Man City Storm Stamford Bridge for Premier League Title Defence

After last season’s underwhelming performance in spite of huge money investment on players, Chelsea would be hoping for a brighter season as they kick-start  the 2024/25 Premier League campaign against defending champions, Manchester City, at Stamford Bridge. Though the Blues egg heads have bolstered the team with the acquisition of a new manager and some new stars, Pep Guardiola and his ‘gang’ are still as motivated as ever in spite of losing one of their important players-Julian Alvares to Spanish giants-Atletico Madrid and little surprise that the Citizens are tipped to cross the bridge unscathed

The Premier League returns this weekend with a blockbuster fixture as Manchester City go head-to-head with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Both sides will be eager to kickstart their new campaign with a win and an entertaining contest is expected between two of the league’s most storied clubs tomorrow.

Chelsea endured a largely disappointing 2023-24 season as they finished sixth in the Premier League.

Mauricio Pochettino failed to revive the club’s fortunes and mutually agreed to part ways at the end of the campaign.

Enzo Maresca is now in charge after guiding Leicester City to promotion from the Championship.

With the resources at his disposal, Maresca will be expected to deliver a top-four finish this season.

Chelsea were unconvincing during pre-season, winning just one of their six friendlies.

Their defence looked particularly vulnerable in the heavy losses against Manchester City, Celtic and Real Madrid, and it is an area they need to address urgently.

Maresca will face his first big test on Sunday when his team welcome Pep Guardiola’s side to Stamford Bridge.

City will be brimming with confidence after their Community Shield victory against Manchester United.

Pep Guardiola has led his side to four consecutive Premier League trophies and will be aiming for another title in what could be his final season at the club.

He has easily the best squad in England, despite only bringing in 20-year-old Savinho from Troyes this summer.

Erling Braut Haaland looked at his dangerous best during pre-season, bagging a superb hat-trick in the 4-2 victory against Chelsea.

Rodri, Kyle Walker and Phil Foden have also returned and City will be at full strength this weekend.

Meanwhile, Arsenal will begin their quest to wrestle the title from Manchester City as they host Wolverhampton Wanderers today, though Gary O’Neil’s men have top-half aspirations in mind for 2024-25.

A couple of months before Mikel Arteta’s native Spain won the gold medal in the 2024 Olympics men’s football tournament, the Arsenal boss once again had to settle for silver in the Premier League, as the Gunners failed to end two decades of top-flight hurt since the Invincibles of 2003-04.

However, while their title fight tailed off towards the end of the 2022-23 campaign, the Gunners were still in with a chance – albeit a wafer-thin chance – of pipping Man City to the post on the final day, but a hard-fought 2-1 win over Everton ultimately went unrewarded.

Arteta’s Arsenal can no doubt be described as going from strength to strength, though, and there were only two blots on the Gunners’ notebook in pre-season, a penalty shootout loss to Manchester United – whom they beat in 90 minutes and a narrow defeat to Liverpool.

The Gunners have already competed in two Emirates bouts this month, teaching German Invincibles Bayer Leverkusen a lesson in a 4-1 romping before beating Lyon 2-0 in the latest edition of the Emirates Cup, their fifth successive competitive or non-competitive win at their North London home.

Not since a controversial 3-1 loss to Aston Villa in 2013 have Arsenal commenced a Premier League season at 3pm today, but it has been 45 years since the Gunners last failed to score in a competitive showdown with Wolves, who have conceded to their capital counterparts in 33 games running.

That sensational sequence unsurprisingly represents both Arsenal’s longest scoring streak against a single opponent and Wolves’ longest run without a clean sheet against a particular side, and the Old Gold faithful may travel south in more hope than expectation this weekend.

After hovering close to danger in the first knockings of the 2023-24 campaign, Wolves established themselves as a solid mid-table outfit under O’Neil and even threatened a top-10 charge in the spring months, only for a dismal set of end-of-season results to plunge them down to 14th spot.

Five of Wolves’ final six top-flight contests last term ended with O’Neil’s side coming up second best – including each of their final three – but they return to top-flight duty with a respectable 66 per cent success rate from six pre-season friendlies, including an exceptional 3-0 beating of RB Leipzig.

That emphatic win was sandwiched in between losses to Crystal Palace and Rayo Vallecano, though, and they have also lost their Premier League opener in each of the last three seasons; a fourth on the spin this weekend would represent an unwanted club first.

Speaking of unsightly sequences, Wolves are out to avoid a seventh straight loss against the Gunners this weekend and have not won at the Emirates since November 2020, in a contest that was marred by the stomach-churning head collision between David Luiz and Raul Jimenez.