Chelsea to host Burnley in EPL season opener
Print Edition
CHELSEA will open the defense of its English Premier League title at home to Burnley when the season kicks off on the weekend of August 12-13.
The full list of fixtures was released yesterday with Antonio Conte’s side also slated for a follow-up game at Tottenham Hotspur, which will play all its home fixtures at Wembley while White Hart Lane is being redeveloped.
Manchester City travels to newly promoted Brighton and Hove Albion on the opening weekend, while Manchester United plays West Ham United at Old Trafford. Liverpool takes on Watford, under the new management of Marco Silva, at Vicarage Road, while Spurs travel to Championship (second tier) champion Newcastle United.
The other EPL newcomer Huddersfield Town will play its first top-flight game in 45 years at Crystal Palace as Arsenal opens at home to Leicester City .
Everton, which begins at home to Stoke City, faces a testing opening to the campaign with games against City, Chelsea, Spurs and United before the end of September.
The first weekend’s fixtures are completed by Swansea City’s visit to Southampton and Bournemouth’s trip to West Bromwich Albion.
United’s first meeting with Liverpool, always one of the highlights of the season, will be at Anfield on October 14. The first Manchester derby will be at Old Trafford on December 9, the same weekend as the Merseyside derby at Anfield.
Huddersfield boss David Wagner will have a first competitive reunion with mentor Juergen Klopp at Anfield on October 28.
However, his side faces a daunting end to the season with its final four games including trips to City and Chelsea, plus Everton and Arsenal at home.
West Ham faces playing its first three games away from its home at the London Stadium — the centerpiece of the 2012 Olympics — because the venue will be hosting the August 4-13 world athletics championship.
West Ham’s first home game is scheduled for August 19 against Southampton but the stadium won’t be ready to host soccer matches at that time. The club said the game will be rescheduled, potentially with Southampton hosting it.
The festive program is typically packed, with a full round of fixtures two days before Christmas. All the timings are subject to slight change because of TV scheduling.
Spurs’ games face further problems because of conflicting demands at Wembley and the club, which was runner-up to Chelsea last season, immediately announced that its home game with Burnley on August 26 would have to be rescheduled because it clashes with the Rugby League Challenge Cup final.
Bookies reacted to the fixtures publication with William Hill making Chelsea 3/1 second favorite to retain its title, with City 2/1 the favorite.
Huddersfield is 4/5 favorite for the drop with Brighton and Burnley favored to join it at 6/5 and 5/4, respectively.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
