It's worth noting that BT didn't show Liverpool until Week 9 last season (Spurs away). They could have used their first pick in Week 4 to show Liverpool v West Ham - though I think that would have had to have been played on the Sunday. Instead they went for Newcastle v Arsenal.

I think BT having the Champions League and Europa League makes a big difference to BT's approach. BT will be showing six Man Utd matches before Christmas - of that I am certain. Perhaps their fans won't care quite so much as it's not the Champions League, but it must be taken into account. Of course, Liverpool's absence from Europe this season makes their Premier League games that much more important.

If BT are offered first pick in Week 3, I am almost certain that they will use it and take Spurs v Liverpool. Furthermore, if BT opt to use a first pick in Week 2, I am sure that it will be to get Leicester v Arsenal. I cannot see them taking a first pick just to get Man Utd v Southampton. Sky did show Liverpool's first five games in 2014-15 so I wouldn't rule out them doing the same with Man Utd this season. But if they do drop either Southampton (h) or Hull (a), then BT might be able to get one as a fourth pick in Package F - even if it means taking a pick out of turn.

If Sky take a first pick in Week 3 - and remember that means relinquishing control of first pick in another weekend - BT might be tempted to use a first pick in Week 2 to get Liverpool v Burnley - but they really shouldn't. I am fairly confident that Sky will be picking at least three of Leicester v Arsenal, Stoke v Man City, Watford v Chelsea and Sunderland v Middlesbrough in Week 2. Even if Sky pass third pick to BT I'd be tempted to chuck that back at Sky and look to get Liverpool v Burnley as a fourth pick in Package F or a fifth pick in Package B.

Don't forget that Liverpool v Burnley may yet be reversed depending on whether or not Burnley agree to the request.

I think either the Burnley game (if at Anfield) or the following home match v Leicester will 100% be picked if only to be the first game with a new Main Stand.

BT might look to get 2 or 3 liverpool and chelsea games early to try and sucker some subs in. in the case of chelsea this should be fairly easy to do

my pointless guess at the first 3 weeks

Week 1
sat
Everton vs Spurs sky
Chelsea vs WHU bt
sun
Man city vs Sunderland
Bournemouth vs Man U
mon
Arsenal vs Liverpool


Week 2 (If Liv/Bur is swapped i think BT will take it, and if they don't sky do)

West Ham vs Bournemouth sky
Watford vs Chelsea Sky
Stoke vs Man City BT
Sunderland Vs Boro sky
Leicester vs Arsenal sky

Week 3
Hull vs Man Utd Sky
Spurs Vs Liverpool BT
Watford Vs Arsenal Sky
Man City Vs West Ham Sky

week4 bt will get a decent game with either the 3rd or 5th pick
week5 if they are offered che/liv take it, if not quota filler
week6 take man/lei if offered even though it gives sky arse vs che
week 7 will probably be offered tot/city but before an international break so may throw back

Sky might fancy tempting BT to be squeezed on chelsea

Ron Nasty - Your're the first person to make reference to the first game at the Olympic Stadium. I'd be surprised if Sky start with consecutive Bournemouth and West Ham games, but I may be wrong. Interestingly, the first big team to visit the Olympic Stadium is Arsenal in Week 14! I reckon Sky's first game their might be Southampton in Week 6.

Where you might be on to something is with Hull v Leicester in Week 1. Ordinarily Sky would want to show the champions in Week 1 but it's not the most attractive of fixtures. Furthermore, Hull's opening seven games are not pretty - Leicester (h), Swansea (a), Man Utd (h), Burnley (a), Arsenal (h), Liverpool (a), Chelsea (h). There's a good chance Sky will want to show a few of the others so they may be happy to ditch Leicester on the opening day. That, however, might make Sky anxious about securing Leicester v Arsenal in Week 2. I suppose BT might take Hull v Leicester in Week 1 which would in turn make them less interested in Leicester v Arsenal.

In keeping with their trusted formula of showing the champions on opening weekend, I doubt Sky would pass on showing Leicester in round 1 purely because it's the reigning champions' first game.

They won't be shown anywhere near the amount of previous champions throughout the season but I can't see Sky dropping their first game considering everybody will be eager to get a glimpse of how well/bad they start the campaign this time around.

