Premier League live stream: How to watch the 2020-21 English Premier League online

Premier League live stream
(Image credit: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

Premier League live streams are back, even though it may seem like the Premier League wrapped up its season just the other day — it was actually at the end of July. The 2020-21 season is ready to get started, and we're wondering if Liverpool can defend its first top-flight title in 30 years. Or will Manchester City return to top of the league after an off-season for Pep Guardiola's squad?

Those aren't the only questions looming as the English Premier League season gets underway. Chelsea and Manchester United are gearing up for longshot title challenges themselves, while Arsenal and Tottenham hope to land back in the Top 4 of the Premier League. Leeds United are back in the Premier League for the first time in 16 years and hope to stay awhile; the other newly promoted sides — West Bromwich Albion and Fulham — figure to have a tougher time avoiding relegation.

The Premier League season gets underway with Arsenal taking on Fulham at 7:30 a.m. EDT/4:30 a.m. PDT on Saturday (Sept. 12), with other top opening weekend match-ups featuring Liverpool vs. Leeds (12:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday), Spurs vs. Everton (11:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday) and Brighton vs. Chelsea (3:15 p.m. EDT on Monday).

That's a lot of games to watch this weekend. And there are even more ways to live stream the Premier League with more matches than ever available to watch at the start of this season. We can show you where to find Premier League action, along with what kind of subscriptions and services you'll need to track down matches.

How to watch live Premier League games with a VPN

Let's say there's a Premier League match you want to stream that's not available wherever you happen to be. A virtual private network, or VPN, can come to your rescue. With a VPN, you can make it seem like you're surfing the web from somewhere else, which lets you view live streams that might otherwise not be available in your area.

If you're not sure which VPN service to use, don't worry. We've tested many different options to find the best VPN, and we think that ExpressVPN is the way to go. ExpressVPN offers superb speeds and excellent customer service.

ExpressVPN

We think speed, security and simplicity make ExpressVPN second to none. During our tests, we saw fast connection times, and we're impressed by the service's ability to access more than 3,000 services spread out across 160 locations in 94 countries. There's a 30-day money-back guarantee if you're not satisfied.

Premier League live streams in the US

US viewers will want to familiarize themselves with NBC, as that's the TV network that holds the rights to the Premier League in the US. Each weekend, you'll find matches airing on either NBC or the NBCSN cable channel; for mid-week Premier League games, the coverage usually appears on NBCSN.

In prior seasons, matches not airing on NBC or NBCSN would be included in NBC Sports Gold, a subscription streaming service available to anyone whether they had cable or not. That's changing for the 2020-21 Premier League season. Now, additional matches are appearing on Peacock Premium, the paid tier of the newly launched Peacock streaming service.

According to NBC, more than 175 Premier League matches will stream on Peacock Premium between now and the end of the season in May 2021. So that's definitely an option soccer fans will want to consider.

Peacock Premium:

Peacock Premium: The paid tier of the Peacock streaming service costs $4.99 a month and features additional shows and movies besides Premier League live streams. The service is free to Xfinity Flex customers and Xfinity X1 and video customers with a a subscription to Xfinity Internet or Digital Starter TV. It's also free to Cox Internet customers with Contour TV Essential or higher.

All matches airing on NBC or NBCSN are streamed on the NBC Sports website or the NBC Sports app (Android, iOS). You'll need to log in to those options using your cable or satellite TV provider, though, so cord cutters will have to find an alternative to watch the Premier League.

You might consider turning to a subscription streaming TV service, especially if you can find one that charges less than you used to pay for cable. The cheapest option is Sling TV, which includes NBCSC in its Blue package of channels. Fubo.TV costs a little more, but includes more channels in its monthly package.

Sling TV:

Sling TV: The Blue package costs $30 a month and features 44 channels in addition to NBCSN. You get a 10-hour cloud DVR for recording programming to watch later.

Fubo.TV:

Fubo.TV: Fubo.TV features more than 100 channels, including NBCSN, and it costs $59.99. It also offers a cloud DVR feature.

Premier League live streams in the UK

In the UK, Sky Sports and BT Sport bring you the bulk of your Premier League coverage. However, with crowds still not allowed into stadiums to watch matches due to the coronavirus pandemic, more Premier League matches are appearing on TV this season. That means you'll also be able to live stream some matches through the BBC and Amazon Prime.

All 28 Premier League matches being played in September will be televised, and the league is keeping its options open for October as well.

But to find the vast majority of Premier League action, you'll want to subscribe to either Sky Sports or BT Sport (or both). You can sign up for a Sky Sports package. Now TV also sells passes to Sky Sports by the day (£9.99) or month (£33.99). A current promotion discounts the monthly pass to £25 when you commit to a year of service.

As for BT Sport, you can sign up for one of its packages to get its Premier League coverage. There's now a streaming-only option in the form of the £25 BT Sport Monthly Pass.

Premier League live streams in Canada

Streaming the Premier League is very straightforward in Canada, where DAZN has all the coverage. You can sign up for the service and get a 1-month free trial, which will let you watch the start of the 2020-21 Premier League season. After that, it's $20-a-month or an annual subscription of $150 for DAZN.

Philip Michaels

Philip Michaels is a Managing Editor at Tom's Guide. He's been covering personal technology since 1999 and was in the building when Steve Jobs showed off the iPhone for the first time. He's been evaluating smartphones since that first iPhone debuted in 2007, and he's been following phone carriers and smartphone plans since 2015. He has strong opinions about Apple, the Oakland Athletics, old movies and proper butchery techniques. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.