B/R Experts: Big-Game Predictions, February 28-March 2
Despite the fact there's no UEFA Champions League action this week, football gives you no chance for pause. There's a midweek slate of football matches across Europe, and our experts are here to predict what happens.
England hosts a critical Championship game and an intriguing FA Cup replay; Germany and Italy engage in domestic cup action; and La Liga are treating us to full round of midweek fixtures. How kind of them.
Bleacher Report's Dean Jones has his finger on the pulse of English football and will give his verdict on the Championship and FA Cup, while Italian football guru Adam Digby is charged with deciphering what's going on in Coppa Italia.
Spanish football expert Karl Matchett will look after La Liga, and Lars Pollmann will select his winners in the the DFB-Pokal.
Juventus vs. Napoli
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Saturday saw the gap between these two title contenders grow, with Juventus' win over Empoli and Napoli's loss at the hands of Atalanta meaning they are now separated by 12 points in the Serie A table.
Furthermore, it meant that the Bianconeri continued their incredible home form, and they have not lost on home soil to a domestic opponent since August 2015—a run they will look to extend in this Coppa Italia semi-final.
Max Allegri's side have won the last two editions of this competition and will look to add a third this term, with the coach having rested a number of key players with this fixture in mind. They seem certain to do just that, while the Partenopei may be much more concerned with the vital league clash against AS Roma on Saturday.
Prediction: 2-0
First goalscorer: Juan Cuadrado
Sportfreunde Lotte vs. Borussia Dortmund
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Borussia Dortmund have seemingly turned the corner, if two impressive 3-0 victories over Wolfsburg and Freiburg in the Bundesliga are any indication. Tuesday's DFB-Pokal meeting with third-division side Sportfreunde Lotte will hardly put their quality to the test, rather their commitment and professionalism.
Lotte are the last team outside of the top two leagues left standing after beating Werder Bremen, Bayer Leverkusen and 1860 Munich in previous rounds. Dortmund have not crashed out of the cup against lower-league opposition since 2010, when Lucas Barrios and Robert Lewandowski missed penalties in a shootout against Kickers Offenbach.
Since then, the Black and Yellows have made the final four out of five times, developing into cup specialists. This season, however, they had to survive two penalty shootouts against Berlin-based clubs, Union and Hertha BSC.
One factor that could speak in Lotte's favour are the pitch conditions, as their last two home games had to be cancelled due to heavy rainfalls.
If Dortmund are not up for it, the underdogs could manage an upset, but, even without suspended defensive leader Sokratis Papastathopoulos, the visitors should come away with a convincing win.
Prediction: 1-3
First goalscorer: Marco Reus
Brighton & Hove Albion vs. Newcastle United
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This is a battle between the Championship's top two teams, and Brighton & Hove Albion would move four points clear with a victory.
Manager Chris Hughton's men have just picked up back-to-back wins over Barnsley and Reading and will be further buoyed by the news that Newcastle United will be without 20-goal top scorer Dwight Gayle, due to a hamstring issue.
The Magpies forced a second-half draw against Bristol City at the weekend, after falling two goals behind on Tyneside. If they give Albion a similar head-start, there will most likely be no comeback.
The Seagulls have lost just one home league game and have conceded only nine goals in 17 matches at the Amex Stadium. There is a good chance both these sides will be playing top-flight football next season, but the motivation of winning the league should make this a captivating fixture.
Prediction: 2-0
First goalscorer: Sam Baldock
Manchester City vs. Huddersfield Town
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The red half of Manchester have been celebrating with the first domestic trophy of the season, and now the blue half of the city have to make sure their own domestic cup dream remains alive on Wednesday.
The FA Cup is their best chance of silverware this season and a quarter-final tie against Middlesbrough awaits the winner of this fifth-round replay. When Manchester City and Huddersfield Town drew 0-0 in the original fixture, you have to remember Pep Guardiola had more than half an eye on their Champions League clash with AS Monaco.
This time around, City will surely come through with the win. They have lost just one home match all season in all competitions, and that came against Chelsea—this season's runaway Premier League leaders.
