Euro 2008 preview

don't forget to check out my Euro 2008 preview at my good friends, bodybuilding.com

national pride

As Poland heads towards the Euros with Roger Guerreiro on their roster, it is becoming abundantly clear how the measure of nationality and pride of playing for your birth-country is a thing of the past for some. Mr Guerreiro, who was borne and raised in Brazil has resided in Poland for the last two years and through the powers-that-be, is now magically Polish. Granted the same magic seems to have worked with the kid from Calgary who plays for England and while this isn't to say that all individuals share the same wandering nationality, cases such as these and others (i.e. Jonathan de Guzmán) are starting to erase the line between club and country.

Hopefully my thick level of sarcasm wasn't dispensed too thick and you could sense my distaste for transitory citizenry to enhance team performance or playing on more prominent teams. The luxury of playing for your home nation, regardless of it being a super-power or a developing nation is an extraordinary blessing and one that regulating bodies need to uphold.

Now of course if San Marino is in desperate need of an aging trequartista, I'm on my way.

FA Cup highlights

Monterrey win over Chivas highlights

Championship League conclusion

The Championship League concluded today with an unbelievable series of matches today. Todays results saw West Brow come out with the title and along with Stoke City they are automatically promoted to the Premier League. The playoff round begins next Sunday with Hull and Watford and on the following Tuesday, Bristol City and Crystal Palace.

At the bottom end of the table, despite mustering a game, nil draw against Stoke City, Leicester City is relegated to League One for the first time in their 124-year history because Southampton pulled-off one of the great upsets of the day by beating Sheffield United. Results from today:

West Brom 2 Queens Park Rangers 0
Leicester City 0 Stoke City 0
Ipswich Town 1 Hull City 0
Bristol City 3 Preston NE 0
Watford F.C 1 Blackpool
Watford barely scraped into the playoffs and if it wasn't for Tommy Smith's sixty-second minute goal they would dropped out of the playoff position.
Crystal Palace 5 Burnley F.C. 0
Crystal Palace is unquestionably my favorite to win the playoffs and advance to the Premier League.
Wolverhampton 1 Plymouth Argyle 0
Southampton 3 Sheffield United 2
Southampton, without question, wins the Championship League award for the great escape as this victory kept them out of relegation.
Charlton 4 Coventry 1
Cardiff City 3 Barnsley 0
Colchester 3 Scunthorpe 3
Sheffield Wednesday 4 Norwich 1

	GP	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals	Against	Total
West Brom	46	23	12	11	88	55	81
Stoke City	46	21	16	9	69	55	79
Hull	46	21	12	13	65	47	75
Bristol City	46	20	14	12	54	53	74
Crystal Palace	46	18	17	11	58	42	71
Watford	46	18	16	12	62	56	70
Wolverhampton	46	18	16	12	53	48	70
Ipswich Town	46	18	15	13	65	56	69
Sheffield United	46	17	15	14	56	51	66
Plymouth Argyle	46	17	13	16	60	50	64
Charlton Athletic	46	17	13	16	63	58	64
Cardiff City	46	16	16	14	59	55	64
Burnley	46	16	14	16	60	67	62
Queens Park Rangers	46	14	16	16	60	66	58
Preston	46	15	11	20	50	56	56
Sheffield Wednesday	46	14	13	19	54	55	55
Norwich	46	15	10	21	49	59	55
Barnsley	46	14	13	19	52	65	55
Blackpool	46	12	18	16	59	64	54
Southampton	46	13	15	18	56	72	54
Coventry City	46	14	11	21	52	64	53
Leicester City	46	12	16	18	42	45	52
Scunthorpe	46	11	13	22	46	69	46
Colchester	46	7	17	22	62	86	38

Bolton over Sunderland

The Bolton - Sunderland match in the Premier League just ended with Bolton winning 2-0. Gary Megson's squad has made an unbelievable turnaround and picked-up ten points in their last four matches. This virtually guarantees themselves staying up in the Premier League next season.

League One conclusion

League One matches just concluded and while the final playoff position was already sewn-up the battle for automatic promotion took at unbelievable turn of events as the seemingly relegation condemned Cheltenham pulled off the ultimate of clutch performances with a 2-1 victory over Doncaster on a eighty-fifth minute goal by Paul Conner. This not only pushed Cheltenham out of relegation zone and sealed the fate of Bournemouth but combined with a Nottingham Forest 3-2 victory over Yeovil Town, resulted in Forest leaping over Doncaster and gaining automatic promotion to the Championship League along with Swansea City which won the league title. Bournemouth, Gillingham, Port Vale and Luton are all relegated to League Two.

