Manchester City will begin their Premier League title defence with a trip to West Ham United, while the season will kick off with a London Derby for the second year in a row as Crystal Palace host Arsenal.

The season will begin on August 5 and conclude on May 28. Manchester City, crowned 2021-22 champions after a dramatic final-day win over Aston Villa, are favourites to retain their title after signing forward Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund for £51.2m.

Liverpool, who finished second last season, will travel to newly-promoted Fulham, and Nottingham Forest will play at Newcastle United to mark their return to the Premier League after 23 years.

Chelsea will kick off their season under the new ownership by playing away to Everton, while Bournemouth will host Aston Villa in their first game in the top flight after earning promotion.

Manchester United, under new manager Erik ten Hag, will begin their campaign at home against Brighton.

There will be a mid-season break after November 12 to accommodate the World Cup, which runs from November 21 to December 18 in Qatar. The league will resume on Boxing Day. There are no meetings between the Premier League’s so-called ‘big six’ on the weekend of November 12-13 — the one before the World Cup — following a request by the Football Association.

Special arrangements have been made to allow more time between games played across the three festive match rounds. This will allow squads greater time to recover. Previously clubs were given a minimum of 48 hours between matches.

After fixtures on December 26-27, the following match round will be played across December 29, 30 and 31. The New Year match round will be played on the January 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Unique season

The 2022-23 season has been adjusted to accommodate the World Cup. It starts a week earlier than normal — 75 days after the final day of the 2021-22 campaign — and finishes a week later than usual.

Fifa, world football’s governing body, has already stipulated that players must be released on November 14 for the World Cup. It means the mid-season break will last more than six weeks.

Liverpool host City on October 15, with the return fixture at Etihad Stadium on April 1. The first Manchester Derby of the season is on October 1 at Etihad Stadium, with United hosting their neighbours on January 14.

(Written with inputs from Our Bureau and Reuters)