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Chasing pack seek favours

Written by Ramaz Mitaishvili
Friday, 31 August 2007
Bayern Munich and Chelsea hold the early advantage in the German Bundesliga and the English Premiership, but their title rivals are hoping to make up ground over the course of the weekend. In order to do so, they will need to keep their own sides of the bargain by winning and rely on Hamburger SV and Aston Villa, who will play host to the heavyweight pair, doing them a favour. Barcelona and Inter Milan, who both dropped two points in the opening matches of their Primera Liga and Serie A title defences, will also be out to close in on their chief challengers for honours. With Nancy, Monaco and Valenciennes tied on points atop of the French Ligue 1, it will be interesting to see who emerges from matchday seven at the front of the race for gold. FIFA.com takes a look ahead at the next few days on the European club calendar. Bundesliga: Contenders root for upset Newly-crowned Bundesliga player of the month Franck Ribery will hope to overcome a knock and help Bayern Munich continue their perfect start to the 2007/08 season, but fifth-placed Hamburger SV are promising to give Ottmar Hitzfeld's men a run for their money in Hamburg. Stuttgart and Werder Bremen, who finished first and third last season but only picked up their first wins of the new campaign at the third time of asking, will be hoping Hamburger can do them a favour as they look to cut Bayern's advantage. Dusko Tosic appears set for his Bremen bow as they host on-form Eintracht Frankfurt, while the Swabians will look to Mario Gomez to fire them to victory over Karlsruher when the local rivals meet for the first time in nine years. The question: Can Arminia Bielefeld and Bochum, second and third in the table, maintain their unbeaten starts to the season away at Duisburg and Hannover 96 respectively? Big Game: Rock-bottom Hansa Rostock will strive to put their first points on the board when Borussia Dortmund, on three points in 13th, pay them a visit. The stat: Schalke 04, second last term, will seek to improve a record of only one win in their last nine home matches against Bayer Leverkusen. Top three: Bayern Munich (9 pts), Arminia Bielefeld (7), Bochum (7) Bottom three: Hannover (3 pts), Energie Cottbus (1), Hansa Rostock (0) Ligue 1: Top three look to sail solo Level on 13 points, Nancy, Monaco and Valenciennes will enter battle on Saturday hoping to edge clear of their rivals. Following four successive victories, Monaco appear to have the taller hurdle to clear with a visit to fourth-placed Bordeaux imminent. All eyes will be on their coach, Ricardo Gomes, who will attempt to outwit Laurent Blanc, the man who succeeded him at the Stade Chaban-Delmas during the close season. Nancy, with an identical goal difference to Bordeaux despite playing one game less, will play St Etienne on familiar turf, while third-placed Valenciennes are at home to bottom-of-the-table Metz. The question: After a slow start, can reigning champions Lyon make it nine points from three outings at home to Le Mans, one place above them in eighth? Big game: Two giants will go head-to-head in the capital, but in 13th and 14th positions respectively, Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille can ill-afford to drop more points if they are to challenge for honours. The stat: Travelling sides will take encouragement from the fact that seven of the eight games that took place in midweek were won by the visitors. Top three: Nancy (13 pts), Monaco (13), Valenciennes (13) Bottom three: Lens (2 pts), Sochaux (2), Metz (1) La Liga: Derby victors meet at El Madrigal The fixture list handed Villarreal a gruelling start, but after winning 3-0 away at arch-rivals Valencia in their La Liga opener, the Yellow Submarines are confident they can upset Real Madrid on Sunday. Los Merengues also toasted a derby triumph last weekend, Atletico Madrid falling victim to a late Wesley Sneijder winner, and the defending champions will be seeking more inspiration from their Dutch ace at El Madrigal. Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna, who drew 0-0 in their curtain raiser, will go up against Barcelona and leaders Sevilla respectively. Frank Rijkaard's Blaugrana will have home advantage as they endeavour to move on to four points, while Sevilla will take to the road in search of victory. The question: With Samuel Eto'o out injured, will Barcelona's Thierry Henry be able to endear himself to the Camp Nou crowd with a match-winning performance? Big game: Ariel Ibazaga's brace propelled Mallorca to 3-0 victory over Levante. The Argentine playmaker will now be charged with undoing his former club Atletico Madrid, whose all-star cast will attempt to sink the Islanders in Palma. The stat: When Almeria accomplished promotion into the Spanish second flight at the end of the 2001/02 season, Valencia, whom they will meet on Sunday, were celebrating the La Liga crown. Top three: Sevilla (3 pts), Mallorca (3), Almeria (3) Bottom three: Deportivo (0 pts), Levante (0), Valencia (0) Serie A: Inter out to rebound Inter Milan cruised to the Serie A prize earlier this year. However, matchday one of the competition's latest edition suggested they will not have it all their own way this time around. While the Nerazzurri were held at home by Udinese, Juventus, AC Milan and Roma all posted impressive victories to underline their own title credentials. On Saturday, Roberto Mancini will take his troops to last season's surprise package Empoli, who will be keen to spoil Cristian Chivu's first league start and Francesco Toldo's return between the posts. Juventus, 5-1 winners last time out, take on Cagliari in Sardinia, while Milan host Fiorentina on Monday evening. The question: Can Cagliari find a way to stop David Trezeguet, who struck a treble on Juventus' return to the top flight? Big game: Following an impressive point at Inter Milan last weekend, Udinese will relying on their sparkling forwards Asamoah Gyan and Fabio Quagliarella to shoot down Napoli, who will be eager to avoid a second straight loss. The stat: Genoa will travel to Catania with achieving a first Serie A victory since the final day of the 1994/95 campaign their objective. Top three: Juventus (3 pts), AC Milan (3), Fiorentina (3) Bottom three: Palermo (0 pts), Genoa (0), Livorno (0) Duo aim to outstrip Chelsea With home games in front of them, Liverpool and Arsenal will both be hopeful of unseating Chelsea from the summit of the Premiership over the weekend. Both three points adrift but with a game in hand on the leaders, Rafa Benitez's side welcome early tailenders Derby County to Anfield on Saturday, while Arsene Wenger's Gunners entertain Portsmouth in Sunday's early kick-off. Thereafter, Chelsea will face Aston Villa away. Manchester United, who collected their first victory at the fourth time of asking against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, will look to make it two wins on the bounce at home to Sunderland. The question: After scoring his first Newcastle United goal in 20 months against Barnsley in the Carling Cup in midweek, will Michael Owen be handed his first Premiership start of the season at home to Wigan Athletic? Big game: Second-bottom and fourth-bottom respectively, Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur will be determined to double their three-point haul when they lock horns at Craven Cottage. The stat: Eleven ex-Manchester United employees will return to Old Trafford with Sunderland: players Danny Higginbottom, Paul McShane, Liam Miller, Kieran Richardson, Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole; manager Roy Keane; coaches Raimond van der Gouw, Neil Bailey and Mike Clegg, and finally scout Mick Brown. Top three: Chelsea (10 pts), Manchester City (9), Wigan Athletic (7) Bottom three: Bolton Wanderers (3 pts), Fulham (3), Derby County (1) Also this week... Standard Liege, the only team with maximum points from four outings, take on Club Brugge, whose recent 1-1 draw at KV Mechelen ended their 100 percent start, in the Belgian Jupiler League on Sunday. The visitors must find a way to repell the danger of Milan Jovanovic, whose second hat-trick of the campaign led Michel Preud'homme's outfit to a 4-1 Roeselare last weekend. Gent and Anderlecht, the other teams on ten points, face testing trips to Cercle Brugge and Excelsior Mouscron respectively. Over in the Netherlands, Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven have all predictably taken six points from a possible six, but they are joined at the top by Vitesse Arnhem, who will contest the biggest derby in the country's east against NEC Nijmegen in the pick of the Eredivisie fixtures on Sunday. !