It’s Friday, you know the drill. The Assist returns with info on the Carabao Cup Final, all the goings on back in the Premier League, plus big games in LaLiga, the Eredivisie, and beyond.
Arsenal vs. Man City
In a tantalising precursor to April’s title-deciding clash between Arsenal and Man City, the two challengers meet to decide the first silverware of the season in England.
For City, this comes after Champions League disappointment in the week, and with them on a run of one win in five games across all competitions. But while some look down on the Carabao as an unnecessary tournament, secondary to the FA Cup, Pep Guardiola has a strong legacy to protect having led City to four consecutive titles between 2018 and 2021.
This is City’s first final since then, a run of victories that started against Arsenal, on what was their last final appearance back in 2018. Mikel Arteta, famously, only has one FA Cup trophy to his name in his six years at Arsenal, and he’ll be desperate to change that. Not only for himself, but also for the psychological damage it could do to City ahead of a career-defining final few weeks of the season.
Spurs vs. Nottingham Forest
Back in the Premier League, there’s the six pointer to decide all six pointers, as Nottingham Forest head to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday. Forest sit 17th in the table, outside the relegation zone on goal difference only, and one point below Spurs in 16th.
The season has been calamitous for both sides. Forest are on their fourth different manager, while Spurs stuck with Thomas Frank up until February when his sacking led to the interim appointment of Igor Tudor.
Tudor’s reign has been disastrous, with his only win to date coming in the second leg of a Champions League tie they’d effectively already lost. But perhaps we shouldn’t diminish the importance that that result will have had on their confidence, especially with it following on from the last minute equaliser that earned them a point at Liverpool in the league last weekend. The same could be said for Forest, with the Tricky Trees progressing to the quarterfinals of the Europa League on Thursday.
The damming fact remains, though, that Spurs are the only side in the Premier League without a win in 2026, while Forest have gone six games since they last picked up three points.
West Ham, the side that sit level on points with Forest, but on a much better run of form, go to Aston Villa for a game that kicks off simultaneously with Spurs vs. Forest.
The Tyne-Wear Derby also takes place on Sunday, with Sunderland making the short trip to Newcastle looking to protect a proud nine-game unbeaten record in league play that dates back to 2011 against their North East rivals.
Álvaro Arbeloa can’t afford a slip up in LaLiga’s Sunday night headliner as the two Madrid giants clash at the Bernabéu. Especially if league leaders Barcelona stretch their lead at the top to seven points earlier in the day.
For his part, Diego Simeone will be relishing the role that Atlético Madrid will get to play as we reach crunch time in LaLiga. The Rojiblancos have the Derby this weekend and then face Barcelona in the next round. They’ve already shown their hand as the great disrupters this season, having scored four first half goals then sat back to defend their lead over the consequent one and half legs of their recent Copa Del Rey clash with Barca, and they beat Real 5-2 when they met them earlier in the season.
Admittedly, Real got a revenge of sorts by knocking Madrid out of the Supercopa but fans will be wary having watched their side lose two of their last four in the league and cede advantage to Barca in the title race.
Atlético and Real have the best two defences in the division but both will be without their first choice and world class goalkeepers this weekend, with both Thibaut Courtois and Jan Oblak out injured.
For their part, Barcelona host Rayo Vallecano on Sunday afternoon, a side who haven’t won away since early January.
Feyenoord vs. Ajax
It’s time for De Klassieker in the Netherlands as arch rivals Feyenoord and Ajax meet on Sunday afternoon. It’s essentially a battle for second place in the Eredivisie, with runaway leaders PSV enjoying a healthy 16 point lead with seven games left to play.
Feyenoord sit second, three points clear of Ajax, with the Amsterdam club going through a season of upheaval that has seen Jordi Cruyff appointed as sporting director in a bid to stabilise results on the pitch and uncertainty off it. One of his first moves was to bring in Óscar García to coach the B team, Jong Ajax, who were struggling in the second tier. Now though, he’s had to promote García to the first team as caretaker manager after demoting previous coach Fred Grim (great name!) back to an academy role.
García won his first game in charge last weekend but coming up against Robin van Persie’s Feyenoord will be a far tougher challenge. Since suffering a defeat to PSV at the start of February that effectively ended their title challenge, Feyenoord have recovered to win four of their consequent six games, and have integrated random late season signing Raheem Sterling in to the starting XI. The (possibly former) England international has featured four times so far, and registered his first assist for the winning goal against Excelsior last time out.