With Swansea and Nottingham gaining automatic promotion, the playoff race is now set with Doncaster, Carlisle, Leeds and Southend. The playoffs open next Friday with Doncaster visiting Southend and then, on the following Monday Carlisle comes into the historic grounds of Elland Road to play Leeds United.

	GP	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals	Against	Total
Swansea City	46	27	11	8	82	42	92
Nottingham Forest	46	22	16	8	64	32	82
Doncaster	46	23	11	12	65	41	80
Carlisle United	46	23	11	12	64	46	80
Leeds United	46	27	10	9	72	38	76
Southend	46	22	10	14	70	55	76
Brighton	46	19	12	15	58	50	69
Oldham	46	18	13	15	58	46	67
Northampton	46	17	15	14	60	55	66
Huddersfield	46	20	6	20	50	62	66
Tranmere	46	18	11	17	52	47	65
Walsall	46	16	16	14	52	46	64
Swindon	46	16	13	17	63	56	61
Leyton Orient	46	16	12	18	49	63	60
Hartlepool	46	15	9	22	63	66	54
Bristol Rovers	46	12	17	17	45	53	53
Millwall	46	14	10	22	45	60	52
Yeovil Town	46	14	10	22	38	59	52
Cheltenham	46	13	12	21	42	64	51
Crewe	46	12	14	20	47	65	50
Bournemouth	46	17	7	22	62	72	48
Gillingham	46	11	13	22	44	73	46
Port Vale	46	9	11	26	47	81	38
Luton	46	11	10	25	43	63	33

the great escape - Fulham

Just finishing up now, Fulham has defeated Birmingham City 2-0 in the Premier League with second half goals Brian McBride at the fifty-second minute and super-sub Eric Nevland at the eighty-seventh minute. Jimmy Bullard's energy and leadership was instrumental in their success today.

This is Fulham's third win in four matches and will now face Portsmouth next Sunday. A win again Portsmouth, which has the FA Cup final six days later, will guarantee Fulham staying in the Premier League and definitely pulling off one of the more remarkable escapes. While the Bolton - Sunderland match, just about to start, will impact the race, the bottom three are now Derby County, Birmingham City and Reading.

Championship League race

The Championship League race is coming down to the final weekend this Sunday with an unbelievable ending. While for some teams the matches will simply be for pride but for some it'll push them into the Premier League or relegate them into the third division of Football.

Sunday
West Brom @ Queens Park Rangers
West Brom is virtually guaranteed automatic promotion so this one is playing for the trophy. With their massive lead in goal differential even a loss, with victories by Hull and Stoke City will see them gain automatic promotion

Leicester City @ Stoke City
This one is certainly an unbelievable twisting match. While Stoke if fighting to win automatic promotion as well as the trophy, Leicester City is in its own fight to avoid relegation. Stoke is completely healthy and have recalled Chris Riggott from Middlesbrough

Hull City @ Ipswich Town
A victory for Hull City could see them into automatic promotion if Stoke loses to Leicester City. Ipswich is not going to be easy because a victory coupled with Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton losses will see them into the playoff.

Preston NE @ Bristol City
Bristol City is through to the playoffs but cannot gain automatic promotion. I expect them to use this match for final tune-ups.

Watford F.C @ Blackpool
Watford's inconsistent play has put them in a peculiar position where a Blackpool victory will quite possibly push them out of the playoff zone.

Burnley F.C. @ Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace is sitting in the final playoff spot but either Wolverhampton, Ipswich Town or Sheffield United will leap above them with a victory.

Plymouth Argyle @ Wolverhampton
A win by the Wolves will put them temporarily above Watford and Crystal Palace but to advance they will need help from either Blackpool or Burnley.

Sheffield United @ Southampton
Sheffield's chances are remote and they will need all three teams above them to lose but in their way is Southhampton which knows it will escape relegation with points, providing Stoke defeats Leicester City.

