FIVE games to follow this weekend: Man City vs. Arsenal, Der Klassiker, Le Classique, and more

FIVE games to follow this weekend: Man City vs. Arsenal, Der Klassiker, Le Classique, and more
FotMob - March 29, 2024, 4:00 PM

In this weekend preview we summarise the best five games to follow on your match feed. And make a couple of suggestions for matches that you may otherwise miss.

By Bill Biss

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Premier League: Manchester City vs. Arsenal
Club football has only just returned following the last international break of the season but we’re straight back to it in the Premier League title race. And Sunday’s match feed features all three protagonists.

First, Liverpool face an inconsistent Brighton side at Anfield. And then, at the Etihad, Manchester City host Arsenal. As it stands, the Gunners hold a narrow advantage in the standings – ahead of Liverpool on goal difference and one point better off than City. But by the evening of Easter Sunday perhaps the picture will be somewhat clearer?

Arsenal come in to the game on the back of eight straight victories in the league, a run that dates back to December. They’ve scored 33 goals in those games, including three in a notable win over Liverpool.

City, meanwhile, are unbeaten in their last 22 competitive games, and that’s despite the fact that, at times, Pep Guardiola’s side haven’t looked to be at their fluent best. Something probably has to give, or perhaps momentum will shift again, just as it did when City and Liverpool played out a 1-1 draw earlier in this month.

Arsenal may just have the psychological edge having eventually beaten City on penalties in the Community Shield that raised the curtain on the season, and then again, in the league meeting at the Emirates in October.


🇩🇪 Bundesliga: Bayern Munich vs. Borussia Dortmund
The somewhat surprising news that Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso is staying put this summer, Bayern’s no. 1 candidate to replace the departing Thomas Tuchel, will have been taken as a massive snub in Bavaria. But there’s no time for fans of the German superpower to bemoan their luck because there’s the not-so-small matter of Der Klassiker coming up on Saturday evening!

This might only be second vs. fourth, as things stand, but it remains the Bundesliga fixture to look out for. Germany’s two biggest clubs going head-to-head at the Allianz Arena.

For Dortmund, there’s plenty at stake. Edin Terzic’s side are well off the pace – 20 points off top, 10 points off their bitter rivals, and they also suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat to Bayern in front of their own fans back in November. They can’t afford to go through that again. And despite the temptation to throw their lot in to their successful Champions League campaign – they face Atlético Madrid in the last eight in two weeks time – they must also concentrate on securing a top four finish as well.

And the key to that will probably be stopping the service to Bayern frontman Harry Kane. England’s captain notched a hat-trick in that earlier fixture and has now amassed an astonishing 31 league goals in just 26 appearances in his debut season in Germany.

Bayern, rather obviously, remain the league’s top scorers and they lead most of the major metrics bar the one that matters most – the points table. Perhaps ominously for Dortmund, Bayern won their last two matches prior to the international break by an aggregate scoreline of 13-3, putting eight past Mainz and five past Darmstadt.


🇫🇷 Ligue 1: Marseille vs. PSG
There’s a number of important derbies in France this weekend – the Derby d’Nord between Lille and Lens takes place at the time this article goes live on Friday night, and there’s a meeting between Breton sides Lorient and surprise package, Stade Brestois on Sunday lunchtime. But the league are saving the best to last with Le Classique rounding off the Easter Sunday schedule.

League leaders PSG have a whopping 12 point lead on Brest and they’ll be looking to maintain that (at least) when they visit traditional rivals Marseille in the cauldron that is the Stade Vélodrome. The Parisians are currently on a 24-game unbeaten run in all competitions and they remain in contention in both the Champions League and Coupe de France, along with what looks likely to be another Ligue 1 title defence. In what is almost definitely Kylian Mbappé’s final season in the capital (we’ll only believe it when we see him in a Madrid shirt), the captain once again leads the way in the race for the golden boot. He’s on 24 league goals, nine more than nearest rival, Lille’s Jonathan David.

It’s been something of a tumultuous season for Marseille. The southern club are on their third managerial change, with Jean-Louis Gasset taking over from Gennaro Gattuso in February, who himself replaced Marcelino in September. Consequently, l’OM sit down in seventh, and outside the European places. There’s still time for them to recover though, and what better way to do that than landing a blow against the old enemy. They lost at Rennes last time out but do still have a Europa League quarter-final to look forward too, where they’ve been drawn against Portuguese giants Benfica.


