With so many interesting games in the Serie A this weekend, this game may go under the radar but these two teams remain sleeping giants of Italian football and this Sunday’s derby would be an interesting game. Inter are back in the top four thanks to their 2-0 win over bottom of the table Benevento but their performance in that game did not show that they are back to their best form that saw them top the Serie A table in December last year. AC Milan on their path have managed to turn their form around and they have moved to within 7 points of Inter who are 4th on the league table. They now have an outside chance of making it into the top four. Gattuso has done a great job since taking over the helm of affairs in Milan, taking them to the final of Coppa Italia and they head into this game unbeaten in their last 13 games and they have won 7 of their last 9 games at the San Siro including a Coppa Italia win over Inter in December. In the 12 games since Gattuso became their manager, Milan has averaged 2 points per game, while Inter has managed just 1.25 points per game in the same period of time.

Leipzig suffered a shocking 2-1 loss at the hands of bottom of the table Cologne in their last league game and they would be looking to bounce back quickly here. That loss was the first time they have lost back-to-back Bundesliga games since May last year and takes them to the sixth position on the league table. However, they are just one point off 4th placed Eintracht Frankfurt. They have taken just 10 points from 7 league games this year, winning 3 and losing the same amount.  They would be boosted by news that Naby Keita is set to return after missing the last two games through injury, while Timo Werner is also expected to be back in the starting line up after being named in as a substitute the last time. Marco Reus’ return has helped Dortmund so far and he netted their goal in a disappointing 1-1 draw against Augsburg the last time. That was his second goal in the 3 games he has played since a long-term injury layoff. That draw made Peter Stoeger the first Dortmund manager to have avoided defeat in his first 9 league games, and the Austrian would be asking his players to keep the record intact for a longer period of time. Leipzig won the last meeting between these sides in Dortmund last year and they have beaten Dortmund twice and lost once in their last 3 meetings.

AS Monaco’s 3-3 draw with struggling Toulouse the last time out was a surprising result and sees them fail to solidify their position in second place behind PSG. Apart from that result, they have looked pretty solid recently and they had won 4 games on the bounce before that match with Toulouse. Having been dumped out of the Champions League last year, they now look to be back to their finest form and would be looking for another Champions League qualification and winning the French Cup by the end of the season. With 11 league games to go, they are now 2 points above 3rd placed Marseille and 7 points above 4th places Olympique Lyon. Radamel Falcao has been out with injury, but he could be back for this game. The Colombian has scored 17 goals in 20 games this season. Bordeaux also started their season poorly, but they have managed to turn things around over the past months. Although they have collected just 1 point from their past two games, they are still 8th on the league table and would likely end up in a Europa League place at the end of the season. Before their last two games, they had won 4 games on the bounce and Gus Poyet would be hoping his players can get back to winning ways here. They have won 16 and lost 10 of their last 36 games against Monaco. Over 2.5 goals scored is our tip for this game.

Gladbach’s 1-0 win over Hannover 96 last week was a welcome boost to their morale after suffering 4 straight losses. They are now back in contention for a European place as they sit just 4 points off the top six. Christoph Kramer’s goal may have helped them to victory in that game, but they are still without a host of first-team players including Raffael, Oscar Wendt and Fabian Johnson. Bremen also earned a morale-boosting win in the derby over Hamburg the last time out, and that has helped in their fight to avoid relegation this season. Johannsson’s winner helped them to move 6 points clear of the automatic relegation place and 2 points clear of the relegation playoff spots. They head into this game with an away record that would worry their fans with just 2 wins from their last 8 away games in the league. These two sides are low scoring teams, with Gladbach the lowest scoring team inside the top ten and Bremen are the joint 3rd lowest from the bottom half of the league table. Gladbach have a good record at home, however, it is very unlikely that they would record a dominant here as they have been suffering some goal drought this season with under 2.5 goals scored in 67% of their home games this season. A low scoring home win for Gladbach is our tip for this game.

Two of Portugals top three lock horns together in this game as FC Porto look to extend their unbeaten start to the season, can Sporting Lisbon upset the Dragons here or would they fall to a second loss in the league this season? Sporting would be worried about their terrible record in this fixture over the years as they trail the host by 5 points heading into this match. A defeat here would end their hopes of winning the league title and would also be a major blow to their chances of making it to next season’s Champions League. Porto have 10 wins from their last 11 league matches and they have won 9 of their last 11 encounters with Sporting over the years, this game looks likely to end in another home win for them. The Dragons beat Sporting in the Portuguese Cup recently and with Sporting winning just 3 of their last 7 away games in the league, it is hard to see them stopping Porto here. Tiquinho has scored 8 goals in his last 6 games including the winner against Sporting when they last met, he could be the difference maker in this game. A home win for FC Porto is our tip for this game.