A long Premier League season truncated by the World Cup may have finished only a few short weeks ago, but it won’t be long before the star names are reporting back for preseason duty after their well-earned holidays.
In fact preseason is big business for the Premier League clubs, giving them an opportunity to combine warm weather training in North America and Asia with friendly matches in front of their growing international fan bases.
Towards the end of July there is a Premier League Summer Series tournament to look forward to, featuring Aston Villa, Brentford, Brighton & Hove Albion, Chelsea, Fulham and Newcastle United with games taking place in Atlanta, Orlando, Maryland and Philadelphia.
In addition, Arsenal and Manchester United are also touring the States this summer, whilst Manchester City are visiting Japan and Korea, Liverpool will play in Singapore and Spurs will shape up in Australia, Thailand and Singapore.
Arsenal’s first preseason friendly will take place at the Max-Morlock-Stadion in Germany on July 13 when they take on 1. FC Nürnberg of the second Bundesliga. The game is part of a training camp at adidas’ headquarters for Mikel Arteta’s side.
The talented Spanish manager and his team then cross the Atlantic to continue their preparations with games against the MLS All-Stars in Washington DC on July 19th, Manchester United in New York on July 22nd, FC Barcelona in LA on July 26th.
The Gunners will then return to North London to play against former manager Arsène Wenger’s old team AS Monaco at the Emirates Stadium on August 2nd, before their final match of preseason versus Premier League Champions and treble winners Manchester City in the FA Community Shield at Wembley Stadium on August 6th.
For Manchester United, meanwhile, they have a very busy preseason schedule for manager Erik ten Hag to deal with, whilst also rebuilding his squad under the financial constraints of an ongoing and complex sale – or part sale – of the club by the Glazers.
United kick-off their preseason against Leeds in Oslo on July 12th and Lyon in Edinburgh on July 19th, before a mini-tour of the U.S. from July 22nd-30th which includes games against Arsenal in New York, rising stars Wrexham in San Diego, Spanish giants Real Madrid in Houston and German side Borussia Dortmund in Las Vegas. The Red Devils conclude their preparations for the new Premier League season with a friendly versus Athletic Bilbao in Dublin on August 6th.
Liverpool will play their first two games of the summer in manager Jürgen Klopp’s native Germany, facing Karlsruher of the 2. Bundesliga at BBBank Wildpark on July 19th and then another German second division team SpVgg Greuther on July 24th. Klopp’s men then travel to Singapore for matches against Leicester City and Bayern Munich on July 30th and August 2nd respectively.
Spurs will of course start the new season with a new manager in Ange Postecoglou and they are set to play London rivals West Ham in Perth on July 18th, Leicester City in Bangkok on July 23rd and Roma three days later in Singapore.
For top dogs Manchester City their successful 2022-23 campaign culminated with the completion of a remarkable treble when they won the Champions League final on June 10th, so they will start their preseason a little later than the other EPL teams.
Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering side are set to restart proceedings with a July 23rd friendly against Yokohama F Marinos in Tokyo, before another match in the Japanese capital against Bayern Munich three days later. City then move on to South Korean capital Seoul to face Atletico Madrid on July 30th before returning to England for the Community Shield game against Arsenal on August 6th.
Many of the players went straight into international duty with their respective countries after the 2022-23 EPL season and Champions League concluded, playing friendlies, qualifiers and Nations League matches, so some will be given longer than others to report back to their clubs in the summer.
For a full summary of every Premier League club’s preseason fixtures visit: premierleague.com.
