By JUSTIN FERGUSON
Less than two weeks after their tight 1-0 road win at fellow English Premier League title contenders Manchester City, Chelsea return to the Ethiad Stadium for a crucial Round of 16 tie in the FA Cup.
The Blues have defeated Man City twice this season, with each match decided by one goal. Man City will be coming into Saturday’s home match at the Ethiad, where they have scored 19 goals in their last five matches, on some additional rest from the postponement of their midweek match against Sunderland. On the other side, Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea squad is unbeaten in its last five matches away from Stamford Bridge across all competitions.
In other FA Cup action on Saturday, Premier League clubs Sunderland and Southampton — who are both on impressive runs of form — will battle it out at the Stadium of Light. Elsewhere, Cardiff City will look to knock off last year’s cup champions, Wigan Athletic, at home in the midday slate of matches.
Elsewhere, Bayern Munich will take on relegation-threatened Freiburg in their last match before their Champions League Round of 16 tie against Arsenal. Also in Germany, Bayer Leverkusen face off with Schalke 04 in an important top-4 Bundesliga match. In Spain, Atletico Madrid will look to end their slide down the La Liga table with a match against Real Valladolid at the Vicente Calderon.
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 – Sunderland vs. Southampton – Fox Sports 2
7:45am – St. Mirren vs. Aberdeen – Fox Soccer Plus
9:30am – Bayern Munich vs. Freiburg – GolTV USA
10am – Atletico Madrid vs. Real Valladolid – beIN Sports USA
10am – Cardiff City vs. Wigan Athletic – Fox Sports 2
10am – Sheffield Wednesday vs. Charlton Athletic – Fox Soccer Plus
11am – Bastia vs. AS Monaco – Univision Deportes
12pm – Real Madrid II vs. Barcelona II – beIN Sports en Español
12:15pm – Manchester City vs. Chelsea – Fox Sports 2
12:30pm – Bayer Leverkusen vs. Schalke 04 – GolTV USA
12:45pm – Twente vs. Vitesse – ESPN3
2pm – Barcelona vs. Rayo Vallecano – beIN Sports USA/beIN Sports en Español
2pm – Nice vs. Nantes – Univision Deportes
2:45pm – Fiorentina vs. Inter Milan – beIN Sports USA
4pm – Villarreal vs. Celta de Vigo – beIN Sports en Español
6pm – Cruz Azul vs. Puebla – Univision
6pm – Veracruz vs. Toluca – Univision Deportes
8pm – Monterrey vs. Club Leon – UniMás
8pm – Pachuca vs. Atlante – Univision Deportes
10pm – Chiapas vs. Tigres UANL – Univision Deportes