On Sunday, the Southampton v Man City fixture saw an opportunistic strike from Che Adams settle the match, but it was notable for other reasons too.
Adams’ 40-yard lob, his first in 30 games for the south coast side, was worthy of a big audience and it’s a real shame from the player’s point of view that the coronavirus pandemic meant that only essential workers were allowed in the stadium to witness it live.
The home victory also ensured that Pep Guardiola had lost three away games in succession for the first time in his managerial career, which began way back in 2008 with Barcelona, per Goal.com,
However, with 5.7 million viewers on the BBC, the match became the most watched Premier League game in history, per the Daily Mail, beating the amount of viewers that had tuned in a couple of weeks previously to watch an insipid Merseyside derby.
With an audience of 5.7 million on the BBC the @SouthamptonFC v @ManCity game was the most watched Premier League match of all-time. Can’t believe it took us so long. ?
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) July 6, 2020
Suffice to say that Match of the Day present, Gary Lineker, was pleased, the former striker tweeting his approval on Monday evening.
Before the season is over, the BBC are set to show Burnley v Wolves July 15, and it will be interesting to see how many viewers tune in for that one.