Premier League And Football League Fixtures Announced
Chelsea will begin their Premier League title defence with a home game against Swansea on the weekend of 8-9 August.
Manchester City, who finished eight points adrift of the Blues, travel to West Brom while Manchester United face Tottenham at Old Trafford.
Arsenal host West Ham, Liverpool go to Stoke, Newcastle play Southampton and Leicester welcome Sunderland.
Promoted trio Bournemouth, Watford and Norwich face Aston Villa, Everton and Crystal Palace respectively.
The top-flight season starts a week earlier than last season – on the same weekend as the Football League – as the 2016 European Championship starts on 10 June.
Alternatively, click on your team below for their fixtures.
AFC Bournemouth, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Everton, Leicester City, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Norwich City, Southampton, Stoke City, Sunderland, Swansea City, Tottenham Hotspur, Watford, West Bromwich Albion, West Ham United.
In the Championship, relegated Hull host Huddersfield, Burnley travel to Leeds and Queens Park Rangers are at Charlton.
Preston North End are the only promoted team with a home game as they welcome beaten play-off finalists Middlesbrough to Deepdale, with MK Dons and Bristol City at Rotherham and Sheffield Wednesday respectively.
Last season’s beaten play-off semi-finalists – Brentford and Ipswich – meet at Griffin Park.
Promoted Shrewsbury begin their League One campaign with a home game against Millwall. Wigan and Blackpool – relegated along with Millwall – face away games, at Coventry and Colchester respectively.
League Two champions Burton host Scunthorpe, while fellow promoted teams Bury and Southend visit Doncaster and Fleetwood respectively.
Conference champions Barnet will start life back in League Two with a trip to relegated Leyton Orient, as fellow promoted side Bristol Rovers host Northampton.
Notts County are away at Stevenage after being relegated, with Crawley at Oxford and Yeovil visiting Exeter.
Fixtures are subject to change in line with television scheduling.
The Scottish Premiership, Scottish Championship, Scottish League One and Scottish League Two will publish their fixtures on Friday.
Here’s how the Premier League fixtures break down:
Opening shots
An early indicator in the title race could come on the second weekend of matches, when Chelsea travel to Manchester City.
After opening at home to Swansea, Chelsea are scheduled to play at Etihad Stadium on Saturday, 15 August, though the match may well take place a day later for television purposes.
The defending Premier League champions have never lost their opening fixture. In 23 seasons, the record is won 20 and drawn three.
Phil McNulty analysis
“Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers will be under pressure from the kick-off this season after escaping the sack following a desperately disappointing campaign – but he faces a fierce test right away as they go back to Stoke City, where they lost 6-1 on the final day of last season.
“A trip to Arsenal after a home game against newly promoted Bournemouth means it is not an easy start for someone who cannot afford any stalling as Liverpool begin the post-Steven Gerrard era.
“The Cherries’ arrival in the Premier League is greeted with a home game against Aston Villa as manager Eddie Howe aims to pick up where he left off off in the Championship.
“Manchester United’s home game to Spurs is another first-day standout – but the big one is kept back for the second weekend of the season, when champions Chelsea travel to Manchester City.
“If the two superpowers are aiming to put down an early marker, then that meeting at the Etihad – with big new signings likely to be on show – will be the perfect platform.”
Festive fun
Teams will play three times in eight days, although there are no Premier League matches scheduled for New Year’s Day. Games will instead take place on Saturday, 2 January 2016.
Manchester United against Chelsea on 28 December stands out among the festive fixtures.
The big five
Arsenal will get two big early chances to show their credentials – at home to Liverpool on 22 August and away at Chelsea four weeks later.
Manchester City’s season includes tasty encounters both near the start and end – they host Chelsea in their second game and welcome the Gunners for the penultimate match, provisionally on 7 May.
Manchester United host newcomers Bournemouth on the final day of the season.
The new boys
Bournemouth, who won the Championship title, host Aston Villa in their first ever Premier League game, before away trips to Liverpool and West Ham.
Watford, who finished runners-up to the Cherries in the second tier, have arguably the toughest of the opening games with a trip to Everton and then back-to-back home matches against West Brom and Southampton.
Play-off winners Norwich kick off with a home game against Crystal Palace before an away trip to Sunderland and a home fixture against Stoke.
There have been two occasions since the Premier League’s inaugural season in 1992-93 when all three promoted clubs have stayed up.
Blackburn (10th), Fulham (13th) and Bolton (16th) managed it in 2001-02. Then Swansea (11th), Norwich (12th) and QPR (17th) repeated the feat in 2011-12.
And there’s only one occasion when all three promoted teams went straight back down. That was in 1997-98, when Bolton (18th), Barnsley (19th) and Crystal Palace (20th) were all relegated.
Hardest start
Everton and Stoke face possibly the toughest starts to the campaign with a testing run of games.
The Toffees start with a home game against Watford but then face Southampton (away), Manchester City (home), Tottenham (away) and Chelsea (home) in their next four matches.
Stoke host Liverpool – albeit a team they thrashed 6-1 on the final day of last season – then travel to Tottenham. The Potters then have an away game to Norwich before they face West Brom, managed by former boss Tony Pulis, followed by a clash with Arsenal at
Emirates Stadium.
Four clubs have managed just one point from their opening eight games:
- Man City in 1995-96,
- Southampton in 1998-99
- Sheffield Wednesday in 1999-2000
- Sunderland in 2013-14
More surprisingly, two of them – Southampton and Sunderland – survived.
Hardest run-in
Bournemouth will hope to have banked enough points to stay in the top flight given they have a particularly testing end to the season.
The Cherries face Liverpool, Everton, Chelsea and Manchester United in four of their last five matches.
Leicester City came into brilliant form at the of last season to secure survival, and Nigel Pearson will hope his side are in a good position by the time they face Manchester United, Everton and Chelsea in their final three games.
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