WEEKEND BANGERS
The highlighted fixtures for the coming weekend.
Bayern Munich will be crowned Bundesliga Champions with a win this weekend. Dortmund will fight Wolfsburg to get closer to Champions League qualification.
Lille will be tested at Lyon in their fight to keep top spot in Ligue1
Manchester City can make up for their FA Cup exit with a cup title in the EFL Cup final. Or Tottenham could be winning a trophy.
The Spanish La Liga race is only heating up with little/no room for error.
Inter Milan needs to get back in winning ways to close out the Serie A season. Juventus and Atalanta must find victories from their respective games to keep Napoli at bay.
FRENCH LIGUE 1
With 5 rounds left to go in the French Ligue 1 title race, the leading four teams are a point away from their closest rival.
In the last round,
Lille dropped points after a draw at home with Montpellier in the last round. The two points dropped became very expensive when the three teams directly behind them in the title race managed to come out of the fixtures with three points.
Paris St. Germain escaped dramatic end against Saint-Etienne with a 3-2 win for the three points to close in on Lille. All 5 goals scored in the match came after the 77th minute; with Paris St. Germain having to come from a goal down to take a lead that ended up getting cancelled out by a Saint-Etienne goal in the additional minutes. Fortunately for Paris St. Germain, there was one more goal left in the game; and it came in the 5th minute after the regulation time through their own Mauro Icardi.
Monaco tagged along with a 3-0 win at Bordeaux; marking a fourth straight league game of 3+ goals without conceding. The last time Monaco conceded a league goals was against Strasbourg (in a 1-0 defeat).
Lyon made it consecutive league victories when they left Nantes with three points from a 2-1 win.
Paris St. Germain will travel to face Metz(currently 9th). The team’s form points to another league win for Paris St. Germain. It was a narrow 1-0 victory for Paris St. Germain in the reverse fixture but we expect a wider margin this time around with what is at stake.
Monaco were 3-0 winners in the reverse fixture with Angers. They will go again for another win to get the three points to take advantage of this opportunity.
The only guaranteed way for Lille to remain top of the league at the end of Round 34 is to win at Lyon.
The highly anticipated fixture for the round will be the bout between Lille and Lyon.
Lille will travel to Lyon to at least equal the outcome of the fixtures around the ‘top 4’.
A win for Lyon will put them above Lille in the standings.
Lille can not afford to let points slip in this game. Both Monaco and Paris St. Germain are in position to knock them off the top of the standings if they don’t come through with the maximum points.
April 24, 2021
Metz vs Paris St. Germain
April 25, 2021
Angers vs Monaco
Lyon vs Lille
ITALIAN SERIE A
Fiorentina vs Juventus
Inter Milan vs Hellas Verona
Atalanta vs Bologna
Torino vs Napoli
Lazio vs AC Milan
With the UEFA Champions League qualification at stake, Juventus will need to come out with a win against Fiorentina.
Despite having a 10 point lead in the title race, Inter Milan have dropped points in their last two league matches form 1-1 draws. The goal this weekend is to get back to winning ways and grab a win at home against Hellas Verona.
Atalanta are in the same shoes as Juventus. They need a win to boost their odds of Champions League football.
Napoli is the team putting pressure on the teams that are currently in a Champions League qualifying position. A Napoli victory in Turin against Torino is the main reason why both Atalanta and Juventus can’t afford to go through this round without a victory from their respective fixtures.
AC Milan could have put more pressure on Inter Milan if they had managed to get a midweek victory. AC Milan will try and bounce back from defeat against Sassuolo with one against a Lazio side that was hammered 5-2 in their last league game.
EFL CUP FINAL
MANCHESTER CITY VS TOTTENHAM
A week after getting knocked out of the FA Cup, Manchester City takes on Tottenham in the EFL Cup final.
ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
EVERTON VS ARSENAL
Everton are currently on a streak of three draws that end 6 games without a win in all competition. Despite this, they were 2-1 winners in the reverse fixture and are three points ahead of Arsenal while having a game in hand.
Both clubs will be disappointed with their current position in the league. Arsenal’s history in the league will always want them to expect better, while Everton’s start to the season brought about higher than normal expectations for this season.
A win for Arsenal will see them move above Everton on equal points.
Everton will use a win to put themselves in a position where they can open a 9 points lead when they play out all of their scheduled fixtures.
LIVERPOOL VS NEWCASTLE
Qualifying for Champions League football is the objective for Liverpool.
Avoiding relegation and staying in the Premier League for the coming season it the objective for Newcastle United.
It was a goalless draw when they met in Newcastle.
WEST HAM VS CHELSEA
London Derby.
Whichever side wins will finish the round in a Champions League qualifying spot.
