BY MICHAEL KLINE
The Barclays Premier League returns to full action this weekend, with Manchester City and Liverpool headlining the English fixtures.
The defending English champions, Manchester City, will attempt to keep this season’s title hopes alive with a win on Sunday against Brendan Rodgers’ transitioning side. Manchester City have only beaten Liverpool a single time in their last five meetings, however, so earning three points will be no easy task for Roberto Mancini’s crew.
Elsewhere in the league, Demba Ba will return to St. James’ Park for the first time since his £7m move to West-London.
Newcastle, who sit just four points above the relegation zone, will hope their recent splurge in January’s transfer window will prevent Ba from getting the last laugh.
If the Premier League isn’t your cup of tea, don’t fret – the rest of the world will be holding its fair share of soccer matches as well.
The Africa Cup of Nations will kick into a new gear on Saturday, when Ghana and the Cape Verde Islands begin the tournament’s quarter-final action live on ESPN3.
In Spain, table-leaders Barcelona will visit Valencia and Grenada will host Real Madrid.
Here is the schedule for This Weekend’s Soccer on TV:
THIS WEEKEND’S SOCCER ON TV
FRIDAY
2:30pm- Univision Deportes- Toulouse vs. Paris St. Germain
2:45pm- beIN Sport en Espanol- Roma vs. Cagliari
4:45pm- beIN Sport en Espanol- Real Valladolid vs. Athletic Bilbao
8:30pm- Azteca America- Jaguares vs. Atlas
SATURDAY
7:45am – ESPN2/ESPN Deportes/ESPN3.com – Queens Park Rangers vs. Norwich City
9:30am – GolTV – Mainz vs. Bayern Munich
10am – ESPN3.com – Ghana vs. Cape Verde Islands
10am – FoxSoccer2Go.com – Arsenal vs. Stoke City
10am – FoxSoccer2Go.com – Everton vs. Aston Villa
10am – FoxSoccer Channel/Fox Deportes – Newcastle United vs. Chelsea
10am – FoxSoccer2Go.com – Reading vs. Sunderland
10am – FoxSoccer2Go.com – West Ham United vs. Swansea City
10am – FoxSoccer2Go.com – Wigan Athletic vs. Southampton
10am – BeIN Sport en Español – Osasuna vs. Celta Vigo
12pm – BeIN Sport – Getafe vs. Deportivo La Coruña
12pm – BeIN Sport en Español – Torino vs. Sampdoria
12:30pm – FoxSoccer Channel/Fox Deportes – Fulham vs. Manchester United
1:30pm – ESPN3.com – South Africa vs. Mali
2pm – BeIN Sport en Español – Espanyol vs. Levante
2:45pm – RAI – Napoli vs. Catania
4pm – BeIN Sport/BeIN Sport en Español – Granada vs. Real Madrid
6pm – Univision – América vs. Querétaro
8pm – Univision Deportes – Pachuca vs. Toluca
8pm – UniMás – Tigres U.A.N.L. vs. Tijuana
9pm – Telemundo – León vs. Cruz Azul
SUNDAY
6am – BeIN Sport en Español – Malaga vs. Real Zaragoza
6:30am – RAI – Chievo Verona vs. Juventus
8:30am – FoxSoccer Channel/Fox Deportes – West Bromwich Albion vs. Tottenham Hotspur
9am – Setanta Sports Ireland – Fiorentina vs. Parma
9am – BeIN Sport – Genoa vs. Lazio
9am – Sky Galcio 4 – Palermo vs. Atalanta
9am – BeIN Sport en Español – Siena vs. Internazionale
9am – Sky Galcio 5 – US Pescara vs. Bologna
9:30am – GolTV – Nurnberg vs. Borussia Monchengladbach
10am – ESPN3.com – Ivory Coast vs. Nigeria
11am – FoxSoccer Channel/Fox Deportes – Manchester City vs. Liverpool
11am – BeIN Sport en Español – Sevilla FC vs. Rayo Vallecano
11:30am – GolTV – Bayer Leverkusen vs. Borussia Dortmund
1pm – BeIN Sport/BeIN Sport en Español – Valencia vs. Barcelona
1pm – ESPN Deportes – Puebla vs. Morelia
1pm – Univision/Univision Deportes – Pumas UNAM vs. Santos Laguna
1:30pm – ESPN3.com – Burkina Faso vs. Togo
2:45pm – RAI – AC Milan vs. Udinese
3pm – BeIN Sport/BeIN Sport en Español – Atletico Madrid vs. Real Betis
3pm – Canal+ Liga / HD – Real Sociedad vs. Mallorca
6pm – Telemundo – Guadalajara vs. San Luis
7pm – Univision Deportes – Atlante vs. Monterrey
Watchin Tigres vs. Xolos match…. REALLY IMPRESSED with Club Tijuana. SOLID. Cool that 2 of our guys are starters there.
Enough of this ManureUnited games week after week already! if it is not FSC is ESPN.
Yup the man u channel. And of course its fulham vs manchester agian! Cuz that was such a great game last weekend
roma lost 4-2 today…
Why list Internet subscription services in the “this weekend on tv” thing? Into everyone has high speed urban Internet, fox2go subscriptions or ESPN 3 access. Watching a game through a feed is pretty horrible still
Not. It’s better than not watching.
No mention of under 20 from South America, Ives? Your boys may make the World Cup!
Fo’ shame.
It’s not showing on American TV as far as we can find.
When do we see Shea?
Heard Kompany is out for Citeh thats awesome Im a little upset Zabaletta made it back last week.
So regular Fox isn’t doing the big Game before the Game thing this year?
I heard they still were going to have a game.
It seems the City v. Pool game would be a good fit.