After the midweek games we have another bumper weekend of football ahead of us…!
Strangely, there’s two Saturday lunchtime matches – not sure why but I’m assuming it’s TV/political based. Anyway, both of these are big matches in their own right, in particular, the north east derby between Newcastle and Sunderland. These matches have always been hotly contested affairs and form often goes out the window. However, despite Sunderland’s recent run of form Newcastle are just tipped to edge it… just. The other Saturday lunch time match is a bit of a relegation six-pointer. Now Swansea fans may argue that they’re 11th in the league, but they are only five points away from West Ham in the relegation zone. Both teams have only won one of their last five league games and a draw is predicted.
Turning to the 3 o’clock matches, Spurs travel to Hull keen to bounce back after conceding five at home to current table toppers, Manchester City. Hull City have lost their last four league games and whilst that was a bad result for Spurs in midweek they should still be able to overcome an out of form Hull side. United got back to winning ways against Cardiff during the week, and travel to Stoke on Saturday. Stoke are another team that have hit a run of bad form under the leadership of Mark Hughes, with no league wins in six. Although Manchester Utd have struggled for form in recent weeks, they should be too strong for Stoke.
The lunchtime match on Sunday is at the Hawthornes as West Brom host Liverpool. Liverpool and Suarez are on rampant form at the moment, putting four past their Merseyside, and Champions League chasing rivals, Everton. Meanwhile, West Brom are in that group of 7/8 teams all in touching distances of the relegation zone. If Liverpool can carry on reproducing the form they been showing it should be relatively comfortable, however, they are prone to slipping up on games they should be winning. Arsenal, the league leaders for so long have been knocked of their perch. They’ve been pretty impressive up until now, especially as a lot of people, including their own fans had written them off. However, with a few injuries and not having the depth of the likes of City and Chelsea they may start to drop away from the title race. But with a home match against Palace on Sunday they’ve got a great chance to keep up, although Palace aren’t the push overs they were at the start of the season. Saying that, Arsenal should come away with all three points.
Finally, we have the flagship match of the week, and possibly an early title decider. City have been awesome at home this season, which I have mentioned a number of times in this blog. However, Chelsea have been on equally good form, particularly away recently where they've not conceded in the last three away games. Although City's home form has been unstoppable with a 100% record, Chelsea are predicted to perform an upset with a marginal away win.
In terms of the top picks for the weekend, the usual candidates crop up as Bayern Munich, Juventus and Barcelona look like good home wins, however, with a lot of the top teams playing each other there's a general lack of convincing wins. Similarly, the value tips are a little scant but the one that sticks out as mentioned further up is Chelsea away to city where you can get odds of around 3/1. The other one that looks good is in the Dutch league where Groningen might pull off a shock away from home against AZ.
So as usual please feel free to comment on the predictions or discuss anything else football related.
Enjoy...!
| Time | Day | League | Home Team | Prediction | Away team |
| 12:45 | Sat | Eng Prem | Newcastle United | H | Sunderland |
| 12:45 | Sat | Eng Prem | West Ham United | D | Swansea City |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Prem | Cardiff City | A | Norwich City |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Prem | Everton | H | Aston Villa |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Prem | Fulham | AA | Southampton |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Prem | Hull City | AA | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Prem | Stoke City | AAAA | Manchester United |
| 13:30 | Sun | Eng Prem | West Bromwich … | AA | Liverpool |
