The 33rd Premier League season begins with a bang – a mouthwatering credentials-tester between Chelsea and Manchester City at Stamford Bridge, a 4.30pm kick-off.
It is the pair’s first opening weekend encounter since 2006, when winning hosts Chelsea were the title holders.
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Premier League fans voted last year’s thrill-a-minute 4-4 draw the best match of the season – ‘a game too good to have a winner,’ as the BBC put it.
This is only the fourth time since 1905 the Londoners have started a campaign against the defending league champions.
Alongside City’s Mancunian neighbours United, it is Chelsea who have written the most opening-day headlines, both gaining 67 points from 32 first fixtures, and each scoring 65 times in doing so.
On his dugout debut, Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca will hope to maintain the Blues’ unbeaten run of top-flight matches in August at the Bridge, which stretches back to 2017.
Team news
The high-scoring draw in this fixture last season highlighted Chelsea’s strengths going forward and fallibility in defending, and Enzo Maresca immediately identified his young squad’s vulnerability to unchecked counter-attacks when losing possession.
The Italian has tried various remedial midfield measures in pre-season – a box or diamond shape, plus additional bolstering to that area from a central defender or full-back.
At the heart of his approach is the belief smart movement can outnumber opponents anywhere across the field. Evidence of that has produced some easy-on-the-eye attacking in recent outings.
For the first time since 2019, the Blues start a season without Thiago Silva, a record-breaking scorer in last season’s eight-goal thriller against Man City. Other than Reece James’ suspension, key players are all available for Sunday.
That happily contrasts with this time last year, when the Blues opened with half-a-dozen important absentees – the early sign of an enduring problem.
Standouts as the Blues went toe-to-toe with the Mancunians last season were former City widemen Raheem Sterling and Cole Palmer, the latter firing home the Londoners’ late leveller.
And Sunday could see the debut of brilliant one-on-one winger Pedro Neto, wizard of the assist while at Wolves.
Among others angling for a bow before the Stamford Bridge faithful will be Tosin Adarabioyo (aged 26), Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (25), Marc Guiu (18) and Renato Veiga (21).
