The Battle for European Spots Continues
With the excitement of the midweek European Cup games behind us, it is now time to focus on the upcoming weekend again. There aren’t so many matchups between giants of the European game to look forward to this time around but, nevertheless, there are some important ties as we approach the end of the season with most of the Leagues around Europe very tightly contested.
There is a full schedule of events from the lower leagues in England on Friday since it is a public holiday, with the usual few matches from Europe’s top leagues also taking place. There is no early kick off on Saturday from the PL so we have to wait until 4 pm for our first taste of action. Brighton, Bournemouth and Manchester City are all chasing European spots and they all play away from home but the highlight of the day is the late match between Aston Villa and Newcastle, who both had tough midweek matches. French Champions PSG are at home to Le Havre with fellow top four teams Monaco and Marseille both playing at home on Saturday too. Bayern Munich will be hoping for a straightforward three points when they travel to Heidenheim. In Italy, Napoli will be hoping for an away win over Monza and AS Roma will hope to get the better of Verona. Highlights from La Liga on Saturday include a home tie for leaders Barcelona whilst Atlético Madrid travel to Las Palmas.
There are four PL matches on Sunday starting with a West London derby as Chelsea need to get back to winning ways against Fulham. Arsenal also play away from home at Ipswich and Manchester United play at Old Trafford against Wolves. The final match of the day sees the Champions in waiting Liverpool travel to troubled Leicester. Other highlights from around Europe include Bayer Leverkusen’s trip to St Pauli as they hope to close the gap on leaders Bayern and a couple of clashes from the top section of the Serie A as leaders Inter take on Bologna and AC Milan host Atalanta. The late match from La Liga sees second take on fourth as Real Madrid play against Athletic Bilbao in the late match.
Easter Monday sees another full round of fixtures from the lower divisions in England. In Italy, Juventus’ battle for top four sees them travel to Parma whilst Lazio also face an away trip to another team in the lower half of the table as they travel to Genoa. Sixth place Betis will play an away match against lowly Girona on Monday evening.
Aston Villa vs Newcastle
Villa Park, Saturday @ 18:30
Aston Villa will be looking to bounce back after exiting the CL on Tuesday evening, despite a battling 3-2 home win over PSG. They can hold their heads high and their fans have certainly enjoyed the adventure in Europe’s top competition, so the pressure is now on for them to get there again for next season. They go into this match in seventh place but on the back of four straight wins in a row in the league and another win will see them keep pace with those teams above them with only five rounds of fixtures remaining after this week. Only Fulham have scored fewer league goals out of the top ten and their goal difference of +3 is something to work on for next season. That being said, the fact they find themselves in with a shout of finishing in the top four despite the rigours of a tough European campaign means they have fared better than their opponents Newcastle did last season when they also made an appearance in the CL.
Newcastle have been on an excellent run and will be hoping to cement their place in the top four. Should they manage to end the season there they will be more than happy with their season, especially since they have picked up their first piece of silverware for many many years when winning the League Cup. Manager Eddie Howe remains absent following recent health issues so he will need to trust his assistants to get the right instructions out. CL football is looking highly likely next season and will be key to keeping their best players at the club, with teams all over Europe chasing the likes of star striker Alexander Isak and midfielder Bruno Guimarães.
Fulham vs Chelsea
Craven Cottage, Sunday @ 15:00
Six points separate these two teams with both aiming for European football next season. Fulham have been inconsistent of late with results alternating between wins and losses. They are winning their home matches though, so going by sequence they should win against Chelsea. 47 goals is the lowest total of goals scored by any team in the top ten and they are up against the best defence out of any of the teams outside the top three. Fulham won the return fixture and will be hoping to do the double over their local rivals.
Chelsea are going through a tricky period with only two wins from their last five league matches seeing them drop down to sixth in the table and if their form doesn’t improve they face a battle to retain their place in the European spots for next season. Cole Palmer remains their key player and one of their only bright lights but his form has dipped in the second half of this season and question marks are once again being raised over manager Enzo Maresca. The focus for Chelsea till the end of the season is likely to be winning the ECL, which they should do, but they will need to be careful not to dismiss the league completely.
Manchester United vs Wolves
Old Trafford, Sunday @ 15:00
What can one say about Manchester United’s PL campaign this season that hasn’t already been said? It is certainly one that fans will want to forget as they are on target for their worst finish since the PL began and they are breaking records left, right and centre, unfortunately all in the negative sense. Ruben Amorim has prioritised the EL since taking over as the club were aware that it was the most likely way into Europe next season but their poor league form has left fans disgruntled. They go into this match in 14th place in the league and only three points ahead of West Ham, who occupy the last ‘safe’ spot in the table in seventeenth.
A win for Wolves will see them draw level with Manchester United in the table on 38 points and will mean they will have done the double over their illustrious opponents. The comfortable 2-0 win over United on Boxing Day was one of Wolves’ ten wins to date and they will be confident of winning at Old Trafford too, such has been the form of their opponents. They are in good form too with four wins in a row, including a 4-2 win over another struggling team, Tottenham, last weekend. Defensively they are the worst team in the league outside the bottom three though, with 61 goals conceded to date, so we can probably expect a few goals in this tie.
AC Milan vs Atalanta
San Siro, Sunday @ 20:45
The home side are currently marginal favourites to win despite their league position. The Italian giants from Milan are having a season to forget as they find themselves down in ninth place going into this game and five points off European football. A few wins in a row would see them reignite their charge for a European place but they are running out of time with only six matches left to play this season. This is a tough one too as Atalanta are battling for a top four finish and will want to follow up their win over Bologna with another three points here. Only two teams in the top ten have conceded more goals than AC Milan and nine defeats to their name already is too many at this stage.
Atalanta recorded a much needed three points last weekend, getting the better of Bologna in an important tie in the top four race. That win ended a run of three straight defeats and they will be looking to build on that with another positive result here. Realistically they can’t hope for a better finish than third at this stage as they are seven points behind Napoli in second and a further three behind leaders Inter. Goalscoring remains their biggest asset and the 65 scored so far is second only to leaders Inter and they are unbeaten in their last four matches against AC Milan.
Real Madrid vs Bilbao
Santiago Bernabeu, Sunday @ 21:00
The evening match from Spain should be an interesting encounter between Real Madrid and Bilbao with the home side knowing they cannot afford to drop any more points if they are to keep pace with Barcelona at the top of the table. They will need to gather themselves after a gruelling match against Arsenal on Wednesday and will be well aware that they go into the weekend with a four point deficit to Barcelona and only three points ahead of local rivals Atlético Madrid. Star striker Kylian Mbappe will miss this match as he is suspended for one game following his red card against Alaves last weekend, but he can count himself lucky to be only given a one game ban.
Athletic Bilbao are having an excellent season and find themselves in fourth place with a nice six point gap to the team below them, Villarreal. Defence has been key to their success and they have the best record in the league with only 25 goals conceded so far and they are unbeaten in their last seven games overall. They played in the EL in midweek so have no advantage over their opponents in that sense but they did beat Real in the return fixture, although that was their only win in their last ten encounters. Oihan Sancet is their star player this season, the midfielder already has 15 goals to his name.
Please note that the odds might have changed since the writing and/or publication of this article.
Last updated: 16.04.25
