Euro 2024 has just begun in Germany and the Copa América is about to start in the United States later this week, but it’s time to temporarily switch the focus back to club action because the Premier League fixture list for the 2024-25 season has been released.
Will Manchester City win a record fifth successive title (if the culmination of their fight to overturn 115 charges of financial wrongdoing by the Premier League don’t scupper those hopes), or can Mikel Arteta lead Arsenal in taking the final step to winning the league after finishing as runners-up over the last two seasons?
How will Arne Slot measure up as Liverpool manager following the departure of Jürgen Klopp at the end of last season? Can Erik ten Hag make the most of his unexpected reprieve at Manchester United by proving he is the manager to restore the club to the top of the English game?
Chelsea are under new management with Enzo Maresca, who arrives from Leicester City after guiding the club to the Championship title, while Ange Postecoglou will be expected to build on a promising first season at Tottenham Hotspur. But with Newcastle United and Aston Villa upsetting the established order by qualifying for the Champions League in the last two seasons, will there be another surprise team in the top four?
These questions and many more will be answered in the months ahead, but the rolling out of the match schedule offers the first major clues. Here are the highlights of the 2024-25 Premier League fixture list.
Editor’s note: dates are subject to change once matches have been selected for live domestic broadcast
Tough start for Slot
Arne Slot will get his first taste of the biggest rivalry in English football less than a month into his new job at Liverpool when he takes his team to Manchester United on Aug. 31.
While Jürgen Klopp’s nine years at Anfield were defined by his side’s rivalry with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City — Liverpool’s first clash with City comes at Anfield on Nov. 30 — it is the encounter with United that is historically the biggest on the Premier League calendar and the game that both sets of supporters regard as the fixture they must not lose. To add some extra spice to the clash, Slot will come up against United manager Erik ten Hag to renew their Feyenoord–Ajax rivalry and go from facing each other in the Eredivisie‘s biggest game to the Premier League’s.
Slot’s first game as Liverpool boss will be a trip to newly promoted Ipswich Town on Aug. 17, followed by his Anfield debut against Brentford on Aug. 24 before the trip to Old Trafford. And if heis able to mount a title challenge in his first season as manager, Liverpool will have to do it the hard way by facing Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal during their final five games.
Titanic clash at Stamford Bridge on opening weekend
Enzo Maresca has been billed as a mini-Pep Guardiola due to the style of play that he introduced at Leicester before guiding the Foxes to promotion from the Championship last season (the Italian’s physical resemblance to the Manchester City manager, and his time spent as a coach at the Etihad, are other factors in the comparison.)
But after being hired to replace Mauricio Pochettino as Chelsea head coach last month, Maresca now has an instant opportunity to measure himself against Guardiola by facing his old boss in his first competitive game at Chelsea on Aug. 18.
Chelsea vs. City at Stamford Bridge is a box-office clash whenever it is staged, and last season it lived up to the billing with the two sides playing out a 4-4 draw. So the meeting of the Blues on the opening weekend is a high-profile fixture to launch the new season, even if it is a game that neither side would have chosen to kick off their campaign.
Arsenal handed toughest start
Yes, every team plays 38 games and each club plays each other twice, so what difference does it make when they play?
Try saying that to Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, after the tough start to the season that the Gunners have been dealt. Arsenal will face away trips to two Champions League clubs — Aston Villa (Aug. 24) and Manchester City (Sept. 21) — and north London rivals Tottenham (Sept. 14) in their first six games of the season.
It is usually at the back end of the season, when nerves begin to fray during the run-in, that Arsenal have faltered in recent years, but their start to this campaign will be a stern test of the Gunners’ credentials. With City proving themselves to be ruthlessly consistent during their four straight title-winning seasons, any rival simply has to make a strong start to give themselves a chance of toppling Guardiola’s side.
So the challenge is already set for Arsenal to overcome their nightmare start and use it as a springboard to success.
