19.04. (Tue) 20:45 Roma - Inter

DID YOU KNOW?

* Roma lost 1-0 to Inter in the Coppa Italia final last year at the Stadio Olimpico.

* Francesco Totti has seven goals in the last five games.

* Roma have been awarded the most penalties in Serie A this season (11).

* The capital club have lost their last two matches at home.

* Inter have lost four of their last five games in all competitions.

* Samuel Eto'o hasn't scored in his last seven matches overall.

* The Serie A titleholders have conceded 12 goals in their past five encounters.

* Leonardo's side have lost their last three matches on the road in all competitions and have been outscored 7-1 during that span.

LAST MEETING

February 6, 2011: Inter 5-3 Roma

Samuel Eto’o netted a brace to guide Inter past Roma in an eight-goal thriller at San Siro. Wesley Sneijder opened the scoring in the early going before Fabio Simplicio levelled proceedings ten minutes later.

Inter then took control of the game with Eto’o scoring on either side of the half-time interval before Thiago Motta extended the lead to 4-1 over the ten-man visitors.

However Roma refused to wilt and mounted a comeback scoring two goals in six minutes to pull within a goal before Cambiasso sealed it for the champions late on.


PROBABLE LINE-UPS

Roma: Doni; Cassetti, Burdisso, Juan, Riise; Pizarro, De Rossi; Taddei, Perrotta, Vucinic; Totti

Inter: Julio Cesar; Maicon, Ranocchia, Lucio, Nagatomo; Zanetti, Cambiasso, Stankovic; Sneijder; Milito, Pandev

Prediction

Both teams are coming off disappointing losses and will likely miss out on their major objectives this season. Inter will look to defend their Coppa Italia crown but their back line has been porous and Roma will take advantage in a high scoring affair.

Roma 3-2 Inter Milan

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19.04. (Tue) 20:45 Newcastle United - Manchester United

DID YOU KNOW?

* Goals could well be on the agenda as both sides have managed to hit the net consistently this season. Notching 70 times, Manchester United have scored more league goals than any other side and despite losing Andy Carroll, Newcastle are fifth in the goals scored table – hitting the net 48 times.

* Jonas Gutierrez will be the only player on display to play every Premier League fixtures this year. No Manchester United player has been an ever present this term.

* Alan Pardew will be wise to pay close attention to Nani. The Portuguese midfielder has more assists in this year’s Premier League than any other player in the competition.

* Newcastle are not scared to put their foot in. In Kevin Nolan and Cheik Tiote, Newcastle have two of the top three Premier League players to pick up the most yellow cards this term. Only Charlie Adam has entered the notebook more often. Unsurprisingly, the pair seem to lead by example as Newcastle are 19th in the disciplinary table. The only side worse behaved are Manchester City.

* Newcastle have failed to turn St James’ Park into a fortress this season. Pardew’s men have only won three of their last 11 home games and only five of their 16 home outings this term.

* Despite being the side who seemed most willing to push Manchester United during the nineties, Newcastle have seemed in awe of Sir Alex Ferguson’s men pretty much ever since. The Toon Army haven’t seen their side conquer United since September of 2001 where they triumphed 4-3 at St James’ Park.

* The league leaders have only five defeats in all competitions this season.

* Since Sir Alex Ferguson took charge at Old Trafford in 1986, Newcastle have changed their boss 22 times including double stints by Kevin Keegan and Chris Hughton.

* In Nolan, Newcastle have the highest scoring midfielder in the Premier League this season with 12 goals.

* Manchester United have the league’s top scorer at their disposal as Dimitar Berbatov currently heads the goalscoring charts with 21 strikes this season.

LAST MEETING

August 16, 2010: Manchester United 3 – 0 Newcastle United

The Geordies' Premier League bow after a year spent in the abyss of the Football League ended in a routine season-opening victory for United. Fletcher, Berbatov and Giggs sent the Old Trafford faithful home happy and a similar result in the north-east would take Ferguson one step closer to securing an unprecedented 19th top-flight crown for the club.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

Newcastle: Harper; Simpson, Coloccini, S.Taylor, Enrique; Gutierrez, Barton, Tiote, Guthrie; Nolan; Lovenkrands.

Manchester United: Van der Sar; Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Valencia, Carrick, Giggs, Nani; Rooney, Hernandez.

Prediction

Fresh from the heartache of Wembley defeat, Sir Alex Ferguson will need to use his years of experience to lift his charges for a tricky encounter in front of what will undoubtedly be a boisterous St James’ Park. The leaders will want to pounce on another Arsenal blunder and the prospect of a record-breaking 19th title should be enough to see the Red Devils over the line in this one.

The return of Rooney is a massive boost for United and his guile along with the slippery movement of Javier Hernandez should pose too much of a problem for Newcastle’s back line.  At the other end, Nolan could give the home side a chance but even with him at his best, this one looks like too tough an assignment.

Newcastle 1-2 Man Utd.

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18.04. (Mon) 21:00 Villarreal - Zaragoza

DID YOU KNOW?

* Villarreal have the third best home record in La Liga bettered only by Real Madrid and Barcelona.

* The 'yellow submarine' have been in the top four throughout the season, except the first three weeks.

* Garrido has described the clash with Real Zaragoza as his side's "most important game of the season'' as their hopes of a third place are extinguished and the 4th place not yet secure.

* Last week’s 5-0 drubbing by Valencia was their worst defeat in La Liga away from home.

