Squawka
·18 June 2024
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·18 June 2024
European football fans may be locked into Euro 2024 but English fans will take a moment to redirect their eyes with the 2024/25 Premier League fixture list being confirmed.
For an unprecedented fourth season in a row, Manchester City will enter the campaign as defending champions, having won the Premier League on the final day of 2023/24. In doing so, they became the first men’s team in English football history to win the top-flight title four years in a row.
The 2024/25 Premier League campaign gets underway just five weeks after the end of Euro 2024, with the action kicking off on Friday 16th August. As has been the case for a few years now, the opening weekend is now spread over four days, with TV spots for that week already confirmed. The season will come to a close on Sunday 25th May, 2025, with all games kicking off at the same time.
Arsenal were the team to narrowly miss out on the title last season, finishing as runners-up to Man City, and the top two first meet in 2024/25 on the weekend of 21st September. Man City host Arsenal at the Etihad on that weekend, with the return fixture scheduled for the weekend of 1st February 2025.
Fans will have to wait until 14th December for the first Manchester Derby of the season, hosted by Man City, with the return fixture on 5th April. Liverpool travel to Old Trafford in the third week of the season, and host Man Utd at Anfield just after the New Year.
For those keeping an eye on reunions, Enzo Maresca takes his Chelsea side to face Leicester City on the weekend of 23rd November, before hosting the Foxes at Stamford Bridge in March.
For the fourth season in a row, Man City will start their Premier League title defence away from home. In fact, they haven’t opened a Premier League campaign at the Etihad since 2016/17 when they beat Sunderland 2-1. They were scheduled to be at home at the start of the 2020/21 season, but their opener against Aston Villa had to be rearranged for January 2021.
As defending champions, Man City have lost away to Tottenham and beat West Ham and Burnley in the last three seasons. This time, they start their defence away to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. The Blues, who will now be led by Enzo Maresca, have won 20 and drawn seven of their 32 previous Premier League season openers. They were also one of just three side to avoid defeat to Man City in the Premier League last season alongside Arsenal and Liverpool.
The season starts on Friday Night Football on 16th August with Man Utd hosting Fulham at Old Trafford, the eighth consecutive season they will start the Premier League at home.
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Two of the three newly-promoted sides are at home on the opening weekend of the 2024/25 campaign, with Ipswich hosting Liverpool in the early Saturday kick-off on 17th August. Jurgen Klopp wasn’t fond of that kick-off time, but we’ll be looking forward to seeing how Arne Slot’s Reds fare. Leicester City close the Premier League’s opening weekend on Monday 19th August at home to Tottenham, with Southampton away to Newcastle on the Saturday.
Arsenal start the campaign at home to Wolves, with a London derby between Brentford and Crystal Palace also on the cards. Everton host Brighton, Nottingham Forest take on Bournemouth and Aston Villa travel to West Ham in the opening weekend’s other games.
Friday 16th August
Saturday 17th August
Sunday 18th August
Monday 19th August
Aside from the opening and closing weekends, eyes normally flock to the festive period fixtures, particularly Boxing Day. Football on Boxing Day is English heritage and a tradition in many households. Whether that’s planning your Christmas around traveling to games, or which game to watch on TV. Now, with the TV schedule, Boxing Day football is actually spread across a handful of days, but that does just mean there’s more football for the fan to enjoy at home.
The Premier League usually tries to keep travelling to a minimum when it comes to Boxing Day games, given the many disruptions to public transport and how many people will be devoting time to their family. But this year we’ll only see one London derby on Boxing Day, with Chelsea hosting neighbours Fulham. From stadium to stadium, as the crow flies, Aston Villa have the farthest distance to travel, with just over 179 miles between Villa Park and St James’ Park for their trip to face Newcastle. Tottenham are the only other team with a distance of over 100 miles between their stadium and their hosts’ on Boxing Day, taking on Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.
Leicester and Crystal Palace also have fairly long journeys at Liverpool and Bournemouth respectively. Aside from Fulham’s one-mile journey to Stamford Bridge, all other distances between the two stadiums of teams facing off on Boxing Day are at least 30 miles.
Thursday 26 December 2024
And, finally, the closing day of the 2024/25 Premier League season. Every fan wants to be at home for this one, giving them a chance to celebrate a title, a top-four finish, European football, or even safety from relegation in their home ground. But, of course, only 50% of the teams can have that privilege.
Of last season’s top four, only Liverpool are at home on the final day of the 2024/25 season, hosting Crystal Palace at Anfield. Man City travel to face Fulham, while Arsenal are away to Southampton and Aston Villa face Man Utd at Old Trafford. On top of Southampton hosting Arsenal, Ipswich are also at home among the newly-promoted sides, welcoming West Ham to Portman Road. Leicester must travel to Bournemouth. Nottingham Forest and Everton have also been among the relegation battlers in recent seasons, with the Reds hosting Chelsea on the final day while the Toffees travel to St James’ Park to face Newcastle.
Sunday 25th May