EPL on ESPN2: Liverpool - Manchester City at 7:30am. On Setanta: Chelsea - Wolverhampton at 9:30am, Burnley - Aston Villa at 5pm, and Birmingham City - Fulham at 8:30pm. On Fox Soccer Channel: Sunderland - Arsenal at 10am, Manchester United - Everton at 12:30pm, and Hull - West Ham United at 7pm. Championship on Setanta: Ipswich - Sheffield United at 12:10pm. Click to continue reading...

It is Friday, which means it is time to prepare for non-stop action from Spain with La Liga back in the fray. After an intense week of World Cup qualifying playoffs, the focus turns back to the domestic responsibilities.

The times listed are Eastern Standard Time (EST) and include the pregame pleasantries, although sometimes the matches on the DIRECTV La Liga specific channels may not go to match coverage until right before kickoff.

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The English Premier League resumes this upcoming weekend (Nov 21 & 22) after a week of due to international fixtures. The title race remains very close amongst Chelsea, Arsenal, and Manchester United. Liverpool continues to struggle while Manchester City looks for a top four finish. Here's our weekly list of previews, predictions, and USA/UK Television listings for Saturday 21st November 2009 & Sunday 22nd November 2009

Predictions (times listed are GMT aka UK local time)

Saturday, 21 November 2009

Birmingham v Fulham, 15:00 - 1-1 Draw

Burnley v Aston Villa, 15:00 Burnley wins 2-0

Chelsea v Wolverhampton, 15:00 Chelsea wins 4-0

Hull v West Ham, 15:00 Hull wins 1-0

Liverpool v Man City, 12:45 Liverpool wins 3-2

Man Utd v Everton, 17:30 Man United wins 2-1

Sunderland v Arsenal, 15:00 Arsenal wins 3-1

Sunday, 22 November 2009

Bolton v Blackburn, 13:30 Bolton wins 1-0

Stoke v Portsmouth, 16:00 Stoke wins 2-1

Tottenham v Wigan, 15:00 Tottenham wins 3-1

Video Previews (click on each match) & USA/UK TV Listings

Saturday, November 21, 2009 Time Home Away TV VENUE Nov 21 07:45 ET Liverpool v Manchester City ESPN2 (USA), Sky Sports 1 (UK) Anfield Nov 21 10:00 ET Birmingham v Fulham St Andrews Stadium Nov 21 10:00 ET Burnley v Aston Villa Turf Moor Nov 21 10:00 ET Chelsea v Wolverhampton Wanderers Setanta Ireland (UK) Stamford Bridge Nov 21 10:00 ET Hull City v West Ham United Kingston Communications Stadium Nov 21 10:00 ET Sunderland v Arsenal Fox Soccer Channel (USA) Stadium of Light Nov 21 12:30 ET Manchester United v Everton Fox Soccer Channel (USA), ESPN (UK) Old Trafford Sunday, November 22, 2009 Time Home Away TV VENUE Nov 22 08:30 ET Bolton Wanderers v Blackburn Rovers Sky Sports 1 (UK) Reebok Stadium Nov 22 10:00 ET Tottenham Hotspur v Wigan Athletic White Hart Lane Nov 22 11:00 ET Stoke City v Portsmouth Fox Soccer Channel (USA), Sky Sports 1 (UK) Britannia Stadium Click to continue reading...

The MLS Cup Final is set and the crew reviews the Conference Finals and previews the last match of the season with Jeremy St. Louis of Fox Soccer Channel. http://www.csrnusa.com

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Any list of soccer meccas in the United States would have to include Nevada Smith's. The bar, located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, has bringing in the soccer faithful of New York since 1994. Today, on any given weekend day, the bar shows games from morning till night.

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The TV ratings are in for the last round of Premier League games on ESPN2 and Fox Soccer Channel. For ESPN2, it's a tale of two cities as they had an impressive number of viewers for the Tottenham against Sunderland game (259,831) but a very disappointing number of viewers for the Monday match between Liverpool and Birmingham City (182,138) the second lowest viewing figure all season long on ESPN2.

