THE English Premier League is upon us and kicks off Saturday (Aug 12) morning with the champions taking over newcomers Burnley. FocusM provides a rundown of the opening weekend’s fixtures.
Burnley vs Manchester Metropolis (Sat, 4am)
Reunion for former Metropolis captain Vincent Kompany along with his ex-employers as newly promoted Burnley look to keep away from the 6-0 thrashing handed out within the FA Cup final season.
Kompany led Burnley to the championship final season and has had his taking part in employees in pre-season coaching since June 5, whereas Metropolis gamers are grumbling about fatigue from efficiently finishing the treble final season.
An upset may nicely be on the playing cards which might increase Kompany’s inventory significantly and make him a real contender to take over from Pep Guardiola when the Catalan does depart from the Metropolis scorching seat.
Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest (Sat, 7.30pm)
The Gunners will wish to hit the bottom operating to bury the ache of final season’s title problem’s late and spectacular collapse. Having acquired Kai Havertz from Chelsea, they intention for his pace and talent to cut back their reliance on the injured Jesus Gabriel.
Nottingham Forest misplaced this fixture 5-0 final season and can hope to keep away from an identical drubbing. Their late cost in direction of security could have boosted confidence that they do belong among the many elite.
Brighton & Hove Albion vs Luton City (Sat, 10pm)
Fairy tales do come true, as evidenced by Luton City’s exceptional resurgence to the highest tier following a three-decade absence. Surviving successive relegations and administrations has made the climb again to the highest nothing wanting miraculous.
The Seagulls will look to proceed their tremendous kind from final season regardless of the departures of key personnel. It will likely be attention-grabbing to see if they’ll juggle European commitments alongside home considerations after qualifying for the Europa League.
Everton vs Fulham (Sat, 10pm)
The Toffees secured their premiership place on the final day of the season and can wish to keep away from a repeat marketing campaign nonetheless failure to signal a confirmed striker able to filling in for the seemingly completely crocked Dominic Calvert-Lewin will in all probability see them sucked into the relegation dogfight sooner quite than later.
Fulham should deal with their very own striker subject with essential marksman Aleksander Mitrovic being tempted by Saudi mullahs and threatening to go on strike.
Bournemouth vs West Ham (Sat, 10pm)
The Hammers are nonetheless floating on cloud 9 after profitable their first trophy in 4 a long time following their success within the UEFA Convention League final season.
Nonetheless, they face the problem of filling a Declan Rice-sized void and in his absence, containing a Bournemouth crew with quite a few dynamic new signings may show to be a battle.
Sheffield United vs Crystal Palace (Sat, 10pm)
The Blades return to premiership has been tempered by the lack of key gamers within the form of Iliman Ndiaye and Sander Berge whereas having to make do with younger, unproven signings.
Supervisor Paul Heckingbottom has made his views clear on the necessity for reinforcements, and his public grouses on the lack of switch exercise might even see him axed sooner quite than later. Roy Hodgson is the league’s most senior practitioner and can dip into his huge expertise to push The Eagles in direction of a spot in Europe.
Brentford vs Tottenham (Solar, 9pm)
Will he keep or will he go? The annual Harry Kane saga drags on with Bayern Munich testing the Spurs’ resolve with an improved supply for his or her talismanic goal man.
Newly appointed supervisor Ange Postecoglou is keen to make a powerful starting and win over followers. He has pledged to ship swift, attacking soccer that resonates with Spurs’ legacy.
In the meantime, the Bees encounter striker challenges as their main scorer Ivan Toney faces an in depth suspension on account of flouting playing guidelines.
Newcastle United vs Aston Villa (Solar, 12.30am)
The Magpies are the brand new powerhouse with oil cash powering their re-emergence as a real top-four crew.
Having secured Champions League soccer they may look to construct on that success and, maybe, even mount a title problem. Presumably untimely, but stranger occurrences have taken place.
Standing of their method of three factors on opening day is the rejuvenated Villa. Beneath Unai Emery’s astute teaching, the Villans might be seeking to problem for a prime 4 spot themselves, having secured European soccer after flirting with relegation earlier final season.
Chelsea vs Liverpool (Solar, 12.30am)
Either side had an underwhelming 2022–23 season for very completely different causes. The Blues sacked a supervisor who delivered them Champions League success and launched into a destabilising switch spree that left them with a bloated and sad squad.
Liverpool suffered from the fallout of an unsuccessful tilt at an unprecedented quadruple in addition to failure to rejuvenate an ageing squad with recent legs. A titanic battle awaits as either side search to proper the wrongs of the earlier marketing campaign.
Manchester United vs Wolverhampton Wanderers (Tues, 4am)
Erik Ten Haag has gotten rid of the numerous perceived weak hyperlinks inside Manchester United’s (MU) ranks, mainly a goalie who was poor with the ball at his ft and the soon-to-depart former captain Harry Macguire.
Each Macguire and David De Gea had been culpable for making MU’s backline appear porous and brittle, spreading alarm additional upfield.
Wolves have enlisted former Bournemouth supervisor Gary O’Neil, anticipating a optimistic influence from the brand new coach that would doubtlessly make them safe a beneficial end result at Previous Trafford. – Aug 11, 2023
Essential photograph credit score: Reuters
