The Premier League season start date is upon us and it’s time to dive into the freshly-released schedule for the 2022/23 season. We have some marquee matchups in Week 1 and Boxing Day. Let’s take a look at what Premier League fixtures we are due in the next 10 months!
Premier League 2022/23 Key Dates
The Premier League fixtures were released on the 16th of June. Giving teams just under two months to prepare for their first run of fixtures.
This season, Bournemouth, Huddersfield, and Nottingham Forest have been promoted to the Premier League, taking the places of Burnley, Watford, and Norwich who have all been relegated to the Championship.
The season officially starts on Friday August 5th, with Crystal Palace hosting Arsenal in what is a battle of former Arsenal midfielders with Patrick Vieira and Mikel Arteta going head-to-head.
Mikel Arteta’s new signings Gabriel Jesus and Oleksnadr Zinchenko will be at the forefront of this game as they look to start Premier League life at Arsenal in a positive way. The pair have both won plenty of honours at their previous employers, Man City. Some of these came under the coaching of Mikel Arteta as he was Pep Guardiola’s assistant before taking on the Arsenal job.
The World Cup Break
This game is just the first of 380 that we’ll have the pleasure of seeing. The season is starting slightly earlier than usual. This is to accommodate the winter World Cup in Qatar that starts on the 21st of November and finishes on the 18th of December. This will be the first time we have seen a break in Premier League fixture for a major international tournament. There will be two other international breaks during this season, the first from September 17th-27th and the second will be from March 20th-28th.
The World Cup break means we will see more midweek Premier League fixtures, teams playing in European competitions will be playing practically every midweek. Fitness will be more key than ever next season.
The season resumes just 8 days after the World Cup finishes. On the notorious Boxing Day, or the day after Christmas. Boxing Day is known for Premier League fixtures, there is always plenty of action and this year will have even more weight to it than ever before. If your club has a World Cup finalist in the ranks then it is very likely that you won’t see them in action again until the next round of fixtures after Boxing Day. We have seen longer breaks for finalists of competitions before, Paul Pogba and N’golo Kante in 2018 and even Mo Salah and Sadio Mane after the AFCON final.
Not long after Boxing Day we will see the opening on the January transfer window, which will give clubs a chance to strengthen and perhaps sign some top performers from the World Cup, albeit for a higher price.
‘Big 6’ Premier League Fixtures
The biggest thing to look at when the Premier League fixtures are revealed is the big games. The potential title deciders, top four deciders and just top-drawer football matches.
First things first, let’s take a look at when the two Premier League favourites, Manchester City and Liverpool face each other.
- 15th October 2022- Liverpool vs Manchester City at Anfield
- 1st April 2023- Manchester City vs Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium
These two heavyweights coming together makes for some of the highest magnitude, intense Premier League fixtures you’ll ever see. Both will be searching for the title again and if previous seasons are anything to go by, it’ll be a close battle. Meaning these games are more important than ever. The definition of a ‘six-pointer’.
These games may hold the most weight in terms of title challenge, but the other ‘Big 6’ games may just hold more in fan passion. Let’s take a look at some dates to jot down in the calendar for the rest of the ‘Big 6’:
Before the World Cup:
- 14th August- Chelsea vs Tottenham Hotspur
- 22nd August- Manchester United vs Liverpool
- 4th September- Manchester United vs Arsenal
- 10th September- Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur
- 18th September- Chelsea vs Liverpool
- 1st October- Arsenal vs Spurs, Leicester City vs Nottingham Forest and Manchester City vs Manchester United
- 18th October- Arsenal vs Manchester City
- 19th October- Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur
- 22nd October- Chelsea vs Manchester United
- 5th November- Chelsea vs Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur vs Liverpool
After the World Cup:
- 2nd January- Chelsea vs Man City
- 14th January- Manchester United vs Manchester City
- 21st January- Arsenal vs Manchester United and Liverpool vs Chelsea
- 4th February- Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester City
- 25th February- Tottenham Hotspur vs Chelsea
- 4th March- Liverpool vs Manchester United
- 8th April- Liverpool vs Arsenal
- 22nd April- Manchester United vs Chelsea
- 25th April- Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester United
- 26th April- Manchester City vs Arsenal
- 29th April- Arsenal vs Chelsea and Liverpool vs Tottenham Hotspur
- 20th May- Manchester City vs Chelsea
Feast your eyes on that! As you can see there are plenty of massive games spread across the season. Some teams with tougher schedules than others in there though…
Man United have a pretty difficult early schedule as they face Liverpool, Arsenal, Leicester and Manchester City all within the first 10 games! New manager Erik ten Hag clearly has his work cut out…
Everton also face a tough start with Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, West Ham and Man Utd to face in their first 10. The Toffees have also lost Richarlison to Spurs. Will Lampard steady the ship, or will Everton be among the relegation candidates again?
