Atlanta United are finally at the top of the MLS Eastern conference league table after their 2-1 win over Chicago Fire in Illinois. They had been threatening the dominance of NYCFC over the past couple of weeks, and after NYCFC’s loss to New York Red Bulls the last time out, they are now two points ahead with a game in hand on City. Atlanta are now unbeaten in 8 games heading into this encounter. Ezequiel Barco and Jozef Martinez were the scorers in their game against Chicago Fire, and although the Fires did try to get back into the game late on, Atlanta were able to hold on and claim the three points. Sporting have lost just once in their last nine and just two in ten overall, amassing twenty-one points compared to Atlanta’s twenty-three.  The visitors have a four points lead at the top of the Western Conference ahead of new boys LAFC. Sporting’s games have been action packed and a thrill a minute too – their matches have averaged 3.3 goals per ninety minutes this season. In total, there were thirty-three goals scored across their ten matches, which is exactly the same total that has been scored in Atlanta’s fixtures so far. Atlanta United and Sporting KC have played each other just once before. In August of last year, Atlanta left Kansas with a point after a 1-1 draw with Sporting.

West Ham’s 2-0 win over Leicester City in their last league game has strengthened their bid to escape the drop this season. That win has helped them to build a five points cushion on the drop zone with two games left to play, so they can start planning for next season. The Hammers were on a run of four games without a win before that win over the Foxes, and two of those games ended in 4-1 losses, their fans wouldn’t be overly confident ahead of this game. Stoke City are the only team to have conceded as many as 67 goals that David Moyes’ side has conceded this season, and 14 of those goals have been netted against them at home by the top seven, Manchester United would be delighted to hear that. Manchester United should secure second place by the end of this game as they are currently five points ahead of Liverpool and have a game in hand on the Reds. Tottenham are the only team that could stop them from finishing 2nd, but that would require them to lose their next two games. Their loss to Brighton last weekend highlighted just why Jose Mourinho keeps playing Romelu Lukaku, and with the Belgian still injured, the Red Devils’ fans

This is one of the rare occasions that these two teams would square up against each other and the La Liga title is not on the line, but that still doesn’t make this game insignificant. The Catalans have just completed a domestic treble, but they are still unbeaten this season and this game remains their only major threat to going the whole season unbeaten. They would hope to at least a point here and achieve that remarkable feat. Real Madrid may have their eyes on winning their third straight Champions League crown, but they would still love to be the team that ends Barcelona’s unbeaten run and they would be looking to ride their luck like they did against Bayern Munich on Tuesday in this game. Madrid are one team that knows how to get the results through whatever means possible, however, if they give the ball away to Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez like they did against Bayern Munich in midweek, they would pay for it. Lionel Messi has been the driving force behind this Barcelona team and he netted a hattrick again last weekend to take his goal tally to 32 in La Liga and 43 in all competition this season. Real Madrid are unbeaten in their last three visits to Camp Nou, however, Barcelona have won 6 of their last 9 La Liga meetings with Real Madrid.