Manchester City v Arsenal is the most-watched Premier League game in THREE YEARS

Manchester City‘s comfortable win over Arsenal on Wednesday night was the most-watched Premier League fixture in almost three-and-a-half years.

With football fans starved of top-flight action for over three months because of the coronavirus shutdown, viewers tuned in in big numbers to see Pep Guardiola’s men dent the Gunners’ hopes of a top four finish.

In total, 2.6million people watched Sky Sports’ coverage as Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden struck against the visitors, who had substitute David Luiz sent off during the second half. 

Around 2.6million viewers tuned in to watch Raheem Sterling and Co beat Arsenal on Sky

Pundit Jamie Carragher was at the Etihad for Sky Sports’ most-watched game in three years

That figure represents a 14.3 per cent share of Wednesday night’s TV audience, with most viewers tuning in at around the halfway point of the match.

It makes the behind closed doors clash at the Etihad the most watched game since Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with bitter rivals Liverpool in January, 2017.

On that occasion, two million viewers tuned into Sky to see Zlatan Ibrahimovic cancel out James Milner’s penalty with less than 10 minutes remaining. 

Aston Villa’s 0-0 draw with Sheffield United, which was the first Premier League game played since lockdown began, drew just over half the audience of City vs Arsenal with 1.4m viewers.

Around two million viewers watched Zlatan Ibrahimovic equalise against Liverpool in 2017

David Luiz was sent off in the second half for bringing down Riyad Mahrez inside the area

A whopping 75 per cent of those who tuned in to the 8.15pm kick-off opted to watch the game with Sky’s artificial crowd noise on, rather than just the commentary.

That option was available on Sky’s Main Event channel, while viewers were also able to listen to the game with just the background sound from inside the empty stadium.

Meanwhile, Amazon will show all four of their Premier League games this season for free on streaming site Twitch.

The video platform – which has already shown two full rounds of fixtures from the English top flight this season after picking up the rights – was handed another four games as broadcasters negotiated a split across the rest of the season.

David Jones (right) fronted Sky’s coverage of Manchester City v Arsenal alongside Carragher (left), Gary Neville (second left) and Micah Richards (second right)

They have now revealed that fans will be able to watch those games on Twitch. That includes the clash between Crystal Palace and Burnley on June 29.

Amazon also announced they had picked up the rights to Everton against Southampton on July 9 and Watford’s clash with Newcastle on July 11 – with the fourth still to be revealed.

The games will also be free to view on Amazon Prime Video itself. 

Elsewhere, Sky Sports revealed a further 21 matches they will be showing over the start of July – having already announced 20 for the opening fortnight.

They include the north London derby on July 12, which will kick-off at 4.30pm, and Wolves against Everton on the same day.

The channel has also selected Manchester United’s mid-week trip to Aston Villa on Thursday, July 9.

Sky Sports have announced they will be broadcasting the north London derby this season

They will also be showing Premier League leaders Liverpool’s match with the Midlands side on July 5. 

The north London derby will not be available on free-to-air channel Sky Sports Pick, although other big matches will be.

They include Manchester United against Southampton on July 13 and Champions League-chasing Leicester hosting Crystal Palace on July 4. 

BT Sport, meanwhile, have picked up Manchester United’s clash with Bournemouth on July 4, which will be shown at 3pm.

Liverpool’s game against Burnley on July 11 will also be shown by the channel, who have selected six games in the latest time-frame. 

The BBC also announced their third selection – Southampton against Manchester City on July 5. The game will kick-off at 7pm.