Sure Watford v Stoke was from package zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

...........i'll get my coat

Sky would not be leaving it late if Liverpool were maxed out by BT.

They could then pick Liverpool v Watford as a 4th pick

The issue won't be about securing Watford v Liverpool as a Package D game - it would be a first pick - the question is why would Sky want to corner themselves into having to pick that game in that slot?

Week 35 is the last of the April picks due at the end of February/beginning of March, so I admit it's unlikely that Sky wouldn't pick Watford v Liverpool. But I'd have thought Sky would want Spurs v Arsenal in the Sunday 16:00 slot even if it might* have to move should Arsenal make the Champions League semi final.

* not a snowball's chance in hell if Arsenal play like they did yesterday.

I think sky and bt are a bit more relaxed than us on here re minimum quotas.

Sky could easily put Watford v Southampton or palace v Southampton in.

A spurs v Arsenal then Watford v Liverpool is very plausible too.

Not posted since the last set of fixtures. I think sky went Leicester v man u pick one, arsenal pick two.

Interesting if bt did pass, if so some of their early picks need looking at.

Very odd part of season about to come. Sky after tonight have 11/12 of next matches, but bt have standout game. Sky only have two big games (spurs v Chelsea, West ham v manu) Looking ahead to Jan and early feb, bt have equal big games too

Possibly a bit early to be making predictions for March, but I think a number of the games pick themselves. The tricky bit is knowing how Sky will view Week 28 which is the weekend of the FA Cup quarter finals. On the one hand, Sky are usually keen to cover off games which could be moved to later in the season. On the other is the danger of having a poor weekend.

I've put below two scenarios. I reckon Sky would like to go with Scenario 1 where they take Southampton v Man Utd in Week 28 and pass Middlesbrough v Man Utd in Week 29. If Man Utd are knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round, this is what I think they'll do. The problem for Sky is, if Man Utd make the quarter finals, Sky could end up going six weeks without a Man Utd match (Week 26 - Manchester Derby/League Cup Final to Week 32 - Sunderland v Man Utd). So if they're worried about that, then they might go for Scenario 2.

Week 27

Sat 12:30 - Swansea v Burnley - A2
Sat 17:30 - Liverpool v Arsenal - B1

Sun 13:30 - Tottenham v Everton - C5
Sun 16:00 - Sunderland v Man City - G3

Mon 20:00 - West Ham v Chelsea - E4

Scenario 1

Week 28

Sat 12:30 - Arsenal v Leicester - A1
Sat 17:30 - Crystal Palace v Tottenham - B3

Sun 13:30 - Southampton v Man Utd - C2
Sun 16:00 - Middlesbrough v Sunderland - D4

Mon 20:00 - Hull v Swansea - E4


Week 29

Fri 20:00 - West Brom v Arsenal - E4

Sat 12:30 - Crystal Palace v Watford - A5
Sat 17:30* - Middlesbrough v Man Utd - B3

Sun 13:30 - Tottenham v Southampton - C2
Sun 16:00 - Man City v Liverpool - D1

* Move to Sunday 12:00 if Man Utd are in the Last 16 of the Europa League.


Scenario 2

Week 28

Sat 12:30 - Arsenal v Leicester - A1
Sat 17:30 - Southampton v Man Utd - B3

Sun 13:30 - Middlesbrough v Sunderland - C2
Sun 16:00 - Crystal Palace v Tottenham - D4

Mon 20:00 - Hull v Swansea - E4


Week 29

Fri 20:00 - West Brom v Arsenal - E4

Sat 12:30 - Crystal Palace v Watford - A5
Sat 17:30 - Stoke v Chelsea - B3

Sun 13:30 - Middlesbrough v Man Utd - C2
Sun 16:00 - Man City v Liverpool - D1

Looking forward
Good Friday and Easter Monday would be good chance

As long as clubs are not in UEFA events
As long as the match does not have a Merseyside team

Talking of which are Liverpool playing on Sat Apr 15th for first time??

I am sure the memorial service was the last one in April ??

Given the variety in big games and kick-off times this year, I'm not sure that Sky would be too bothered which slot the game goes into as long as thy can secure it. From (hazy) recollection, the NLD seems to have been a lunchtime kick-off fairly frequently.

That weekend is a Bank Holiday

No way will police allow it to be on the Monday night

I think Week 36 and/or Week 37 will have six TV games. A lot will depend on how the relegation battle develops, but in those two weeks you have Hull v Sunderland (36), Crystal Palace v Hull and Sunderland v Swansea (37).

West Brom v Liverpool has been moved to Sunday 16:00, though I guess it could end up being moved again for TV.

I think the official line is that Liverpool Football Club will never play on that date. As a Liverpudlian and a Liverpool fan I could never imagine that changing.

Yes, and it's not a major problem anyway - there's no need to force them to play on Saturdays when there are Friday and Sunday slots available, ditto in the Champions League they can request the other day. The only time it might be an issue is if it fell on a Thursday and they were in the Europa League, but that won't happen for years.

