Today the FA and Sky ran a rehearsal of the 2009 / 2010 Premiership fixtures and if they were real, we’d have a rather tough start!
Looking at the first set of fixtures, this is what we would have:
August 15th – West Ham vs Arsenal
August 18th – Champions League Playoff Fixture
August 22nd – Arsenal vs Burnley
August 25th - Champions League Playoff Fixture
August 29th – Arsenal vs Chelsea
September 12th – Bolton vs Arsenal
September 15th – Champions League Group Stage
September 19th – Liverpool vs Arsenal
September 26th – Arsenal vs Man City
September 29th – Champions League Group Stage
So, it seems that we’d kick off the season with West Ham away from home which of course is a London derby, swiftly followed by a Champions League game, which could be a game against the likes of Sporting Lisbon, Athletico Madrid or Celtic amongst others!
Then we’ll have newly promoted Burnley – newly promoted clubs always a threat! And then the return leg of the Champions League playoff, before taking on Chelsea at the Emirates – all of this in the last 2 weeks of August!
September is equally packed, with 5 games in 2 1/2 weeks which sees us take on Bolton and Liverpool away, sandwiched by another Champions League game and then high spending Man City at home before another CL game…
Of course, we’ll have to play every team twice throughout the season, but it is a tough start and if it were real, it would be some test at the beginning of the season…
The real fixtures are announced on Wednesday, so let’s see what happens!
