Southampton: Trio of December games selected for television coverage
By Chris Hughes
Three of Southampton’s December games have had their kick-off times changed to be shown on television, the club announced today.
Having already played in two televised games this season and with two more coming between now and the end of the month, Southampton have further announced three more games that will be shown on either Sky or BT in December.
This weekend’s game against West Brom is due to be shown on the latter, whilst the game against promoted side Brighton will be broadcast as part of Sky Sports’ Super Sunday.
Meanwhile in December, the media-dubbed ‘south coast derby’ against Bournemouth will shown as the early kick-off on Sunday December 3rd, with the game due to start at 1:30 PM.
A week later the Saints face Arsenal live on BT in a midday Sunday kick-off, with Southampton the hosts of the encounter.
Finally, Southampton’s Boxing Day clash against former manager Mauricio Pochettino and his Tottenham side with another early kick-off of 12:30 PM. That game is at Wembley Stadium.
Southampton fans will now have to plan ahead if they are wanting to travel to the games against either Bournemouth or Tottenham, with earlier kick-off times meaning supporters will have to leave early in the morning. This shouldn’t prove an issue for the former, but could make for awkward travel time for the Spurs game.
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Thankfully, Wembley shouldn’t prove too long a distance to travel, especially with mid-week away trips to Manchester at the end of November and a trip to Anfield a fortnight or so before that.
Southampton’s game away at Old Trafford on the 29th of December has already been selected for BT Sport coverage, but the 5:30 PM kick-off should allow for travelling Saints fans to be able to make the trip on the day without setting off in the middle of the night.
Major sports broadcasters such as Sky and BT have faced heavily criticism for changing kick-off times to suit their needs rather than accommodate fans and the distances have to travel – luckily Saints supporters got off unscathed this time.