Liverpool saw their unbeaten run ended by Manchester United last week as they fail to break down the Red Devil’s defence and also failed to track Marcus Rashford who netted two times to stop Jurgen Klopp’s men from going 21 league games unbeaten. They were on a run of 5 wins and two draws from seven games before that 2-1 loss, they would now look to build another winning run as they look to end the season inside the top four. They are currently 4th on the league table, 4 points ahead of Chelsea who are fifth and 5 points behind Manchester United who are second. Watford faces Liverpool at a time when they are struggling in away games, losing their last game on the road 3-0 at Arsenal. They have 3 wins, 2 draws and four losses from their last 9 games. They have not won a competitive game away from home since November, their current standing on the league table (10th) is largely due to a fine start to the season they had under Marcos Silva. They have failed to score a single goal in their last 5 away games, and they have scored just 2 goals in their last 9 away games.

Salzburg were given no chance of survival let alone triumph when they visited Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of this game last week, but the Austrians defied the odds and raced to a 2-0 lead, before seeing that cut in half by a consolation strike from Andre Schurle, they would now be looking to complete the job at home. They followed that win with a 2-2 draw against Mattersburg on Sunday, it wasn’t the best result, but they are currently 8 points clear at the top of the Austrian Bundesliga and they can afford to drop some points. Salzburg are unbeaten in all competitive football since August, which is 32 games ago, they have recorded 21 wins and 11 draws from those matches. They have five wins from their last 6 European home games. Dortmund have had a poor season despite starting very well. They are now 21 points behind Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, they left the Champions League in the group stages and they are also out of the DFB Pokal. The Europa League is their only chance to win a trophy this season. Last week’s meeting was the only meeting between these sides.

The first leg of this game gathered so much buzz because of the attacking style of these teams. However, they both failed to really get going in the first leg until the second half when Leipzig raced to a 2-0 lead. Zenith fought back but they were only able to get a consolation goal and they now have some work to do to get a win while avoiding a goal from the Germans. Zenith would prioritise the Europa League now as they have fallen to the fifth position in the Russian League after drawing against Rostov the last time out. They have a good home form anyway as they have won 11 of their last 16, with only 3 of those ending in a loss. They have won every single European game this season. Leipzig have 3 losses, 2 draws and a win in their last 6 matches to leave themselves 6th in the Bundesliga table. They have also won only 3 of their last 11 away games so far, losing five and conceding 18 goals. They have been involved in over 2. 5 goals scored in 7 of those 11 games.

While Besiktas defied the odds to get this far in the Champions League, this seems to be the end of the road for them after they were humbled 5-0 at the Allianz Arena a forth night ago. Since that first leg routing, they have commendably gone on a run of four games without a defeat, winning 3 of them. Although it is almost impossible for them to overturn their first-leg deficit in this game, they would be looking to show the rest of the world what they can do at home when they have the complete 11 players for 90 minutes. Bayern Munich are a world apart these days. The Bavarians wallopped Hamburger 6-0 at the weekend to make it 19 games without a loss, 18 of which have been wins. They are now 20 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga and in Robert Lewandoski, they have an attacker every football fan wishes play for their team. The Pole score a Hattrick at the weekend to make it 28 goals in 30 games so far this season. They have 8 away matches on the trot and they would be taking that form to Turkey hoping to come back victors yet again.