2013-08-17



Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By JUSTIN FERGUSON

After what has felt like three long months for many fans, the English Premier League is back in action with seven matches on this first Saturday of the season.

Liverpool and Stoke City will kick the 2013-14 schedule off with an early match at historic Anfield. Reds manager Brendan Rodgers will still be without star striker Luis Suarez, but he still will have several quality attacking options to choose from, including Daniel Sturridge, Philippe Coutinho and new signing Iago Aspas. His opposition, manager Mark Hughes, will look to start his Stoke tenure off with a quality result away from home.

A battle between Arsenal and Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium highlights the second round of Saturday EPL matches. A banged-up Arsenal squad will try to defend their home turf against an Aston Villa side that is led by breakout striker Christian Benteke.

The first EPL Saturday will close with Manchester United’s road trip to Swansea City, which will be nationally televised on NBC here in the States. It is the start of a new era for the defending league champions, who will be under the direction of David Moyes after the retirement of legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

In matches outside of England, Bayern Munich hit the road to face an Eintracht Frankfurt squad that is still stinging from last weekend’s 6-1 loss to Hertha Berlin in Bundesliga play. Meanwhile, two clubs that narrowly missed Champions League qualification, Valencia and Malaga, help kick off the La Liga calendar with a match at the Mestalla.

If you will be watching today’s action, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action (Today’s TV schedule is after the jump):

7:45am – NBC Sports Network - Liverpool vs Stoke City

9:30am – GolTV - Eintracht Frankfurt vs Bayern München

10am – NBC Sports Network - Arsenal vs Aston Villa

12:30pm – NBC - Swansea City vs Manchester United

12:30pm – GolTV - Borussia M’gladbach vs Hannover 96

1pm – beIN Sport en Español - Real Sociedad vs Getafe

2pm – Univision Deportes - Nice vs Rennes

2pm – beIN Sport - Toulouse vs Bordeaux

3pm – beIN Sport en Español - Real Valladolid vs Athletic Bilbao

5pm – beIN Sport en Español - Valencia vs Málaga

5:30pm – ESPN Deportes - Cruzeiro vs Vitória

6pm – Univision Deportes - Veracruz vs Querétaro

6pm – Univision - Cruz Azul vs Atlante

7pm – MLS Direct Kick - Montreal Impact vs DC United

7:30pm – MLS Direct Kick - New England vs Chicago Fire

7:30pm – MLS Direct Kick - Columbus Crew vs Toronto FC

8pm – NBC Sports Network - New York Red Bulls vs Philadelphia Union

8pm – UniMás - Monterrey vs Tijuana

8pm – Univision Deportes - Pachuca vs América

9pm – MLS Direct Kick - Houston Dynamo vs Seattle Sounders

9:30pm – MLS Direct Kick - Colorado Rapids vs Vancouver Whitecaps

10pm – Univision Deportes - Chiapas vs Toluca

10:30pm – MLS Direct Kick - Los Angeles Galaxy vs Real Salt Lake

11pm – MLS Direct Kick - Portland Timbers vs FC Dallas

Show more