Roy Hodgson frets after Premier League's fixture snub for England World Cup qualifiers Failure to win both matches would have a severe impact on their chances of topping Group H, while defeat in the latter could mean they drop to third place with just two games remaining. Those fixtures, against Montenegro and Poland, were also the subject of FA lobbying, but although the calendar has been much kinder to them prior to that mid-October double-header, it is understood there is every chance that was more by accident than design. The FA and the Premier League both declined to comment yesterday on the meetings between them which are understood to have occurred prior to the fixture list being compiled. Similar meetings are thought to have taken place during the reigns of previous England managers. Sky declined to comment on whether the FA had ever lobbied the broadcaster to show certain matches at certain times to help the England team but it is understood any such request would play second fiddle to other considerations, particularly the expectation among its customers that big games are made available to watch live. The Premier League is thought to have decided it would cause too much disruption to accede to the FA's request, with its calendar forced to account for Football League fixtures and issues such as policing. But its refusal to bend over backwards to help the FA reopens the debate about whether it does everything it can to give England the best possible chance to succeed on the international stage. It may not have been specifically requested by Hodgson but the potential World Cup qualifying play-off on Nov 15 and 19 is immediately preceded by a fixture between Manchester United and Arsenal. The Premier League has also been accused in the past of failing to do enough to help English clubs in Europe, with other leagues often allowing its teams competing in the Champions League to bring their domestic fixtures forward to a Friday night. That approach would be likely to meet with resistance from Sky and BT, who have paid £3 billion between them to show Premier League matches for the next three years. The release of next season's fixtures allowed both broadcasters to begin plotting which games they want to show live during the first three months of the campaign. Sky has the first choice - and second and third - in 20 of the 38 rounds of fixtures, although there are also strict rules about the number of times individual teams are shown. BT enjoys first choice in the remaining 18 rounds of games, including all midweek matches, the first time Sky has been denied all 38 first picks. It makes for an intriguing strategic battle in an increasingly bitter war between the media giants, which escalated on Wednesday when Ofcom announced it had opened an investigation into Sky over "abuse of a dominant position" following a complaint from BT about the wholesale of its channels on other platforms.