As the international break comes to an end, so also do the big teams and players return to their various club sides. This weekend’s match preview would be showcasing the big clashes in two of Europe’s top flight leagues. Read on for more insight and prediction tips from England and Spain.
ENGLAND – PREMIER LEAGUE
WEST HAM-MANCHESTER CITY
The citizens are known for their attacking prowess, but their goalscoring record away from home hasn’t seen the same output. 4 out of their 5 away matches have actually seen less than 3 goals. Talking of their defense, they have conceded just once in all their away trips all season.
The hammers have been very inconsistent all season, they kicked off with four games with back to back defeats. However, they have been quite impressive against oppositions in the top half of the table. Conceding only 2 goals in 3 matches against Spurs, Manchester United and Chelsea.
Considering City’s low scoring away from home and west ham’s discipline at the back, this should be a really tight affair.
PICK
Under 3.5 goals
MANCHESTER UNITED – CRYSTAL PALACE
The Eagles will be hoping to take advantage of uniteds poor defensive record. Palace has been anything but impressive so far. Their last match saw them face defeat against spurs and made it 7 leagues matches consecutively without a win.
In recent weeks, the red devils seem to be undergoing a new burst of confidence as they produced a shock win over Juventus. Their last match saw them lose to neighbors City nevertheless they could still make it to a top 4 finish.
With Manchester United’s new found goalscoring form and their inability to keep a clean sheet, there should be goals in this fixture.
PICK
Over 2.5 goals
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR – CHELSEA
Tottenham with their talented squad seems to be struggling a lot this season. Most of their results have been had fought and their performance at the continental level has not been encouraging. After this encounter, they have an all-important fixture against Inter Milan that could determine their progress in the champion’s league.
Their visitors, on the other hand, have already qualified for the next round of the Europa league. Hence all their concentration would be on this tie. Chelsea remains unbeaten in all competitions after 18 games. Sarri’s led Chelsea had a goalless draw last time out against Everton which was actually a disappointing result.
While Chelsea has been impressive even away from home, Spurs have been very disappointing especially against the big six.
PICK
Chelsea Draw No Bet
SPAIN – LA LIGA
ATLETICO MADRID – BARCELONA
Even though Atletico Madrid have achieved quite a lot under Diego Simeone, it is always different when playing Barcelona. It’s quite surprising that they are still yet to defeat the Catalan giants in a league match. The stats become even more interesting when one considers the fact that Madrid has knocked Barcelona out of the champions league twice in recent years. With 4 wins from their last 5, they should be able to break the jinx hear.
Despite Messi’s return, the visitors fell to a 4-3 defeat in front of home fans against a resurgent Real Betis side. Barcelona has major absentees in the first team but would be looking to get back to winning terms as soon as possible. Messi would be available for this clash as he has had almost a fortnight to rest.
Atletico are yet to play at home without scoring while Barcelona has seen 83% of their matches end in both teams scoring.
PICK
Both teams to score
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