It’s that time of year again. The English Premier League’s fixtures for the upcoming season have been released, and the opening week has offered up some scintillating matches.
The Premier League season begins on August 13, and concludes on May 14, 2017.
Here’s just a taste of what’s in store. The full draw can be found below.
- Leicester City opens up its title against recently promoted Hull City on August 13
- Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola renew their rivalry born in Spain, at the helm of Manchester’s two global superpowers
- Ronald Koeman takes charge at Everton after leaving Southampton
- Current Italy manager Antonio Conte begins his English adventure at Chelsea
- West Ham begin the Olympic Stadium era
Opening day
- Arsenal v Liverpool
- Bournemouth v Man Utd
- Burnley v Swansea
- Chelsea v West Ham
- C Palace v West Brom
- Everton v Tottenham
- Hull v Leicester
- Man City v Sunderland
- Middlesbrough v Stoke
- Southampton v Watford
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Stats (Courtesy of Sky Sports)
- Manchester United have only lost once at home on opening weekend – but have lost four times away from home.
- Manchester City have yet to lose a Premier League season opener played on home soil (W3 D5).
- Chelsea have won 14 and lost none of their last 17 opening weekend fixtures. They have most points on opening weekend (51) ahead of Man Utd (49) and Liverpool (46).
- Tottenham & West Ham have lost the most games on opening weekend (9)
- Wayne Rooney has scored more goals on the opening weekend than any other player currently playing in the Premier League (6).
Derby days
- The first Merseyside derby of the season falls on December 17 at Goodison Park.
- The Manchester derby comes on September 10 at the Etihad Stadium, with the return fixture at Old Trafford falling on February 15.
- Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur will resume their North London derby hostilities on November 5 at the Emirates Stadium, before the return fixture on the 29th of April.
- The 2016-17 season sees the re-birth of the Tees-Wear derby between old foes Sunderland and newly-promoted Middlesbrough on August 20.
Other notable fixtures
- Ronald Koeman’s first visit to St Mary’s comes on October 26.
- Old rivals Manchester United and Liverpool lock horns on October 15 at Anfield.
- Leicester City meet Arsenal in the second week of the season, a match that will go a long way to seeing how well or ill equipped the champions are to defend their title.
International breaks
- 29 August – 4 September
- 3-15 October
- 7-13 November
- 20-26 March
Final day fixtures
Here’s how the final day shapes up. Will Jose Mourinho lift the trophy at Old Trafford in his maiden season? Pep Guardiola away to Watford? or Arsene Wenger at Goodison Park?
- Leicester City v Bournemouth
- Arsenal v Everton
- Burnley v West Ham
- Chelsea v Sunderland
- Manchester United v Crystal Palace
- Tottenham v Hull City
- Liverpool v Middlesbrough
- Watford v Manchester City
- Southampton v Stoke City
- Swansea v West Bromwich Albion
Or maybe, just maybe, will we have another Leicester City surprise packet?
The full fixture list can be found here.
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