Why there is no 12:30pm kick-off in the Premier League this weekend

Premier League fans are going to have to wait a little longer than usual to get their top-flight football fix this Saturday…

Most weeks in England, there is a 12:30pm kick-off scheduled to kickstart the first day of action at the weekend.

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However, in one of the final weeks of the campaign, there will not be an early kick-off in the Premier League.

And that has happened due to a re-jigging of the fixtures.

Why is there no 12:30pm kick-off in the Premier League this weekend?

There is no 12:30pm kick-off this Saturday due to Aston Villa vs Tottenham Hotspur being moved.

It comes after Villa booked a place in the Europa League semi-finals with a 7-1 aggregate win over Italian side Bologna.

They are taking on Nottingham Forest in the first leg of their huge tie on Thursday evening, which enforced a change.

The club confirmed on April 17: “Villa’s clash with Spurs at Villa Park, originally scheduled to take place at 12.30pm on Saturday, May 2, will now be held a day later on Sunday, May 3, kicking off at 7pm.”

The game will be broadcast live on TNT Sports, despite the changed date and time, as they hold the rights to both slots.

And they have kept their coverage of the game on Sunday at 7pm, meaning the fixture has not been replaced on Saturday.

So, it leaves a gap in the schedule for this weekend’s action.

Fortunately for fans, it means they’ll be able to focus on the Championship final day, which could be very dramatic.

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This weekend’s Premier League schedule

Despite the lack of an early kick-off on Saturday afternoon, there’s still a full schedule of fixtures coming our way.

Premier League action begins on Friday at 8pm, with Leeds taking on Burnley at Elland Road, exclusively live on talkSPORT.

Then, there are three 3pm starts, with Newcastle hosting Brighton, Wolves taking on Sunderland and Brentford facing West Ham.

Arsenal will welcome Fulham to the Emirates at 5:30pm.

On Sunday afternoon, Bournemouth face Crystal Palace, Manchester United take on Liverpool in a blockbuster and then Aston Villa come up against Tottenham.

With it being a bank holiday too, there are two games on Monday, as Chelsea welcome Nottingham Forest to Stamford Bridge and Manchester City travel to face Everton.

talkSPORT and talkSPORT 2 will be bang across all the action.

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