Leicester City will kick off the Premier League season on Sky Sports beginning the defence of their title away to newly promoted Hull City on Saturday 13 August (12.30pm). It’s the first of a record 159 Premier League games – that’s 80% of all live Premier League matches on TV – for customers in Ireland to enjoy on Sky Sports. Manchester United or Liverpool will be live 8 times as part of a schedule of 26 televised fixtures that features every club by the end of September.
In a first for Sky Sports customers in Ireland, up to 33 matches will be shown at 3pm on Saturdays, beginning with Everton taking on Tottenham on 13 August, followed by Liverpool against newcomers Burnley on 20 August and then Arsenal’s visit to Watford on 27 August.
In total, the opening weekend offers Sky Sports viewers in Ireland 5 live fixtures from the Premier League, which includes Jose Mourinho’s first game in charge of Manchester United at Bournemouth (14 August – 1.30pm), Arsenal v Liverpool in the first big head to head of the season (14 August – 4pm) plus Antonio Conte’s Chelsea at home to West Ham United (15 August – 8pm).
The first ever ‘Friday Night Football’ will be in the second week of the season, as Manchester United fans welcome José Mourinho to Old Trafford for their home fixture against Southampton (19 August – 8pm).
Other highlights in the first weeks of Sky Sports coverage include the much anticipated Manchester derby involving Mourinho and Pep Guardiola (10 September – 12.30pm), West Ham’s first ever match at the Olympic Stadium (21 August – 4pm), and the first visit of Leicester as reigning champions to Old Trafford as they face the 13-time Premier League champions (24 September – 12.30pm).
Sky Sports in conjunction with the Premier League have scheduled 26 matches for broadcast through to the end of September, including 20 fixtures featuring last season’s top eight. In addition, Sky Sports customers will be able to use an expanded in-game mobile clips service delivered by the Sky Sports’ Football Score Centre app providing goals and match highlights of Premier League games on match days – the only service of its kind in Ireland.
Sky Sports Managing Director Barney Francis said: “It’s our biggest season ever. Our opening set of fixtures offers our viewers some mouth-watering fixtures and we’ll show every club at least once by the end of September.
Our coverage keeps on getting better. This season we have new shows including Friday Night Football, live matches at 3pm for viewers in Ireland, and our customers can watch all the goals from Saturday’s matches on their mobile devices.”
Last season 49 of the top 50 most viewed matches were on Sky Sports for a third successive season.
Sky Sports customers can look forward to even more football this year with more football than ever before this season, with over 700 games, including 159 from the Premier League, 127 matches from the Sky Bet EFL and EFL Cup, SPFL football including every Old Firm derby, as well as hundreds of matches from Spain’s La Liga, the Copa del Rey, the William Hill Scottish Cup, the Eredivisie and MLS.
In addition, sports fans can watch all four days of the British Open and the US PGA Championship, followed by exclusive coverage of the Ryder Cup in the autumn, exclusive GAA matches throughout the summer, Super Rugby from the Southern Hemisphere and exclusive matches from the Guinness Pro12 and ERCC rugby in the autumn, plus all of the F1 races live and much more.
Sky Sports live Premier League Fixtures
**Matches shown in the Republic of Ireland only
August
Hull City v Leicester City (Saturday 13 August, 12.30pm)
Everton v Tottenham Hotspur (Sat 13 August, 3.00pm**)
Bournemouth v Manchester United (Sunday 14 August, 1.30pm)
Arsenal v Liverpool (Sunday 14 August, 4pm)
Chelsea v West Ham United (Monday 15 August, 8pm)
Manchester United v Southampton (Friday 19 August, 8pm)
Stoke City v Manchester City (Saturday 20 August, 12.30pm)
Burnley v Liverpool (Saturday 20 August, 3.00pm**)
Sunderland v Middlesbrough (Sunday 21 August, 1.30pm)
West Ham United v Bournemouth (Sunday 21 August, 4pm)
Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool (Saturday 27 August, 12.30pm)
Watford v Arsenal (Saturday 27 August, 3.00pm**)
West Bromwich Albion v Middlesbrough (Sunday 28 August, 1.30pm)
Manchester City v West Ham United (Sunday 28 August, 4pm)
September
Manchester United v Manchester City (Saturday 10 September, 12.30pm)
Stoke v Tottenham Hotspur (Saturday 10 September, 3pm**)
Swansea City v Chelsea (Sunday 11 September, 4pm)
Sunderland v Everton (Monday 12 September, 8pm)
Chelsea v Liverpool (Friday 16 September, 8pm)
Hull v Arsenal (Saturday 17 September, 3pm**)
Crystal Palace v Stoke City (Sunday 18 September, 2.15pm)
Tottenham Hotspur v Sunderland (Sunday 18 September, 4.30pm)
Manchester United v Leicester City (Saturday 24 September, 12.30pm)
Swansea v Manchester City (Saturday 24 September, 3pm**)
West Ham United v Southampton (Sunday 25 September, 4pm)
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