The balance of the matches will not affect the promotion or relegation situations:

Coventry @ Charlton
Barnsley @ Cardiff City
Colchester @ Scunthorpe
Norwich @ Sheffield Wednesday

	GP	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals	Against	Total
West Brom	45	22	12	11	86	55	78
Stoke City	45	21	15	9	69	55	78
Hull City	45	21	12	12	65	46	75
Bristol City	45	19	14	12	51	53	71
Watford	45	18	15	12	61	55	69
Crystal Palace	45	17	17	11	53	42	68
Wolverhampton	45	17	16	12	52	48	67
Ipswich Town	45	17	15	13	64	56	66
Sheffield United	45	17	15	13	54	48	66
Plymouth	45	17	13	15	60	49	64
Burnley	45	16	14	15	60	62	62
Charlton	45	16	13	16	59	57	61
Cardiff City	45	15	16	14	56	55	61
Queens Park Rangers	45	14	16	15	60	64	58
Preston	45	15	11	19	50	53	56
Norwich	45	15	10	20	48	55	55
Barnsley	45	14	13	18	52	62	55
Blackpool	45	12	17	16	58	63	53
Coventry	45	14	11	20	51	60	53
Sheffield Wednesday	45	13	13	19	50	54	52
Leicester City	45	12	15	18	42	45	51
Southampton	45	12	15	18	53	70	51
Scunthorpe	45	11	12	22	43	66	45
Colchester	45	7	16	22	59	83	37

UEFA Cup: Rangers - Fiorentina

Entering the deciding second-leg of the match after a nil draw, the advantage definitely is that of the home squad Fiorentina. The Viola are a team to be reckoned with, in particular at home at it was a huge error by Walter Smith's squad not to attack at Ibrox last week.

The Rangers David Weir has been pronounced match-fit but still be without DaMarcus Beasley, Allan McGregor, Charlie Adam, Lee McCulloch, Steven Naismith and Chris Burke because of injuries. They will however have Captain, Barry Ferguson and Kevin Thomson back after suspensions. Fiorentina, on the other hand looks healthy and prepared to advance to the finals in Manchester.

The most likely man-of-the-match or certainly the one to watch is emerging star Adrian Mutu.

UEFA Cup: Bayern - Zenit

Just an hour away now from the second-leg of Bayern München and FC Zenit St Petersburg. The first match ended in a 1-1 draw and puts Zenit in a perfect position to pull-off a stunning upset. Without question they are in perfect position and teams that have ventured into St. Petersburg have found how difficult the challenge it is to beat them on home soil.

Zenit will have to do without Andrei Arshavin, Radek Sirl and Fernando Ricksen who are all suspended and Bayern is overjoyed to see the return of Luca Toni. Bayern will also have the services of Oliver Khan, who was injured in the first leg.

I believe the return of Luca Toni will be the deciding factor and see Bayern off the finals in Manchester. And yes, Der Kaiser will be happy (you really didn't think I'd pass up Franz Beckenbauer reference did you?).

the relegation battle

Each Football season marks the exciting race to the respective championships. However at the opposite end of the table are the battles to avoid relegation which have the potential of destroying a franchise. Likely the saddest example of this is Leeds United which only a few years ago was playing within the Champions League and now is trying to battle up from League 2. This results in some of the most passioned play and each year a few teams rescue their teams fortune and make the "great escape". Within Serie A, Ligue 1 Orange and the Premier League the relegation fight is tight, "can't miss" action as noted below.

Serie A
With four matches left to play it is premature to call but it appears that Cagliari has won the "great escape" of all the leagues, coming up from near extinction and playing as a upper half of the table team since their January victory over Napoli. Over the last fifteen matches they have earned twenty-five points including draws against Roma and Juventus and their escape while not guaranteed, seems very close. Of course what is quite obvious is that with three teams tied in the final three positions and the fourth only one point above, anything can happen.

With Parma visiting Reggina tomorrow, the table could radically change and of all the clubs, Reggina is likely in the best position to jump out of relegation as they face Catania, Empoli and Cagliari in successive weeks. Livorno's schedule is a mountainous challenge as they face A.C. Milan, Atalanta and Torino before meeting Empoli the final weekend. Empoli's schedule includes tough matches against Genoa and Udinese before facing Reggina and Livorno the final weekends. Parma's road is unquestionably the most difficult and why I expect them to be relegated as they face Genoa, Fiorentina and InterMilan after tomorrows match against Reggina. For them to avoid relegation, a win tomorrow is critical.

