Premier League Saturday: Jan. 18, 2014

The Premier League fixtures calendar always seems to have a peculiar trait of producing a very timely and intriguing game right after a club is involved in a sticky situation. That example today is Southampton, who seemingly were fortunate to hold on to Mauricio Pochettino’s services until the end of the season despite the club chairman resigning earlier this week. Now Southampton is featured in the early kick-off, where the cameras will be on them to see how they perform — and whether the team will play any differently after a tricky week off the pitch.

Plus of course there are plenty of other fascinating matches today.

Starting line-ups:

Liverpool: Mignolet, Johnson, Cissokho, Skrtel, Toure, Gerrard, Henderson, Sterling, Coutinho, Sturridge, Suarez

Subs: Jones, Kelly, Lucas, Moses, Allen, Aspas, Alberto

Aston Villa: Guzan, Bacuna, Vlaar, Clark, Bertrand, El Ahmadi, Westwood, Delph, Agbonlahor, Weimann, Benteke

Subs: Steer, Sylla, Helenius, Albrighton, Luna, Gardner, Holt

===============================

Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Flamini, Wilshere, Cazorla, Gnabry, Ozil, Giroud

Subs: Fabianski, Jenkinson, Gibbs, Rosicky, Podolski, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ju-Young Park

Fulham: Stekelenburg; Riether, Burn, Hangeland, Richardson; Dejagah, Sidwell, Parker, Kacaniklic; Dempsey, Berbatov

Subs: Stockdale, Riise, Kasami, Karagounis, Duff, Hughes and Bent

===============================

Crystal Palace: Speroni, Mariappa, Gabbidon, Delaney, Parr, Bolasie, Ward, Jedinak, Puncheon, Guedioura, Chamakh.

Subs: Price, Moxey, O’Keefe, Williams, Bannan, Wilbraham, Gayle.

Stoke: Butland, Cameron, Shawcross, Wilson, Pieters, Whelan, Nzonzi, Adam, Walters, Assaidi, Crouch.

Subs: Sorensen, Muniesa, Shotton, Palacios, Ireland, Arnautovic, Guidetti.

===============================

Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany (c), Demichelis, Kolarov, Navas, Yaya Toure, Javi Garcia, Silva, Negredo, Dzeko

Subs: Pantilimon, Lescott, Nastasic, Clichy, Fernandinho, Milner, Aguero

Cardiff: Marshall; McNaughton, Caulker (C), Turner, Theophile-Catherine; Whittingham, Medel, Gunnarsson, Mutch, Noone; Campbell.

Subs: Lewis; Hudson, Odemwingie, Kim, Eikrem, Bellamy, John

===============================

Norwich: Ruddy; Martin, R Bennett, Bassong (c), Olsson; Snodgrass, Fer, Johnson, Gutierrez; van Wolfswinkel, Hooper

Subs: Bunn (GK), Whittaker, Pilkington, Hoolahan, Becchio, Redmond, Tettey

Hull: McGregor, Rosenior, Bruce, Chester, Davies, Huddlestone, Koren, Livermore, Jelavic, Sagbo, Elmohamady

Subs: Harper, Figueroa, Meyler, Fryatt, Boyd, Faye, Quinn

===============================

West Ham: Adrian, Jarvis, Rat, Collison, Taylor, Noble (c), Collins, Diame, Downing, C.Cole, Johnson

Subs: Jaaskelainen, Carroll, Maiga, Morrison, Diarra, J.Cole, Chambers

Newcastle: Krul; Santon, Williamson, S.Taylor, Yanga-Mbiwa; Tiote (c), Anita, Cabaye; Sissoko, Remy, Gouffran

Subs: Elliot, Haidara, Dummett, Obertan, Ben Arfa, Shola Ameobi, Cisse

===============================

Here’s today’s TV/Internet schedule for soccer fans in the United States:

Sunderland vs Southampton, 7:45am, NBCSN
Arsenal vs Fulham, 10am, NBCSN
Crystal Palace vs Stoke, 10am, Premier League Extra Time
Manchester City vs Cardiff, 10am, Premier League Extra Time
Norwich vs Hull, 10am, Premier League Extra Time
West Ham United vs Newcastle, 10am, Premier League Extra Time
Liverpool vs Aston Villa, 12:30pm, NBC

Before, during or after today’s matches, join the conversation in the comments section below with fellow soccer fans from around the world.

Have a wonderful Saturday.