The Premier League’s festive schedule definitely is not for the faint-hearted.
The winter 2022 World Cup meant the same old Christmas mayhem was decreased, however the chaos is again with a vengeance in 2023. The video games will roll round at an unrelenting charge at an extremely essential interval within the Premier League season.
It is the time the place campaigns might be outlined. A string of constructive outcomes could set a aspect up for a productive second half to the season, whereas a type hunch might have the alternative impact.
Thus, the Premier League’s scheduling performs an necessary function. If there’s ever a time once you need a few gentle dwelling fixtures with a snug relaxation between every, it is over the festive interval.
90min has assessed which Premier League aspect has the hardest Christmas schedule by taking into consideration the standard of their opposition, the gap they should journey and the variety of hours between matches.
So, let’s examine who’s been onerous accomplished by, and those that have gotten off frivolously.
Rank
Workforce
Festive fixtures
Common league place of opponents
1.
Everton
Tottenham (A), Man Metropolis (H), Wolves (A
sixth
2.
West Ham
Man Utd (H), Arsenal (A), Brighton (H)
sixth
3.
Burnley
Fulham (A), Liverpool (H), Aston Villa
seventh
4.
Sheffield United
Aston Villa (A), Luton City (H), Man Metropolis (A)
eighth
5.
Brighton
Crystal Palace (A), Tottenham (H), West Ham (A)
ninth
6.
Arsenal
Liverpool (A), West Ham (H), Fulham (A)
ninth
7.
Man Utd
West Ham (A), Aston Villa (H), Nottingham Forest (A)
ninth
8.
Nottingham Forest
Bournemouth (H), Newcastle (A), Man Utd (H)
tenth
9.
Crystal Palace
Brighton (H), Chelsea (A), Brentford (H)
tenth
10.
Wolves
Chelsea (H), Brentford (A), Everton (H)
tenth
11.
Liverpool
Arsenal (H), Burnley (A), Newcastle (H)
tenth
12.
Newcastle
Luton City (A), Nottingham Forest (H), Liverpool (A)
eleventh
13.
Bournemouth
Nottingham Forest (A), Fulham (H), Tottenham (A)
eleventh
14.
Luton City
Newcastle (H), Sheffield United (A), Chelsea (H)
twelfth
15.
Brentford
Wolves (H), Crystal Palace (A)
thirteenth
16.
Fulham
Burnley (H), Bournemouth (A), Arsenal (H)
thirteenth
17.
Chelsea
Wolves (A), Crystal Palace (H), Luton City (A)
14th
18.
Tottenham
Everton (H), Brighton (A), Bournemouth (H)
14th
19.
Aston Villa
Sheffield United (H), Man Utd (A), Burnley (H)
fifteenth
20.
Man Metropolis
Everton (A), Sheffield United (H)
nineteenth
*common league positions right as of 20 November 2023
To work out the standard of opposition, we deciphered the common league place of their opponents. The typical place ranges between sixth and nineteenth, with Everton having the hardest fixture checklist on paper.
The Toffees, who have not precisely had all of it their very own method in current occasions, will go to Tottenham and Wolves in between a house sport in opposition to Manchester Metropolis. On the reverse finish of the spectrum, Metropolis have the ‘best’ fixture checklist. Their participation on the 2023 Membership World Cup means they’ve simply two festive fixtures, taking up Sheffield United on the Etihad after their tough journey to Goodison Park.
Unai Emery’s high-flying Aston Villa face two newly promoted golf equipment on dwelling soil, whereas Tottenham have a pair of dwelling video games in opposition to Everton and Bournemouth which they will be anticipated to win.
West Ham rank near Everton by way of tough fixtures, however two of their video games come on the London Stadium in opposition to Manchester United and Brighton. A visit to title challengers Arsenal is sandwiched in between.
Rank
Workforce
Groups travelling to
Distance travelled (miles)
1.
Man Metropolis
Membership World Cup last*, Everton
3,123.1
2.
Newcastle
Luton City, Liverpool
422.9
3.
Burnley
Fulham, Aston Villa
357.2
4.
Bournemouth
Nottingham Forest, Tottenham
313.5
5.
Man Utd
West Ham, Nottingham Forest
312.6
6.
Everton
Tottenham, Wolves
302.9
7.
Arsenal
Liverpool, Fulham
218.8
8.
Chelsea
Wolves, Luton City
189.9
9.
Nottingham Forest
Newcastle
168.7
10.
Wolves
Brentford
141.1
11.
Luton City
Sheffield United
127.3
12.
Brighton
Crystal Palace, West Ham
124.2
13.
Sheffield United
Aston Villa, Man Metropolis
119.9
14.
Aston Villa
Man Utd
84.4
15.
Tottenham
Brighton
83.4
16.
Fulham
Bournemouth
59.7
17.
Liverpool
Burnley
52.4
18.
Brentford
Crystal Palace
14.2
19.
Crystal Palace
Chelsea
8.7
20.
West Ham
Arsenal
5.4
•projected
If Metropolis attain the Membership World Cup last, they will be making a protracted flight again to Manchester from Jeddah forward of their journey to Everton.
Metropolis prime this class by default, with Newcastle – as you would possibly anticipate – racking up a powerful quantity of home miles over Christmas. Their away journeys to Luton and Liverpool mix for over 422 miles.
