2019-20 Premier League fixtures: Tottenham host Aston Villa in opening match

Today is one of the more eagerly awaited days of the offseason calendar, because it’s the day when fans finally start thinking about the new season. The fixture list for the 2019-20 Premier League was released today, and Tottenham Hotspur now knows its opponents and dates for next season.

Here’s the full schedule. Thoughts about it will follow.

This is not the FINAL final schedule — dates and times will be moved and swapped around based on cup conflicts and TV coverage, so don’t tattoo this on your arm just yet. But it’s enough that we can make some conclusions about Spurs’s schedule.

A home opener? Is that allowed?!

The gods are smiling upon Spurs this season, because the club is opening a Premier League season at home, something that just doesn’t happen. While Spurs were drawn as the “home” team last season, it took place at Wembley Stadium. There were also years where Spurs probably asked to be drawn away from home to start. However, point in fact you have to go all the way back to the 2010-11 season to find a true home opener — a 0-0 draw against Manchester City. This is a rare occurrence.

Spurs’ early schedule is a bit brutal.

Overall, the schedule looks and feels very balanced to my eyes. There aren’t too many super tough stretches where you look at the fixture list and wince. However, Spurs will be tested early in the campaign — they travel to Manchester City in week 2, and have a North London Derby at the end of August in week 4. Those are two huge games that take place very early in the season. I’ll leave it to you as to whether playing City and Arsenal in the first month is a good thing, or a bad thing.

The holiday fixtures look manageable.

The congested holiday fixture period is one that can make or break a team’s season, but Spurs’ doesn’t look too bad. Starting December 18 they play Chelsea and Brighton at home, then travel to Norwich and Southampton by January 4. Yes, there are Carabao Cup and FA Cup matches thrown in there as well, which could ramp up the difficulty level based on the opponent, but it’s a decent looking run.

There are some games of consequence at the end.

Spurs’ run-in doesn’t look brutal, but there are some potentially tricky ties in the last six weeks. Notably, Spurs’ home North London Derby tie takes place April 25. They then have matches at Newcastle, home to Leicester, and at Crystal Palace to end the season. None of them are especially easy matches, but none of them look particularly scary either.

Overall, this looks like a pretty decent schedule, all things considered. Nothing makes you sit back and say YIKES, but there don’t appear to be too many easy stretches either. I’m satisfied. What are your takeaways from the fixture list?