A list of ‘leaked’ Premier League fixtures has got fans excited on social media – but Mail Sport can demonstrate several details which show it would appear to be a fake.
The Premier League’s official fixture release will be on Wednesday at 9am and, as is customary around this time of year, rumours of a leak are swirling online.
A document circulating in June 2023 claimed to reveal the fixtures for that season but was betrayed by the fact it showed Luton playing at home when their stadium was having work done.
The latest effort at a ‘leaked document’ looks convincing upon first glance – clearly somebody has gone to a lot of effort, and the font and layout are convincing.
But it doesn’t take much pulling at the threads for the hoax to unravel.
For starters, the first round of fixtures are listed as being scheduled for Monday August 18, but this is incorrect.
A list of ‘leaked’ Premier League fixtures has some fans excited – but it is a glaring fake
The ‘leak’ has Leicester City playing in the final round of fixtures despite their relegation
The opening weekend of the Premier League season will centre on Saturday August 16 and it is hard to see officials getting this crucial information wrong.
Previous seasons have seen a curtain-raiser on the Friday night before and this is what the document claims will happen again, with Leeds apparently being scheduled to host Arsenal at 8pm.
Furthermore, you’ve got Nottingham Forest playing twice on Tuesday December 30 when everybody else is playing once.
They’ll apparently be away at Liverpool while also hosting Everton, which would be interesting to see.
But even if you accounted for the fact that fixtures for that round could be played at different times, you run into a huge problem on the last day of the season.
That’s because this ‘leaked’ document inexplicably replaces Forest for Leicester City for one game only – a visit to West Ham.
That’s probably a sight fans want to be spared of given Leicester stank out the division on their way to an immediate relegation last campaign.
In another glaring error, the ‘leak’ has defending champions Liverpool playing Forest three times – around August 23, December 30, and January 24.
While some astute fans spotted these mistakes and a few more, others were blown away in the excitement of the virally spread spurious document.
‘Hehehe good to know,’ said one fan on X.
One particularly indignant user wrote: ‘If this has managed to be leaked yet again or just confirms how incompetent and rigged the Premier League is. The fact this stuff leaks every year gives me no faith that it is even selected in a fair way. Wouldn’t at all be surprised if they have manually decided on the schedule.’
‘Wow last day of the season, proper relegation decider between Sunderland and United,’ another said.
Others, however, saw through the steaming pile of nonsense.
‘It’s fake,’ one declared.
One million percent fake, hoax,’ another said. ‘So many glaring errors as red flags.’
