The English Premier League schedule can get very busy at this time of year and 2013 is no different, as number of clubs have some big matches coming up for the holidays and Boxing Day, including Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea as well as Liverpool, who has a huge match against Manchester City at Etihad Stadium on December 26.
The matches on Thursday comes after a full week of games on the schedule Saturday and Sunday, with Liverpool and Cardiff City starting things off on December 21 with the early match. Liverpool has the chance to take the lead on the EPL table for at least a couple days with a win against Cardiff on Saturday morning, as Arsenal has a two point lead over the Reds and Chelsea and they don't play until Monday and neither do the Blues, as the two teams are playing against each other. The match between Arsenal and Liverpool will be at the Emirates on Monday night and will cap off the week in the EPL before the Boxing Day matches on Thursday.
The Saturday matches have some great matchups and intrigue, including Manchester City and Fulham, while Manchester United and West Ham will be going at it at Old Trafford on Saturday as well. The Sunday matches are nice as well with Tottenham taking on Southampton after losing their manager, while Swansea and Everton will be the late match from Liberty Stadium. The Monday match has Arsenal and Chelsea playing and then on Thursday it's the big day.
The matches on Thursday include:
Hull City against Manchester City, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace, Southampton visiting Cardiff City, Chelsea playing against Swansea, Everton taking on Sunderland, Newcastle hosting Stoke, Norwich taking on Fulham, while Tottenham hosts West Brom, West Ham and Arsenal play at Upton Park, while Manchester city and Liverpool play at the Etihad Stadium.
Check here for the Premier League holiday schedule.
In other world soccer news from Reuters.com, Barcelona is getting looked into about their signing of Neymar, here is more from the article:
Barcelona have been ordered by a local court to provide details about the signing of Neymar before a decision is made on whether to open proceedings against club president Sandro Rosell for the misappropriation of funds.
The case has been brought to court by club member Jordi Cases.
The Brazil forward signed for the Spanish champions in the close season for 57.1 million euros ($78.40 million) of which 17.1 million euros went to his former club Santos, it was said in court.
Cases is looking for clarification over what happened to the remaining 40 million euros, which Barcelona say was paid to a company, named in media reports as Neymar & Neymar.
The judge Pablo Ruz has given Barcelona five days to provide Neymar's contracts. He has also asked for the club's financial records from the previous three years to cover the period during which negotiations for the 21-year-old's signing took place. Barcelona spokesman Toni Freixa said the club had nothing to hide.
"It is not known what has really taken place with the 40 million euros supposedly paid to the player or his representatives," Cases said in a statement read out at the hearing on Wednesday. (Reuters)
