Clubs cop it after kick-off at Wembley

THE Premier League kick-off times for Sunday might be bemusing fans.

Manchester United’s clash with Liverpool kicks off at 3.30pm, an hour earlier than Sky’s usual Super Sunday prime slot.

Tottenham’s trip to Nottingham Forest starts at 6pm while Sheffield United’s game with Chelsea has been put back to 5.30pm.

Confused? There is a specific reason the Spurs game has been shifted from its original Monday Night Football slot because train strikes mean there is no public transport from London to Nottingham.

The Blades pushed their game back from 1pm because of the Sheffield Half Marathon on Sunday morning, which goes right past Bramall Lane. Chelsea fans can still get home by train after the game.

This season has seen a shift in kick-off times and a move away from 2pm and 4.30pm being set in stone. TV companies, police, the clubs, Premier

League officials and local authorities discuss their preferred times, but the Safety Advisory Group has the final say.

An hour’s less drinking time, which can feed into trouble within stadiums, may be an influence. The police have taken a stricter view after the Casey report into crowd trouble at the Euros final at Wembley in 2021.

The police have introduced more banning orders and cracked down on excess drinking and drugs within stadiums.

That has been a factor in why they have taken a tougher stance on kick-off times.

The UK Football Policing Unit said: “Public safety is always the primary concern for policing when proposing a change to a scheduled kick-off time.”

The final day of the Premier League season kicks off at 4pm – with no high-risk games. Mind you, if Arsenal are chasing the title and Everton are in danger of going down, then it might be reclassified…