Avoiding the Drop

Hull City A.F.C. v. Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. (Saturday)

This week’s relegation battle is between two teams who need to get their acts together quickly if they hope to remain in the EPL next year. Portsmouth are a lock to go down, but the next six teams are separated by only three points, making wins extra valuable to both teams. Normally, I’m not one for making managers into scapegoats when their teams do poorly, but when you look at the talent on Hull’s roster compared to, say, Stoke City’s, I have to wonder how Phil Brown still has his job? This club, with this talent, shouldn’t be anywhere near the relegation zone. Fun Fact: Sunderland’s Steve Bruce feels a little better about himself every time he sees Mick McCarthy’s nose. Fun Fact 2: Hull’s 1992-1995 home “tiger stripe” uniforms are among the ugliest any team has ever worn.

Ross County F.C. v. Dundee F.C. (Saturday)

If the Staggies want to keep their promotion hopes alive this is a match which they must win. They currently trail first place Dundee by nine points- but with three games in hand. In County’s favor, they’ve won four of their last five matches in all competitions while Dundee have only won two. In Dundee’s favor, they will be playing at home and have generally been regarded as promotion favorites since the beginning of the season. Most in Dingwall are keeping their heads on straight regarding the possibility of playing SPL football next year, but more than one person has gleefully pointed out that this might require playing half a season (while County’s Victoria Park was improved to meet SPL standards) at the home of rivals Inverness Caledonian Thistle- while ICT remain in the First Division!

A.S. Moncaco F.C. v. O.G.C. Nice (Saturday)

Could there be a better match to be at this weekend than the Côte d’Azur Derby? Sure, the match might be pretty interesting- sixth place Monaco are fighting to get into Europe and sixteenth place Nice are fighting to avoid relegation- but regardless of the outcome you’d get to spend the afternoon enjoying the Mediterranean sunshine! It’s only going to be in the 50s on match day, but I’m going to be looking at a daytime high in the teens, so that sounds pretty good to me. Fun Fact: Now that Eidur Gudjohnsen is on loan at Spurs, you’d be hard-pressed to name any one on Monaco’s current roster. Fun Fact 2: Nice currently has players from nine different African countries on its roster. They could lose as many as four of these players to World Cup duty this summer.

Hibernian F.C. v. St. Mirren F.C. (Saturday)

Hibernian were kind enough to defeat Celtic last weekend, so it seems that the least I could do to feature their match against St. Mirren this weekend. Hibs could move past Celtic and into second place with a win and a Celtic loss to Hamilton Academical this weekend. The Buddies of St. Mirren feature former New England Revolution midfielder Andy Dorman. Dorman’s career has been on the rise since joining the SPL side and there is talk that several mid-table EPL teams will be vying for his services beginning in the 2010-2011 season. Fun Fact: St. Mirren’s Stephen O’Donnell was not only born in Bellshill (see last week’s preview!), but he also played a season at Ross County! Could a young man really ask for anything more? No, no he could not.

Hannover 96 v. 1. FC Nürnberg (Saturday)

Assuming first place Bayer Leverkusen thrash fifteenth place Freiburg on Sunday, Hannover will move out of the Bundesliga’s relegation zone with a win. Should Nürnberg win the match, they’ll still be in the relegation zone. Unfortunately, with both teams having lost four of their last five matches, there may not be a winner at all. Here’s a question for you to ponder: should Hannover 96 be relegated from the Bundesliga, will Steve Cherundolo return to the States to play for an MLS side? He’s only 30, but does he really want to go through another promotion campaign having already done so in his early days at Hannover? I say he’ll hang around for one shot at returning to the top tier, but if that fails, look for him in a Portland Timbers uniform in their inaugural season- you heard it here first!

Arsenal F.C. v. Manchester United F.C. (Sunday)

This would be a big match under any circumstances, but given that the loser of this match- if there is one- could be out of the EPL title hunt, it has taken on even greater import. When you consider that leaders Chelsea have a game in hand over both of these sides, a win becomes even more valuable. If momentum actually means something, it could be a big day for the Mancunian side. They’re coming off a big cup win against crosstown rivals Citeh, while Arsenal will be without Thomas Vermaelen and Eduardo. Fun Fact: With the exception of mountaineers climbing Everest, nobody wears a puffier jacket than Arsene Wenger. Fun Fact 2: Who plays for the Arsenal Reserves? None other than Tom Cruise- you can look it up!

