Liverpool start with Leeds, Man City and Man Utd miss week one
Premier League announces full fixture list for 2020/21 season; City, United afforded delayed kick-off due to European involvement, Wolves and Chelsea don’t begin until September 14.
By Peter Smith
Last Updated: 20/08/20 9:43am
The new Premier League season will start on Saturday September 12
Premier League champions Liverpool will face newly-promoted Leeds United on the opening weekend of the 2020/21 season but both Manchester City and Manchester United will sit out the first round of fixtures.
TAP HERE FOR ALL OF THE 2020/21 PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES
It’s a mouth-watering start to life back in the top flight for Marcelo Bielsa’s Championship winners Leeds, with their trip to Anfield on Saturday September 12, while fellow Premier League new boys Fulham host Arsenal in an opening weekend London derby and West Brom take on Leicester City at the Hawthorns.
However, Manchester City v Aston Villa and Burnley v Manchester United have been postponed to allow City and United extra time to recover from their recent European campaigns, which finished last weekend, just four weeks before the 2020/21 Premier League season begins.
Instead, Manchester City’s first game will be at Wolves on September 19, while Manchester United play Crystal Palace at Old Trafford on that same weekend.
Manchester United and Manchester City have had their opening weekend fixtures postponed to allow them extra time to recover from their European campaigns
There are also delays for Chelsea, who travel to Brighton, and Wolves, who begin with a trip to Sheffield United, because of their European involvement, which ended around a week earlier than the Manchester clubs. Those fixtures will take place on Monday September 14.
Elsewhere on the opening weekend, Crystal Palace take on Southampton at Selhurst Park, Tottenham host Everton and West Ham face Newcastle at the London Stadium.
- C. Palace v Southampton – Sept 12
- Fulham v Arsenal – Sept 12
- Liverpool v Leeds – Sept 12
- Tottenham v Everton – Sept 12
- West Brom v Leicester City – Sept 12
- West Ham v Newcastle – Sept 12
- Brighton v Chelsea – Sept 14
- Sheff Utd v Wolves – Sept 14
- Burnley v Man Utd – Postponed
- Man City v Aston Villa – Postponed
Chelsea and Wolves have also been afforded a short delay to their restart, kicking-off their seasons on Monday September 14
Tricky starts and derby dates
Liverpool face an intriguing start to their title defence. After that exciting opener with Leeds, their next fixtures are Chelsea away, Arsenal at home and Aston Villa away before a Merseyside derby with Everton at Goodison Park on October 17. Their first showdown with Manchester City comes on the weekend of November 7.
It’s a tough start for FA Cup holders Arsenal, too, with some testing away days early in the season. After a trip to Fulham on the opening weekend, their next away games are against Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Leeds and then north London rivals Tottenham on December 5.
Arsenal have a run of testing away games early on
Having both sat out the opening weekend, Manchester City and Manchester United will clash in Manchester derbies scheduled for the weekend of December 12 and March 6. United’s first meeting with fierce rivals Liverpool comes on January 16 at Anfield, with the return fixture at Old Trafford their fifth-from-last on May 1. They renew their rivalry with Leeds United on December 19.
Chelsea will travel to Liverpool on the second weekend of the season and will play at Manchester United at the end of October following a second international break. Frank Lampard’s side have also been given a headline-grabbing fixture on Boxing Day with a trip to Arsenal, and will begin 2021 with a clash against Manchester City on January 2.
Premier League 2020/21 fixtures – essential need-to-knows
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The Premier League 2020/21 season will start on Saturday September 12 and finish on Sunday May 23, 2021 – 19 days before the rescheduled Euro 2020 tournament kicks off.
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The season will begin behind closed doors but some spectators could to return to venues on a socially-distanced basis later in the year.
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Opening weekend fixtures involving Manchester City and Manchester United have been postponed to allow those clubs extra time to recover from their involvements in the knockout stages of the Champions League and Europa League, respectively.
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Chelsea and Wolves have also been afforded a short delay, with their opening weekend fixtures scheduled for Monday September 14.
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The truncated season will comprise of rounds of fixtures across 32 weekends, five midweeks and one bank holiday. This compares to a typical Premier League season of 34 weekends, three midweeks and one bank holiday.
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The Premier League has agreed with its UK broadcast partners to increase the number of matches shown live from 200 to 220 for the 2020/21 season only. Of the additional live matches, 12 will be shown on Sky Sports.
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The UK broadcast selections for the early match rounds will be confirmed next week.
Club-by-club fixture pages
Arsenal handed daunting start to new season
Villa’s opening Premier League game postponed
Brighton to start with Monday game against Chelsea
Burnley’s opener against Man United postponed
Chelsea’s start against Brighton delayed by two days
Palace open against Saints in tricky start
Fulham start with Arsenal before Leeds reunion
Leeds make Premier League return at Liverpool
Leicester begin with West Brom and Burnley
Liverpool start with Leeds before Chelsea and Arsenal
Man City to sit out opening weekend
Delayed Premier League start for Man United
Newcastle start with West Ham and Brighton
Blades to host Wolves in Monday opener
Saints to kick-off with Palace and Tottenham
Spurs to host Everton on opening weekend
West Brom to open at home to Leicester
West Ham start with Newcastle, Arsenal and Wolves
Wolves’ first game pushed back by two days
Other dates for your diary
Next season’s Champions League group stage will get underway on October 20, at the same time as the Europa League’s group stage return.
The Community Shield will take place at Wembley on Saturday August 29. The traditional curtain-raiser for the new season will see Premier League champions Liverpool play Arsenal.
The match will be immediately followed by an international break from September 2-10, with England facing Iceland and Denmark in the Nations League.
England will be in action in early September – before the return of the Premier League – in the Nations League
The national team football windows of October and November 2020 will now feature triple-headers instead of double-headers, allowing the postponed European Qualifiers play-offs to be rescheduled at the beginning of the respective windows, on October 8 and November 12.
The first four rounds of the Carabao Cup will be played from September 5, with Premier League clubs joining at round two on September 15/16 and those who are in European competition entering at round three a week later.
The FA Cup third round is scheduled for January 9 2021 – and replays have been scrapped this season.
Euro 2020 will now take place from June 11-July 11, 2021. The 12 original host cities have been confirmed as venues for the rescheduled tournament.
When is the transfer window?
The window will run for 10 weeks this summer.
It opened on Monday July 27 and will close on Monday October 5 at 11pm.
An additional domestic-only window will run from October 5 to 5pm on October 16 but Premier League clubs will only be able to trade with EFL clubs – for either loans or permanent registrations – and will not be able to do business with other Premier League clubs or clubs abroad.
Premier League ins and outs
Who has your team signed? Who has been shipped out?
Check here for a comprehensive list of all the Premier League ins and outs from the 2020 summer transfer window, which opened on July 27 and closes on October 5.
