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- Chelsea vs. Arsenal, Palace vs. Man United, Madrid, Roma, MLS, and more
Chelsea vs. Arsenal, Palace vs. Man United, Madrid, Roma, MLS, and more
All the games you need to follow in your FotMob match feed.
Welcome to the Assist, your weekly guide to the weekend in football. We take you through all the key games in the top leagues from around the world, plus provide a couple of stories that have been bubbling away nicely, and hopefully help you get the best out of your FotMob app.
Chelsea vs. Arsenal
What a week it’s been for Premier League and Champions League leaders Arsenal. First the Gunners trounced Spurs in the North London Derby to move six points clear in the league. Then they beat Bayern Munich, arguably the other form in Europe on Wednesday night. Harry Kane, the all-time leading goalscorer against Arsenal in North London Derbies, didn’t even register a shot for current club Bayern.
Mikel Arteta’s side are in dominant form. And they’ll go in to Sunday’s game against Chelsea as favourites despite their injuries, and despite the fact that Chelsea are coming off of a fine few days themselves - Tuesday’s home win over Barcelona being the highlight of their campaign.
Renowned for making frequent changes to his team, Enzo Maresca appears to have gotten a little closer to a nailing a best XI, and with new boy Estêvão impressing in every game he’s featured, the Blues have moved up to second in the table.
In this battle between former Pep Guardiola assistants turned managers, expect to see the tackles flying in and every set piece contested fiercely. Arsenal are unbeaten in seven competitive games against Chelsea, and they won’t want to give up that run here.
Crystal Palace vs. Man United
Before that, fifth placed Crystal Palace take on Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United in the early Sunday kickoff.
United missed a potential chance to move above The Eagles with Monday’s frustrating home defeat to Everton - a game in which they racked up 25 shots with a combined xGOT figure of 1.85. They might find it even tougher still to break down a Palace side that has conceded just nine times in the league this season, a figure that only leaders Arsenal can better.
Worryingly for United, they’ve failed to score in their last four games against Palace, losing three of those in the process.
Oliver Glasner will no doubt be pleased with that, but he made it perfectly clear that he wasn’t happy with the lack of goals his side are scoring at the other end following their Conference League defeat at Strasbourg last night.
In the top half of the Premier League only Aston Villa and Sunderland have scored less than the 16 that the Eagles have mustered so far. Jean-Pierre Mateta has six of those to his name, and he’ll be the focal point for the current FA Cup holders here.
Girona vs. Real Madrid
Back-to-back draws — the second of which, at Elche, was only secured by Jude Bellingham’s 89th minute goal — have eroded Real Madrid’s lead at the top of LaLiga to one point.
That, plus defeat at Liverpool in the Champions League, have somewhat dampened the mood that had been building in the Spanish capital following the Clásico win over Barcelona in October. And now questions are already being raised of coach Xabi Alonso.
Four goals from Kylian Mbappé that inflicted a first home defeat tasted by Greek champions Olympiacos since March 2024, relieved some of the pressure on on Alonso, and he’ll be hoping to get back to winning ways in the league as they travel to Girona on Sunday.
Girona are not the same side that finished third when Madrid last won the league just two seasons ago. In fact, they might now be worse than the side that dropped to 16th in 2023/24. They currently find themselves in the relegation zone and have scored a total of 12 goals in 13 games, one less than Mbappé has managed in the league by himself.
Roma vs. Napoli
Another week, another massive game in the Serie A title race. After AC Milan’s derby victory over Inter allowed Roma to claim top spot with a win over Cremonese last weekend, Roma must now defend their position as they visit Napoli, last season’s defending champions, at the Stadio Olimpico.
Going in to the weekend, Napoli sit third in a congested top end of the table, with just three points separating leaders Roma from fifth-placed Bologna.
Results between the main contenders have been tit-for-tat so far. For instance, Antonio Conte’s team have struggled a little for consistency — they’ve beaten Inter but lost to both Milan and Bologna.
Roma, however, have been transformed under former-Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini. Formerly known for the expansive football that turned his former side in to Europa League winners, he’d switched tact to make Roma a solid defensive unit who have conceded just six goals in their 12 games to date.
This week, we went in to great detail about Roma’s new look and feel in this article - which you can read by clicking - here.
The mammoth 2025 season is winding it’s way to a conclusion in Major League Soccer, with the Conference Finals taking place this weekend and the two winners contesting the MLS Cup playoff final next week.
Perhaps unsurprisingly — with the league now up to 30 teams — of the remaining four, only New York City are past winners of the whole shebang. And in any other year, the fact that the league’s 30th team, San Diego FC, have reached the Western Conference Final in their inaugural season would be the main talking point.
For those wondering, only one expansion side has ever managed to win the MLS Cup in their first season (Chicago Fire back in 1998). Standing in the way of San Diego’s moment in the sun are a Vancouver Whitecaps side gunning to become only the second Canadian side, after Toronto in 2017, to claim the title.
