In England, two teams in desperate need of the three points will lock horns for a key Premier League contest on this afternoon, as Everton welcome Manchester United to Goodison Park.
Everton’s relegation fears deepened on Wednesday when they lost 3-2 to struggling Burnley, while Man United saw their top-four hopes take a hit last weekend, dropping points at home to Leicester City.
Everton are one of six teams to have never been relegated from the Premier League, but there is no question that the Merseyside giants are locked in a battle for their lives heading into the final straight, and the pressure is already firmly on head coach Frank Lampard despite his recent arrival.
The Toffees picked up a vital 1-0 win over Newcastle United with the Super Eagles attacker, Alex Iwobi scoring deep into stoppage time before the international break but have lost their last two in the league, going down 2-1 at West Ham United last weekend before suffering a damaging 3-2 reverse away to fellow relegation candidates Burnley on Wednesday night.
Iwobi has been in the good book of coach Frank Lampard and should make his 14th start of the season from 20 games. He has two goals to his credit and he and his teammates are expected to put all in his armoury to work to ensure the Toffees do not suffer iconic relegation.
In Germany, Union Berlin with Taiwo Awoniyi will be seeking a third derby win of the season when they visit Hertha Berlin’s iconic Olympiastadion this evening.
The capital city clash pitched two sides experiencing differing fortunes, with the hosts battling to avoid the drop and their visitors in the mix for European qualification.
Berlin derbies have only infrequently occurred since the Bundesliga’s inaugural season in 1963, and just nine matches have been played between capital clubs in the German top flight before this weekend.
The most recent was November’s 2-0 away defeat for Hertha at An der Alten Forsterei with Awoniyi scoring one of the goals while in the intervening months, the clubs clashed again in the DFB-Pokal quarter-finals, with Union once again coming out on top in a 3-2 win at the Olympiastadion.
Urs Fischer’s side enjoyed their 11th victory of the season last Friday, as they edged out Koln 1-0 on home soil with Awoniyi notching the only goal of the game again. The win keeps them within three points of the European places. Also into the semis of the DFB-Pokal, Union certainly have it all to play for in the closing weeks of the campaign.