping for another start having scored the winning goal in midweek and with injuries mounting up for Arsenal, it would be a surprise if he didn’t start this match.
Aston Villa’s midweek win away at Everton lifted them back into the top seven after a relatively poor recent run. It was only their second away win in the last eight matches. They have struggled to keep clean sheets of late and it seems unlikely that they will do so in this match so they will need to rely on their forwards to keep them in the game. Ollie Watkins was the man who started in midweek and got the winning goal. Unai Emery has fared well against Arsenal since being dismissed by them, having only been beaten twice in six matches. Morgan Rogers is the form man for the visitors with five goal contributions in the last five matches.
Aston Villa have managed five wins out of the last ten meetings against the Gunners and with no draws between these two, the other five were Arsenal wins so there is nothing to choose between the two.
Juventus vs AC Milan
Allianz Stadium, Saturday @ 18:00
Juventus are continuing with their pattern of drawing matches, they now have a league high of thirteen in the Serie A already this season. Last weekend they drew away to Torino and midweek they did the same against Atalanta. On the plus side, they are unbeaten in the league and the only defeat they have suffered in almost three months came in the SuperCoppa against AC Milan. This will be their first home match of 2025 and their last three home matches have all ended 2-2 and the last two meetings between these two in the league have both ended goalless, so fans should probably expect yet another draw. Juventus will hope to have a new striker on the books in time for this match, with Randal Kolo Muani expected to complete his move imminently.
AC Milan have not managed a goal against Juventus in their last three meetings but new manager Sergio Conceicao has given them a boost since his recent arrival. He has won three of his first four matches including a comeback win against Como in midweek. They are hoping to win three matches in a row for the first time since March 2024, something which would help them narrow the gap to the top four. Alvaro Morata is unavailable for this match so all eyes will be on Rafael Leao.
Three of the last ten have ended goalless. Juventus have won three of the last ten whereas AC Milan have won the remaining four.
Atalanta vs Napoli
Gewiss Stadium, Saturday @ 20:45
An important battle at the top of the Serie A table as third placed Atalanta host leaders Napoli. Recent history shows that the home side has not done well in this fixture, with Atalanta losing the last three matches they have played at home to Napoli, but then going on to win in Naples. Three consecutive draws have seen Atalanta drop from first to third in what is a very tight top of the table, but a win here will see them only one point behind the current leaders. Ademola Lookman scored in the previous meeting between these two in November and has scored in both home games he has played against them.
Napoli are on an excellent run, winning their last five league games, meaning they are now three points ahead of nearest rivals Inter, although they have a game in hand. A win in this match will see them move seven points clear of Atalanta and recent history suggests they should be confident of managing a win. They have three consecutive clean sheets and Antonio Conte will surely be delighted by the fact his team have already managed 12 league clean sheets this season, the best in the league. A win here will make it five away wins in a row, their best run since April 2023. Romelu Lukaku continues to lead the way in terms of goalscoring for Napoli, with seven so far this season in the league.
Atalanta have won five of the last ten with Napoli winning four, so there is very little to choose between these two over recent years.
Manchester United vs Brighton
Old Trafford, Sunday @ 15:00
Manchester United laboured to a 3-1 win over bottom club Southampton on Thursday evening, with late goals completing a comeback after being a goal down for much of the game. The three points lifted them up to 12th in the table and they now face a Brighton side 3 places and 5 points above them. That win was their first in their last five matches and at least allows them to build on positive results against Liverpool and Arsenal over recent days. That being said, there was much for manager Amorim to be concerned about, especially in the first half. Brighton won this match last season as well as the first meeting this season, back in August, so United will need to up their game to claim another three points at Old Trafford.
Brighton also played on Thursday, getting the better of Ipswich, their first league win since the last week of November. There have been far too many draws of late for the team from the south coast but they now have two wins in a row, albeit the cup win was over Championship side Norwich. They will not be overwhelmed by this trip to Old Trafford though having won their last season and given United’s problems. Former United forward Danny Welbeck is their top scorer this season with six goals and they will be hoping that some of their doubtful players will be available to join the match day squad, especially after a short turnaround in matches.
Both these teams have won five of the last ten meetings between the two with no matches ending as a draw, so there is nothing to choose between the two.
Last Updated: 20.01.2025
