Soccer on TV: The best games to watch this weekend
Frankfurt could become the latest team to fall out of contention in Germany while Manchester’s two teams, currently heading in different directions, battle for position in the English Premier League table in the top TV games from Europe this weekend.
Bundesliga: The title race is far from over but Frankfurt’s part in it could end Saturday without a win over league-leading Borussia Dortmund (FS1, Fox Deportes, 6:30 a.m. PST). A loss would drop fifth-place Frankfurt 20 points off the lead with 14 matches to play and could complicate its chances of securing a Champions League berth. Avoiding that fate would appear to be a Herculean task since Dortmund has more wins against Frankfurt — 44 — than any other league foe. Luka Jovic of Frankfurt, the target of intense transfer talk as the window began to close Thursday, is the league’s top scorer with 13 goals in 17 games, one better than the Dortmund duo of Marco Reus and Paco Alcacer, who have 12 each. Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho shares the Bundesliga lead in assists with nine. Also on Saturday, defending champion Bayern Munich, unbeaten in its last 10 in all competitions, will try to keep pace with the leaders when it visits ninth-place Bayer Leverkusen (FS2, Univision, 6:30 a.m. PST).
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EPL: Momentum has definitely shifted in the city of Manchester — if not in the Premier League table — since the December sacking of Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho, with United going unbeaten in nine games in all competitions under caretaker coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. That hasn’t budged United from sixth in the standings but with a win Sunday at Leicester City (NBCSN, Telemundo, 6 a.m. PST), the Red Devils could vault over Chelsea and Arsenal if those two lose. History is on United’s side since Leicester has beaten United at home just once in 12 EPL matches. Second-place City, meanwhile, has lost three of its last seven in league play and could fall to third in the standings if it loses again Sunday against visiting Arsenal (NBCSN, Telemundo, 8:30 a.m. PST). A win for City would not only help it in the table but it would give it four consecutive top-flight wins over the Gunners for the first time since 1937.
kevin.baxter@latimes.com | Twitter: @kbaxter11
