European Leagues / James Eastham / 17 May 2009 / Leave a comment

Black Cats aim to secure survival on the South Coast, Werder Bremen bid to lift the UEFA Cup, vital fixtures in Greece and Denmark - James Eastham takes a whistle stop tour of the world as he looks ahead to the week's football betting opportunities...

Monday May 18

Premier League results this weekend mean that Portsmouth have nothing to worry about going into their match against Sunderland - the South coasters are now safe from relegation, making this fixture far more important to the north-east visitors. The Black Cats are only two points above the drop zone so need a win to breathe easily during the final weekend of games.

Wednesday May 20

Werder Bremen are [1.87] favourites to win the UEFA Cup final in Istanbul, with the Ukrainian opponents Shakhtar Donetsk a slightly longer [2.12] to claim the trophy in 90 minutes. Both semi-final second legs - Werder's thrilling 3-2 win away to German rivals Hamburg and Shakhtar's 2-1 home victory over compatriots Dinamo Kiev - had over 2.5 goals, which explains why overs is [1.96], an unusually short price in a showpiece final.

The Greek League operates a play-off system for the sides finishing second to fifth at the end of the regular season, with the four teams in question competing in a round-robin format to determine the club that claims the nation's second Champions League berth. Panathinaikos, PAOK, AEK and Larissa are the teams in question - and Panathinaikos lead the way from PAOK on goal difference in the play-off pool at the moment. There's a long way to go, however, and this week's fixtures - AEK v PAOK and Larissa v Panathinaikos - are absolutely vital.

In Japan, the next round of the Nabisco Cup takes place, as 14 teams compete to claim four places in the quarter-finals, where they'll join the four sides that earned a bye through to the last eight. In Group A, Oita v Urawa, Omiya v Iwata and Yokohama FM v Hiroshima are the games, while Chiba v FC Tokyo, Kyoto v Kobe and Shimizu v Yamagata face off in Group B.

Young Boys and Sion play each other in the Swiss Cup final, with Young Boys looking to lift the trophy for the first time since 1987 and Sion looking to make up for a disappointing league season, in which they finished eighth. Young Boys are [1.58] to win the match at Stade de Suisse in 90 minutes.

Thursday May 21

FC Kobenhavn have home advantage in the Danish Cup final as their clash against AAB takes place at the Parken Stadion. The hosts are 31 points better off than their rivals in Denmark's SAS ligaen, too, so it's no surprise to find them as short as [1.21] to lift the trophy.

The Dutch League play-offs system consists of semi-finals (over two legs) and a final to determine the side that will take their place in the second qualifying round for next season's Europa League. The teams that finished fifth to eighth in the country's Eredivisie are eligible, with the second legs of the semis taking place this week. NAC Breda take a 3-2 lead into their away leg in Rotterdam against Feyenoord, while the first- leg between Groningen and Utrecht finished in a 3-3 draw at Utrecht's Stadion Galgenwaard.

Molde have an opportunity to maintain pressure at the top of Norway's Tippaligaen when they host 12th-placed Tromso. Molde, second, are [1.48] favourites to win. Third meets fifth as Start host Odd Grenland while at the other end of the table bottom club Lillestrom travel to 13th-placed Stromsgodset. League leaders Rosenborg play Sandefjord on Tuesday night.

Friday May 22

The promotion race in France's Ligue 2 is one of the most memorable in recent years - Montpellier, Strasbourg, Metz, Tours and Boulogne can all go up with champions Lens. Tours v Montpellier is the big match to look out for at Tours' Stade de la Vallee-du-Cher.