Week 1/2 is going to be tricky. Think Sky will defently use a first pick on Arsenal V Liverpool, that will probably result though on BT snatching Leicester V Arsenal for week 2.

BT also have a tricky decision for week 1. Let's look at the situation where Sky take Hull V Leicester, Bournemouth V Man United and Everton V Spurs, BT will be left with one or the other, do they take Chelsea V West Ham or Man City V Sunderland? Both are pretty big games as both games have new managers involved, however I think it would be weird not to see a London Derby on TV so I think BT takes Chelsea V West Ham.

Sky like to show new teams early. By securing Hull V Leicester they have shown one new team, I think they would like to show another in week 2, therefore I think Sky show Liverpool V Burnley. I also think Sky will show West Ham's first game at the Olympic Stadium so they take West Ham V Bournemouth as well as Man United V Southampton and Stoke V Man City for MNF.

So here's my reworked predictions for August, I have thrown week 3 in there as well:

Week 1 :
Hull V Leicester (Saturday, 12:30pm)
Chelsea V West Ham (Saturday, 5:30pm)
Bournemouth V Manchester United (Sunday, 1:30pm)
Arsenal V Liverpool (Sunday, 4:00pm)
Everton V Spurs (Monday, 8:00pm)

Week 2:
Liverpool V Burnley (Saturday, 12:30pm)
Leicester V Arsenal (Saturday, 5:30pm)
Manchester United V Southampton (Sunday, 1:30pm)
West Ham V Bournemouth (Sunday, 4:00pm)

Week 3:
Manchester City V West Ham (Saturday, 12:30pm)
Hull V Manchester United (Saturday, 5:30pm)
Everton V Stoke (Sunday, 1:30pm)
Spurs V Liverpool (Sunday, 4:00pm)

Bold = BT Sport

It's a thankless task and one I couldn't be bothered to do beyond round 1!

Sat 12.30 - Man City v Sunderland (Sky - A)
Sat 5.30- Bournemouth v Man United (BT - B)

Sun 1.30 - Chelsea v West Ham (Sky - C)
Sun 4.00 - Arsenal v Liverpool (Sky - D)

Mon 8.00 - Everton v Spurs (Sky - E)

I previously said that I can't see Sky leaving the reigning champions off but there is the arrival of two new managers in Chelsea & City... City especially with Pep. If Sky go for Leicester, which deep down I think they will, I think it would be:

Sat 12.30 - Man City v Sunderland (Sky - A)
Sat 5.30 - Bournemouth v Man United (BT - F)

Sun 1.30 - Hull v Leicester (Sky - C)
Sun 4.00 - Arsenal v Liverpool (Sky - D)

Mon 8.00 - Everton v Spurs (Sky - E)

There are four nailed on picks IMO with Chelsea and Leicester toss up for the fifth match. Either way, I don't think Sky will bite on Man Utd in round 1 and BT will take it if it's left after picks 1-3.

I changed my mind a hundred times so I'm stopping there!

Since everyone else is at it here's my prediction for round one:

Sat 12:45 - Hull v Leicester - Sky
Sat 17:30 - Man City v Sunderland - BT
Sun 13:30 - Bournemouth v Man Utd - Sky
Sun 16:00 - Arsenal v Liverpool - Sky
Mon 20:00 - Chelsea v West Ham - Sky

Not sure that Everton-Tottenham will be picked - there are enough stories elsewhere that it's likely to miss out. Hull-Leicester may not look that appealing, but I doubt Sky will break their tradition of showing the champions on the opening weekend. They can still have a really enticing Super Sunday even with it chosen.

I get what you're saying re Everton/Spurs but a 'story' has to be dropped somewhere because of Leicester. If they hadn't won the league it'd be straight forward! Like you say, I doubt they will drop their usual formula of showing the current champions kick off their campaign, plus they get the added bonus of showing a newly promoted side in the first week.

I just think for Sky, last seasons top 4 will outrank Antonio Conte. They can have the new manager sub-plot (and the bigger one too IMO) by covering City; this is also v the team that scraped survival last time out. Using that methodology, the City game has to be played at Saturday 12.30* because they have a Champions League playoff the following midweek.

*I don't think they will use a Friday night game for the first week. I think they will prefer to get a new MNF out the way first so they can plug the Friday slot.

This will, however, now turn out be completely wrong as is usual with this type of guessing game but for me, that all logically makes sense...

