LaLiga’s title race rests on Sunday’s game at Camp Nou, while so much in the Premier League depends on one match at the London Stadium. We’ll delve into all that, and more, in this week’s edition of The Assist.
Can Madrid ruin Barcelona’s party?
Three years, one month, and 16 days after Barcelona last hosted El Clásico at Camp Nou, the world’s most famous club fixture is back at the revamped stadium.
And to make it all the more momentous, Barcelona can claim back-to-back titles for the first time since 2019 by avoiding defeat against their arch rivals. Only once has a result in El Clásico directly confirmed the winners of LaLiga, and that went in Madrid’s favour way back in 1932.
This has the potential to be the most famous edition of this great rivalry in Barcelona’s history.
But can Madrid possibly delay the inevitable? It might be some consolation for Los Blancos going a second consecutive season without any major silverware.
West Ham vs. Arsenal
Back in the Premier League, there’s one game that will have a massive impact on both ends of the table, and that takes place at the London Stadium on Sunday.
The Hammers find themselves back in the relegation zone for the first time in a month after their dismal defeat to Brentford was compounded by a second consecutive win for relegation rivals Spurs. West Ham now sit one point below Roberto De Zerbi’s side with three to play, and are given a 77% probability of suffering relegation by Opta’s all-knowing Supercomputer.
They are unbeaten in six home games, but Arsenal have lost just one of their last 14 away games at West Ham, and have racked up 6-0 and 5-2 wins on their last two visits.
In contrast, Arsenal know two more wins is all they need to secure the title regardless of other results.
Manchester City can cut Arsenal’s lead back down to three, with a win against Brentford on Saturday evening. That game may also have an impact on the race for the Golden Boot, with Erling Haaland (25 goals) going up against nearest rival, Igor Thiago (22 goals).
Spurs don’t play until Monday night, when Leeds visit North London. Even if they start that game back in the bottom three, a positive result will heap the pressure back on West Ham.
Who do you think takes the third and final relegation place?
It’s Cup final weekend in our native Norway, and there might be reason to celebrate at FotMob HQ, as our hometown club Brann take on Champions League darlings Bodø/Glimt.
Glimt haven’t had it all their own way since their European exit. They sit fourth in the fledgling Eliteserien table, two places better off than Brann — the side who wear FotMob on their backs.
The lottery of the Championship Playoffs
Coventry City and Ipswich Town have confirmed their promotion but there is still one place in the Premier League up for grabs as the Championship playoff semifinals get underway this weekend.
Tonight, Millwall go Hull City, for the first leg of their tie. Hull are the rank outsiders having finished sixth, and only sneaking in to that position due to results on the final day. No one who has taken the last playoff place has gone on to win promotion since Blackpool back in 2010.
Millwall, with their league high 18 clean sheets, will be confident of taking Hull back to the Den and finishing the job at home.
Southampton are the form side going into the last leg of the season, going unbeaten in the league since mid-January - a run of 19 games - and beating Premier League leaders Arsenal en route to the FA Cup semifinals. Saints face Middlesbrough tomorrow - a tie that pits the league’s second highest scorers (82 goals to Coventry’s 97) against the side who conceded the least xG across the season (44.1 to Southampton’s 57.6).
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In Denmark, where traditional giants FC København are enduring a generationally poor campaign, we’ve been left with a very exciting title race.
AGF Aarhus currently hold a two point lead over Midtjylland,despite losing 2-1 and drawing 0-0 against Midtjylland when the two met twice in the space of a week in April.
AGF are now tantalisingly close to their first league title in 40 years but will likely need a result in both of their remaining games, starting with Sunday’s trip to Steve Cooper’s Brøndby.
LASK’s finest hour came way back in the 1964/65 season when they won both the Austrian Bundesliga and the Cup. Then followed 61 fallow years without a major top flight honour.
But now, amazingly, they’re on course to repeat that once in a lifetime double feat! Last Friday, they beat Altach 4-2 after extra-time to seal half of the deal, the ÖFB Cup.
Back in the Bundesliga, they need to press home a two-point lead over the rest of the league in the final two rounds of the campaign. First up, the leaders face third placed Salzburg, one of the two clubs who realistically stop them from completing the double.
Salzburg won the title for 10 straight seasons up until 2023 but are now in danger of missing out for a third year in a row.
The latest and greatest from FotMob’s writers
The eagle-eyed FotMob users among you will have noticed touches in the opposition box have been promoted to the primary stats list within matches.
And it isn’t always as you’d expect. Above, QPR managed only 6 touches in Portmouth’s box, and went on to win 6 - 1! Serious efficiency.
Friday: Borussia Dortmund can confirm second place in the Bundesliga (for the sixth time in the past decade) with a point against Eintracht Frankfurt. Lens still have a slim chance of catching PSG in Ligue 1 but need to beat Nantes before the two title rivals then meet next Wednesday. And in Bulgaria, there’s the always-fun Spider-Man-pointing-meme reenactment between the two CSKA sides fighting over the legacy of the one true CSKA Sofia.
Saturday: Liverpool vs. Chelsea is the lunchtime kick off in the Premier League, a tie between two sides who’ve somewhat lost their way this season. In a quirk of the fixture gods, Lazio and Inter face each other in Serie A, just four days before they meet again in the final of the Coppa Italia. Expect both to rest players with Inter’s Scudetto already won. Back in the Bundesliga, Bayern may be looking to take out their Champions League disappointment on unsuspecting domestic rivals, which is bad news for the relegation threatened Wolfsburg, who play hosts to the Bavarians. And Hearts can take a six-point lead in Scotland if they can win at Motherwell.
Sunday: Celtic and Rangers meet for the sixth and final time this season, with the winners likely to go on and pose the biggest threat to Hearts’ fairytale title bid. The three English semifinalists in the Europa and Conference Leagues all feature in the Premier League fixtures, with Villa’s trip to Burnley and Crystal Palace vs. Everton having the most impact on the race to qualify for Europe again next season. Milan’s home tie against Atalanta is a battle for the minor places in Serie A, and Union St. Gilloise’s defence of the title in Belgium rests on their result against Mechelen.
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