The Premier League continues to grind this weekend, and with it, so does its Americans.
The headliner this week happens to come from Aston Villa, as goalkeeper Brad Guzan looks to steer the Claret and Blue to their third straight victory.
In Sunday’s “primetime” slot on NBCSN at noon ET, Villa will take on a surging Stoke City looking to build on consecutive impressive wins over Chelsea and Norwich City. Guzan conceded just a single goal over those two matches.
On the other side of the pitch will be American defender Geoff Cameron, looking for their third win in four matches. Stoke have just a single loss since February 1, and Cameron has been at the forefront. The 28-year-old has gone 22 straight Premier League matches in which he’s played every minute for the Potters.
Elsewhere around the Premier League, Jozy Altidore looks to have a better showing than his poor second-half appearance last week. Sunderland travels to Norwich City in an outstanding opportunity to pick up points. Altidore has done little with his recent opportunities, but he may get another chance this weekend with Steven Fletcher out injured.
Tim Howard will stand tall in goal as Everton host Swansea City. The Toffees are looking for all the points they can get to hold off a stumbling Tottenham in the Premier League’s fifth position.
In the Championship, there’s some Americans playing important fixtures.
- Reading will look to Danny Williams in the midfield as they sit just a point outside the playoff zone, taking on Jonathan Spector and Will Packwood‘s Birmingham City.
- Tim Ream‘s Bolton travel to struggling Yeovil.
- Oguchi Onyewu hopes Sheffield Wednesday can deal Doncaster a relegation blow.
- Huddersfield Town recalled Duane Holmes from his short loan spell at Yeovil, and will take on Blackpool. It will be interesting to see if Holmes is involved.
Outside of England, Aron Johannsson‘s AZ Alkmaar found out they will play Benfica in the Europa League quarterfinals in today’s draw, but that’s not for another two weeks. Tomorrow, AZ gets PEC Zwolle in a bigtime matchup in the Eredivisie with the two clubs are separated by just 3 points in the table.
Johannsson has done everything in his power to catch Jurgen Klinsmann’s eye, with three goals and two assists in his last five matches. However, he was held off the scoresheet last week in a 2-1 loss to second-place Twente.
Juan Agudelo‘s FC Utrecht has the weekend off.
Kicker reported today that John Anthony Brooks could start for Hertha Berlin this weekend. The 21-year-old defender has just six total minutes since the new year, but according to the report he could replace Georgian starter Levan Kobiashvili who has played the full 90 in the club’s last six matches.
US Soccer also revealed today that scouts will be in attendance to watch Bundesliga players Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim) and Julian Green (Bayern Munich) along with Terrence Boyd (Rapid Wien) in Austria. Green’s Bayern has 5th placed Mainz 05 tomorrow at 10:30, and he hasn’t featured in the Bundesliga yet this year, but US Soccer sending a scout to watch could suggest he might play a part with Bayern holding a massive league lead.
With Belgium’s Jupiler Pro League into its playoffs, Sasha Kljestan‘s Anderlecht drew a two-leg tie with regular season champions Standard Liege. Those playoffs don’t start until next Friday, with Anderlecht scheduled to play Saturday, so the club is off this weekend.
In Turkey, the race for 2nd place sees Jermaine Jones and Besiktas need a big showing against seventh-placed Akhisar Belediye. Besiktas are just two points back of Galatasaray, who get basement dwellers Kayserispor.
There is Liga MX action tonight, with Puebla’s DaMarcus Beasley and Michael Orozco look to gain ground on Herculez Gomez and Joe Corona‘a Tijuana in the Clausura’s bottom half. Jose Torres and Tigres host Queretaro tomorrow.
