Newcastle should be able to win against West Ham this week. There is a huge difference here. Newcastle are in a great shape as they haven't lost for a long time. They are still the third-placed team in the standings now. This isn't a tough game for them as well. They are one of the most successful home teams now. They haven't lost any home game so far. However they have many draws so they need to be more effective in scoring in this one.

West Ham are still trying to get away from the relegation zone. They are one of the worst away teams as well with only 1 win. I think they won't be able to resist Newcastle.

I expect nothing different than a comfortable win for Real Madrid tonight. Valencia are in a horrible condition and they have been out-of-form for a couple of weeks. I see no way Valencia are resisting them until the end. Real Madrid should be able to get a win by two goals in the worst case. After the Real Sociedad draw they had better make up for it in this game.

Besides Real Madrid had better win this game otherwise the point gap with Barcelona will also get bigger. They need to stay close to them to maintain their title run.

Frankfurt haven't lost a game in the league for six weeks. And they are likely to increase this winning streak to seven games. Because their opponent is Hertha Berlin this time.

Actually their head-to-head history in Frankfurt's stadium is pretty mixed. I can't say that Frankfurt have an obvious superiority to them in those games. However there is a huge point gap between these teams and Hertha Berlin are in a terrible shape these days. It would be a huge surprise if Frankfurt lose points in this one. I expect a clear victory by Frankfurt.

Manchester City had better be well-prepared for the Tottenham game. They might not be able to afford any point loss this week. Because Arsenal are highly likely to beat Everton this week. Manchester City still beat Tottenham in their previous game of course. This should give them some extra motivation to be victorious again. Tottenham might seem like they are strong against Manchester City in home games considering the recent a few years.

However I don't think Tottenham are in such condition to keep them away from a victory. We all saw how Manchester City made a comeback even after Tottenham got 2-0 ahead.

As far as I know Manchester City have already named a price for his option. Therefore it must be up to Cancelo from now on to return or stay at Bayern Munich.

If I were in his place I would decide to continue with the place about which I feel more comfortable. Who knows maybe Germany will be better for him and he will love to play for Bayern Munich more than Manchester City. This is absolutely possible. I just didn't see any meaning in Manchester City's action there. They shouldn't have lost an important player like this.

Dembele's absence affected Barcelona negatively maybe but it was still not a hindrance for them to reach the victory against Betis.

Raphinha and Lewandowski carried their team to the victory by nice goals. Lewandowski is such a crucial player for Barcelona really. He scored in their previous meet as well and he is having a really productive season too. This was a tough fixture for Barcelona actually but they still got the win. This can be seen as a more comfortable victory actually. They seemed like they learned their lesson from the match they had previously. This time Barcelona were even more dominant.

It is very interesting and surprising to see Cremonese doing an amazing work in the Coppa Italia. First they eliminated the biggest favourite Napoli and now they have eliminated Roma. They are definitely not a team to be underestimated in this cup. But I wonder how far they will be able to go. They are already in the semi finals which is still a great success for them.

However it feels like they can't get past Inter. Because Inter are really focused on winning the titles in this kind of tournaments now. The Super Cup title is a great example.

I still can't believe how Manchester City let Joao Cancelo go that easy. He was obviously one of the most critical players in the team.

But now we see him as a Bayern Munich player. Maybe it is a loan deal but there is an option to buy him as well. I don't think Bayern Munich would let him return to Manchester City as long as he performs at the same level. I don't expect him to have big difficulties there as well. Bayern Munich are one of the best places for this kind of skilled players. Cancelo is definitely one of them now.

The new week in the Bundesliga starts with an Augsburg - Leverkusen game.

Leverkusen were actually effective against Dortmund in attacking last week. But they couldn't get past the goalkeeper Kobel despite trying very hard. Dortmund punished them by scoring two goals and finishing them off. But I still don't expect Leverkusen to be in a bad shape against Augsburg. There is a significant difference between them currently. Leverkusen must have a bigger motivation to win here. I expect them to be better at finishing this time and winning the game nicely.

Liverpool have a nice game ahead to use it for climbing to upper positions in the Premier League. Wolves are one of the weakest teams in this season. Although Liverpool are also not even close to their look in the previous season they should still be able to win this game comfortably. I remember the Nottingham loss as well for example. But they shouldn't repeat point losses against such teams very often.

Wolves are not looking strong. They are lacking in scoring a lot now. Maybe Liverpool have missing players but this is still a winnable game.