* Real Zaragoza have won just once on the road. This is the worst away record in La Liga.

* Javier Aguirre's men picked up some much needed points against Getafe in last match, although this was not enough to lift them out of relegation zone.

* In their last five games against Villarreal, the Aragon based side have won just one game.

* The matches between these two teams tend to be a high scoring affair with 22 goals scored in last five games.

LAST MEETING

November 27, 2010: Real Zaragoza 0-3 Villrreal

Villarreal had beaten Real Zaragoza comprehensively courtesy of a virtuoso performance by Cazorla who scored one goal and setup another. Early strikes by Senna and Cazorla meant that Zaragoza never recovered and Nilmar's goal in the second half only served as an icing on top of cake.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

Villarreal: Diego Lopez; Musacchio, Capdevilla, Mario Martínez, Marchena; Bruno Soriano, Cazorla, Valero, Rubén; Rossi, Nilmar

Real Zaragoza: Doblas; Paulo Da Silva, Obradovic, Lanzaro, Diogo; Gabi, Ponzio, Herrera, Jarosik, Bertolo; Uche

Prediction

Real Zaragoza are the worst travellers in La Liga and they have lost at 'El Madrigal' in their last three visits there. On the other side, Villarreal are smarting from the 5-0 humiliation of last weekend and need this win to put some distance between them and the chasing pack.

All this points to healthy win for the "yellow submarine".

Villarreal 3-0 Zaragoza

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17.04. (Sun) 21:00 Espanyol - Atletico Madrid

DID YOU KNOW?

* Espanyol have collected just seven points out of last 33 possible points. Despite this, they can still qualify for Europe, if they manage to win the rest of their games.
* Mauricio Pochettino's men have been struggling since the beginning of the new year owing to the sale of several key players without replacements.
* The 'Catalans' have a very tough run in for the season end, as matches with Barcelona, Sevilla, Valencia and Bilbao are yet to come.
* 'Los Periquitos' are missing de la Pena, Sergio Garcia, David Garcia and Raul Baena through injuries, but have midfielder Javi Marquez available after a long layoff.
* Atletico de Madrid are on a good run with just one defeat in last five matches, that too against Real Madrid.
* They are level on points with the Basque side Bilbao for the sixth spot. However, their inferior head to head record pushes them into the seventh place.
* 'The mattress makers' are in a prime positon to finish on a high note as they have negotiated all their 'tough' fixtures and all their remaining matches are with the sides below them in the league table
* Quique Flores is without Diego Forlan for this match.
* Matches between the two sides in the last few years have tended to be even, with Atletico winning five and Espanyol winning four.

LAST MEETING

A bridge too far??
January 7, 2011: Espanyol 1-1 Atletico Madrid

Last time around these sides met in Copa Del Rey's second leg which saw Atletico Madrid advance to the next round on a 2-1 aggregate win.
Espanyol were down 1-0 at half time due to Aguero strike and a 92nd minute goal by Luis Garcia only proved to a consolation goal as the match was already over when Aguero struck. That strike meant that Espanyol needed three goals to advance which was always going to be a bridge too far.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

Espanyol: Kameni; Raúl Rodríguez, Amat, Francisco Torres, Galán; Verdú, Javí López, Pablo Osvaldo, Iván Alonso, Callejón; Luis Garcia;

Atletico de Madrid: De Gea; Godín, Perea, Kasmirski ,Ujfalusi; Mario Suárez, Tiago, Koke, Reyes; Diego Costa, Agüero;

Prediction

The two teams have always had close matches irrespective of their form. However, Atletico seemed to have re-discovered their joy of winning whereas Espanyol are to discover theirs. Atletico are yet to win at Espanyols' home this season but this could be the time when can actually do it.

Espanyol 1-2 Atletico Madrid

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17.04. (Sun) 20:45 Napoli - Udinese

DID YOU KNOW?

* Napoli are currently riding a four-game winning streak.

* Walter Mazzarri's men haven't lost at home since last October.

* Napoli have held their opponents scoreless 16 times this season.

* Edinson Cavani is second in the Serie A scoring race with 25 goals.

* Napoli have scored 11 goals in their last four games.

* Udinese are unbeaten in their last five Serie A matches against Napoli.

* The Zebrette will be without dynamic duo Antonio Di Natale and Alexis Sanchez who are both injured.

* Udinese have scored 32 goals on the road in the 2010-11 campaign.

* Udinese have won five of their past six matches away from home.

LAST MEETING

November 28, 2010: Udinese 3-1 Napoli

Di Natale was the hero as his hat-trick fired the hosts to an impressive victory over Napoli. The veteran striker made no mistake from the spot in the 15th minute before scoring two more goals in the second half to give Udinese a commanding lead they would not relinquish.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

Napoli: De Sanctis; Campagnaro, Cannavaro, Ruiz; Maggio, Pazienza, Yebda, Dossena; Hamsik, Lavezzi; Cavani

Udinese: Handanovic; Benatia, Zapata, Domizzi, Pasquale; Isla, Pinzi, Inler, Asamoah, Armero; Denis

Prediction

Udinese will enter the San Paolo cauldron without their dynamic duo and will be immediately put on the back foot by a Napoli side who will come sprinting out of the starting blocks. Hamsik, Lavezzi and Cavani will all get on the scoresheet as the Azzurri send Milan a message with an emphatic win in Naples.

Napoli 3-0 Udinese

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