Analysis of Everton’s 2022-23 Premier League fixture list

The 2022-23 Premier League fixture list is out, and Everton will begin the new season with a home game with Chelsea coming visiting. The first away game comes the week after that, with a trip to Villa Park to take on Aston Villa.

Below is Everton’s schedule in its entirety, with some quick thoughts on the best and worst months facing the Blues.

August 2022

The Blues start the season at home and play five times in August. Frank Lampard is said to be pursuing five additions to his squad during the summer transfer window, so the Toffees will have to hit the ground running with the new players as they are on the road thrice in the opening month.

Sat 06 Aug - Home vs Chelsea
The home opener will be the highlight of the opening weekend fixtures as the Saturday evening game. The Stamford Bridge side have struggled on Merseyside recently and them being Lampard’s former side only ramps up the spice level on this one.

Sat 13 Aug - Away at Aston Villa
The Blues first away test will be against former Red Steven Gerrard, with former Blue Lucas Digne also in their ranks. Villa struggled to close out the season and ended up in 14th place only six points ahead of Everton last season.

Sat 20 Aug - Home vs Nottingham Forest
Forest are back in the Premier League for the first time since the 1998-99 season after winning the Championship playoffs.

Wed 24 Aug - League Cup Second Round, opponent TBD
The Blues enter the Carabao Cup competition at this stage along with the bottom thirteen sides in the Premier League.

Sat 27 Aug - Away at Brentford
The Bees were a surprise quantity last season. After spending some time hovering around the relegation zone, a strong start to the 2022 calendar year saw them pull away as they went on to finish a point ahead of Villa in 13th.

Tue 30 Aug - Away at Leeds United
Leeds got drawn into the relegation battle late last season, with both the Toffees and Leeds ensuring survival in the last couple of weeks at the expense of Burnley. Games at Elland Road have been competitive and back-and-forth affairs since their return to the top flight.

Verdict: All in all a mixed bag for the Blues to open the season, with three games against sides they can expect to be around in the table, a home clash against title contenders and another at Goodison against a newly-promoted side.

Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images

September 2022

September will only have three league games, but also looks on paper to be a challenging month with three difficult games against sides that all finished in the top seven last season and will all be in continental competition too.

Sat 03 Sep, Home vs Liverpool
The Merseyside Derby is never a tepid affair and recent games have been nothing short of acrimonious. Expect this one to be moved to a highlight slot, either as an early kickoff or else to an evening slot.

Sat 10 Sep, Away at Arsenal
The Blues ended last season after securing survival with a limp showing at the Emirates. This game will likely be rescheduled for the Sunday as the Gunners will be in Europa League action on the Thursday before.

Sat 17 Sep, Home vs West Ham
David Moyes will bring his side to Goodison Park before the first international break of the season. Should the Hammers make it through the UEFA Europa Conference League playoff round, then this will also likely be moved to Sunday as they will have a group game on the Thursday before.

Verdict: The Blues enter a much more difficult part of the schedule this month and could find points hard to come by.

Photo by Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images

October 2022

Sat 01 Oct, Away at Southampton
The Blues have not been happy travelers to the South Coast in recent years.

Sat 08 Oct, Home vs Manchester United
Conversely, United haven’t done well at Goodison Park in recent years. Under new manager Erik ten Hag they could be a whole other proposition, though this game should be moved to Sunday as well with the Red Devils Europa League participation.

Sat 15 Oct, Away at Tottenham Hotspur
Lampard tried to get Everton playing like Spurs in this fixture last season and it went very, very badly for the Blues. He’ll be looking for a better showing this time around against Antonio Conte’s men.

Wed 19 Oct, Away at Newcastle United
Flush with cash the Magpies are looking to be big spenders this summer. If they’ve ever needed a cautionary tale about how deep pockets don’t necessarily portend a climb up the table they only need to look at the Blues. We’ll see how much further they are ahead of Everton when this game comes around.