Raheem Sterling is enjoying a good spell of form, with three goals from his last five games, and Sergio Aguero looked to be getting back to his best in the 5-3 win over Monaco. Huddersfield have picked up a 1-0 win over Reading and a 1-1 draw at Barnsley since they played City in the original tie.
Prediction: 2-0
First goalscorer: Raheem Sterling
Bayern Munich vs. Schalke 04
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Bayern Munich and Schalke 04 shared the spoils in their Bundesliga meeting on February 4, with the Gelsenkirchen side coming away with a deserved point from the Allianz Arena after a courageous performance.
Since then, however, Bayern have won three home matches in all competitions with a combined scoreline of 14-1, thrashing Arsenal and Hamburg in the two most recent games. While those two opponents have regularly been the Bavarians' favourite victims over the last few years, it seems as though Carlo Ancelotti's side has found another gear ahead of the meaty end of the campaign.
Schalke, meanwhile, are alternating between strong performances in the UEFA Europa League and lacklustre ones in the Bundesliga, where they are only 12th and without any hopes of making it into Europe next season.
In that regard, the cup competitions might well come to the fore. The Ruhr side's last victory at Bayern came in the cup but, to illustrate how long ago that was, Manuel Neuer played in their goal and Real Madrid legend Raul scored the winner.
It would be surprising if Schalke managed to repeat that feat six years later.
Prediction: 2-1
First goalscorer: Arturo Vidal
Lazio vs. Roma
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In a rematch of the 2013 final that saw Lazio overcome AS Roma by a single goal, the Coppa Italia will once again see the capital's two teams go head-to-head.
Both sides have been in excellent form in Serie A recently, with Luciano Spalletti's Giallorossi strengthening their grip on second place while their crosstown rivals sit just outside the Europa League places after last weekend's results.
Both have been solid defensively but sharp in attack. Roma's Edin Dzeko is Italian football's leading goalscorer, and the Lazio front line of Keita Balde, Ciro Immobile and Felipe Anderson always looks dangerous.
Prediction: 1-1
First goalscorer: Keita Balde
Barcelona vs. Sporting Gijon
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After a trying couple of weeks, Barcelona will doubtless be relieved to get back to a bog-standard fixture—and an out-of-form Sporting Gijon side shouldn't present any barriers to Luis Enrique's team gaining further ground in the title race.
Four straight wins in La Liga have been achieved by wildly differing methods, and Barca need to rediscover the control and domination of matches that initially made them so difficult to beat.
Sporting's only away win of the season came two weeks ago, but there's no reason to suggest they will replicate the feat on Wednesday, even if this won't be a landslide win.
Prediction: 3-0
First goalscorer: Luis Suarez
Real Madrid vs. Las Palmas
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Comeback wins have been the order of the day recently for Real Madrid, but a Santiago Bernabeu fixture against Las Palmas should be somewhat more straightforward.
The Canary Islands side are strong on home soil but woeful away, and Real are unbeaten at home in La Liga this term.
The win over Villarreal on Sunday showcased two aspects of Real—depth to impact on matches from the bench and great mental resilience in the squad.
Zinedine Zidane could rotate a little ahead of a busy run of games, but Los Blancos have everything they need to continue picking up points and moving towards the title.
Prediction: 3-1
First goalscorer: Alvaro Morata
Deportivo La Coruna vs. Atletico Madrid
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Atletico Madrid's hopes of gatecrashing of La Liga's top three are probably over, but the fight for fourth—and Champions League football next season—is very much still a battle they'll have to concentrate on.
Perhaps fortunately, their first fixture after the late, soul-destroying loss to Barcelona on Sunday comes against one of the league's most out-of-form sides, Deportivo La Coruna, who are hovering just above the drop zone.
This is typically the kind of game where Atletico struggle to assert themselves, though, and Diego Simeone may have to go against his natural inclinations to play a far more offensive, attack-heavy lineup to break down Depor.
We'll tip Atleti to win, but there's an element of faith there—Depor could very well frustrate Los Colchoneros.
Prediction: 0-1
First goalscorer: Antoine Griezmann