James Maddison seems to be a target for Manchester City according to rumours. But not for the winter of course. They are reported to be planning a move in the summer.

Leicester are already likely to lose many of their significant players in the near future. This horrible season must have made those players really disappointed. They can't waste their career there in the end while there are better options. Maddison would more likely be a substitute player at Manchester City though. But it all depends on how he will perform when he has the chance. Maybe he can be a permanent member of the starting eleven later.

Lens might be under the threat of losing their position to Marseille on this week. Because in my opinion they might be likely to lose points against Nice. They faced each other not a long time ago and there was a 0-0 draw at the end. Lens should play extra careful in this game because of that. Lens are currently the best home team by the way. They won all of their 10 games home.

By the way Marseille have an away game against Nantes and this should be a decent win for them. They just need to watch out for Nantes as they can play for stealing one point at least. Nantes have 5 draws in home games so far therefore it would be good for Marseille to be careful.

Villarreal - Vallecano game wasn't a very impressive one. Both teams were quite bad at finding the target but I was still hoping to see Villarreal making it to the win. But Vallecano scored in the 70th minute surprisingly and managed to keep the score until the end. This was indeed an unexpected loss by Villarreal. They should have been more effective while they had Moreno especially.

I don't understand Villarreal really. They beat Real Madrid before by a really decent performance. But they are getting a result like this now. They are such an unbalanced team.

Next time Dortmund are going to play a home game against Freiburg and this can be seen as one of the biggest games of the season.

Dortmund seem to be in a better form than them despite the points are the same. In addition, Dortmund have nearly always beat them in their home games. I will be expecting Dortmund to do this once again honestly. They are still having defensive issues though and the Leverkusen game could have ended differently as well. Therefore they had better be more solid against Freiburg. Otherwise this time Freiburg can surprise them.

Arsenal should be able to maintain their unbeaten streak by the Everton game as well. This is a game to win comfortably for them on paper.

Maybe Everton have changed their manager but it is very doubtful they can play better in this game. Arsenal have a very dominant game plan in this kind of games. Everton are still an interesting team that they haven't conceded too many goals Bournemouth have for example. But their lacking the scoring skills prevented them from winning a game properly. Arsenal can keep this game under their control nicely and win.

Atalanta are indeed an impressive team currently. They haven't lost a single game in the Serie A for many weeks. This form has carried them to top four as well. Milan also have a contribution in this after keeping up a really bad form for weeks. Atalanta are just not very credible team as we saw them dropping down from top positions easily in the previous season.

Of course things can change this season depending on their determination. They need to look for benefiting from the weaknesses of other favourite teams for top four as well.

They are favoured for the Champions League title a lot by bookmakers as well. However I don't think it is very realistic at the moment.

They are like the second biggest favourite together with PSG according to them. But we all see how they are staying weak about finishing these days. If they don't improve their finishing skills more until the Champions League restarts then their job is really going to be difficult. PSG have also been getting interesting results recently though but they still have a very strong trio of Mbappe, Messi and Neymar. They are still more advantageous about scoring now in my opinion.

It was an important victory for Atletico Madrid. Osasuna were one of the challenging teams in the league. Playing an away game was even adding more difficulty in the game for Atletico Madrid. Because we all know how Atletico Madrid have been playing so far in the season. Honestly I was like the game would end up with a draw the most for their side.

However we have seen really positive things in the game from Atletico Madrid players. They were quite effective in their attacking line and this game might have finished by a bigger goal gap too. If they keep up this level they can at least secure their place in top 4.

Neither Milan nor Juventus are credible at the moment. Both of them are having serious problems with defending. Their latest games ended up with terrible results. Milan's chance of qualifying for the Champions League can also be under danger as long as they don't make an improvement in their defense line. They were a team that were in the title race before but now they are even worse than a couple of big teams in the league now.

Juventus' playing that bad against Monza might be related to their having serious problems recently. They must have lost their momentum because of that.

Tottenham - Manchester City is going to be the biggest game of the week in my opinion.

Manchester City are obviuosly the favourite side to win this game of course. The game in Etihad was really interesting but Manchester City still made an unforgettable comeback from being 2-0 behind. Tottenham have a good history in home games against them in the recent years but I still think Manchester City will break a leg finally. Normally it doesn't matter for Manchester City to play home or away while they are very strong. They beat Tottenham once and they can do it again. They had better do so to keep up with Arsenal as well.