It’s quarterfinal, second leg weekend in the CAF Champions League, as eight of Africa’s top clubs vie for the chance to win the continent’s biggest club competition.
With Espérance (Tunisia), the fourth most decorated side in tournament history, embroiled in a two-legged battle against record winners Al Ahly (Egypt) the rest of the draw looks relatively open. Which is good news for Malian club Stade Malien, who have enjoyed one of their best ever runs in continental competition.
Sadly, despite sporting a crest that very closely resembles an England badge of a certain vintage, the 32-time champions of Mali are not known as The Three Crocs. We think they really should be. And will gladly start that campaign here.
The Whites (boring!) have work to do, however, if they want to continue their good run. They find themselves trailing 3-0 in their tie against South African giants Mamelodi Sundowns, a side who have claimed the last eight domestic titles in their home country.
In Austria, the other Bundesliga has just split in to two, with the country’s top division separated in to a Championship group fighting for the title, and a relegation group looking to avoid the dreaded drop. With the regular season points halved at this stage - a practice being abandoned after this year - and with one game already played, the formally dominant Salzburg have slipped from second to fourth.
This weekend, the Red Bull side, who haven’t claimed the title in two seasons having won the previous 10 in a row, face current leaders Sturm Graz. The Championship group table is looking tantalisingly close, with just five points the difference between top and Hartberg, who sit bottom.
Graz beat Salzburg to the top prize in 2023/24 and 2024/25 and haven’t lost any of the past four meetings between the two. They therefore won’t want to slip up here, not with Rapid Vienna and LASK (third vs. second) also playing one another this weekend, and Salzburg currently on a torrid run of results. They’re goalless in four, drawing once before suffering three straight 1-nil defeats.
Eligible for three national teams, wanted by both the USMNT and Germany, Augsburg’s 19-year-old centre back is taking his time on pledging his international allegiance. Here, we’ve taken a look at what all the fuss is about.
The Imps are on the march in League One, and under the management of former PE teacher Michael Skubala, they’re looking to seal their first promotion to England’s second tier in over a generation. In this piece, we tell the story of their special season to date.
The Uruguayan stole all the headlines with his Champions League hattrick against Manchester City but a deeper dive on his numbers across all competitions shows he has been invaluable to Real Madrid during a campaign that still has them fighting on two fronts.
Nottingham Forest fans won’t need a reminder that their trigger happy owner Evangelos Marinakis has been through four managers over the course of the Premier League season. But they, and you, may find yourselves wanting to compare how each coach has fared.
With the coach win percentage charts in FotMob, you can do just that. Head to any team profile page and you’ll find a plotted history of their current and past managers, with both their win percentage, and their points per game record.
You can track back, as far as we have the data, to relive past glories or laugh at just how bad you had it when the guy you’ve tried so hard to forget about was in the dugout.
Pro Tip: Click on any of the matches below, then tap the star in the right hand side of the match page to add them to your Following section.
Friday: This weekend starts hard. Manchester United head to Bournemouth, Lens have another chance to go above PSG to top Ligue 1 (they missed out last weekend), Napoli can move second in Serie A, and Villarreal can take third spot in LaLiga, should they beat Real Sociedad. In the Bundesliga, it’s third vs. fifth as Hoffenheim travel to RB Leipzig.
Saturday: Japan take on Australia’s Matildas in the Women’s Asian Cup Final. Everton vs. Chelsea and Leeds vs. Brentford are the key matchups in the Premier League, while Bayern Munich face Union Berlin as they close in on another German title, and PSG go to relegation threatened Nice in Ligue 1. Hearts play Dundee as the title race tightens in Scotland, with just three points separating them from third placed Rangers.
Sunday: Ahead of the Madrid Derby later in the day, Barcelona have the chance to go seven points clear in LaLiga, if they beat Rayo Vallecano at Camp Nou. West Ham’s trip to Aston Villa is vital for both sides in their bid to stay up / qualify for the Champions League. After midweek disappointment in the Concacaf Champions Cup, Inter Miami get back to it at NYCFC in MLS, and their Milan namesakes visit Fiorentina looking to maintain their stranglehold on Serie A.
