Portsmouth recorded a six-match winning run from 25 August 1948:
Everton (h) 4-0, Burnley (h) 1-0, Everton (a) 5-0, Stoke (a) 1-0, Middlesbrough (h) 1-0, Charlton (h) 3-1, before a 1-1 draw at Middlesbrough on 15 September 1948. Newcastle also recorded a six-match winning sequence from 16 October 1948, before losing at home to Huddersfield on 27 November 1948.

Notts County from the third division (south), plus Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur and West Bromwich Albion from the second division, also had players representing England.

38 Saturdays from 21 August 1948 to 7 May 1949 (a week later than the previous season), plus the first four midweeks of the season, Boxing Day (Monday, 27th December 1948), Good Friday, 15 April 1949 and Easter Monday, 18 April 1949.
Games were also played on Wednesdays in April, with two on the day after Easter Monday and one on a Thursday. There were eight fixtures in the first midweek of May (Monday, Wednesday and Thursday), the last week of the season. The FA Cup took precedence on six weekends from the third round on 8 January 1949 to the final on 30 April 1949 (a week later than the previous year). There were three weeks between the third and fourth rounds, two weeks before the fifth and sixth rounds, four weeks before the semi-finals, and five weeks before the final. FA Cup replays were still being played on Saturdays, with extra time allowed for initial ties, but second replays were played on Mondays. There were no midweek first-division games played between 16 September 1948 and 6 April 1949, apart from on Boxing Day (Christmas Day and New Year's Day were Saturdays). Last league games were on Saturday, 7 May 1949.