As usual there will be a gajillion storylines as soon as the drawings are announced (11:30 ET). Group of death, group of bore (probably Switwerland's), conspiracies... There's really not much to analyze at this point, unless you really reaaaally have nothing else to do and want to start looking at the pot 2/pot 4 situation. For France I'm kinda hoping for a tough group since the team seems to do better in adversity than not (note: lots of depressing counter-examples to this theory. See: Euro, 2008).

So I feel like we've heard this before but apparently David Moyes is under pressure after his team suffered a loss. Will need to dig through archives but it's very possible that same sentence has already been written 700 times in previous Weekend Soccer posts. United host Newcastle which can be a tricky opponent when they bother. More important for the Red Devils it seems is to get Van Persie back on the field asap, as they really miss his clinical finishing. Rooney being suspended for this fixture does not bode well either. Arsenal host Everton in what should be a cracker of a game. Everton have only won once there in the past 17 years, but the type of soccer Martinez has them playing points to a struggle for Arsenal. With Chelsea and City looming in the wings, now's not the time for the Gunners to drop points at home. Speaking of City, they travel to Southampton who haven't been the most inspiring of sides recently. No one expected them to stay in the top 4 extensively, but it's likely they'll want to maintain themselves somewhere in the 6-8 spot range. And there are a lot of contenders for those spots.

Spain: Barcelona's hold on top of the league is looking shaky, with Atletico even and Real 3 back. Still they've been first for 53 straight weeks, which is certifiably insane.
Italy: Francesco Totti is set to come back from his injury soon, which couldn't come sooner to help Roma get back to their earlier winning ways. They host 5th-place Fiorentina this weekend in a very tricky matchup where a loss could start undermining all the goodwill that new coach Garcia has accumulated so far this year
Germany: Arjen Robben could miss 6 weeks for Bayern. No worries, the matrix will just plug someone else in and keep winning games and punishing opponents
France: PSG's unbeatten streak is finally over, and they are not exactly racing out in front so they will likely want to grab 3 pts against footballing doormats Sochaux

EPL
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2013
7:45 ET Manchester United v Newcastle United
10:00 ET Crystal Palace v Cardiff City
10:00 ET Liverpool v West Ham United
10:00 ET Southampton v Manchester City
10:00 ET Stoke City v Chelsea Stadium
10:00 ET West Bromwich Albion v Norwich City
12:30 ET Sunderland v Tottenham Hotspur
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2013
8:30 ET Fulham v Aston Villa
11:00 ET Arsenal v Everton
MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2013
3:00 ET Swansea City v Hull City

LA LIGA
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013
3:00 ET Levante v Elche
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2013
10:00 ET Osasuna v Real Madrid
12:00 ET Rayo Vallecano v Granada
2:00 ET Barcelona v Villarreal
4:00 ET Malaga v Getafe
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2013
6:00 ET Almeria v Espanyol
11:00 ET Real Sociedad v Real Betis
1:00 ET Sevilla FC v Athletic Bilbao
3:00 ET Atletico Madrid v Valencia
MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013
4:00 ET Real Valladolid v Celta Vigo

SERIE A
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2013
2:45 ET Bologna v Juventus
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2013
12:00 ET Livorno v AC Milan
2:45 ET Napoli v Udinese
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2013
6:30 ET AS Roma v Fiorentina
9:00 ET Cagliari v Genoa
9:00 ET Hellas Verona v Atalanta
9:00 ET Sampdoria v Catania
9:00 ET Sassuolo v Chievo Verona
9:00 ET Torino v Lazio
2:45 ET Internazionale v Parma

BUNDESLIGA
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2013
2:30 ET Nurnberg v Mainz
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2013
9:30 ET Borussia Monchengladbach v Schalke 04
9:30 ET Eintracht Frankfurt v TSG Hoffenheim
9:30 ET Hamburg SV v FC Augsburg
9:30 ET VfB Stuttgart v Hannover 96
9:30 ET Werder Bremen v Bayern Munich
12:30 ET Borussia Dortmund v Bayer Leverkusen
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2013
9:30 ET SC Freiburg v VfL Wolfsburg
11:30 ET TSV Eintracht Braunschweig v Hertha Berlin

LIGUE 1
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2013
2:30 ET Marseille v Nantes
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2013
11:00 ET Paris Saint-Germain v Sochaux
2:00 ET Lorient v Stade Rennes
2:00 ET St Etienne v Evian Thonon Gaillard
2:00 ET Stade de Reims v Nice
2:00 ET Valenciennes v Guingamp
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2013
8:00 ET Bordeaux v Lille
11:00 ET Bastia v Lyon
11:00 ET Toulouse v Montpellier
3:00 ET AS Monaco v AC Ajaccio