Denmark: Ailton Almeida Promises To Land His Club the League Title

[Parken] Osterbro, will be buzzing tonight. The whole of Denmark and in particular the city of Copenhagen will be glued to their television sets

Arch-rivals FC Copenhagen (central) face Brondby (East Copenhagen) in a match that could virtually seal the title.

FC Copenhagen's Brazilian hotshot, Ailton Almeida has promised his club to bring home the league from the grasp of arch-rivals Brondby.

With the title race on a knife edge, Brondby are sitting top, one point clear of Copenhagen. With just three games left, the Copenhagen-Brondby match couldn't have come at a better time.

Ailton, who was the difference between the sides earlier in the season—scoring the winner in a 1-0 win for Copenhagen, believes his side possess psychological advantage over their rivals, having beaten them away earlier in the season (0-1).

"I hope I can do it again" Ailton said.

"Being in the right place at the right time all the time, is a quality and I hope to use it again. I will do everything in my power to tilt the race back in our favour" he continued.

A Brondby win will seal the title bar a miracle. It would put them four points clear with two games remaining, although these kind of deficits have been overhauled before. A win for Copenhagen though, would throw it wide open again as they would go two points clear.

Former Chelsea player Gronkjaer is unavailable for Copenhagen due to injury.

League standing and remaining matches

DANMARK SAS LIGAEN (33 rounds)

#	Club	PL	W	D	L	GS-GC	Points
1	Brøndby IF	30	21	5	4	53-22	68
2	FC København	30	21	4	5	59-23	67

AGF-Brondby 24-05-2009
Brøndby IF-FC Midtjylland 31-05-2009

Esbjerg IF-FC Copenhagen 24-05-2009
FC Copenhagen-Randers FC 31-05-2005

Break Down

Brondby

AGF have nothing to play for as they sitting comfortably in mid-table. There is a bit of a territorial rivalry between the two clubs. AGF being located Denmark's second city Aarhus and Brondby in the capital, these matches tend to be extremely heated and both teams giving their all. A Brondby win here is by no means guaranteed. A score-draw looks on the cards here.

FC Midtjylland—currently in fourth place, like AGF, have nothing to play for. They can't reach third place nor can fifth place reach them. A win for Brondby here is a distinct possibility but again, by no means guaranteed. Under the circumstances though, I'm going for a Brondby win here.

FC Copenhagen

Esbjerg are not entirely safe yet. They are currently sitting fif points clear of the relegation zone but only three matches remaining, it would need a minor miracle to see them relegated. With that in mind, A Copenhagen win here is an almost certainty.

Esbjerg have been poor all season but have taken advantage of others around them screwing up.

Randers FC are another side with virtually nothing to play for. They currently sit fifth, level on point with sixth placed AGF. Copenhagen played Randers off the park earlier in the season with a 3-0 win away from home. A Copenhagen win here is, again, an almost certainty.

The big match itself

Both sides are coming into the match on a good bit of form. Brondby have won five out of their last six matches, while Copenhagen have won four out of the last six matches.

A draw with OB, sandwiched in between five wins means Brondby are on slightly better form than Copenhagen, who are sporting two losses in the last six matches.

Brondby have a full squad to pick from and Coach Kent Nielsen is very confident ahead of the match.

"We have an amazing balance in our side at the moment. We are totally injury free which means a lot of players are fighting for a starting berth. We have five very good full backs in contention for two places so it is a very good problem to have" said Nielsen.

FC Copenhagen, as mentioned, have a few casualties with Gronkjear being the pick of the bunch but Nielsen believes, Gronkjaer's absence won't change much.

"He is a big player for them as he is a player of international quality but they have other good players who can do the job and it is those we need to be wary of," he said.

"These matches have their own historic implications and even though they (Copenhagen) have to win to stand a realistic chance of winning the title, I don't think they will let that dictate how they play. I believe they will play their usual passing game and as the match goes on the urgency will automatically pick up," he continued.

Ailton however, believes his side will do the business and bring home the title.

"In Brazil we have a saying - 'Luck only shines for so long'. There is no denying that they (Brondby) have been extremely lucky in recent weeks especially in that 4-3 win but sooner or later their luck will run out and we will make sure it runs our today" he said.

My prediction

FC Copenhagen 2-1 Brondby

Copenhagen always have that bit of extra quality in big matches. They proved it the reverse fixture and they proved it when they smashed reining champions Aalborg 3-0 recently.. Having said all this, whatever the outcome, a great match is in store.