Arsenal opens against City in baptism of fire for coach Emery

ARSENAL’S new manager Unai Emery faces a baptism of fire after the Gunners were handed an opening-day fixture at home to English Premier League champion Manchester City.

Emery, Arsenal’s first new manager since Arsene Wenger took charge in 1996, will then travel to London rival Chelsea on the second weekend of the season.

Liverpool, which will look to build on its UEFA Champions League final appearance, opens its campaign at home to West Ham United in what will be manager Manuel Pellegrini’s first competitive game in charge of the London side.

Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United, a distant runner-up to City last season, starts at home to Leicester City while FA Cup winner Chelsea is away to Huddersfield Town.

Tottenham Hotspur, which finished third last season, has confirmed that its first home fixture on the second week of the season against newly-promoted Fulham will be held at Wembley.

The north London club says its first game at its new stadium will be against Liverpool on the weekend of September 15-16.

Tottenham played all its home games at Wembley last season while its new 62,000-seater stadium was being constructed but work is still ongoing and the club has sought permission to return to the national stadium for one game.

“As you will note there is a home fixture scheduled for the weekend of 18/19 August 2018 and this match will be played as a home fixture at Wembley Stadium,” the club’s website said.

“It was always our intention to seek permission to play the first few games away. In discussions with our coaching staff the preference was to break what would otherwise have been a continuous run of away games with one game at what was effectively our ‘home’ stadium last season.”

Tottenham is away to Newcastle United on the opening weekend on August 11-12.

Championship winners Wolverhampton Wanderers will mark their return to the EPL for the first time since 2012 against Marco Silva’s Everton at Molineux.

Cardiff City, automatically promoted with Wolves, starts away to Bournemouth while Fulham, which beat Aston Villa in the Championship playoff, hosts former manager Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace in a London derby.

Southampton hosts Burnley on the opening day.

The season’s first Manchester derby will be at The Etihad on the weekend of November 10-11 while Arsenal hosts Tottenham and Liverpool greets Everton on the weekend of December 1-2.

All eyes will be on former Paris SaintGermain manager Emery as he attempts to revive Arsenal’s fortunes after it missed out on the UCL for a second successive season.

The Spaniard will come face to face with compatriot Pep Guardiola on the opening day and after a trip to Chelsea he has another London derby against visiting West Ham.