Next El Clasico is going to be really crucial for the league championship. Because the competition is already going on really heatedly. The previous El Clasico was like a fiasco for Barcelona. They couldn't resist Real Madrid properly and got a bad loss as a result. It was due to Barcelona's having problems against big teams of course. It was Xavi's fault as well. Maybe there were some injured players at the same time but Xavi could have still found a way to deal with this situation.
He will need to solve these problems by making better choices from now on. They can't afford losing the title to Real Madrid this time. They already performed horrible in the Champions League.
El classico will be played in March. Until then many things could occur mainly a large point gap. Imagine Real Madrid failing again in one or two games! That's mean 6-9 points difference so Real Madrid players will be more stressed while Barcelona ones will be more concentrated and relaxed.. I prefer to see the same number of points between them by March so we can see a competitive game there  |
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FA Cup Third Round Proper is almost over, there is only one match left to finish Arsenal vs Oxford, and seven repeated matches that are scheduled for January 17.
Biggest surprise for me Stevenage that kicked out Aston Villa from FA Cup with scoring two goals in last moments of the match.
Next round Stevenage plays with Stoke City and it's not going to be easy repeating this.
The nightmare of EPL top teams is to play a replay after a draw in this round. Imagine a tight schedule and an additional game to play.. Klopp was angry about that. Then it comes the surprising knock out of Aston Villa and Newcastle. Arsenal didn't score yet vs Oxford after almost 60 minutes of the game been played. |
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To be honest, I didn't watch Serie A games after World Cup, but how on earth could Juventus be on 2nd currently? I'm very sure that they were on 6th or 7th before the World Cup lmao. Even their fans kept singing Allegri Out in every match  Juventus won everything after the World Cup, while other teams like Milan, Inter, Lazio and Roma made mistakes that ended up dropping points. So Juventus managed to take every opportunity to be in second place at the moment where they have won in 2 matches since Serie A started on 4 January. It is too early to judge about the consistency of each team after few games from the restart after the World Cup. Juve victories are important for the team psychology but it was vs teams that were failing in their latest games.. while Roma and Milan faced each others so a draw between them remains a positive result. Lazio is the real one that dropped and Inter is fluctuating. Meanwhile, Napoli is still in a safe position. |
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Manchester City have been like the biggest nightmare of Chelsea this season so far. Because they caused Chelsea to be eliminated in not only the EFL Cup but also the FA Cup recently - plus there was another defeat in the Premier League recently.
Chelsea lost its sense of scoring and resistance. Taking 4 goals like that in a game that isn't that important for City like EPL games is a bad thing. The goal of Mahrez in that game from a free-kick was awesome BTW. Even the penalty kick was kinda impossible to catch. He scored 2 goals in total. Aston Villa lost vs a team playing in League 2.. Arsenal will play soon vs Oxford. |
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Lazio team just managed to score the second goal this will definitly make them on the clear, they are keeping a close eye on inter milan there is only one point that separate them, lazio has a decent squad it will be tough to shake them off.
Lazio is playing well. They managed to score a goal within 2 minutes of the game, instilling a confidence in them. Later in the second half they managed to score another goal. So far they are playing with a two goal lead. Hope they win for sure. Lazio is leading with 2 goals to 0 with 10 minutes left in the game vs Empoli which wasn't threatening them. The game is almost over imo.
Inter won vs Napoli in the previous round and lost vs Monza yesterday. That's a joke.. They are fourth now, Juve second in position until Milan game vs Roma which should be very challenging! |
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Another surprise today in the fa cup. Sheffield Wednesday was able to win against Newcastle 2:1 and one of the top teams in the premier league is knocked out. Some incredible saves from Sheffield wednesday goalkeeper and they are third league tier and have just advance into next phase
The Newcastle coach took some decisions that he regretted about it but he didn't have many choices since the team will face Leicester in EFL Cup in Tuesday then Fulham in EPL Sunday. Such tight schedule made them less comfortable with letting the same players getting exhausted. Liverpool also getting a draw vs Wolves is problematic especially for Klopp since playing a replay means additional game and less time for rest for his players. |
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Seems I'm going to try pay attention to some of the picks here as I failed miserably in my Coupe matches yesterday. I know cups are never quite the same situation as league games because of different stakes, but usually in France you feel that the favorites are way too strong for lower leagues (and yet upsets happen all the time).