West Ham could be playing in Europe so they wont get picked for the Monday night game

Friday night football and its ratings is one aspect of the new season I'll follow closely.
As an armchair fan I personally think its a great idea as it suits a lot of us more than 12.45 Saturday (or even 1.30 Sunday)
Of course I understand the travelling fans concerns, it would make sense therefore to play derby games on Friday nights, however I'm sure this will be vetoed by the police.
It will be interesting to see if sky try and get a high profile game in early or will just use the slot to get rid off games such as Stoke v Hull

Are there 10 dates that stand out as potential Friday nights and when will it first be utilised.

Also (my knowledge of German football isn't great) - Do they play every Friday in the Bundesliga, and do the big teams fill that slot? Cheers

Not that I think they will be picked for MNF but theoretically they could be picked because the play off round isn't being played until 18 August so leaves the routine 3-day gap. The only restriction for Europa League involvement is Thursday-Sunday.

Yes all the teams fill the slot pretty much.

Last season, out of all 34 rounds it broke down as follows:

28 rounds had a Friday night match; Just 2 rounds were played over Sat/Sun

There was no Friday night match in an additional 4 rounds due to:

2 rounds being played midweek

The 2 final rounds were all played on the same day (Sat).

So over the course of the season, just 6 rounds in total had no Friday night match.

From the 2017/18 season, the Bundesliga will introduce Monday night games.

My predictions for week 1:

Sat 12.30 - Man City v Sunderland - Sky
Sat 17.30 - Chelsea v West Ham - BT
Sun 13.30 - Everton v Spurs - Sky
Sun 16.00 - Arsenal v Liverpool - Sky
Mon 20.00 - Bournemouth v Man Utd - Sky

Final predictions for August: (Thank god..)

Week 1:
Hull V Leicester (Saturday, 12:30pm)
Chelsea V West Ham (Saturday. 5:30pm)
Manchester United V Bournemouth (Sunday, 1:30pm)
Arsenal V Liverpool (Sunday, 4:00pm)
Everton V Spurs (Monday, 8:00pm)

Manchester City won't be able to play on the Sunday or Monday due to CL so maybe that has an influence on the picks, hence BT picking Chelsea V West Ham, although like last year anything can happen with Sky passing.

Week 2:
Stoke V Manchester City (Saturday, 12:30pm)
Leicester V Arsenal (Saturday, 5:30pm)
Manchester United V Southampton (Sunday, 1:30pm)
West Ham V Bournemouth (Sunday, 4:00pm)
Liverpool V Burnley (Monday, 8:00pm)

I've swapped Stoke V Man City and Liverpool V Burnley as Man City cannot play on Monday night.

Week 3:
Manchester City V West Ham (Saturday, 12:30pm)
Hull V Manchester United (Saturday, 5:30pm)
Southampton V Sunderland (Sunday, 1:30pm)
Spurs V Liverpool (Sunday, 4:00pm)

I'm leaving it there.

I wonder if the Friday night slots will mean that the PL will give Sky less leeway when it comes to swapping fixtures due to the Champions League. In the past we've seen the TV picks for the weeks preceding UEFA matchdays have caveats for Sunday games such as "match will move to Saturday if one of the teams is playing on the following Tuesday."

Sky have had some good luck and some bad luck in this respect this season. The good luck is that neither Liverpool or Man Utd are in the Champions League, so their Week 8 clash can be played on the Sunday - though not in the 16:00 slot. Week 10 is another obvious pass and they'll probably take Week 5 over Week 6 because of the restraints on Arsenal v Chelsea. But they'll be cursing their luck that Weeks 11 (Arsenal v Spurs) and 13 (Chelsea v Spurs) precede Europe and weeks 12 (Man Utd v Arsenal) and 14 (Man City v Chelsea) follow Europe.

This will put pressure on Packages A and E for teams in the Champions League. I wonder if in Week 12 Sky would be allowed to do something like pick Spurs v West Ham in the Saturday 12:45 slot and Man Utd v Arsenal in the Sunday 16:00 slot, with the games swapping if Arsenal are playing on the Tuesday (assuming that Arsenal and Spurs are designated for different nights by UEFA)? Or will the PL say, you've got the Friday night slot - use it.

