by Tim Stannard

SUNDAY

SERIE A – ROMA V TORINO: Live on beIN SPORTS from 11:55AM PT / 8:55AM PT

A couple of Man City men star in Serie A sizzlers

There is going to be an exclusive club of two at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday, a couple of old saps talking about how they were kicked out of the Etihad.

Luckily for one, Joe Hart has a chance of putting on Manchester City’s colors again with the goalkeeper’s spell at Torino only being a temporary one, however Edin Dzeko is set to stay at Roma until the end of his football days. But that’s not a bad situation to be in for the Bosnian striker, who is leaving behind the image of a misfiring marksman and becoming quite the poacher again with Dzeko knocking in 18 Serie A goals this season, the same as Gonzalo Higuain at rivals, Juventus.

Goals are set to be quite the theme for the top Serie A encounter of the weekend with both clubs having found the back of the net 95 times between them this season. This has worked out considerably better for Roma who are just as effective at the back with the second best defensive record in the league. The same sturdiness cannot be attributed to Torino’s rearguard. Although the fun narrative to be had is to lay that at the feet and slippery hands of Hart, the back four as a whole has been a little leaky with even the shambles of Pescara scoring three against them last week. Don’t bet against a couple of Man City men adding to all those statistics.

LA LIGA – BARCELONA V LEGANES: Live on beIN SPORTS from 2:35PM ET / 11:35AM PT

A rough day awaits Barcelona in the stands, if not on the pitch

Like a Canadian leaving their front door open in the middle of winter on the way to work, there’s going to be a frosty reception for Barcelona on their return home on Sunday. It would be fair to say that Barcelona’s pummeling against PSG went down as well as a Real Madrid scarf in Gerard Pique’s secret Santa draw.

The match itself is expected to be a fairly perfunctory affair for Barcelona even with the luckless Andre Gomes on the pitch. Newly-promoted Leganes are in the middle of a relegation battle after a run that sees the Madrid outfit picking up just the single victory in 15. The previous match-up between the pair saw Barcelona coming out as 5-1 winners in Butarque. Even Paco Alcacer would stand a chance of bagging at least one goal.

But the real drama to be had is in the Camp Nou stands with supporters giving a referendum not so much on the players as the future of Luis Enrique. The reigning Barca boss has yet to decide on whether to renew his current deal which expires this summer, but in all likelihood that decision could be made a little easier on Luis with the club deciding to tell the former player that they are going to go in a different direction – one that would lead them back to the top of the table.

MONDAY

CHAMPIONSHIP – NEWCASTLE UNITED V ASTON VILLA: Live on beIN SPORTS from 2:55PM ET / 11:55AM PT

Magpies look to pile more agony on Aston Villa

Both set of fans of these Premier League dropouts would have had similar expectations of the new season after relegation from England’s top-flight. And that’s a swift return to the promised land. While matters are going swimmingly for top-of-the-table Newcastle United under the Championship novice, Rafa Benitez, Aston Villa are going from bad to worse with Steve Bruce, an experienced pugilist in the Championship who has earned more promotions than a five-star general.

Villa thought that a mid-course correction had been made when Roberto di Matteo was fired in October and Bruce began leading the team up the other end of the table. But the wheels have not so much fallen off the Villa wagon than spun off into a canyon of doom. 2017 sees the Birmingham side being as bad as Leicester City with just the single point picked up from seven games and suffering back-to-back home defeats.

This all leaves Villa in 16th place and a whopping 19 points off the play off places. However, they have not given up says new arrival, Conor Hourihane. "We will keep trying [to make the play-offs] until it's mathematically impossible and we will keep giving our all.”

That battle needs to begin on a manic Monday in the Championship.