Weekend Soccer Preview

Another edition of the Weekend Soccer Preview!
As always, home team listed first, all times Eastern.


Game of the Week (Rankings from Poll)
10:00 ET Sunday (English Premier League)
(15) Manchester City v (25) Liverpool
Manchesester City currently sit in fourth place in the league, occupying the final Champions League qualifying spot. Liverpool is a scant point behind them but City has a game in hand. Both Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa hot on both team’s tails, just one and two points behind Liverpool respectively. Liverpool have come a long way since their early-season struggles and are coming off of a 1-0 win over Unirea Urziceni mid-week, a game in which they dominated everywhere except the scoreboard. Manchester City are coming off of a disappointing three-game stretch in which they lost at Hull City, beat Bolton, and drew at Stoke City. Manchester City is dead-set on Champions League qualification and Liverpool simply needs it financially, and this match will be a deciding factor in who will be the successful squad come season’s end. However, this is not the view of Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano, who says “I think it’s an important game but if any team lost, nothing will happen…it will decide nothing.” Quite frankly I think this is a stupid opinion for any player to have in any game. Liverpool may effectively drop 7 points back of Manchester City when the game in hand is taken into account, which is absolutely no small margin, given that Liverpool still has a visit to Manchester United and a visit from Chelsea on the schedule. Hopefully for Liverpool, Mascherano’s teammates do not share his view.

Other Game to Watch
7:45 ET Saturday (English Premier League)
Everton v (4) Manchester United
This is yet another huge game early in 2010 for Everton. Already this calendar year they have faced Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, and Chelsea, not to mention a visit from Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon. In those games Everton has taken 7 league points and scored a 2-1 victory over Sporting mid-week, which is an incredible run for the team. They are more or less out of contention for a European spot this season but they have invaluable momentum building up for next year and the remainder of their European campaign this season. A big factor of Everton’s success as of late has been the play of American import Landon Donovan, who has arguably been their best player since he has arrived. This match will serve as yet another test for Donovan and company before a mid-week trip to Portugal to meet Sporting Lisbon in the second leg of their Round of 32 Europa League clash. However, Manchester United has been hot lately as well, coming off of an impressive 3-2 win at AC Milan in the Champions League as well as an unbeaten Premier League streak dating to December 2009. Keep an eye on the Landon Donovan-Patrice Evra match-up.

Top of the Table Clashes
15:15 ET Sunday
FC Porto v (22) Braga
This is a match-up of 2 (Braga) and 3 (Porto) in the Portuguese Liga table, though Braga is 8 points ahead of Porto. Braga is one of the hottest teams in Europe right now, riding a 6 game win streak including victories over Nacional and Sporting Lisbon. On the other hand Porto is coming off of a great 2-1 win against Arsenal in the Champions League mid-week and will be a tough team to stop.

Big Games in Small Leagues
12:00 ET Sunday (Turkish Super League)
Besiktas v Galatasaray
13:00 ET Monday (Turkish Super League)
Fenerbahce v Bursaspor
This weekend gives a couple match-ups at the top of the Turkish Super League table. First we have Besiktas (5th) hosting Galatasaray (2nd) and then Fenerbahce (1st) hosting Bursaspor (3rd). All in all the teams are separated by only 7 points in the table, with just 2 separating Fenerbahce and Galatasaray at the top. Only the top two teams are able to qualify for the Champions League while the next two go to the Europa League, so these are two huge matches in the Turkish League season.
10:00 ET Sunday (Belgian Jupiler League)
Club Brugge v Standard Liege
Club Brugge is in second in the league, 9 points behind fourth place Standard Liege. Standard Liege is 4 points behind 3rd place KAA Gent and the coveted Europa League spot, and a win here would do wonders for their chances of qualifying for that competition.

