Premiership Preview: Season's greetings

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The opening week of the new Barclaycard Premiership season promises plenty of drama for pubs with Sky.Arsenal launch their title defence - and kick...

The opening week of the new Barclaycard Premiership season promises plenty of drama for pubs with Sky.

Arsenal launch their title defence - and kick off Sky's live Premiership coverage - against newly-promoted Birmingham City on Sunday, August 18.

That's followed by Chelsea against Manchester United on the following Friday evening and then Kevin Keegan leads out Manchester City against his former club Newcastle on the Saturday.

Sky Sports has scheduled 38 live games during the first half of the Barclaycard Premiership campaign - more live dates than have been announced pre-season than ever before. That's part of a total of 66 matches during the season in the second year of a three-year deal with the FA.

By the end of October every Premiership club will have been on the pitch in front of live television cameras - including all three newly-promoted teams by the end of September - and each club will have been on screen at least twice by mid-December.

Other highlights in the opening weeks include:

Liverpool v Newcastle: the fixture that has produced some of the classic Premiership matches of recent times, on Monday, September 2
Birmingham v Aston Villa: the first Birmingham derby at this level for 16 years on Sunday, September 15
Manchester City v Manchester United: the Manchester derby returns to Maine Road for the final time on Saturday, November 9
Manchester United v Arsenal: the champions return to Old Trafford, scene of their title clincher last season, on Saturday, December 7
Liverpool v Manchester United: one of the matches of the season, on Sunday, December 1.

"As always we have tried to get a balance of fixtures - looking to show not only the sides who are fancied to challenge for the title in the big head-to-head fixtures but also the newly promoted clubs," commented Sky Sports managing director Vic Wakeling.

"The appetite for Premiership football is as big as it ever was, having provided so many players to so many teams in the World Cup, and I think everyone is expecting more international stars to be on the way here over the next few weeks."

Each Monday night's Premiership coverage will be followed by a 30-minute football quiz to help keep fans in the pub.

Sky Sports will also be showing live ties from the first round of the FA Cup through to the final, live matches from the Tennents Scottish Cup, European football from Spain's La Liga and the German Bundesliga and live international football - including European Championship qualifiers - featuring England, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland.

Opening Barclaycard Premiership fixtures live on Sky Sports

August

18 Arsenal v Birmingham City
23 Chelsea v Manchester Utd
24 Manchester City v Newcastle Utd
28 Fulham v West Ham Utd

September

1 Chelsea v Arsenal
2 Liverpool v Newcastle Utd
10 Arsenal v Manchester City
14 Leeds Utd v Manchester Utd
15 Birmingham City v Aston Villa
16 Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham Utd
22 Newcastle v Sunderland
23 Fulham v Chelsea
28 Leeds Utd v Arsenal
30 West Bromwich Albion v Blackburn Rovers

October

6 Liverpool v Chelsea
7 Manchester Utd v Everton
20 Charlton Athletic v Middlesbrough
21 Aston Villa v Southampton
27 West Ham Utd v Everton
28 Bolton Wanderers v Sunderland

November

3 Charlton Athletic v Sunderland
4 Newcastle Utd v Middlesbrough
9 Manchester City v Manchester Utd
10 Sunderland v Tottenham Hotspur
17 West Ham Utd v Manchester Utd
23 Manchester Utd v Newcastle Utd
24 Charlton Athletic v Blackburn Rovers

December

1 Liverpool v Manchester Utd
2 West Ham Utd v Southampton
7 Manchester Utd v Arsenal
8 Tottenham Hotspur v West Bromwich Albion
15 Sunderland v Liverpool
16 Bolton Wanderers v Leeds Utd
22 Liverpool v Everton
23 Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur
26 Middlesbrough v Manchester Utd
29 Arsenal v Liverpool

In addition, Sky pub subscribers can get the following games on a pay-per-view basis. It costs £200 excluding VAT for a season of 40 games or you can buy them individually at £50 per match. To order call 08705 241 242.

August