Soccer for, and around, the weekend.

In England, on Saturday the 11th, Everton will be playing Wigan in a game which Everton will feel they should win. Fulham v.s. Sunderland is another match going on which Sunderland should win, despite the fact that Fulham will be at home. Aston Villa take on West Brom on Saturday as well, a match which the away-side, West Brom, should win. Stoke will take on Blackpool in another match which is a little hard to decide since Stoke are falling down the table. However, Blackpool isn't in good shape either, so I'd tip the home-side to win. The other matches on Saturday include West Ham v.s. Manchester City and Newcastle v.s. Liverpool. I have a feeling that Manchester City will triumph over the dismally performing West Ham side while Newcastle may be in too much of a shambles after the change in management to put up much resistance against Liverpool despite the home field advantage. Meanwhile, on Sunday, Wolverhampton Wanderers will be taking on Birmingham in Wolverhampton; a match which isn't a given for either side. I'd say Wolves have a better chance of possibly winning it than Birmingham as they will be having the home crowd on their side as well as the urge to get away from the relegation zone. The other Sunday matches include Bolton v.s. Blackburn and Tottenham v.s. Chelsea. Bolton should be confident at home as they are better off than their Blackburn opponents while Tottenham v.s. Chelsea may be a lot harder to call than you would think. While Chelsea do lead Spurs in the league table and have a more star-studded line-up, their luster hasn't quite been showing of late. Tottenham on the other hand have had a fantastic run of games both domestically and internationally and will also have a powerful fan base for the game; I'd like to see Tottenham win the game actually. Finally, Manchester United v.s. Arsenal occurs on Monday the 13th. I think this match may be the most fascinating of all as Arsenal will hope to give United their first defeat of the domestic season. Honestly though, I could see this match being a draw were it not for the poor defense of Arsenal. In Spain meanwhile, Atletico take on Deportivo on Saturday, in a clash between opposite circumstances: Atletico will hope to turn around their latest performance while Deportivo will hope to build on their own. I feel like Atletico Madrid will be the more successful of the two though. Also on Saturday, Sevilla will face Almeria in a match which the home side would be very disappointed not to win. While Sevilla will have the home field advantage, they also reside nine places above their opponents, a gulf in class as well as in points. The final Saturday match will be between Getafe and Villarreal. Villarreal currently hold third place and, as they will want to remain as close as possible to Bareclona and Real Madrid as possible, they would be surprised to lose to Getafe, even though they will be away from home. On Sunday, Barcelona face Real Sociedad in Barcelona while Real Madrid travel to Zaragoza. Those two matches probably hold no surprises as Barcelona should be able to defeat their guests, while Real Madrid  would be shattered by a defeat to bottom of the table Zaragoza no matter the venue. Hercules face Malaga while Mallorca welcome Racing to their stadium. Athletic Club will be playing Espanyol as Sporting Gijon take on Levante. The first two pairs (Hercules v.s. Malaga and Mallorca v.s. Racing)should see the home teams win while the second set will probably be victories for the respective away sides (Espanyol and Levante.) The last game, on Monday, will be between Valencia and Osasuna. I kind of have a hard time seeing Valencia losing at home and especially against Osasuna.  In Italy, there are only Saturday and Sunday matches with Palermo playing Parma in a game the Sicilians should win as Udinese's hotly contested match with Fiorentina is underway, a match which either team can win. Genoa v.s. Napoli is the final match for Saturday which should see the away side claiming victory. Sunday has its own choice games to offer as Bologna face table-topping AC Milan in a match which the home side will mostly be looking for a point. AC Milan should win the game. Cagliari play Catania in another close match which either side could win. Relegation threatened Lecce will face mid-table Chievo, a game the away side should be able to pull out of the hat. Even as Brescia take on Sampdoria, yet another match the away side should take the three points from. Roma v.s. Bari should be far more straight forward for the home side, as Bari languish in the bottom position of the table while  Juventus v.s. Lazio finish off the Italian fixtures in a match for second that could go either way. Finally, the German Bundesliga has a game tomorrow, Friday the 10th, when Hannover welcome Stuttgart: a match that Hannover should win. On Saturday, Bayern meet St. Pauli in Baveria as Kaiserslautern face Wolfsburg. Bayern will hope to win in their match, despite the terrible recent domestic form. The home side should be buoyed by their supporters at least. Kaiserslautern are in the same boat as their opponents are level on points with them so it's a do or die game. Koln v.s. Eintracht Frankfurt and Hoffenheim v.s. Nurnberg are games which are a little lop-sided: Eintracht should win while Hoffenheim should do the same in their match. Hamburg v.s. Leverkusen and Dortmund's match with Werder Bremen finish off the day, one game which the away side should win while the home side should win in the other: Leverkusen are in much better form than their hosts while Dortmund should be victorious against their challengers. Freiburg v.s. Monchengladbach and Mainz v.s. Schalke finish off the German league for the weekend on Sunday. Mainz will most likely defeat Schalke while Freiburg will be seen to be favorites against 'Gladbach.