Sunday's Derbies

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We have three exciting derbies to look forward to on Sunday the 23rd of April and we begin with the El Otro Clásico between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.

This match, depending on results elsewhere, could provide an opportunity for Barcelona to win the title in-front of their own fans but Atletico Madrid are closing in on second place following what was a disappointing start to the season.

Barcelona took all 3 points in the first La Liga game at the Estádio Cívitas Metropolitano but Atletico Madrid are a different proposition now.

In the previous 6 meetings between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid in La Liga, there have been 2 wins for each team and 2 draws.

However, Atletico Madrid struggle to win games when playing at the Camp Nou and have failed to win a match in their 13 most recent attempts in the league. One thing we should expect to see is goals and in their past 41 matches in all competitions, an average of 2.7 goals have been scored.

The title is already in the bag for Barcelona regardless of the result in this game but Xavi will be keen for his team to show they are clearly the best in Spain by beating the team in third place.

Moving to the Netherlands and have we one of the biggest games of the season as PSV Eindhoven and Ajax meet in De Topper.

Both teams are chasing Feyenoord who are top of the table and have a distant hope of catching them to challenge for the title.

It is worth noting only the top two teams qualify for the Champions League, so finishing second is hugely important and that makes De Topper a massive fixture. In terms of the Eredivisie, it is PSV who hold the advantage with 54 victories compared to the 52 wins for Ajax.

PSV have also had the better of Ajax in recent matches, beating them at the Johan Cruyff Arena in the league plus recording victories in the KNVB Cup and the Johan Cruyff Shield.

There will be an enthusiastic crowd at the Philips Stadion and this fixture is getting close to the rivalry between Ajax and Feyenoord.

Travelling to France and our third derby on Sunday is between Olympique Lyonnais and Olympique Marseille.

Known as the Choc des Olympiques, Marseille are still in with a shout of winning the title this season whereas Lyon are attempting to recover from a poor start to the season to finish in the Europa Conference League qualifying position.

Looking specifically at Ligue 1, Lyon have the superior head-to-head record going into this match having won 36 times compared to the 29 victories of Marseille.

Neither team have been dominant in recent meetings, with Marseille winning 1-0 at the Stade Velodrome early this season but each team has 2 victories from the last 6 fixtures along with 2 draws.

However, it is worth noting Marseille have struggled as the away team in Ligue 1 and they have failed to win any of their 12 most recent trips to Lyon in the league.