| 16:00 | Sun | Eng Prem | Arsenal | HH | Crystal Palace |
| 20:00 | Mon | Eng Prem | Manchester City | A | Chelsea |
| 12:15 | Sat | Eng Champ | Queens Park Ra… | H | Burnley |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Champ | AFC Bournemouth | AAA | Leicester City |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Champ | Doncaster Rovers | D | Middlesbrough |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Champ | Leeds United | A | Huddersfield Town |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Champ | Millwall | AA | Reading |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Champ | Ipswich Town | HH | Bolton Wanderers |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Champ | Wigan Athletic | H | Charlton Athletic |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Champ | Blackburn Rovers | HH | Blackpool |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Champ | Birmingham City | A | Derby County |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Champ | Sheffield Wedn… | H | Barnsley |
| 15:00 | Sun | Eng Champ | Watford | D | Brighton & Hov… |
| 15:00 | Sun | Eng Champ | Nottingham Forest | HHH | Yeovil Town |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 1 | Wolverhampton … | HHH | Bradford City |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 1 | Swindon Town | H | Oldham Athletic |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 1 | Bristol City | H | Carlisle United |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 1 | Milton Keynes Dons | H | Tranmere Rovers |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 1 | Gillingham | D | Port Vale |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 1 | Crewe Alexandra | D | Sheffield United |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 1 | Shrewsbury Town | AAAAA | Brentford |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 1 | Peterborough U… | A | Colchester United |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 1 | Preston North End | H | Notts County |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 1 | Coventry City | A | Walsall |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 1 | Rotherham United | AA | Leyton Orient |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 1 | Crawley Town | HH | Stevenage |
| 19:45 | Fri | Eng Lge 2 | Southend United | HH | Newport County |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 2 | Accrington Stanley | D | Morecambe |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 2 | Bury | D | Wycombe Wanderers |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 2 | Chesterfield | HH | Bristol Rovers |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 2 | Cheltenham Town | H | Northampton Town |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 2 | Plymouth Argyle | D | Mansfield Town |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 2 | Portsmouth | H | Torquay United |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 2 | Burton Albion | H | Exeter City |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 2 | Rochdale | HHHH | Dagenham & Red… |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 2 | Oxford United | D | AFC Wimbledon |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 2 | Fleetwood Town | HH | York City |
| 15:00 | Sat | Eng Lge 2 | Hartlepool United | AAA | Scunthorpe United |
| 15:00 | Sat | Sco Lge 1 | Arbroath | A | Ayr United |
| 15:00 | Sat | Sco Lge 1 | East Fife | A | Dunfermline At… |
| 15:00 | Sat | Sco Lge 1 | Forfar Athletic | H | Airdrieonians |
| 15:00 | Sat | Sco Lge 1 | Rangers | HHH | Brechin City |
| 15:00 | Sat | Sco Lge 1 | Stenhousemuir | AA | Stranraer |
| 19:30 | Fri | Fra Lge 1 | PSG | HHHH | Bordeaux |
| 15:30 | Sat | Fra Lge 1 | Lorient | A | Monaco |
| 19:00 | Sat | Fra Lge 1 | Bastia | D | Guingamp |
| 19:00 | Sat | Fra Lge 1 | Evian TG | H | Ajaccio |
| 19:00 | Sat | Fra Lge 1 | Reims | D | Montpellier |
| 19:00 | Sat | Fra Lge 1 | Saint-Étienne | HH | Valenciennes |
| 19:00 | Sat | Fra Lge 1 | Sochaux | A | Nantes |
| 13:00 | Sun | Fra Lge 1 | Nice | D | Lille |
| 16:00 | Sun | Fra Lge 1 | Rennes | AA | Olympique Lyonnais |
| 20:00 | Sun | Fra Lge 1 | Olympique Mars… | D | Toulouse |
| 19:00 | Fri | Fra Lge 2 | Angers | HH | CA Bastia |
