Army United won the sole FA Cup match to take place in midweek when they overcame Buriram FC 2-1 at the Army Stadium. Leandro and Sarawut Thongsawad were on the scoresheet for Army who will meet Chonburi in the next round. They will also be relieved at getting a win under their belts after a terrible run of league results.

In the Toyota League Cup quarter-final first-leg ties, Chonburi beat Muangthong 3-2 in an entertaining game at the Chonburi Stadium; Thai Port will be pleased with the 1-1 draw achieved away at Chiang Rai United and Pattalung beat Phuket 1-0. Tonight (Thursday) BEC Tero will play their first leg match away at runaway TPL leaders Buriram PEA.

This Weekend
All TPL games start at 6pm.

There’s little going on in the capital for TPL fans this weekend, with just one game on Saturday and one on Sunday. First up is TOT at home to Muangthong. TOT have fallen back to the foot of the table since the mid-season break and we don’t fancy their chances of improving that situation when neighbors MTU pay a visit to the newly redeveloped TOT Stadium in Chaeng Wattana. That said, the reigning champions were held 0-0 at home by Osotspa last weekend and lost 3-2 in the league cup midweek as they clearly feel the effects of missing several key players through injury. Still they should have enough to see off their former tenants, though.

On Sunday, Army United host Thai Port in a Bangkok derby and it’s an important match for both sides: Thai Port have dropped down to ninth and Army are two places further back. On their current league form a relegation battle can’t be ruled out for either team but three points would also go some way to allaying fears of the drop.

The other BK-based TPL teams are all on the road. Bangkok Glass are at Osotspa-Saraburi and Police United are at Samut Songkhram on Saturday, and BEC Tero Sasana will play at Sriracha at 7pm on Monday. Elsewhere in the TPL, PEA host Pattaya (Sun), TTM are at home to Chonburi (Sat) and Navy host Khon Kaen (Sun).

Division 1 games
On Saturday, Bangkok FC, who have been sucked closer to the relegation zone in recent weeks, have a winnable home game against Chantaburi (4pm, Bangmod Stadium). A little further afield, Samut Prakan Customs host Rajpracha at the ‘Forza Stadium’ which usually goes under the less glamorous name of the Latkrabang 54 Stadium. That’s also a 4pm kick-off.

On Sunday, Bangkok United welcome Suphanburi to the Thai-Japanese Stadium in Din Daeng (6pm), RBAC host FC Phuket at Rattana Bundit University (4pm) and JW Rangsit host BBCU at Thupatemi Stadium just to the north of Don Muang Airport (4pm). But a word must be said about the two biggest matches in Division 1 this weekend. They’re notable because the attendance at each will be in excess of 15,000 fans – possibly 20,000. They are Chiang Mai v Buriram and Songkhla v Chainat. Two weeks ago, over 30,000 turned up in Songkhla for their game with Buriram and another huge crowd is expected on Sunday. And Chiang Mai have a relegation fight on their hands as leaders Buriram FC come to town. When these two met in the Division 2 play-offs last year, over 20,000 were on hand at the 700th Anniversary Stadium in the northern capital. A similar number is expected on Saturday, and rumour has it that Prime Minister Yingluck will also be there to cheer on her home town team. And, of course, we know which political figure is always in Buriram’s corner…