Leagues across Europe are reaching their climax, titles are there to be won, and promotion battles are in full swing. Welcome to The Matchsheet, where we take a look at five of the biggest games this weekend.
The FA Cup final headlines at Wembley, whilst the Serie A title race continues to heat up and trophies are available in Portugal and the Netherlands.
MLS Rivalry Week promises to cook up a storm and two of the Premier League top three do battle.
Arsenal vs. Newcastle United
Newcastle United’s superb 2025 form might see them overtake Arsenal into second as the Gunners continue to falter.
It’s 16 wins from 23 games this calendar year for the Magpies, and after beating top-five rivals, Chelsea, 2-0 last time out, they’ll surely be full of confidence. Their rise in the second half of the season has put them in a prime position to guarantee UEFA Champions League football next season, and finishing second is certainly not out of the question.
If they beat Arsenal on Sunday afternoon, they’ll jump above Mikel Arteta’s side. The Gunners, who’ve been second in the league for the majority of the season, haven’t won in almost a month. Since the 0-4 victory at Ipswich Town, they’ve drawn or lost to Crystal Palace, AFC Bournemouth, and Liverpool, and were defeated by Paris St. Germain twice in the UCL.
With a lack of striker options once again plaguing Arsenal, and now makeshift striker Mikel Merino suspended, their goal-scoring troubles might be severely pronounced on Sunday.
Arsenal would likely love to have Alexander Isak on their side. The Newcastle United forward is having an inspirational season with 23 league goals to his name. Meanwhile, Arsenal’s EPL top scorer is Kai Havertz, with nine, who hasn’t played since early February.
Crystal Palace vs. Manchester City
There’s an opportunity for an upset in the FA Cup final this weekend as Crystal Palace take on Manchester City.
By most accounts, this season has been a failure for Pep Guardiola’s side. Fourth in the table, although with a possibility to finish second, out of the UCL and no Carabao Cup victory either. The FA Cup is all that remains for City’s silverware haul this season.
It’s no secret that for the neutral, the relative collapse of Manchester City this campaign has been quite enjoyable. Disappointingly, then, especially for Crystal Palace fans, this final follows a run of only one defeat in 15 for City. They’ve certainly returned to form, although a 0-0 draw at Southampton, one of the worst Premier League teams in history, last weekend did raise some concerns.
For Palace, they have an opportunity to win their first major trophy. It’d be a huge landmark in the club’s history.
Oliver Glasner’s men are in patchy form. Prior to beating Aston Villa 3-0 with a superb performance the FA Cup Semi-Finals, they’d earnt a credible point at Arsenal, drawn with AFC Bournemouth but were defeated 5-0 by Newcastle United and 5-2 at the home of their FA Cup final rivals.
They followed the Semi-Final victory with a decent draw at Nottingham Forest and a 0-2 win at Tottenham Hotspur.
Jean-Philip Mateta is likely to be a key man for Palace; his 14 league goals have been important to the club’s mid-table finish. Eberechi Eze is in sensational form, having really taken his level up a notch. He’s scored five goals in the last four games and is the most influential attacker on Palace’s side. It’d be foolish to underestimate Ismaila Sarr; the winger grabbed two goals in the Semi-Final.
City have a front side but FotMob’s predicted lineup suggests Matheus Nunes and Nico O’Reilly will be their full backs, which might give impetus to the attack-minded Palace wingbacks of Tyrick Mitchell and Daniel Munoz.
It will be the last opportunity for City legend, Kevin De Bruyne, to win a trophy in the Citizens’ sky blue. The Belgian is leaving at the end of the season, and therefore will likely be keen to put one a final showing.
Parma vs. Napoli and/or Inter vs Lazio
Napoli’s title race with Inter Milan has been one of Europe’s more exciting competitions.
With two games to go and one point the difference at the top, Napoli could wrap up Serie A this weekend. Antonio Conte’s men, who have only lost once in 21 games, travel to 16th-place Parma.
Romelu Lukaku is Napoli’s key attacker this season with 13 goals however it’s the Scottish summer signing that is regularly hitting headlines. Former Manchester United midfielder, Scott McTominay had 11 goals and four assists and boasts Napoli’s highest average FotMob rating, 7.45.
