Title celebrations in Italy?
The season is nearing its conclusion, but with much left to be decided. Let’s take a look at some of this weekend’s biggest matches!
With European Cup finals soon approaching as well as domestic cup finals it is a struggle to fit in the remaining matches and to make sure that games involving teams fighting for the same prize need to be played at the same time. There are no league matches on Saturday in England as the day is dedicated to the Cup final, so a couple of important matches take place on Friday evening. Since Manchester United and Tottenham will both play in the final of the EL on Wednesday, both their matches will kick off the weekend on Friday as they take on Chelsea and Aston Villa respectively. It will be interesting to see whether Man Utd or Spurs are able to put up much of a fight against their opponents, who are both fighting hard for a European spot, whereas they have nothing to play for in the league and are languishing at the wrong end of the table.
It is the final round of fixtures from Ligue 1 in France this week, so all matches will be played on Saturday at 9 pm with Nice, Lille, Strasbourg and Lyon battling it out for the European spots and Le Havre hoping to avoid the drop. It is the last weekend in the Germany too, with all matches being played on Saturday too and there are five teams looking to take the four remaining European spots up for grabs here too with RB Leipzig currently missing out. There is only one Serie A match on Saturday, two teams with nothing really to play for take on each other as Atalanta travel to Genoa.
The rest of the Serie A matches and the whole round of La Liga matches are all set to be played on Sunday. Highlights include AS Roma against AC Milan, Inter taking on Lazio, Juventus versus Udinese and Napoli’s trip to Parma. The two dropped points last weekend mean that Napoli need to take all three this week to keep ahead of Inter who are now just one point behind. There is a full round of La Liga fixtures on Sunday too, with all teams playing at the same time as in Italy. Highlights from Spain include Atlético Madrid’s match against Betis, Champions in waiting Barcelona hosting Villarreal and Real Madrid’s trip to Sevilla. Sunday’s top PL match is Arsenal against Newcastle, where a win for Newcastle will allow them to leapfrog Arsenal into second spot.
The final PL match of the week on Monday night is Brighton versus Liverpool on what is otherwise a quiet day
Chelsea vs Manchester United
Stamford Bridge, Friday @ 21:15
There are only two rounds of the PL left to play and Chelsea will know that their fate is in their hands, despite the loss incurred against Newcastle last week. They are still in the top five, a CL spot, and a win here will keep them out of reach of Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest. Chelsea are unbeaten at home in 2025 and will be optimistic of extending that against an out of sorts United team who will be focused on the EL final a few days later. Last season this match ended as a 4-3 win for Chelsea, with two late goals stealing victory from defeat in a memorable encounter.
Manchester United face a challenging final two matches, against Chelsea and Aston Villa, both teams who are in need of points. United, on the other hand, have long since given up on the league season and are fully focused on winning the EL. This will go down as their worst PL season and fans and manager Amorim alike cannot hide their anger and disappointment. They are now winless in the last seven matches and few fans will give them much hope of stopping that run when they head to Stamford Bridge on Friday evening. United have won only three of their last 22 league matches in London and the fact that they will surely field a weakened side will not help them. Leny Yoro was the latest player to limp off the pitch and he joins the likes of Joshua Zirkzee, Matias De Ligt, Lisandro Martinez and Diogo Dalot on the injury list.
Arsenal vs Newcastle
Emirates Stadium, Sunday @ 17:30
Arsenal’s season has not turned out as it might as their title challenge fell away some time ago and they were recently eliminated from the CL at the semi-final stage. They now run the risk of not even finishing in second spot as recent league results have not been great and Newcastle are only two points behind them going into this pivotal tie. Therefore, it is imperative that Arsenal do not lose at home, but their recent record of one win from the last six league games is certainly a worry. On the flip side, the Gunners have a good home record against Newcastle, only losing one of the last twenty meetings in North London. That being said, Arsenal have been beaten by Newcastle three times this season so they will be wary heading into this game, especially as they have not even managed to score a goal in any of those games.
