Preview of games from top European Leagues

After midweek action saw European clubs battle for qualification into the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions, League, Europa League, and Conference League, football action resumes across the domestic front with special focus on the top European leagues.

Oladipupo Mojeed takes you to the different European leagues to give you a preview of the top games that will produce mouthwatering actions from the top European leagues .

English Premier League

Arsenal vs Newcastle

Last weekend, Arsenal lost 4-0 to Liverpool, thereby putting an end to their 10-game unbeaten run in all competitions, including eight in the EPL. That was a wake up call for Mikel Arteta’s men and their response today against winless Newcastle will tell if they have the backbone to bounce back to winning ways.

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While they shouldn’t be too down on the result against a very good team, the loss did highlight how far they have to go to be in the same conversation as the likes of those teams.

Eddie Howe’s first game in charge of Newcastle lived up to the pre-match billing: exciting going forward but porous at the back. Even though Newcastle picked up a point, they actually dropped to the bottom of the Premier League after Norwich’s victory.

Howe has a poor record against Arsenal with eight defeats from 11 previous meetings and just one win. Added to that, Arsenal have won the last six meetings between the two sides and haven’t conceded in that time.

Prediction: 3-0

Liverpool vs Southampton

Liverpool are unbeaten at home this season but Jurgen Klopp won’t be happy with the number of draws they have picked up from winning positions. From their nine games at Anfield, they have drawn four times.

Southampton suffered a 2-1 defeat to Norwich last weekend. They have lost three of their last four away matches.

Liverpool have won four in a row against Southampton at Anfield and haven’t conceded in that time.

Prediction: 2-0

Burnley vs Tottenham Hotspur

Surprisingly for Burnley, this season has been keeping goals out rather than scoring themselves and that has proved most difficult. They have one clean sheet and that came against strugglers Norwich while they have scored 14 goals so far this season.

Tottenham slipped to a humiliating 2-1 defeat to Slovenian side Mura who were only formed in 2012, in the Europa Conference League on Thursday night and Antonio Conte has already started talking about his future. The squad isn’t up to the standards required to carry out his style of football and it looks like, as there were at the start at Chelsea, a few more hiccups to come.

Prediction: 1-1

Manchester City vs West Ham

Manchester City were irresistible at times against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday and finally got their reward with a 2-1 win after going behind in the second half. They have now won four in a row in all competitions.

West Ham bounced back from defeat to Wolves last weekend with a comfortable win away to Rapid Wien in the Europa League on Thursday night to qualify from their group in first place.

David Moyes was also able to rotate his squad in a good night for the Hammers.

West Ham will take confidence from the fact they have knocked City out of the Carabao Cup this season but it’s hard to look beyond a home win on City’s current form.

Defeat would be no great shame on West Ham as City is playing one of the superb and classic brands of football ever witnessed in the EPL.

Prediction: 3-1

Chelsea vs Manchester United

Chelsea were tremendous against Juventus in midweek, dispatching the Serie A outfit 4-0 at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League. Now, they turn their attention to retaining their lead at the top of the Premier League where they have won five of their last six.

They have been scoring lots of goals without their record signing striker Romelu Lukaku, and are even more dangerous now that they will welcome the ex-Manchester United striker back.

United rebounded from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s sacking with a 2-0 win away to Villarreal in Michael Carrick’s first game in interim charge to qualify for the knock-out stage of the Champions League. Now, they need to arrest a run of just one win from seven in the Premier League, which includes five defeats.

United head to Stamford Bridge this weekend where they are surprisingly unbeaten on their last five visits, with three wins and two draws.

Even after such a positive result in midweek, however, this is surely a step, or two, too far for Carrick.

Prediction: 3-0

Spanish La Liga

Villarreal vs Barcelona

Villarreal have been one of the most frustrating teams to watch this season, often dominating possession, and indeed games, but rarely making it pay. That continued in their 2-0 defeat to Manchester United on Tuesday.

Barcelona, meanwhile, returned to winning ways last time out in La Liga, beating Espanyol after Memphis Depay scored a controversial penalty in Xavi’s first game in charge. They then followed that up with a 0-0 draw with Benfica in the Champions League and could well end up dropping down to the Europa League.

Neither side are at their best, but Villarreal have a knack for turning up and taking points from the bigger teams. They could manage a home draw here.

Prediction: 1-1

Italian Serie A

Juventus vs Atalanta

After a poor start in Rome, the tactical switch to a 4-5-1 gave Juventus more balance and control over Lazio as the Bianconeri eventually won 2-0. However, they were thrashed 4-0 away to Chelsea in midweek and were poor on all fronts.

Atalanta put five past Spezia despite conceding the first goal of the game last week and then drew 3-3 with Young Boys in the Champions League. Two typically entertaining games involving Atalanta.

On form, there is no reason why they can’t win here.

Prediction: 1-2

Venezia vs Inter Milan

Venezia got their second win in a row last weekend, despite being dominated by Bologna for large spells.

Inter are back in the title race after dominating and defeating Napoli 3-2 last weekend in what was a memorable game for intensity, quality and drama.

Both sides are on unbeaten streaks but Inter will want to build on the confidence they gained after qualifying for the Champions League knockout stage.

Prediction: 0-2

AC Milan vs Sassuolo

AC Milan suffered their first defeat of the season as individual errors proved fatal in their seven-goal thriller against Fiorentina.

Sassuolo are still yet to find a proper tactical balance under Alessio Dionisi, although they were very unlucky to draw on Sunday against Cagliari.

The Rossoneri still have hopes of qualifying to the Champions League knockout phases after their convincing win in Madrid and will try to carry their confidence into this game.

Prediction: 3-1

German Bundesliga

Borussia Dortmund vs Wolfsburg

Both teams must respond to Champions League defeats in midweek. Borussia Dortmund are now out of the Champions League, but Wolfsburg can still qualify for the knock-out stage despite sitting bottom of their group heading into the final match.

The gap at the top of the Bundesliga has now narrowed to a point after Dortmund capitalised on Bayern’s shock defeat last time out. Dortmund are coping relatively well domestically in the prolonged absence of star striker Erling Haaland.

Former Werder Bremen manager Florian Kohfeldt has steadied the ship at Wolfsburg after the sacking of Mark van Bommel. He is unbeaten in the Bundesliga and a draw could be on the cards here.

Prediction: 1-1

Bayern Munich vs Arminia

Bayern aim to bounce back from a shock defeat at the Bavarian in their derby defeat to noisy neighbours Augsburg, their second league defeat of the season under Julian Nagelsmann.

Bayern have scored in 59 straight league matches and notched 101 Bundesliga goals in total in 2021.

Arminia, on the other hand, finally got off the mark with a win at struggling Stuttgart, but have only scored nine goals in 12 games.

Despite Bayern’s COVID issues, anything other than a routine home win would be a massive surprise, with the almost inevitable goal or two from the league’s top scorer Robert Lewandowski.

Prediction: 2-0

Saint Etienne vs PSG

Saint Etienne have been on a brilliant run of form of late, and while relegation is still a worry for the team, there is far more fight about this them than even a month ago.

That said, the well-known attacking gifts of PSG should be more than enough to overcome any sort of wobbles their defence may suffer.

Prediction: 1-3