While there may be no Champions League or Europa League action this week, that doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s a very busy schedule ahead of us over the next few days across Europe.
Many top nations are taking advantage of the break from European competitions to take in a round of domestic cup matches before another full round of league games at the weekend. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are mostly dominated by matches from EFL Cup in England, that is DFB Cup in Germany and King’s Cup in Spain.
There is also early cup action from Türkiye, with qualifying matches underway for Turkish Cup. The only exception in Europe’s top division is Series A in Italy, which has a full schedule of ten matches running from Tuesday to Thursday.
English Football Highlights
Starting with the EFL Cup, there are a number of top matches that English football fans should follow in the ⅛ finals. The highlight is Wednesday night’s match between Tottenham and Manchester City. Although the final position in the league is very important, a club like Tottenham must certainly prioritize winning some trophies after going so long without lifting any.
Manchester City may decide to make some changes as this will be their priority, so of course fans of the North London team will hope they put out a strong team and make a real effort to progress to the next round.
Liverpool face a tough away game at Brighton, although they have beaten most of their opponents with ease so far this season and manager Arne Slot will see this competition as an ideal way to get his hands on his first trophy as Liverpool manager.
Another interesting clash is Chelsea’s visit to Newcastle, especially as the two have only played each other at the weekend, with Chelsea winning 2-1, so this is an ideal opportunity for revenge for Newcastle. Manchester United are down in 14th place in the league and lost again at the weekend, they face Leicester at home and will definitely need to get back to winning in Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s first game in charge following the sacking of Erik Ten Hag.
Italian Football
In Italy, there is a full schedule of Serie A matches to be played throughout the week with matches on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. An exciting draw between Inter and Juventus on Sunday means that Napoli opened up a four-point lead at the top of the table and they will hope to maintain it, although they face a tough trip to AC Milan on Tuesday evening.
Defending champions Inter also travel to mid-table Empoli, while third-placed Juventus host Parma on Wednesday looking to build on the points they picked up against Inter on Sunday.
Struggling Genoa will hope to pick up their second win of the season when they host Fiorentina, but they are the worst-performing team in the league, along with rock-bottom Lecce, who face Verona.
German Football
There are sixteen matches scheduled in the DFB Pokal Cup with a number of exciting fixtures that German Football fans are looking forward to. Dortmund travel to Wolfsburg on Tuesday evening and RB Leipzig welcome St Pauli in one of the earlier kick offs. On Wednesday Bayern Munich are on their way to Mainz while there is another interesting match between Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Monchengladbach as the teams look to qualify for the ⅛ finals which will take place on December 3.
This Week’s Match Preview
Elsewhere there are plenty of matches from the early rounds of the Copa del Rey and Turkish Cup as well as matches from the Scottish Premiership.
The weekend’s games aren’t as exciting as last week’s, but there are still some good games to watch. The Premier League kicks off with Newcastle taking on Arsenal in the opening game on Saturday and arguably the game of the weekend is Sunday’s match between Manchester United and Chelsea, with the home team eager to start climbing the table and hoping for a new manager. improvement under their former striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
French league leaders PSG welcome Lens to Paris in one of three games on Saturday and second-placed Monaco will hope to equal their points by winning Friday night’s game against bottom-placed Angers. Lille and Lyon are another interesting match on Friday night and Marseille travel to mid-table Nantes on Sunday night.
The Bundesliga kicks off on Friday with a match between third-placed Leverkusen and eighth-placed Stuttgart with the home side needing three points to keep pace with the top two, Bayern and RB Leipzig, who are both five points clear of last year’s champions.
League leaders Bavaria face a tough game against Union Berlin, who are currently fourth and having another good season so far. This weekend’s clash will most likely be Dortmund’s clash against RB Leipzig, with the home side struggling in seventh position with just thirteen points from eight games played.
There is no time to rest for the Serie A teams in Italy as they will be back in action after midweek games. The toughest match looks to be league leaders Napoli against Atalanta, who are currently outside the top four. Inter will host struggling Venezia while AC Milan travel to Monza and Juventus play away at Udinese.
Barcelona are six points clear at the top of the table following their win over Real at the weekend and they will be optimistic of getting another three points against city rivals Espanyol, who are down in seventeenth place.
Real will look to get back to winning ways when they face Valencia, who are currently bottom of the standings with just one win and seven points after eleven games. Atletico Madrid faces Las Palmas and Villareal hosts Rayo Vallecano.
There’s a big midweek clash in Türkiye between Galatasaray and Besiktas with the home team already five points clear of their rivals. Samsunspor are currently second and they will face Antalyaspor on Monday looking to match the big three at the top of the standings.
