After playing during the holidays, the Premier League is still not letting up. The meeting between Liverpool and Manchester United on Saturday is more prestigious historically than if we consider the respective form of the protagonists.
Arne Slot’s Liverpool is an armada which dominates the Premier League (six points ahead of Arsenal with a game in hand) and the Champions League (six victories in six matches). The teammates of a Mohamed Salah in great shape could make short work of Manchester United, in perpetual crisis for several years and again since the start of Rúben Amorim’s mandate (three defeats in a row at the end of 2024).
English fans will also be able to enjoy a much more balanced clash on paper between the inconsistent Tottenham (11th) and a vigorous Newcastle (5th), Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City (6th), which seeks to confirm a slight return to form after its astonishing crisis, faces West Ham (13th) on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
Italy: a Roman derby in the absence of the big names
While Atalanta, Inter Milan, Juventus and AC Milan are in Saudi Arabia to compete in the Italian Super Cup until January 6, Serie A is not letting up. Seven matches are on the program for Saturday and Sunday of the 19th day, the end of the first leg.
It can allow Naples, 2nd with 41 points like the leader, Atalanta, to take sole control in the event of a draw or success on the field of Fiorentina on Saturday (6:00 p.m.).
The weekend’s headliner takes place on Sunday (8:45 p.m.) at the Olympic Stadium in Rome with the often sulphurous derby between Roma and Lazio. The two clubs from the capital are separated by 15 points. If Lazio, 4th with 35 points, can dream of the Champions League, the objective at the start of the season of its neighbor and rival, AS Rome is experiencing a nightmarish 2024-25 financial year.
She has already fired two coaches (Daniele De Rossi, Ivan Juric), displays a sometimes distressing level of play and her ultras fulminate against certain players and especially against the managers. Even the arrival of the respected Claudio Ranieri has not really changed the situation: since he came out of retirement in mid-November at the age of 73, Roma have only pocketed seven points in six league matches.
But the club, 10th with 20 points, six lengths behind the first relegation, remains in two encouraging matches, a 5-0 demonstration against Parma and a 1-1 draw against AC Milan at San Siro which sealed the fate of Paulo Fonseca, thanked immediately.
Par Le360 (with AFP)
01/03/2025 at 10:42 a.m.
