IT’S A BUMPER START TO 2017 WITH 10 EFL MATCHES SELECTED TO APPEAR LIVE ON SKY SPORTS
An action-packed New Year TV schedule has been announced today, with 10 Sky Bet EFL matches having been picked to appear live on Sky Sports in the opening weeks of 2017.The latest round of matches, which will follow on from the festive 10 in 10 series, kicks off with a Thursday night game at the Madejski Stadium as Reading host QPR on the 12 January. That match will kick-start a run of four games in five days, with important fixtures at Elland Road, Molineux and Griffin Park following in quick succession.
Brighton have a Friday night encounter with promotion rivals Sheffield Wednesday on 20 January. It’s then a derby double-header on Saturday 21 January as QPR host London neighbours Fulham at Loftus Road in a lunchtime kick-off before Leeds make the short trip to Oakwell to take on Yorkshire rivals Barnsley at 5.30pm.
Finally for this round of TV fixtures, it’s three midweek games in succession as Steve Bruce’s Aston Villa travel to Brentford on Tuesday 31 January ahead of QPR making the trip north to Newcastle on Wednesday 1 February. The midweek action is then wrapped up with another Thursday night tie, this time with early-season table-toppers Huddersfield hosting 2016 Play-Off semi-finalists Brighton.
This announcement is being made as part of an ongoing commitment between the EFL and Sky Sports to ensure clubs and their fans are given at least five weeks’ notice ahead of any matches selected for live television coverage.
The list of games selected for live coverage are as follows:
Thursday 12 January Reading v QPR Kick-off 8pm
Friday 13 January Leeds v Derby Kick-off 7.45pm
Saturday 14 January Wolves v Aston Villa Kick-off 5.30pm
Monday 16 January Brentford v Newcastle Kick-off 7.45pm (subject to FA Cup replays)
Friday 20 January Brighton v Sheffield Wednesday Kick-off 7.45pm
Saturday 21 January QPR v Fulham Kick-off 12.30pm
Saturday 21 January Barnsley v Leeds Kick-off 5.30pm
Tuesday 31 January Brentford v Aston Villa Kick-off 7.45pm
Wednesday 1 February Newcastle v QPR Kick-off 7.45pm
Thursday 2 February Huddersfield v Brighton Kick-off 7.45pm
Remaining TV Selection Dates 2016/17 (Illustrative but subject to a five-week minimum notice commitment)
• Clubs notified of selections for the remainder of February by 30 November;
• Clubs notified of selections for first week in March on Monday 9 January following FA Cup Third
Round;
• From 1 February, 2017 a five-week rolling selection commences for matches up to and including the penultimate weekend;
• Clubs notified of selections for the final day made following the completion of the penultimat eround of matches.
NB: The EFL has committed to publicly announcing any fixture changes within three working days in order to give EFL supporters as much time as is possible to allow for any alterations to travel plans that may be required.