European football matchday: Manchester United aim to move level with City in PL; Inter Milan face Juventus in Coppa Italia

A look at what’s happening in European football on Tuesday:

ENGLAND

The Premier League returns for its third round in the space of a week, with Manchester United looking to move level on points with leader Manchester City by beating Southampton at Old Trafford. United have stumbled in the second half of January, winning just one of their four league games — and that was a come-from-behind victory at relegation-threatened Fulham.

Southampton started the season in brilliant style, and were briefly in first place in November, but have dropped to 11th after losing their last three games. Arsenal are unbeaten in seven league games heading to Wolverhampton, while the bottom two teams meet at Bramall Lane where last-placed Sheffield United host West Bromwich Albion. Newcastle also host Crystal Palace.

SPAIN

Sevilla visit second-division Almería looking to make it to the Copa del Rey semi-finals for the first time since 2018, when they lost the title in a final against Barcelona. Almería, the only lower-division club left in the competition, eliminated two top-tier clubs on their way to the quarter-finals — Alavés in the round of 32 and Osasuna in the last 16. They sit third in the second division. Sevilla, third in the first division, have won five consecutive games in all competitions.

ITALY

Inter Milan will be without Romelu Lukaku for the first leg of the Italian Cup semi-finals against Juventus at the San Siro. Lukaku is suspended for accumulated cards following his spat with Zlatan Ibrahimovic in last week’s quarter-final win over AC Milan. Inter beat Juventus 2-0 two weeks ago in Serie A and coach Antonio Conte wants to maintain supremacy over his former club.

Napoli host Atalanta in the other semi-final on Wednesday, with the return legs scheduled for next week. The final is on 19 May.

GERMANY

Bayern Munich's early elimination from the German Cup has opened up the draw as the third round gets underway. Borussia Dortmund take on second-division Paderborn for a place in the quarter-finals, looking to build on a win over Augsburg on Saturday which ended Dortmund's three-game winless run.

There's a mismatch as Bayer Leverkusen visit fourth-tier Rot-Weiss Essen, which was once a Bundesliga team but has fallen on hard times in the regional leagues. The team which knocked out Bayern on penalties in the last round, Holstein Kiel, face fellow second-tier team Darmstadt. Werder Bremen play Greuther Fürth.

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