A Cup Final in Italy and a full league matchday in Spain as teams fight to avoid the drop!
Whilst the Premier League is still catching up on previously postponed matches, LaLiga has a full matchday for us to look forward to with every team, both fighting at the top and bottom of the table, desperate to pick up points. We focus our attention on the relegation battle with as many as 7 teams still striving to avoid the drop, but perhaps the headline match of this week is the 2022-23 Coppa Italia Final between two teams who will be getting well-acquainted with Finals in the coming weeks. Fiorentina and Inter not only have the Coppa Italia Final to look ahead to, but they’ve each also booked their places in European Finals! Can either pick up a fantastic double?
Not sure who to take a punt on? Then read our preview and place your bets wisely!
Contents:
- Premier League – Brighton vs Manchester City
- LaLiga – Battle to avoid relegation
- Coppa Italia – Final – Fiorentina vs Inter
Premier League – Brighton vs Manchester City
Brighton have made history this season. In the 121 years of their existence, the Seagulls have qualified for European football for the first time thanks to a fantastic season which saw them keep level heads despite departures of both key players and a manager mid-campaign. With one game to go, Roberto de Zerbi’s men are, at the very least, guaranteed Europa Conference League football next year, but just 1 point in either of their final 2 games will promote them further up to the Europa League. Will that point come here against the Premier League Champions Manchester City? No doubt difficult, especially when we see that Brighton have lost 10 of their 11 PL encounters against City, but this is a team that will want to end this already-impressive season on a high. After all, with this being their last game of the season at the AMEX, many will be aware that Brighton have won their final home game of a season in each of the last two campaigns. One of those came against… Manchester City!
Manchester City were crowned Premier League Champions without even kicking a ball this weekend with Arsenal losing to Nottingham Forest, but their celebrations didn’t get in the way of victory in their final home match of the season against Chelsea (1-0) before the party could really start. They’re now only the third team in PL history to lift the trophy three seasons in-a-row, but who can stop this behemothic team from continuing the streak next year? Their job in the Premier League might be complete, but Pep Guardiola won’t want his side to stop what is an ongoing 12-match winning streak in the league, 2 more games to go to end the season in style. On the other hand, with this trophy wrapped up, there surely must be a priority shift to their other remaining competitions, the FA Cup Final and the Champions League Final in coming weeks, the latter of which will be of huge importance to a team who have never previously won it. The UCL has been City’s aim for a decade now, and this is their best chance to finally get their hands on it. Will Guardiola risk key players in this match against Brighton?
LaLiga – Battle to avoid relegation
A full midweek matchday of LaLiga awaits! There needs to be, because only two weeks remain on the European calendar and yet the Spanish league needs to fit in three matchdays, so an intense run-in awaits for teams battling to avoid the drop! Even with only three games left, so much remains undecided. Elche are already down, but two spots remain open to as many as seven teams!
With Valencia, Almería and Cádiz all earning victories last weekend and moving themselves further from the relegation zone, we will focus on the 3 teams closer to the drop: Getafe, Valladolid and Espanyol. A tough match for Getafe awaits, an away trip to a Real Betis side still fighting amongst the European positions who are looking for their third consecutive Top 6 finish. No such ambition for Getafe, their priority now will be to turn around what is a dreary run of form which has seen them win just 1 league match in their last 9 (drawn 3, lost 5), but will that be likely given the dismal recent H2H record for los Azulones against this opponent? Getafe are winless in the last 4 meetings against Betis (drawn 1, lost 3) without managing to score a single goal. However, they do currently sit outside the drop zone on goal difference (17th) and this is their toughest remaining match, so if other results go their way then a defeat might not be the worst outcome in this battle.
