There is only one match this weekend in the Premier League, but the rest of Europe’s major five leagues are in action this weekend.

Here is a snapshot of what we saw during the week:

• Leicester defeated Chelsea 2-0 at the King Power stadium, keeping them only two points off Manchester United for the top spot.
• Both Manchester City and United took care of business against lesser opponents and remain in the top two spots in the table.
• Burnley upset Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield, which was the Reds’ first loss at home in 68 Premier League matches.
• Leverkusen defeated Dortmund 2-1 to maintain the third spot in the Bundesliga table.
• Atletico needed a late penalty to beat Eibar 2-1, which extended their lead in La Liga to seven points over Real Madrid.

With how busy the European soccer calendar is at the moment, managers might be rotating their squads to rest some players. Therefore, it might be a good idea to wait to place a wager until starting lineups come out prior to kickoff.

You can use these projections to identify early betting value on the opening lines, plus follow me in The Action Network App to see any bets I make throughout the week.

Premier League

Premier League Notes

• Aston Villa vs. Newcastle: The Villans returned from their two-week hiatus due to a COVID outbreak on Wednesday, losing 2-0 to Manchester City. Aston Villa has been resurgent this season and going into the Manchester City match led the Premier League in non-penalty expected goals created. However, they’ve struggled at home as of late, winning only one of their last five matches. Newcastle is beginning to descend down the table, as they’re winless in their last seven matches and are now in 15th place.

Premier League Injury News

• Newcastle: Allan Saint-Maximin (CAM) is out against Aston Villa.

Bundesliga

Bundesliga Notes

• Gladbach vs. Dortmund: Both teams desperately need this match, as they are way off of Bayern Munich for the top spot in the league. Gladbach is starting to catch fire, winning three of their last four matches, including a win over Bayern Munich. Dortmund has been up and down this season, beating some of the best teams in the league, but also losing to teams near the bottom. Dortmund has won 11 straight matches against Gladbach in the Bundesliga.

Bundesliga Injury News

• Augsburg: Raphael Framberger (RB) is questionable to play against Union Berlin.
• Bayer Leverkusen: Sven Bender (CB) are out against Wolfsburg.
• Borussia Dortmund: Thorgan Hazard (CAM) and Axel Witsel (CM) are out against Gladbach.
• Borussia Monchengladbach: Valentino Lazaro (RM) is questionable to play against Dortmund.
• Freiburg: Baptiste Santamaria (CM), Nicolas Hofler (CM) and Jonathan Schmid (RM) are out against Vfb Stuttgart.
• Hertha Berlin: Marvin Plattenhardt (LB) and Dedryck Boyata (CB) are out against Koln.
• Hoffenheim: Kevin Akpoguma (CB), Sebastian Rudy (CM) and Florian Grillitsch (CAM) are out against Hertha Berlin.
• Koln: Sebastian Andersson (ST) and Florian Kainz (RM) are questionable to play against Hertha Berlin.
• Mainz: Jerry St. Jude (CB) and Daniel Brosinski (LB) are out against RB Leipzig.
• Schalke: Alessandro Schopf (RM), Nassim Boujellab (CM) and Salif Sane (CB) are out against Koln.
• Union Berlin:  Florian Hubner (CB) is out against Augsburg.
• Werder Bremen: Ludwig Augustinsson (LB) and Christian Gross (CB) are out against Hertha Berlin.

Serie A

Serie A Notes

• AC Milan vs. Atalanta: AC Milan is currently in first place in Serie A with a three-point lead over Inter Milan. They have only one loss on the season to Juventus, but other than that they’ve been unbelievable, winning 13 of a possible 18 matches. After a slow start to the season, Atalanta is starting to make their way up the table, as they are unbeaten in their last nine matches.

Serie A Injury News

• AC Milan: Alexis Saelemaekers (RM) and Alessio Romagnoli (CB) are out against Atalanta. Hakan Calhanoglu (CAM) and Ismael Bennacer (CM) are questionable. 
• Benevento: Roberto Insigne (CAM) and Gaetano Letizia (RB) are out against Torino. Pasquale Schiattarella (CM) is out.
• Crotone: Luca Cigarini (CM) and Luca Marrone (CB) are questionable to play against Fiorentina.
• Genoa: Cristian Zapata (CB) is out against Cagliari.
• Juventus: Alex Sandro (LB) and Matthijs de Ligt (CB) are questionable to face Bologna. Paulo Dybala (CF) is out. 
• Lazio: Luis Alberto (CM) is questionable to face Sassuolo. Thomas Strakosha (GK) is out.
• Napoli: Victor Osimhen (ST) questionable to face Verona.
• Parma: Riccardo Gagliolo (LB) is out against Sampdoria. Vincent Laurini (RB) is questionable.
• Roma: Gianluca Mancini (CB) is out against Spezia. Antonio Mirante (GK) is questionable.
• Sampdoria: Manolo Gabbiadini (CAM) is questionable to face Parma.
• Sassuolo: Manuel Locatelli (CM) is questionable to play against Lazio. Domenico Berardi (RW) is out.
• Spezia: M’Bala Nzola is out against Roma.
• Udinese: Stefano Okaka (ST) is questionable to play against Inter. Ignacio Pussetto is out.

