Chelsea Try Liverpool for Size in Season Opener 

Two last season’s underperformers, Chelsea and Liverpool will tomorrow go head-to-head in Week 1 of the Premier League at Stamford Bridge in what is expected to be a cracker as the two teams hope to return to reckoning this season 

Mauricio Pochettino begins his reign as Chelsea manager with a blockbuster Premier League opener against Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon.

The two English giants will endeavour to put aside their underwhelming top-flight efforts from last season and mount a stronger challenge for a least a top-four finish this time around.

It is fair to say that Chelsea’s first season under the ownership of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital was eventful, but one that ultimately ended in disastrous fashion as they oversaw the club’s worst top-flight campaign for nearly 30 years.

Despite spending in excess of £600m on new signings across two transfer windows, Chelsea ended the 2022-23 campaign trophyless and failed to qualify for European competition as they languished to a 12th-placed finish in the Premier League, sitting 10 points above the relegation zone and a remarkable 27 points adrift of the top four.

The experiments of Graham Potter and Frank Lampard in the dugout failed to make the desired impact – with the former arguably not given enough time to put his stamp on the club – but there is now plenty of optimism around the appointment of former Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino, who is widely regarded as one of the top coaches in world football and who has been lauded for his ability to work with young players.

The Argentine has overseen a mass exodus of first-team players so far this summer, netting over £200m in the process, while Christopher Nkunku, Nicolas Jackson, Axel Disasi, Robert Sanchez and Lesley Ugochukwu are among the notable additions, and more are expected to arrive at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea enjoyed an unbeaten pre-season and came away from their tour of the USA as champions of the inaugural Premier League Summer Series after accumulating seven points from three games against Brighton & Hove Albion, Newcastle United and Fulham to top the six-team table. The Blues then rescued a 1-1 draw in their final warm-up match last week as youngster Mason Burstow netted an 89th-minute equaliser against Borussia Dortmund.

Pochettino, who has only won three of his previous 16 meetings with Liverpool as a manager, is now preparing for a baptism of fire in his first competitive match as Chelsea boss against a Reds side who have drawn each of their last six meetings with the Blues, with each of the last four ending goalless including both Premier League encounters last season – no fixture in English football history has ever finished goalless five times in a row.

Like Chelsea, Liverpool will have to make do without Champions League football this term for the first time since Jurgen Klopp’s maiden campaign in charge nine seasons ago, as they shift their focus to Europa League football after finishing fifth in the Premier League last season, four points behind fourth-placed Newcastle.

After taking their hunt for an unprecedented quadruple all the way to the wire in 2021-22, the Reds were unable to mount a serious challenge for any major silverware last season, instead watching their recent foes Manchester City win a historic treble and rivals Manchester United lift the EFL Cup.

Liverpool’s decision to not bolster their squad with new midfielders last season ultimately came back to haunt them, but Klopp has since overseen a significant midfield refresh at Anfield this summer. As many as seven midfielders have departed to date including captain Jordan Henderson and Fabinho, while Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister are two exciting additions, and Moises Caicedo could be another, although the Ecuadorian is said to prefer a move to Chelsea over a switch to Anfield.

While midfield movements are being made behind the scenes, Liverpool experienced mixed fortunes in attack and defence during pre-season, with 19 goals scored and 10 conceded across five friendly fixtures. The Reds posted victories against Karlsruhe, Leicester City and Darmstadt – beating the latter 3-1 on Monday – but a 4-4 draw with Greuther Furth and a 4-3 loss to Bayern Munich suggests that Klopp’s side are yet to get up to full speed.

Liverpool have had few problems making a strong start to life in the Premier League, though, as they have not lost a top-flight opener in any of the last 10 seasons – winning eight and drawing two  and a victory at Stamford Bridge on Sunday would end their seven-game winless run against Chelsea.

Fresh from lifting another trophy aloft in the Wembley sunshine, Arsenal begin their latest bid for Premier League supremacy at home to Nottingham Forest today.

The Gunners ended their Manchester City hoodoo to win the Community Shield last weekend and are now out for a slice of revenge against the team who officially ended their title dreams last term.

Arsenal exceeded most fans’, pundits’ and journalists’ expectations during a phenomenal 2022-23 campaign, although it still only took a couple of injuries to key cogs for things to go pear-shaped, which the Emirates board have sought to rectify with a £200m+ summer spending spree.

Such an outlay should also see the Gunners shut up shop at home more often than they did last term, as their 5-0 demolition job of Wolverhampton Wanderers on the final day marked just their fourth Emirates clean sheet in the 2022-23 campaign, although one of the other three did come against their opening-day opponents.

A 5-0 drubbing of Forest in North London soon paled into insignificance when the Gunners travelled to the City Ground in May, as Steve Cooper’s side consigned Arsenal to a second-placed finish while deservedly retaining their Premier League status thanks to one of the most important goals that Taiwo Awoniyi will ever score in his career.

An immediate demotion back down to the Championship was unthinkable for a Forest side who added 25 new faces to their roster throughout the 2022-23 season – some to greater effect than others – and Cooper also brushed aside brief talk of a termination before guiding the Tricky Trees to a second consecutive season of top-flight football.

Forest have since pitted their wits against several continental foes in the build-up to the new campaign, although only two of their seven pre-season fixtures ended with Cooper’s men on the correct end of the scoreline, and they failed to win or indeed score in each of their final four tune-up games.

Following a trio of successive losses to Leeds United, PSV Eindhoven and Rennes, Forest came away from Eintracht Frankfurt’s headquarters with a respectable 0-0 draw to their name, but scoring a mere three goals in their seven warm-up contests might have some alarm bells ringing.

Furthermore, no team performed worse on the road than Forest in the 2022-23 Premier League season, as Cooper’s men picked up a paltry eight points on rival territory, and it has been 34 years since the Tricky Trees last managed to sink Arsenal on their own patch, winning 3-1 at Highbury in the 1988-89 First Division, although the Gunners memorably went on to clinch the crown that year.