Is Chelsea vs Sunderland on TV? Reason why there's no early Premier League kick-off

View 3 Images

Fans will have to wait longer for their fix of Premier League on Saturday as there is no lunchtime kick-off. Following the Friday night clash between Leeds United and West Ham , the next round of action will be the 3pm kick-offs, including Chelsea ’s home clash with Sunderland .

That game, along with Newcastle vs Fulham , falls within football’s long-held Saturday afternoon blackout, meaning they cannot be broadcast live domestically. Meanwhile, Manchester United vs Brighton , kicking off at 5.30pm, will be shown on Sky Sports.

Brentford vs Liverpool was due to be the 12.30pm match after being selected by TNT Sports. However, as Liverpool were in Champions League action on Wednesday, beating Eintracht Frankfurt 5-1 in Germany, the Brentford match has been shunted to 8pm on Saturday night, granting Arne Slot ’s side a few extra hours of preparation time.

Three other matches were moved to 2pm on Sunday as a result of sides playing on Thursday night. Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest ’s games against Manchester City and Bournemouth , respectively, have been switched due to their Europa League games three days earlier. Meanwhile, Crystal Palace travel to Arsenal on Sunday after hosting AEK Larnaca in the Conference League in midweek.

Like Liverpool, Chelsea were 5-1 winners in the Champions League on Wednesday night, hammering Ajax at Stamford Bridge. With the Sunderland match also at home, the game has remained in its original slot.

While the match will not be shown live, highlights will be available to watch shortly after full-time on the Sky Sports Premier League YouTube channel and Sky Sports app.

Meanwhile, the BBC Sport website will broadcast key moments from 8pm, with a full round-up of the day’s action on Match of the Day from 10.25pm.

View 3 Images

Enzo Maresca is likely to ring the changes again after naming a young team against Ajax as he balances his squad’s workload amid a spell of six games in 21 days.

“It’s the strategy of the club,” said the head coach. “We have so many young players. We were the youngest side in the Premier League last year, this year the same way.

“We changed tonight 10 players. It’s not easy to change so many but we needed to do that, otherwise players are going to struggle.”

The star of the show was undoubtedly Estevao Willian, who confidently stroked home a penalty to make it 4-1 and tormented the four-time European champions. Maresca said: “With young players, most of the time you’re worried.

View 3 Images

“They play one or two games and score and they think they’re already top players. The good thing about Estevao is, we don’t need to be worried about that.

“He’s very humble and polite, wants to work hard. He has fantastic family who are very close to him. He’s a special player but we don’t have to be worried that he thinks he knows how good he is. He’s a very simple guy. I feel very lucky to be his manager.”

Chelsea will be without Malo Gusto, who will serve a one-match ban for his sending off against Nottingham Forest last weekend. Seventh-place Sunderland, who are level on points with the Blues, will be boosted by the return of left-back Reinildo following a three-match suspension.