Setanta Sports today confirms the initial 18 fixtures of its 46 exclusively live Barclays Premier League games for the 2008/09 season. The first set of fixtures announced, including big clashes between Arsenal and Newcastle, Spurs and Liverpool and Aston Villa and Man Utd, will be shown exclusively live from August 16th and mark the beginning of another exciting season on Setanta.
The opening match between Champions League chasing Liverpool & Roy Keane’s battle-hardened Sunderland is sandwiched between Setanta’s exclusively live coverage of the Community Shield from Wembley (Sunday, August 10th) and Capello’s last home friendly before the World Cup 2010 qualifiers start in earnest (England vs. Czech Republic on Wednesday, August 20th). All this before exclusive coverage of three key England 2010 World Cup away qualifiers: Andorra (Saturday, September 6th), Croatia (Wednesday, September 10th) and Belarus (Wednesday, October 15th).
Champions Man Utd, ‘Big’ Phil Scolari’s Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal side all feature heavily within the opening 19 games of Setanta’s Barclays Premier League coverage - here are some of the key highlights:
- Setanta’s first game will be in front of a packed crowd at The Stadium of Light, where Sunderland host Rafa Benitez’s title-chasing Liverpool on Saturday, August 16th.
- The following weekend is a double-header that sees Setanta take trips to Craven Cottage (Saturday, August 23rd) and the JJB Stadium (Sunday, August 24th) to run the rule over title-contenders Arsenal and Chelsea respectively.
- Champions Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Newcastle will all feature on Setanta in the opening weeks the season.
- Saturday evening games on Setanta this season have changed to a 5.30pm kick-off from 5.15pm. There are 13 Saturday evening games in the opening 19 fixtures, including a trip to Eastlands to see Mark Hughes test his mettle as Manchester City manager against Phil Scolari’s Chelsea on September 13th.
- Top class Monday night action will continue this season on Setanta Sports with five Monday night games confirmed – the first being Spurs vs. Aston Villa on September 15th at 8pm, a re-run of one of the games of last season, a 4-4 thriller at White Hart Lane.
- Manchester United legend Paul Ince will face his first contest as manager against his old boss Fergie as his Blackburn side take on the Red Devils at Ewood Park on Saturday, October 25th.
Setanta’s confirmed line-up of exclusively live Barclays Premier League games are:
Saturday, August 16th @ 5.30pm – Sunderland vs. Liverpool
Saturday, August 23rd @ 5.30pm – Fulham vs. Arsenal
Sunday, August 24th @ 1.30pm – Wigan Athletic vs. Chelsea
Saturday, August 30th @ 5.30pm – Arsenal vs. Newcastle United
Saturday, September 13th @ 5.30pm – Manchester City vs. Chelsea
Monday, September 15th @ 8pm – Tottenham Hotspur vs. Aston Villa
Saturday, September 20th @ 5.30pm – Bolton Wanderers vs. Arsenal
Saturday, September 27th @ 5.30pm – Arsenal vs. Hull City
Saturday, October 4th @ 5.30pm – Blackburn Rovers vs. Manchester United
Saturday, October 18th @ 5.30pm – Manchester United vs. West Bromwich Albion
Monday, October 20th @ 8pm – Newcastle United vs. Manchester City
Saturday, October 25th @ 5.30pm – Blackburn Rovers vs. Middlesbrough
Saturday, November 1st @ 5.30pm – Tottenham Hotspur vs. Liverpool
Monday, November 3rd @ 8pm – Newcastle United vs. Aston Villa
Saturday, November 8th @ 5.30pm – Liverpool vs. West Bromwich Albion
Saturday, November 22nd @ 5.30pm – Aston Villa vs. Manchester United
Monday, November 24th @ 8pm – Wigan Athletic vs. Everton
Monday, December 1st @ 8pm – Liverpool vs. West Ham United
The Setanta Sports presenting team for the 2008/09 season consists of lead anchor Angus Scott alongside star analysts Steve McManaman, Les Ferdinand and Tim Sherwood. The pitch side reporter is Kelly Cates (formerly Dalglish).
From August 2008, Setanta’s exclusively live content will include the FA Cup, England international friendlies and 2010 World Cup qualifiers involving England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.