A look at whats happening in European soccer on Saturday:
ENGLAND
Frank Lampard begins his tenure as Everton manager when his team hosts Brentford among a batch of FA Cup fourth-round matches. Christian Eriksen won’t be ready to make his Brentford debut, however. The two other all-Premier League games are Brighton at Tottenham and Norwich at Wolverhampton. In one of the biggest mismatches in the competitions long and proud history, West Ham visits sixth-tier Kidderminster. Chelsea hosts third-tier Plymouth, while Premier League-leading Manchester City hosts Championship-leading Fulham. Crystal Palace plans to rest forward Wilfried Zaha when fourth-division Hartlepool visits south London. Zaha has returned from international duty with Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations.
GERMANY
Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich hosts Leipzig for a game that has lost some of its allure due to the visitor’s struggles. While Leipzig pushed Bayern hardest last season and finished third both seasons before that, this season the team is sixth after a difficult start. But Leipzig has won its last three league games under new coach Domenico Tedesco, and another good showing in Munich would confirm its resurgence. Borussia Mnchengladbach visits Arminia Bielefeld for its first game since sporting director Max Ebert quit the club due to burnout. Also, Eintracht Frankfurt visits Stuttgart, Cologne hosts Freiburg, Mainz welcomes Hoffenheim, and high-flying Union Berlin visits relegation-threatened Augsburg.
SPAIN
Sevilla aims to pull to within one point of Real Madrid at the top of the Liga when it visits Osasuna. Madrid leads the league by four points entering the weekend. Sevilla has lost only once in its last 10 matches across all competitions, but it has drawn its last two league games. Julen Lopetegui will recover goalkeeper Yassine Bounou and strikers Youssef En-Nesyri and Munir El Haddadi for the trip to Pamplona after they were away playing for Morocco in the African Cup. Rayo Vallecano hosts Celta Vigo after celebrating the feat of reaching the Copa del Rey semifinals for the first time in four decades this week. Mallorca hosts Cdiz, and Elche faces Alavs on a four-round unbeaten streak.
FRANCE
Montpellier and Lyon are level on points and both in action in their battle for fourth place and a Europa League spot next season. Boosted by a win against Marseille this week, Lyon travels to play Monaco, which is only one point behind in eighth place. Midfielders Tanguy Ndombele and Romain Faivre are in Lyon’s squad after joining late in the January transfer window. Montpellier visits a Saint-Etienne side with only three victories this season and needing another to move off last place.
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