Manchester City vs. Liverpool commands the spotlight this weekend | Soccer on TV

Saturday, 10 a.m. (Peacock)

It’s another big game for Jesse Marsch and Leeds. Watford is in next-to-last-place, eight points back of Leeds. A win for Marsch’s squad would bring more breathing room.

“For those of us in the know, I don’t think he had anything to prove, though there is still that section of the English football public who are a little wary of the American accent,” NBC’s lead Premier League play-by-play voice Arlo White told The Inquirer as he prepared to call three games this weekend. (Though not this one — he’ll be at Aston Villa-Tottenham on Saturday, 12:30 p.m. on NBC10.)

“From what I can gather, the players love him — they’ve really enjoyed the transition from [Marcelo] Bielsa to Jesse Marsch’s style,” White said. “He’s a fantastic man-manager, and you’re seeing the results on the pitch. … It’s up to him to oversee winning football matches, and I think people’s perceptions of him as an American coach will change as a result of that

Saturday, 1 p.m. (Univision 65, TUDN, twitter.com/MLS)

Chicago is one of just three unbeaten teams left in the league, along with the Union and Los Angeles FC. The Fire have done it with defense first, allowing just one goal through seven games — fitting for new manager Ezra Hendrickson, a great centerback as a player.

It’s good timing to have White with us for this column, because he’ll be part of the Fire’s broadcast crew this summer after the Premier League season ends.

“With the owner, Joe Mansueto, and the people that he has appointed into key positions — I’m delighted for have Ezra Hendrickson, as well, to get his first MLS head coaching job. … a lot of money has been invested very wisely,” White said. “For a team that hasn’t made the playoffs in so long, this start is very exciting. You have to temper your excitement, but there’s been such a shortage of it, I think people are genuinely very excited about where the Fire are headed in this new era.”

» READ MORE: Seattle's Jordan Morris and Cristian Roldan share the joy and relief of the USMNT qualifying for the World Cup

Saturday, 3 p.m. (ESPN, ESPN Deportes)

There are five MLS games on national TV this weekend. That should be cause for celebration. But this weekend, some smart observers will be pretty nervous. The league is in the final stretch of negotiations over its next broadcast deals, and the ratings this year have been rough. As The Athletic noted this week, just one of the many MLS games on national TV so far has topped the 456,000 viewers that CBS’ one NWSL broadcast to date drew.

To be fair, that one game was San Diego vs. Angel City, featuring Alex Morgan and Christen Press — bigger stars to American fans than anyone in MLS. But that’s part of the problem.

While MLS has done the right thing by going for young players, developing them and selling them abroad for big sums, it has failed to properly market itself as a destination league for those players — and fans who can’t fly to Europe every week, no matter how much they dream of it.

This game won’t help. Last year’s Supporters’ Shield winner New England has just one win in four games so far, and Miami remains a disaster after the huge punishments it was given for breaking payroll rules.

Combine all these factors with the fact that it’s Masters weekend, and it’s easy to conclude that this weekend will be another bad one for viewership.

Saturday, 5:30 p.m. (Fox29, Vix)

A young U.S. squad is in Columbus, Ohio begins a two-game set that will conclude at Subaru Park on Tuesday. Catarina Macario, Trinity Rodman and Naomi Girma are among the up-and-coming names to watch.

» READ MORE: What to know about the U.S. roster for the Uzbekistan series

Saturday, 7:30 p.m. (Fox29, Fox Deportes)

If one MLS game can break through this weekend, it’s one of the biggest of all in the league. Not only is El Tráfico a great rivalry, but this is expected to finally be the first one in which Javier Hernández and Carlos Vela both play.

Hernández has played just twice against LAFC, both last year when Vela was out with a hamstring injury. And this might be the only time they play against each other, because Vela’s contract is up this summer and he hasn’t signed a new deal yet.

Sunday, 11:30 a.m. (USA Network, Telemundo 62)

There hasn’t been a genuine Premier League title race since 2019, and the last one before then to go to the end was Man City’s epic last-day triumph in 2012. Now, finally there is one: Manchester City 73, Liverpool 72, with eight games to go for each team.

Liverpool’s surge and City’s wobbles have been gifts for NBC, which will have both of its broadcast teams in the stadium this weekend: Arlo White, Lee Dixon and Graeme Le Saux in English and Andrés Cantor and Manuel Sol in Spanish. NBC’s English-language studio team of Rebecca Lowe, Robbie Earle, Robbie Mustoe and Tim Howard will also be on site.

“It’s just remarkable the level that [Liverpool manager] Jürgen Klopp and [City manager] Pep Guardiola have ascended to with these two teams,” White said. ““This genuinely is now the big talking point, the big rivalry, of this age, and this could be a defining game. Because Klopp has only won one Premier League title — if he loses this game, he may not win the title this year.”

Liverpool also has a much tougher schedule to close the season, including Manchester United twice and Tottenham. City’s hardest game left is at West Ham on the season’s next-to-last weekend.

» READ MORE: The rest of this weekend's Premier League schedule

Sunday, 1:30 p.m. (6abc, ESPN Deportes)

If you’re a fan of spectacle, this game will have it: another huge crowd in Charlotte to welcome the club’s southern neighbor, for the first edition of a series that could become a rivalry. Will it be a good soccer game? We’ll see. Charlotte has been better than expected so far, while Atlanta star striker Josef Martínez is out 6-8 weeks after knee surgery.

Sunday, 7:30 p.m. (FS1, Fox Deportes)

Here’s the other thing about MLS’s national TV schedule. It’s a good principle to get every team on TV at some point, and to put teams that don’t draw in out-of-the-way time slots. But these teams rarely draw even in good time slots, and even though they have strong fan bases in their cities.

» READ MORE: The rest of this weekend's MLS schedule