One of the matches Getafe will be watching is Valladolid hosting Barcelona. Five defeats in-a-row has come at the worst possible time for Valladolid, but what might even be worse is their weekend loss against fellow relegation-strugglers Cádiz, leaving los Pucelanos in the relegation zone and in desperate need of a turnaround. It’s unfortunate then that their next match comes against the new LaLiga Champions, but a glimmer of hope could be that Barcelona have seemingly taken their foot off the gas, as evidenced by their 2-1 defeat at home against Real Sociedad last weekend. If they want to take advantage of this, then Valladolid need to do the near impossible, beat a Barcelona team that they’ve only managed once in their last 20 meetings (drawn 3, lost 16). Avoiding relegation needs solid home form and, whilst Paulo Pezzolano’s team have lost consecutive home matches, prior to that they’d lost just 1 from 6 at the José Zorrilla (won 3, drawn 2) and how they’d love to return to that form. Nonetheless, both Valladolid and Getafe know what the biggest match of the season will be, facing each other on the last matchday!
Espanyol sit 2 places from safety (19th) but only 1 point behind both Valladolid and Getafe, and they closed the gap last weekend after a rather impressive 2-1 victory away from home against Rayo Vallecano. It was only their 2nd win in 12 LaLiga matches (1 draw, 9 losses) but, with both of these victories coming in their most recent 4 matches, are Luis García’s men starting to pick up form at the right time? That may be, but they’ll need to do something special to defeat their next opponent, Atlético Madrid, a team that has won 10 of their last 12 matches (lost 2) that has seen them overtake bitter rivals Real Madrid in the table (up to 2nd). Los Periquitos may be winless in their last 5 encounters against Atleti (drawn 2, lost 3) but in the 4 meetings prior to those, Espanyol won 3 (lost the other) and how they would love to return to a period like that. In truth, even a draw might be positive enough if other teams around them lose, and a draw was exactly the result when these two faced each other last (1-1).
Coppa Italia – Final – Fiorentina vs Inter
There’s a Cup Final to look forward to this week, and what a Final it could be! The Stadio Olimpico welcomes Fiorentina and Inter for the Coppa Italia Final, one of TWO Finals that each team will have over the coming weeks. Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League Final, Inter in the Champions League Final, these clubs have a fantastic chance to lift a European + Domestic Cup double!
Fiorentina haven’t lifted the Coppa Italia since 2000-01, which coincidentally is also their last ever major trophy. A lot has happened since then, bankruptcy for I Viola saw them needing to climb through the lower leagues just a year later, returning to Serie A in 2004 but with no trophies since to parade. All of a sudden, they have a chance for two in the same season. A dramatic 120+9-minute winner for Fiorentina against Basel saw them book their place in the Europa Conference League Final which is only in 2 weeks’ time, but all priorities for the moment rest in the Coppa Italia Final versus Inter. It’s a rather rough H2H record they have against this opponent, Fiorentina managing only 1 victory in the last 14 encounters against Inter (drawn 5, lost 8), but that sole victory did come in the most recent clash only last month! A 1-0 win at San Siro for Vincenzo Italiano’s men back in April, and how they would love for a repeat here. With 6 Coppa Italia titles to their name, but none in the last two decades, can Fiorentina end the long-awaited run for silverware?
Inter have 8 Coppa Italia titles to their name and indeed are the reigning champions following their triumph last season. Already just 1 year later, they have the chance to defend their title. In a season that has had its bad moments, Simone Inzaghi has turned things around when it mattered most: 5 wins in their last 6 Serie A matches has helped boost their hopes for a Top 4 Finish, a Coppa run that has seen them defeat Atalanta and Juventus on the way to the Final, and who can forget arguably the biggest game to come in the form of a Champions League Final against Manchester City. Let’s not forget, Inter already have the Supercoppa Italiana to their name this season, so the chance of a treble is on. An unthinkable recovery in a season where Inzaghi was under pressure of potentially losing his job, but here I Nerazzurri are with 2 Finals in under 3 weeks. The revival started April 23rd, a 1st Serie A victory after 5 winless matches was followed by an unbeaten run of 8 games that included progression to both of these Finals, before suffering their 1st defeat in a month against Napoli last weekend. Perhaps they had one eye on this Final already? Is this the first of two trophies this month for either side?