Sat 22 Oct, Home vs Crystal Palace
What a game this was last season! The Blues came from two goals down at the break (and facing a difficult game away at the Emirates on the last day of the season to avoid relegation) to pull off a stunning comeback that ended in survival and a pitch invasion from the fans. This one should be a much more sedate affair.

Sat 29 Oct, Away at Fulham
A first game up against former manager Marco Silva, and a chance to get an away win against the newly-promoted side.

Verdict: This is a mixed bag of fixtures with a couple of games against top sides and some opportunities to pick up points around them.

Photo by Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images

November 2022

Sat 05 Nov, Home vs Leicester City
Both games against the Foxes last season were entertaining affairs, with Brendan Rodgers side falling away from the pack chasing the top six after an injury-ridden season European campaign that stretched his squad.

Wed 09 Nov, League Cup Third Round, opponent TBD
If the Blues can get past the second round they’ll have an additional fixture to play in November before the winter break.

Sat 12 Nov, Away at AFC Bournemouth
Games against the Cherries have seen plenty of goals when they were last in the Premier League, we’ll see how they’re looking after a couple of months back in the top flight.

Verdict: Another reasonable couple of fixtures to whet the appetite before the earlier winter break. The last round of fixtures before the World Cup will be played on the weekend of November 12, with league action resuming again after Christmas on Boxing Day.

Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images

December 2022

Wed 21 Dec, League Cup Fourth Round, opponent TBD
Should the Blues make it this far, they will restart the season after the World Cup with a Carabao Cup clash.

Mon 26 Dec, Home vs Wolverhampton Wanderers
A home game against a Wolves side who have enjoyed recent success against the Blues.

Sat 31 Dec, Away at Manchester City
The Toffees traveling support will be very grateful to the schedule-makers with minimal travel on the cards during the festive period. Away at the defending Premier League champions is not likely to make for a very happy New Year’s Eve however.

Verdict: A difficult end to 2022, the first half of which was remarkably wretched for the Toffees.

Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images

January 2023

Mon 02 Jan, Home vs Brighton & Hove Albion
First meeting of the season against Graham Potter’s side, and the fans are lucky they won’t have to make a winter trip to the coast to start off 2023.

Sat 07 Jan, FA Cup Third Round, Opponent TBD
The Blues will be hoping for at least one Wembley run this coming season.

Wed 11 Jan, League Cup Quarter Finals, Opponent TBD

Sat 14 Jan, Home vs Southampton
The Blues needed a big comeback win against the Saints in their home opener last season.

Sat 21 Jan, Away at West Ham
A trip to the Olympic Stadium closes out the league schedule for the month, never an easy one that.

Wed 25 Jan, League Cup Semi Finals First Leg, Opponent TBD
Can the Blues get back to Wembley for the one trophy they have never won?

Sat 28 Jan, FA Cup Fourth Round, Opponent TBD

Verdict: In what could end up being a very busy month for the Blues, there are some winnable games in there at about the halfway point of the season, which could also make the winter transfer window interesting with the World Cup having just ended as well.

Photo by Chris Brunskill/Getty Images

February 2023

Wed 01 Feb, League Cup Semi Finals Second Leg, Opponent TBD

Sat 04 Feb, Home vs Arsenal
While the Blues have struggled on the road in North London, they have certainly had better luck against the Gunners at home.

Sat 11 Feb, Away at Liverpool
The return leg of the Merseyside Derby. Not much else to say about that.

Sat 18 Feb, Home against Leeds United
Where will the two sides be relative to each other in the league table when this fixture comes around?

Sat 25 Feb, Home against Aston Villa
Same question, repeated. Will the Toffees be in the top half of the league at this stage of the season? Of course, if the Blues are playing the next day then this one gets postponed (see below).

Sun 26 Feb, League Cup Final, Opponent TBD

Verdict: It’ll be a challenging front half of the month, but two winnable home games to close it out.