Chelsea were 3-0 winners against West Ham when they met earlier.
Defeat against Newcastle in their midweek fixture cost West Ham their place in the ‘top 4’. They will be looking to bounce back by getting something from their game against Chelsea.
These are two teams on equal points (55). With Chelsea using the point they picked up against Brighton in their last match to replace West Ham in the ‘top 4’.
LEEDS UNITED VS MANCHESTER UNITED
An English football classic that will likely be a Manchester United win.
LEICESTER CITY VS CRYSTAL PALACE
The chase for Champions League football goes on for Leicester City. A win against Crystal Palace only tightened their grip on 3rd place.
SPANISH LA LIGA
The top four teams were all winners in their midweek fixtures, and they all will want to keep that going over the weekend.
REAL MADRID VS REAL BETIS
Real Madrid will host a Real Betis side that have been involved in draws from their most recent four league matches.
Real Madrid won’t be coming to this match to help Real Betis make it a 5th successive league draw. Madrid will go for the win to keep their pace in the league title race.
The reverse fixture was 3-2 win for Real Madrid but Real Betis have been unbeaten the last three visits. (2 wins and a draw).
VILLARREAL VS BARCELONA
Barcelona were 4-0 winners in the last meeting of the two; and they need a similar outcome to keep up with the pace of the title race.
Villarreal are coming into this match on the back of a 2-1 midweek defeat against Alaves.
Barcelona will be league champions if they win all of their league games.
SEVILLA VS GRANADA
When it comes to the title race, Sevilla have been running their laps under the radar. They are getting the results to brush shoulders with the top three sides.
The reverse fixture was a 1-0 Granda win, so it’s up to Sevilla to recoup the points dropped and help their odds of being potential champions.
ATHLETIC CLUB VS ATLETICO MADRID
Athletic Club have not had a win in their last game; a streak that kicked off with a 2-1 defeat against Atletico Madrid on March 10th, 2020. Since then, Athletic Club have lost two Copa del Rey finals and picked up a point from all their league fixtures.
They get to meet Atletico Madrid again; and maybe a win here will reset their fortunes.
Despite blowing away the majority of the advantage the had in the title race, Atletico Madrid have been able to keep get a 3 point lead at the top of the pile over the last few rounds. As long as they win their games from now to the end of the season, they will be league champions.
GERMAN BUNDESLIGA
MAINZ VS BAYERN MUNICH
An RB Leipzig defeat in Cologne and a Bayern Munich win over Leverkusen has practically ended the 2020/21 German Bundesliga title race.
Bayern Munich takes a 10 points lead into the final four rounds of the German Bundesliga season. With a maximum of 12 points left in the season for the teams that have no outstanding matches, Bayern are just a win away from defending their Bundesliga title (again). They will go to Mainz for a victory that will hand them the 30th Bundesliga title in their history, and a 9th successive title.
Bayern Munich were 5-2 winners in the reverse leg and are 40 points ahead of Mainz in the league standings as things stand. All points to a Bayern Munich win and another title.
WOLFSBURG VS DORTMUND
Dortmund are 4 points from Champions League qualifications as things stand in the Bundesliga. Missing out on next season’s Champions League will be costly to Dortmund in many ways.
And while pre-season expectations have Dortmund as one of the four teams to qualify for the Champions League through the league, Wolfsburg did not.
Champions League football might not have been the expectation, it is now a target for Wolfsburg. They are 3rd on 57 points, while Dortmund is 5th on 52 points after the 30th round of the season.
Both clubs come into this fixture on the back of a midweek league victory.
A repeat outcome of the reverse leg is the goal for Dortmund; they won 2-0 at home.
For Wolfsburg, this is a game to settle the score and make up for the points dropped earlier in the year.
Winning will be the objective for both clubs but Wolfsburg can afford a draw and Dortmund can’t.
RB LEIPZIG VS STUTTGART
Should the improbable happen and Bayern Munich fail to come up with three points from a win against Mainz, RB Leipzig wil be alive in the title race with a win against Stuttgart.
RB Leipzg are coming into this match from a midweek defeat against FC Koln. Failing to win here will be a sequence of three games without a win. They can’t keep that form going when they have a w DFB-Pokal semi final match as the fixture that follows.
Current Standings : EUROPEAN GOLDEN SHOE
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich/German Bundesliga) – 35 goals
Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus/Italian Serie A) – 25 goals
Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Spanish La Liga) – 25 goals
Andre Silva (Frankfurt/German Bundesliga) – 24 goals
Kylian Mbappe (Paris St. Germain/French Ligue 1) – 23 goals
Erling Haaland (Dortmund/German Bundesliga) – 23 goals
