Why is Liverpool v Aston Villa not a 12:30 kick-off on TNT Sports?

Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp had an acute dislike of the Premier League’s 12:30 kick-off time.

He regularly bemoaned being scheduled in the BT Sport/ TNT Sports broadcast slot, citing recovery, nutrition and sleep as the main reasons behind his stance.

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Klopp’s anger was particularly high when the Reds were asked to play at Saturday lunchtime following European fixtures or the international break.

And, as luck would have it, Liverpool’s first game under Arne Slot was a Saturday 12:30 kickoff away at Ipswich Town.

A slow start gave way to a much-improved display after the break with Liverpool grabbing a hard-earned win.

Arne Slot changes his tune over 12:30 kick-off

Slot referenced his predecessor’s hatred of the 12:30 kick-off back in August but claimed ahead of the away game at Crystal Palace in October that he would be ‘stupid’ to complain about playing at 12:30 considering he scheduled his training sessions for the same time.

He changed his tune afterwards, however, when both Alexis Mac Allister and Alisson Becker suffered injuries. In Alisson’s case, he’s not been seen since.

Both Liverpool and weekend opponents Aston Villa played midweek in the Champions League; Villa going down 1-0 to Club Brugge in Belgium following a howler from Tyrone Mings.

Liverpool v Aston Villa at 8pm on Saturday

Liverpool, of course, dismantled Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen at Anfield in perhaps their best performance of the season.

And heading into the weekend, fans will have noticed that TNT Sports was the assigned broadcaster for the game.

This weekend there is NO 12:30 kick-off on TNT Sports with Liverpool versus Aston Villa in the Premier League instead kicking off at 8pm tonight (Saturday November 9).

While many might have expected TNT to put the game on in its usual lunchtime slot, no game has been scheduled at that time with Saturday night being chosen for the game instead.

Liverpool avoid injury risk

TNT Sports have switched the kick-off to accommodate teams who played in Europe midweek, in this case BOTH sides have played in the Champions League this week.

So that means that rather than having a quick turnaround from Wednesday night to Saturday morning, the Reds have an added rest.

The squad should be a little bit fresher tonight and, hopefully, avoid the pitfalls of injury that can come teams’ way in the 12:30 slot.

Now the question could be asked, why can’t this happen every time?

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