Premier League 2020-21: All that you need to know
What's the story
The Premier League 2020-21 season is all set to start from September 12 onwards with champions Liverpool opening their campaign against newly promoted Leeds United. The fixtures for all 380 matches were earlier released. The season will end on May 23, 2021. Here we present the key details of the Premier League season as the excitement begins.
Schedule
Here's how the schedule looks like
September sees three round of matches to be played. Notably, the Manchester clubs see their opening gameweek fixture get postponed as of now. We will have four gameweeks in October and three in November. December stays true to its festive schedule with six rounds of games on offer. January and February are set to be busy periods alongside May.
Matches
A look at some of the important matches
Chelsea face Liverpool in gameweek 2 at Stamford Bridge and the latter will be up against Arsenal next in gameweek 3 to mark two important games upfront. October sees Man United face Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal at Old Trafford. Man City face stiff tests against Liverpool and Spurs in November. January 2021 sees Chelsea welcome Man City and Liverpool hosting Man United at Anfield.
Records
Records that can be broken in the 2020-21 season
Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford is just six goals away from registering the mark of 50 in Premier League (44). Two-time Premier League winner Raheem Sterling (86) needs 14 goals to script triple digits (100) in the competition. He is six shy of registering 50 assists (44). Sergio Aguero (180) will be vying to get past Andy Cole in terms of EPL goals (187).
Favorites
Who are the favorites in the upcoming season?
Going by performances in the previous two campaigns, Liverpool are the favorites to win their second Premier League honor and a 20th top-flight domestic title. Jurgen Klopp's side will be challenged by Man City, who were off pace in the 2019-20 season. These two teams are the likely candidates to win the trophy. Chelsea could spring a surprise after doing some good business.
Key factors
What would be new this term?
The season was officially set to start on August 8, however, the coronavirus pandemic which resulted in a delay to the 2019-20 season, forced the new campaign to start late. There will be limited attendance or no fans at all owing to the pandemic. The winter break scheduled in February has also been scrapped. It will be the second EPL season to use VAR.