Football fans will have to change their Saturday routine this weekend with no Premier League match taking place in early on Saturday lunchtime.
In recent seasons, a Premier League gameweek has begun with a game kicking off at 12.30pm on a Saturday which has been BT Sport’s regular slot in the schedule. BT Sport typically broadcast one live league match per week, while Sky Sports have exclusive rights for four games, including two on Super Sunday.
BT Sport’s chosen match this weekend was Everton vs Manchester United at Goodison Park, but rather than kicking off at 12.30 on Saturday it will take place at 7pm on Sunday instead in the penultimate fixture of the weekend. Nottingham Forest play Aston Villa on Monday night.
The reason for the switch is that United were in action in the Europa League on Thursday night and the turnaround between games would have been too short, particularly as Erik ten Hag’s side played away. United beat Cypriot side Omonia 3-2 in Nicosia after going behind.
This season, BT Sport committed to moving their early Saturday slot to a later time on Saturday or Sunday if one or both of the teams was involved in European action on either Wednesday or Thursday night, in part due to criticism from Premier League managers.
How to watch Everton vs Man Utd
Date: Sunday 9 November
Kick-off time: 7pm
TV channel: BT Sport 1
Stream: Watch live on BT Sport website or app
Jurgen Klopp had an infamously heated row with BT Sport’s touchline reporter Des Kelly about Liverpool having to play early kick-offs after midweek European ties. It came after a 1-1 draw between Liverpool and Brighton in November 2020.
“You [BT Sport] my special friends ask us to go on Saturday at 12.30pm, which is nearly a crime to be honest,” he fumed. “Playing 12:30 after Wednesday is really dangerous for the Premier League players.”
Kelly responded: “Maybe you’re firing at the wrong target. We are broadcasters, we work within Premier League rules, and Premier League makes the rules, that’s the Premier League clubs, so shouldn’t you be talking to Premier League clubs?”
Klopp reiterated his concerns last season when Liverpool played Newcastle in the early Saturday game after playing a Champions League semi-final against Villarreal on Wednesday night.
“If we play a Champions League semi-final, if you find another league in the world and another broadcaster where they put one team who is in the semi-final, might be two, might be three English teams, on a 12.30… what?” he said.
“What are you doing? Why would you do that? So that’s why it’s so difficult [to win a quadruple], but nothing happens because nobody cares.”
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Matches in each of those slots are shown live with the exception of those that kick-off at 3pm on a Saturday which are restricted due to English football’s longstanding TV blackout.
Football League clubs are reportedly in talks to move games at 3pm in order to stream them online and to save costs on floodlights exacerbated due to the cost of living crisis.
Two other matches will take place outside of the usual TV times before the World Cup begins next month. Liverpool will host Leeds at Anfield on Saturday 29 October at 7.45pm, while Wolves entertain Arsenal at Molineux at the same time two weeks later on Saturday 12 November.
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