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Premier League 2020-21 fixtures are out... get ready for the most hectic top-flight season in history!
Get ready for the most hectic top-flight season in history.
From the moment the new Premier League campaign gets under way on September 12 – with Leeds United's visit to champions Liverpool the pick of the opening day bunch – the fixtures come thick and fast in a relentless deluge of domestic, European and international matches.
Never has Mitchell and Webb's cult sketch, mocking "the thousands and thousands of hours of constant dizzying, 24-hour, year-long, endless football" felt more relevant. There will barely be time for supporters to draw breath, let alone the players.
The campaign's traditional curtain-raiser, the Community Shield, will take place in just nine days' time on August 29 – less than a week after the 2019-20 Champions League Final – with FA Cup winners Arsenal facing Liverpool at Wembley.
From there, a raft of players head across Europe for the Nations League, with Uefa's 55 member associations on Wednesday reaffirming their commitment to the fledgeling international tournament, despite the glut of domestic football ahead.
From the opening weekend of the Premier League season, which also sees newly promoted Fulham host Arsenal, until the Champions League Final on May 29, there are just four free midweeks, all of which will eventually be needed for rearranged top-flight matches.
The biggest clubs are set to almost every three days, with the final league fixtures on May 23, 2021, eight days after the FA Cup final.
With a total of five weeks of the campaign lost to the coronavirus pandemic and the delayed European Championship due to begin on June 11, the schedule is particularly gruelling for those competing in Europe.
Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham – as well as Man City, Liverpool, Man United and Leicester – will not have a spare midweek until the Carabao Cup quarter-finals on December 22, with the Champions League and Europa League to be played over six consecutive midweeks from October to December.
The Premier League is already struggling to schedule City and United's opening fixtures, with both clubs needing 30 days rest after this season's European runs and the early rounds of the Carabao Cup to fit in.
For Spurs, who begin the domestic campaign at home to Everton, the schedule is particularly arduous, with Jose Mourinho's side needing to negotiate three qualifying rounds in order to enter the Europa League group stage – thanks to Arsenal's FA Cup triumph.
With the Carabao Cup third- and fourth-rounds set to clash with Europa League dates, Spurs are facing a pair of midweeks with two fixtures and may, therefore, be forced to play an U-23 side in the EFL Cup, just as Liverpool did in a 5-0 defeat to Aston Villa last season.
No doubt Mourinho, who has established a reputation for bitter complaints about the schedule, will not be short of an opinion.
Unsurprisingly, the winter break has been dropped and FA Cup third- and fourth-round replays scrapped as the authorities scrabble to free-up space in the calendar. The Carabao Cup semi-finals have also been reduced to one leg.
Even so, the risk of burnout and a season of unprecedented injury woes looms large, particularly after Premier League clubs voted down the continuation of the five substitutes rule for next season.
As well as club managers, who will be forced to juggle their squads like never before, England boss Gareth Southgate is sure to be alarmed by the packed schedule, which includes four international breaks across the campaign.
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham on Wednesday warned top clubs not to expect any favours from Southgate when it comes to picking his squads but the England manager will be aware that fatigue could negatively impact his side's chances at the delayed Euros, which culminate at Wembley on July 11, 2021.
Perhaps the biggest concern of all, however, remains the lingering threat of a second wave of the pandemic. Given the sheer volume of fixtures, even localised shutdowns could wreak havoc on a football calendar which simply does not stop and must also accommodate a winter World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
If you thought Project Restart was relentless, brace yourselves. This is going to be some ride.
