Okay, the big showdown in the Premier League season is finally here, but what else is happening in world football this weekend? The Assist is here to guide you through the best fixtures that the FotMob match feed has to offer over the next three days.
Man City vs. Arsenal
This is the moment Pep Guardiola has been waiting for, in fact, it’s the match up we’ve all been building up to since the title race was narrowed down to two potential winners.
The equation is simple. A home win moves City to within three points of Arsenal, and likely swings the goal difference in their favour, meaning that should City win their game in hand (vs. Palace, date TBC), they’ll seize the initiative.
For Arsenal to avoid what would be a fourth straight second place finish in the league, now would be a good time to end their winless run at City that dates back to January 2015!
In the six games they’ve played over the past calendar month, The Gunners have ‘only’ won in European competition, and of course, lost to Man City in the Carabao Cup final back in March. Worryingly for Mikel Arteta, and although they qualified for the Champions League semifinals regardless, Arsenal mustered just one shot on target against Sporting in midweek.
In the league, only rivals United average more shots on target than Manchester City’s 5.3 per game.
PSG vs. Lyon
If you enjoyed Paris Saint Germain’s quiet dismantling of outgoing Premier League champions Liverpool in midweek, you might fancy checking out what Luis Enrique’s side can do to one of their big domestic rivals over the weekend.
Famously, Ligue 1 give PSG the week off between legs in the Champions League, so they’ll be returning to league action with a game in hand, and a four point lead at the top of the table.
Lyon start the weekend in fifth, a position that is largely thanks to their league-high 15 clean sheets and the goalkeeping of Dominik Greif. According to the underlying numbers created by xG, they should have conceded nine more goals than they have in reality.
PSG have won all of the previous six meetings against OL, but they haven’t had it their own way in any of those games - and they needed a stoppage time João Neves winner to settle a five-goal thriller back in November.
Liverpool need to bounce back quickly following that aforementioned European exit, especially if they want to qualify for the Champions League again next season. The Derby might not, therefore, be the ideal game for them to face next.
The Reds did not enjoy their last few visits to Everton’s Goodison Park but perhaps a chance of scene will help Arne Slot. After all, until recently, the Blue side beside the Mersey had been struggling to make their new home the fortress that the fans were craving - even now, Everton have only won six out of their sixteen games at the Hill Dickinson.
Thanks to some encouraging recent results, though, the mood in The Toffees camp is buoyant, with David Moyes looking to secure European qualification for the first time since 2018. A win here would narrow the gap to their fifth placed rivals to just two points.
Copa del Rey Final
The showpiece game of this season’s Copa Del Rey takes place on Saturday night and for the fourth time in the last 10 years, the final does not include one of Real Madrid or Barcelona.
Instead, Diego Simeone’s Atlético Madrid feature for the first time since they last won it in 2013. And they come up against 2020 winners Real Sociedad.
For American coach Pellegrino Matarazzo this is a first chance of silverware at a club that he took over as recently as December. It would be fair to say that he’s masterminded a complete change in fortunes, with Real Sociedad winning 11 of the 18 games he’s managed, and rising as high as seventh back in LaLiga.
Atlético may feel they’ve done the hard work already, having beaten Barcelona over two legs in the semifinals, but you can be certain that Simeone will be demanding maximum effort to secure a second career title in a competition that has alluded him since the very early years of his time in the Spanish capital.
And now for something completely different…
Coverage of The Sidemen Charity Match is back in the app, with the 2026 edition of the event taking place once again at a sold out Wembley Stadium in London.
The creator-led match, which pits The Sidemen against some of the world’s most famous YouTubers is watched by millions online, and raises money for charitable causes in the UK.
We’ve been collaborating with The Sidemen since 2022, when we, along with our data partners Opta, first covered the game with the same level of in-depth live info you would expect for a top Premier League fixture.
This year, you’ll be able to track all the real time stats, including xG, shot maps, player ratings, and heat maps. And for the first time, you’ll exclusively be able to vote for your Man of the Match via the app.
