The 2023/24 Premier League fixtures have been released and there will be no complaints among neutrals about those first round picks.
The Friday night opener is one of the matches we were most looking forward to: Vincent Kompany’s new-look Burnley, styled in the fashion of Pep Guardiola, welcome the champions Manchester City to Turf Moor.
See: Man City start title defence against Kompany's Burnley
See: Premier League 2023/24 fixtures released
On Saturday evening, Newcastle United and Aston Villa go head-to-head as newly-emerging rivals in the battle for Europe.
The following day sees the first "Big Six" match of the season when Chelsea host Liverpool in a meeting of two clubs desperate to hit the ground running after disappointing 2022/23 campaigns.
All the talk today is of this exciting opening weekend - but we can dig a little deeper than that.
Analysing the full fixture list from August to May, we predict where the potential hiccups and purple patches will fall.
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Can Pochettino benefit from kind start?
The task facing new Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino has got just that little bit easier today.
Pochettino has the unenviable job of redefining the club’s playing style while simultaneously slimming down a bloated squad, and - with two Chelsea managers sacked last season for under-performance - time is not on his side.
Thankfully, he begins with some relatively straightforward matches that should allow Chelsea to rebuild their fragile confidence and settle into the new rhythms of Pochettino’s tactics.
That might seem like an odd conclusion to draw considering they face Liverpool on the opening Sunday, but once this match is out of the way, Pochettino can reset the narrative in the following weeks when Chelsea play West Ham United (A), Luton Town (H), Nottingham Forest (H) and AFC Bournemouth (A).
Chelsea did not lose any of the corresponding fixtures last season (and, to compare with the Luton match, they didn’t lose any home matches against newly-promoted clubs either), suggesting Pochettino can anticipate some solid performances and early points on the board.
Things went south very quickly for Graham Potter, who seemingly struggled to get the players back on side after some poor results in his first few matches. It is imperative Pochettino take advantage of a kind fixture list.
Liverpool & Man Utd to relish tough challenge?
Things are not necessarily straightforward for Liverpool or Manchester United, yet this could be seen as a blessing in disguise. After all, both teams are expecting to challenge for honours this season. Both could do with early statement wins.
Erik ten Hag has the perfect mix, in fact. Wolverhampton Wanderers (H), Tottenham Hotspur (A), and Nott'm Forest (H) offers the strong possibility of a 100 per cent start before a headline trip to Emirates Stadium in the final match before the first international break.
Winning at Arsenal would spark talk of United as dark horses for the title.
From here, things stay fairly simple – Brighton & Hove Albion (H), Burnley (A), Crystal Palace (H), Brentford (H), Sheffield United (A) – all the way up until the first Manchester derby on 28 October.
Ten Hag will be looking at this fixture list and imagining his team riding high, welcoming Guardiola’s side to Old Trafford hoping to announce themselves as legitimate title rivals.
It's tougher for Liverpool. Their first seven matches includes three of their fellow top eight from 2022/23 (plus Chelsea), including trips to Newcastle and Spurs.
But unlike Man Utd, Liverpool have a recent history of Premier League success and will be gearing up for another 90+ point season.
In that respect, early challenges are to be embraced, not feared. If Jurgen Klopp’s side win at Chelsea and at Newcastle in August (they collected four points from these fixtures last season) then the narrative will turn in their favour.
However, a potential stumbling block comes at Christmas. Liverpool have by far the hardest December run, playing Man Utd (H), Arsenal (H), Burnley (A) and Newcastle (H) in a 15-day period over the festive season.
Will Postecoglou navigate deep end?
Ange Postecoglou knows he needs to start well. Many Spurs fans are pleased that a charismatic manager, who coaches entertaining football, has been put in charge following years of reactive tactics and cold relationships with supporters.
However, fears over Postecoglou’s top-level inexperience will bubble to the surface should Spurs fail to hit the ground running.
Like Nuno Esperito Santo, Postecoglou was seemingly not Spurs' first choice and, like Nuno, his reputation is considerably smaller than his predecessor.
With Spurs enduring a poor 2022/23 and facing a huge coaching challenge to reverse the teachings of the past few years, the last thing the new manager needed was a difficult set of opening matches.
But that’s what he’s got. Brentford away and Man Utd at home provide a tricky first two, and although it gets slightly easier from here, Spurs do play Arsenal at Emirates Stadium and Liverpool at home before September is out.
In the corresponding fixtures last season - excluding Burnley and Sheff Utd – Spurs took only two points from this set of matches, both home and away.
That’s not the end of the bad news. Should Spurs be challenging for a European place towards the season finale, they might come unstuck when up against Newcastle, Man City, Arsenal, and Liverpool in a gruelling four-match run between 13 April and 4 May.
Is Arsenal v Man City in October a season-definer?
Should we be anticipating another battle between Arsenal and Man City for the title, then all eyes are on their meeting in early October. By then, we should know how things are going to out.
Of all the clubs with title aspirations, Man City are the happiest today. Their opening fixtures are frictionless, beginning with Burnley at Turf Moor, Newcastle at home, and Sheff Utd away, and without a tough away encounter until Arsenal on 7 October.
Then again, in an unusual twist for Man City, many of their most difficult matches come in two clumps in October to November and February to March.
They have Arsenal, Brighton, and Man Utd through October, followed by AFC Bournemouth, Chelsea, and Liverpool in November. If one of the chasing pack is to hunt Man City down it might well be here.
Similarly, they play four of the traditional ‘Big Six’ in a six-fixture sequence in early spring.
Arsenal, meanwhile, enjoy a smooth start of Forest at Emirates Stadium, Palace, and Fulham, with home matches against Man Utd and Spurs the only major tests before the head-to-head with Man City, in which they again have home advantage.
Advantage City?
There is clearly a chance here for Mikel Arteta to reset Arsenal and emulate the form that put them in contention last autumn, although Man City still ultimately hold the fixture-list advantage.
When it comes to the run-in - where it all went wrong for Arteta’s side last season - Arsenal are at Spurs on 27 April and travel to Old Trafford on the penultimate day of the season, whereas City don’t play any of last season’s top six in their final eight matches after hosting Arsenal on 30 March.
That is significant. Guardiola’s team always seem to end strongly and 2023/24 provides the chance, once again, to prove they are invincible in the final stretch.
Beat Arsenal at the end of March and one would expect Man City to breeze through the rest of the season.
