The fixtures for the 2026/27 Premier League season have been announced and Coventry City will make their top-flight return against reigning champions Arsenal.
The Emirates clash marks the Sky Blues' first Premier League game since 19th May 2001, where they were held to a 0-0 draw by Bradford City on the final game of the campaign.
Frank Lamaprd's side topped the 2025/26 Championship standings by 11 points, but their 12/1 price to overcome the Gunners on the opening day demonstrates the gulf in class that they will have to bridge if they wish to avoid an immediate relegation.
While no game is easy in the top-flight, Ipswich Town will undoubtedly favour a Gameweek 1 contest at Portman Road against Sunderland as opposed to an away trip to North London to face Mikel Arteta's Arsenal.
Meanwhile, Hull City, who earned promotion to the Premier League via the Championship play-offs, will welcome 20-time title winners Manchester United on Saturday 22nd August.
The Tigers have never beaten the Red Devils in the Premier League, and so three points at the MKM Stadium would mark a statement of intent as they look to retain their top-flight status.
The overarching sense amongst football fans is that the financial and competitive bridge between the Premier League and Championship has grown significantly in more recent years, and so, inevitably, newly-promoted sides have struggled to adapt to the demands of the top-flight.
The 2024/25 campaign saw all three promoted sides, Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton, face the drop, enduring respectively dismal seasons at the bottom end of the division.
The 2025/26 term saw a marked improvement amongst the newly-promoted outfits, with Sunderland recording a remarkable Europa League finish and Leeds comfortably securing survival with a 14th-place finish. Burnley were the exception, placed 19th in the standings after 38 games and finishing 19 points adrift from safety.
While Leeds did invest in the 2025/26 summer window, the core of their team stayed very much intact, with Joe Rodon, Pascal Struijk, Ethan Ampadu and Ao Tanaka amongst the names who contributed in both their promotion-winning campaign and subsequent Premier League season.
Meanwhile, just three of the 11 starters in Sunderland's win over Sheffield United in the Championship play-off final started their 2025/26 Premier League opener against West Ham, with the board opting for major reconstruction.
The 2026/27 summer window has only recently commenced and so it's yet to be seen as to whether the three newly-promoted sides will invest heavily or trust a bulk of the players who earned them promotion, but Sunderland and Leeds are proof that both methods can ensure survival if done effectively.
You can get odds of 11/4 for Coventry, Ipswich and Hull to face the drop, while you can get a 16/1 price for none of the newly-promoted sides to be relegated.
2026/27 Premier League Odds
(Odds will display when market available)
Any odds displayed were correct at the time of writing and are subject to fluctuation.