River Plate’s Estadio Monumental will play host to the biggest spectacle in world football this weekend - the Superclásico, the age old battle between Argentina’s greatest club sides, River and Boca Juniors.
The stadium, in Buenos Aires, has boasted the highest average attendance of any football ground worldwide for the past three calendar years, with 85,018 fans cramming in to the recently renovated stands per match in 2025.
When you consider that away fans are largely banned for domestic action in Argentina, that is one hell of a cauldron that Boca will be walking in to on Sunday evening. To make matters worse for the away team (who lie fourth in their side of the Liga Profesional to River’s second), River have won five straight league games under newly appointed manager Eduardo Coudet, equalling a record start set by a coach 63 years ago!
A selection of long reads published in the app over the last week…
We spoke to Melbourne Victory manager Arthur Diles about the fortuitous phone call that led to him signing a former World Cup winner who is now producing his best numbers in years.
The first female manager ever to be appointed in any of Europe’s top five leagues will oversee the run in for the side from Germany’s capital. And as we found out, the trailblazing Eta was by far the best internal candidate available.
We’ve hit ‘The Split’ in Scotland, meaning the league is now divided in two and the top six sides play each other one final time. With just five games to go, three points is all that separates leaders Hearts, Rangers, and Celtic.
Man City’s French international is on a one man mission to entertain the masses at a team more famous for it’s rigid tactical framework. Could he be the difference maker in the title race?
The FotMob lineup builder, which previously has only ever been found on our website, is now available in the latest versions of the app - so please check the Google Play Store or the App Store for an update over the next few days.
We’re so excited to bring this little tool to a whole new audience that we’ve even been badgering every famous footballer we meet to select a team for us - above is the England XI for the World Cup as chosen by former England and Liverpool legend John Barnes!
You too can have a go at picking a team for your national team, or your club side’s next crucial game, or even include your dream summer transfer window for Yeovil Town.
From the app, you’ll be able to curate and customise teams, then save or share your selections with one handy graphic.
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: Leaders Inter play first in Serie A this round, meaning they could move 12 points clear going in to the weekend - should they beat Cagliari at San Siro. In France, Lens play Toulouse as they try to keep themselves in the title trace. Coventry City can finally seal their return to the Premier League after 25 years away by picking up a point or more at Blackburn Rovers. St. Pauli vs. FC Köln is a six-pointer in the Bundesliga, and Shamrock Rovers vs. Bohemians is the big derby in the League of Ireland.
Saturday: Third meets sixth as Chelsea host Man United in the Premier League, with both fighting for Champions League qualification. At the other end of the table, Leeds United vs. Wolves, and Spurs vs. Brighton are the two games that will have the biggest implications for the relegation picture. FC Thun, the side looking to become ‘the Swiss Leicester City’ had their showdown with Basel postponed last weekend, due to a fire at Basel’s stadium destroying all of their kit supplies, so that has been rearranged for this week. Maurizio Sarri takes current side Lazio to Napoli, his former club, and finally in Norway, our boys Brann head to defending champions, and regional rivals, Viking.
Sunday: Aston Villa vs. Sunderland is the game that will get the least press in the Premier League as the weekend comes to a close. In the Championship, just three points separate Ipswich and Middlesbrough as both fight it out to join Coventry in the automatic promotion spots. Bayern vs. Stuttgart is first vs. third in Germany, albeit the gap between the two currently stands at 20 points! The Lisbon Derby sees Sporting, who sit second in Portugal, take on third placed Benfica, with José Mourinho’s side still yet to be beaten in the league this season! In Belgium, one point is all that separates top two sides Union St. Gilloise and Club Brugge, the same two sides who have come first and second in three of the last four years. And finally, it’s KNVB Cup final day in the Netherlands, where four-time winners AZ Alkmaar take on NEC Nijmegen, who’ve never landed the country’s domestic cup competition.
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