English Premier League
7:45 ET Saturday
Everton v (4) Manchester United
10:00 ET Saturday
(9) Arsenal v Sunderland
West Ham v Hull City
Wolverhampton Wanderers v (3) Chelsea
12:15 ET Saturday
Portsmouth v Stoke City
7:00 ET Sunday
Blackburn Rovers v Bolton Wanderers
9:00 ET Sunday
(20) Aston Villa v Burnley
10:00 ET Sunday
Fulham v Birmingham
(15) Manchester City v (25) Liverpool
11:15 ET Sunday
Wigan v (17) Tottenham Hotspur

Scottish Premier League
7:45 ET Saturday
St. Johnsone v Rangers
10:00 ET Saturday
Celtic v Dundee United

Spain’s La Liga
12:00 ET Saturday
Deportivo La Coruna v Xerez
14:00 ET Saturday
(1) Barcelona v Racing Santander
16:00 ET Saturday
Mallorca v (24) Sevilla
11:00 ET Sunday
Athletic Bilbao v Tenerife
Malaga v Espanyol
Osasuna v Valladolid
Real Zaragoza v Sporting Gijon
13:00 ET Sunday
Almeria v Atletico Madrid
15:00 ET Sunday
(2) Real Madrid v Villarreal
15:00 ET Monday
(14) Valencia v Getafe

Italy’s Serie A
12:00 ET Saturday
Genoa v Udinese
14:45 ET Saturday
(5) Inter Milan v Sampdoria
9:00 ET Sunday
(10) AS Roma v Catania
Atalanta v Chievo Verona
Bologna v Juventus
Cagliari v Parma
Fiorentina v Livorno
Palermo v Lazio
Siena v Napoli
14:45 ET Sunday
Bari v (8) AC Milan

German Bundesliga
14:30 ET Friday
TSG Hoffenheim v Borussia Monchengladbach
9:30 ET Saturday
Borussia Dortmund v Hannover 96
FC Cologne v VfB Stuttgart
Hamburg SV v Eintracht Frankfurt
Mainz v VfL Bochum
Nurnberg v (7) Bayern Munich
9:30 ET Sunday
SC Freiburg v Hertha Berlin
11:30 ET Sunday
VfL Wolfsburg v (11) Schalke 04
Werder Bremen v (6) Bayer Leverkusen

French Ligue 1
13:00 ET Saturday
Boulogne v Le Mans
Grenoble v Valenciennes
Lens v AS Monaco
Nice v Lorient
St. Etienne v Montpellier
15:00 ET Saturday
Paris Saint-Germain v Toulouse
11:00 ET Sunday
Marseille v AS Nancy Lorraine
Sochaux v (21) Lyon
15:00 ET Sunday
Stade Rennes v Lille

Dutch Eredivisie
13:45 ET Saturday
RKS Waalwijk v Heerenveen
VVV Venlo v AZ Alkmaar
8:30 ET Sunday
Ajax Amsterdam v Vitesse Arnhem
PSV Eindhoven v Sparta Rotterdam
Twente Enschede v Willem II Tilburg

Portuguese Liga
15:15 ET Friday
Maritimo v Nacional
16:15 ET Saturday
Olhanense v Sporting Lisbon
15:15 ET Sunday
FC Porto v (22) Braga

Turkish Super League
12:00 ET Sunday
Besiktas v Galatasaray
13:00 ET Monday
Fenerbahce v Bursaspor

Greek Super League
12:00 ET Saturday
Ergotelis v Olympiakos
9:45 ET Sunday
AEK Athens v Aris Salonika
12:00 ET Sunday
PAOK Salonika v Panathinaikos

Belgian Jupiler League
14:00 ET Saturday
KAA Gent v St. Truiden
10:00 ET Sunday
Club Brugge v Standard Liege
12:00 ET Sunday
Anderlecht v KV Mechelen

Austrian Bundesliga
13:30 ET Friday
FC Magna Wr. Neustadt v Rapid Vienna
12:00 ET Saturday
Austria Vienna v FC Karnten
SK Sturm Graz v SV Mattersburg
9:30 ET Sunday
SV Salzburg v LASK Linz

Swiss Super League
11:45 ET Saturday
FC Basel v FC Aarau
FC Zurich v Grasshoppers

Northern Irish Premiership
10:00 ET Saturday
Glenavon v Glentoran
Institute v Crusaders
Linfield v Dungannon Swifts

Welsh Premier League
9:30 ET Saturday
Newtown v TNS
9:30 ET Sunday
Bala Town v Llanelli