With Manchester United stumbling and struggling out of the gate, Manchester City and Arsenal are looking like better bets to challenge Chelsea for the Premier League title.
Both teams will look to draw closer to the defending champions when they face off in the weekend's marquee match-up. Both sides are comingh off blowout wins in European competition and should put together an entertaining encounter.
Top matches in Spain, Italy and Germany headline a good week of strong match-ups, including Villarreal-Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan-Sampdoria.
Here is a rundown of this weekend's soccer on TV, as well as SBI's Top Ten Matches to Watch:
SBI's Top Ten Matches to Watch
1. Manchester City vs. Arsenal. Two of the hottest teams in Europe face off with City trying to keep pressure on Chelsea and Arsenal trying to build on its mid-week thrashing of Shakhtar Donetsk.
2. Los Angeles Galaxy vs. FC Dallas. The top team in MLS squares off against one of the hottest teams in the league. You also have multiple MLS MVP candidates on display in an important match in the MLS playoff positioning race.
3. Tottenham vs. Everton. Tim Howard and the Toffees are coming off a big win against Everton, but winning at White Hart Lane against red-hot Gareth Bale won't be easy.
4. Villarreal vs. Atletico Madrid. The Yellow Submarine missed a chance to move into first place last week, and things only get tougher against Kun Aguero and Atletico.
5. Inter Milan vs. Sampdoria. As strong as Inter looked against Tottenham at mid-week, the champions hould be tested by Antonio Cassano and the rest of Sampdoria's loaded attack.
6. Colorado Rapids vs. Real Salt Lake. Both teams are already in the playoffs, but RSL is still playing for the Supporters Shield and the Rapids are playing for playoff position.
7. Celtic vs. Rangers. No, this game isn't on American television, but it's a match you should try to see, either by heading to a soccer bar or watching a live stream.
8. Stoke City vs. Manchester United. Wayne Rooney won't be playing, but it will still be interesting to see how the Red Devils respond in the first game after Rooney-Gate. Nevermind the fact that Manchester United needs a win desperately.
9. Bayer Leverkusen vs. Mainz 05. Two of the top three teams in Germany square off as Mainz looks to keep pace with Borussia Dortmund while Leverkusen tries to close the gap on the Bundesliga leaders.
T10. Borussia Dortmund vs. Hoffenheim. One one side you have former U.S. Under-17 defender Neven Subotic with Dortmund, on the other side you have St. Louis University product Vedad Ibisevic.
T10. Lille vs. Marseille. If you're looking for some French soccer to watch, you can do worse than this tilt featuring teams near the top of the Ligue 1 standings.
This Weekend's Soccer on TV/Web
SATURDAY
7:45am- ESPN2- Tottenham vs. Everton
9:30am- GolTV- Borussia Moenchengladbach vs. Werder Bremen
10am- Fox Soccer Channel- Chelsea vs. Wolverhampton
10am- Fox Soccer Plus- Sunderland vs. Aston Villa
10am- FoxSoccer.tv- Birmingham vs. Blackpool
10am- FoxSoccer.tv- West Bromwich Albion vs. Fulham
10am- FoxSoccer.tv- Wigan Athletic vs. Bolton
Noon- GolTV- Real Zaragoza vs. Barcelona
12:15pm- FoxSoccer.tv- Doncaster Rovers vs. Sheffield United
12:30pm- Fox Soccer Channel- West Ham United vs. Newcastle United
1pm- FoxSoccer.tv- Bordeaux vs. Brest
1pm- FoxSoccer.tv– Lens vs. Nice
1pm- FoxSoccer.tv- AS Monaco vs. Valenciennes
1pm- FoxSoccer.tv- Stade Rennes vs. Montpelier
1pm- FoxSoccer.tv- St. Etienne vs. Caen
2:45pm- Fox Soccer Channel- Fiorentina vs. AS Bari
3pm- FoxSoccer.tv- Sochaux vs. Toulouse
4pm- Telefutura- Houston Dynamo vs. Seattle Sounders
4pm- GolTV- Valencia vs. Mallorca
5pm- Fox Soccer Channel- West Bromwich Albion vs. Fulham (Delayed)
7:30pm- DirecTV- D.C. United vs. Toronto FC
8:30pm- DirecTV- Kansas City Wizards vs. San Jose Earthquakes
8pm- Telemundo- Tigres vs. UNAM Pumas
9pm- Direct Kick- Colorado Rapids vs. Real Salt Lake
9:45pm- Telemundo- Atlas vs. Atlante
11pm- Fox Soccer Channel- Chivas USA vs. Chicago Fire
SUNDAY