| 19:00 | Fri | Fra Lge 2 | Caen | H | Troyes |
| 19:00 | Fri | Fra Lge 2 | Châteauroux | D | Auxerre |
| 19:00 | Fri | Fra Lge 2 | Clermont | D | Arles |
| 19:00 | Fri | Fra Lge 2 | Dijon | HH | Brest |
| 19:00 | Fri | Fra Lge 2 | Istres | D | Créteil |
| 19:00 | Fri | Fra Lge 2 | Nîmes | AA | Tours |
| 19:00 | Fri | Fra Lge 2 | Niort | D | Metz |
| 13:00 | Sat | Fra Lge 2 | Lens | HH | Laval |
| 19:30 | Mon | Fra Lge 2 | Nancy | D | Le Havre |
| 19:30 | Fri | Ger B'sliga | Eintracht Brau… | AA | Borussia Dortmund |
| 14:30 | Sat | Ger B'sliga | Schalke 04 | H | Wolfsburg |
| 14:30 | Sat | Ger B'sliga | Bayer Leverkusen | HHH | Stuttgart |
| 14:30 | Sat | Ger B'sliga | Hoffenheim | H | Hamburger SV |
| 14:30 | Sat | Ger B'sliga | Mainz 05 | H | Freiburg |
| 14:30 | Sat | Ger B'sliga | Augsburg | HH | Werder Bremen |
| 17:30 | Sat | Ger B'sliga | Hannover 96 | A | Borussia M'gla… |
| 14:30 | Sun | Ger B'sliga | Hertha BSC | H | Nürnberg |
| 16:30 | Sun | Ger B'sliga | Bayern München | HHHHH | Eintracht Fran… |
| 17:00 | Sat | Ita Ser A | Cagliari | AAA | Fiorentina |
| 17:00 | Sat | Ita Ser A | Bologna | D | Udinese |
| 19:45 | Sat | Ita Ser A | Milan | D | Torino |
| 11:30 | Sun | Ita Ser A | Genoa | H | Sampdoria |
| 14:00 | Sun | Ita Ser A | Sassuolo | AA | Hellas Verona |
| 14:00 | Sun | Ita Ser A | Chievo | A | Lazio |
| 14:00 | Sun | Ita Ser A | Catania | D | Livorno |
| 14:00 | Sun | Ita Ser A | Atalanta | AAA | Napoli |
| 14:00 | Sun | Ita Ser A | Roma | HH | Parma |
| 19:45 | Sun | Ita Ser A | Juventus | HHHHH | Internazionale |
| 19:30 | Fri | Ita Ser B | Avellino | D | Latina |
| 14:00 | Sat | Ita Ser B | Brescia | H | Bari |
| 14:00 | Sat | Ita Ser B | Padova | A | Carpi |
| 14:00 | Sat | Ita Ser B | Ternana | H | Cittadella |
| 14:00 | Sat | Ita Ser B | Cesena | H | Crotone |
| 14:00 | Sat | Ita Ser B | Spezia | HH | Juve Stabia |
| 14:00 | Sat | Ita Ser B | Siena | D | Novara |
| 14:00 | Sat | Ita Ser B | Pescara | D | Trapani |
| 14:00 | Sat | Ita Ser B | Modena | D | Varese |
| 14:00 | Sat | Ita Ser B | Reggina | AA | Virtus Lanciano |
| 19:30 | Mon | Ita Ser B | Empoli | A | Palermo |
| 20:00 | Fri | Spa Prim | Granada | H | Celta de Vigo |
| 15:00 | Sat | Spa Prim | Barcelona | HHHHH | Valencia |
| 17:00 | Sat | Spa Prim | Levante | H | Rayo Vallecano |
| 19:00 | Sat | Spa Prim | Getafe | D | Real Valladolid |
| 21:00 | Sat | Spa Prim | Málaga | A | Sevilla |
| 11:00 | Sun | Spa Prim | Elche | D | Almería |
| 16:00 | Sun | Spa Prim | Real Betis | AA | Espanyol |
| 18:00 | Sun | Spa Prim | Atlético Madrid | HH | Real Sociedad |
| 20:00 | Sun | Spa Prim | Athletic Club | AA | Real Madrid |
| 21:00 | Mon | Spa Prim | Villarreal | HH | Osasuna |
| 19:00 | Fri | Hol Ere'div | Feyenoord | D | Vitesse |
| 17:45 | Sat | Hol Ere'div | Heerenveen | HH | ADO Den Haag |
| 18:45 | Sat | Hol Ere'div | PEC Zwolle | D | Roda JC |
| 18:45 | Sat | Hol Ere'div | Heracles | HH | NAC Breda |
| 19:45 | Sat | Hol Ere'div | AZ | A | Groningen |
| 11:30 | Sun | Hol Ere'div | Utrecht | AAAA | Ajax |
| 13:30 | Sun | Hol Ere'div | Twente | HHHH | Cambuur |
| 13:30 | Sun | Hol Ere'div | NEC | D | Go Ahead Eagles |
| 15:30 | Sun | Hol Ere'div | RKC Waalwijk | A | PSV |
| 19:30 | Fri | Bel Pro Lge | Lierse | AA | Anderlecht |
| 17:00 | Sat | Bel Pro Lge | Standard Liège | HHHH | Cercle Brugge |
| 19:00 | Sat | Bel Pro Lge | Club Brugge | HHH | Mons |
| 19:00 | Sat | Bel Pro Lge | Gent | H | OH Leuven |
| 19:00 | Sat | Bel Pro Lge | Sporting Charleroi | D | KV Oostende |
| 19:00 | Sat | Bel Pro Lge | Mechelen | H | Genk |
| 19:00 | Sat | Bel Pro Lge | Waasland-Beveren | D | Kortrijk |
| 17:00 | Sun | Bel Pro Lge | Zulte-Waregem | A | Lokeren |
| 18:00 | Fri | Tur Sup Lig | Beşiktaş | HHHH | Kayseri Erciye… |
| 13:00 | Sat | Tur Sup Lig | Kayserispor | A | Kasımpaşa |
| 17:00 | Sat | Tur Sup Lig | Antalyaspor | D | Gaziantepspor |
| 17:00 | Sat | Tur Sup Lig | Eskişehirspor | AA | Fenerbahçe |
| 11:30 | Sun | Tur Sup Lig | Karabükspor | HH | Elazığspor |
| 14:00 | Sun | Tur Sup Lig | Akhisar Beledi… | D | Gençlerbirliği |
| 14:00 | Sun | Tur Sup Lig | Konyaspor | A | Sivasspor |
| 17:00 | Sun | Tur Sup Lig | Galatasaray | H | Bursaspor |
| 18:00 | Mon | Tur Sup Lig | Rizespor | A | Trabzonspor |