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Join Matilda and myself for some chit chat about understrength England vs understrength (but still scary) Brazil, from about 30 minutes before kickoff on Saturday, November 14th, 2009. If you're in the UK it's a 5pm kickoff on ITV1. If you're in the US it's a 12 noon kickoff on Fox Soccer Channel.

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It's a busy weekend of futbol, as the MLS Conference Finals take place and the final places in the 2010 FIFA World Cup will begin to become more clear. CONCACAF 4th placers Costa Rica will host Uruguay tomorrow night, and the first leg of the UEFA playoffs will take place. The U.S. National Team, complete with our captain Jimmy Conrad, will play Slovakia tomorrow morning at 9 a. Click to continue reading...

USA - Slovakia on Fox Soccer Channel and Galavision at 10am. MLS Eastern Conference final on World Cup Qualifying: New Zealand - Bahrain on Fox Soccer at 2am, Russia - Slovenia at 11am on Setanta, Greece - Ukraine at 1pm on Setanta, Portugal - Bosnia at 3:30pm on Setanta (8pm on ESPN Deportes). International friendlies: Brazil - England at 12pm on Fox Soccer, Argentina - Spain on ESPN Deportes at 2:30pm, Italy - Holland on. Click to continue reading...

Plenty of other soccer on TV in addition to tonight's Galaxy-Dynamo game, while local colleges enter post-season play this weekend.

TV best bets
11 o'clock tonight Fox Soccer Channel New Zealand-Bahrain (World Cup qualifier with former Galaxy man Simon Elliot on the NZ squad).

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The friendly between the US Men's National Team and Slovakia, being played in Bratislava, Slovakia will be broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel and Galavision beginning at 9:00 am.

After earning a place in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the U.S. Men's National Team sets its sights on raising the bar for the World Cup in South Africa, which is now a mere seven months away.

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Get the DVR warmed up, there is lot's of quality action scheduled this weekend. If you're in town, you should plan on attending the NCAA D2 regional playoff games being hosted by #2 nationally-ranked Drury this weekend, with games Friday and Sunday. But for the small screen, many more options:

First, the Missouri State Bears are the #1 seed in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament being played at Drake University this weekend.

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We are down to the final 4 teams with LA and Houston battling for the Western Conference crown while Chicago and Real Salt Lake fight for the Eastern crown. The broadcast schedule is below:

FRIDAY, Nov. 13 on ESPN2
LOS ANGELES-HOUSTON, Western Conference Final, 10 pm.
Sunday's hard-earned 1-0 victory against Chivas USA in the second leg of the Western Conference Semifinals was everything Los Angeles Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena thought it would be.

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The U17 World Cup wraps up this weekend. One of the semifinals begin tomorrow (Thursday) with COLOMBIA-SWITZERLAND, live at 8:55 am on Galavision. The Final is Sunday November 15th, and ESPN2 will be broadcasting the game live at 11:45 am.

In addition to the U17 games, Saturday begins the final qualifying rounds for World Cup 2010.

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It's a busy weekend of international matches on Saturday, November 14, 2009 in the world of soccer. In UEFA there are playoff matches in 2010 World Cup Qualifying while other regions such as CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, and AFC also have qualification matches taking place. Many matches will be televised and here's a full set of TV listings for the United States and United Kingdom.

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Thanks to Sports Media Watch for this nugget:

ESPN2 averaged a 0.2 U.S. rating and 254,000 viewers for its first two MLS Playoff telecasts. In particular, Dynamo/Sounders on October 29 drew a 0.2 and 274,000, while Galaxy/Chivas USA on November 1 drew a 0.1 and 233,000.

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When Fox Soccer Channel displayed the top half of the Premier League table on its channel last weekend after the Chelsea versus Manchester United match, eagle eyes EPL Talk reader Michael V. Miracolo noticed something unusual. Tottenham Hotspur wasn't listed in the top half of the table!

