Reds could seal title at Anfield, and 33 fixtures on free-to-air TV

Liverpool have been given the green light to potentially seal their first league title in 30 years at Anfield after it had looked as though any decisive game could be moved to a neutral venue.

The Reds need six points to seal their first championship since 1990, and Merseyside Police have given the go-ahead for what could be the crucial game against Crystal Palace on June 24 to be played at Anfield.

Liverpool’s Premier League matches against Everton and Manchester City, both due to be away fixtures, are the only ones which might have to be played at neutral venues with police forces and local authorities approving the rest of the initial 32 confirmed fixtures to be played on a home-and-away basis.

The Merseyside derby has been fixed as a 7pm kick-off on Sunday June 21, with the match one of 33 in the remaining 92 to be made available free to air, in this case on Sky’s Pick channel.

A decision on where the match will be played is expected on Monday, when Liverpool City Council’s safety advisory group meets to decide whether the game can be played at Goodison Park as scheduled.

The derby was one of five fixtures on a list issued by the UK’s football policing lead, Deputy Chief Constable Mark Roberts of South Yorkshire Police, which were set to be played at neutral venues at the request of local forces.

Three of the five are in the fixtures released by the Premier League yesterday, which cover the first three full rounds of matches in the resumption.

The list had also included any game where Liverpool could seal the title.

Merseyside Police appeared to contradict DCC Roberts last week by saying they were happy to police matches in Liverpool. The derby could be the game where the Reds clinch their first top-flight title in 30 years, if Manchester City slip up against Arsenal on June 17, but they can wrap it up irrespective of what City do if they win their opening two games.

City’s game against champions-elect Liverpool, who are 25 points clear of Pep Guardiola’s side, on July 2 is also listed as “venue TBC”, and had also been on the list of matches earmarked to be moved to a neutral venue.

All other matches without the “venue TBC” tag have been given the go-ahead by local police, the PA news agency understands.

The first two matches of the resumption will both be on Sky Sports – Aston Villa versus Sheffield United and Manchester City against Arsenal, on Wednesday June 17. The games will kick off at 6pm and 8.15pm respectively.

The first Saturday 3pm game goes to BT Sport, who will screen the match between Brighton and Arsenal in that slot.

The first of the BBC’s live matches – their first top-flight game since 1988 – has been confirmed as Bournemouth versus Crystal Palace which will be shown on BBC1 at 7.45pm on Saturday June 20.

Amazon also has four matches, all of which it is making available free to air without a subscription to its Prime service. The first of them will be Palace against Burnley on Monday June 29.

Two of the three rounds of matches will primarily be played in midweek slots.

This is because the FA Cup quarter-finals will be played on June 27 and 28, with the BBC and BT Sport sharing the rights to those games.

There are three dates where more than one game kicks off at 6pm – Wednesday June 24, Thursday June 25 and Wednesday July 1.