Manchester City’s opening-day reunion with Vincent Kompany and Burnley forms part of a friendly-looking start to the Premier League season for the treble-winners.
The top-flight fixture schedule was released on Thursday morning, with Kompany’s side hosting City on August 11 in the opening match of the 2023-24 season.
While clubs will all play each other twice over the course of the campaign, the ordering of the matches can have a significant impact on their fortunes.
To help unravel next season’s fixtures, the PA news agency has analysed the entire schedule using an aggregation of leading bookmakers’ odds and identified the most notable runs.
Soft start for City?
Using the aggregated odds to produce a projected league table, City – who top those standings ahead of Liverpool and then Arsenal – play only one of the projected top six in their first seven games.
Their first three games also include a second promoted side, Sheffield United, sandwiching a fixture against Newcastle – tipped to follow up their Champions League qualification by finishing fifth and facing City as part of a tricky first four games on paper.
Fulham, West Ham, Nottingham Forest and Wolves follow, with only the Hammers projected to finish in the top half.
Those four sides recur in a similarly tame run-in, at least after April 20’s trip to Tottenham, and the festive period has also been kind. Teams are set to play seven games in December and City face Spurs, Aston Villa, Luton, Crystal Palace, Brentford, Everton and the Blades.
The one concerning stretch of City’s season comes in March, when successive games against Manchester United, Liverpool, Brighton and Arsenal coincide with Champions League commitments.
Coming up
Kompany’s side back up the City clash by travelling to fellow promoted side Luton.
Villa, Spurs and Forest follow before consecutive games loom against Champions League challengers Manchester United, Newcastle and Chelsea.
Sheffield United open up against Palace and Forest before their own date with City, while Luton travel to Brighton and Chelsea either side of the Burnley clash.
The end-of-season run-in pits the Hatters against exclusively mid-table sides in the projected standings in Brentford, Wolves, Everton, West Ham and Fulham – perhaps preferable to facing teams fighting for their lives at that stage.
Burnley and the Blades meet at Bramall Lane in their 34th game before each facing Forest, Newcastle and Tottenham in their last four – United also take on Everton while Burnley play Manchester United.
Meet the new boss
London rivals Chelsea and Tottenham will go into the season under new management, with Mauricio Pochettino crossing the divide to take over at Stamford Bridge.
While his first assignment is at home to Liverpool, the Blues otherwise have a reasonably appealing start – West Ham follow before successive games against Luton, Forest and Bournemouth.
Spurs, under new boss Ange Postecoglou, open up at Brentford before hosting Manchester United. Bournemouth, Burnley and Sheffield United follow in succession before the Australian’s sternest early test with Arsenal and Liverpool back to back.
He will face a tricky run-in though, with the home derby against the Gunners sandwiched between Manchester City and Liverpool, and Newcastle before that run for good measure. Burnley and the Blades may provide some late respite.
Toney’s timing
City, Chelsea and Spurs have the easiest first six games on paper, with Brentford among the next group in a potentially important boost while star striker Ivan Toney serves a betting ban.
Spurs and Newcastle are the toughest tests as they also face Fulham, Palace, Bournemouth and Everton while adjusting to life without Toney. He will be eligible to return at Tottenham on January 30, just in time to also face City and Liverpool in a run of 11 games, nine of them against projected top-half finishers.
The toughest start on paper belongs to Bournemouth, who face West Ham, Liverpool, Tottenham, Brentford, Chelsea, Brighton and then Arsenal.
The Cherries are hardly paid back in the run-in, with their final six games against Manchester United, Aston Villa, Brighton, Arsenal, Brentford and Chelsea – Gary O’Neil may have his work cut out to repeat last season’s impressive survival act.
World Cup Girlz back in the fold? Gilbert hints at return of experienced players for Brazil friendlies
For the first time in almost nine months, it seems as if Jamaica’s interim Reggae Girlz Head coach Xavier Gilbert will have members of the World Cup squad at his disposal, when they visit Brazil for a two-match friendly international series in June.
The Girlz, who first locked horns with Brazil, and lost 0-3, at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, went one better at last year’s global showpiece in Australia, as they not only held the South American giants to a goalless stalemate, but also ensured their elimination at the group stage.