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I admit it. I was wrong. When Fox Soccer Channel announced in the Spring that they had acquired the US TV rights to the UEFA Champions League for the next three seasons, I recommended to the EPL Talk readers that Fox should hire the world feed that featured the UEFA commentary team instead of putting Fox's crew behind the mic.

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The Major League Soccer Playoffs have reached the Conference Finals (or overall semifinals) with the Los Angeles Galaxy hosting the Houston Dynamo in the Western Conference and the Chicago Fire hosting Real Salt Lake in the Eastern Conference. This round is only one leg with the winners of each match advancing to the MLS Cup Final on Sunday, November 22, 2009 at Qwest Field in Seattle.

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Conrad after the Costa Rica match. Photo courtesy of Andy Mead/Yellow Card Journalism.
Jimmy Conrad has been named to the US National Team for the third time this season, after first joining the team for the CONCACAF Gold Cup then re-joining for the final two World Cup qualifiers of the hexagonal. Click to continue reading...

MLS playoffs on TeleFutura: Seattle - Houston at 3pm. ESPN2 has Chivas USA - Los Angeles at 7:30pm. EPL on Setanta: Hull - Stoke at 8:30am and Wigan - Fulham on Setana Xtra at 10am. On Fox Soccer Channel: Chelsea - Manchester United at 11am and West Ham United - Everton at 5pm. FA Cup on Fox Soccer: Northwich Victoria - Charlton at 7pm. Click to continue reading...

The top European Leagues are all in action on Saturday, November 7, and Sunday, November 8. These include La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, and the SPL. Here are the full TV listings for the United States and United Kingdom.

Spanish Primera Division aka La Liga

Saturday, November 7, 2009

FC Barcelona v Mallorca 14:00 EST, 19:00 GMT GolTV (USA), Sky Sports 2 (UK)

Atletico Madrid v Real Madrid 16:00 EST, 21:00 GMT ESPN Deportes (USA), Sky Sports 2 (UK)

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Almeria v Osasuna 11:00 EST, 16:00 GMT GolTV (USA)

Valencia v Real Zaragoza 13:00 EST, 18:00 GMT ESPN2 (USA), Sky Sports 1 (UK)

Sevilla v Villareal 15:00 EST, 20:00 GMT GolTV (USA), Sky Sports 1 (UK)

Italian Serie A

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Atalanta v Juventus 14:30 EST, 19:30 GMT Fox Soccer Chanel (USA), ESPN (UK)

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Lazio v AC Milan 09:00 EST, 14:00 GMT Fox Soccer Channel (USA)

Inter Milan v Roma 14:30 EST, 19:30 GMT Fox Soccer Channel (USA), ESPN (UK)

German Bundesliga

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Hoffenheim v Wolfsburg 09:30 EST, 14:30 GMT GolTV (USA)

French Ligue 1

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Paris St-Germain v Nice 13:00 EST, 18:00 GMT Setanta Sports (USA)

Sochaux v Lens 15:00 EST, 20:00 GMT Setanta Sports (USA)

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Lille v Bordeaux 11:00 EST, 16:00 GMT Setanta Sports (USA)

Lyon v Marseille 15:00 EST, 20:00 GMT Setanta Sports (USA)

Scottish Premier League

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Hearts v Hibernian 07:00 EST, 12:00 GMT ESPN (UK)

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Falkirk v Celtic 07:45 EST, 12:45 GMT Sky Sports 3 (UK)

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MLS on Fox Soccer Channel: New England - Chicago at 8pm. EPL on ESPN2: Spurs - Sunderland at 10am. Setanta has Manchester City - Burnley at 10am and Blackburn - Portsmouth at 6:45pm. On Fox Soccer: Aston Villa - Bolton at 10am and Wolves - Arsenal at 12:30pm. Championship on Setanta: Swansea - Cardiff at 7:45am. Click to continue reading...

Several Premier League clubs announced today changes to their January fixtures so matches can be moved to TV timeslots. As a result, we can infer which matches will be shown on the US soccer TV networks.

