Two of Brighton’s April games picked for television
Two of Brighton and Hove Albion’s four Premier League games in April will be moved to accommodate live television coverage.
Newcastle United’s visit to the Amex will now kick off at 5.30pm on Saturday 27th April with BT Sport choosing a wonderfully convenient kick off time for Toon Army supporters making the 700 mile round trip from Tyneside.
There is now no way that they can do the game by train and anyone braving it on the roads can look forward to getting back to the north east at around 3am on Sunday morning.
Albion fans are of course no strangers to this sort of bastardness from television companies. Our visit to St James’ Park in August 2016 was also moved to the Saturday evening spot by Sky Sports, although there was at least the small consolation of that being August Bank Holiday weekend for those wanting to make an overnight stay of it.
The clash with Rafa Benitez’s side represents Brighton’s last realistic chance of a victory this season, with an away game at Arsenal and a home clash with Manchester City following in the Albion’s final two fixtures.
With Chris Hughton’s side getting pulled ever closer to the relegation zone, it could well end up being both club’s biggest game of the campaign should they be caught in the battle to avoid the drop come the end of April.
Brighton versus Newcastle has proven to be a popular fixture with broadcasters down the years. Both of the Championship meetings between the two were shown live in the 2016-17 season as well as two FA Cup clashes in the first two seasons at the Amex, Gus Poyet’s Albion pulling off shock wins against their top flight visitors on both occasions. Will Hoskins even managed to score in one of those.
The second game to be moved is the Albion’s trip to Tottenham Hotspur, which is now scheduled to take place on Sunday 7th April at 4.30pm – although it seems highly unlikely that Sky Sports will get their way for the game to take place on that date.
Should the Albion beat Millwall in the quarter finals of the FA Cup, then the Spurs game will be moved as that is the weekend of the semi finals. It could also be changed if the Champions League draw gives Tottenham a fixture on Tuesday 9th.
A further complication comes with the fact that there isn’t actually a confirmed venue for the game yet either. Spurs have said that they hope it could be the first match in their new stadium, but don’t go holding your breath – so far this season, they’ve announced the first game will be against Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Accrington Stanley, Dulwich Hamlet and the Dog and Duck Reserves with no such luck.
Even abandoning their plans to include an artisan cheese room inside the ground hasn’t sped up the construction process. The game can’t be held at Spurs’ temporary residence of Wembley either as the national stadium will be in use for those aforementioned cup semi finals.
It will be the second time this season that Brighton against Tottenham has been shown live with Spurs’ 2-1 win at the Amex from September also being broadcast.
The Albion’s home game with Bournemouth on Saturday 13th April and the trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers a week later remain unchanged.
