Aston Villa vs. Newcastle

With the title race dragging on in the Premier League — a combination of results still required for Champions-elect Liverpool to get over the line — our attention this weekend turns to the race for Europe.

And at Villa Park, we have a crucial game between in-form Newcastle United and seventh-placed Aston Villa. 

The Magpies were at their rampant best in the week, sticking five unanswered goals past Crystal Palace, in what was their game-in-hand. Newcastle therefore moved up to third in the table with a four-point cushion between them and fifth-placed Manchester City.

Villa themselves are only one point down on City, and after a brave but ultimately unsuccessful performance that saw them knocked out of the Champions League by PSG in the week, Unai Emery’s men will be keen to get back in to the competition next season. They’ve developed a taste for it.

Newcastle are expected to be without manager Eddie Howe for the game as he continues to recuperate from a recent illness, with assistant Jason Tindall thrust in to the limelight over the past week. And he’ll be aiming to maintain Newcastle’s impressive recent record against the Villans - they’ve won the last three meetings, scoring three or more goals in each. 

Saturday, 5:30pm BST, 12:30pm ET

Real Madrid vs. Athletic Club

Carlo Ancelotti must act quickly to pick up the pieces after Real Madrid were humiliated by Arsenal, with Madrid beaten comfortably in London and then knocked out after losing again in this week’s decisive second leg. 

Madrid’s focus must therefore be on the title race in LaLiga. Here, Los Blancos are currently four points down on leaders Barcelona, and that could be up to seven with Barcelona having already played by the time they line-up against Athletic Club on Sunday evening. 

There’s no love lost between these sides with the Basque outfit having a long standing animosity for Madrid and the establishment of Spanish football that they are said to represent. Athletic Club are enjoying a positive campaign under former Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde and they start the weekend comfortably sat fourth in LaLiga, six points clear of fifth placed Villarreal.

Boasting the best defence in the division this season, having conceded just 25 goals at a rate of 0.8 goals per game, Athletic also beat Madrid in Bilbao earlier in the season. A 2-1 victory ended a near-10 year wait for a win over a side they consider one of their fiercest rivals.

Sunday, 8pm BST, 3pm ET

Monday sees the return of the Dublin Derby, Shamrock Rovers vs Bohemians. North Dublin vs South Dublin.

At the start of the League of Ireland season, this fixture sent Irish football to new heights, smashing a previous league attendance record last set in 1946. Hosted at The Aviva stadium, the day felt like the embodiment of where Irish football is right now, an ascendancy on and off the pitch, with over 33,000 in attendance. Since then, sell-out stadiums are becoming a norm across the league, not just in the capital.

The derby has been the undisputed high point of Bohs’ season, as they have subsequently managed just three wins amongst six losses in their first nine games. With many fans taking every opportunity to call for manager Alan Reynolds head, the pressure is firmly on.

For Shamrock Rovers, it’s all to play for. Not only a chance for vengeance for the humbling they received in front of a record crowd, but with them just one point from the top spot (at the time of writing), this game could be the turning point in the season for the South Dubliners. They’re keen to take the title back to Tallaght and continue building their record as the league's most successful club.

Derbies are never simple, and this Monday's fixture is no exception to the rule.

If that’s whetted your appetite, check out Eugene’s documentary on Irish football for COPA90 here.

Monday, 2pm BST, 9am ET

Bologna vs. Inter

With six rounds remaining in Serie A, Inter Milan lead Napoli by three points at the top of the table, ahead of a tricky trip to fifth-placed Bologna.

Simone Inzaghi’s Nerazzurri will be in buoyant mood after sealing progression to the final four of the Champions League in the week but they have only beaten Bologna once in the last three seasons, with the sides playing out a 2-2 draw when they last met back in January.

On paper, this is Inter’s toughest remaining fixture, with only a game against sixth place Lazio in the penultimate round of the season on a comparable level, as they bid to secure back-to-back titles for the first time since 2010. 

