There aren’t many late kick-offs in the Premier League on Saturdays but there’s a good chance it’s going to involve Liverpool when there is one. At least this week’s they’re at home and not hauling themselves back from London in the middle of the night.

Aston Villa visit Anfield on Saturday and the fixture is due to take place in one of the more unusual Premier League kick-off times.

The paths by which matches end up in their particular slots is more circuitous than we supporters might realise, and there are few if any that have been moved for the same reasons as this one.

What is the kick-off time for Liverpool v Villa?

Villa will kick off against Liverpool at 8.00pm on Saturday 1st November.

This is for a combination of reasons, primarily the fact that the city of Liverpool is hosting the Rugby League Ashes test match between England and Australia at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium in the afternoon.

With TNT Sports selecting the Liverpool v Villa match for broadcast, it would ordinarily have been played in the 12.30pm lunchtime slot.

But:

• It can’t be played at 12.30pm on Saturday because of the rugby league elsewhere in the city
• It can’t be played at 3.00pm because it’s a TV game (and because of the rugby league elsewhere in the city)
• It can’t be played at 5.30pm because that slot is owned by Sky Sports (and because of the rugby league elsewhere in the city)

And, for the record, it couldn’t be played on Sunday regardless of TNT Sports because Liverpool wouldn’t have the appropriate rest period between the Villa match and their Champions League fixture against Real Madrid on Tuesday.

So, that’s that.

Liverpool’s 3-2 defeat against Brentford last weekend was also an 8pm kick-off on Saturday. Their return flight from Frankfurt after their Champions League win over Eintracht didn’t allow a long enough turnaround time to fulfil the more familiar 12.30pm broadcast spot.

Have Villa played in this Premier League time slot before?

Villa’s away fixture against Liverpool was also a Saturday 8.00pm kick-off last season.

On that occasion it was Villa’s travel schedule and Champions League involvement that led to the fixture being played in the evening of the Saturday in November after Villa’s league phase visit to Club Brugge.

TNT Sports were due to broadcast the game between Liverpool and Villa but moved to the later 8.00pm spot because of a FIFA agreement governing the amount of time – a 72-hour rest period, to be precise – between European matches in midweek and their subsequent weekend fixtures in the domestic league.

The post Why does Liverpool v Aston Villa kick off at 8pm on Saturday? appeared first on AVillaFan.com – Aston Villa Fan Site.