With champions Manchester City opening their Premier League campaign on Sunday, the mostly likely challengers for their crown — Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United — all have a chance to make a statement 24 hours earlier.
European champions Chelsea host Crystal Palace after Manchester United take on Leeds United in an early kickoff. Then Liverpool round off the day at promoted Norwich City.
City, who claimed a third title in four years in May but then fell flat in a Champions League final defeat to Chelsea, go to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Chelsea’s clinical win over City in Porto capped a remarkable start to Thomas Tuchel’s reign at Stamford Bridge, having taken over from Frank Lampard in January.
It was the third time in little over a month that Tuchel got the better of Pep Guardiola and underlined Chelsea’s credentials as the team most likely to challenge City this season.
The imminent arrival of striker Romelu Lukaku for about £95m (R1.9bn) from Inter Milan will beef up an attack that often operated without a focal point last season, giving Tuchel another option in an already versatile forward unit.
Chelsea already have one trophy in the bank with Wednesday’s European Supercup win over Villarreal, though they looked a little off the pace in that penalty shoot-out win, which came at a cost with winger Hakim Ziyech suffering a shoulder injury that looks likely to make him unavailable against Palace.
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer knows he faces a season of reckoning at Old Trafford, after so far failing to deliver a trophy since taking over in 2018.
The Norwegian has been backed in the transfer market with the arrival of Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund but improving on last season's runners-up spot will be a massive challenge.
A visit from old rivals Leeds United on the opening day also ensures that there will be no gentle easing in to a pivotal campaign in the managerial career of Solskjaer.
Liverpool’s attempted title defence last season was undermined by a succession of injuries at the back — most notably to Virgil van Dijk.
So news that left-back Andy Robertson will miss their away trip to Norwich with a ligament injury sustained in a friendly against Athletic Bilbao this week is hardly encouraging.
On the plus side Liverpool have most of their long-term injured back and the signing of defender Ibrahima Konate will offer more cover for the long battle ahead.
Liverpool won their last five league games last season to grab what had looked like being an unlikely top-four finish and a trip to Norwich offers Juergen Klopp’s side the chance to build on that momentum.
Brentford, playing in the top flight for the first time in 74 years, will hope to mark the historic moment as they kick things off on Friday at home to Arsenal.
Several managerial changes will add some intrigue to the opening weekend with four clubs embarking on a new chapter — most notably Everton with Rafa Benitez, the former Liverpool manager, the latest to try to inspire the Goodison Park club.
Benitez starts with a home game against Southampton, while new Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira and new Tottenham manager Nuno Espirito Santo face daunting starts.
Friday
Brentford v Arsenal (9pm, all SA time)
- Brentford will be the 50th different team to play in the Premier League, and the 10th from London.
- Arsenal will be involved in the opening game of a Premier League campaign for the fourth time. They won on the previous three occasions against West Bromwich Albion (2008-09), Leicester City (2017-18) and Fulham (2020-21).
- The teams will meet in the league for the first time since Arsenal’s 1-0 win at Griffin Park in May 1947.
Saturday
Manchester United v Leeds United (1.30pm)
- Manchester United and Leeds United are set to meet each other in their opening top-flight league matches of the season for the first time since 1970-71, when Leeds won 1-0 at Old Trafford.
- Leeds are winless in their last 16 league visits to Old Trafford (D6 L10), since a 1-0 win in February 1981.
- Manchester United’s last five opening Premier League games have seen a player score their first league goal for the club — Zlatan Ibrahimovic (2016-17), Romelu Lukaku (2017-18), Luke Shaw (2018-19), Daniel James (2019-20) and Donny van de Beek (2020-22).
Burnley v Brighton & Hove Albion (4pm)
- Burnley have won only one of their last seven home league games against Brighton (D4 L2), a 1-0 Premier League win in December 2018.
- Brighton have lost the opening game in three of their four Premier League campaigns, the 3-0 victory over Watford in 2019-20 being the only exception.
- Burnley striker Chris Wood has scored eight goals against Brighton, more than he has against any other side in his English league career.
Chelsea v Crystal Palace (4pm)
- Chelsea have won 16 of their last 20 Premier League games against Crystal Palace, including the last seven.
- After winning back-to-back away league games against Chelsea in 2015-16 and 2016-17, Crystal Palace have lost their last four visits to Stamford Bridge by an aggregate score of 11-2.
- As a player, Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira never ended up on the losing side against Chelsea in the Premier League, winning six and drawing four of his 10 games.
Everton v Southampton (4pm)
- Everton have lost only one of their 22 Premier League home games against Southampton (W15 D6), remaining unbeaten in their last 16 against them at Goodison Park since a 0-2 defeat in November 1997.
- Southampton have kept only one clean sheet in their last nine league meetings with Everton (W3 D2 L4), doing so in a 2-0 home victory last season.
- Rafa Benitez will become the second manager to take charge of both Everton and Liverpool, after William Edward Barclay in the late 19th century. He has won three of his four home games against Southampton in the Premier League, drawing the other.
Leicester City v Wolverhampton Wanderers (4pm)
- Leicester striker Jamie Vardy has scored six goals in six Premier League appearances in their opening game of the season, the joint-most of any current Premier League player on the first match day along with Liverpool's Mohamed Salah.
- Since Wolves' return to the Premier League in 2018, they've failed to score in five of their six meetings with Leicester (W1 D3 L2), with the exception being a 4-3 home win in January 2019.
- Leicester have lost just one of their last 24 home league games against Wolves (W14 D9), going down 4-1 in May 2007 in the second-tier Championship.
Watford v Aston Villa (4pm)
- Watford had the best home record in the top four tiers of English football last season, picking up 59 points from their 23 games (W19 D2 L2) in the Championship.
- Villa have won only one of their four opening day Premier League games against newly promoted teams (D1 L2), a 1-0 victory at Bournemouth in 2015-16.
- Watford’s Troy Deeney has scored in all four of his Premier League games against Villa, netting six goals in total, including three match-winners.
Norwich City v Liverpool (6.30pm)
- Norwich are winless in their first Premier League match of the season in each of their last eight campaigns, the longest such ongoing winless run by a current team.
- Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 14 Premier League meetings against Norwich (W12 D2), netting 44 goals across those games.
- Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah has scored in their first Premier League game of the season in the last four campaigns, scoring a hat-trick last season against Leeds United.
Sunday
Newcastle United v West Ham United (3pm)
- Newcastle beat West Ham in their opening Premier League match last season, winning 2-0 at London Stadium.
- West Ham have lost their first Premier League match in each of the last five seasons stretching back to 2016/17.
- Newcastle striker Callum Wilson has scored eight goals in 10 Premier League appearances against West Ham, more than he has versus any opponent in the competition.
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City (5.30pm)
- Spurs and City have met in their opening top-flight game of the season on three previous occasions.
- City have won their season-opener in each of the last 10 Premier League campaigns, since the 2011-12 season.
- Nuno Espirito Santo can become the fifth Spurs manager to win on their Premier League debut.
— Reuters
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