Matchday Preview: Erling Haaland Fit For Manchester City; Real Madrid Host Villarreal In La Liga

ENGLAND

Manchester City can gain ground on first-placed Arsenal when it visits last-placed Southampton in one of eight Premier League matches. Prolific striker Erling Haaland has returned from a groin injury for second-placed City, which is eight points back of Arsenal with a game in hand. Two other top-four teams are in action: Manchester United hosts Everton in the early game before Newcastle visits Brentford. Brighton heads to Tottenham with a five-game unbeaten run in the league. Brighton is four points back of Tottenham but has played two fewer games. Frank Lampard returns to the touchline for Chelsea when the Blues visit Wolverhampton. Lampard was named caretaker manager after Graham Potter was fired. Bournemouth will play at Leicester with both teams in the relegation zone. Fulham hosts West Ham. Nottingham Forest visit Aston Villa.

SPAIN

Real Madrid hosts Villarreal in the league, looking to hold momentum from a 4-0 rout of Barcelona in the Copa del Rey. Trailing leader Barcelona by 12 points, Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti may rotate his squad to rest some players for next week’s match against Chelsea in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals. The rout of Barcelona at the Camp Nou on Wednesday allowed Madrid to reach the Copa final for the first time since 2014. Villarreal has won two in a row in the league and can move closer to the Champions League places with another victory.

ITALY

Second-placed Lazio can take control of a tight battle for the Champions League qualifying places in Serie A with a win over Juventus. Victory would lift Lazio six points clear of third-placed AC Milan. But Lazio lost at Juventus 3-0 this season and the Bianconeri have won five of their past six matches in all competitions, drawing the other one. Lazio’s capital rival, Roma, and Atalanta can move into the top four with wins. They face Torino and Bologna respectively. At the other end of the table, Cremonese visits Sampdoria, which has just two more points. The other side in the relegation zone is Hellas Verona and it hosts Sassuolo. There are seven league matches on Saturday because of the Easter holiday. Fiorentina hosts Spezia and Monza visits Udinese.

GERMANY

Bundesliga title rivals Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund both aim to bounce back from elimination in the German Cup this week ahead of games which could play a key role in the race for league honors. After Freiburg beat Bayern in the cup on Tuesday, Bayern has to play the same opponent again in the league, this time away from home, and will have to do without forward Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who has a knee problem, and suspended defender Dayot Upamecano. Dortmund showed little fight in a tame cup exit to Leipzig and now has a tricky opponent in Union Berlin, which, like Freiburg, is trying to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in its history. Bayer Leverkusen is on a six-game win streak ahead of playing Eintracht Frankfurt. Leipzig plays relegation-threatened Hertha Berlin, Mainz hosts Werder Bremen and Augsburg takes on Cologne.

FRANCE

League leader Paris Saint-Germain travels to Nice with its morale low following back-to-back defeats. PSG coach Christophe Galtier is heading back to his former club fighting to save his job, with PSG having already suffered eight losses in all competitions this year. Preparations for the match have been troubled by star striker Kylian Mbappe’s criticism of his own club. The France forward was disgruntled by the way PSG has been making him the main character of an advertisement campaign to sell season tickets, and publicly complained about it. Galtier says he believes the misunderstanding between PSG and his player has been defused. Mbappe cut short his training session on Friday because of a hip problem but Galtier says it should not prevent him from playing. Nice is on a 14-game unbeaten run. Lille travels to Angers in the other match.