We always have the feeling that a team playing in a superior league is always better than a team playing in a lower one until we see the opposite result happening. It will be more shocking when a top team in the first league is defeated by unknown one! Clermont, Nice, Monaco failed that way  |
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Villarreal has not beaten Real Madrid in the last five years. But there were six draws between them out of the last ten face-to-face meetings. There are only 10 minutes left in the match, but I think Villarreal will win today. They play this game very well and deserve to win. Although I would not be surprised if Real Madrid equalizes the score.
That was quite surprising to see Real Madrid wasting 3 points vs Villarreal and giving a chance to Barcelona to get the advantage again... Well ATM isn't an easy opponent but Barcelona is good right now. Real Madrid messed things up this time. |
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I was waiting for Gillingham-Leicester match to finish by a lot of goals but it ended 1-0. I guess I need to stop betting for a long time.  Leicester winning by 1 goal is a thing after all. They are struggling in every competition and I will not be surprised to see them eliminated by a weak team. I didn't see an unexpected result in the game played so far. Tomorrow City - Chelsea is more interesting to follow. |
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i think Strasbourg know a thing or two about Lens and can be dangerous against them, i would doubt Lens beating Strasbourg easily, what i'm considering in this match is both teams to score, i find it really fair since Strasbourg always crack the code of Lens defense.
Strasbourg this season is very weak, at the opposite of Lens, where it plays good football. I doubt Strasbourg could win them, their best hope is to get a draw imo. In the French Cup matches, I saw Ligue 1 teams losing vs weaker team in Ligue 2 or maybe worse |
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it looked like an easy win considering Cadiz's position in the leaderboard and their performance so far in la liga, with this win the escaped the danger zone at least temporarily, and they seem to be doing well against strong clubs, they beat Atl Madrid and Real madrid hardly beat them, and today they got the three points from Valencia, they really don't want leave La Liga it seems.
It wasn't obvious to support Cadiz vs Valencia and this team surprised us with such victory. An early goal and for the rest +80 minutes in the game, Valencia wasn't able to score any game! For the relegation zone, Cadiz isn't safe at all and might return at any moment |
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~
ManU victory was expected vs Everton since the latter team is weak this season in particular and nothing is expected from it except maybe trying to survive in EPL.. The Manchester derby is going to be very exciting to follow next week.
-snip-
City is better and their odds reflect that even though ManU improved a lot and they are playing in Old Trafford. It will not be an easy game for both teams for sure and I expect City to win it. |
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FA Cup is back with new round that have 32 matches.
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My Bet: Manchester win; Home win (-1) AH.
ManU is favourite, they are doing good lately while Everton risk relegation with their bad results. Obviously, what happens in EPL might be different from FA Cup outcomes but seeing the actual Everton challenging ManU will be surprising. Meanwhile, I am not sure whether Everton could score a goal or not. I tend to think there will be 2 goals difference. Crystal Palace - Southampton, Brentford - West Ham, Liverpool - Wolves, City - Chelsea are the most challenging games imo. The first names are favourites imo. |
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Saturday 7th January
Fiorentina 14:00 Sassuolo
Juventus 17:00 Udinese
Fiorentina - Sassuolo is challenging with a slight advantage for Fiorentina imo. Juve - Udinese isn't easy too except the bad performance shown by Udinese in the previous games. That's why Juve has an advantage. Sunday 8th January
Lazio 14:00 Empoli
Sampdoria 17:00 Napoli
AC Milan 19:45 Roma
Lazio and Napoli are not expected to lose again. Milan - Roma is very interesting with a clear advantage for Milan since they are playing home. Napoli will be pleased if Roma could beat them and they catch up the 3 points gap they lost last round.. |
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It may have gone unnoticed to many of the non Spanish followers of La Liga, but Barcelona almost lost the last game for the King's Cup (Copa del Rey) against a team of third division: they got 3-3, and the unknown team forced the extra time. Fortunately for Barça, it was nothing more than a scare, but it could've been really serious if they got eliminated from the Cup this way.