There's no need to demand they play on 15th April. It doesn't inconvenience anyone if they don't.

The FA et al got lucky this year with Liverpool not being in Europe, but it is inevitable that at some point in the future there will be a conflict. The closest we've come to a big problem was in 2012 with Chelsea playing Barca on the following Wednesday and having to play a cup semi final on the Sunday. Had the Barca game been scheduled for the Tuesday I don't know what would have happened.

EDIT: Just seen Steve Williams's post - the thing to remember is that it isn't just Liverpool but their opponents that are affected. Perhaps the fixtures are rigged to keep them away from problematic opponents and perhaps they won't schedule FA Cup Semi Finals for weekends which include 15 April.

The Semis are 22/23 April aren't they?

The NLD? Chelsea v Tottenham was on a Bank Holiday Monday. Wouldn't be a problem.

They are. I didn't realise but the Champions League Final was nine days later in 2016 (28 May) than it was in 2012 (19 May), which meant a week less before the start of the Euros.

In 2012, the FA Cup Final was played on 5 May, so they couldn't really go for the 21/22 April for the semi finals. I guess they could have gone for 7/8 April, but that was Easter weekend so perhaps that could have been problematic.

But if UEFA have permanently extended the season, there shouldn't be a need to play the semi finals around 15 April.


True, and both Spurs and Arsenal have plenty of picks left in Package E. That said, I'm not sure the police would be too keen on a NLD at 8pm on a bank holiday, even if they said yes to Chelsea v Spurs last season.

I'm confused as to why this has come up as the NLD is two weeks after Easter and we have West Ham on the weekend of the next bank holiday. I'm not sure the NLD is that much more of a risk than playing West Ham and Chelsea. Been no real trouble for years.

Spurs v Arsenal is scheduled for Saturday 29 April. So it could, if Arsenal aren't playing in the Champions League semi finals, be moved to Monday 1 May which is a bank holiday.

Whilst things aren't as bad as they used to be, the League Cup tie last season was not a very nice experience. We were locked in for 30 minutes after the game before being kettled down the High Road to Seven Sisters Tube Station. There's a pub on the corner near the ground from which a group of Spurs fans ambushed us - it's the only time since going to Arsenal away games that I thought I was going to have to fight (running wasn't an option thanks to Plod). Thankfully the Spurs fans were too drunk to actually do anything and they were significantly outnumbered!

To be fair to the police, things were much better for the league game, but that was a 12:30 kick off.

People are once again overstating the influence that the police have on kick off times.

I really hope it's Man Utd v Liverpool in the EFL Cup Final just to see what happens. I see that the 2003 League Cup Final between these two kicked off at 14:00.

I agree with your point about Spurs v Stoke - they should really just play this game at 12:00 come what may, I really don't see why they should move a game that doesn't need to be moved.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying a fixture won't be moved on police advice, but what the police don't have is an absolute veto over a kick-off time.

A few years ago, Merseyside Police took Everton to court to try and move the derby kick-off from 5.30 Saturday. They eventually settled out of court and it stayed at that time; but the fact that they had to go to court in the first place, instead of just saying "no", is telling.

I'm not sure where the police sit in all of this, but I'm pretty sure there is an authority that can veto a kick off time. It might the local health and safety people who give the safety certificate to the ground. I suppose you could get a situation whereby they say "you can play at x time, but you won't be having spectators in attendance."

Yes, it's the local authority who ultimately say yes or no by deciding whether or not to allow a safety certificate. They take police advice in coming to their decision, but could decide to not take it on board.

Police Scotland objected to the Old Firm derby on Hogmanay but a senior officer is quoted as saying "it's an SPFL decision" (https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/new...ubbed-by-spfl/). Although the legal systems are different, I'd imagine it's similar in England and Wales.

I think, though, that in most cases there's a fairly amicable arrangement between clubs, local authorities and the police. Only occasionally does it break down, such as in Northumbria where Sunderland and Newcastle said the Tyne-Wear derby would no longer be a noon kick-off by default.

Anyway, this is perhaps getting too far off-topic. But the general point is that while the police can object to a kick-off time, and in many cases the objection is listened to, they don't possess the absolute veto that many think they do.

On Sky Sports News, they seem to be moaning about the tight Christmas Schedule, but in my eyes this is one of the easiest Christmas Football Schedules in years.

They played Last weekend, I'm guessing most players, will have had a day or two off this weekend.

They dont play on Saturday, They dont play until Boxing Day, Then depending on Fixture Schedules they dont play until New Years Eve/Day.

Then they play on the Monday or later in the week,

Sorry to hear that. In terms of media reporting you never tend to hear of any serious disturbances so naturally assumed they'd died out. My confusion regarding the fixture date came about because I had Mon 6th May in my head, when of course it's the 8th.

No worries. To be honest it's nothing compared with what used to go on, but the Met screwed up the League Cup tie royally. Generally I'm of the view that people only tend to get into trouble when they go looking for it. Unfortunately we were given no choice of how and when we left the stadium.