Avoiding the Drop

Right after this lovely scene a brawl broke out - we won.

It’s Derby Day.

No, not the Rams of lovely Derby County.  Today is a day for local wars between sides that would sooner leap into a roaring fire than lose against today’s opponent.  The vitriol will be felt in places like North London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Barcelona and Piraeus.

Important to remember is just how much these matches mean to the supporters while also being important to the clubs in the tables.  Derbies cause sleepless nights everywhere.  Supporters dream about beating the rivals, mostly because their supporters are just so annoying.  Players dream about beating the rivals because they see how much it means to the supporters.  Managers dream about beating the rivals because that other manager is a loudmouth who won’t shut up when they win.

The biggest hope for today, obviously, is cooler heads prevailing and good football all around.

Arsenal v. Chelsea – A huge match in the Premier League, as Chelsea currently holds an 8 point advantage on the fourth place Gunners.  A victory here will start the “Arsenal is out of the title race” stories.  Without Robin van Persie, it will now fall on Carlos Vela and Eduardo (until Nic Bendtner is available again) to be the strike partners, while Andrey Arshavin and Cesc Fabregas will have to help in that regard while staying healthy.  For Chelsea, it’s been dominance thus far, and they hope to continue today.  They are such a polished, professional group and they know how to win these kinds of matches.  They are very rarely intimidated by away venues.  They are the clear favorites for the title in my opinion, and will expect to step on the necks of the reeling Gunners today.

Everton v. Liverpool – Probably the most vitriolic of the matches today, and with a ton on the line.  Liverpool are sitting seventh in the table right now, 13 points behind leaders Chelsea and 5 points behind fourth place Arsenal.  Everton’s start has been, well, horrendous.  They sit in 16th position, just three points ahead of 18th place Bolton.  These two sides have already lost 11 times combined in 26 games played.  Liverpool have been knocked out of the Champions League, while Everton’s leaky defense has been their Achilles heel all season long.  Realistically, if they are to start moving up the table, Everton must stand their ground at home today.

Barcelona v. Real Madrid – Madrid hold a one point advantage and are in the top position in La Primera Liga, while Barca sit in 2nd place.  Both teams have conceded 8 league goals, while Barca has scored twice more than Madrid.  Barca still is undefeated in the league, but have three draws, while Madrid have lost once and drawn once.  This match, it could be argued, contains the best talent at club level anywhere in the world.  The list of world-class players on these roster sheets is almost not to be believed.  Barcelona are the reigning champions of Europe.  Oh, and the supporters loathe each other.  The regions of the country loathe each other.  The two best players in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo of Madrid and Lionel Messi of Barcelona, will be teeing it up today.  Should I keep going?

Enjoy the matches today and we’ll be around in comments and on Twitter.

Television courtesy of Jamie Trecker and as usual, all times are EST.

Sydney v Newcastle        0200    FSC
Kuban v Rubin        0545    Setanta
Vitesse v Ajax            0630    ESPN360
Everton v Liverpool 0830    Setanta
Cagliari v Juventus        0900    ESPN360
Inter v Fiorentina        0900    FSC/FSE
Arsenal v Chelsea 1100    FSC/FSE
Hannover v Bayern        1130    ESPN360
Barcelona v Real Madrid 1300    ESPND/360/GolTV
Toluca v San Luis        1300    Telemundo
Catania v AC Milan        1445    FSC/FSE/RAI
Atletico v Espnayol        1500    ESPN360
Lyon v Rennes        1500    Setanta
Morelia v Santos Laguna    1700    Azteca