By all indications, that performance, and by extension, the fact that the Girlz made an historic appearance in the knockout stages of the World Cup, earned them even more respect from the number 10-ranked Brazilians, who are currently in preparation for this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.
The games, scheduled for June 1 and 4, are expected to assist Brazil in their preparation, while the now 42nd-ranked Jamaicans will get a much-needed test to regain their appetite for international competition, having last sported the nationals colours against Canada last September.
Since that Olympic qualifying fixture in Canada, members of the World Cup squad withdrew their services from national representation, citing lack of payment and mistreatment from the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), among their reasons.
While it is yet to be confirmed how many, if any, of the World Cup players will make the trip, Gilbert gave the clearest indication yet that there might be a few, as he welcomed the games, after not utilizing the last FIFA window.
“It is always important to secure games during the international window. It not only assists in exposing players, but it also ensures the team is active, which helps our rankings, and also our quality of play. Because as you know, the more we play together, especially against quality opponents, the better the team becomes, and we also get to work on different things both offensively and defensively,” Gilbert told SportsMax.TV.
“The expectation is for us to give a good account of ourselves, it has been a while since these players have played together, but the good thing is that they are actively engaged in their respective leagues in Europe and United States. So, it is not like they were inactive, and obviously, it is not the first time they will be playing together.
“So, we just have to keep things as simple or as close to what we did prior to, and during the World Cup, to make sure we are competitive. It is going to be a little bit different, but it’s not far-fetched that we can get another positive result against Brazil,” he added.
Atletico Madrid 3-1 Athletic Bilbao: Hosts close in on top-four finish
Atletico Madrid beat newly crowned Copa del Rey winners Athletic Bilbao 3-1 at home in LaLiga on Saturday as Diego Simeone's side moved a step closer to a top-four finish.
Fourth-placed Atletico moved onto 64 points and have increased their advantage over Athletic, in fifth, to six points with five games to play.
Midfielder Rodrigo de Paul put Atletico in front in the 15th minute with a goal from outside the box. After controlling an attempted clearance from the visitors, his effort dipped just under the bar as his strike deflected off one of the Athletic defenders.
Athletic levelled just before half-time through Nico Williams after Antoine Griezmann lost the ball through a careless pass.
But Angel Correa restored the lead for Atletico in the 52nd minute and later came close to scoring again.
With 10 minutes to play, away goalkeeper Unai Simon inadvertently made it 3-1 with an own goal after Samuel Lino’s effort came back off the post, ending any Athletic hopes of a comeback.
Hull City 3-3 Ipswich Town: Tigers fight back three times to deny Tractor Boys
Ipswich Town missed the chance to move into an automatic promotion spot as play-off-chasing Hull City came from behind three times in a thrilling 3-3 Championship draw at The MKM Stadium.
Ipswich knew a victory would take them second after Leeds United were surprisingly beaten 4-0 by Queens Park Rangers on Friday, and they led on three separate occasions, George Hirst opening the scoring before Omari Hutchinson produced two brilliant strikes from the edge of the area.
However, buoyed by slip-ups from rivals Norwich City and West Brom earlier on Saturday, Hull dug deep to fight back on each occasion, Ozan Tufan and Liam Delap scoring their first two equalisers.
With Liam Rosenior's men 3-2 down with just four minutes to play, substitute Noah Ohio blasted his shot in off the crossbar to punish an error from Ipswich goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky.
The result keeps Ipswich behind second-placed Leeds on goal difference, though the Tractor Boys have a game in hand to come at Coventry City on Tuesday.
Hull, meanwhile, are two points adrift of the top six, with Norwich's goal difference advantage meaning their top-six spot is all but assured. The Tigers will, however, leapfrog West Brom if they beat Plymouth Argyle on the final day and Albion lose to Preston North End.
Data Debrief: Hutchinson's best not enough
Hutchinson was a man who deserved to be on the winning side on Saturday, giving Ryan Allsop no chance with two near-identical left-footed strikes from the right corner of the penalty area.
His goals came from an expected goals (xG) total of just 0.6, and he led all players on the pitch for shots (eight) and passes in the final third (21), also laying on three chances for his team-mates.
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