The Premier League fixtures announcement has thrown up some intriguing encounters in the opening round.
Vincent Kompany’s promoted Burnley will host his former club and treble winners Manchester City, while fellow new boys Luton visit Brighton and Chelsea welcome Liverpool.
Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the most memorable opening-round Premier League fixtures from previous years.
1992: Sheffield United 2 Manchester United 1
It s Saturday 15th August 1992 – the day Brian Deane scored the first goal…
— Premier League (@premierleague)
This game was not a classic like those below but it did feature the first Premier League goal. Brian Deane scored it, then won it for the hosts from the spot after Mark Hughes had levelled…
PSV head coach Mark van Bommel has made contact with Arjen Robben over bringing the Bayern Munich winger back to the Philips Stadion next season.
Robben, 34, has confirmed this campaign will be the last of his highly successful spell at Bayern, whom he joined from Real Madrid in 2009.
The ex-Netherlands international is yet to announce his next destination, but hometown team Groningen are believed to be interested in engineering a move.
PSV, where Robben spent two seasons over a decade ago, are set to enter the race after the club s general manager Toon Gerbrands revealed Van Bommel has been in touch with his former team-mate.
There has been contact. Mark, who played with Arjen, sent him a message, Gerbrands told Omroep Brabant.
It is, of …
Pep Guardiola had no interest in signing Thiago Alcantara from Bayern Munich because he believes Manchester City are well enough stocked in central midfield.
Thiago broke into Barcelona s first team during Guardiola s time in charge at Camp Nou and the Catalan tactician made him the flagship signing for his first season at Bayern in 2013-14.
Nevertheless, the Spain playmaker is now on the brink of joining Liverpool and bolstering Jurgen Klopp s bid for back-to-back league titles at Anfield.
Speaking ahead of City s season opener at Wolves on Monday, Guardiola told reporters that even the departure of club great David Silva at the end of last season a man with similar qualities to Thiago when it comes to dictating the tempo of the play and operating shrewdly in ti…
Relieved Newcastle boss Eddie Howe hailed “inspirational” Matt Ritchie after seeing him come off the bench to snatch a Premier League draw with former club Bournemouth.
The 34-year-old midfielder struck seconds after his stoppage-time introduction – his first goal since July 2022 – to hand the Magpies a 2-2 draw as they twice came from behind to deny the Cherries.
Head coach Howe said: “He’s an inspirational character behind the scenes. He’s someone who in training every day, he drives standards.
“He’s very vocal, very enthusiastic. Even in the changing room before the game, he’s the one driving the group – and that’s someone who hasn’t played as much as he’d like, but he’s put the team ahead of his own needs.
“When you see…
Manchester United moved into the top four of the Premier League table with a 3-0 victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday.
Two goals from Paul Pogba and a superb solo effort from Anthony Martial secured a comfortable win for the visitors, their 10th in 11 matches in all competitions under caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
United, who kept player-of-the-month Marcus Rashford on the bench as they made six changes from the 1-0 win at Leicester City, were rarely troubled by a Fulham side who have now lost 23 of their last 24 league meetings with big six opposition.
An encouraging start from Fulham saw Luciano Vietto scuff a volley wide from a promising position, and that miss was punished by Pogba 14 minutes in, the midfielder racing onto Mar…
Real Madrid head coach Zinedine Zidane insisted Karim Benzema has always been a hugely important player for the LaLiga and European giants after his two-goal haul.
Benzema – wearing the captain s armband – maintained his fine form with a brace as he helped rescue a 2-1 win over Eibar at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.
Madrid trailed at half-time but Benzema netted a towering header to restore parity approaching the hour-mark before the 31-year-old repeated the feat with nine minutes remaining.
Benzema – who arrived from Lyon in 2009 – has scored 17 LaLiga goals this season and four in his past three league games, earning praise from Zidane.
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadriden)
He s always been crucial for the team, Zid…
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Looking to extend on what has been a stellar purple patch on home soil this week, Brazil will welcome Colombia to Rio de Janeiro in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Brazil
Starting with the hosts, putting in what was another rampant display last week, Brazil have only continued on what has been a stellar run of form over the past 19 months. Enjoying a real second-half flurry in Rio de Janeiro last Friday, the former world champions landed themselves a 4-0 romp against Peru on home soil and the mood in their camp is at a red-hot high. Now opening up their Group B campaign with back-to-back victories against Peru and a 3-0 win against Venezuela on June 13th, Seleção have now won each of their last nine matchups across all formats, …
According to a recent report from the Mirror, Manchester City midfielder Fernandinho is set to leave the club at the end of the season.
It may not seem like it but at 35 years of age, Fernandinho has been a part of the furniture at the Etihad since back in 2013. He’s been through a parade of highs and lows with the club from trophy wins to European disappointments, but along the way, he’s always been a loyal servant for City.
Pep Guardiola has already made it crystal clear that, while he is going to stay on as manager, things need to change if City are going to get back to the heights they once enjoyed.
There are many different ways in which the changes need to be made and Guardiola himself will be the first one to admit that, but it ll still be a sad sight …
Today is a day of profound pain, sadness and reflection. I feel in my heart the departure of a friend whom I honoured with my loyalty and companionship to the end of his days, Morla said in a statement published via his social media channels.
I bid him farewell in person and the wake should be an intimate moment for the family.
In terms of the report from the Prosecutor San Isidro, it is inexplicable that for 12 hours my friend has had no attention or check-up from the personnel dedicated to these ends. The ambulance took more than half an hour to arrive, which was a criminal idiocy.
This should not be overlooked and I will ask for it to be investigated until the end of its consequences. As Diego told me, you are my soldier, act without pity .
To de…
Nuno Espirito Santo was keen to focus on a positive first half against Chelsea after Tottenham collapsed following the interval, when there were a lot of things that went wrong .
For the second week in a row, Spurs lost 3-0 to London rivals in the Premier League, although they were initially more impressive against Chelsea than they had been at Crystal Palace.
The out-of-sorts European champions reached the interval with the game still goalless, however, and the introduction of N Golo Kante then changed the game.
He scored Chelsea s second goal via a huge deflection after Thiago Silva had become the club s second-oldest goalscorer in the competition. The 36-year-old trails only Didier Drogba (37 in 2015) in that regard.
Antonio Rudiger blasted in a late t…