The last weekend before Christmas promises to be very entertaining with a number of high-profile matches from Europe’s major leagues. With a relatively quiet midweek behind us, many fans will be looking forward to this series of fixtures, which will take place just days before Christmas.
We begin Friday with the climax of the Bundesliga clash between Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig. Bayern’s defeat last weekend means they are now just four points clear of the chasing pack and RB Leipzig have won their last two matches to renew their challenge. AC Milan are in action in Serie A, travel to Verona and there will be matches in Spain, Turkey, Scotland and Portugal as well as the lower leagues in England.
PL action begins with an early afternoon match between Aston Villa and struggling Manchester City, with both teams, particularly the reigning champions, unable to reach the heights of last season. Later today, Arsenal will travel across London to face Crystal Palace and there will be three matches in mid-afternoon. French football comes in the form of the Coup de France this weekend with the top teams all playing away against inferior teams. In Germany, defending champions Bayer Leverkusen will play the late game against Freiburg in one of six matches on Saturday. Second-placed Napoli travel to Genoa on Saturday afternoon, with Lazio looking to bounce back from the heavy defeat they suffered last weekend when they traveled to Lecce. The game of the weekend in Spain is Barcelona’s home game against Atlético Madrid on Saturday night, with both teams tied on points and the latter looking much better than their hosts.
Sunday is a busy day in the PL with five matches scheduled, four of which all start at 3 p.m. High-flying Chelsea play at Everton, Manchester United face a tricky match against Bournemouth and Wolves will look for a reaction after the sacking of manager Gary O’Neill when they face compatriots Leicester. The late game, and arguably the game of the weekend, is Tottenham against Liverpool in Sunday’s late kick-off. Dortmund will desperately need a win against Wolfsburg on Sunday, with both currently stuck in mid-table. Serie A league leaders Atalanta are hoping to score three more points at home to Empoli on Saturday afternoon and teams like AS Roma and Juventus are also in action. Real Madrid will expect three points at home to Sevilla as they attempt to close the gap at the top of the table in one of five La Liga matches.
England’s only game on Monday is a League One clash between high-flying Birmingham City and struggling Crawley, a game the second city side will expect to win. Two Serie A matches will close the weekend, including Inter’s match against Como, as well as meetings with Portugal and Turkey.
Bayern Munich vs. RB Leipzig
Bayern will be hoping to return to winning ways after a surprising defeat to Mainz last time out. They are currently in poor form with just one win in their last four domestic matches, which has seen their lead at the top of the table reduced to just four points. Leverkusen are closest to them in the standings and are in good form. Bayern are unbeaten at home since March and will be hoping to pick up three more important points in a potentially tricky match, with recent meetings with RB not going their way. In fact, there has been no choice between the two teams in the last five meetings, with Bayern conceding 12 goals for an overall result of two wins, two defeats and a draw.
RB Leipzig has reached a milestone in recent weeks after a very mediocre month of November. They won their last two league matches but their CL adventure is over as they were eliminated from the competition after their sixth consecutive defeat. The rest of their season will now be entirely focused on the league, making them a dangerous prospect for any other team fighting for a top four spot. Benjamin Sesko scored Leipzig’s only goal in the last meeting between these two men and will hope to be just as effective this time around.
Bayern have won five of the last ten meetings, RB Leipzig winning two and the home side are rightly favorites heading into this encounter.
Aston Villa vs Manchester City
Manchester City’s recent horrendous run will once again be put under the microscope as they face another tricky opponent in Aston Villa in this weekend’s kick-off. Villa looked like they were on the right track and finding their form before losing to Nottingham Forest last weekend, with the Midlands club clearly struggling to cope with the demands of European football as well as the national league. A Villa win will allow them to overtake City in the table and they can look back to last season, when they won 1-0, for an extra confidence boost. They are on a seven-match unbeaten home run and will rely on in-form striker Jhon Duran to score goals.
Manchester City collapsed again last weekend as they led until the final minutes against bitter rivals Manchester United, only to implode and lose the match. Pep Guardiola doesn’t seem to have the answers to this shocking form which has seen his side win just one of their last eleven matches in all competitions. It will be another difficult match for his team who are lacking confidence and he will have to try once again to find the right balance in his team and instill the mentality they have been so famous for in recent years. Phil Foden has taken more shots without scoring than anyone else in the league this season, he will be desperate to finally get on the scoresheet this time.
Barcelona vs. Atlético Madrid
Barcelona will look to bounce back to winning ways after earning just five points from the last eighteen on offer in La Liga. This slump has seen their lead at the top of the standings reduced, to the point that they are tied on points with their opponent Atlético. On the plus side, this is a matchup that Barcelona have done well in recently, winning the last five clashes between these two teams. Manager Hansi Flick, however, will not be able to direct proceedings from the sidelines as he serves the second of his 2-match suspension. Their home form has been somewhat worrying of late, with back-to-back defeats coming at their temporary home. Barcelona will be hoping Robert Lewandowski is as fit as he was the last time these two met when he scored and assisted twice.
Diego Simeone will be desperate to break Atlético’s poor run and he himself has never won an away game at Barcelona. It is certainly a good opportunity to break this bad series since his team now has eleven victories in a row and finds itself facing a Barcelona in bad shape. They have the best defense in the league and have managed many clean sheets.
Barcelona have won the last five meetings, but before these matches, Atlético were undefeated in the previous five.
Tottenham vs Liverpool
The final game of the weekend in the English Premier League is set to be a real headache as leaders Liverpool travel to London to take on Tottenham. It’s a quick turnaround for the home side, who are in action tonight in the League Cup but at least have home field advantage. After their poor run of form, Tottenham returned to winning ways with a crushing 5-0 victory at Southampton. Liverpool will of course be a much tougher task, but they will be optimistic of repeating their victory from last season at the London Stadium.
Liverpool managed a narrow 2-1 away win in the EFL Cup in midweek to continue their long unbeaten run. Last weekend they dropped two important points at home to Fulham, after going down a man early on. They will look to get back to winning ways here, as their lead this weekend is reduced to two points over Chelsea. Mo Salah continues to set the standards, he is the league’s top scorer with thirteen goals so far while midfielder James Maddison tops Tottenham’s charts with seven.
Liverpool have had the upper hand in recent meetings, having won seven of the last ten meetings, including the most recent. Tottenham have only managed to win once in the last ten meetings, so this will likely be a tough match for the home side.
PS: The odds may have changed since this article was written and published.
Last updated: 12/19/24