Sunday, 5pm BST, 12pm ET

Burnley vs. Sheffield United

This being the Easter Weekend, there are two full rounds of EFL football to enjoy over the long weekend in the UK. And while the picture will no doubt change following the games involving the top sides in the Championship this afternoon, we’ve got half an eye on Easter Monday’s showdown between Burnley and Sheffield United. 

The promotion battle has ebbed and flowed in recent weeks, but Leeds United and Burnley now find themselves level on 88 points at the top, five points better off than the third-placed Blades. We’ll have to wait and see what impact today’s results have on that, but with Leeds not playing their second game of the weekend (vs. Bristol City) until late Monday evening, this massive Lancashire vs. Yorkshire clash is an opportunity for one side or the other to really shake things up.

Scott Parker’s Burnley have, famously, been incredibly tough to score against this season. The Clarets have kept 29 clean sheets, conceding an average of 0.3 goals per game in the 42 they’ve played. At the other end, both Burnley and Sheffield United have scored 57 goals, a figure only bettered by three sides in the division.

Sheffield United’s bid for an immediate return to the Premier League has, however, been hampered by a run of three straight defeats. Chris Wilder will want to stop the rot against Cardiff today because beating Burnley isn’t something anybody has done since early November, a whopping 29 games ago. 

Monday, 5.30pm BST, 12.30pm ET

Fans of Chelsea Women will be bracing themselves for a third successive meeting with Barcelona Femení at the semifinal stage of the Women’s Champions League — no team has eliminated the Blues more times from the competition than Barca.

Barca are undoubtedly the dominant force in Europe at present, winning three of the last four finals, beating Chelsea along the way at the semifinal stage in each of the past two years.

However, the Blues now have Sonia Bompastor at the helm, the only manager to defeat Barcelona in the previous four seasons of the Champions League, beating them 3-1 in the 2022 final with Lyon.

Is this the year Chelsea finally get past their bogey team? The first leg is played in Barcelona on Sunday.

Go Ahead Eagles, one of the more uniquely named top flight sides in Europe, feature in the Dutch Cup Final for the first time in 60 years on Easter Monday.

The side from Deventer haven’t won a major honour since winning the league in the 1930s, and lost in their only KNVB Cup final appearance back in 1965. Understandably, the town has been preparing for weeks.

The Eagles now face AZ Alkmaar in the final with the two sides currently level on points back in the league, AZ sitting sixth and Go Ahead behind them in seventh.

It’s been a peculiar year in the Cup. The Big Three - Ajax, PSV, and Feyenoord - have won the last six editions of the Cup between them, but have all fallen by the wayside this year. Ajax were beaten by AZ back in the Round of 16, while PSV were shocked at home by Go Ahead Eagles in the final four.

AZ have only won once since the semifinals in February (in the first leg of their Europa League clash with Spurs), giving Go Ahead Eagles a unique chance at silverwear. One way or another, we’ll have an unlikely cup winner on Monday. 

Wolves have found their No. 9

Jørgen Strand Larsen has made great strides since joining Wolves this season and with five goals in his last four, Sam McGuire argues that the Norwegian might be the most in form penalty box finisher in the Premier League.

Ajax are going the extra yard in the Eredivisie

Zach Lowy details the stats behind Ajax’s stunning recovery under Francesco Farioli. The Italian is set to become the youngest coach to win the Dutch top flight after eschewing the traditional Ajax way in favour of a rigid defence and a preseason regime that upped the running undertaken by the squad.

Maxi Beier has come good despite Dortmund’s struggles

Last weekend we published a feature on Maximilian Beier, the young German forward who has hit his groove after a difficult first half of the season in his first campaign at Borussia Dortmund. Hours after this profile went live, the 22-year-old scored against Bayern in Der Klassiker. 

This season, we’ve added filters to the top of the lineup screen, giving you a bird’s eye view of squad info.

They’re available on predicted lineups as well, so you can get the scoop on the top performers to look out for.