5️⃣ spicy fixtures you must watch this weekend 🌶 | OneFootball

Welcome to the first footballing weekend of the new year!

Here are the fixtures you cannot afford to miss to kickstart 2024…

Lens v Monaco

With the unseeded and random nature of the Coupe de France draw, it is rare we are thrown up a fixture involving two top billing clubs this early in the competition.

For example, in the current round of 32, French champions PSG travel to sixth division Revel, cup holders Toulouse take on fifth tier opposition in Chambéry, as do Marseille for their trip to Thionville.

And while those promise to be fantastic occasions for the lower division players and supporters, upsets are extremely unlikely, making the all-Ligue 1 showdown between Lens and Monaco one to watch out for.

Just seven points separate the sides in the top half of the top tier and it will mean a big contender for the crown will fall at this early hurdle.

Monaco will be favoured given their higher league position and having also won their previous domestic meeting this season by a comfortable 3-0 scoreline.

Spice rating: Mild 🌶

Olympiacos v AEK Athens

The new year may be just a week old but it could potentially see someone eliminated from Greek title contention.

That is the magnitude of this capital clash between Olympiacos and reigning champions AEK Athens, who currently sit fourth and third respectively.

AEK are three points off leaders PAOK (unsurprisingly Panathinaikos are second), with the Piraeus outfit a further three points behind them ahead of this meeting.

As a result, it has taken on the feel of a win-or-bust showdown for Olympiacos in their bid to wrestle the title back, having lost it to AEK last season, making their need for the victory a little more urgent.

Anything less than three points could see them fall into a position it will be impossible to recover from.

Spice rating: Medium 🌶 🌶

Roma v Atalanta

There is never much love lost, certainly off the field, whenever these two clubs come together.

After all, this is a rivalry gave us one of the most bizarre and amusing incidents of the millennium in Serie A when, in 2013, new Atalanta signing Giulio Migliaccio celebrated his arrival by attending a summer festival for fans – and driving a tank over cars painted in Roma colours to help settle in.

There is unlikely to be the same kind of chaos on show for this showdown but their close proximity in the table in the battle for European football gives it a big layer of significance.

The Bergamo outfit sit sixth but are just a point ahead of José Mourinho’s men who could leapfrog them with a win, although inconsistency has proven a costly problem for the Portuguese tactician this season.

But keep an eye on both attacks (and two men in particular) here. Romelu Lukaku could become the fifth player to reach double digits for goals in each of his first four Italian top flight seasons in the three-points-for-a-win era if he nets twice, while Gianluca Scamacca boasts the best goals-to-minutes ratio this season for players with at least five goals.

Spice rating: Hot 🌶 🌶 🌶

Arsenal v Liverpool

While most countries are either taking some well-earned winter time off or slowly warming back to their task, early January in the English football calendar can only mean one thing: the FA Cup third round.

And it has thrown up not one but two blockbuster meetings, including the all-Premier League showdown at the Emirates Stadium between Arsenal and Liverpool.

Just a few weeks ago, these sides met for top-of-the-table supremacy at Anfield in a captivating contest that was gripping viewing from the first whistle until the last.

Since that 1-1 draw, the Gunners form has plummeted and they have surrendered the summit to the rising Reds, who are in formidable form as they arrive in north London.

It is hard to see either manager taking this quite as seriously as they did the game on Merseyside before Christmas but if it is even half as exciting, we are in for another thriller.

Spice rating: Fire 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶

Sunderland v Newcastle

The biggest tie of the FA Cup comes from the north east where the Tyne-Wear derby will resume its rivalry for the first time in eight years.

Meetings between Newcastle and Sunderland are explosive at the best of times but the long wait for this one, combined with the cup being at stake, makes it extra spicy.

The Black Cats perhaps couldn’t have asked for their big-spending rivals to visit the Stadium of Light at a better time, given they have lost seven of their last eight games and are struggling to cope with their mounting injury list.

But life isn’t exactly perfect for those of a Mackem persuasion either and the jury very much remains out on new boss Michael Beale after his hiring to replace Tony Mowbray, who was surprisingly sacked after speaking out publicly about his frustrations.

There would be no better way for the new man in charge to ingratiate himself or for Eddie Howe in the opposite dugout to restore the feelgood factor than with bragging rights from this one.

Spice rating: Insane 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