The Easter holiday fixture list in England has, on many occasions, proved to be a turning point in the title race. With the second leg of the Champions League quarter finals set for Tuesday and Wednesday, all three English teams left in the competition as well as Spurs will only play one Premiership game this weekend. In all twelve teams face double headers.

The top game has Chelsea facing Spurs for the fourth time this season and the previous three have been excellent games. These clubs are second and third in the top flight's "form" table and Chelsea are looking for an eighth straight league win while Spurs are trying for a sixth successive Premiership victory.

Manchester City and Fulham play each other Monday and by the time the full time whistle is blown either of these clubs could be safe for another year. On Friday Fulham plays Everton at Goodison in a match up that has seen the home club win every time over the 11 premiership encounters. Also on Friday, City have a massive six-pointer with a Charlton side that has generated momentum over the last month.

Other games that catch the eye over the next three days include; Reading v Liverpool (Saturday); Bolton vs. Everton (Monday); Charlton vs. Reading (Monday); Portsmouth v Man Utd (Saturday); Arsenal v West Ham (Saturday); and Newcastle v Arsenal (Monday). The Scottish League plays one more round before the split although there looks to be precious little to decide.

The Championship continues to be beat it’s elder cousin the Premiership in terms of competitiveness and uncertainty. The pick of the games is Sunderland vs. Wolverhampton.

In the Bundesliga it is case of the top versus the bottom with Schalke 04 playing every football fan’s favouritre abbreviation Borussia M'gladbach. M‘Gladbach fans cannot blame their defense for their present predicament – they have only let in 33. Goals at the other end have been the problem – only 22 - and their away form has been atrocious with only 5 points gained on the road. M‘Gladbach also have a tough run-in. They still have to play in form Hamburg, 7th place Hannover, Stuttgart, Bayern Munich, before finishing off against relegation rivals Mainz and Bochum.

Empoli are the surprise packet in Serie A this season and this Saturday they travel to the San Siro with a lead of one point over Milan. Founded in 1920 this is only their 7th season in Serie A and last season was their best ever finish – 11th and 45 points. Empoli have already equaled their best-ever points total and still have 9 games left. Top scorer is Luca Saudati with 9 goals and he is a man who fits the description of having had more clubs than Jack Nicklaus – 13 different moves between clubs and this is his 4th spell with Empoli. He started his career with Milan.

In Spain the biggest game would appear to be Real Zaragoza versus Barcelona. Of the last 17 games between these two Barcelona has won 8 and drawn 4. Zaragoza has already beaten beat Barcelona this year 1-0. The win came at the Nou Camp in the Copa Del Rey but they lost 2-1 at home and were knocked out. Zaragoza have only lost twice at home this season – back to back in December to Osasuna and Valencia.

Their top scorer Diego Milito with 11 goals - last season he had 15 - was with Genoa when they won Serie B but they were refused promotion because they were caught match fixing. He then moved to Real Zaragoza to replace David Villa when he moved to Valencia and it now looks that Milito may move again this summer – perhaps even to Barcelona.

Last but certainly not least the MLS get underway this weekend. While the media attention has been on the Beckham signing and others such as Blanco the fact is we are going to see neither of these players before mid-season. This weekend expansion club Toronto FC takes a first bow at the Home Depot Centre where they will face Chivas.