The 2023-24 Premier League season kicks off on Friday as reigning champions Manchester City travel to a Burnley side led by a modern Blues legend.
Vincent Kompany won 10 major trophies as a City player but will be in the opposition dugout after leading the Clarets back to the top-flight in his first season as their manager.
After holding off the challenge of Arsenal to win their ninth top-flight title, City will be hoping to steal an early march on their rivals, many of whom have spent big this summer to try to close the gap.
On Saturday, the Gunners host Nottingham Forest, while Newcastle face Aston Villa in a contest between two sides making their return to European competition this campaign.
Sunday brings the debut of two new bosses as Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou takes his side to Brentford before Mauricio Pochettino's Chelsea host Liverpool.
| Premier League opening-round fixtures (15:00 BST kick off unless stated) | |
|---|---|
| Date | Fixture |
| Friday, 11 August | Burnley v Man City (20:00) |
| Saturday, 12 August | Arsenal v Nottingham Forest (12:30) |
| Bournemouth v West Ham | |
| Brighton v Luton | |
| Everton v Fulham | |
| Sheffield United v Crystal Palace | |
| Newcastle v Aston Villa (17:30) | |
| Sunday, 13 August | Brentford v Tottenham (14:00) |
| Chelsea v Liverpool (16:30) | |
| Monday, 14 August | Manchester United v Wolves (20:00) |
Man City again the team to beat
Once again, Manchester City will head into a Premier League campaign as champions, having claimed their third title in a row in 2022-23.
Pep Guardiola's side were pushed close by Arsenal, but their superiority eventually shone through. The league crown would comprise part of a Treble for the club, who also claimed the FA Cup and a first Champions League crown.
City put up some stunning numbers over the campaign, with the league title their fifth in the past six seasons, becoming the third team to achieve such a feat, along with Liverpool (1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984) and Manchester United (1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001).
They have lost a couple of important players in Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan but have replaced the latter with Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea and strengthened in the defence by recruiting the impressive Josko Gvardiol for £77m from RB Leipzig.
Interestingly, City were top of the Premier League for only 42 of last season's 296 days, thanks in large part to the efforts of Mikel Arteta's Arsenal, who will hope they can go one better than their second-place finish in 2022-23, especially after a summer in which they have strengthened heavily (more on that later).
Manchester United were unable to get the better of fierce rivals City in the FA Cup final, but will be looking for a year of further progress under Erik ten Hag following further surgery on a squad that finished third last season.
They do not play until Monday, when Wolves visit Old Trafford.
And then there's the other half of the 'big six' - Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham - all of whom fell short of expectation to a differing degree.
It has been another busy close season for the Blues, who will have a much-altered side to the one that limped to 12th in 2022-23 and a new manager in charge in Pochettino, making his return to the Premier League three years and eight months after he was sacked by Spurs.
The Argentine starts his tenure at home, with Liverpool the visitors on Sunday, bringing with them a refreshed midfield and a desire to improve on last season's fifth-place finish.
Pochettino's former club are at Brentford on the same day, looking for a positive start to the reign of Postecoglou, who left Celtic in the summer to take over.
There are more questions than answers around the club at present, most notably the future of record goalscorer Harry Kane, who has been the subject of transfer interest from Bayern Munich.
The promoted sides
City's quest to make it six out of seven begins with an emotional reunion with one of their greatest modern players and captain for the first of their seven Premier League titles in 2011-12.
Kompany excelled as boss of Burnley last season, transforming a side who had just been relegated and lost a sizable chunk of their players into a fluid, attacking force who amassed 101 points to storm the Championship.
Joining the Clarets in the top flight this season are Sheffield United and Premier League debutants Luton Town.
The Blades finished second in the Championship last season under Paul Heckingbottom and return to the big time after two years in the second tier. They host Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Luton came through the play-offs, beating Coventry in the final. The Hatters had the misfortune of being relegated from the top flight in the season before it became the Premier League. They have become the first team to rise from non-league to the top flight during the Premier League era.
Their first Premier League game comes at Brighton on Saturday.
Taking on Europe
The Seagulls' record-high finish of sixth means they will be embarking on the first European campaign in their history this season.
Roberto de Zerbi's men will enter the Europa League - Europe's second-biggest competition - at the group stage phase.
Aston Villa will also be playing in Europe this season, with their impressive form following the appointment of Unai Emery as manager leading them to a seventh-place finish and a place in the Europa Conference League.
It will be the club's first European campaign since 2009-10.
Another side making their return to continental competition is Newcastle, who will play in the Champions League after Eddie Howe guided them to a fourth-place finish last season.
Their last European campaign came in the Europa League in 2012-13, with their previous experience of the Champions League proper coming a decade earlier when Bobby Robson led them to the second group stage.
Big-money arrivals and notable departures
Once again, the Premier League has outspent the other members of the big five European top flights in France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
After spending £600m last season, Chelsea continue to evolve their squad at a rapid pace, with six players arriving and 13 departing.
The new Blues signings include strikers Christopher Nkunku (£52m from RB Leipzig) - who is currently injured - and Nicolas Jackson (£32m from Villarreal), as well as defender Axel Disasi (£38m from Monaco).
Along with Liverpool, they have sold three players to clubs in the newest big-money league on the block in Saudi Arabia, with N'Golo Kante, Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy all leaving for the Middle East.
| Premier League players that have moved to Saudi Arabia in summer 2023 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Left | Joined | Fee |
| N'Golo Kante | Chelsea | Ittihad Club | Free |
| Kalidou Koulibaly | Chelsea | Al-Hilal | £20m |
| Edouard Mendy | Chelsea | Al-Ahli | £16m |
| Fabinho | Liverpool | Ittihad Club | £40m |
| Roberto Firmino | Liverpool | Al-Ahli | Free |
| Jordan Henderson | Liverpool | Al-Ettifaq | £12m |
| Riyad Mahrez | Man City | Al-Ahli | £30m |
| Alex Telles | Man Utd | Al-Nassr | £6m |
| Allan Saint-Maximin | Newcastle | Al-Ahli | £23m |
| Ruben Neves | Wolves | Al-Hilal | £47m |
With Kai Havertz (£65m to Arsenal), Mason Mount (£55m to Manchester United) and Kovacic (£25m to Manchester City) also among those exiting, Chelsea have brought in around £220m.
For the third summer running, Arsenal are among the biggest spenders, topping the division with an outlay of just under £200m, half of which went on the record signing of England midfielder Declan Rice from West Ham.
Liverpool's midfield will look very different in the coming season, with Milner (Brighton), Naby Keita (Werder Bremen), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (released) Jordan Henderson and Fabinho (both to Saudi Arabia) departing, to be replaced by Alexis Mac Allister (£35m from Brighton) and Dominik Szoboszlai (£60m from RB Leipzig).
Other notable signings include goalkeeper Andre Onana to Manchester United from Inter Milan for £47.2m and James Maddison (to Tottenham for £40m) and Harvey Barnes (joining Newcastle for £38m) both leaving relegated Leicester to stay in the Premier League.
Newcastle have also signed midfielder Sandro Tonali from AC Milan for £55m.
BBC