Chelsea first up for Spurs
LONDON — Premier League champion Chelsea will be the first opponent for runner-up Tottenham at its temporary home of Wembley on the second weekend of the 2017-18 EPL campaign.
The match schedule was published on Wednesday.
Spurs — beaten by Chelsea in their FA Cup semifinal at Wembley and losers of 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 stadium is being built in north London.
Chelsea opens defense of its title with a home match against Burnley at Stamford Bridge on the weekend of Aug 12-13.
The challenge for Burnley is even greater as the champion has not lost on the opening day of the Premier League since being upset by Coventry in 1998.
Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool has two tough matches on the third and fourth weekends — hosting Arsenal and then an away trip to Manchester City.
Arsenal, whose manager Arsene Wenger will be firmly in the sights of disgruntled Gunners fans who didn’t want him to sign a new contract, faces a tricky trip to Chelsea the following weekend.
Arsenal will host Antonio Conte’s champion on Jan 1 in the usual packed festive period program that will see the teams play four matches apiece between Dec 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 program at home to 2016 champion Leicester.
The last time Arsenal did that (1999), the Gunners went on to reach the UEFA Cup final (the predecessor of the Europa League), losing to Galatasaray.
The first week of December will sees an intriguing couple of derbies, with Liverpool hosting Everton and the Manchester derby — Pep Guardiola’s City traveling to take on Jose Mourinho’s United at Old Trafford.
For the trio of newly-promoted clubs, their opening matches see second tier champion Newcastle hosting Spurs, while Premier League debutant Brighton entertains Manchester City and Huddersfield is away at Crystal Palace.
With both Brighton and Huddersfield favored to be mired in a relegation battle, they face daunting run-ins at the end of the season.
Huddersfield, out of the top flight since 1972, faces Chelsea, Everton, Manchester City and Arsenal in its last four matches, while Tottenham, Manchester United and Liverpool are the opponents in three of Brighton’s final four games.
Bookies reacted to the schedule, with William Hill making Chelsea a 3-1 favorite to retain its title while Manchester City is 2-1 to win it.
Huddersfield is 4-5 for the drop, with Brighton and Burnley favored to join them at 6-5 and 5-4 respectively.