EPL 2022-23 schedule announced, Manchester City gets title defence underway vs West Ham United

The highly-anticipated fixtures of the 2022-23 English Premier League (EPL) have been announced on Thursday. The season gets underway on August 5 (Friday), with Arsenal kicking off things against Crystal Palace in a London Derby at the Selhurst Park Stadium. In the meantime, defending champion, Manchester City will travel to London to take on West Ham United on August 7 to get its title defence underway, while runner-up Liverpool travels to London to face newly-promoted Fulham on August 6. The season will go on a break after the November 12 gameweek for the FIFA World Cup 2022 commitments in Qatar and will resume from Boxing Day (December 26). The EPL 2022-23 will get over in May, with May 28 (Sunday) being the final matchday.

Earlier the EPL had announced a change in its game postponement rules, stating that only under 'truly exceptional' circumstances can any game be called off now, doing away with its three-season COVID-imposed editions and regulations. In EPL 2021-22, 21 matches had to be rearranged during the COVID period.

ALSO READ: EPL 2022-23 - Postponement rules revised, 'truly exceptional' circumstances needed for call-off

The EPL had stated last season that if a team has less than 14 players available, it can trigger a postponement. Also, there were some non-COVID-enforced player absences that EPL considered for postponement. However, it led to fan backlash and controversies from a few clubs in the competition.

You can check out the entire season schedule here, while the opening gameweek fixtures are below:

August 5 (Friday)
Crystal Palace vs Arsenal

August 6 (Saturday)
Fulham vs Liverpool
Bournemouth vs Aston Villa
Leeds United vs Wolverhampton Wanderers
Leicester City vs Brentford
Newcastle United vs Nottingham Forest
Tottenham Hotspur vs Southampton
Everton vs Chelsea

August 7
Manchester United vs Brighton & Hove Albion
West Ham United vs Manchester City