Five fixtures you cannot miss this weekend

This week’s piece places emphasis on five mouth-watering fixtures across four of Europe’s top five leagues: Southampton v Manchester City, Arsenal v Everton, Roma v Fiorentina, Barcelona v Villarreal, and Borussia Dortmund v Bayer Leverkusen.

Southampton v Manchester City (Saturday, 15:00 UK time)

The Saints won this fixture 3-1 last season back in February and will fancy their chances of winning again here, even despite losing their last three games and having a growing injury list to deal with. Manager Mauricio Pochettino would be mindful of the fact that his side have been strong at home, while Manchester City have been poor on the road so far this season.

Southampton have lost just once at St. Mary’s, while City have won just twice on their travels in seven attempts. Manuel Pellegrini would be buoyed by the fact that City’s most recent road victory came in the last round at The Hawthorns against West Bromwich Albion, who are always a handful there. That victory is one of three in a row for the Citizens, who are sitting in third and are high on confidence as a result.

Borussia Dortmund v Bayer Leverkusen (Saturday, 17:00 UK time)

Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp recently played down the chances of him entering into the transfer market in January, despite the fact that he is currently without several key players, particularly in defence. He is adamant that his side can cope, and four wins from their last six games gives proof of that. They will need to be at their best to defeat Leverkusen, however, who have now overtaken them and gone into second place, having won their last three matches. Dortmund have actually beaten Sami Hyypia’s men in their last three games in all competitions, however.

Barcelona v Villarreal (Saturday, 19:00 UK time)

Tata Martino is under a bit of pressure these days, following some sub-par performances from his Barcelona side. A 1-0 loss away to high-flying Athletic Bilbao in the last round further compounded matters. He needs a win at home to another high-flying side, Villarreal, in order to ease some of the pressure. The Yellow Submarine’s last visit to the Camp Nou, back in 2011, ended in a 5-0 mauling, but the current form of Marcelino’s men suggests that they should make a better account of themselves this time around. Whether it’s enough to pull off a shock away win, however, is another matter.

Arsenal v Everton (Sunday, 16:00 UK time)

Arsenal are flying high, sitting comfortably in first place, having lost just twice this season. At home, they’ve won their last six matches. Everton, meanwhile, have lost the fewest games in the league (1), but that loss came on the road. They are undefeated in their last seven league matches, keeping clean sheets in five of their last six, but it’ll take a gargantuan effort to shut out this Arsenal side.

The Gunners are undefeated in their last 15 home matches against the Toffees in all competitions. That doesn’t mean a thing, however, as the Toffees, before their shock 1-0 win at Old Trafford in the last round, hadn’t won there since 1992. Buoyed by that huge result, Roberto Martinez and his side should put in a confident display at The Emirates.

Roma v Fiorentina (Sunday, 11:30 UK time)

Since making the history books by winning their first 10 league games, Roma’s form has dipped. They are still unbeaten, but have drawn their last four games. Still, they’ll fancy their chances against a Fiorentina side that they have beaten in seven of their last eight home matches in all competitions. Fiorentina, though, have won four of their last six league matches and boast an in-form striker in Giuseppe Rossi, who has scored three goals in his last three games and leads Serie A with 12 in total.