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