With champions Manchester City opening their Premier League campaign on Sunday, the mostly likely challengers for their crown — Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United — all have a chance to make a statement 24 hours earlier.
European champions Chelsea host Crystal Palace after Manchester United take on Leeds United in an early kick-off. Then Liverpool round off the day at promoted Norwich City.
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City, who claimed a third title in four years in May but then fell flat in a Champions League final defeat by Chelsea, go to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Chelsea’s clinical win over City in Porto capped a remarkable start to Thomas Tuchel’s reign at Stamford Bridge, having taken over from Frank Lampard in January.
The imminent arrival of striker Romelu Lukaku for around 95 million pounds ($132 million) from Inter Milan will beef up an attack that often operated without a focal point last season, giving Tuchel another option in an already versatile forward unit.
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer knows he faces a season of reckoning at Old Trafford after so far failing to deliver a trophy since taking over in 2018.
The Norwegian has been backed in the transfer market with the arrival of Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund but improving on last season’s runners-up spot will be a massive challenge.
A visit from old rivals Leeds United on the opening day also ensures that there will be no gentle easing in to a pivotal campaign in the managerial career of Solskjaer.
Liverpool’s attempted title defence last season was undermined by a succession of injuries at the back — most notably to Virgil van Dijk.
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