Liverpool will begin the defence of their title with a home game against newly promoted Leeds United, and will barely have time to catch their breath after the fixtures for the 2020-21 Premier League season confirmed a hectic nine months ahead.
Following a campaign that lasted nearly a full calendar year, an unprecedentedly compact competition now awaits the top flight. Clubs competing in Europe will barely get a midweek off all year.
The solitary concession to fatigue is the guarantee of a 30-day break between last season and next, meaning Manchester City and Manchester United will start a week later than their rivals after their participation in the Uefa finals competition. They will visit Wolves and host Crystal Palace respectively, on 19 September.
The Champions League qualifiers Chelsea start at Brighton while Arsenal travel to Fulham, winners of the Championship play-off final. Another eye-catching match in the first round of fixtures will see Sheffield United host Wolves on Monday 14 September.
After Jürgen Klopp’s champions face Marcelo Bielsa’s Championship winners at Anfield, they visit Chelsea prior to hosting Arsenal. Liverpool also have a Merseyside derby and an away match against Manchester City in their first 10 fixtures.
Tottenham face the busiest opening schedule. José Mourinho’s side potentially have three Europa League qualifying fixtures and two Carabao Cup ties to cram alongside their league commitments before the beginning of October. Spurs start the season at home to Everton.
The team with the toughest start of all appears to be West Ham. After beginning their campaign at home to Newcastle, David Moyes’s men play Arsenal (a), Wolves (h), Leicester (a), Spurs (a), Manchester City (h) and Liverpool (h) in their following six matches.
With a delayed start bookended by the need to finish in enough time to accommodate the rescheduled Euro 2020, which is due to start on 11 June, the 2020-21 season will be a month shorter than normal. Most midweeks will be given over to cup competitions (including European games), while there will also be two additional rounds of midweek fixtures in the new year. Whatever space is left over will be required for rescheduled games.
The extra midweek matches will be played across the weeks commencing 11 and 18 January, and the second will take place in the week commencing 10 May. All of the extra midweek games will be shown on TV, a gesture, perhaps, towards the small screen bonanza of last season’s restart and which proved popular with audiences.
Of the additional matches, 12 will be shown on Sky Sports, six on BT Sport and two on Amazon Prime Video. In total, broadcasters will show 220 live matches next season, up from 200.
Premier League 2020-21 opening fixtures
Crystal Palace v Southampton, Fulham v Arsenal, Liverpool v Leeds United, Tottenham v Everton, West Bromwich Albion v Leicester, West Ham v Newcastle, Brighton v Chelsea, Sheffield United v Wolves.
from Football | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3gcmfxN
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