La Liga Preview and Bundesliga Preview

The clash of the weekend is Schalke's (11/5) visit to third placed Stuttgart (11/10). Stuttgart are currently 5 points behind the leaders and a win here will put them right back in the picture. They had a great win away at Werder Bremen last week and they are on a roll. Bayern Munich (1/4) meanwhile have a relatively easy home fixture against struggling Monchengladbach. They will be looking to capitalise on events elsewhere. With fourth placed Bremen (7/4) travelling the short distance to sixth place Hamburg (13/10) the Champions League picture could be very different come Sunday night.<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O />At the bottom, Freiberg (9/1) look dead and buried. Eleven points from safety they will need a minor miracle to survive and a difficult away trip to Hertha Berlin (1/4) could be the final nail in their coffin. If fourth from bottom Nurnberg (Evs) beat Hansa Rostock (12/5), Hansa could be in dire straits as well. A 2-0 win over Mainz last week could give them a bit of confidence though and Nurnberg have been soundly beaten in their last two games. Mainz (Evs) are in freefall at the moment and they need to start picking up points if they don't want to get sucked into the relegation battle. They could seize their chance against a Wolfsburg (12/5) side with very little to play for. Bochum (Evs) need to beat Hannover (12/5) if they are to have a serious chance of getting out of the relegation zone and Arminia Bielefeld (Evs)would climb to safety with a win over Kaiserslautern (12/5)So the pressure's on Schalke. Their grip on the top of the table could be slipping. Stuttgart could be steamrollering into the title picture and with Bayern Munich's mind on Champions League duty things could get very interesting indeed. ***One game dominates La Liga this week. Real Madrid play Barcelona at the Bernebau on Sunday knowing that only a win will do. Currently nine points behind Barca, the Galacticos know that they have to stand up and be counted. The whole of Spain will stop for this one and if they were to lose, the title is surely Barcelona's. It'll be a heady night in the Bernabau. It's live on Sky at 6.00pm and Stan James will be betting In-Running right up to the 85th minute. Barca have the advantage in that they can afford to lose whereas Real have to win. Anything less for Real and it's curtains. There are a couple of short priced home bankers. Real Betis (1/2), who are playing out of their skin at the moment, at home to Levante (5/1) and also Valencia (4/9) at home to Malaga (11/2). The live match on Sky on Saturday is the derby match between Ath.Bilbao (4/5) and Real Sociedad (3/1). This should be a real cracker but the two teams are playing just for pride as they are both stuck in mid table. Still pride means a lot in the Basque country. Another intriguing clash near the top is fifth placed Espanyol (11/10) at home to fourth placed Sevilla (2/1). Both are going into the game on the back of wins last week. There's a lot at stake here and a draw looks a good bet at 9/4. Deportivo (Evs) will be looking to get into the thick of the Champions League Qualifying positions with a win over third placed Villareal (9/4). Atletico Madrid (11/10) will fancy their chances of winning away at bottom club Numancia (2/1) who are in real 'nail and coffin' territory. Albacete (7/2) who are second from bottom will fancy their chances as well away to Getafe (8/11).They won't fear the Madrid side and they need it more. But all eyes will be on the 'Clasico' on Sunday. Football simply does not much better than this. Enjoy the feast.