The Premier League 2019-20 season may not start until Friday, August 9th, but fans got a taste of what to expect on Thursday with the release of every teams’ fixture list. The season will begin with Champions League winners and 2018-19 Premier League runners up Liverpool hosting newly promoted Norwich City.
A day later, reigning Premier League champions Manchester City will begin their title defence against West Ham at the London Stadium.
With the list of fixtures out, the question is, which team has the most difficult start to the season?
Which PL team has the easiest start?
Premier League’s teams will clash on two occasions home and away. Therefore, it is difficult to say one team has a more difficult fixture list overall.
That said, it can be concluded that some do have a more difficult time than others due to fixture congestion and consecutive games against top teams.
Manchester City will open the season with an easy set of fixtures on paper. They will face off with Tottenham Hotspur in a difficult contest on August 17th, their second game of the season, but the Cityzens will fancy their chances to win their opening six fixtures.
Pep Guardiola’s team will face Everton and Wolverhampton Wanderers in back to back games at the end of September. By then, the Champions League and Carabao Cup will have started which could cause Manchester City to drop points.
Which PL team has the toughest start?
Manchester United will play Chelsea and Wolverhampton Wanderers in back to back games to start the season. Red Devils manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would have hoped for an easier start to the campaign. Instead, Manchester United must host the Europa League winners before going to Molineaux to player Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wolves defeated Manchester United twice at Molineaux last season.
Things do ease up from there with Manchester United facing Crystal Palace at home before clashing with Southampton away. Manchester United will then go into December with a difficult trilogy of games against Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City, and Everton.
Possible title decider
Manchester City and Liverpool went down to the wire last season with the former just getting over the line to lift the trophy. Manchester City’s January win over Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium enabled them to win the title for a second straight season.
The Premier League 2019-20 season will see the two clubs play on April 4th in what could be a title decider. Once again, domestic cup and Champions League commitments will weigh heavily on the two teams. Those cup commitments could dictate just which side, or another, win the league.
Who are the sportsbooks’ favourite to win the PL?
With the announcement of the Premier League 2019-20 fixtures on Thursday, leading sportsbooks have kept Manchester City atop the futures betting odds list. According to Oddschecker, the best odds currently are for Manchester City are 4/6. Liverpool have the second-best odds at 9/4 while Tottenham Hotspur round out the top three at 16/1.
Last season’s Championship winners Norwich City head into the Premier League season with the longest odds to win the competition. The Canaries are 2500/1 to win the title.
