The upcoming Premier League season kicks off on Friday, August 16, 2024 and the anticipation is ramping up. On the pitch, the 2023-24 season set a new record with 1,246 goals. In the grounds, the league's popularity continues to soar, with stadiums at a record-equalling 98.7% capacity.
With 96 Premier League players called up to Euro 2024 compared to 55 from La Liga, it's clear the talent pool is unmatched. So the stage is set for another thrilling, high-class campaign.
Our article highlights the most anticipated Premier League fixtures, explaining why we’re so excited, and the crazy lengths you have to go to see some of them in person.
1. Chelsea vs Man City: Opening Weekend Showdown - 18 August 2024
Week One of the new Premier League season, and you get a marquee fixture, which was an eight-goal classic last season. While it’s already a top-tier match, Blues vs City is compelling for another reason:
Chelsea's new manager, Enzo Maresca, brings his own experience from Manchester City. He was in charge of their development squad in 2020-21 and had a stint as Guardiola’s assistant in 2022-23. Does Maresca have something up his sleeve for his old boss?
Getting Tickets for Chelsea vs Manchester City
We think you can guess that it was almost impossible to get tickets for Chelsea vs Manchester City through official channels.
Members needed to earn 63 Loyalty Points in 2023-24 just for the right to try and buy Chelsea tickets for this match.
To do that you needed to attend all of Chelsea’s Premier League matches, and most of their long runs in the FA Cup and EFL Cup last season.
2023-24 Result: Chelsea 4 - 4 Manchester City
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2. Tottenham vs Arsenal: Tricky NLD - 15 September 2024
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal will have to negotiate the new Champions League format and will face a North London Derby in the middle of a brutal opening to the season.
Arsenal’s opening is the most difficult of all 20 Premier League teams. Three of their first five matches are versus teams that finished in 2023-24’s top five.
Even worse, the first North London Derby is sandwiched between two Champions League matches. That could involve a lot of travelling and draining games against elite European teams.
For their part, Spurs have to contend with Europa League, which can be gruelling in its own way.
Spurs’ Exciting Young Talents
Everything about Tottenham inspires hope at the moment. It could be Ange Postecoglou’s high-wire football or a transfer policy targeting youthful talents like 18-year-olds Archie Gray (£40 million) and Lucas Bergvall (£8.5 million).
Add those names to established stars like the 21-year-olds Destiny Udogie and Pape Sarr, and you’ve got a contingent of players who are only going to grow.
Arsenal have opened up a gap against Tottenham since 2022, but Spurs have an opportunity to rest first-teamers in the Europa League and punish the Gunners on the weekend.
2023-24 Result: Tottenham 2 - 3 Arsenal
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3. Arsenal vs Liverpool: A Global PL Spectacle - 26 Oct 2024
Unlike Arsenal, Liverpool have a relatively light start to the season. None of their first eight opponents finished in the top five in the league.
So while Arne Slot will have the opportunity to ease himself into his new job, things get serious from mid-October.
First the Reds host Chelsea on Gameweek 7, and then comes this immense fixture at The Emirates. This could be the match where we discover if Liverpool’s new regime can dream of a title push, or are looking at a season in transition.
TV’s Biggest Premier League Fixture?
Demand for Arsenal and Liverpool matches is always through the roof, whether you’re buying Arsenal tickets for a match in person or watching on the other side of the world.
Liverpool’s home 1-1 draw to Arsenal in December 2023-24 attracted a then record American TV audience for a Premier League game, with 1.96 million viewers on NBC alone. That total was calculated without accounting for viewers on NBC’s Peacock digital platform.
Globally, the Premier League is reaching more fans than ever, with a potential audience of 900 million people in 193 different nations.
2023-24 Result: Arsenal 3 - 1 Liverpool
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4. Tottenham vs Aston Villa: A Bruising Autumn Face-Off - 2 November 2024
November looks like a punishing month for Aston Villa, a team that Spurs will identify as vulnerable among the top four or five.
Like Arsenal, the Villans have to contend with the new expanded UEFA Champions League format in their mid-week games.
But unlike Arsenal, Unai Emery’s team will be drawn in Pot Four, which means they will have some European big boys on the agenda this autumn.
Both fixtures last season were away wins, including a wild 4-0 win for Spurs against ten men at Villa Park.
The World-Class Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Any match at the magnificent Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is a big occasion. In August 2024, Spurs reached an agreement with the local council to stage twice as many non-football events at this venue from 2025.
