Weekend football spotlight: Key clashes across Europe’s top leagues

Gulf News takes a closer look at all the key highlights from Europe’s top leagues this weekend as domestic football makes its eagerly awaited return following the international break.

Premier League

Manchester City vs. Tottenham promises fireworks on Saturday evening, with their last four meetings producing 12 goals. City are desperate to bounce back after four consecutive defeats in all competitions, and the recent news of Pep Guardiola signing a two-year contract extension could provide the spark for another of their trademark winning streaks.

On England’s south coast, league leaders Liverpool travel to face bottom-placed Southampton on Sunday, pitting two teams at opposite ends of the table against each other. Elsewhere, Ipswich Town host Manchester United, who will be eager to start strongly under new manager Ruben Amorim.

The gameweek concludes at midnight on Tuesday, when Newcastle United take on West Ham at St. James’ Park. The Hammers have struggled since parting ways with David Moyes and appointing Julen Lopetegui, sitting 14th after a poor start to the season.

In contrast, Newcastle are hitting their stride with three consecutive wins across all competitions, including a league triumph over Arsenal and a Carabao Cup victory against Chelsea.

La Liga

Table-topping Barcelona could extend their lead over their great rivals Real Madrid to nine points should they beat Celta Vigo on Sunday, with Madrid taking on Leganes later in the day.

Despite Barcelona's financial clout far surpassing that of Vigo, the trip to Spain’s northwest coast has not been a particularly successful one in recent years. Since the 2015/16 season, Barcelona have visited Estadio de Balaídos nine times, winning only twice, with three draws and four defeats.

In fact, of the 17 league encounters at the stadium this century, Barcelona have lost seven – a worse record only at the Santiago Bernabéu, the home of Real Madrid.

At the bottom of the table, six-time La Liga champions Valencia have had a disastrous start to the season, scoring just eight goals and collecting only eight points, with their sole victory coming against Girona in September.

Los Che will be eager to add to their win tally when they face Real Betis on Saturday. However, Valencia have struggled in recent encounters with Betis, failing to win their last three meetings. Their most recent victory over them came in 2022, when they triumphed 3-0 at the Estadio de Mestalla.

Serie A

The standout fixture in Serie A this weekend sees Italian giants AC Milan and Juventus clash in the league, marking the first time since November 21, 2015, that both teams start a matchday outside the top five in the standings.

Goals may be hard to come by in this encounter – the last six league meetings between these sides have yielded just six goals, and only once in their past seven league clashes have both teams managed to find the net.

Elsewhere, league leaders Napoli are looking to return to winning ways against Roma at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. Having won five on the bounce between October 29 and November 29, Antonio Conte’s side have failed to win their last two – losing against Atalanta and picking up a point against Inter Milan. For Roma, the match marks the return of Claudio Ranieri as manager following the sacking of Ivan Juric, who lasted just 12 matches in the capital.

Bundesliga

Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich kick off the gameweek on Friday evening as they host 13th-placed Augsburg. Vincent Kompany’s side has made a superb start to the season, boasting an unbeaten domestic record with eight wins from 10 matches and a five-point cushion at the top of the table.

The German giants have also been defensively solid, keeping five consecutive clean sheets across all competitions since their 4-1 defeat to Barcelona on October 23. Meanwhile, England captain Harry Kane will aim to add to his 11 league goals this season as he looks to pull away from Frankfurt’s Omar Marmoush, who has also netted on 11 occasions, for the Torjägerkanone.

Defending champions Bayer Leverkusen welcome Heidenheim to the BayArena as they look to snap a three-game winless streak. Meanwhile, 2023/24 Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund host Freiburg, who have made an impressive start under new head coach Julian Schuster and currently sit fifth in the Bundesliga standings.

At the other end of the table, Bochum travel to Stuttgart in search of their first league win of the season. Having narrowly avoided relegation last season by defeating Hamburg in the promotion/relegation play-off, Die Unabsteigbaren have endured a tough start to the campaign.

After ten matches, they sit bottom of the table with just two points, six behind St. Pauli in the relegation playoff spot and seven from safety. However, a surprising 1-1 draw against Bayer Leverkusen in their last outing offers a glimmer of hope as they try to turn their season around.