No team has beaten Arsenal four times in one season, so there is a record on the line here for Newcastle, but they will surely be far more interested in finishing second in the PL. The visitors are one of the form teams in the league, only Aston Villa have more points than Newcastle across the last ten matches. Last weekend Newcastle recorded an important win over another top five rival team Chelsea last weekend. This is their final away match of the season and Newcastle tend to finish the season strongly, they have lost none of their last six final away matches in the league over recent years. Alexander Isak’s dream of finishing as the league’s top scorer appears to be over as he is still five goals behind Mo Salah with only two matches to go.
AS Roma vs AC Milan
Stadio Olimpico, Sunday @ 20:45
The race for European places continues to provide us with an interesting conclusion to the Italian league season and both these teams are in with a shout of success. AS Roma will be disappointed that their excellent recent run came to an end last weekend when they lost to Atalanta. They are now occupying the final spot in sixth but only three points ahead of AC Milan. A win here might propel them up to fourth spot if results go their way, whereas a home defeat might see them drop down to eighth.
AC Milan will be desperate to return to winning ways following the disappointing loss in the Italian cup final in midweek against Bologna. That win guaranteed EL football for Bologna, who are two points ahead of AC Milan, so the hope for the Milan team is that they might ease off in the final two matches, which would allow the Milan giants to leapfrog them. AC Milan’s league form has been good lately, with four wins in the last five matches including a win over the same opponents last weekend as they got the better of Bologna, winning 3-1. The previous meeting between these two this season was a 1-1 draw with AC Milan getting the better of AS Roma in the cup back in February.
Inter vs Lazio
San Siro, Sunday @ 20:45
This is set to be a massive weekend in the race for the Serie A title following Napoli’s draw last weekend. That result has opened the door for Inter, who are only one point behind Napoli now with only two matches to go. Inter certainly have the trickier fixture this weekend, as a match against Lazio is certainly a tough challenge. The visitors are fighting for a top four spot and anything other than a home win for Inter will likely end their league title hopes. Inter have won four of the last five meetings between these two that have taken place at the San Siro. Inter knocked Lazio out of the cup and thrashed Lazio 6-0 in the last meeting in December and they have seven wins from their last eight home matches, so they will be optimistic of extending that run. Marcus Thuram enjoys playing against Lazio, never losing and scoring in three of the four games he has played in.
Lazio are tied with Juventus after both teams drew 1-1 last weekend so the battle for a top four finish continues. The fact that there are only two points that separate fourth and seventh spot means that there is a lot at stake for Lazio here as if results don’t go their way they might miss out on European football altogether. Lazio manager Marco Baroni has a poor record against Inter but Lazio have been strong away from home, winning their last three Serie A away matches without conceding at all. Discipline could be key for both on Sunday as there have been 11 red cards issued in Lazio’s last 15 away league matches.
Atlético Madrid vs Real Betis
Metropolitano Stadium, Sunday @ 19:00
The end of the season is fast approaching and Atlético will look back on this season with a modest amount of satisfaction, despite not being in the title fight at the end of it. They go into this match twelve points behind leaders Barcelona but they have already guaranteed themselves third spot and CL football for yet another season. They have three wins from their last five matches and the job for Diego Simeone now is to try to keep his players motivated even though they have nothing to play for. They are one goal short of having the best defensive record in the league, so a clean sheet here will certainly help towards that aim.
Real Betis have to put the excitement of their upcoming ECL final against Chelsea to one side as they need to focus on their league form. They have a game in hand over Villarreal above them and mathematically they can still finish in fifth place and earn a CL spot. They can finish no lower than seventh though, so it is almost guaranteed that they will be in the EL next season, whether they win the ECL final or not. Last time out they could only manage a 1-1 draw with Osasuna and they will be hoping to go to the Metropolitano and upset the odds against an Atlético team that don’t really have much to play for whilst simultaneously keeping their form going as they head towards the showpiece European final.
Please note that the odds might have changed since the writing and/or publication of this article.
Last updated: 16.05.25