With this, the stadium will seal its place as London’s leading events venue after Wembley Stadium.
It’s good news for Spurs too as it will further boost the astonishing £549.6 million revenue earned by this lucrative stadium in 2023.
2023-24 Result: Tottenham 1 - 2 Aston Villa
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5. Man United vs Chelsea: Clash of the PL Titans - 2 November 2024
Two clubs with a lot to prove. For years, Manchester United vs Chelsea was a title-deciding match with no margin for error. Now it’s a scrap between two clubs trying to find the right formula to get back to the league summit.
With seven first-team signings at Chelsea by August 2024, the Blues were sticking with the high-turnover formula established under new owners, BlueCo.
Manchester United meanwhile showed that they can perform in these big games with that special FA Cup win in May 2024.
Man UTD and Chelsea: Two Classic Premier League Titans
There are many ways to calculate the vast global following that Manchester United and Chelsea have, but a simple one is to look at how many followers each team has on Facebook:
- Manchester United: 83,000,000
- Chelsea: 55,000,000
- Manchester City: 51,000,000
Those numbers are correct for summer 2024. They show that despite the changing fortunes of the Blues and the Reds, this match means everything to many millions of people around the world.
It’s about time Chelsea and Man United mounted a title push, and we’ll know if it’s possible by this fixture in November.
2023-24 Result: Manchester 2 - 1 Chelsea
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6. Man City vs Liverpool: A Rivalry Renewed - 22 February 2025
We established that Liverpool’s start is pretty simple. Well, if they come out of this test at the Etihad Stadium near the top of the league they will be in great shape for the final months of the season.
City and Liverpool FC have had some epic scraps for the league. The most thrilling must be 2018-19 when Liverpool recorded the highest total for a runner-up (97), one point behind City (98).
After this fixture, the most difficult remaining match for Virgil van Dijk and co is a visit to Stamford Bridge on 3 May, followed immediately by a home match against Arsenal.
Tickets Are Already Sold Out for City vs LFC!
For an idea just how anticipated this match is, General Admission Manchester City tickets for this fixture are no longer available. Man City sell seats for fixtures like this months before the match.
There will be another last-minute chance to buy tickets through the club in a mad scramble three weeks before the match. You’ll need to have attended five or more home City matches since 2022-23 to qualify.
2023-24 Result: Man City 1 - 1 Liverpool
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7. Man United vs Manchester City: A Potential PL Clincher - 5 April 2025
A Manchester Derby with everything on the line. Looking at the schedule now, there are just seven fixtures remaining after this one. Every way you look at this match it is huge.
Perhaps United can put it all together and will be in the running for the title come April. If so, they face a giant hurdle against their cross-city rivals.
City have won 8 out of the last 13 visits to Old Trafford since the 2011-12 season. As Erik ten Hag said in 2022, “Eras come to an end”. Is this the season that the old order returns in Manchester?
Man UTD vs Man City: A Derby to Savour?
Eric Cantona: “On derby day in Manchester, the city is cut in two. The blues and the red invade the street. And if your team wins, the city belongs to you.”
The Manchester Derby means a lot to Mancunians, but it’s about time that these two teams went head-to-head in another title race.
Manchester United have won the league just once (2012-13) since City picked up their first Premier League-era title. If the two teams are in a title race by April 2025, it will be one for the history books.
2023-24 Result: Man United 0 - 3 Man City
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Now, we should point out that kick-off dates for most of these matches are provisional. Kick-off times are even less predictable.
When are Premier League Kick-Off Times Confirmed?
About a month before the match. Five weeks is the target for confirming a kick-off time, but it is often confirmed later than that.
Buying Tickets for Premier League Matches
So we’ve shown that buying tickets for these matches is almost impossible for regular members.
You either need to have a season ticket for your club, get very lucky in a ballot or attend about three quarters of your team’s matches where loyalty points are the deciding factor.
Ticket Compare offers Premier League tickets for all games, including those that have sold out. We can help you track down tickets from a curated lineup of trusted and pre-vetted secondary ticket marketplaces.
We offer resale football tickets and matchday hospitality experiences from the clubs’ official hospitality agents.
So that’s our run-down of the most anticipated Premier League fixtures. Compare prices, check availability and find the football tickets you need with Ticket Compare.
Header Image: Dan Kerins, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
