da prosport bet： With the Premier League sides all slogging it out to see who can avoid winning the Premier League title this season, perhaps they are just trying to keep their powder dry for the big European week coming up. Perhaps.
da bet7： Despite losing their first leg in Paris a few weeks ago, Chelsea will sneak a 1-0 win at the Bridge to keep their hopes of yet another Champions League and FA Cup double under an interim manager alive. In the Europa League, Manchester United and Liverpool will play out an intense draw whilst Tottenham will run themselves into a yellow wall, but eventually come up short.
This week’s Euro roundup is fed up with doggedly trying to order two glasses of rioja in Spanish and has sauntered off to the local Irish pub for a pint of Tenants and live Speedway instead. Night sorted.
Germany
Bayern Munich have now dropped five points from their last six, losing to Jurgen Klopp’s old club – and not to mention Champions League-chasing – Mainz and then playing out a goalless draw with Der Klassiker rivals Borussia Dortmund.
Whilst the draw might point to the decline of Bayern’s form, it keeps them very much in pole position for the title and five points clear of Thomas Tuchel’s free-scoring Dortmund.
Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola is trying his very best to show that he still cares before he strides off to sunny Manchester. Pep, as intense as ever, rushed onto the pitch after the match to have a froth-at-the-mouth go at Joshua Kimmich – who had a great game – and Mehdi Benatia, who played all of two minutes. Why? Either he saw something he hated, or he simply wants to show he still cares!
Meanwhile, Augsburg blew a three-goal lead over Leverkusen to draw 3-3, Mainz failed to follow up on their midweek giant-killing with a 0-0 draw at home to Darmstadt, and Wolfsburg beat Gladbach in a Champions League qualification showdown. Hertha Berlin contrived to lose again but still manage to stay in third, mostly due to the ineptitude of those around them.
Winners – Schalke 04, whose win over Cologne puts them into the final Champions League spot
Losers – Augsburg, who threw away a three goal lead to remain only two points above the doomed spots.
Italy
At the start of the season, we feared that Serie A would turn into a procession for Juventus once again, and it looks like it is turning that way. Juve remain three points clear at the top after beating Atalanta as Gigi Buffon proved he’s a force of nature, whilst Napoli stopped the rot with a 3-1 win over Chievo.
Roma, meanwhile, took a big step towards that third and final Champions League qualification spot with a big 4-1 win over Fiorentina in the lead-up to their clash with Real Madrid at the Bernabeu on Tuesday night. Inter Milan capped-off a bad weekend for Fiorentina’s Champions League hopes with a 3-1 win over Palermo, but they remain five points behind Roma in third.
At the bottom, Frosinone beat Udinese to bring them to within four points of their opponents and Palermo’s defeat leaves them only a point clear of Frosinone who occupy that doomed-spot for the moment.
Winners – Frosinone, who are now only a point from safety.
Losers – Fiorentina, whose defeat dents their hopes of Champions League qualification
France
Monaco’s 2-2 draw with Caen on Friday night dented their title hopes, but PSG threw the Monegasques a lifeline by boring their way to a 0-0 draw at home to Montpellier. The gap remains 23 points, so PSG will need to recover from their current blip of no wins in two league games.
Lyon, meanwhile, have found their form again. Having lost 10 times already this season – more than anyone bar Caen in the top half – a victory over PSG last week and a thrashing of Guingamp this week leaves the Lyonnais in the Champions League places.
Extra help for Lacazette and co came in the form of St Etienne and Marseille who both failed to win this weekend, allowing Lyon to pull clear in the battle for third.
Winners – Lyon, who pulled clear in the race for third, but more importantly, they seem to have found their form.
Losers – Marseille, whose draw this weekend leaves them eight points off the Champions League, and eight points above the relegation zone….
Spain
Barcelona are an unstoppable force this season, and the stats prove it. They sit eight points clear at the top of the table and have only lost twice. Is that not enough for you? Well their front three of Messi, Suarez and Neymar have now scored 100 goals between them in all competitions, whilst Luis Suarez has 42 by himself, the most in the top five leagues.
Elsewhere, Real Madrid’s fear of finishing fourth behind Villarreal must have inspired them to victory this weekend, and it paid off. Real beat Celta 7-1 thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo’s four goals, whilst Villarreal lost at home to Las Palmas. The Yellow Submarine there, clearly having difficulties adapting to the pressure at the very top….
That Las Palmas win brings them away from the doomed spots which are still occupied by Levante, Gijon and Granada.
And finally… Gary Neville’s Valencia™ are starting to break pre-Neville Valencia records as they lost at home to Atletico Madrid. Fernando Torres came off the bench to score his third in six games, whilst Atletico have conceded only 12 goals all season – a third of which have been scored by Barcelona. At least Valencia scored, I guess.
Winners – Athletic Bilbao, who capitalised on Real’s thrashing of Celta to go into a European spot
Losers – Villarreal, who won’t mind defeat too much given that they already look virtually assured of the fourth and final Champions League spot.