5 Tips for Football's Weekend Action – 10/7/21

The first tip for the weekend comes from the Swedish Allsvenskan where second place Malmo take on ninth in the table Sirius at Eleda Stadium on Saturday.

Malmo are only behind league leaders Djurgardens IF on goal difference, with Jon Dahl Tomasson’s having 20 points from their opening 10 games. The hosts have won three of their last four matches with both teams scoring in each of them, as they’ve beaten Kalmar 3-1 and defeated both Elfsborg and Orebro 2-1.

Meanwhile, Sirius have tallied up 12 points in nine games and have won just one of their last five games, which came last time out in a 2-1 win against Mjallby.

We will be hoping for a similar outcome to that of when these sides met in July last year, where Malmo sealed a 5-2 away win thanks to an own goal from Elias Andersson as well as strikes from Ola Toivonen, Isaac Kiese Thelin, Jo Inge Berget and Soren Rieks.

On Sunday top of the table Malmo host seventh in the league Odd in the Norwegian Eliteserien as they look to extend their two points advantage ahead of reigning champions Bodo/Glimt at the top.

Molde have won four of their last five matches in the league, beating Stromsgodset 3-0, Bodo/Glimt 2-0, as well as the BTTS market landing in their other two victories against Stabaek and Sarpsborg 2-1 and 4-1.

The visitors Odd come into this match in decent form, have won three of their last five matches against Brann 3-1, Tromso 3-0 and Mjondalen 2-1, as well as drawing 2-2 with Rosenborg and 1-1 with Valerenga.

Once again, we’ll be hoping for a similar outcome to the last time these two sides went head-to-head which was in December last year, where Molde won 4-1 away at Odd via four goals in the last 19 minutes of the match by Magnus Wolff Eikrem, Ohi Omoijanfo (2) and Mathis Bolly.

The early hours of Sunday morning will see Argentina face bitter rivals Brazil in the final of the Copa America final at the Maracanã Stadium. Brazil are the current holders of the competition having beaten Peru 3-0 in the final two years ago, whilst Argentina will be hoping that this will be fifth time lucky, having lost their last four finals to both Brazil and Chile twice and haven’t won the competition since they beat Mexico 2-1 in 1993.

At present Messi is the top scorer in the competition with four goals in six games, scoring against Chile and Bolivia (2) in Group A, as well as scoring a goal and making two assists in Argentina’s 3-0 victory against Ecuador in the quarter-finals. The 34-year-old has found the back of the net 75 times in 148 matches for his country.

Brazil and PSG star Neymar has the third most goals in this year’s competition, scoring twice in Group B against both Venezuela and Peru. Neymar has 68 goals in 107 appearances for the Selecao.

On Sunday, Italy and England will go head-to-head in the final of Euro 2020 at Wembley. Italy managed to progress through to the final having beaten Spain on penalties following a 1-1 draw after extra time in the semi-finals, whilst England saw off Denmark 2-1 thanks to a Simon Kjaer own goal and an extra-time winner from captain Harry Kane.

The last time Italy won the Euros was all the way back in 1968 having been beaten finalists in 2000 and 2012, whilst this is England’s first major final since they won the 1966 World Cup.

Three Lions captain Kane is the player to look out for here, as the 27-year-old is the second top scorer at this year’s competition and would need two goals in the final to win the Golden Boot. The Tottenham striker has scored four goals of which all of them have come in the knockout stages against Germany, Ukraine (2) and Denmark in the run-up to the final to take his international tally up to 35 goals in 58 appearances.

The final game on this list of tips for the weekend comes from the Brazilian Serie A, where top of the table Palmeiras host seventh in the league Santos at Allianz Parque on Saturday night in a classic rivalry between the two Sao Paolo state sides.

Palmeiras have won their last four games in the Serie A, with three of these being in the score range of 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1 having beaten Internacional 2-1, Sport Recife 1-0 and Gremio 2-0, with Raphael Veiga and Gabriel Menino scoring in the latter game.

Santos have failed to score in two of their last three matches but did win last time out against Athletico Paranaense 2-1 following a 2-0 defeat away to America Mineiro and a 0-0 draw against Sport Recife.

The last time these two sides met in the league was back in January in the Copa Libertadores final where Breno Lopes scored a dramatic 99th minute winner for Palmeiras.