Already performing well above expectations, the Whitecaps have looked almost untouchable since Bayern legend Thomas Müller joined midseason. The German has scored eight and provided three assists in his 10 games and yet, his presence is still not the biggest potential storyline in these playoffs.
That’s because the side taking on NYCFC in the Eastern final is Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami. Messi led a side that featured seven Argentine compatriots, plus Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, and coached by Javier Mascherano, to an easy win over Cincinnati to set up this deciding game. With a goal and three assists, Messi moved on to 45 goal contributions for the season (35 goals, 20 assists), and he’ll be looking to deliver that first title that Inter Miami have been chasing since joining the league in 2020.
The Eliteserien, the top level of men’s football in Norway, comes to a dramatic head this weekend, with the title set to be decided in the 30th and final round of the 2025 season.
Bodø/Glimt, who have been Norwegian champions in four of the last five years, haven’t had it all their way this year. The team from inside the Arctic Circle made famous by their exploits in the Europa League, and this season’s Champions League, have built that continental presence on domestic dominance.
This season however, Viking, a team perennially looking to plunder one of the European qualification spots, have matched them win for win. Both have 21 victories in their 29 games, but crucially Viking have drawn five to leave themselves one point above Glimt heading in to the last weekend.
Due to their involvement in the qualification rounds for the Champions League earlier in the year, Glimt have always been playing catch up. Both games between the two even ended in matching 4-2 wins for the away side! Now, Viking just need to match or better Glimt’s result on Sunday evening to claim a first league title since 1991.
Viking host sixth placed Vålerenga, who have nothing to play for, while Glimt face seventh placed Fredrikstad, who may be similarly under-motivated.
We’re 14 games in to the Swiss Super League season and promoted side FC Thun currently find themselves four points clear at the top of the table. After spending five years outside the top flight, and having never won a major league or cup title (in 127 years of existence) they are determined to make the most of their return.
Until last weekend’s loss to Lugano, their only defeats of the campaign had come against the two sides who traditionally dominate the division, Youngs Boys and Basel. They remain comfortably above both of them.
On Sunday, they take on midtable Luzerne, who themselves are a bit of an anomaly this season. Two of their four wins to date have come against Young Boys and Basel. And, amazingly, they put five goals past both of them.
Bournemouth’s high-pressing, goalscoring, Ghana international is going to be a name you see mentioned in transfer speculation a lot between now and January. Semenyo has a release clause that will tempt many, and the Premier League stats that justify the price tag.
Coach Francesco Farioli was in charge of Ajax as they suffered one of the all-time title race collapses at the end of last season. But times have changed, and the Italian is seeking redemption at Porto, where he has overseen an 11 game unbeaten start to the campaign that has them back on top in the Liga Portugal
Thomas Tuchel knows it, Sean Dyche and the array of Nottingham Forest’s previous recent managers know it. Liverpool found out all about it last weekend. Now the rest of the country is waking up to the fact that midfield dynamo Elliot Anderson is one of the best English players in his position in the Premier League.
The profile pages for your favourite teams in the FotMob app are a treasure trove of information, and we think they’re equally useful for those of you that enjoy a hate watch as well.
Two of the best features we’ve added in recent years are the graphs that chart a side’s final table positions across past seasons - this is particularly great when quickly checking whether you’ve misremembered that season you’ve just been waxing lyrical about to your mates - and we also provide a plotted history of coaches’ win percentages. Is the grass really greener with the new man in charge, or has your club made a mistake by sacking the last guy?
Search for any side or click any team name in the app to navigate to their profile.
Pro Tip: Click on any of the matches below, then tap the star in the right hand side of the match page. This will automatically bring them to the top of your main feed in the app.
Friday: Cesc Fàbregas’ Como look to continue their solid start to the campaign when they face Sassuolo, and the top two meet in the 2. Bundesliga, as Schalke host leaders Paderborn. And with an international break underway in the women’s game, the UEFA Women’s Nations League semifinals take place.
Saturday: Manchester City face Leeds United as they try to break a run of two defeats, and there’s some big games in the Bundesliga as Leverkusen take on Dortmund and Bayern play St. Pauli. The two Brazilian sides that are currently embroiled in a two-horse title must put that to one side as Palmeiras and Flamengo face each other in the final of the Copa Libertadores, South America’s biggest club game.
Sunday: Sevilla vs. Real Betis, one of LaLiga’s most important derbies, Spain’s ‘Gran Derbi’ in fact, is an afternoon highlight on your feed. Arne Slot will be searching for a change in fortunes as Liverpool visit West Ham United. And Porto, who’s unbeaten start to the season we mentioned earlier (see above), play Estoril at home.
Congrats to Irvin who won our new subscriber competition! We’ll be in touch via email today about getting a shirt sent your way. More like Ir-win, am I rite!?
And current subscribers — keep your eyes peeled for upcoming competitions for you as well.