Defending champions Manchester City begin their quest for an unprecedented fifth consecutive Premier League title on Sunday with a tricky opening fixture away at Chelsea.
Pep Guardiola’s claimed his 18th trophy as Man City boss last weekend, with his side beating local rivals Man United on penalties to lift the Community Shield and underline that his team remain hungry for more silverware.
It’s a new era for the hosts, with Enzo Maresca — Guardiola’s former assistant at Man City — taking charge of a Premier League game for the first time following his appointment as successor to Mauricio Pochettino. Chairman Todd Boehly has kept the Blues chequebook open, with Portuguese attacker Pedro Neto and midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall among the new faces to arrive at Stamford Bridge during the summer.
Chelsea host Manchester City on Sunday, Aug. 18 at Stamford Bridge, with kickoff set for 4:30 p.m. BST local time, making it a 11:30 a.m. ET or 8:30 a.m. PT start in the US and Canada and a 1:30 a.m. AEST kickoff on Monday morning in Australia.
Below, we’ll outline the best live TV streaming services to use to watch game lives wherever you are in the world.
Erling Haaland scored a hatrick in a 4-2 pre-season win for Manchester City against Chelsea earlier this month.
How to watch Chelsea vs. Man City in the US without cable
Sunday’s match will be broadcast on both NBC and Peacock, the latter of which is the best option for football fans looking to watch the EPL this season, with the large majority of fixtures set be shown exclusively on streaming service. You’ll need a Peacock Premium or Premium Plus account to catch games live.
Peacock offers two Premium plans, and after the recent price increases, the ad-supported Premium plan will cost $8 a month, and the ad-free Premium Plus plan will cost $14 a month.
As was the case with last season, select fixtures will be shown each weekend on USA Network, NBC, NBC Sports Network and CNBC, with this game set to be shown on NBC, which you can access as part of your cable package or at the NBC Sports website with a valid login, and can be streamed via Sling TV and other more expensive streaming TV services.
Sling TV’s Blue plan includes NBC making it a great option for those wanting to watch Premier League action. It’s $40 a month and includes over 40 channels, including other sports channels like ESPN and FS1.
How to watch the Premier League 2024/25 season from anywhere with a VPN
If you find yourself unable to view EPL matches locally, you may need a different way to watch the games — that’s where using a VPN can come in handy. A VPN is also the best way to stop your ISP from throttling your speeds on game day by encrypting your traffic, and it’s also a great idea if you’re traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network, and you want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins.
With a VPN, you’re able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the game. Most VPNs, like our Editors’ Choice, ExpressVPN, make it really easy to do this.
Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in any country where VPNs are legal, including the US, UK and Canada, as long as you have a legitimate subscription to the service you’re streaming. You should be sure your VPN is set up correctly to prevent leaks: Even where VPNs are legal, the streaming service may terminate the account of anyone it deems to be circumventing correctly applied blackout restrictions.
Latest Tests DNS leaks detected, 25% speed loss in 2024 testsNetwork 3,000 plus servers in 105 countriesJurisdiction British Virgin Islands
ExpressVPN is our current best VPN pick for people who want a reliable and safe VPN, and it works on a variety of devices. It’s normally $13 a month, but if you sign up for an annual subscription for $100 you’ll get three months free and save 49%. That’s the equivalent of $6.67 a month with code SPECIALDEAL, which should be automatically applied.
Note that ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Livestream Chelsea vs. Man City in the UK
This match is exclusive to Sky Sports, showing on its Sky Sports Main Event, Premier League and Ultra channels. If you already have Sky Sports as part of your TV package, you can stream the game via its Sky Go app, but cord-cutters will want to get set up with a Now account and a Now Sports membership to stream the game.
Sky subsidiary Now (formerly Now TV) offers streaming access to Sky Sports channels with a Now Sports membership. You can get a day of access for £15, or sign up to a monthly plan from £35 per month right now.
Livestream Chelsea vs. Man City in Canada
If you want to stream this EPL game live in Canada, you’ll need to subscribe to Fubo Canada. The service has exclusive rights to every Premier League fixture once again this season.
Fubo is the go-to destination for Canadians looking to watch the EPL this season, with exclusive streaming rights to every match. It costs CA$30 per month, though you can save some cash by paying quarterly or annually.
Livestream Chelsea vs. Man City in Australia
Football fans Down Under can watch EPL matches live on streaming service Optus Sport, which is showing every single Premier League fixture of the 2024/25 season live in Australia.
With exclusive rights to screen all EPL matches live this season, as well as German Bundesliga and Spanish La Liga games, streaming service Optus Sport is a particularly big draw for Aussie soccer fans.
If you’re already an Optus network customer you can bag Optus Sport for a reduced price, with discounts bringing the price down to as low as AU$7 per month. If you’re not, a standalone monthly subscription to the service starts at AU$25.
Quick tips for streaming the Premier League using a VPN
- With four variables at play — your ISP, browser, video streaming provider and VPN — your experience and success when streaming EPL matches may vary.
- If you don’t see your desired location as a default option for ExpressVPN, try using the “search for city or country” option.
- If you’re having trouble getting the game after you’ve turned on your VPN and set it to the correct viewing area, there are two things you can try for a quick fix. First, log into your streaming service subscription account and make sure the address registered for the account is an address in the correct viewing area. If not, you may need to change the physical address on file with your account. Second, some smart TVs — like Roku — don’t have VPN apps you can install directly on the device itself. Instead, you’ll have to install the VPN on your router or the mobile hotspot you’re using (like your phone) so that any device on its Wi-Fi network now appears in the correct viewing location.
- All of the VPN providers we recommend have helpful instructions on their main site for quickly installing the VPN on your router. In some cases with smart TV services, after you install a cable network’s sports app, you’ll be asked to verify a numeric code or click a link sent to your email address on file for your smart TV. This is where having a VPN on your router will also help, since both devices will appear to be in the correct location.
- And remember, browsers can often give away a location despite using a VPN, so be sure you’re using a privacy-first browser to log into your services. We normally recommend Brave.
