BBC forced to call out Sky over Premier League blunder labelled a 'technical mistake'

The BBC reportedly had a quiet word with Sky following an ‘error’ during the opening weekend of the 2025/26 Premier League campaign.

18 of 20 Premier League teams have now completed their first fixture of the season, with just Everton and Leeds United yet to complete their opening match.

As ever, a new season comes with change.

Whether that be the newly enforced ‘eight-second rule’ of which Burnley’s Martin Dubravka became acquainted with when he held onto the ball for too long during his side’s 3-0 loss against Spurs, or greater access for the media into dressing rooms, there are plenty of things for supporters to get used to.

On Saturday evening, fans also watched the BBC’s flagship football highlights show Match of the Day, which was presented by Mark Chapman, who, along with Kelly Cates and Gabby Logan, has replaced Gary Lineker as host.

The 51-year-old had previously presented an array of BBC shows including Match of the Day 2, and was accompanied by former Premier League strikers Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney during the first episode of the season.

Mark Chapman is one of three new MOTD presenters (Credit:Getty)

When introducing the show on Saturday, Chapman said: “The Premier League is back and Match of the Day is back. You may have seen and heard there’s a big change to the show this season, and that is that Wayne Rooney has joined is us as a regular pundit.

“Some things don’t change though, and Alan (Shearer) is still here.”

However, according to the Mail, viewers who tuned in via Sky may have still expected Lineker to be presenting the show.

The Sky page for the programme still showed an image of Lineker despite Chapman’s introduction.

As reported by the Mail, the BBC are understood to have “had a quiet word with their counterparts at Sky”, concerning the blunder which was put down to a ‘technical mistake’.

Lineker’s image was later removed from Sky’s page.

Gary Lineker took a step back from MOTD in May (Credit:Getty)

Speaking on his podcast ‘The Rest Is Football’ on Monday, Lineker made his feelings clear on Chapman’s showing when conversing with Micah Richards and Shearer.

"Alan, you were doing Match of the Day last night. I must say, I enjoyed it," Lineker claimed.

"I went out for dinner, then I came home in time to watch it.

"Thought it was really good. Chappers did a great job. There was a lot of talk, wasn't there, that they were going to change things, and you know what it's like, you get a new guy in, new head of sport, thinking he wants to do this and wants to do that.”