Explained: How the Premier League fixture list is decided

The dates for games across the new Premier League season will be announced on Thursday, and it's the culmination of an enormous job to compile the fixtures.

Glenn Thompson, who is in charge of scheduling all of the 380 matches in a season, has detailed how this crucial job is done.

Thompson revealed that work on the fixtures is done at the start of every year, when he receives the playing dates from the Premier League.

“At the start of the year. That’s when I get the playing dates from the Premier League,” Thompson said.

“The whole thing is built up putting in the international dates from FIFA, then the European club competitions, then the Football Association adds in the dates for its competitions and what you are left with are the dates when you can play league and League Cup matches.”

After Thompson receives the dates from the Premier League, he is then responsible for creating a fixture sequence.

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Sequencing is the method used to break down the season into different parts - formally named as “sets”.

The games are then broken down into five separate sets, and these will then be reversed for the second half of the season, which is why the matchdays consist of the same fixtures at those points of the campaign.

In a block of five fixtures, the aim is to have one team play three matches at home and two away, or the other way around.

A team should never have more than two matches at home or away, and a club will not start or finish the season with two successive home/away matches.

The 2020/21 Premier League