The holiday season is now over and we are ready to return to a more normal meeting schedule in the coming weeks. Some leagues will still be on winter break, but gradually we will return to full top-level European football.
It’s been an exciting festive season in England, with the big winners being Nottingham Forest and Newcastle, who managed to put together some superb runs to propel themselves up the table. Liverpool continued their momentum and Arsenal also maintained their pace. Chelsea have stuttered, with two defeats and a draw in their last three matches and as for Manchester United, the gloom continues as they are in fourteenth place in the championship with four defeats and a victory in their last five matches. This weekend, the Red Devils face a daunting trip to rivals and league leaders Liverpool, so the chances of this poor run ending are somewhat remote. Saturday’s kick-off should be an interesting clash between Tottenham and Newcastle and Arsenal face a tricky trip to the south coast to face Brighton in the evening.
The French top division makes a welcome return after a few weeks off over the holidays and action in Serie A also continues throughout the month. One of the highlight matches of the weekend is that of Friday evening between Juventus and AC Milan in the Super Cup. There will also be a derby in Rome on Sunday evening to look forward to. Napoli will hope to overtake Atalanta when they face Fiorentina, with the current leaders not in action this weekend. Football in Spain this weekend comes from the Copa del Rey and there are top division fixtures from Portugal, Scotland and Turkey to keep us entertained too.
Juventus vs AC Milan
Kingdom Arena (Riyadh) Friday 03/01 @8:00 p.m.
This season’s Super Cup will be contested between two teams hoping for a better result than the last time they played this encounter, both being beaten. Juventus are the most successful Supercoppa team with nine wins to their name and they will be favorites to add another title to their list as they are undefeated so far this season. Too many draws saw them finish the 2024 calendar year in sixth place, but they are unbeaten in fourteen matches. The last time they faced AC Milan in the Supercoppa, they won the match 1-0, in January 2019. Francisco Conceicao will face the unusual task of trying to spoil his father’s first match in the dugout against his opponent AC Milan.
Sergio Conceciao has been brought in to replace Paulo Fonseca in the AC Milan hot seat following their 1-1 draw with Roma on Sunday evening. They have suffered just one defeat in their last twelve matches, but the progress was not deemed enough to keep Fonseca on board. A victory for AC Milan would bring them closer to city rivals Inter with eight trophy wins. They have struggled to score goals, scoring just one goal or more in their last five matches.
Five of the last ten meetings have ended in a draw, so that’s certainly a possibility here, although someone will have to go on and win the match. Juventus have won two in the same time frame and AC Milan have won three.
Tottenham vs Newcastle
Tottenham Stadium Saturday 04/01 at 1:30 p.m.
The first match of the PL weekend takes place in North London and should certainly be entertaining, as very few matches involving these teams can be considered boring. The visitors will come into this match as favorites due to the list of serious injuries that Tottenham have been dealing with in recent times. They conceded again late against Wolves in their last match and find themselves in the bottom half of the table with manager Ange Postecoglou stating that the situation is truly desperate and he is asking the players to play well beyond their abilities physical. They have just one home win in the last seven matches and fans will fear this will be another tough game for them.
Newcastle, on the other hand, have been soaring lately and are on a great run. Their form has seen them slowly rise up the rankings and they look like contenders to move into the CL places again. The win against Manchester United was impressive in that it looked so easy and straightforward and Eddie Howe continues to do a great job in the North East. They have three consecutive clean sheets in total and four in a row in the league, for the first time since 2012. Newcastle have done well against Tottenham in recent years, winning four of the last five meetings. In Alexander Isak they have one of the best strikers in England and he has now managed 50 league goals in his last 69 games.
Form and history indicate that Newcastle are rightly favorites here with six wins in the last ten meetings compared to Tottenham’s three.
AS Roma vs Lazio
Olympic Stadium Sunday 05/01 @8:45 p.m.
What a way to start the calendar year for these two teams. A Rome derby is always a highly anticipated event and there is a lot at stake for both teams, particularly AS Roma who are 15 points behind their city rivals. AS Roma will be hoping to take all three points for the third time in a row at the Olimpico and Claudio Ranieri certainly has a good record against Lazio throughout his career. Artem Dovbyk is a man in form for the home side, having scored five goals in his last three games.
Lazio managed a draw against Atalanta in the final match of the season, a result which continues to keep them themselves in the league title race. They are only six points away from first place and their fans are dreaming that things will go according to plan and that they can win their first title since the 1999/2000 season. Lazio have a good away record, winning six of their last seven away games and this game isn’t really an ‘away’ game either.
There is very little choice between these two sides in the betting markets. AS Roma have three victories in the last ten meetings while Lazio have five. Only three of the last ten matches have seen more than two goals scored.
Liverpool vs Manchester United
Anfield Sunday 05/01 @5:30 p.m.
Anfield is always a difficult place to get to, but there is surely no worse game for Manchester United right now than this one. Liverpool are the league’s in-form team and are deservedly top of the table, defying the predictions of many that they could suffer once Jurgen Klopp leaves. They finished the 2024 calendar year with 92 league goals, the second highest total in their history and they will feel they can start 2025 with a big win in this match. The first meeting this season was a routine 3-0 win for Liverpool at Old Trafford, but since then United have slumped and are looking to be there, a fact that will see Liverpool fans around the world rubbing their hands with impatience.
Manchester United are winless in their last nine visits to Anfield and have managed just one goal. They have lost their last three league matches without scoring a single goal and seem devoid of confidence and ideas. They enter this match in fourteenth place and will know that other negative records could be broken this weekend. A fourth consecutive defeat for the Red Devils would be only the first time since 1979. They have conceded 18 goals in all competitions in December and the fact that they seem incapable of defending and scoring means something is seriously wrong. The only positive this season has been the emergence of youngster Amad Diallo, the player who scored the winning goal in their FA Cup clash last season.
Less than two years ago, Manchester United were beaten 7-0 by Liverpool and many are expecting a similar result this time. Liverpool have won five of the last ten meetings and United have won three.
PS: The odds may have changed since this article was written and published.
Last updated: 01/03/2025
