Five things we learned from the Premier League fixture list

Last month, it was revealed that the Premier League’s ‘top six’ clubs have been purposely kept apart on the opening and closing weekends of the season for a number of years due to commercial reasons – the theory being that broadcasting audiences are smaller during the summer and attendances would be boosted.

That, however, now appears to have changed. Arsenal will start their campaign by entertaining champions Manchester City at the Emirates, with two members of the so-called ‘top six’ meeting on the opening weekend for the first time since the 2010/11 season when Arsenal travelled to Liverpool.

Some might cruelly suggest that this is some kind of comment on Arsenal’s recent years of struggle, but it more likely signals a welcome change in direction from the Premier League, who stood accused of manipulating the fixture list in favour of its biggest clubs.

Arsenal’s tough start does not end with the visit of Pep Guardiola’s champions, either. A trip to Stamford Bridge to play Chelsea follows on the subsequent weekend, just 17 days after the two sides play each other in a pre-season friendly in Dublin.

Unai Emery’s start to life as a Premier League manager and Arsene Wenger’s successor could hardly be more difficult but Arsenal will take hope from the club’s early groundwork in the transfer market this summer, with Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Lucas Torreira expected to join new arrival Stephan Lichtsteiner at the Emirates.

Chelsea, on the other hand, are at an impasse with Antonio Conte over his future at the club and until that issue is resolved, little work can be done on other comings and goings.

When Tottenham Hotspur’s fixture list revealed they would play three of their opening four fixtures away from home, it appeared as though the Premier League had given the club every chance to ready the new, redeveloped White Hart Lane.

Shortly after the fixture announcement, Tottenham duly confirmed that they would play at Wembley one final time, with their opening home game of the season against Fulham on 18 August held at the national stadium.

The first fixture at the new White Hart Lane will instead be against Liverpool on 15 September.

Last season, the Premier League completed 11 rounds of fixtures by the mid-November international break. The next 11 rounds were done and dusted by 4 January, in the space of just 47 days. English football takes pride in its busy Christmas period but this was quite simply unprecedented.

Next season, the same period will feature two fewer games – nine in total, roughly between 24 November and New Year’s Day. This will mark a return to normality, with eight or nine fixtures usually scheduled over this period in the past.

It will that mean that the workload is eased somewhat in comparison to last season, and the festive period should not have such a great bearing on a club’s fortunes. West Bromwich Albion, for example, fell into the relegation zone during last season’s run of fixture congestion and after that, never escaped.

We are yet to see a ‘Super, Super Sunday’ – with all members of the ‘top six’ playing each other on the same weekend – but the Premier League fixture computer continues to pair some of English football’s biggest derbies on the same weekend.

Last season, the Manchester and Merseyside derbies came as a package. Next, the Merseyside and north London match-ups will be joined together. Arsenal host Tottenham and Liverpool host Everton on the weekend of 1 December. The reverse fixtures follow on the first weekend in March.

Manchester City and Manchester United, meanwhile, meet for the first time at the Etihad on 10 November, before reconvening at Old Trafford on 16 March.

All dates subject to change.