Not GOING FOR THE BURN
It’s going to be a Prem season like no other with World Cup thrown into the mix but City and Liverpool handed a crucial advantage
YOU can now begin counting the days until the start of the new Premier League season – and 2022/23 will certainly be a unique one.
The new fixtures were released yesterday and it is 49 days – seven weeks tonight – until the opening game of the season when Crystal Palace host Arsenal in a London derby on Friday, August 5.
That weekend, champions Manchester City head to West Ham for Sky’s first Super Sunday game, while Erik ten Hag’s reign as Manchester United begins with a home game against Brighton earlier that afternoon.
City striker Erling Haaland, the spectacular £51million signing, will be unleashed on the Premier League while Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez is set to make his debut at Fulham live on BT Sport at 12.30pm on Saturday, August 6.
It will be the most gruelling, daunting and challenging season, because eyes are drawn to the new fixtures in November and December and a very differentlooking season because of a very different World Cup in Qatar.
England boss Gareth Southgate is not getting much going his way at the moment, but the Premier League have granted his wish.
None of the Big Six will meet in crunch games on the final weekend of November 12/13 before players report for the World Cup.
Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and United, Tottenham and Liverpool have all been kept apart in line with the FA’s request to avoid any Super Sunday games.
But while other clubs will see their biggest stars disappear to Qatar for six weeks, Mo Salah and Haaland – who play for Egypt and Norway respectively – will get a mid-season break because their countries have not qualified.
Liverpool’s Luis Diaz is also not going, nor City’s Riyad Mahrez while the same goes for Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard and Tottenham’s Dejan Kulusevski.
At Manchester United the likes of Scott McTominay and Victor Lindelof will get a break – and Chelsea also have players whose countries did not make it.
That could give City and Liverpool, who first renew their rivalry at Anfield on October 15 after a midweek Champions League tie, an incredible advanin tage with their biggest stars getting a rest while their title rivals will be sweating on their players returning fit and healthy.
And with a little twist, the set of fixtures before the World Cup will be reversed on the final day of the season – the clubs bowing out to the same matches as if it had been a summer World Cup.
They are all back for Boxing Day with a full Premier League after a 43-day break. But it is also a full-on season with an early kick-off, back-to-back Champions League weeks with the final group matches played in the first week of November when they are normally concluded in December.
There is an international break in September for two more Nations League games plus the Carabao Cup which starts August and the third round is played in November, the week before players jet off to Qatar.
The final day of the Premier League season is on May 28, the FA Cup final is June 3 while the Champions League final is a week later on June 10. No wonder managers and players are worried about burn-out. It will be a season like no other.