Key Reason for Manchester United’s 2024/25 Premier League Season Opener on Friday Night

Key Reason for Manchester United’s 2024/25 Premier League Season Opener on Friday Night

The 2024/25 Premier League season is set to kick off on a Friday night, with Manchester United hosting Fulham. This match provides United with an early opportunity to claim the top spot in the league. Given the challenging fixtures that lie ahead, the Red Devils will be eager to secure all three points from this opening game.

In recent years, the Premier League has increasingly started its season on a Friday rather than the traditional Saturday. This shift is largely due to a broadcasting deal negotiated by Sky Sports, which aimed to increase viewership by scheduling more top-flight football at the end of the workweek.

Sky Sports first introduced regular Friday night football in August 2016. Prior to this, Friday matches were rare and usually only scheduled under exceptional circumstances. For instance, a match between Manchester United and Aston Villa was moved to Friday in August 2015 due to an EDL march. However, Sky’s move in 2016 was designed to attract larger audiences by making Friday night football a staple of the schedule.

The tradition of starting the Premier League season on a Friday continues to be popular, allowing the focus to be solely on the season opener without competing with other sports or matches. Interestingly, the inaugural Friday night fixture in 2016 also took place at Old Trafford, where Zlatan Ibrahimovic made a memorable debut, although it wasn’t an opening day game.

The first Friday night Premier League opener occurred in 2017, with Arsenal defeating Leicester City 4-3 in a thrilling encounter. The following year, Manchester United began their season with a 2-1 win over Leicester under Jose Mourinho’s management.

In subsequent years, Liverpool won 4-1 against Norwich City in 2019, and Arsenal secured a 3-0 victory over Fulham in 2020. However, Arsenal faced a setback in 2021, losing to Brentford in a major opening day surprise. They redeemed themselves in 2022 with a win against Crystal Palace.

Last season, Manchester City, the defending champions, opened the campaign with a 3-0 victory over Burnley, managed by club legend Vincent Kompany. Manchester United will hope to start this new season with a similarly strong performance following their Community Shield penalty loss.