March 2023

Wed 01 Mar, FA Cup Fifth Round, Opponent TBD
The Blues had played non-League Boreham Wood in this round last season.

Sat 04 Mar, Away at Nottingham Forest
The last time the Blues were at the City Ground was back in 1998, with Duncan Ferguson grabbing a brace in a 2-0 win.

Sat 11 Mar, Home vs Brentford
Everton were unfortunate in this fixture last season with Richarlison being denied a stonewall penalty and then Jarrad Branthwaite getting sent off immediately after that to change the game.

Sat 18 Mar, Away at Chelsea
This will be Lampard’s first return to Stamford Bridge in charge of the Toffees. This could get postponed if either side is involved in the FA Cup (see below).

Sat 18 Mar, FA Cup Quarter Finals, Opponent TBD
The Blues made it to this stage of the competition last season, can they go one better this time around?

Verdict: The four-game stretch between Leeds in mid-February to Brentford in mid-March could go a long way towards determining which part of the league table the Blues end up in.

Photo by Emma Simpson/Everton FC via Getty Images

April 2023

Sat 01 Apr, Home vs Tottenham
Spurs are looking to be title contenders, Everton are trying to be in the top half. A tough start to the month for the Blues.

Sat 08 Apr, Away at Manchester United
Doesn’t get any easier against a Red Devils side that massively disappointed last season. How will they be looking at this stage under their new manager?

Sat 15 Apr, Home vs Fulham
Some respite in the form of the newly-promoted side. A welcome back to Goodison Park for a former manager as Marco Silva brings his Championship winners to his former stomping ground.

Sat 22 Apr, Away at Crystal Palace
The Blues were soundly beaten both times they went to Selhurst Park last season - hopefully this time Lampard has learned and starts with three men in the midfield from the kickoff.

Sat 22 Apr, FA Cup Semi Finals, Opponent TBD
Palace did make it to this stage last season, and if either side is here then the league game will get postponed.

Tue 25 Apr, Home vs Newcastle United
For some reason Magpies fans want to believe they are a bigger club than Everton. Considering they have done little over the last couple of decades apart from yo-yo between the Premier League and the Championship, it’s hard to see. If their newly-found riches see them in the top six when this game comes around, the temperature will certainly get amped up for this clash.

Sat 29 Apr, Away at Leicester City
Are the Foxes going to be in a rebuild season or will they have bounced right back into top six contention? We should know by this point.

Verdict: This month is going to be a relentless grind, especially if any fixtures earlier in the season have to be postponed for any reason.

Photo credit should read PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images

May 2024

Sat 06 May, Away at Brighton & Hove Albion
Should be balmy weather and nice day out for the traveling fans, unless of course the league in their infinite wisdom move this to the Saturday 12:30pm slot in which case supporters will be struggling to get down south in time for kickoff.

Sat 13 May, Home vs Manchester City
Title implications? Not for Everton for sure, but City could have their hands full with their league campaign and possibly a Champions League semi-final to worry about.

Sat 20 May, Away at Wolves
Never an easy away trip, the Blues last away game of the season is also not the most difficult game of the season.

Sun 28 May, Home vs Bournemouth
Will the newly-promoted side be sitting in the relegation spots when this one comes around? How about the hosts? Let’s just put it this way, if Everton need points from this one whether to get a European berth or to ensure they survive the drop, they could have gotten a more difficult opponent. Just saying.

Verdict: Apart from the game against City, this is not a bad month to close out the season. Hopefully the Blues are scrapping for a spot in Europe and not trying to ensure survival, but there will be some opportunities to pick up points if needed.

As is often said when the schedule is released, at the end of the day you have to play every team in the league home and away. The order in which the games are played does make a difference depending on form, fitness and the like, but at the end of the day you have to win as many of your home games as you can with the incredible support the Blues get, and try to pick up as many points as you can on the road even if the football is sometimes less than inspiring. Up the Toffees!