Premier League 2023/24: How last season’s top 6 start the campaign

We’ve taken a look at last season’s Premier League top 6 and who they’ll be facing in the first handful of rounds of the 2023/24 campaign.

Man City

The champions and treble winners open up the new campaign on Friday 11th August away to promoted Burnley. Intriguingly, they’ll be up against legendary former fan favourite Vincent Kompany, who’s now the Clarets’ boss.

After a UEFA Super Cup date with Sevilla, City square up against Newcastle at Etihad Stadium in a battle where both sides will want to lay down an early marker.

Pep Guardiola’s men then travel to newly-promoted Sheffield United, host Fulham and go away to Conference League winners West Ham. On paper at least, it feels like a pretty manageable first 5 assignments and they should be aiming for something close to 15 points.

Arsenal

Mikel Arteta’s Gunners will be keen to replicate their fast start to last season where they won their first 5 matches, and 9 of their first 10.

On matchday 1, they meet Nottingham Forest, who beat them as recently as May, a result which crowned Man City as champions. They shouldn’t need much more incentive than avenging a fresh defeat to get another season rolling.

Arsenal then go to Crystal Palace, a ground where they won 2-0 on last season’s opening day. Another London derby arrives in the shape of Fulham’s visit to Emirates Stadium on 26th August.

Arsenal host Man Utd on 3rd September with memories flooding back of the Gunners’ thrilling 3-2 victory in last season’s corresponding fixture. Eddie Nketiah scored the 90th-minute winner.

A bogey clash and visit to Everton’s Goodison Park follows that on 16th September. Arsenal have lost 4 of their last 5 matches at the home of the Toffees and will be desperate to rectify that. Their last league win at Goodison was a 5-2 success back in October 2017.

Man Utd

Erik ten Hag’s Red Devils welcome Wolves to Old Trafford on the opening weekend and then visit Tottenham. 2 of the last 4 EPL meetings between United and Spurs in London ended in score draws, with the visitors losing none of the last 5.

United then host Nottingham Forest and make a potentially daunting trip to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal. It’s a ground where they lost the aforementioned 5-goal thriller on 22nd January.

Brighton arrive at the Theatre of Dreams after that looking to replicate their 2-1 win at Old Trafford last August. The Seagulls did lose to the Red Devils in the 2022/23 FA Cup semi-final on penalties, but they did the league double over United last term.

It’s a relatively tricky set of fixtures for United, who lost their opening 2 fixtures last August.

Newcastle

The Magpies are going from strength to strength under Eddie Howe but will need to juggle Champions League football this season too. It comes with the territory though.

They face a daunting start on paper with a home clash against Unai Emery’s much-improved Aston Villa, who have recruited well so far this window, with Youri Tielemans and Pau Torres joining the Spaniard’s revolution.

Newcastle visit champions Man City on 19th August and host Liverpool on the 27th. A trip to Brighton follows that as well as a home clash with Brentford. So the Magpies will face 4 of last season’s top 7 inside the first 5 rounds. Brentford, for the record, finished 9th.

If Howe’s team can negotiate this start unscathed, they’ll be looking good for another top-4 push and perhaps even better.

Liverpool

Jürgen Klopp’s side travel to Chelsea on the opening day and it’s difficult to know what to predict from the Blues after a frenetic summer of player sales. Interestingly, the last 4 Premier League meetings between them have been draws.

The Reds then welcome Bournemouth to Anfield and who can forget when they stuck 9 goals past the Cherries in last August’s corresponding fixture? Liverpool then travel to Newcastle and were actually 1 of just 2 visiting teams to claim all 3 points at St James’ Park last term.

Emery’s Aston Villa visit Anfield after that. They were denied a win there in May by a late Roberto Firmino equaliser. He’s since departed for Al Ahli in Saudi Arabia. A trip to Wolves rounds out the Reds’ first 5.

Brighton

The Seagulls may be quietly confident they can collect a chunk of points from their first 5 outings.

Newly-promoted Luton visit the south coast on the opening weekend and then Brighton head to the Midlands for a clash with Wolves. Home matches against West Ham and Newcastle follow that, before Roberto De Zerbi takes his talented charges to face Man Utd at Old Trafford, a venue they won at early last season.

Premier League opening weekend highlights

Chelsea vs Liverpool is the outstanding fixture of the opening round on Sunday 13th August. On the same day, Brentford and Tottenham square off in a London derby which ended 2-2 last season. The world-famous English Premier League has the potential to get off to a flyer.