Fans are gearing up for a thrilling week of football actions from the English Premier League, Spanish LaLiga and Italian Serie A.
The pick of this weekend’s Premier League matches comes from St James Park and sees Newcastle United host Manchester United on Sunday evening. This clash is one between two teams struggling for form, identity and momentum this season, while their managers – Steve Bruce and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – seem to be under major pressure for their jobs.
Manchester United claimed a league ‘double’ over Newcastle last season (winning 3-2 at Old Trafford and 2-0 at St James Park) and will need to get halfway towards another such feat if they are to boost their hopes of moving up the table. However, Solskjaer’s team have failed to win any of their last seven away games in the 2019/20 Premier League season, with their last three-pointer on the road arriving way back in February.
Also, The pick of LaLiga games this weekend comes from the Camp Nou on Sunday night and sees Barcelona host Sevilla. The reigning champions have made a faltering start to their title defence, with manager Ernesto Valverde coming under pressure to see the Blaugrana back to their imperious best.
However, they will face a tough test from Julen Lopetegui’s Sevilla, who made a strong start to the campaign (though their status as potential title contenders was put in doubt by a defeat at the hands of Real Madrid a couple of rounds ago).
Fans will hope for a repeat of the goal-laden meetings between the teams from last season: Barcelona won 4-2 both home and away in LaLiga, while even their Copa del Rey clashes produced 9 goals between them.
The undoubted top clash from Serie A this weekend is the fabled Derby d’Italia between Internazionale and Juventus at the San Siro stadium in Milan, which will close the round out on Sunday night.
This match will have even more significance than usual, with the Nerazzurri emerging as genuine title hopefuls under new manager Antonio Conte, who would love nothing more than to win against his former employers to underline his side’s rise to ascendancy.
The Old Lady took four points off Inter in their league meetings last season, while the Milan club have beaten their hated rivals just once in the last 15 competitive meetings of the teams. If Inter can move the needle in the opposite direction, then we may have far more of a title race than was the case in the previous campaign.
Anthony Nlebem
