Sky Sports and BT Sport have revealed which Barclays Premier League games they have chosen to broadcast in April as the season reaches the nail-biting closing stages for those at the top and bottom of England’s top flight.
As the Premier League heads toward its climax, both broadcasters, who recently sealed a eye-watering £5bn deal to retain live rights to 2019, will be the place for armchair fans to see all the stories and watch the biggest games, 15 of which will be shown on Sky while another three will be broadcast by BT.
Sky Sports’ line-up in April includes every fixture featuring both Chelsea and Manchester City, as the two sides battle it out to win the Premier League title in May.
Current leaders Chelsea are live on Sky Sports five times in April with second-placed Man City on four times and there are also four derby matches from around the country as part of a schedule of 16 games involving 16 teams.
The line-up features huge head-to-heads including the Manchester derby on Sunday, April 12, Jose Mourinho welcoming Louis van Gaal to Stamford Bridge on Saturday, April 18, and Arsenal hosting Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, April 26.
With four rounds of fixtures left of the season in May, Sky Sports still has 15 matches yet to come and will be the only place to see the climax to another incredible Premier League season, showing at least three games each weekend, effectively freezing rivals BT Sport out of the main matches towards the title race.
BT Sport’s Premier League line-up throughout April will follow the race for UEFA Champions League places and kicks off with Arsenal’s home match against Liverpool and ends with Southampton’s clash with Tottenham Hotspur.
Arsenal, once again competing for a Champions League place, will host Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool who are hot on their heels, at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, April 4, kicking off at 12.45pm.
BT Sport will also feature fourth-placed Southampton, who have been impressive throughout this season and are in the hunt to join the elite in the Champions League next season, as they take on sixth-placed Tottenham Hotspur at St Mary’s Stadium, with the match to take place on Saturday, April 25 at 12.45pm, as they battle it out before the season concludes in May.
The channel’s line-up also includes Roberto Martinez returning to his old stomping ground where he began his managerial career when his Everton side travel to Swansea City on Saturday, April 11, which will also kick-off at 12.45pm.
Sky Sports head of football Gary Hughes, said: “April is a huge month in the Premier League and will go a long way to deciding the destiny of the title.
“Sky Sports will be the only place to see Chelsea and Manchester City, as well as the drama of all of the biggest local derbies and massive head-to-heads. Sky Sports has more of the games that matter as the Premier League approaches a thrilling conclusion.”
Simon Green, head of BT Sport, said: “BT Sport has shown great live action from the Barclays Premier League throughout the 2014/15 season and April is no different.
“The battle for European football is hotting up as the season nears its conclusion and we are delighted to show Arsenal v Liverpool, Swansea City v Everton and Southampton v Tottenham Hotspur in the penultimate month of the season.
“BT Sport will also be showing one of the FA Cup semi-finals exclusively live in April which is always a passionately contested affair at Wembley. And the channels will closely follow the exciting closing stages to the German Bundesliga, the Italian Serie A and the French Ligue 1.”
The 2014/15 season marks the second year of both broadcaster’s three-year multi-billion pound TV deal with the Premier League, with Sky again screening 116 live games from England’s top flight and BT showcasing 38 live matches during the course of the season.
BSkyB paid £2.3 billion for 116 live Premier League games for three years from 2013-2016, including 20 first picks from the 38 rounds of matches, while BT paid £758 million for 38 games, including 18 first picks, although Sky gets to choose when it wants to exercise its first pick choices.
Under thenext live TV deal starting in 2016/17, 168 games per season will be broadcast across both Sky Sports and BT, with Sky having paid £4.2bn for five packages to show 126 games per season, while BT will show 42 games, most of which will be shown on Saturday tea-time.
Full details of April’s live Premier League games on the box can be found below.
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