Explained: Why West Ham have been handed bizarre kick-off time for Liverpool clash
West Ham’s Premier League clash with Liverpool at the London Stadium on Sunday will bizarrely kick off at five minutes past two.
Liverpool are heavy favourites to beat West Ham, despite having lost six of their last seven Premier League fixtures.
Arne Slot‘s side are the champions and looked to have compounded their title win with well over £400million worth of new players in the summer, but the Reds have collapsed in the last two months.
Despite winning the Premier League in his first season, Slot could be sacked by Liverpool if he is handed defeat at West Ham.
Darren England will officiate West Ham’s clash with Liverpool in news that will further intensify the Dutchman’s woes, given that it was England who infamously disallowed Luis Diaz’s goal against Tottenham in 2023.
Why will West Ham face Liverpool at 14:05?
The Premier League have allocated several interesting kick-off times for Sunday’s action, with Crystal Palace set to take on Manchester United at 12:00.
The Eagles had been set to take on the Red Devils at 12:30 on Saturday, but European commitments have made for a difficult balancing act for schedulers.
| Premier League – Sunday | Kick-off time |
| Crystal Palace vs Manchester United | 12:00 |
| Aston Villa vs Wolves | 14:05 |
| Nottingham Forest vs Brighton | 14:05 |
| West Ham vs Liverpool | 14:05 |
| Chelsea vs Arsenal | 16:30 |
Oliver Glasner’s team will travel to take on Strasbourg in the Europa Conference League on Thursday, with that match set to kick off at 20:00 UK time.
And next week, Palace play Burnley on Wednesday, meaning Sunday afternoon was the only time in which the Premier League could feasibly place the game with at least 60 hours of space between each game.
The change has, in turn, affected the three 14:00 Sunday kick-offs, including West Ham‘s clash with Liverpool.
In order to avoid any potential overlap between the games, the Premier League have pushed all three matches back by five minutes.
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West Ham have enjoyed the earlier kick-offs this season
There has not been a pattern to West Ham’s form this season, but when they have won, they’ve done it earlier in the day.
August’s victory over Nottingham Forest kicked off at 14:00, and so did the win over Newcastle United at the start of the month.
The following win over Burnley was a 15:00 kick-off, although some losses have come at the same start time.
West Ham will hope to earn their fourth win of the season on Sunday, at a kick-off time that they likely will not play again this season.
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