As the seasons wear on across Europe's major leagues, likely title winners are giving themselves increasingly good chances of holding off the competition in the run-in, but there is still a great deal to be decided and important points to be won. Here, the WhoScored Tipster takes a look at 4 of the biggest games this weekend and where your money might be well placed.
Roberto Mancini faces his nemesis this weekend. David Moyes has been victorious over the Italian more times (5) than any other manager in the Premier League and will look to extend that run at Goodison Park in the early kick off on Saturday. Those wins have come in the sides' last 7 encounters, but their form has been indifferent recently; the Tottees have only won 4 of their last 11 matches and crashed out of the FA Cup at home to Wigan last weekend.
What has remained constant throughout Everton's season, however, is their tendency to both score and concede. They have done so in 22 of their 28 league games this season and against a Manchester City side that rarely fail to score, that should become 23 out of 29. Back both teams to score at 1.61. What is more, no team has drawn more Premier League games this season than Everton (12), and a repeat of the 1-1 scoreline from the reverse fixture earlier this season could well be on the cards. The draw at 3.60 is very good value, while the more ambitious option would be to back a 1-1 stalemate, at 6.50.
Bayer Leverkusen vs Bayern Munich
Bayern all of a sudden looked a much more human group of players in the 2-0 loss to Arsenal on Wednesday night. Having previously not lost since October, it was starting to look like this group of players would never taste defeat again, but they were brought crashing down to earth with defeat against an Arsenal side whose form is supposedly suffering at the moment. This weekend, Bayern return to league duties, facing the difficult task of travelling to play the last side to beat them before this week. Bayer Leverkusen.
That was Bayern's only domestic loss all season, and though they have an impeccable away record (12 wins and only 1 goal conceded in 13 games) in the Bundesliga, they have won none of their last 4 games at the BayArena (2 draws, losses). Furthermore, Leverkusen have lost only 2 of their 16 home games in all competitions this season, and could well upset the odds by avoiding defeat here. Back the Bayer Leverkusen double chance at 2.05.
Chelsea will have been buoyed by their 3-1 victory over Steaua on Thursday night to progress to the Europa League quarter final and will be looking to embark on a good run of form, starting by playing a team they have a good record against recently in West Ham. The Hammers have not won a league game at Stamford Bridge since 2002 and are unlikely to end that poor run here, despite beating the Blues 3-1 early on in Rafa Benitez's tumultuous reign.
The Bridge saw 4 goals on Thursday night, while 3 of West Ham's last 5 matches have gone over 3.5 goals. Also, 3 of these sides' last 4 meetings have seen at least 4 goals, while the other game was a 3-0 win for Chelsea. West Ham are not a high-scoring side, and are hardly likely to score more than once, but they have scored in 7 successive Premier League games and so over 3.5 goals in this game, at 2.25, could be worth a punt.
Rounding off the weekend's action is a huge game at the top of Ligue 1. The season's surprise package, St Etienne, are on a 9 match unbeaten streak - the longest current run in the French top flight - that has seen them climb up to 4th place, with a genuine chance of attaining Champions League qualification. Their clash with PSG on Sunday night is a great chance to showcase their credentials against the best in the league, but they will need to be careful of the away side's deadly attack. They have only conceded 9 goals in 14 home games, though, whilst PSG have shipped only 10 in 13 games on the road, so we could see a low-scoring affair. The last 6 meetings between the sides at St Etienne have seen only 5 goals, with two goals scored on only one occasion. Under 2.5 goals can be backed at 2.00.