It ought to come as no shock that the groups taking part in two away video games make up the highest eight (together with Metropolis) within the distance travelled chart. Nottingham Forest play two video games on the Metropolis Floor, however their go to to Newcastle means they rank ninth with that journey as much as Tyneside accounting for 168.7 miles.
Three London golf equipment have gotten it notably good given their solely away video games arrive within the capital. West Ham are visiting Arsenal (5.4 miles), Crystal Palace face Chelsea on the Bridge (8.7 miles), whereas Brentford, who solely have two video games over Christmas as they had been scheduled to face Man Metropolis, merely should trek to Selhurst Park (14.2 miles).
Rank
Workforce
Dates/Kick-off occasions of festive fixtures
Common time between fixtures (hours)
1.
Chelsea
24/12/23 (13:00), 27/12/23 (19:30), 30/12/23 (12:30)
71.75
2.
Wolves
24/12/23 (13:00), 27/12/23 (19:30), 30/12/23 (15:00)
73
3.
Man Utd
22/12/23 (12:30), 26/12/23 (20:00), 30/12/23 (17:30)
74.5
4.
Luton City
22/12/23 (15:00), 26/12/23 (15:00), 30/12/23 (12:30)
82.75
5.
Fulham
22/12/23 (15:00), 26/12/23 (15:00), 31/12/23 (14:00)
83.5
6.
Burnley
22/12/23 (15:00), 26/12/23 (17:30), 30/12/23 (15:00)
84
7.
Everton
22/12/23 (15:00), 27/12/23 (20:15), 30/12/23 (15:00)
84
8.
Nottingham Forest
22/12/23 (15:00), 26/12/23 (12:30), 30/12/23 (17:30)
86.25
9.
Sheffield United
21/12/23 (20:00), 26/12/23 (15:00), 30/12/23 (15:00)
93.5
10.
Aston Villa
21/12/23 (20:00), 26/12/23 (20:00), 30/12/23 (15:00)
93.5
11.
Arsenal
22/12/23 (17:30), 28/12/23 (20:15), 31/12/23 (14:00)
94.25
12.
Man Metropolis
22/12/23 (18:00)*, 27/12/23 (20:15), 30/12/23 (15:00)
94.5
13.
Bournemouth
22/12/23 (15:00), 26/12/23 (15:00), 31/12/23 (14:00)
95.5
14.
Tottenham
22/12/23 (15:00), 28/12/23 (19:30), 31/12/23 (14:00)
95.5
15.
Crystal Palace
20/12/23 (20:00), 27/12/23 (19:30), 30/12/23 (15:00)
104.5
16.
Liverpool
22/12/23 (17:30), 26/12/23 (17:30), 01/01/24 (20:00)
109.25
17.
Newcastle
22/12/23 (15:00), 26/12/23 (12:30), 01/01/24 (20:00)
110.5
18.
West Ham
22/12/23 (12:30), 28/12/23 (20:15), 02/01/24 (19:30)
111.5
19.
Brighton
20/12/23 (20:00), 28/12/23 (19:30), 02/01/24 (19:30)
131.75
20.
Brentford
17/12/23 (14:00), 27/12/23 (19:30), 30/12/23 (15:00)
157.5
*date/kick-off time of 2023 Membership World Cup last if Man Metropolis progress
To get a sign of how lengthy every group must recuperate in between matches, we labored out the common variety of hours between their two or three kick-offs over the festive interval.
Brentford are the key beneficiaries of Metropolis’s Membership World Cup ventures as they will have ten days to arrange for his or her dwelling sport in opposition to Wolves on 27 December. Regardless of flying again from Saudi Arabia, Metropolis can have 5 days to recuperate from their projected Membership World Cup last earlier than they face Everton on 27 December.
Metropolis’s common of 94.5 hours to recuperate is a middling determine, whereas the Bees have a whopping 157.5 hours. Crystal Palace, who host Brighton within the first fixture we’re concerning as’ festive’ on Thursday 20 December, are considered one of six groups which have over 4 days to recuperate between matches on common. Liverpool, Newcastle, West Ham and Brighton are the others together with Brentford.
Wolves and Chelsea have been compromised probably the most by the Premier League’s scheduling. These two sides will compete within the Premier League’s first Christmas Eve fixture because the 90s, and so they’ll every have a median of three days to recuperate between matches. Manchester United even have pretty swift turnarounds, with 13 groups having anyplace between three to 4 days of restoration.
General rating of hardest Premier League Christmas schedules
Rank
Workforce
Common rating of hardest opponents, distance travelled & restoration time
1.
Burnley
3
2.
Everton
4.66
3.
Man Utd
5
4.
Wolves
7.33
5.
Arsenal
7.66
6.
Nottingham Forest
8.33
7.
Sheffield United
8.66
8.
Chelsea
8.66
9.
Luton City
9.66
10.
Bournemouth
10
11.
Newcastle
10.33
12.
Man Metropolis
11
13.
Brighton
12
14.
Fulham
12.33
15.
West Ham
13.33
16.
Crystal Palace
14.33
17.
Aston Villa
14.33
18.
Liverpool
14.66
19.
Tottenham
15.66
20.
Brentford
17.66