Champions Manchester City to start title defence at Arsenal

Premier League champions Manchester City will start their title defence at Arsenal.

The 2018-19 fixtures, announced yesterday, handed Pep Guardiola’s record-breaking team an Emirates Stadium opener on the weekend of August 11/12 – a match which will also mark the Premier League bow of the Gunners’ new Spanish boss Unai Emery.

City, who amassed 100 points and 106 goals en route to finishing 19 points clear of Manchester United in 2017/18, do not face another top six side until the trip to Liverpool in October.

Games against newly-promoted trio Wolves, Cardiff and Fulham are part of a sequence which also includes Huddersfield, Newcastle and Brighton – the three teams who came up the previous season.

It is a similar story for neighbours United, who begin at home to Leicester. The 2017/18 runners-up have Tottenham at home in their third game, with Brighton, Burnley, Watford, Wolves, West Ham and Newcastle as their other early season opponents.

Liverpool’s start appears more challenging. After hosting West Ham, Jurgen Klopp’s men face Tottenham,ChelseaandManchester City in a run which also includes Crystal Palace, Brighton, Leicester and Southampton.

Tottenham have been given an away opener – starting at Newcastle for the second successive campaign.

Spurs have confirmed they will play their first home game of the season, against Fulham, at Wembley on August 18. Their first match at their new stadium, on the site of White Hart Lane, will be against Liverpool on September 15.

North London rivals Arsenal face a tough first two games without Arsene Wenger. After the Gunners host the champions, the team now managed by Emery are at Chelsea.

Antonio Conte’s Blues travel to Huddersfield on the opening day and after the trip to Arsenal come Newcastle, Bournemouth, Cardiff, West Ham, Liverpool and Southampton.

The promoted sides were all spared a daunting sequence of games to start the season – although all face one of the ‘big six’ in their opening four matches.

Championship-winning Wolves have a home opener against Everton, before trips to Leicester and West Ham sandwich the visit of Manchester City to Molineux.