La Liga

La Liga Injury News

• Atletico Madrid: Kieran Trippier (RB) and Mario Hermoso (CB) are out against Valencia.
• Barcelona: Sergino Dest (RB), Philippe Coutinho (CAM), and Ansu Fati (LW) are out against Eibar. Sergi Roberto (RB) and Gerard Pique (CB) are questionable.
• Cadiz: Anthony Lozano (ST), Jose Mari (CM) and Alfonso Espino (LB) are questionable to face Sevilla.
• Celta Vigo: Jeison Murillo (CB) and Renato Tapia (CDM) are questionable to play against Eibar. Iago Aspas (ST) and Denis Suarez (CAM) are out. 
• Elche: Fidel (CM) is out against Barcelona.
• Granada: Maxime Gonalons (CDM) is out against Osasuna.
• Huesca: Sandro Ramirez (ST) and Pedro Mosquera (CDM) are out against Villarreal.
• Real Betis: Marc Bartra (CB) and William Carvalho (CM) are questionable to face Real Sociedad.
• Real Madrid: Daniel Carvajal (RB), Sergio Ramos (CM) and Rodrygo (RW) are questionable to face Alaves.
• Real Sociedad: David Silva (CAM) is questionable to face Real Betis.
• Real Valladolid: Sergi Guardiola (ST) is questionable to play against Levante.
• Valencia: Jasper Cillessen (GK) is questionable to face Atletico Madrid.
• Villarreal: Gerard Moreno (RM) and Vicente Iborra (CDM) are out against Huesca.

Ligue 1

Ligue 1 Notes

• Monaco vs. Marseille: Monaco has seemingly righted the ship in Ligue 1 play, as they’ve won four of their last five matches. Marseille, on the other hand, has fallen on hard times, as they only have one win in their last seven matches. These two teams met on December 12 with Marseille walking away with a 2-1 victory.
• Rennes vs. Lille: Lille is currently tied on points with PSG for the top spot in Ligue 1, while Rennes is only six points off the pace. Rennes has caught fire recently, winning five of their last seven matches. Lille is also been in amazing form, winning six of their last eight matches.

Ligue 1 Injury News

• Angers: Thomas Mangani (CM), Rachid Alioui (CM) and Sofiane Boufal (LM) are questionable to play against Bordeaux.
• Bordeaux: Otavio (CDM) and Hatem Ben Arfa (CAM) is out against Angers.
• Lens: Loic Bade (CB) is out against Nice.
• Lille: Zeki Celik (RB) is questionable to play against Rennes.
• Lorient: Houboulang Mendes (RB) is out against Nimes. Thomas Monconduit (CDM), Paul Nardi (GK), Vincent Le Goff (LB), Julien Laporte (CB), and Pierre-Yves Hamel (ST) are questionable.
• Marseille: Boubacar Kamara (CM) and Jordan Amavi (LB) are questionable to play against Monaco.
• Metz: Opa Nguette (LW) is questionable to play against Saint Etienne.
• Monaco: Cesc Fabregas (CM) is questionable to play against Marseille.
• Montpellier: Jordan Ferri (CDM) is out against PSG.
• Nantes: Moses Simon (LM) is questionable to face Metz.
• Nice: Rony Lopes (RW) is out against Lens. Morgan Schneiderlin (CM) is questionable.
• Nimes: Loick Landre (CB) is questionable to face Lorient.
• Reims: Valon Berisha (CM) is questionable to face Brest.
• Rennes: Damien Da Silva (CB) and Daniele Rugani (CB) are questionable to face Lille.
• Saint Etienne: Timothee Kolodziejczak (CB) and Yvan Neyou Noupa (CM) are questionable to face Lyon.
• Strasbourg: Mohamed Simakan (CB) is out against Dijon. Bingourou Kamara (GK) is questionable.