Premier League Fixtures

[BigDogsWang]

My brother reckons the the PL fixture dates are random, i.e. Man U could play Arsenal one week, then play them again away two weeks later in the same league. Whereas I think a team has to play everyone else before they play the same team again i.e more than 5 months later.

Who is right?

[Mick-Talbot]

http://www.theroar.com.au/football/epl/

[dasherman]

I'm not sure what Micks link is supposed to tell you tbh, so you might find this one a little more relevant:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher/2009/06/secrets_of_the_fixture_compute.html#097608

[factor-fiction]

You are right. If you pick any team at random in the premier league and I am pretty sure their fixture list will show they didn't play anyone twice in the first 19 matches (i.e. half a season), except in cases where one of their fixtures was postponed and rearranged

[BigDogsWang]

Still cannot see the answer. What I want to know is does a team have to play everybody in the PL, before they play one team again? I.e. can Man U play against Arsenal twice in the Premiership, before their first meeting with Liverpool (for example)?

[BigDogsWang]

thanks Factor, we must have posted at the same time.

[Mick-Talbot]

dasherman
I'm not sure what Micks link is supposed to tell you tbh,


The answer is there.

[dasherman]

The ideal scenario may be that each team has to play everyone before they play the same team again, but it doesn't necessarily always happen.
Tottenham, for example, played WBA last season(2011-12) twice before they had played Everton once.

http://www.resultdb.com/england/tottenham/2011/

[BigDogsWang]

Ahhh...so I'm wrong then. B*gger. Be interesting to know how often this happens.

[factor-fiction]

>
Whereas I think a team has to play everyone else before they play the same team again -CORRECT
i.e more than 5 months later. NOT CORRECT- it could be much less tahn that

Dasherman- didn't that happen because Tottenham v Everton was postponed for some reason from early in the season to the second half of the season

[factor-fiction]

Yes, it was postponed on Aug 11th 2011 because of the riots
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/14485169

[ichkeria]

The fixtures certainly aren't 'random'. But it isn't true either that the first half of the fixtures are scheduled entirely before the second half. Why it's like that I don't know, but it is

[ichkeria]

Sorry I should have given an example: the Boxing Day fixtures were return games, but preceded the final set of 'first half' fixtures.

[factor-fiction]

You are right, icktheria, but when I checked I found the switching of games like this occurred only once though and that was between the fixtures on 26th/27th December and 29th/30th December. I assume the Boxing Day fixtures were jiggled in order to reduce travelling and boost attendances. Before the 26 December almost all premiership teams (except Chelsea and Southampton) had played 18 of their 38 fixtures games and hadn't played anyone twice.
I'm not sure about other divisions though.

[ichkeria]

It has happened in recent seasons too. Only one set of games in the "wrong half" though.
In lower leagues I think in previous seasons sometimes the second half of fixtures has gone in reverse order. Somethnig along those lines might have happened in the Conference at least this year as for example Forest green played Newort home and away over the Christmas period. But I can;t be bothered to check.
Sorry to mention the Irish League again, but there, where teams play each other 3 times before the "split", there is a bizarre system whereby the first of the three round robins is NOT reversed. This can lead (and has led) to oddities where 2 teams can play each other on the same ground only a couple or so weeks apart.

[Arksided]

OP, yes most clubs (Prem) play each team once for the first half of the season 19 games (In the league) but the second half may be have say Man U, playing in December against Arsenal and again in January... could be a week later.

But has being pointed out some games are postponed due to weather Policing etc...(not) always but also European games to consider. so fixtures are often moved. even the mighty Sky can't control that one.

[New Judge]

I used to follow football quite avidly but for various reasons now take only a passing interest in the results.

In the "old days" the fixtures for the four Football League divisions were organised such that they were played in reverse in the second half of the season. This usually meant that the Christmas fixtures involved "mirror image" fixtures. For example, Tottenham would play Arsenal at Highbury on Boxing Day and the following Saturday would play them at White Hart Lane.

[ichkeria]

"In the "old days" the fixtures for the four Football League divisions were organised such that they were played in reverse in the second half of the season"

This happened at least once in the Football League in recent years.