January's highlights include:

• Arsenal v Manchester United, Sunday, January 31, 11am ET, Fox Soccer Channel
• Liverpool v Tottenham Hotspur, Sunday, January 10, 11am ET, Fox Soccer Channel
• Birmingham v Man United, Saturday, January 9, 12;30pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel
• Hull v Chelsea, Saturday, January 9, 7:45am ET, ESPN2

Be sure to read the complete TV schedule of Premier League matches shown in the US.

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The Fire came into last Sunday's Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal series against the New England Revolution with high hopes that they could leave Boston with a result.

And though the Fire got off to the right start in the series opener - scoring an early goal to put the pressure on New England - the team was undone by a pair of defensive lapses and ultimately fell to the Revolution 2-1.

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The English Premier League continues this weekend with another full set of matches. The biggest match of the weekend is Chelsea v Manchester United. They are currently the top two teams in the table and two of the favorites in the UEFA Champions League. Here's a list of predictions, previews, and USA/UK TV listings.

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The Nielsen Ratings are in for ESPN2's biggest match of the season thus far featuring the north London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.

Approximately 325,187 viewers watched the game in the United States which represents the third highest viewing figures for ESPN2's coverage of the 2009-2010 Premier League season thus far.

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The U.S. national team's friendly vs. Slovakia in Bratislava later this month will air live on Fox Soccer Channel.

U.S. Soccer announced via its Twitter Wednesday that the U.S. team's first of two European friendlies will air live at 10am on FSC on Nov. 14. No word yet on what station will air the U.

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The U.S. national team's friendly vs. Slovakia in Bratislava later this month will air live on Fox Soccer Channel.

U.S. Soccer announced via its Twitter Wednesday that the U.S. team's first of two European friendlies will air live at 10am on FSC on Nov. 14. No word yet on what station will air the U.

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Ooh la la!

Leave it to those Italians.

Juventus' Paolo De Ceglie, left, and Giorgio Chiellini, right, not only gave their shirts to fans in the wake of the Italian club's 1-0 victory over Maccabi Haifa in Israel Tuesday, but their shorts, too. (AP Photo).

I offer this picture not so much so we can ogle Italian bums (although my wife, ahem, begs to differ), but as a vivid reminder that the UEFA Champions League is on again today.

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NE Revs, Taylor Twellman vs Chicago Fire

On Thursday, MLS Playoffs continue with defending champs, Columbus Crew, looking to rebound from a 1-0 loss to Real Salt Lake. The second legs of the other three conference semifinals are on Saturday (Chicago-New England) and Sunday (Los Angeles-Chivas USA, Houston-Seattle). Click to continue reading...

NE Revs, Taylor Twellman vs Chicago Fire

On Thursday, MLS Playoffs continue with defending champs, Columbus Crew, looking to rebound from a 1-0 loss to Real Salt Lake. The second legs of the other three conference semifinals are on Saturday (Chicago-New England) and Sunday (Los Angeles-Chivas USA, Houston-Seattle). Click to continue reading...

Attackers Davy Arnaud and Claudio Lopez are both up twice for the AT&T Goal of the Year award. Davy is nominated for his long-range, left-footed bomb in Week 1 and a give-and-go and give-and-go effort in Week 13. Lopez is up for his free kick in Week 10 and his past-the-halfline bomb in Week 19. Click to continue reading...

The Under-17 World Cup knockout round game between the United States and Italy is only available online (10am - ESPN360.com). Champions League on Fox Soccer Channel: Rubin Kazan - Barcelona at 12:30pm, Lyon - Liverpool at 2:30pm, and Arsenal - Alkmaar at 5pm (2:30pm on Setanta). All Times Eastern Click to continue reading...

Fox Soccer Channel's TV ratings for the past year have been released, which reveal how many viewers the channel has been getting for Premier League, Serie A, Major League Soccer and other leagues and programs.

Fox Soccer Channel began being rated by Nielsen on October 1, 2008, so it's perfect timing to reflect how the numbers for Premier League coverage have grown by 69% in the past 12 months.

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