All your EPL Matchday 1 streaming options – and don’t forget the early FPL GW1 deadline time

Brandon Thomas-Asante of Coventry City — (Image credit: Getty Images / Jacques Feeney/Offside)

The Premier League is back and, watch out, because it might be sooner than you think.

The 2026/27 EPL season kicks off with Matchday 1 this Friday, August 21, with EFL Championship victors Coventry City facing EPL champions Arsenal at the Gunners' London home.

That means the FPL GW1 deadline time is Friday, August 21, 2026, at 6.30pm BST (1.30pm ET). Don't miss it!

And if you don't want to miss the games themselves, then we've got the kick off times and streaming options for all of the EPL fixtures for Matchday 1 just below.

If you're away from your regular stream and stuck in a blackout area, then don't forget that you can use a VPN to watch the match as usual.

Right now, one of the cheapest and most effective VPNs available is IPVanish and it's currently $2.19 per month.

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EPL Matchday 1 2026/27 schedule
	US (all times ET)	UK
August 21 (Fri)	Row 0 - Cell 1	Row 0 - Cell 2
Arsenal vs Coventry	3pm – USA Network	8pm – Sky Sports / NOW
August 22 (Sat)	Row 2 - Cell 1	Row 2 - Cell 2
Hull vs Man Utd	7.30am – USA Network	12.30pm – TNT Sports / HBO Max
Everton vs Crystal Palace	10am – USA Network	3pm – Blackout
Nottingham Forest vs Leeds	10am – NBCSN / Peacock	3pm – Blackout
Ipswich vs Sunderland	10am – Peacock	3pm – Blackout
Brentford vs Tottenham	12.30pm – NBC / Peacock	5.30pm – Sky Sports / NOW
August 23 (Sun)	Row 8 - Cell 1	Row 8 - Cell 2
Brighton vs Aston Villa	9am – Peacock	2pm – Blackout
Man City vs Bournemouth	9am – USA Network	2pm – Blackout
Newcastle vs Liverpool	11.30am – USA Network	4.30pm – Blackout
August 24 (Mon)	Row 12 - Cell 1	Row 12 - Cell 2
Fulham vs Chelsea	3pm – USA Network	8pm – Sky Sports / NOW

In the States, four of the weekend's matches are available to stream on Peacock TV. It's $12.99 per month and there are no free trials. Only two of those games are airing on cable on NBC and NBCSN.

The other six games are all on cable for those who have USA Network. Cord cutters can watch those using Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, DirecTV Stream and Sling TV.

Of those, Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV have free trials for new customers, while DirecTV Stream and Sling TV offer discounts for the first month.

To watch your US EPL streams while you're traveling abroad, you'll need to use a VPN.

Watch EPL streams with IPVanish: $2.19/month
IPVanish allows you to change your apparent internet location. That means you can set your mobile or laptop to appear to be back in the States when you're away from home. That way you won't get blocked from your usual US EPL streaming services. IPVanish is $2.19 per month over two years, paid as $52.56 upfront. You can install it on unlimited simultaneous devices and you get 3GB of eSIM data to help you travel securely over the summer months and beyond.

The EPL's blackout rules in the UK mean that none of the 3pm Saturday fixtures are televised. Instead, there are usually just four televised fixtures each weekend.

You can watch the fixtures with subscriptions to Sky TV or TNT Sports. The matches on Sky are also available to stream with one-off day passes on NOW. TNT games are also on HBO Max.

You can read the full details on how to watch the Premier League all season here.

Dan is Editor-in-Chief, VPN and How to Watch, at Future. He heads up all the VPN content and how to watch articles. So, if you want to know about what is the best VPN or how to watch just about anything on TV, anywhere in the world, he's a good bet to ask. Dan has worked in tech journalism for over 15 years, writing for Tech Digest, Pocket-lint, MSN Tech, Wareable and What Hi-Fi? as well as freelancing for T3, Metro and the Independent. Dan has a keen interest in playing and watching football. He has also written about it for the Observer and FourFourTwo and ghost authored John Toshack's autobiography, Toshack's Way.

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