Even Real Madrid won by 1 goal in the Copa del Rey. Rayo, Getafe, Valladolid and Elche all lost vs non first division teams. This competition is less important than La Liga and European leagues, that's why the result might be surprising sometimes. |
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I expected Chelsea to win though because they dominated the game in the first half, created a number of chances but couldn't get the goals coming. Losing Raheem Sterling in the first half wasn't so good and it got a negative effect on tbe team. Manchester city were able to reduce the gap from league leaders Arsenal. The goal in the 63rd minutes was able to guarantee all three points for Manchester City.
Playing good without scoring in football means nothing and these teams mostly lose the game.. City was able to score a precious goal and with this win, they were able to reduce the gap to 5 points between them and Arsenal. By mid-february, there will be hard games for both City and gunners including games vs Spurs, ManU and between each other where the first rank could change |
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And neither Arsenal or Newcastle ruined its record and the match ended with a draw indeed It is an opportunity for City to reduce the gap between them and Arsenal again to 5 points once they win against Chelsea. For Newcastle, they risk to become fourth since ManU still lacks 1 game and they share the same number of points. Most chances we will have Arsenal and Manchester City at the top of league table until end of the season because both teams are doing good job and have enough quality for staying at these spots for remaining two spots now things are looking very interesting because Newcastle United is also at his best and lost just one match from their 18th games with Manchester United is also having same points, but they have one game in hand with Tottenham and Liverpool are also coming behind, but they needed more strength in their squad as things are very tight at the top of league table and quality is also very high which needs to be competed if any team wants to stay at the top here real test of Newcastle United how they will manage this all near the end of the season. Arsenal still have some distance from City which could warn them in case of points drop in a game. It might become 5 points if City will win vs Chelsea, best scenario for Arsenal will be a gap of 8 points if City lose. Well, for the others the situation is different since their main challenge is a Champions League spot with fierce team fighting for 2 spots between ManU, Newcastle, Spurs and less likely Liverpool.. |
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Inter broke Napoli's streak with a single goal. He left a very heavy wound in inter Napoli. The percentage of playing the ball in the match was quite high, however Napoli's could not make the attacks they wanted. I remember that Osimhen met the ball once, he controlled the ball in the penalty area and then lost it. Although Inter played less with the ball, they found the positions and contras they wanted in the game and the result was a win. Napoli are expecting tough matches in January with Juventus then Roma.
After all bookies were right excepting that Napoli will lose vs Inter. Well 1 goal victory isn't a solid score regardless of Inter stats in this match but it remains a victory for them and the first defeat for Napoli this season. It is up for Napoli to recover from this defeat and start winning again otherwise the gap will shrink further between them and Milan mainly. |
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Cremonese should've scored when they found clear positions, what a waste. They could've gotten at least one point from this match.
-snip-
The team that misses opportunities will lose at the end and will regret that. Juve got 3 points and that's important for them. There is Lazio that surprised me with their defeat against Lecce.. Atalanta draw vs Spezia isn't good for them too. These two teams weren't stable in the previous rounds too along with Udinese which is already 1 goal behind since the 3rd minute vs Empoli |
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Arsenal and Newcastle have quite an interesting history in the English Premier league. Looking at their past five head to head games. Newcastle have won just one of the games and Arsenal have won four out of the five games. I think this time it will be tougher because Newcastle are not the same team they were a year ago, I predict both teams to score in the match.
Newcastle was never playing good as this season, regardless of today's result whether it was positive or negative for them. Newcastle didn't lose any game from 12 while Arsenal didn't lose any of its 10 previous game, making the upcoming match interesting and only a draw can save the day for both teams So I also predict the two teams will play a draw Arsenal look indeed stronger and ready but Newcastle certainly do not want to drop more points because in the last match Newcastle only played a draw against Leeds which means there is no other choice draw or win for today by the way I was surprised to see Arsenal in 13 minutes already had 5 shots they look too excited. And neither Arsenal or Newcastle ruined its record and the match ended with a draw indeed It is an opportunity for City to reduce the gap between them and Arsenal again to 5 points once they win against Chelsea. For Newcastle, they risk to become fourth since ManU still lacks 1 game and they share the same number of points. |
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