	GP	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals	Against	Total
Catania Calcio	34	8	11	15	29	39	35
Cagliari	34	9	8	17	33	51	35
Torino	34	6	16	12	32	43	34
Parma	34	6	13	15	39	55	31
Livorno	34	6	12	16	31	50	30
Empoli	34	7	9	18	26	48	30
Reggina	34	6	12	16	29	52	30

Premier League (England)
With two matches left to play and Derby County long since resigned to their fate, the battle of the bottom two positions is tight, in particular with the final spot now occupied by Birmingham City. However before you cast Derby aside, they will have an enormous impact on this race as Reading must come into Pride Park to face them in the final weekend of the campaign. Derby's fans have been some of the most loyal in the league and I expect a stellar performance from Derby that day. Reading will not want to come into the final weekend needing points however they face the very difficult task of facing Tottenham next weekend, so this is going to be a very trying situation for the Reading faithful. Fulham's situation is a peculiar one because in-fact this is far too good of a squad to be in this situation. Todays stunning second-half recovery against Manchester City for a 3-2 victory is just part of a odd season of squandered points. While their chances to escape relegation are not easy, I expect the likes of Jimmy Bullard, David Healy and Brian McBride at their attacking best in next weekends match against Birmingham City at Craven Cottage. Their final match of the season is a brutal task of visiting Portsmouth so the task of moving up two positions won't be easy. After todays match, in which Birmingham City threw away a two-goal lead against Liverpool, you have to question the passion of the squad and whether they have the mettle to overcome next weekends tussle against Fulham and the following weekend against Blackburn. Gary Megson's Bolton might have the toughest challenge as they face Sunderland and title-chasing Chelsea the final two weeks and to escape relegation they must earn points against Roy Keane's squad.

	GP	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals	Against	Total
Middlesbrough	36	8	12	16	33	52	36
Bolton	36	8	9	19	33	53	33
Reading	36	9	6	21	37	65	33
Birmingham City	36	7	11	18	42	59	32
Fulham	36	6	12	18	35	60	30
Derby County	35	1	8	26	17	76	11

Ligue 1 Orange
Much of the ongoing storyline is whether Paris Saint-Germain will escape relegation and given Strasbourg's extremely difficult final three games against Nancy, Caen and Marseille it would appear that Strasbourg is headed down. PSG's chances of avoiding relegation were given fresh life with a overwhelming 3-1 victory today against Auxerre. The real showdown is coming with the three-way tie between PSG, Lens and Toulouse.

Next weekends match between PSG and Toulouse, in Toulouse, will go a long way in deciding either squads fate. Toulouse is a significantly better squad at home and I expect a tight defensive battle as a they won't want to let the PSG offense to get untracked. Following that match, PSG plays Saint-Étienne and Sochaux-Montbéliard as well as the final in the Coupe de France. Remarkably they could actually be relegated but win two domestic titles and receive a UEFA Cup bid. St. Etienne is in a tight battle with Marseille for the final UEFA Cup spot so points will be at a premium. Toulouse after playing PSG next weekend, has tough matches against Rennes and Valenciennes. Lens schedule includes difficult tests against Monaco, Lille and that final weekend against Bordeaux and likely has the most difficult challenge of the three clubs.

	GP	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals	Against	Total
Auxerre	35	11	8	16	30	46	41
Toulouse	35	8	14	13	32	38	38
Lens	35	9	11	15	40	48	38
PSG	35	9	11	15	33	42	38
Strasbourg	35	9	8	18	30	44	35
Metz	35	4	8	23	23	59	20

PSG defeats Auxerre 3-1

The Paris Saint Germain fight to avoid relegation from Ligue 1 Orange took a strong step forward with a 3-1 victory today over Auxerre. On the heels of Amara Diané's brace and Pauleta's goal at the three minute mark, PSG held for 3-1 victory which brings them level with Lens and Toulouse, whose matches are minutes away.

Canadiens over Flyers 4-3 (OT)

The Montréal Canadiens beat Philadelphia 4-3 in overtime to take the first game of the best of seven series. Tom Kostopoulos scored forty-eight seconds into overtime off his own rebound after the Habs had came back to tie the game on a Alex Kovalev goal with only twenty-nine seconds left in the game.














Game two is set for Saturday night in beautiful Montréal.

Champions League: Manchester United - Barcelona

The first leg of the semi-final Champions League match between Manchester United and Barcelona at Nou Camp is set to start an hour from now.

