🇪🇺 Friday Forecast on tour: Title deciders and huge derbies | OneFootball

There are just four Premier League games this weekend and the schedule has left us with pretty slim pickings.

So we’ve got out the minivan and taken Friday Forecast on a European roadtrip this weekend!

And maybe you should join us for a Premier League winter break of your own?

🇪🇸 Viernes Forecast

Setién returns to Real Betis

Things are not going smoothly at Barcelona. Quique Setién has arrived, they are keeping the ball more, but they aren’t scoring more goals.

The injuries are piling up; Ousmane Dembélé has been sidelined yet again, Lionel Messi is reportedly playing through the pain barrier. And speaking of Messi, he’s hit out at Eric Abidal’s quotes after the sporting director explained the choice to fire Ernesto Valverde.

So it’s not the perfect time for Setién to return to his old stomping ground, especially after that Copa del Rey defeat in Bilbao on Thursday.

Betis are having a rocky season themselves but six of their seven wins have come at home and they will undoubtedly be formidable opponents at Estadio Benito Villamarín.

🇩🇪 Freitag Forecast

Title on the line as out-of-form Leipzig go to Munich

What a time to implode. Heading back from their winter break a few weeks ago, Leipzig were top of the Bundesliga, four points clear of third-placed Bayern Munich, and still in the DFB Pokal.

Just three weeks on, they’ve drawn with 10-man Borussia Mönchengladbach and lost to Frankfurt twice, exiting the Pokal and losing top spot in the process.

Bayern, meanwhile, have won all three of their Bundesliga matches, scoring 12 times and conceding just once.

With the gap just one point, Leipzig could still go top of the table on Sunday, but if they lose they will be four points behind a rampant Bayern side and they can probably kiss goodbye to catching them.

🇮🇹 Venerdì Forecast

Resurgent Milan look to stop Inter’s run

Derby della Madonnina. One of the most illustrious games in football between two of the sport’s most storied clubs.

But the good old days are long gone. At least for Milan, who have won the league title just once (2011) since 2004. To make matters worse, they haven’t beaten Inter in any of their last seven Serie A meetings.

And, as you may have heard, Inter are quite good now. Antonio Conte’s side have lost just once in the league all season and, even with Lautaro Martínez injured, they remain a frightening force. Romelu Lukaku is on fire, no team has conceded fewer in Serie A, and wouldn’t the derby be the perfect time for Christian Eriksen to announce himself?

But with Milan back on track (they’re unbeaten in five in the league), this will be far from a walk in the park and we’re sure Zlatan Ibrahimović will be desperate to steal the headlines.

🇫🇷 Vendredi Forecast

No Neymar?

Well, at least this game means something for one of the sides.

Thanks to PSG’s 15-point lead at the top of Ligue 1, the outcome of this won’t worry them too much. But it DOES provide the perfect chance to test themselves before their Champions League trip to Dortmund 10 days later. It’s not often they face a European calibre side and this should let them know where they stand before that one comes around.

But only if Lyon get their act together.

Hampered by injuries, they currently sit 6th in the table, eight points off a Champions League place. A result here would be huge for them.

🇵🇹 Sexta-feira Forecast

Porto’s last chance to stop the unstoppable

Is there any chance of Benfica not winning the league?

The reigning champions are seven points clear at the top of Liga NOS and they have won 18 of their 19 games so far. But their single defeat did come against Porto.

And, somehow, Porto have done well enough to keep that gap down to seven despite Benfica’s relentless domination against anyone they’ve met since these two last played.

A win for the hosts here would see the gap down to four points and Tiquinho, with eight goals in his last eight starts, may just have what it takes to make the difference.