The return of the Premier League to Sky Sports has given the broadcaster its most watched match in over three years.
Sky reported the audience for Manchester City’s 3-0 win over Arsenal peaked at 3.4 million on Wednesday evening, representing a 94 % increase on the season average.
The game was shown on both the Premier League and Main Event channels.
Main Event screened the match with added crowd noise effects, while the Premier League channel broadcast the game from the near silent Etihad Stadium.
The Manchester City-Arsenal game and the earlier match at Villa Park brought an end to a 100 day period without a ball being kicked. With the outstanding games plated a full programme gets underway this weekend (Friday).
All of the games will be broadcast by one of four rights holders; Sky, BT, Amazon and the BBC, the latter show its first live matches since the start of the Premier League in 1992. A record audience is expected for the relatively low level Bournemouth and Crystal Palace on Saturday evening.