The good news is of course that Lionel Messi is healthy for Barcelona and the stage is set for a titanic battle of mega-stars, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Manchester United will have Edwin Van der Sar and apparently Wayne Rooney from the weekend but are without Anderson. Man Utd will use Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez up front to obviously push the attacking side and try to put Lionel Messi into more of a defensive role.

Barcelona will need to attack and play a tighter marking system than has flawed their performance this season in La Liga. To be successful the likes of Messi, Eto'o, Deco, Zambrotta and Abidal will need rise to the occasion but this has the makings of a classic.

Champions League?

As I began to write my review of the Liverpool - Chelsea Champions League match I was stricken with a sarcastic flavor as quite honestly, the play left a lot to be desired and seemed to be decided on blunders as opposed the type of performance you'd expect from two of the top four European clubs. If this is the best these clubs can perform on this stage, whichever club advances from Manchester United - Barcelona (Man Utd in my opinion) will win the title easily.

Chelsea looked its typical ragged self offensively since "the special one" departed and their defensive marking was brutally porous at times.  As the first half wore out at the pace of simmering porridge on cold December morning, Liverpool jersey netted the first goal after the Chelsea players stumbled and bumbled their way with the ball, never being able to clear it out of the area and after a few whiff's, the ball dribbled to Dirk Kuyt who promptly tucked into the back of the net only minutes before the end of the half in a goal that reminded me of the Peanuts gang finally scoring one. The only thing missing was a the cloud of dust from Pig-Pen and the bleacher crowd yelling "YAAAAY".

The second half came and while certainly the tempo picked up, the playmaking was lacking, except for the notable work of Chelsea's Salomon Kalou. Equally it seems that the brilliant Ukraine striker, Andriy Shevchenko, is a permanent fixture on the bench in lieu of the Didier Drogba who continued to drop and feigned anguish should anyone bump into him on the pitch. However when you least expected it and the match seemed ready to finally end near the fifth minute of the four minutes of added-time (yes, you figure that out), a crossing volley by Salomon Kalou was headed into his own net by John Arne Riise to bring the final conclusion to a 1-1 draw. 

corduroy

ok...so how long till it snows?

Ligue 1

From Ligue 1 action this weekend:

Sunday
FC Girondins de Bordeaux 1 Toulouse FC 0
Lille O.S.C. 3 Olympique Marseille 1
In front of 50,000+ at the Stade Vélodrome put on foul lackluster display today in losing 3-1 to Lille and tossed away a perfect opportunity to step two points in front of Nancy.

Within the wind and rain of tonight, l'om never played with a fire or commitment and after Mamadou Niang scored at the twelve minute mark the match was controlled by Lille. Kevin Mirallas struck for two goals and Jean Makoun added the third at the sixty-seventh minute when he walked into the goal-mouth unmarked to tuck in a rebound.












Saturday
Olympique Lyonnais 2 RC Strasbourg 1
AS Nancy Lorraine 1 Le Mans 1
Racing Club de Lens 3 Sochaux-Montbéliard 2
stunning clutch performance by Lens that sees them out of the relegation zone and further pounds a painful nail into the PSG coffin.
AJ Auxerre 0 FC Metz 0
Stade Rennais FC 1 Valenciennes FC 0
AS Monaco FC 2 Nice-Côte d'Azur 0
SM Caen 3 Paris Saint-Germain 0
Saint-Étienne Loire 1 Lorient 0

	GP	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals	Against	Total
Olympique Lyonnais	34	22	5	7	68	34	71
FC Girondins de Bordeaux	34	20	7	7	59	35	67
AS Nancy Lorraine	34	14	14	6	38	25	56
Olympique Marseille	34	15	10	9	50	38	55
Saint-Étienne Loire	34	14	8	12	41	33	50
Lille O.S.C.	34	11	16	7	39	28	49
Stade Rennais FC	34	13	9	12	37	39	48
Le Mans	34	13	9	12	40	43	48
Nice-Côte d'Azur	34	11	14	9	30	28	47
Lorient	34	11	13	10	28	32	46
SM Caen	34	12	10	12	39	45	46
Valenciennes FC	34	12	8	14	39	33	44
AS Monaco FC	34	12	7	15	35	41	43
Sochaux-Montbéliard	34	10	12	12	32	38	42
AJ Auxerre	34	11	8	15	29	43	41
Toulouse FC	34	8	14	12	30	35	38
Racing Club de Lens	34	9	11	14	38	45	38
Paris Saint-Germain	34	8	11	15	30	41	35
RC Strasbourg	34	9	8	17	30	41	35
FC Metz	34	4	8	22	23	58	20

