Sky Sports has confirmed its first live Premier League dates for the new season, with Man United, Chelsea and Arsenal on the opening weekend.

Champions United, the Blues and the Gunners are all in action on the opening weekend, kicking off 35 live games between August and November.

The dates feature all 20 top-flight clubs at least once and also include some of the biggest clashes in the domestic calendar.

The three newly-promoted clubs, West Brom, Stoke and Hull, will be on as well as the usual Premier League big guns.

There are also mouthwatering derby dates as part of Sky Sports' Premier League coverage, which means 92 live matches, also screened in high definition, delayed coverage of another 242 games with Sky digital viewers able to choose highlights from a range of games on Football First: Match Choice.

Announcing the initial live matches Vic Wakeling, Managing Director of Sky Sports, said: "We think this is our best start to a season in 17 years of Premier League football on Sky.

"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."

The curtain-raiser on opening day, Saturday, August 17 is West Brom's visit to Arsenal, while the following day, we are at Chelsea for the visit of FA Cup winners Portsmouth and Luiz Felipe Scolari's first game in charge.

United complete a blockbusting double header as they play host to Kevin Keegan's Newcastle United in Sunday's second game.

Sky Sports is also showing five clashes between last season's big four before the end of November, with Liverpool v Manchester United on September 13 and the champions' visit to Chelsea on September 21.

Chelsea play host to Liverpool on October 26 before Arsenal against Manchester United on November 8 and the London derby between Chelsea and Arsenal on November 30.

Sky also have the Premier League's big derbies including West Brom against Aston Villa on September 21, while the cameras will be at Goodison Park for the 208th Merseyside derby between Everton and Liverpool on Saturday, September 27.

October features the showdown between Sunderland and Newcastle on Saturday 25, just four days before the North London battle between Arsenal and Spurs at the Emirates.

And in November, Mark Hughes and Manchester City lock horns with their local rivals United on Sunday 30, as a part of a massive double-header which also includes Chelsea against Arsenal.

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