Opinion

When PSG were drawn against Barcelona in the Champions League Round of 16, a number of intriguing matchups instantly arose.

The first of the knock-out rounds in this season’s Europa League is upon us and it is time to take a look at the favourites to win the competition.

It has become clearer in recent weeks that reigning Premier League champions Liverpool are no longer in the race for the English top-flight title. In fact, at the moment Manchester City seem to be running away with the league.

Manchester City have long been renowned for their attractive style of attacking football under the guidance of Pep Guardiola. However, the team struggled defensively at the beginning of the 2020/21 Premier League campaign and that was compounded by the 5-2 defeat at home by Leicester City.

On Wednesday night, we witnessed one of the most entertaining and extraordinary FA Cup ties of recent seasons, as Everton recorded a 5-4 extra-time win over Tottenham in the fifth round of the famous old competition.

As things stand, Sheff Utd, West Brom and Fulham are the bookmakers’ favourites for the drop and there has been little form any of these clubs in recent weeks that suggests otherwise.

At the time of writing, it appears as though Manchester City are going to win the Premier League title. Having played 22 matches they are 5 points clear of second place Manchester United with a game in hand and sit 10 points clear of defending champions Liverpool, also with a game in hand.

When Tomas Soucek joined West Ham on loan from Slavia Prague in January 2020, nobody could have predicted the impact that the Czech midfielder would make at the London Stadium.

While this deadline day passed without any huge transfer fees being paid out and only one of the title-challengers doing any business, there were still a few interesting signings that went through before the 11pm deadline (or later if it was a deal sheet was submitted before the deadline passed).

Southampton head coach Ralph Hasenhuttl must wonder what he has done to deserve such bad luck when it comes to big defeats. The Saints boss famously saw his side suffer a 9-0 home defeat against Leicester back in October 2019.

This season has been a dour one for Newcastle fans. The team have played the sort of pragmatic football that would be enough to send an insomniac to sleep. The Magpies headed into Saturday’s game at Everton, expecting the worst.

Having replaced Frank Lampard as manager of Chelsea last week, the games are coming thick and fats for Thomas Tuchel.

Since Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez went down with long-term injuries, everyone has been waiting for Liverpool to sign a new centre-back. The duo of Fabinho and Jordan Henderson at the back has eased the pressure on Jurgen Klopp.

On Wednesday night, Everton and Leicester shared a 1-1 draw at Goodison Park in a highly intriguing game. The Toffees took the lead in the first-half through James Rodriguez and after an improved second-half display the Foxes equalised through a Youri Tielemans strike.

Eyebrows were raised when Chelsea appointed club legend Frank Lampard as manager back in July 2019. After all, the ex-midfielder only had one season of managerial experience under his belt at the time.

On Sunday night, Everton recorded a 3-0 home win over Sheffield Wednesday at Goodison Park in the FA Cup fourth. The victory set up a fifth-round meeting with Tottenham, who defeated Wycombe Wanderers last evening.

Saint-Etienne are no strangers to a relegation battle, having finished in the bottom five in each of their last two seasons. However, for a third successive season under the guidance of experienced manager Claude Puel, Saint-Etienne will have to fight for their Ligue 1 status.

There may still be a week left of the January transfer window, but we have already seen a number of high-profile moves across Europe.

On Tuesday night, West Ham recorded a 2-1 home win over West Brom at the London Stadium, with goals from Jarrad Bowen and Michail Antonio enough to ensure the Hammers victory.

Schalke have been an ever-present in the top-flight of German football since the 1991/92 season and in nine of those campaigns, the club have finished in the top three positions.