Tottenham’s topsy-turvy season has thrown up plenty of highs and lows, but a strange twist comes on Sunday when their game at Southampton in the Premier League kicks off in the evening — a rarity for that particular day of the week.
In fact, there are actually two EPL games starting at that time on Sunday, with Chelsea and Brentford’s all-West London affair also moved to that timeslot.
Here, The Sporting News confirms the odd schedule for Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs this week, and explains how it all came about.
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What time is Tottenham kickoff vs. Southampton?
The game will kick off Sunday, December 15 at 7:00 p.m local time (GMT) in the United Kingdom.
While evening kickoffs are commonplace for midweek games and even a sporadic occurrence on Saturdays these days, it’s uncharted territory for a Sunday game.
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Why Southampton vs. Spurs kicking off at 7 p.m. GMT?
The match has been selected by TNT Sports for broadcast. While normally that means a 12:30 p.m. GMT Saturday kickoff, with Postecoglou’s side facing Rangers in the Europa League on Thursday, that wasn’t viable.
And with every other weekend timeslot occupied by Sky Sports matches or the Saturday 3 p.m. legacy blackout, Sunday at 7 p.m. was chosen for that match as well as Chelsea vs. Brentford.
Is Chelsea vs. Brentford at 7 p.m. for the same reason?
Chelsea, like Spurs, had to have their next league game moved due to European commitments. The Blues had a particularly taxing round trip with their UEFA Conference League match away to Astana on Thursday, with the match actually played 1,200 kilometres away from Astana in Almaty, Kazakhstan. This was due to ongoing renovations at Astana’s home stadium.
Between this, the five-hour time difference, the blistering cold and the long travel times, the Blues have been given the latest possible weekend kickoff to maximise the time between their Thursday and Sunday games.
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Is Southampton vs. Tottenham on TV?
This match had been selected for domestic broadcast by TNT Sports and that remains the case despite the unusual kickoff slot.
Here is how to watch the game in different major territories around the globe: