European Football: Preview of top games this weekend

It’s another weekend packed with blockbuster football games across the top European leagues. NRTC’s football aficionado, Oladipiupo Mojeed is here again to give you a preview of the games that you need to watch out for this weekend.

English Premier League

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Manchester United vs Manchester City

After a 5-0 loss to Liverpool, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was supposedly given three matches to save his job at Manchester United, and he has since beaten Tottenham and drew with Atalanta.

The back three performed admirably against a mediocre Tottenham team, but fell short against Atalanta. That defence looks much shakier on Saturday with Raphael Varane ruled out. On the other hand, Manchester City defeated Club Bruges 4-1 on Wednesday night.

Even though both matches are in Manchester, it would be intriguing to see how they do here given the short turnaround between matches.

Only Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp have beaten Pep Guardiola managed teams more times than Solskjaer but it’s hard to see United coming away with a positive result. They look extremely vulnerable whenever they come up against a half-decent coached side.

Chelsea vs Burnley

Chelsea made it seven wins in a row with a 1-0 victory over Malmoe on Tuesday night. They go into the weekend as Premier League leaders, three points ahead of Liverpool, despite the fact that Jurgen Klopp’s team has a difficult game against West Ham 24 hours later.

Last Saturday, Burnley upset Brentford 3-1 to earn their first league victory of the season. The Clarets are three points from safety and know they face a huge challenge at Stamford Bridge. They’ve gone three games without scoring against Chelsea, two of which were in West London.

Arsenal vs Watford

Arsenal is unbeaten in nine games and has won seven of them. Mikel Arteta’s side has finally kicked into gear after their slow start compounded by their injury difficulties. In each of Arsenal’s last five games at the Emirates, they have scored two or more goals.

Claudio Ranieri has lost 5-0 to Liverpool. Won 5-2 at Everton, and lost 1-0 against Southampton in his first three games. Going forward, expect a lot more volatility from this Watford team. As a manager, Ranieri has only won one of his 18 matches against Arsenal.

Spanish La Liga

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Celta Vigo vs Barcelona

Celta Vigo have had a difficult season so far but they picked up an away point to Rayo Vallecano last time out. That might not have looked like a good point at the start of the season.

However, since then, Rayo have gone on to amass the best home record in the league and are one of the highest-scoring teams in the division.

Barcelona continue to falter themselves, drawing 1-1 last time out in La Liga, though they followed that up with a 1-0 away win over Dynamo Kyi. That win keeps Barca’s Champions League hopes firmly alive.

Domestically, however, Barca are in disarray. They are without a win in three and languish down in ninth. Regardless of the managerial situation, Celta have been poor this season. Barcelona should come away with all three points as they look to impress their new boss, whenever he arrives.

Real Madrid vs Rayo Vallecano

Last time out in La Liga, Real Madrid won 2-0 over Elche, thanks to a brace from Vinicius Junior. In midweek, the Brazilian added two assists in the Champions League to maintain his impressive start to the season.

In Spain, Carlo Ancelotti’s side is now only a point behind league leaders Real Sociedad and has a game in hand.

Rayo Vallecano has performed far better than expected this season, and they are currently in fifth place coming into the weekend’s play. However, they have won 16 of the 20 points they have earned at home and have lost four of their six road matches.

Valencia vs Atletico Madrid

Last time around, Valencia overcame local rivals Villarreal to earn a much-needed win.

Valencia had gone seven games without a win before getting their first. Jose Bordalas’ team is presently five points outside the top six, and they might make a run for the European places if they can improve their consistency.

In the meantime, Atletico Madrid endured a 2-0 setback to Liverpool in Europe this week, conceding two early goals and losing Felipe to a red card before halftime.

Last time out in the league, they turned in their greatest performance of the season, and they’ll be hoping for more of the same here than they did against Liverpool.

German Bundesliga

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RB Leipzig vs Borussia Dortmund

Both teams were eliminated from the Champions League in midweek, despite the fact that RB Leipzig faced Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund was controversially reduced to ten men in their loss to Ajax.

Leipzig has lost their last three games with Dortmund and has had a poor start under new boss Jess Marsch, with three Bundesliga defeats already.

Despite two away defeats and Erling Haaland’s extended absence, BVB are currently keeping pace with Bayern. Both defences are suspect, thus this should result in goals on both ends.

Bayern Munich vs Freiburg

Bayern Munich rebounded from a humiliating 5-0 DFB Pokal defeat in Gladbach with two convincing 5-2 victories over Union Berlin and Benfica. They’ve now scored in 57 consecutive league games.

Surprisingly, Freiburg, not Bayern, is the only unbeaten team in the Bundesliga this season. They are in third place in the division with the best defensive record (7 goals conceded).

Bayern Munich will undoubtedly end Freiburg’s impressive unbeaten run It will be a hard-fought victory, aided by an almost certain goal from the league’s leading scorer Robert Lewandowski.