Meanwhile, Inter face a tougher test. They host fifth-place Lazio, who are level on points with Juventus directly above them. They’re in a tense race to qualify for the UCL, therefore, you can be sure Lazio will be aiming for all three points. On paper, certainly based on previous meetings, it seems like it’s Inter’s to lose. Having already met twice this season, once in the league and once in the Coppa Italia, Inter hold an 8-0 aggregate scoreline; largely thanks to their 0-6 win at the Stadio Olimpico.
Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram have been banging in the goals this season with 12 and 14 Serie A goals respectively, although it was Nicola Zalewski and Kristjan Asllani who got the goals in their last victory. It was a 0-2 win at Torino.
If Napoli and Inter taste victory, the final day will decide the Scudetto champions.
Sporting CP. vs. Vitoria de Guimaraes
After last weekend’s Derby de Lisboa stalemate, the Liga Portugal title race goes down to the very last matchday.
Sporting CP and SL Benfica, Lisbon’s two super clubs, are tied at the top of the Primeira Liga, but one of them has the upper hand.
Rather than goal difference, teams’ level on points is split by their head-to-head record, and after drawing at Estadio Da Luz last weekend, Sporting’s 1-0 victory in December gives them the edge over their nearest rivals.
On the final day, Sporting host northern Portuguese side, Vitoria de Guimaraes, whereas Benfica travel to Braga.
Vitoria are fifth in the league and are locked in a battle with Santa Clara for the UEFA Europa Conference League spot. Braga are in fourth, a Europa League qualification spot.
All Sporting needs to do to lift a second consecutive Liga Portugal trophy is win, or match Benfica’s result. In Viktor Gyökeres, Sporting have the league’s standout player. He has 38 goals in 32 games in the league this season and will be looking to notch a couple more to guarantee their title victory.
Sparta Rotterdam vs. PSV Eindhoven
When Ajax beat PSV Eindhoven, 0-2, at the end of March, it seemed like they’d go on and wrap up the Eredivisie title with ease.
However, a run of two points from an available 12 from the end of April has opened the door for PSV to usurp the Amsterdam side. A 4-0 loss at FC Utrecht and a 0-3 embarrassment at home to NEC Nijmegen, coupled with draws to Sparta Rotterdam and FC Groningen, whilst PSV beat FC Twente, Fortuna Sittard, Feyenoord, and Heracles, means Peter Bosz’s side now leads the Eredivisie table by one point.
Bosz’s PSV just needs to match or better Ajax’s result this weekend to win a dramatic title.
PSV are away at 11th place Sparta Rotterdam, but Ajax are at home to sixth place Twente.
The Eindhoven based side have shared the goals around this season. There are six players in double figures in the league with four having more than 20 combined goal involvements.
The ball is firmly in PSV’s court, something few would’ve expected less than two weeks ago.
Elsewhere around the world…
In Germany, surprise package Freiburg can guarantee UCL Champions League qualification on the final day of the season, although they’d need to beat third-place Eintracht Frankfurt, if Borussia Dortmund beat lowly Holstein Kiel. Dortmund are only a handful of points behind Freiburg and Frankfurt in fifth, and need Eintracht to win or draw, assuming they win, to pip Freiburg to fourth.
Should Freiburg and Dortmund win, with a sufficient goal difference swing, they’ll know Frankfurt from third to fifth and into the Europa League.
Outside of Italy’s top two, there are other big games in Serie A. The penultimate game of the season sees in form Milan travel to Roma, with intentions of leap-frogging them into the European qualification spots.
Whilst at the bottom of the table Venezia recently jumped out of the relegation zone, potentially dooming Lecce. It’s 20th versus 19th as already-relegated Monza host Empoli, who know a win could take them out of the bottom three should Venezia and Lecce not pick up three points against Cagliari and Torino respectively.
And in Major League Soccer it is MLS Rivalry Week. A matchday dedicated to some of the best derbies and rivalry matches that the league has to offer. LA Galaxy meets LAFC, Inter Miami host Orlando City, Columbus Crew face FC Cincinnati, New York Red Bulls play New York City FC, amongst others.
