PREMIERSHIP FOOTBALL

Sky have worked closely with all of the Premiership clubs, to bring you what they consider to be the "best start to a season in 17 years of Premier League football on Sky."
The first four months of Sky Sports during the 2008-09 season will feature each of the 20 clubs in action, including five massive head-to-head clashes between last year’s top four teams. Liverpool will entertain Manchester United on Saturday the 13th of September, after which Chelsea will face off against the previous seasons' winners on the 21st at Stamford Bridge. The Blues then face Liverpool at home on the 26th of October, after which Arsenal face Manchester United on the 8th of November before facing fellow Londoners Chelsea away from home on the 30th.

"We see last season's top three on the first weekend – we see five Big Four head-to-heads - eight big derby matches - and, most important of all, all 20 clubs are live in the first four months of the season," says Vic Wakeling, Managing Director of Sky Sports.

As well as this, Sky will be serving up eight major derbies between local rivals including; West Bromwich Albion vs Aston Villa (21st Sept), Everton vs Liverpool (27th Sept), Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur (29th Oct), Manchester City vs Manchester United (30th Nov) and the aforementioned Chelsea vs Arsenal London derby (30th Nov).

Sky Sports offer 92 live matches from the Barclays Premier League this season and will show delayed 'near live' coverage of 242 games with Sky digital viewers able to choose highlights from a range of games on Football First: Match Choice, and of course, Sky+ every upcoming game at the touch of a button.

With expert commentary and analysis from former footballing professionals and award-winning commentators such as Andy Grey, Chris Kamara and Matt le Tissier, customers who sign up to Sky Sports will always be ahead of the game.

Virgin Media customers can subscribe to the channels Sky Sports 1, 2 & 3 as well as Sky Sports Xtra from as little as £18.00 a month. Virgin Media subscribers can also sign up to the Setanta Sports Pack from just £9.99 a month, with XL customers getting the Setanta Sports Pack bundled in for FREE.

BT Vision customers can sign up for the Setanta Sports Pack for just £9.99 a month after paying a one-off fee of £10 for the Setanta Sports viewing card, as well as get on-demand access to delayed 'near live' coverage of 242 games.

Setanta Sports kick off the 2008-09 season with a potential trio of giant killings; Rokerites Sunderland entertaining last season's fourth placers Liverpool at the Stadium of Light on Saturday the 16th of August. This is followed up by Fulham facing Arsenal at home on the 23rd and Wigan Athletic squaring up against runner-ups for last season Chelsea at the JJB Stadium.

Following this is a brace of games in September featuring some of the top scoring teams from last season: Chelsea face Manchester City at away on the 13th, before fellow Londoners Tottenham Hotspur face Aston Villa at home on the 15th. Bolton then face Arsenal at home on the 20th before Hull City head down south to the Emirates Stadium to face the Gunners on the 27th.

Mark O'Meara, CEO of Setanta for GB, said: "We're delighted with the quality of our initial live Premier League games for the 2008/09 season… Setanta has quickly become a top-class package that no football fan can do without!"

Indeed; the only way to get full live and exclusive access to all of the Premiership games this season is by signing up for Setanta Sports alongside your Sky Sports subscription package. Subscribing to the Setanta Sports Pack grants you access to dedicated live coverage of 46 the Barclays Premier League games for the 2008-09 season.

Keep up with all the breaking news from the world of sport with Setanta Sports News and catch up with the week's highlights on Macca's Monday Night with Steve McManaman, Football Matters with Angus Scott and the Friday Football Show, presented by James Richardson.

Freeview customers can sign up for Setanta Sports for £10.99 a month – Freeview customers may have to purchase a viewing card-compatible set-top box or a CAM pack for their IDTV sets.

The Barclays Premier League season for 2008-09 will be ushered in by both Arsenal facing Aston Villa at home live on Sky Sports, and Sunderland entertaining Liverpool over on Setanta Sports on Saturday the 16th of August.

West Bromwich Albion, Stoke City and Hull City all moving up into a Premier League which, for the first time in recent years, promises to break the deadlock of the Big Four this season. Tottenham a side long identified with being the one capable of shaking up the status quo and have recently secured the services of fresh blood in the form of Giovani Dos Santos who has already been hailed as 'the next Ronaldinho', and there is talk of PSV Eindhoven's Heurelho Gomes moving to the North London side for a cool £11million.

Liverpool have recently signed France youth international David Ngog, Chelsea are attempting to buy Robinho from Real Madrid, and Alexandr Hleb has left Arsenal to join Barcelona for a neat £11.6 million, and Newcastle's Joey Barton has been jailed for six months after admitting assault and affray, which will temporarily put the brakes on the advance of the Toon Army at the beginning of the season. Of course, this season also marks the return of celebrated England international Peter Crouch to FA Cup winners Portsmouth which promises to shake things up no end.