The first three months of the 2022/23 Premier League season will be very different from usual, with the 2022 World Cup in Qatar underway in November. The decision to move the tournament from its usual summer spot means that there will be a big pause in play until Premier League football resumes again on Boxing Day.
As a result, teams will face fixture congestion in the first few months of the campaign as games are squashed into the calendar to ensure the season doesn't run well into June. European football will, as ever, commence in September, but this time all six group games will be played by the first week of November.
Rather than having European fixtures every two weeks, games are set to be played in successive weeks. There will be a pause in September due to the last international fixtures before the World Cup and then one in October when there is a Premier League midweek round.
