Games to watch today

Here are the games I recommend to watch today. Enjoy :)

Chelsea vs Manchester City

Saturday: 19:30 CET (+3) - 17:30 local time, Stamford Bridge, London

           The Blues from West London will take on Manchester City in a top of the table clash. Chelsea have been on fire in the Champions League with a crucial 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid away on Wednesday. 

          At the back Chelsea have Marcos Alonso who has contributed to many goals for the Blues and even has two goals in the Premier League. A key player for the Blues is French international N'Golo Kante who does the dirty work for Chelsea, and wins most of tackles. Another player to watch is former Monaco midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko who has a similar playing style to Yaya Toure, has a 84% pass accuracy rate. And the player that has been in the headlines is striker Alvaro Morata from Spain. Despite having a bad start with the Blues this season, he has bounced back and scored 6 goals in the Premier League, and is currently one of the best strikers in the league.

          Although Man City's defence was atrocious last season, manager Pep Guardiola has spent approximately 200 million pounds on new defenders and his plan is currently working with them tied with Man United in 1st place with 16 points. The new defenders such as Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy and Danilo have kept Man City solid as a rock, with them only conceding two goals in six matches. In the middle, Man City have attacking midfielder Raheem Sterling who has been fantastic for City, and has scored five goals in five matches. Another player to look out for is German international Leroy Sane, and the striker duo Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus who both have 10 goals together. 

        As 2016/2017 champions Chelsea are in 3rd place with 13 points and Man City are tied with Man United with 16 points, its obvious that both teams will fight for a win, in what will be a entertaining match to watch. 

Borussia Mönchengladbach vs Hannover 96
Saturday: 16:30 CET (+3) - 15:30 local time, Borussia Park, Mönchengladbach

         Borussia Mönchengladbach will be looking to bounce back against Hannover 96, after losing to Dortmund 6-1. Hannover will be looking to get back to winning ways since they drew their last two games against SC Freiburg and 1. FC Koln 1-1 and 0-0 respectively. 

          Last year Gladbach were 3 points short of a Europa League place, and are currently two points short of a Europa League spot in 9th place.  In all of the Bundesliga matches this season, Gladbach, have played a 4-4-2 formation. The players that Gladbach will need, is defensive midfielders Christoph Kramer and Swiss international Denis Zakaria who win the tackles with Zakaria having a 95% pass accuracy rate. Up front Gladbach have Raffael who has two goals this season and a total of 54 goals for the club. Gladbach captain Lars Stindl who is making his mark on the German national team has two goals this season, will need to be a leader as the goal for Gladbach is to get back to playing in Europe.

         Hannover, who were promoted from the 2.Bundesliga last season, are having a great start with three wins in six matches and haven't lost a match. At the back, Hannover have Julian Korb who has won 85% of the tackles and played for Gladbach last year. Hannover also have Senegalese international Salif Sane who has controlled the back line for Die Roten (the reds). Another player to watch on Hannover's team is forward Martin Harnik who has scored 4 goals and has a 100% shot accuracy rate, and was a crucial player for Die Roten last season.

        Gladbach are trying to get a rhythm going, but they face a tough task ahead as Hannover have only conceded two goals in six Bundesliga matches. As Hannover are currently in 4th place, a win could put them in 3rd, and put them in a Champions League spot. 

Paris Saint Germain vs Girondins de Bordeaux
Saturday: 18:00 CET (+3) - 17:00 local time, Parc des Princes, Paris

           Top of the league PSG will face Bordeaux in what will be a highly entertaining match as both teams are only four points apart from each other

          In the back PSG have former Barcelona right back Dani Alves who scored a few days ago against Bayern Munich in a 3-0 win, and has an 87% pass accuracy rate. In the middle PSG have Adrien Rabiot who is a player that I recommend you to look out for as he also has an average for 103 touches per match. Another good midfielder is Italian international Marco Verratti who is a playmaker and has great dribbling skills. Up front, PSG have some of the best strikers in the world. Edinson Cavani from Uruguay has scored 7 goals in seven matches. Kylian Mbappe who is only 18 years old has scored 18 goals last year for Monaco in Ligue 1, and many say that he will be a future star. Brazilian international Neymar who cost PSG 200 million Euros, has scored four goals and four assists.

        Bordeaux prefer to play a 4-3-3 formation since they want the best of both worlds in defence and offence. Bordeaux have a decent back line with players such as Serbian center back Vukasin Jovanovic and Jeremy Toulalan who have a combined 90% pass accuracy. The player to watch on Bordeaux, is Malcom who is only 20 years old but can control the game for Bordeaux. He also has three goals and four assists in seven appearances. Another decent midfielder is Senegalese midfielder Younousse Sankhare who is a key help for Malcom, and has scored three goals in seven matches. Up front is Francois Kamano who has four assists and two goals.


         This is a huge match for Bordeaux, as they used to be a powerhouse in France and haven't played in Champions League and Europa League for years. A win for Bordeaux would put them one point below 1st place. A win for PSG would put them three points above 2nd place AS Monaco.
          

FK Jelgava vs FK Ventspils
Saturday: 14:00 CET (+3), Zemgales Olimpiskais Centrs, Jelgava

          FK Jelgava will take on Ventspils in a must win situation for both sides, since there are only four matches left and both sides are outside a Europa League spot. As Jelgava are 11 points away from 3rd place (Europa League spot), if they don't win they cannot finish in 3rd place. 

         Despite the season not going his way keeper Kaspars Ikstens is solid and is the Latvian 3rd
choice goalkeeper. Although FK Jelgava have struggled in defence, they have one player who isn't your typical defender. Mārcis Ošs is known in the Virsliga for having long throw ins which usually go into the middle of the field. Ošs is also the top scorer on FK Jelgava with five goals in 19 matches. In the middle, Jelgava have Gļebs Kļūskins who has three goals and is one is controlling the game for Jelgava. However, he was injured for a large amount of the season which could be the reason why Jelgava jumped from 2nd to 6th place in the Virsliga. Up front Jelgava have Artis Jaudzems, who has performed well with three goals in his first season in a professional football league.

        FK Ventspils have some of the best defenders in the league as they have conceded they least amount of goals in the Virsliga. Defenders such as Latvian international Ņikita Koļesovs and Abdul Obuobi have been the main factors in keeping Ventspils back line solid. Up front Ventspils have
Nigerian midfielder Tosin Aiyegun who is a fantastic player with six goals and is only 19 years old. In the last encounter between Jelgava and Ventspils, Aiyegun scored the only goal in the game, and he will be hoping to have another good game against Jelgava. Another good player to watch is Adeleke Akinyemi who has also scored six goals for the club.

      Since FK Ventspils are four points below RFS in 3rd place, a win is a must. Despite FK Jelgava struggling this year, they won the last game against FK Liepāja 1-0 and are aiming to finish the season strong even if they don't get 3rd place.
     

(Photo credits: FK Jelgava Facebook page)