Weekend Predictions: Man Utd, Marseille and Munich

By: Daryl | May 15th, 2009

Title races are coming to a head all over Europe this weekend and I’m taking a look at three matches from England, France and Germany.

Read on for my Man Utd vs Arsenal, Marseille vs Lyon and Hoffenheim vs Bayern predictions, and then leave your own in the comments (if you’re brave enough).

Man Utd vs Arsenal, Saturday, May 16th, 12:45pm

Fergie’s men need only a point from this game to seal the deal and take the Premier League trophy home with them. But Arsenal are still stinging from that Champions League semifinal beating and might want to exact some revenge by ruining Fergie’s big day.

Word is that Andrei Arshavin has recovered from the flu and will be able to play, but Man Utd could even lose this and still be champions should Liverpool fail to beat West Brom the following day.

Prediction: A 2-2 draw, which will suit both teams quite nicely. Carlos Tevez will get the goal that secures the title, just to make that whole situation even more complicated.

Odds: Man Utd 4/6, Draw 12/5, Arsenal 5/1
2-2 draw: 12/1
Tevez to score first: 11/2
More odds at PaddyPower

Bonus Prediction: Cristiano Ronaldo will ruin the celebrations by very unsubtly giving his post-match interview en Español.

Marseille vs Lyon, Sunday, May 17th, 9pm

Three games to go in Ligue 1 and l’OM are level with Bordeaux on 71 points, but lead the league on goal difference. Lyon are third with 64 points, and have to win this game to avoid officially surrendering the crown they’ve worn for the last seven (seven!) seasons.

Bordeaux will play Le Mans on Saturday, so the pressure will likely be on l’OM to get three points (and maybe a certain number of goals) to go back to the summit.

Marseille’s soon to be gone manager Eric Gerets isn’t feeling the pressure though, as he was enjoying a nice cold beer yesterday while his players trained.

Prediction: Marseille to win 2-0, with a goal from Brazilian goalscoring sensation Brandao.

Odds: Marseille 5/4, Draw 9/4, Lyon 2/1
2-0 Marseille win: 9/1
More odds at PaddyPower

Bonus Prediction: Even if they lose Lyon will still somehow be Ligue 1 champions at the end of the season. After seven straight title wins it just seems inconceivable that anyone else is allowed to even touch their trophy, never mind lift it.

Hoffenheim vs Bayern, Saturday, May 16th, 3:30pm

The Bundesliga title race is enough to make your head explode. Here’s my summary of the situation with two games to go: It’s close.

Let’s also say that Jurgen Klinsmann was in many ways unlucky to get fired. It could quite easily have been he and not Jupp Heynckes level with Wolfsburg on 63 points right now.

Bayern face a trickyish trip to Hoffenheim this Saturday, while elsewhere it’s

Hannover vs Wolfsburg
Hertha vs Schalke
Stuttgart vs Energie Cottbus

Best of all, every game kicks off at 3:30 pm on Saturday. Basically, the Bundesliga is awesome.

Prediction: Hoffenheim have won their last two, Bayern have won their last three. Miroslav Klose is back for Bayern after two months out and he’s going to score, but I’m still seeing a frustrating 1-1 draw that leaves Heynckes very unhappy.

Odds: Hoffenheim 9/2, Draw 13/5, Bayern 8/15
1-1 draw: 7/1
Klose to score first: 4/1
More odds at PaddyPower

Over on Bet Offside, Offshore Oscar is putting the fun back into fundamentals by backing Newcastle, Bochum and Deportivo to win.

Time to see how everyone did with last week’s predictions. The results of the three games were:

Rangers 1-0 Celtic
Man Utd 2-0 Man City
Arsenal 1-4 Chelsea
(eight goals in total)

I score a lousy one point (for predicting a Rangers win) but congrats to the following people as they step up to the virtual podium:

Gold
Musab: 6 pts (predicted every winner correctly, plus a goalscorer from every game)

Silver
Matt: 5 pts (Got the Man Utd scoreline and scorer, plus the Arsenal win, and predicted eight total goals)

Bronze
Ranjeet: 5pts (Got the Man Utd scoreline and scorer, plus the Rangers win, but predicted seven total goals)

Here’s a quick reminder of the rules: One point for a correct result (home win, draw, away win) but three points for a correct scoreline. One point for predicting a goalscorer (please only predict one goalscorer for each game). In the event of a tie, it’s decided by whoever was closest with the total number of goals.

So, what do you see happening this weekend?

Man Utd – Arsenal
Marseille – Lyon
Hoffenheim – Bayern