MATCHDAY: Man City can strengthen title bid at Southampton

A have a look at what’s occurring in European soccer on Saturday:

ENGLAND

Manchester Metropolis heads to Southampton looking for a thirteenth straight win to maneuver 14 factors clear within the Premier League. Liverpool and Chelsea — the groups in second and third place, respectively — don't play till Sunday so Metropolis can strengthen its standing as the massive favourite for a sixth title in 11 seasons. Southampton has posed issues for Metropolis in recent times, although, and has drawn at Etihad Stadium already this season. Manchester United might transfer into fourth place, if just for a day, by successful at house to West Ham, which at the moment occupies that place. Duncan Ferguson takes cost of the primary recreation of his second spell as Everton’s caretaker supervisor in a house match in opposition to Aston Villa, whereas Newcastle travels to Leeds and Brentford hosts Wolverhampton.

SPAIN

Sevilla can transfer nearer to Spanish league chief Actual Madrid with a win at house in opposition to Celta Vigo. Sevilla is 4 factors behind Madrid, which hosts Elche on Sunday. Sevilla is unbeaten in seven consecutive league video games, with 5 wins and two attracts that got here in opposition to Barcelona and Valencia. Celta has received three of its final 4 league video games. Defending champion Atlético Madrid hopes to finish its poor run when it hosts Valencia. Diego Simeone’s staff is coming off eliminations to Athletic Bilbao within the Spanish Tremendous Cup semifinals and to Actual Sociedad within the spherical of 16 of the Copa del Rey. Atlético has misplaced 4 of its final six league matches and is 16 factors behind Madrid with a recreation in hand. Additionally Saturday, last-place Levante hosts Cádiz and Mallorca visits Villarreal.

ITALY

Serie A pacesetter Inter Milan’s match in opposition to Venezia might be postponed as a consequence of a coronavirus outbreak on Venezia. The promoted squad has eight gamers constructive with COVID-19. Inter might use the remaining after needing further time to beat Empoli within the Italian Cup on Wednesday. Additionally, Lazio hosts Atalanta and Udinese visits Genoa, which has new coach Alexander Blessin making his debut after Andriy Shevchenko was fired.

GERMANY

Borussia Dortmund visits Hoffenheim within the Bundesliga looking for a win to cut back the six-point hole to chief Bayern Munich. Dortmund coach Marco Rose has challenged his staff to be extra constant after crashing out of the German Cup to second-division St. Pauli on Tuesday. Hoffenheim is fourth and chasing a Champions League spot. Third-place Bayer Leverkusen ended a four-game winless run within the league by beating Borussia Mönchengladbach final week and now hosts struggling Augsburg. Gladbach coach Adi Hütter is beneath strain together with his staff in twelfth forward of a go to from Union Berlin. Freiburg hosts Stuttgart, last-place Greuther Fürth performs Mainz and Bochum takes on Cologne.

FRANCE

Third-place Marseille travels up north to tackle Lens with new striker Cedric Bakambu accessible to attempt to repair the staff’s attacking shortcomings. Bakambu scored 48 objectives in 71 appearances for Chinese language Tremendous League membership Beijing Guoan earlier than becoming a member of the nine-time French champions. With Arkadiusz Milik struggling for type, Marseille has been missing firepower, managing simply 28 objectives in 20 matches to date. Lens is trying to safe a 3rd consecutive league win in 2022. Lens coach Franck Haise will probably be with out the injured Deiver Machado, with Massadio Haïdara and Ignatius Ganago additionally lacking the competition due to their commitments on the Africa Cup of Nations. Marseille might transfer previous second-place Good with a win. Brest takes on defending champion Lille in Saturday’s different match.

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