Matchday 20 Preview

TPL

Saturday
BEC Tero v Bangkok Utd
Buriram P-P Sisaket
Chiang Rai Utd v Chainat
Police Utd v Bangkok Glass
Songkhla Utd v Muangthong Utd

Sunday
Army Utd v Pattaya Utd
Chonburi v Ratchaburi
Osotspa Saraburi v TOT
Samut Songkhram v Suphanburi

Buriram United get to sit this weekend out as their closest title challengers, Muangthong United, make the long voyage south to Songkhla. Last season, 30,000+ spectators crammed into the the Tinsulanon to witness this fixture and I'm curious to see how many turn up on Saturday. The match also marks the second coming of Rene Deseyeare as head coach of Muangthong, but he'll have to name his first lineup without Super Duper Mario who is suspended. The good news for the Muangthongthani club is that Kawin may finally return in goal following his lengthy spell on the sidelines.

Rene's former club, BEC Tero, are currently enduring a major slump in form with five successive defeats amassed in recent league and cup fixtures. Their upcoming opponents Bangkok United have a woeful away record with only one point collected from eight outings.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Bangkok Glass make the short trip west to neighbors Police United while Chiang Rai Utd will be looking for their first home win of the season when they welcome Chainat to the United Stadium.

Third placed Chonburi lock horns with Ratchaburi on Sunday for the second time in four days. Their League cup tie on Wednesday went the way of Ratchaburi. The match finished 2-2 on the night, but the contest was over by half time after Ratchaburi raced into a 2-0 lead on the night and 3-0 on aggregate.

Suphanburi could climb above Chonburi into third with a victory at Samut Songkhram, but their task won't be helped by playing on the notorious squishy surface at the Samut Songkhram Provincial Stadium. .

The weekend is wrapped up with Army v Pattaya and Osotspa Saraburi v TOT. The Saraburi side are in a rich vein of form and they'll be confident of beating TOT. On paper, Army should beat bottom placed Pattaya, but after witnessing their pitiful midweek effort at Nakhon Ratchasima in the League Cup, I wouldn't tip Army to beat the Thai Tims U11's.

Division 1

Saturday
Bangkok FC v Nakhon Pathom Utd
Khon Kaen v BBCU
Krabi v Trat
Phuket v TTM
Rayong FC v Saraburi

Sunday
Nakhon Ratchasima v Air Force
PTT Rayong v Ayutthaya
Siam Navy v Sriracha
Singh Tarua v Rayong Utd

The Top 3 all have Sunday fixtures with Air Force facing the stiffest task. Their two loses this season have come on long away trips and another loss on their long(ish) trip to Nakhon Ratchasima could see them knocked off the top perch. The Swatcats will be guided by Sugao Kambe with the Japanese coach dipping his toes into Thai league football for the first time.
PTT Rayong and Singh Tarua have home matches against lower table opposition and the duo will be expected to collect three points.
The remaining match on Sunday pits two sides from the Chonburi province together with Siam Navy hosting Sriracha. A win for Navy would see them leap above the Blue Marlins as it is becoming increasingly tight at the bottom.

Saturday's matches have a top versus bottom feel to them with Bangkok FC v Nakhon Pathom being the exception. The Bulligans play their fourth successive home match with a win, a draw, and a loss being racked up in their previous three home fixtures. Nakhon Pathom's last three games also mirror that of Bangkok FC with one of each possible outcome achieved.

Phuket and Saraburi are both six points off the final promotion place and this Saturday their opponents are languishing in the relegation zone. Phuket welcome TTM while Saraburi travel to Rayong FC.

Trat who are a point behind Phuket and Saraburi make the journey down south to Krabi. BBCU are a further point behind Trat and a loss at Khon Kaen would effectively extinguish their promotion bid.