Upcoming matches

Saturday
Saint-Étienne Loire @ FC Metz
Toulouse FC @ Lille O.S.C.
Racing Club de Lens @ Le Mans
RC Strasbourg @ Stade Rennais FC
Nice-Côte d'Azur @ FC Girondins de Bordeaux
AJ Auxerre @ Paris Saint-Germain
Lorient @ Sochaux-Montbéliard
SM Caen @ Olympique Lyonnais

Sunday
AS Nancy Lorraine @ Valenciennes FC
Olympique Marseille @ AS Monaco FC

Bayern Munich wins DFB Pokal

Bayern Munich beat Borussia Dortmund yesterday 2-1 in the DFB Pokal on (once again) a Luca Toni brace, the final at the 111th minute to end the stalemate.

Bayern is in line to win the treble with the Bundesliga title a lock and in the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. It was a great send-off the the legendary goalkeeper, Oliver Khan and Ottmar Hitzeld who are retiring this season.

Championship League

Two weeks left in the Championship League campaign and there is a lot to be decided still within the actual playoff teams. I'll update the promotion bid's later this week however results from today:

West Brom 2 Norwich City 1
Stoke City 2 Bristol City 1
Wolverhampton 1 Ipswich Town 1
Crystal Palace 2 Watford F.C 0
as I have said for a few months now, Crystal Palace is a force and should have qualify for the playoffs, I think they dominate and advance. They controlled the pitch today and this costly loss
Sheffield United 2 Hull City 0
Leicester City 1 Barnsley F.C. 0
Blackpool 2 Sheffield Wed 1
Coventry City 5 Colchester Utd 1
Plymouth Argyle 2 Preston NE 2
Queens Park Rangers 1 Charlton Athletic 0
Scunthorpe Utd 3 Cardiff City 2
Burnley F.C. 1 Southampton 0

	GP	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals	Against	Total
West Brom	44	22	11	11	85	54	77
Stoke City	44	20	15	9	68	55	75
Hull City	44	20	12	12	63	45	72
Bristol City	44	19	14	11	50	51	71
Watford F.C	44	18	15	11	61	54	69
Crystal Palace	44	17	17	10	52	40	68
Ipswich Town	44	17	14	13	62	54	65
Sheffield United	44	16	15	13	52	47	63
Wolverhampton	43	16	15	12	48	47	63
Plymouth Argyle	44	16	13	15	57	49	61
Charlton Athletic	44	16	13	15	59	54	61
Burnley F.C.	44	16	13	15	57	59	61
Cardiff City	43	15	15	13	53	49	60
QPR	44	14	16	14	60	61	58
Preston NE	44	15	10	19	48	51	55
Blackpool	44	12	17	15	58	60	53
Coventry City	44	14	10	20	50	59	52
Norwich City	44	14	10	20	45	55	52
Barnsley F.C.	44	13	13	18	49	62	52
Leicester City	44	12	15	17	41	42	51
Southampton	44	12	14	18	52	69	50
Sheffield Wed	44	12	13	19	47	53	49
Scunthorpe Utd	44	10	12	22	42	66	42
Colchester Utd	44	7	16	21	59	82	37

Tuesday
Cardiff City @ Wolverhampton

Saturday
Stoke City @ Colchester Utd
Crystal Palace @ Hull City
definitely the highlight match of the weekend as this could decide Hull's hopes of automatic position and the final positioning of the playoff round.
Bristol City @ Sheffield United
Scunthorpe Utd @ Watford F.C
Watford really needs a gut-check because if they're not careful they will tumble out of the playoff position which would have seemed impossible a few months ago.
Ipswich Town @ Preston NE
a highly important match as a Ipswich win combined with a Crystal Palace loss would pull Ipswich into a tie for the final playoff spot.
Sheffield Wed @ Leicester City
this is a veritable cage-match as these squads are fighting for the relegation lives.
Wolverhampton @ Coventry City
huge, huge week for the Wolves as two wins and a slip-up by Crystal Palace could see there slim playoff hopes materialize.
Charlton Athletic @ Barnsley F.C.
Cardiff City @ Burnley F.C.
Queens Park Rangers @ Norwich City
Blackpool @ Plymouth Argyle