If the bit I have bolded in week 1 above was that way round then I think it would cause Sky to have second thoughts but considering its away at Bournemouth, I don't think Sky will be too bothered about dropping it. They would much prefer to have Mourinho's first home game at Old Trafford the following week v Southampton.

Is Everton v Tottenham such a definite pick for Week 1, cause for what I remember it isn't a game which has always been shown, but normally is if it fits in.

But in my eyes it doesn't for week 1 I would go for.

Hull v Leicester
Arsenal v Liverpool
Man City v Sunderland
Chelsea v West Ham
Bournemouth v Man U

That will cover all the new big managers, It would cover the Champions, and show Aresnal v Liverpool, as you can imagine if Aresnal loose that, The Wenger out campaign will be out again.

The toss up is Chelsea or Spurs. I'm putting my hand in for Spurs. I just can't see Sky not showing the previous seasons top 4. First game for Ronald Koeman too so they also have a new manager to cover there as a sub-plot. I just think it's a combined bigger story than Antonio Conte alone.

Must admit I tend to mainly watch Domestic football, I hadn't heard of Conte he signed up with Chelses

I agree promo-only - it's very easy to fall into the trap of thinking that last season was a one off and things will be back to normal in 2016-17. Leicester were worthy champions and, in my opinion, Spurs played by far the best football last season. Chelsea, by contrast were very average. Conte is a good coach, but I think he has tough job on his hands.

If Sky do go down the road of giving up big Spurs games, then I'd have thought games like Everton v Spurs would be a must for Sky.

I bet you've heard of him now though!
I'd expect a couple of Italians to follow him to Stamford Bridge and it wouldn't surprise me if Pogba does too. He'll also ween the bad smells out. Chelsea will go very close next season I feel.

Isn't there a strong case for having Hull v Leicester on the Friday night to start the season off? I would have thought that Sky would be particularly keen to hype the Champions' first game as a way of introducing the new slot and having two selling points for it...

I would be looking to go along the following lines (BT picks in bold):

Week 1

Friday 7.30 Hull v Leicester (3E)
Saturday 12.30 Bournemouth v Man United (2A)
Saturday 5.30 Everton v Tottenham OR Man City v Sunderland (5B)
Sunday 1.30 Chelsea v West Ham (4C)
Sunday 4.00 Arsenal v Liverpool (1D)

Week 2

Saturday 5.30 Man United v Southampton (3B)
Sunday 1.30 Leicester v Arsenal (2C)
Sunday 4.00 Sunderland v Middlesbrough (1D)
Monday 8.00 Liverpool v Burnley (4E)

Week 3

Saturday 12.30 Hull v Man United (5A)
Saturday 5.30 Tottenham v Liverpool (1B)
Sunday 1.30 Watford v Arsenal (2C)
Sunday 4.00 Leicester v Swansea (4D)
Monday 8.00 Man City v West Ham (3E)


I think Sky will pass in Weeks 3, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 22, 25, 28, 30, 32, and 34, and will get Weeks 7 (TOT v MCY), 10 (TOT v LEI), 15 (LEI v MCY), 28 (MID v SUN/ARS v LEI/SOT v MUN), 32 (SUN v MUN/CPAL v ARS) and 34 (LEI v TOT) passed back to them.

I realise that I have yet to comment on the midweek fixtures. I have now made an attempt, and if it is the same as anyone elses I haven't copied it, it really is just a coincidence.

Package F: 6 midweek; 8 at Sat 12.30pm or Sat 5.30pm or Sun 12pm BT
- 3 1st picks
- 7 2nd picks
- 4 4th picks

Club Quotas: Maximum 3, Minimum 0.

My predictions are: (put into italics purely to make it easier to read.)

Tuesday 13th/Wednesday 14th December 2016

Crystal Palace V Manchester United
Everton V Arsenal

Tuesday 31st January/Wednesday 1st February 2017

Liverpool V Chelsea
West Ham V Manchester City

Tuesday 4th/Wednesday 5th April 2017

Chelsea V Manchester City
Manchester United V Everton

This gives team quotas of:

Arsenal 1
Chelsea 2
Liverpool 1
Manchester City 2
Manchester United 2

Crystal Palace 1
Everton 2
West Ham United 1



This would leave 8 matches (4 second picks, and 4 fourth picks,) with Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Everton only having one match each at the weekends.

So what do you all think of this?

We have 5 out of the 6 fixtures the same.