Why Aston Villa and Crystal Palace have been given strange kick-off time this weekend

Oliver Glasner, the manager of Crystal Palace celebrates after winning the game after the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Manchester United at Selhurst Park on May 6, 2024 in London, United Kingdom.

It's a busy week for Oliver Glasner and his squad (Image credit: Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images)

Crystal Palace travel to Aston Villa this weekend for their third Premier League test of the season, but they’ll be doing so at an unfamiliar time.

Since the dawn of Sky Sports, fans of top-tier teams – and increasingly those from the lower division – are accustomed to being at the behest of an ever-changing schedule to pack as much football onto screens as possible.

That partly explains Villa vs Palace’s strange kick-off time, but it’s not the whole story.

Aston Villa vs Crystal Palace kick-off at 7pm on a SUNDAY

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery is working with a tight budget this summer amid the Premier League's stringent PSR rules — Unai Emery will have to make do with the late Sunday kick-off to account for Palace's European commitments this week (Image credit: Getty Images)

While this is not the first Sunday 7pm kick-off in recent years – with Fulham v Manchester United, Chelsea v Brentford and Southampton v Tottenham Hotspur getting the same treatment last season – it is a rarity.

As was the case with that trio of games last season, it has arisen mainly due to Palace’s European commitments.

Ollie Watkins levelled the game in the first half of this fixture last term, and will hope to be on the scoresheet again (Image credit: Getty Images)

Villa vs Palace was originally picked to be Sky Sports’ Friday night fixture back in August, but that wasn’t possible due to the Eagles facing Norwegian outfit Fredrikstad in a Conference League qualifier the night before.

Given it had already been selected for TV as a standalone fixture, another free slot needed to be found, and Sky’s Monday Night Football slot was unavailable due to the start of the international break next week.

That meant the best and only solution was the Sunday evening slot, allowing Palace sufficient recovery time and keeping broadcasters happy at the same time.

The 7pm slot is not a go-to when sorting TV picks, but is there as a fall-back option should it become necessary, as is the case here.

Ezri Konsa brings brought down Anthony Gordon as he races towards the Aston Villa box — Villa are still in search of their first Premier League win this season after a draw against Newcastle and a loss facing Brentford. (Image credit: Getty Images)

In FourFourTwo’s view, while we can never get enough football – and certainly won’t turn down an extra dose on Sunday night – it’s clearly less than ideal for fans going to the game, especially the travelling Palace contingent.

With some likely having travelled to Norway in the week, they will probably have to arrange coach or car travel for this one, with Sunday service on the trains making that route difficult.

A return home that will stretch beyond midnight, with work the next day for most, is not desirable for anyone.

Villa take on Palace this weekend when Premier League action returns.

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Isaac Stacey Stronge is a freelance football writer working for FourFourTwo, Manchester United and Football League World. He has been a season ticket holder at Stockport County throughout the Hatters’ meteoric rise from the National League North to League One and is a die-hard Paddy Madden fan.

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