Preview of top games across European leagues

With the international break over and done with, action resumes across the top European leagues this weekend with some mouthwatering clashes.

NRTC brings you a preview of some of these matches for your delight.

English Premier League

Leicester City vs Chelsea

The Foxes have lost two of their last three games (D2, L1) and is already seven points below fourth place.

Chelsea, on the other hand, leads the Premier League by three points, and there is great chance of their increasing the gap on their close rivals.

Chelsea has only won one of their last four road games against Leicester, but they will be favourites here.

Prediction: Leicester 1-2 Chelsea

Watford vs Manchester United

Claudio Ranieri’s Watford have lost three of their first four matches with him in charge. Watford have lost back-to-back 1-0 defeats to Southampton and Arsenal after a surprising 5-2 triumph away to Everton.

The international break arrived at the perfect time for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who is still under fire. After a disastrous start to the season, fans are swiftly losing faith in his ability to lead the team to dream land.

United have lost four of their previous six Premier League games and have had recent struggles at Vicarage Road.

United have also conceded in each of their previous seven road games against Watford, and they have only kept two clean sheets in 11 league games this season. It appears that they’ll have to do it the hard way once more here.

Prediction: Watford 1-2 Manchester United

Liverpool vs Arsenal

Prior to the break, Liverpool suffered their first setback of the season, losing 3-2 away to West Ham in a thrilling match.

As a result, Arsenal now has the longest unbeaten streak in the Premier League, with eight games without a loss.

Liverpool is still the favourite, although they haven’t been as solid at the back this season as they have been in the past. Without Gini Wijnaldum, they are trying to find the correct balance in midfield.

Liverpool have won their past five home league games against Arsenal, but on current form, Mikel Arteta’s team will give them a challenging fight

Prediction: Liverpool 2-1 Arsenal

Manchester City vs Everton

Manchester City won 2-0 over Manchester United before the international break, bouncing back after a 2-0 loss to Crystal Palace. They are three points behind leaders Chelsea heading into the weekend.

Everton have gone winless in their last five league games, losing three of them. This season, they have only won one of their five league games.

Prediction: Manchester City 3-0 Everton

Tottenham Hotspur vs Brighton and Holve Albion

Tottenham’s 0-0 draw at Everton before the international break saw them go without a shot on target for the second league game in a row.

Now they’ll be optimistic of getting back among the goals when they welcome a Leeds side that has conceded 18 goals to North London.

The Whites picked up a crucial win in their previous away encounter, bringing all three points back to Yorkshire from Norwich.

They haven’t won in their last five visits to Spurs, losing four of them, including a 3-0 loss here at the start of the year.

Antonio Conte will have worked those not on international duty hard at Hotspur Way and as he aims to get his ideas across, Spurs could make it two wins from three under their new boss in Sunday’s afternoon encounter.

Prediction: 2-1

Spanish La Liga

Atletico Madrid vs Osasuna

It has been a tricky few weeks for Atletico Madrid, who have found themselves faltering this season.

A comfortable win over Real Betis and, perhaps, their best performance of the season, looked set to kickstart Diego Simeone’s men.

However, since then, they have lost to Liverpool in the Champions League and conceded twice in stoppage time to draw 3-3 with Valencia having led 3-1.

Los Rojiblancos need a pick-me-up and they need to find some rhythm. The return of the energetic Marcos Llorente should help their case.

Still, they are within touching distance of top spot with almost everyone in La Liga struggling for consistency this term.

Osasuna, meanwhile, put together an impressive start to the campaign, but a difficult run of fixtures, which continues here, saw them go into the international break on a downer.

They lost 2-0 to Real Sociedad last time out, adding to a 2-0 defeat to Sevilla. Despite those results, they remain in seventh place, putting into perspective just how well they started the campaign, given they haven’t won any of their last four.

Osasuna have the potential to frustrate Atleti here, but the home side should still come away with the win given the pressure on them to respond.

Prediction: Atletico Madrid 1-0 Osasuna

Barcelona vs Espanol

Barcelona has had a busy international break, with the club appointing iconic ex-player Xavi Hernandez as their new head coach. They also brought back another fan favourite in Dani Alves, despite the fact that the veteran full-back won’t be able to play until January.

Barca are now eighth in the standings, while Espanyol are in dismal form heading into the derby. Last time out, they lost a three-goal lead to draw 3-3 with Celta Vigo in stoppage time.

Barca had beaten Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League before that, but that came after a poor draw with Alaves in La Liga.

Raul de Tomas and Adria Pedrosa scored for Espanyol in a 2-0 triumph over a resurgent Granada the last time they played.

After losing to bottom club Getafe, Vicente Moreno’s side needed to respond in a big way.

Espanyol have won three of their past six games and have only lost once. So, they enter into this game in terrific shape, even if Xavi’s return to Camp Nou is a foregone conclusion.

Prediction: Barcelona 2-1 Espanol

Granada vs Real Madrid

In the weeks preceding up to the international break, Granada had a resurgence, winning games against Sevilla and Levante and drawing with Getafe and Osasuna to go four games without losing.

However, they were defeated by Espanyol in their penultimate game before the break. They are currently just one point and one spot above the bottom three, despite the fact that they still have a game in hand.

Real Madrid go into this one with two important wins under their belt, including a win over Elche and a win over Rayo Vallecano with Toni Kroos and Karim Benzema notching the goals.

Those victories have taken Carlo Ancelotti’s men to within a point of top spot with a game in hand, and they will be expected to continue their good form here.

Granada are likely to struggle and could end up on the back of a heavy defeat at home.

Prediction: Granada 0-3 Real Madrid

German Bundesliga

Augsburg vs Bayern Munich

Matchday 12 of the Bundesliga kicks off with a Bavarian derby, with FCA facing champions-in-waiting FCB, who have gone four points clear.

Apart from the four goals they scored against Stuttgart, Augsburg has only scored five goals in their other ten games this season. On the other hand, Bayern has scored in 58 consecutive league games and totaled 100 Bundesliga goals in 2021.

Bayern Munich bounced back from a humiliating 5-0 DFB Pokal defeat at Gladbach with three straight victories in all competitions before the international break.

Augsburg has previously irritated their noisy neighbours Bayern, but this year’s team appears to be lacking in quality. Bayern is likely to win a hard-fought derby, with the league’s leading scorer Robert Lewandowski almost certain to nip a goal or two.

Prediction: Augsburg 0-3 Bayern Munich

Dortmund vs Stuttgart

Despite three away defeats, rising injury concerns, and Erling Haaland’s extended absence, BVB are “only” four points behind Bayern.

After facing serious COVID-19 troubles and a slew of injuries, struggling three-time Bundesliga champions VfB lost three in a row before the international break.

Stuttgart won this match 5-1 last winter, but have yet to win on the road this season. A win would be unexpected in this situation

Prediction: Dortmund 2-1 Stuttgart