The two Premier League favourites, City and Liverpool both have interesting starts to the season. City have a relatively simple start with West Ham, Bournemouth, Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest as their first 5 fixtures. They go on to face Man Utd and Spurs before game week 10 closes, but it’s still a relatively simple start for the Cityzens.
Liverpool on the other hand have a more difficult opening 10. With Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal within the first 10, as well as local rivals Everton who will always make it difficult for Liverpool. If Klopp and his side come out of the first 10 games at the top of the table, they’ll be in excellent stead to go all the way and win the title.
Boxing Day Premier League Fixtures
After a month’s break from the Premier League while the World Cup is played out, we will see the competition return on the 26th of December. The day after Christmas, Boxing Day.
We have seen some explosive days of football on the 26th of December throughout history. Including the notorious 1963 Boxing Day which saw Man United lose 6-1 to Burnley and Fulham beating Ipswich 10-1! There were a total of 66 goals during that day. We can only hope that Boxing Day 2022 produces the same level of excitement.
Here are the Premier League fixtures we’ll be watching as we eat Christmas dinner leftovers!
Times to be confirmed:
- Arsenal vs West Ham United
- Aston Villa vs Liverpool
- Brentford vs Tottenham Hotspur
- Chelsea vs Bournemouth
- Crystal Palace vs Fulham
- Everton vs Wolves
- Leeds United vs Manchester City
- Leicester City vs Newcastle United
- Manchester United vs Nottingham Forest
- Southampton vs Brighton and Hove Albion
Could we see Fulham win 10-1 again?
Other Key Dates in English Football in 2022/23
The other leagues in England will also be affected by the World Cup. The EFL starts a week earlier than usual on the weekend of the 30th of July.
The Championship will return from the World Cup break on the 10th of December, whilst League One and League Two will continue to be played alongside the World Cup, which will be a real treat for fans of those clubs. Not only will they be able to enjoy the World Cup festivities and support their country, but they will also be able to continue watching and supporting their clubs too. It’ll be a month for the memory books.
The knockout cups will also be slightly changed. The FA Cup third round will start on January the 8th, the same as last year. However, the final will be played three weeks later than last.
The Carabao (League) Cup Final will be held in usual time, with the final taking place on February 26th.
5 Subs!
The most significant change of all for next season is the return of the controversial 5 substitutes rule. This rule was introduced back in 2020 after the pandemic affected play and forced clubs to play a lot of games in short periods.
It’s a rule that gives huge advantage to the bigger clubs, particularly Manchester City and Liverpool due to their vast squad depth.
The rule change has faced heavy criticism by some, as they believe that it takes away some of the competitive nature and gives smaller clubs an even larger disadvantage when playing against the big clubs.
What are your thoughts on the 5-sub rule returning?
FAQ’s
When does the Premier League start?
The Premier League start date is Friday, August 5th, 2022.
When does the Premier League end?
The Premier League end date is Sunday, May 28th, 2023.
When does the Premier League transfer window close?
The Premier League transfer window closes on Thursday, September 1st, 2022.
How many games are there in a Premier League season?
There are 380 Premier League fixtures in total throughout a season.
How many teams play in the Premier League?
20 teams play in the Premier League.