Premier League champions Chelsea will be the first opponents
for runners-up Tottenham at their temporary home of Wembley on the second
weekend of the 2017/18 campaign it was revealed on Wednesday when the fixtures
were published.
Spurs — who were beaten by Chelsea in their FA Cup
semi-final at Wembley and lost two of their four European matches last season
when they played ‘home’ matches there instead of White Hart Lane — are using
Wembley while their new state of the art ground is developed in north London.
Chelsea begin the defence of their title with a home fixture
at Stamford Bridge on the weekend of August 12/13 against Burnley, who had a
terrible time away from home last season.
The challenge for Burnley is even greater as the champions
have not lost on the opening day of the Premier League since going down to
Coventry in 1998.
Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have two testing fixtures on the
third and fourth weekend of matches — hosting Arsenal and then an away trip to
Manchester City.
Arsenal, whose manager Arsene Wenger will be firmly in the
sights of the disgruntled Gunners fans who didn’t want him to sign a new
contract, face a tricky trip to Chelsea the weekend after.
Arsenal will host Antonio Conte’s champions on January 1 in
the usual packed festive period programme which will see the teams play four
matches apiece between December 23 and New Year’s Day.
For those Arsenal fans who are superstitious the omens are
good for the Europa League campaign as the Gunners open their league programme
at home to 2016 champions Leicester — the last time they did that in the
1999/2000 season they went on to reach the UEFA Cup final (the predecessor of
the Europa League), losing to Galatasaray.
Three weeks before that sees a mouthwatering couple of
derbies with Liverpool hosting Everton and the Manchester derby — Pep
Guardiola’s City travelling to take on Jose Mourinho’s United at Old Trafford.
For the trio of newly-promoted clubs, their opening fixtures
see second tier champions Newcastle host Spurs, whilst Premier League debutants
Brighton entertain Manchester City and Huddersfield are away at Crystal Palace.
With both Brighton and Huddersfield favoured to be mired in
a relegation battle, they both face daunting run-ins at the end of the season.
Huddersfield, out of the top flight since 1972, face
Chelsea, Everton, Manchester City and Arsenal in their last four matches, while
Tottenham, Manchester United and Liverpool are the opponents in three of
Brighton’s final four games.
Bookies reacted to the fixtures publication with William
Hill making Chelsea 3/1 second-favourites to retain their title, with
Manchester City 2/1 favourites.
Huddersfield are 4/5 favourites for the drop with Brighton
and Burnley favoured to join them at 6/5 and 5/4 respectively.
AFP
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