6:30am- Fox Soccer Plus/ESPN3.com- Parma vs. AS Roma
7:45am- No USA TV- Celtic vs. Rangers
8:30am- Fox Soccer Channel- Stoke City vs. Manchester United
8:30am- ESPN3.com- PSV Eindhoven vs. Feyenoord
9am- Fox Soccer Plus/ESPN3.com- Bologna vs. Juventus
9am- ESPN3.com- Lazio vs. Cagliari
9:30am- ESPN3.com- Borussia Dortmund vs. Hoffenheim
10am- FoxSoccer.tv- Liverpool vs. Blackburn
11am- Fox Soccer Channel- Manchester City vs. Arsenal
11am- DirecTV- Getafe vs. Sporting Gijon
11am- DirecTV- Osasuna vs. Malaga
11am- ESPN3.com- Almeria vs. Hercules
11am- DirecTV- Espanyol vs. Levante
11am- FoxSoccer.tv- Arles vs. Olympique Lyon
11am- FoxSoccer.tv- Paris St. Germain vs. Auxerre
11am- Fox Soccer Plus- Wigan Athletic vs. Bolton (Delayed)
1pm- Azteca America- Morelia vs. Cruz Azul
1pm- Telemundo- Toluca vs. Puebla
1pm- GolTV- Sevilla vs. Athletic Bilbao
2:45pm- Fox Soccer Channel/ESPN3.com- Inter Milan vs. Sampdoria
3pm- ESPN Deportes/ESPN3.com- Villarreal vs. Atletico Madrid
3pm- Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv- Lille vs. Olympique Marseille
3pm- GolTV- Atletico Paranaense vs. Fluminense
4pm- Direct Kick- Columbus Crew vs. Philadelphia Union
5pm- Fox Soccer Channel- Liverpool vs. Blackburn
5pm- GolTV- Bayer Leverkusen vs. Mainz 05
5:30pm- ESPNU- Harvard vs. Princeton
8pm- Direct Kick- Los Angeles Galaxy vs. FC Dallas
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What matches are you looking the most forward to?
Share your thoughts below.
Galatasaray vs Fenerbahce? San Lorenzo vs. Huracan?
Ugh… “irregardless.”
What did you expect from a eurosnob? I doubt you would see a boca vs river in the top 10 here.
Judging from that picture, Tevez has that last inch of neck removed. Well done, Fella.
At this point impatient ownership has pretty much ruined both teams. The “Superclásico” is all hype and no substance.
Monterrey-Toluca comes the closest to that designation nowadays.
What about the Mexican Clasico America vs. Chivas? Good game to watch irregardless of form.
I’m not going to think that all north americans or all people with less than 40 years think as you, but as a soccer fan YOU and everybody should at least remember his name in his birthday.
He was the king, is the king and will always be the most succesfull soccer player in the world.
By the way, in my opinion, he wasn’t from this world…
And they just keep coming. Reckless tackle by Bradley results in his 3rd yellow of the BL campaign.
Two mistakes by Bradley led to two goals from Bremen. the first, as Dena said, and the second due to miscommunication followed by a Bremen counter.
I’m not a MB hater. I just want the best in the starting elf for the USA, and Bradley makes a great sub in my view.
Write than down in your player evals dad. Can you say Jones?
Bremen up 1-0 on BMG. Bradley’s foul left to a Marin freekick which led to the goal.
Blunder is a wee diplomatic :-). That one was an Almunia special.
He is being remembered. He’s getting paid by the Cosmos to hand out balls and t-shirts in Manhattan. Could be worse — he could be working at Best Buy or as a greeter for Wal-Mart.
Tim Howard with a blunder, 1-1 between Spurs and Everton.
Nothing about Pele’s 70th birthday?
THE KING OF SOCCER SHOULD BE REMEMBERED!
My top 3 matches:
1.) RSL vs Colorado – My Revs flamed out of the race a month ago, now I’m rooting for RSL to take the Shield!
2.) Arsenal vs Manchester City – Have watched and loved the Gunners for a decade, but City are very impressive and this will be a tough match
3.) Blackburn vs Liverpool – My wife’s a big Rovers fan, so we’ll be looking for the Reds to continue making asses of themselves 😉
I’m stuck at work all day today (there’s just enough to do to necessitate my presence, it’s a ‘face time’ day) and may sign up for FSC.tv to pass the time. Those pirated streams on ATDHE have gotten unreliable as of late…
How is Celtic Rangers not on TV? This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt, THERE IS NO GOD!
rooting for Vedad, a man who admits he would proudly play for the yanks if he could’ve. versus that guy Serbotic