Dirty Tackle
Football. Culture. Nonsense.

The matches to watch this weekend while wondering if I will ever stop talking about the President Barry/West Ham connection…

Saturday

Manchester United vs. Arsenal at Emirates Stadium — This is the big one. From a personnel standpoint, Arsenal is going in at a disadvantage, with Robin van Persie suspended and Emmanuel Adebayor out with an ankle injury. In addition, Silvestre, Gallas, Walcott, and Sagna could all be unfit the match, as well, due to various injuries. In short, don’t be surprised if Arsene Wenger has to start himself as the lone striker. Despite this, Nicklas Bendtner, who suddenly finds himself in line for some playing time, believes Arsenal will come away with three points. Meanwhile, Wayne Rooney will be looking to avenge some points they’ve lost at Emirates over the last two season. And I, as a Chelsea supporter, will laugh at them both for being below us in the table.

Celtic vs. Motherwell at Celtic Park — It’s first vs. fourth and Celtic will be starting backup goalkeeper Mark Brown while Artur Boruc recovers from his knee operation. Both sides have been in excellent form of late, with Celtic winning each of their last five and Motherwell doing the same in four of their last five. This will be as good a chance as any for Motherwell to nip Celtic, as the home side has been fighting to hold on through a rash of injuries to their top performers of late.

Real Madrid vs. Malaga at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu — Coming off that midweek loss to Juve and the rumblings of player unrest and new manager talk, it will be imperative for Bernd Schuster to get a result here. Malaga is coming off a loss to Barca that cost them their UEFA Cup spot, so they will be looking to get that position back.

Sunday

Blackburn vs. Chelsea at Ewood Park — Well, that’s what I’ll be watching. Come on, Chels!!!

Manchester City vs. Tottenham at City of Manchester Stadium — Harry Redknapp has revived this Spurs side, while Man City is struggling to stay afloat. A win here could finally get Tottenham out of that last place spot in the table and bring their supporters in off the ledge.

Inter Milan vs. Udinese at Giuseppe Meazza — Udinese holds second place over Inter on goal differential alone. Jose Mourinho’s side is coming off a draw with Champions League minnows Anorthosis Famagusta, so any further misfortune could result in yet another explosion from the outspoken manager as unfavorable comparisons to ex-Inter manager Roberto Mancini mount.

Schalke 04 vs. Bayern Munich at Veltins-Arena — Two titans of the Bundesliga struggle to keep pace with unfathomable table-toppers TSG Hoffenheim.

Be sure to drink your face off and enjoy all the matches. Posting this weekend will be sporadic, but we’ll be back in full force on Monday. On a side note, this ends week two of Dirty Tackle’s existence and we would love to hear what you think of it so far. Please take a second to share what you’ve liked, what has sucked, and what you want to see more of in the comments below.

Tags: Barack Obama, Weekend Match Guide, West Ham