Andy Brassell's Weekend Football Tips Including Sunderland Vs Newcastle
European football expert Andy Brassell is back to share his three best selections for this weekend's action across Europe's top leagues.
As always, Andy will provide a fourth selection exclusively for Gambling.com account holders, using the latest odds from Grosvenor.
Andy has been a writer and broadcaster on European football for 20 years and features on TalkSPORT, On The Continent, The Guardian, Sky Sports and TNT Sports.
Eintracht Frankfurt Vs Augsburg, Saturday 2.30pm
Is it too early to ask whether Eintracht Frankfurt are one of the Bundesliga’s disappointments this season?
On the back of highly-intelligent transfer strategy in recent years, they entered the campaign with a fine squad, and with competition for Bayern Munich looking fractured and disorganised, there was a clear path for recently renewed coach Dino Toppmoller to lead them towards the champions’ coat-tails.
It hasn’t quite worked out like that, with the many good things they have done undermined by some erratic defending, which saw them lose an unexpected lead at Barcelona this week.
Eintracht Frankfurt's Form:
Competition | Result |
Champions League | Lost 3-0 Vs Atalanta |
Bundesliga | Drew 1-1 Vs Wolfsburg |
Bundesliga | Lost 6-0 @ RB Leipzig |
Champions League | Lost 2-1 @ Barcelona |
They have the worst goals-against record in the Bundesliga (29 conceded in just 13 games).
Augsburg recently parted company with coach Sandro Wagner, but his interim Manuel Baum returned to be the architect of a very impressive win over Bayer Leverkusen last week.
Andy's Panel Selection 1: Eintracht Frankfurt Vs Augsburg: Over 3.5 Total Goals - 7/5 With Grosvenor
Andy Brassell's Weekend Tips:
- Selection 1: Eintracht Frankfurt Vs Augsburg: Over 3.5 Total Goals - 7/5 With Grosvenor
- Selection 2: Fiorentina Vs Verona: Draw - 3/1 With Grosvenor
- Selection 3: Sunderland To Beat Newcastle: 23/10 With Grosvenor
Fiorentina Vs Verona, Sunday 2pm
Despite it only being mid-December, this meeting between the bottom two has the feeling of a season definer.
In fact, last week felt a little like that, with Fiorentina frittering away an early lead on the way to defeat at Sassuolo, while Verona powered to their first victory of the campaign against Atalanta to move off the foot of the table.
Bottom Of Serie A:
Position | Team | Played | Points | GD |
19 | Verona | 14 | 9 | -10 |
20 | Fiorentina | 14 | 6 | -13 |
La Viola have reached crisis point - they have already made their coaching change, but things are still a mess of disorganisation and infighting under Paolo Vanoli, and they have yet to win in Serie A.
No team in league history have stayed up after failing to win any of their first 14 games, and they are already seven points from safety. If the revival is to start, it needs to be now.
Andy's Panel Selection 2: Fiorentina Vs Verona: Draw - 3/1 With Grosvenor
Sunderland Vs Newcastle, Sunday 2pm
The return of the Tyne-Wear derby after nine years is a huge plus for the Premier League and the opening 15 games of this season has set it up perfectly.
The financial backing that has lifted Newcastle into multiple Champions League qualification suggested pre-season that this might be a mismatch.
However, it is Sunderland who have started the season with a spring in their step, despite a recent run of one win in six, which means they lead their visitors by just a point going into this game.
Sunderland Vs Newcastle Comparison:
Position | Team | Played | Points | GD |
9 | Sunderland | 15 | 23 | +1 |
12 | Newcastle | 15 | 22 | -2 |
The season numbers give voice to the arguments of Regis Le Bris’ team.
They are unbeaten at home, while Newcastle have just one win in seven away games, coming last time out and in emphatic style at Everton (with better away form Newcastle would be in a strong position to clinch a Champions League top-eight spot already).
There is also the weight of history for Eddie Howe and his side to face down - though Newcastle won 3-0 at the Stadium of Light in a 2024 FA Cup tie, they have not won this derby in the Premier League in the last nine attempts, stretching back to 2011.
Andy's Panel Selection 3: Sunderland To Beat Newcastle: 23/10 With Grosvenor
Andy's weekend treble pays out at around 25/1 with Grosvenor.
Got a European treble of your own? Share it with us in the comments below!
