Time to update your match calendars.
Sky Sports have announced their Premier League broadcast picks for the month of March earlier today and two Chelsea games fell victim to the all powerful TV machine. That’s a pretty significant ration, considering that Chelsea only have three league matches all month (the international break makes its unwelcome return in the second half of the month as well).
Two fixtures in March have been rescheduled for live television broadcasting. https://t.co/WhpYTgUrpc
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 25, 2017
West Ham away will now be Monday, March 6 — the reverse fixture, our first game of the season was as well — while the home match against Watford will be on Monday, March 13. Of course, that latter match could get rescheduled again should either Chelsea or Watford win two more games in the FA Cup. Chelsea face Brentford this weekend while Watford have to brave a trip to Millwall.
While great for the television audience, both in England and worldwide, Monday night games tend to be a pain to attend in person. Moving the West Ham game to primetime seems especially unwise given the crowd troubles earlier this season in the midweek EFL Cup tie.
West Ham v Chelsea moved to Monday night, March 6, for TV coverage – despite previous crowd issues of evening EFL Cup tie at London Stadium.
— Oliver Todd (@oliver_todd) January 25, 2017
After what happened in EFL Cup tie, it's ridiculous that TV have been allowed to move #whufc v #cfc to a Monday night kick-off. Round 2?! https://t.co/tcK8Ca3Cyw
— Simon Johnson (@sjstandardsport) January 25, 2017
But, as we saw all too clearly during the festive period, money talks, especially in the Premier League.
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