With pre-season for the 2023/24 campaign underway, we dive in and take a look at where the Premier League’s traditional “big 6” will be jetting off to this summer.
The world’s biggest clubs regularly travel to all four corners of the world in a bid to reach their massive fanbases, with this year being no different. Players will show out in front of huge crowds in North America, Asia, and even as far afield as Australia.
Pre-season also serves as a time for teams to gain conditioning, mess around with tactics, and generally allow managers to get a feel for their squad. In the case of Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, and Spurs, these friendlies help to usher in new signings, too.
So, where are they all off throughout this month?
Man City
Treble winners Manchester City are, unsurprisingly, having a rather light pre-season for 2023/24. Pep Guardiola’s side will enjoy a tour of Asia in the coming weeks, where they will play just three games.
The first leg of the tour begins in Japan. Here, City face J1 League side Yokohama F. Marinos on Sunday 23 July. Three days later, Bayern Munich are the opponent for their second game in the Land of the Rising Sun. The Citizens and Bavarians clash on Wednesday 26 July.
Finally, the last pre-season fixture listed on City’s website is a match against Atletico Madrid. This is the last leg of their tour, with the match taking place in the capital of South Korea, Seoul.
Arsenal
The Gunners will look to build on their breakout 2022/23 with a series of games both at home and abroad.
Kicking off proceedings is a trip to Germany to face Nurnberg for the second consecutive year. This friendly at the Max Morlock Stadion starts at 6pm tomorrow (Thursday 13 July).
One week after this, Arsenal embark on a tour of America. Firstly, the North London side takes on an MLS All-Star team in Washington DC on Thursday 20 July. A trip to New York follows this, where a clash with Man United awaits at MetLife Stadium.
Then, to see out the US visit, the Gunners play Barcelona in Los Angeles on 27 July. These two games will be stern tests for Mikel Arteta’s men, who should have finalised the signing of Declan Rice by then (surely?).
Lastly, Arsenal return home for one more “friendly” of sorts. They face Ligue 1 side Monaco at the Emirates, where the winner will earn the Emirates Cup.
Man United
Man United’s 2023/24 pre-season actually begins earliest of all, with a match in Oslo against Leeds on Wednesday 12 July. Following their clash with the recently relegated side, United travel to Edinburgh for a friendly with Lyon on 19 July.
These European fixtures precede a tour of the USA – a popular destination for the Red Devils. As mentioned earlier, Arsenal and Man United play each other on 22 July. Then, Erik ten Hag’s men fly to San Diego, where they will play Wrexham, of all teams.
A much tougher assessment of the squad should arrive in the form of Real Madrid on 27 July. They ultimately see out their American tour by taking on Borussia Dortmund in Las Vegas (31 July).
But Erik ten Hag is not finished yet. In August, United have prepared two friendlies on back-to-back days. They play Lens back at Old Trafford on 5 August before facing Athletic Bilbao in Dublin. Phew.
Liverpool
Liverpool’s pre-season has a distinctly German flavour running throughout the fixtures.
Kicking things off is a friendly with Karlsruher SC on Wednesday 19 July. On the Monday after (24 July), a behind-closed-doors match with Greuther Wurth will provide Jurgen Klopp with a more scrutinised assessment of his squad.
Next up, the Reds fly off to Southeast Asia for a pair of games in Singapore. Leicester are the first opponent on 30 July, with Bayern Munich following close behind on Wednesday 2 August.
Finally, Liverpool come back to England for one more friendly – Darmstadt, at Preston’s Deepdale Stadium.
Spurs
Tottenham venture the furthest out of any of the Premier League “big 6” for their 2023/24 pre-season. On 18 July, Ange Postecoglou returns home as he leads Tottenham for the first time against West Ham in Perth, Australia.
After this, Spurs face Leicester in Thailand, then Lion City Sailors in Singapore (23 and 26 July respectively). The Sailors are a local club and will certainly be a unique opponent for the North Londoners.
On 6 August, Spurs go back to their stadium to play Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk. Then last but not least, Postecoglou’s men will face Barcelona for the Joan Gamper Trophy on 8 August.
Chelsea
Finally, Chelsea are the only “big 6” side involved in the Premier League Summer Series this year. But before that, a clash with Wrexham awaits in North Carolina on 20 July.
The PL Summer Series follows this, with Brighton (23 July), Newcastle (27 July), and Fulham (30 July) providing high-quality conditioning tests in quick succession. The games are all in the US, in Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Washington DC respectively.
Mauricio Pochettino’s last scheduled friendly for his new squad is then on 3 August. Here, the Blues face Borussia Dortmund in Chicago. Hopefully these fixtures have given the Argentine sufficient time to get used to his new team.
Featured image credit: Getty
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