Title-decider in Liverpool?

The return of midweek European action saw a flurry of goals on what was an entertaining few days and provided a welcome alternative to domestic leagues. That being said, this time of year is characterized as having the busiest part of the football schedule, especially in England where the traditional Christmas time football schedule is very much a fan favourite.

Over the coming weeks, there will be plenty of domestic league and cup action from the top divisions across Europe, starting with an eventful one this weekend. The PL kicks off on Friday this time around with a South Coast derby between Brighton and Southampton and there are also matches from the top divisions in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Türkiye amongst others.

It is a full day on Saturday with five PL matches as well as fixtures from Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Serie A and La Liga. There are also cup fixtures this weekend involving teams from the lower divisions with the FA Cup, Coup de France and the Scottish Cup offering up a number of matches. Saturday in Spain sees both Barcelona and Atlético in action, hoping to build on midweek CLwins. AC Milan will be hoping to get back to winning ways in the league as they host Empoli and in Germany the best match of the weekend takes place on Saturday evening as Dortmund host Bayern Munich. 

The pick of the matches from England take place on Sunday, starting with Chelsea against Aston Villa in a battle for the top four. Manchester United will be hoping for their first league win under Ruben Amorim in his first PL home game against Everton and the final match of the day should be a cracker as leaders Liverpool host a stuttering Manchester City. Giants of French Football Marseille and Monaco take on each other in the late kick off on Sunday. Serie A leaders Napoli travel to Torino and defending champions Inter are also on their travels, taking on fourth place Fiorentina. Over in Spain, Real Madrid play at home to Getafe hoping to close the gap on leaders and rivals Barcelona. 

We round things off on Monday with an interesting clash in Serie A between AS Roma and Atalanta and there are also some fixtures from Portugal, Scotland, Spain and Türkiye but no action from England.

Liverpool vs Manchester City

Liverpool could have hardly hoped for a better start to their season as they find themselves top of the league and eight points clear of Sunday’s opponents Manchester City. A win here and they will be firm favourites to wrestle the title from the grasp of City, who have won the last four in a row. Midweek saw another positive result as Liverpool swept aside Real Madrid in the CL. Arne Slot has certainly had a great start to life at Anfield, winning ten of his first twelve league matches in charge. Their midweek win was their seventeenth of the season already and they will be optimistic of getting the better of an out of sorts Manchester City. Liverpool can also point to their positive home record against City, whom they have only lost to once in their last 21 league meetings at Anfield. Despite not being offered a new contract by Liverpool, Mo Salah remains their star man with sixteen goals and assists to his name already this season.

Manchester City are currently in the midst of their worst run in recent memory as they continue to break records in a negative way. They were 3-0 up in midweek but failed to finish with all three points in their CL tie against Feyenoord. Their last win came over a month ago when they got the better of Southampton and since then they have failed to win any of their last six matches. The absence of Rodri in central midfield has been key, as have a number of injuries to other important players. Manager Pep Guardiola will be aware that another defeat here will leave them with a mountain to climb if they want to defend their league title and will open them up to be overtaken in the table by Chelsea, Arsenal and Brighton, depending on other results. 

Both meetings last year ended in a 1-1 draw and Man City have won three of the last ten meetings with Liverpool also winning three.

Chelsea vs Aston Villa

Chelsea are exceeding expectations so far this season, currently sitting in third position and well on course for a top four finish. Many were unsure what to expect following the appointment of Enzo Maresca as manager and the recent turmoil at the club, but so far it has been a success. They might only have two wins from their last five league matches but they have only lost twice this season, a record that can only be bettered by leaders Liverpool. They are unbeaten in their last five matches including a straightforward 2-0 win in Europe in midweek, and that was with a heavily rotated line up. A win in this match and they will be only six points behind leaders Liverpool, at least for a couple of hours. Expect significant changes to the starting line up with the likes of Palmer, Neto, Caciedo and Cucurella all likely to start in this match.

Aston Villa are certainly going through a tough patch and find themselves in eighth position going into this game, albeit only three points behind their opponents. Having to juggle midweek European football has taken its toll on the team and they have not won any of their last four matches in the league and seven overall and have the worst defensive record of any team currently in the top ten. Aston Villa will feel hard done by to have been denied a win over Juventus in midweek in the CL, although a draw against the Italian giants is not a bad result in itself. Onana and Ramsey are doubts for the visitors.

The odds certainly favour the home team but Aston Villa have a pretty good record at Stamford Bridge overall. They won their league match there last season and overall they have three wins from the last ten meetings with Chelsea whereas the Londoners have four.

Fiorentina vs Inter

This is a tough match to call as third placed Inter travel to fourth placed Fiorentina on Sunday afternoon with both teams having an identical record in Serie A. They are both on twenty points and both have a +17 goal difference but it is the hosts that have the better recent record, having won their last five matches when compared to Inter who have only won three of their last five. These two have met 172 times in Serie A with Inter having 72 wins compared to Fiorentina’s 45 and recent history has been kinder to Inter, who have won six of the last eight meetings. Inter have won their last four visits to Fiorentina and another win here will make them the first team to ever win five away matches at the Viola’s home ground. Fiorentina won their midweek ECL match to continue on their good recent record and they have a man in good goalscoring form, with Moise Kean joint second with Inter’s Marcus Thuram in the charts. 

Inter also won their midweek tie, a 1-0 win over Leipzig in the CL allowing them to build on their impressive 5-0 away win over Verona last weekend. They have only conceded one goal in their last five matches and have scored in every one of their league matches so far this season. They scored 41 goals away from home so far in 2024 so they are certainly potent at the attacking end of the pitch. Lautaro Martinez is a man who enjoys this fixture, having scored seven goals in his last five appearances against Fiorentina and he provides another option alongside Marcus Thuram.

Recent fixtures have certainly gone the way of Inter, who have won eight of the last ten meetings, including both last season. Therefore, whilst they cannot be separated on form this season, history is firmly on the side of Inter

Dortmund vs Bayern Munich

More often than not this is a battle between the top two in the Bundesliga but there is a significant ten point gap between the teams going into this match with Dortmund struggling so far this season. Therefore, there is significant pressure on the home side to win this match to keep their chances of any sort of title challenge alive. This is the first ‘Der Klassiker’ of the season with the bragging rights still Dortmund’s following their 2-0 win in the last meeting between these two back in March.  This is the 136th meeting between the two teams, the most played fixtures in German football. Both teams replaced their managers in the summer so it is Nuri Sahin versus Vincent Kompany in the dugouts. Dortmund have the best home record in the league so far with six wins but this time around they will be up against the team with the best away record so far, with Bayern having 5 wins and a draw on the road. Dortmund’s last match was a 4-0 home win over Freiburg last weekend and they haven’t lost a competitive match at home since April.

Bayern have an impressive winning streak against Dortmund and have won their last five league matches this season without conceding a single goal. They also managed to edge past PSG in midweek, again keeping a clean sheet in a narrow 1-0 victory. Goalscoring has certainly not been a problem for the Bavarian giants, they have scored an impressive 36 goals so far this season, fourteen more than their hosts here. Harry Kane is once again in good form and has scored fifty Bundesliga goals faster than any other player. Last season he scored a hattrick in this fixture and he has scored the first goal in three of his last four goalscoring Bundesliga matches. 

Dortmund have only won one of the last ten meetings and that was last season’s 2-0 win in March. Bayern have won eight of the last ten so history is firmly on their side. 

PS: Odds might have changed since the writing and publication of this article.

Last updated: 29.11.24