PSG travel to the Stade de la Meinau to tackle Strasbourg
On the hunt for a fourth successive away victory across all competitions, reigning Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain travel to the Stade de la Meinau to tackle Strasbourg on Friday night.
Luis Enrique‘s men let a two-goal lead slip in a 2-2 draw with Brest last time out, while their hosts also settled for a point in a 1-1 stalemate at home to Clermont.
Seven days prior to locking horns with Clermont in top-flight action, Strasbourg eliminated Les Lanciers from the Coupe de France with a 3-1 success at the Stade Gabriel-Montpied, but their hosts had evidently learned a few lessons from that knockout heartache.
By virtue of taking 12 points from their last six Ligue 1 contests, Vieira’s sturdy side are enjoying mid-table obscurity in an unremarkable 10th place, and a nine-point gap separates Les Coureurs from both Monaco in fourth place and Lyon in the relegation playoff spot.
PSG have had their defence breached in their last two visits to the Stade de la Meinau, though – both of which have ended level – but the champions eased to a 3-0 Parc des Princes win over Vieira’s side in October and have not suffered defeat to their hosts in any tournament since December 2017.
Offensive incisiveness has come rather easily to Strasbourg over the past few weeks, but Vieira may very well opt to sacrifice his side’s penchant for attacking in a bid to stifle an even more rampant PSG frontline.
Such tactics will likely prove futile against Enrique’s side, though, especially with a couple of esteemed names expected to return to the visitors’ XI, and the champions have been winning for fun on the road since the start of October.
Credit: sportsmole.co.uk
Athletic Bilbao and Mallorca get La Liga underway
Athletic Bilbao and Mallorca get round 23 of the Spanish La Liga underway when they lock horns at the San Mamés Stadium on Friday.
Javier Aguirre’s side have failed to win their four league matches since the turn of the year and will head into the weekend looking to end this dry spell.
Athletic Bilbao head into the weekend on an impressive run of seven wins and four draws in their last 12 games in La Liga, where they are fifth in the table, two points behind third-placed Atletico Madrid.
Heidenheim play host to Borussia Dortmund
Heidenheim play host to Borussia Dortmund at the Voith-Arena as round 20 of the German Bundesliga gets underway on Friday. Both sides head into the weekend in contrasting form, with Edin Terzic’s men winning their three league matches since the turn of the year.
Heidenheim were involved in a share of the spoils for the third consecutive game as they played out a 1-1 draw with Hoffenheim last Saturday.
Frank Schmidt’s side have now gone six consecutive games without defeat in the Bundesliga, claiming three wins and three draws since early December.
Heidenheim will be satisfied with what has been a solid debut top-flight campaign as they sit 10th in the league table, level on points with ninth-placed Werder Bremen.
Over in the West, Borussia Dortmund maintained their 100% start to the new year as they picked up a comfortable 3-1 victory over Bochum last Sunday.
While Heidenheim will be looking to replicate their impressive reverse-leg display, Dortmund have flown out of the blocks this year and are currently firing on all cylinders but Dortmund will pick up from where they left off against Bochum and come away with all three points once again.
Credit: sportskeeda.com