Feyenoord v. Ajax (Sunday)

It’s National Derby time in the Netherlands! Or, if you prefer, De Klassieker. Either way, these two clubs will be battling for the right to play in the Europa League next year as neither appear to be poised to grab either of the Champions League spots held by PSV or Twente. While Feyenoord only trail Ajax by four points, they trail them by 25 goals in the differential column, so tying them on points won’t be good enough should that happen. That may be the most meaningless and useless sentence I’ve ever included in one of these previews. Fun Fact: Ever the front-runner, I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of the newest addition to my football clothing collection- a PSV track suit top! Fun Fact: “Holland” is not a country, it’s actually two (Noord Holland and Zuid Holland) of the twelve Dutch provinces.

Panathinaikos A.O. v. AEK Athens F.C. (Sunday)

Why choose to highlight the Athens Derby this week? Simple, I wore my AEK shirt to play indoor soccer last night! If you think I need more justification than that you haven’t been reading these previews regularly enough. First place Panathinaikos seem to have the league sewn up at this point as they have a nine point lead over both Olympiakos Piraeus and PAOK. AEK, conversely, have a bit more to play for as they are tied on points- but -2 on goal differential- with Asteras Tripolis for the Greek Super League’s last European place. Fun Fact: The Super League’s top scorer this season is former Auxerre, Liverpool, Marseille, and Sunderland striker Djibril Cisse. Fun Fact 2: Both teams in this match were once managed by Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskas.

C.D. Tenerife v. Real Zaragoza (Sunday)

Perhaps the weather on the Côte d’Azur isn’t quite nice enough for you? You could always turn up at Estadio Heliodoro Rodriguez Lopez where the forecast is calling for sun and temperatures in the 60s. Weather like than in January may go a long way towards explaining why Tenerife are fighting to avoid relegation. Then again, with a win they could potentially leapfrog four teams and find their way to safety for a week. The picture is a bit gloomier for Zaragoza. Even with a win the most they can hope for is to move into the “best” of the relegation spots. Fun Fact: Real Zaragoza’s club crest is one of the classiest in all of world football. Fun Fact 2: Former Arsenal and Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant currently plies his trade with Real Zaragoza…allegedly.

C.A. River Plate v. C.A. Banfield (Sunday)

One of these teams won Argentina’s Primera Division last year? It wasn’t River, they finished in fourteenth place. Banfield’s Apertura championship is the first major piece of “silverware” the club has ever won- only thirty-two more and they’ll have as many league titles as River. Normally I wouldn’t expect a team that has just won its first title to be able to successfully defend it, but in this case I might- Banfield are unlikely to lose any players to World Cup duty, whereas last year’s second and third places teams (Newell’s Old Boys and Colon) could each lose as many as three. Fun Fact: Banfield’s most famous player is current Internazionale and Argentina defender Javier Zanetti. Fun Fact 2: River’s all-time leading scorer is Angel Labruna- he scored 293 times in 515 matches.

Calcio Catania v. Udinese Calcio SpA (Sunday)

It hasn’t been a good season for the Zebrette of Undinese- they are only one spot above the relegation zone in Serie A and are winless in their last five matches, but they did dump Milan out of the Coppa Italia during the week and they do have a game in hand over Catania, so maybe that’s something they can build on this weekend. Cantania are in the relegation zone, but they’ve picked up an impressive ten points in their last five matches (including a win over Juventus) and with a win this weekend they could potentially rise from 18^th to 15^th place. Fun Fact: Catania’s Gianvito Plasmati has played for clubs in Serie D, Serie C2, Serie C1, Serie B, and Serie A. Fun Fact 2: Udinese are one of 14 clubs or countries managed by football’s Kwai Chang Caine- Bora Milutinovic.