David Conn on the success enjoyed by FC United.  Stuart James looks at the Premiership play-offs. A debate between Graham Taylor and Joe Royle on the merits of the loan system. The Guardian’s list of strikers who may be in demand this summer. Tony Cascarino on the 2006/07 season’s best buy Dimitar Berbatov. Bill Edgar also sorts out the various permutations for the UEFA Cup spots. 

And now to the preview.

The Bundesliga takes top spot this weekend as we reach the penultimate round and three teams are still in contention for the title.   Schalke leads with 65 points, followed by Stuttgart on 64 and Werder Bremen are third on 63. By the looks of it Schalke and Stuttgart have the more difficult games although circumstances could conspire to give Schalke their first ever Bundesliga title this weekend.

Borussia Dortmund and 80,000 fans await Schalke who have not lost in Dortmund since 1998. However, three consecutive wins have seen Dortmund move out of relegation trouble and now sit in the top half of the table. Schalke’s final game next weekend is at home to Arminia Bielefeld.

Stuttgart can still complete the domestic double and plays Nuremberg in the German Cup Final on May 26. Stuttgart are on a six-match winning run and are away to Bochum another side that has been enjoying a fine run of form. Bochum were Bundesliga 2 champions last season and have won their last three in a row and six of their last 8. Greek striker Theofanis Gkekas is the man that Stuttgart must watch. He has scored thirteen goals in the last 11 games and it looks like he will be playing for Bayer Leverkusen next season. Energie Cottbus will be Stuttgart’s final opponent next weekend.  

Werder Bremen’s opponents Eintracht Frankfurt sit just above the relegation zone in 14th position and are not yet guaranteed Bundesliga football next season. Bremen’s last match is against another side haunted by the threat of relegation - Wolfsburg .

There are a raft of games in Spain that impact on both the top and bottom of La Liga. Fresh from a Copa del Rey thrashing from Getafe Barcelona are up against strugglers Real Betis. Betis have gone eight games without a win and travel to the Nou Camp where Barcelona have yet to lose a league game this season.

Good fortune is with Real Madrid at the moment and this weekend they face mid-table Espanyol in a game that looks tricky. However, Espanyol has a UEFA Cup Final next Wednesday in Glasgow and are likely to rest and number of their players.

Real Madrid have now won six of their last seven and are within two points of the leaders. Van Nistelrooy is now the leading scorer in La Liga with 20 goals. David Beckham and Robinho are both suspended for this game.  Espanyol are without a win at the Bernabeu since 1996 and in the last two visits they lost by four goals each time.

Espanyol stand between Sevilla and a repeat UEFA Cup win. Although by losing to Real Madrid last weekend Sevilla slipped back to third in the table, they still have a chance to do a treble.  They also have Sevilla just two points behind. This weekend Sevilla plays Recreativo de Huleva the oldest club in Spain. Recreativo are having a terrific season and are pushing for a spot in next season’s UEFA Cup.

 At the other end of the table it is 18th vs. 16th with Celta Vigo playing Levante.  Celta have lost their last 3 and have only one win in their last 10. The arrival of Hristo Stoitchkov as coach has done little to stem the bleeding. Levante have only two away wins and Celta have with only 2 home wins so a draw would not be a surprise. In fact Celta Vigo would probably prefer to play away from home given that they have taken 18 of their 30 points on the road.  

The bottom two teams Gimnastic and Real Sociedad face each other. A loss for Gimnastic would mean almost certain relegation as it would leave them at least nine points from safety with only 12 points still to play for.  Real Sociedad’s position is not much better and are only three points better off than Gimnastic. Sociedad gained their only win on the road in their last away game against Real Betis.

All eyes on the Premiership will be on the games at Old Trafford and Bramall Lane. These matches will decide the final relegation spot. A draw or better for West Ham away to nine time Premiership Champions Manchester United will secure Premiership football next season – as long as the civil legal system does not become involved. Wigan know that anything less than a win against fellow strugglers Sheffield United will drop them back to the Championship after two seasons of Premiership football. 

A draw is good enough for Sheffield although they could survive even if they and West Ham both lose. Three teams would then be tied on 38 points but Wigan would have a better goal difference than Sheffield. The last spot would then depend on how many goals Sheffield and West Ham lose by on Sunday.

While two teams will be happy come Sunday night the Premiership play offs get underway on Saturday.

If West Bromwich Albion manages to win the play-offs and join Birmingham and Sunderland in net season’s Premiership it will be the first time since 1914-15 that all the teams relegated from the top flight will bounced straight back.  Back then it was Preston North End and Derby County achieved the feat.  Southampton needed to win their last three games of the regular season to make it into the play offs for the first time. But for manager George Burley it is his seventh play off series and so far he has only experienced one success. Derby manager Billy Davies has had a team (Preston North End) in the play offs the last two years and has gone out at the semi and final stages. Derby won regular season series with a win and a draw. The strikers to watch out for are Steve Howard (Derby) with 16 goals and Grzegorz Rasiak of Southampton – a former Derby player before a move to Spurs – with 18 goals.  

The other semi final is the Black Country derby between Wolves and West Brom. At the midway point Wolves were down in 14th spot but worked there way up to a 5th place finish. Goals were a problem for Wolves – 59 was the lowest total of teams finishing in the top ten – but they did get into a good habit of winning tight games. Wolves had seven 1-0 wins away from home. On the other hand West Brom scored more goals at home (51) than any other side. The season series was split with a win each.

Play off predictions anyone?  

Jeremy St. Louis and I will be in Toronto this weekend to augment the FSC crew as they broadcast the Toronto FC vs. Chicago Fire match. We are both looking forward to seeing BMO Field for the first and enjoying the atmosphere generated by another full house of almost 20,000 fans.