Arsenal's Martin Odegaard.Arsenal on Twitter

European soccer wk.18 picks: Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A in spotlight, with Aston Villa, Arsenal plays

The Premier League has lost five games so far this weekend to Omicron, with the COVID-19 variant spreading through England. Will the other five games go off as planned?

Well, you had to figure this was coming, once Tottenham's games last week were canceled due to the new Omicron Covid-19 variant.

This week in the Premier League has been a little bit of a disaster, with games getting postponed just hours before they were due to kickoff, and players missing games because of Covid.

That last thing helped tank some Chelsea bets Thursday, although the Blues had the lead against a bad Everton team and let it slip.

Just half (five of 10) the Premier League matches are going to be played this weekend, so I went outside England to find some value.

Bayern Munich and Inter, the leaders in the Bundesliga and Serie A respectively, will kick off the action Friday as heavy favorites.

There are still (as of now) two top flight games in England Saturday, and both are interesting. Aston Villa can move up into the top seven with a win over relegation-threatened Burnley, while Arsenal can solidify (for now) a spot in the top four with a victory over a Leeds United team that looks every bit a Championship side: you can get some decent odds on those two favorites.

Sunday, Newcastle United will have to face a Manchester City team that just thrashed Leeds 7-0, while Tottenham is (finally) back on the pitch (hopefully) against a short-handed Liverpool team.

Make sure you check the news to see if players are out, because this is a very fluid situation in England right now. I think we might be dealing with this for a month or two.

Check Fubo.TV, Paramount+, and ESPN+ for TV schedules

ENGLAND PREMIER LEAGUE

Saturday

Aston Villa (-135) v Burnley (+350), draw (+295), 10 a.m. EDT (NBCSN and Fubo.TV)

Leeds United (+280) v Arsenal (-105), draw (+280), 12:30 p.m. EDT (NBC and Fubo.TV)

Sunday

Newcastle United (+1300) v Manchester City (-560), draw (+600), (NBCSN and Fubo.TV)

Tottenham (+410) v Liverpool (-177), draw (+360), 11:30 a.m. EDT (Peacock)

GERMANY BUNDESLIGA

Friday

Bayern Munich (-530) v VfL Wolfsburg (+1200), draw (+650), 2:30 p.m. EDT (ESPN+)

Saturday