Liverpool will begin the defence of their title with a home game against promoted Leeds on the weekend of 12-13 September and will barely have time to catch their breath after the fixtures for the 2020-21 Premier League season revealed a hectic nine months ahead.
Following a campaign that title defencelasted almost a full calendar year, an unprecedentedly compact competition now awaits. Clubs competing in Europe will barely have a free midweek.
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 the rest after their participation in Europe. They visit Wolves and host Crystal Palace respectively on the weekend of 19-20 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 is Sheffield United hosting Wolves on Monday 14 September.
After the champions face the Championship winners at Anfield, they visit Chelsea before hosting Arsenal. Liverpool also have a Merseyside derby and visit Manchester City in their first 10 fixtures.
Tottenham face the busiest opening schedule. They potentially have three Europa League qualifying fixtures and two Carabao Cup ties to cram in alongside their league commitments before October. They start the season at home to Everton.
The team with the toughest start appears to be West Ham. After starting at home to Newcastle, they then face Arsenal (a), Wolves (h), Leicester (a), Spurs (a), Manchester City (h) and Liverpool (h).
With a delayed start and the need to finish in enough time to accommodate the rescheduled Euro 2020 tournament, which is due to begin on 11 June, the season will be a month shorter than usual. Most midweeks will be given over to cup competitions (including European games, but with no replays in the FA Cup) and there will also be two additional rounds of midweek fixtures in the new year. Any slots left over will be required for rescheduled games.
The extra midweek matches will be played in the weeks commencing 11 and 18 January and the week commencing 10 May. All of those games will be shown on TV, a gesture, perhaps, towards the small-screen bonanza of last season’s restart that 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 Tottenham v Everton, West Brom v Leicester, West Ham v Newcastle, Brighton v Chelsea, Sheffield United v Wolves.
