Written by Shahan Ahmed
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Director’s European Football Preview & Pick of the Week: 29 March, 2013

After a necessary international break that featured more World Cup qualifiers than friendlies, European league football is back!

The English Premier League features eight matches on Saturday with Arsenal and Man City playing home fixtures they really should win. In other top four fixtures, Chelsea is away to Southampton, and Tottenham is away at Swansea. The Spurs and Swans matchup is likely the most intriguing fixture of the weekend in England.

In Spain, Valencia and Atletico Madrid battle it out on Sunday, as both Real Madrid and Barcelona play away on Saturday. La Liga is all but meaningless, but Tito Villanova should be back on the Barcelona bench full time from here on out.

In Germany, Borussia Dortmund travels to Stuttgart, and Bayern Munich hosts Hamburg in two monster Bundesliga matchups. Dortmund has a habit of dropping points when the Champions League is looming, so the trip to Stuttgard should be an interesting one.

In Italy, the Serie A provides the match of the weekend. It’s the Derby d’ Italia. Inter Milan host Juventus at the San Siro. Back in early November, Inter stunned Juve with its first defeat at the Juventus Arena in seemingly forever. Now, Juve looks to put away the league title holding a nine point lead over second-place Napoli with only nine rounds remaining.

It’s the classic Italian derby, and Inter needs the points if it wants any chance of climbing back in the race for top three. Currently, AC Milan is seven points ahead of Inter and holding onto the final European place.

Director’s Football Pick of the Week

Our Director of European Football has an expert pick for Saturday’s Chelsea at Southamption match that is only available to AccuScore members, so log in now to see the pick. If you’re not a member, Join Now and get AccuScore FREE for 7 Days!