The new season is almost upon us
With the 2020/21 Premier League season starting in just three weeks’ time, check out whether your favorite side in on the receiving end of a favorable or challenging set of fixtures.
Premier League has released the full fixture list for the 2020/21 season, with some mouth-watering clashes scheduled for the opening weeks of the new campaign.
Champions Liverpool will be trying to defend the club’s first Premier League title in 3 decades, but the Reds will be facing stiff competition from runners-up Manchester City who have spent heavily in the transfer market to reinforce their chances of reclaiming the crown.
These two won’t be the only sides competing for the title as Chelsea and Manchester United are also expected to take the next step after finishing in the Champions League places last term. The Blues have already signed renowned stars while United are expected to do the same in the coming weeks.
An equally fierce competition is expected at the other end of the Premier League table, with newcomers Leeds United, West Brom, and Fulham trying to avoid relegation at the first time of asking. But which team has got a favorable first few fixtures? Ligalive has the answer to this question …
The Hammers start the new campaign with an innocuous-looking home clash with Newcastle, but that is the only game David Moyes side are expected to win, on paper at least.
Their next seven games – after which the international break will bring club football to a halt for two weeks – include West Ham facing Arsenal, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City, Liverpool and Fulham.
With the exception of Fulham who have come up from the Championship, West Ham came face to face with all the other six sides in the Premier League last term. Their performance in those 12 games doesn’t was dreadful, as they lost all 12 of them, with a goal difference of -24.
That means that by the time the first round of fixtures is over and players jet off to play for their national sides, the Hammers could very well be in relegation places and preparing for another finish in the bottom half of the Premier League.
Only a year after they were relegated to the 2nd tier of English football, Scott Parker’s Fulham surprised everybody by making it to the Premier League via the Championship playoffs.
Their persistence might have convinced Mother Nature to hand the Craven Cottage residents the easiest opening set of fixtures of any side in the Premier League. But not before they navigate a difficult visit of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal on the opening day.
After getting face to face with the Gunners on September 12, their next seven fixtures will see Fulham locking horns with the likes of Leeds United, Aston Villa, Wolves, Sheffield United, Crystal Palace, West Brom, and West Ham.
Only Wolves are the side in this run that will be the favorites to claim all three points against the Craven Cottage residents, as their manager would be telling Fulham players they could at least get a point in each of the remaining six games, on paper at least.
And given that teams who start the season well are always well placed to avoid the drop, Fulham have a golden chance to avoid the fate that met them the last time they spent a whole season in the English top-flight.
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