Premier League updates kick-off times to avoid pub curfew clash

24-Sep-2020 - Last updated on 24-Sep-2020 at 08:01 GMT

Early kick-off: Arsenal's visit to defending champions Liverpool will get underway 15 minutes early so that fans don't have to leave pubs before the final whistle

The Premier League has revised its fixture schedule across the last weekend of September and first week of October in light of the Government’s 10pm pub curfew.

Confirming its live match selections for Monday 28 September, Saturday 3 October and Sunday 4 October, the Premier League revealed that new kick-off times would apply to all midweek matches to give fans the opportunity to watch games before pubs close.

The Premier League’s original midweek 6pm and 8.15pm kick-off times would have seen fans turfed out of pubs before the final whistle in light of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement of a 10pm curfew for pubs.

However, the League's revised fixture list will bring midweek games into line with its Saturday night schedule, which sees the last game of the day kick off at 8pm.

As such, both Fulham’s clash with Aston Villa and Arsenal’s trip to defending champions Liverpool on the evening of 28 September will now kick off 15 minutes earlier than originally slated.

Fixtures from the English Football League and Women’s Super League will remain unaffected by the 10pm curfew as their latest kick-off times are 7.45pm on Fridays and 3pm on Sundays respectively.

The revision is the Premier League’s latest accommodation of the Government’s pandemic measures after it revealed that all fan-free fixtures scheduled to be played in September would be broadcast live via existing partners Sky Sports, BT Sport, Amazon Prime Video and BBC.

The news also follows the Prime Minister’s decision to delay the partial return of fans to football stadiums from 1 October due to the recent spike in Covid-19 cases, with MP Steve Brine – a member of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee – revealing that all sport will likely continue without supporters until at least the start of 2021.