Premier League 2022-23 to start on August 5, Crystal Palace to face Arsenal in opener

London, June 16 (IANS): The 2022-23 Premier League season will kick off with Crystal Palace taking on Arsenal on the opening day, on August 5, before Manchester City begin their title defence at West Ham on August 7 as the top English football league announced the schedule on Thursday.

City’s arch-rivals Manchester United, under new manager Erik ten Hag and also with Cristiano Ronaldo in their side, will face Brighton on the same day, August 7 as well.

The two table-toppers of the 2021-22 season Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool will lock horns at Anfield on October 15 with their second match scheduled at the Etihad Stadium on April 1. Both games will be on weekends.

This will be the first time in the history of the English Premier League (EPL) that the season will be paused for 43 days. There will be no matches after the weekend of November 12-13 until December 26 because of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The season will restart on Boxing Day — eight days after the World Cup final (Dec 18) — on December 26.

The 20-team EPL season will also feature three newly promoted sides — Fulham, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest — in place of Burnley, Watford and Norwich City, who were relegated.

The Premier League season will end later than usual on May 28 due to the FIFA World Cup.