Manchester City and Liverpool are playing live on the English Premier League schedule on Monday to close the EPL week and the match begins at 3 pm ET from the Etihad Stadium and the TV coverage is live from the NBC Sports Network and online from the NBCSN Live Extra as Yaya Toure and the Citizens face off against the Reds as they introduce Mario Balotelli.
Manchester City and Liverpool play on Monday before another matchup in February on the schedule and coming into the match Man City has the chance to jump into the top part of the table. Liverpool also had a win in their first match and this game against Man City is a big early test and comes after these two clubs battled for the EPL title last season. Manchester City ended up on top of the standings and won out over Liverpool after winning late in the season and that left the Reds behind.
The deal for Mario Balotelli is now complete and he will not be in action on Monday against his old team and the Reds now have a complete front set with Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge along with the Italian. the 24 year old gives the team a major boost after losing Luis Suarez to Barcelona and he leaves after leading the EPL in scoring last season and winning a number of awards.
Balotelli returns to the EPL after a stint with AC Milan and that came after his time with Manchester City, who he helped win a title before moving to Serie A. Brendan Rodgers played coy about the deal for a while and now the Reds have another marquee player to help them try and win an EPL title. Sturridge still should feature quite a bit and Balotelli should make the attack more potent and should help the team stay as one of the leading scoring clubs in the Premier League.
Man City ended up on top and scored the most goals in the league and coming into the game on Monday, Tottenham, Chelsea and Swansea City are atop the EPL standings. The Spurs have six points along with the Blues and the Swans, while Tottenham has the most goals scored along with Chelsea and the best differential. The Blues have gotten off to a great start this season and the league table standings have Arsenal, Hull City and Aston Villa ahead of Man City with three points, while West Ham, Everton, Sunderland and Manchester United are in the middle of the league standings.
Liverpool still has moves to make after Balotelli and they reportedly will be giving new contracts to Steven Gerrard, Philippe Coutinho and Jordan Henderson as well. Man City comes in after winning against Newcastle and after playing against Liverpool, they will be at home again against Stoke City and that comes before an anticipated matchup with Arsenal and that will be at Emirates Stadium. Later in the season the team has matchups with Manchester United and Everton as well as West Ham, while Liverpool next plays against Tottenham and Aston Villa before matches with Everton and Chelsea later in the season.
