Why is Aston Villa v Wolverhampton Wanderers a 2.05pm kick-off in the Premier League?
Aston Villa welcome Wolverhampton Wanderers to Villa Park on Sunday for their latest fixture in the Premier League.
Villa start the weekend in fourth place in the Premier League table, which is propped up by Wolves and is likely to remain so for some time. Now managed by former Villa player Rob Edwards, Wolves have just two points to their name this season.
Sunday’s match will begin at the unusual kick-off time of 2.05pm rather than the more familiar 2.00pm or 4.30pm Sunday afternoon time slots.
Nottingham Forest v Brighton & Hove Albion and West Ham United v Liverpool will start at the same time before the London derby between Chelsea and Arsenal at the regular 4.30pm kick-off time.
Why does Villa v Wolves kick off at 2.05pm?
The unusual kick-off time is, inevitably, a matter of UK television broadcast rights.
Crystal Palace v Manchester United is the pertinent fixture and is scheduled to start at 12.00pm on Sunday. It is the TNT Sports pick in the Premier League this weekend but cannot be played on Saturday because of Palace’s involvement in the Conference League on Thursday night.
That means there’s no 12.30pm kick-off on Saturday. No games can be shown between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on Saturday under the terms of the 3.00pm blackout and the 5.30pm slot is owned by Sky Sports.
In any case, Saturday’s out of the question after a Thursday evening match and the usual Sunday kick-off times also belong to Sky Sports, so noon on Sunday is the next opening available to TNT Sports.
Subsequently, Villa v Wolves and the other two matches that would otherwise have kicked off five minutes earlier have been moved to avoid a clash between TNT Sports and Sky Sports on Sunday afternoon.
There’s a full midweek programme in the Premier League next week with Villa in action against Brighton & Hove Albion on Wednesday.
The match at the Amex Stadium will start quarter of an hour earlier than the other Villa match taking place that night, which is away at Coventry Sphinx in the Birmingham County FA Senior Cup.
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