🇪🇸 LaLiga: Real Madrid vs. Athletic Club
Two of the three sides never to have been relegated from LaLiga meet in the Spanish capital on Sunday evening, with leaders Real Madrid taking on Basque power, Athletic Club.

Ernesto Valverde’s Bilbao based side are enjoying their best season for a long time – starting the weekend in fourth, and into the final of the Copa del Rey, which is being played in Seville next weekend. Athletic Club have been imperious at their San Mamés fortress, only losing once – to Madrid – and that took place way back on the opening weekend of the campaign. And while they’ve lost more away from home, they’ve still amassed 20 of their 56 points on the road. They also boast the second best defence in the division.

Madrid, as you may expect, are the one side who’ve conceded less than them, with Carlo Ancelotti’s side only letting in 0.7 goals per game compared to Athletic Club’s 0.9. Their lead at the top of the table currently stands at eight points but that could be narrowed further should Barcelona win their home tie against Las Palmas on Saturday evening. Los Blancos are unbeaten in 12 games since January’s Copa defeat to city rivals Atlético and although they’ll know they’re in for a battle on Sunday, it is a fixture they usually come through – with Athletic Club’s last win at the Bernabéu coming just over nine years ago, and that one being just their second ever against Madrid in the capital.

🇮🇹 Serie A: Inter vs. Empoli
In Serie A, Easter Sunday remains sacred so the league fixtures are split between Saturday and Monday. AC Milan, Napoli, and Juventus all play their respective games tomorrow, but you’ll have to wait until Monday to see champions-elect Inter, when they host Empoli at San Siro.

Simone Inzaghi’s side boast a 14-point lead over the other side from Milan and have some of the most astonishing stats in Europe. They’ve still only conceded 14 goals, or 0.5 goals per game, all while banging in an average of 2.4 goals per game at the other end. Individually speaking, Lautaro Martínez leads the goal scoring charts with 23 from 26 games, and regista Hakan Çalhanoğlu is our best rating player in the league, with an average FotMob rating of 7.86.

Empoli are embroiled in a relegation battle. They went six games unbeaten between late January through to the end of February but have since lost three on the bounce and they remain 17th, just one point above the bottom three.

Plus two further suggestions from a little deeper in your match feed…
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Women’s League Cup Final: Arsenal vs. Chelsea
In case you weren’t aware, much like the Premier League, there’s also an almighty battle going on at the top of the Women’s Super League in England. Four-time reigning champions Chelsea are level on points with a resurgent Manchester City, and Arsenal are currently sat just six points behind them in third.

And while City face fourth placed Liverpool on Saturday, Arsenal and Chelsea are set to test each other in the relative free hit that is the final of the Conti Cup, the League Cup. With no points on the table but silverware and pride to fight for, and momentum to maintain, there’s plenty at stake.

Chelsea have had a successful week having safely negotiated their Champions League quarter-final tie against Ajax to set up a clash against reigning champions Barcelona in the final four. The Blues are now unbeaten in seven, a run that includes a 3-1 victory over Arsenal. The Gunners have played just once since then, beating Aston Villa 3-1 away from home last weekend.

🇭🇷 HNL: Hajduk Split vs. Dinamo Zagreb
We couldn’t leave this exciting weekend of football without mentioning that there are a number of key derbies taking place all over Europe. Croatia’s Eternal Derby in particular could have a significant bearing on the course of the season.

Dinamo Zagreb have been the dominant force in the country for some time now, winning 15 of the last 16 top flight titles. But this year, they currently sit third, five points down on Rijeka, the only other side to have won the league during the period mentioned.

And sat in between the two, one point better off than Dinamo, are Hajduk Split. The side from the southern city regularly finish as runners-up, in fact, they’ve done that in each of the last two seasons, but this year they’re hoping to go one better, and end a decade of hurt. To do that, they need to start this stage of the season with a victory over their bitterest rivals on Saturday.

And if they don’t, there’s always the chance of revenge in next Wednesday’s Cup semi-final between the two Croatian giants!

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Images from IMAGO