English Premier League 2018-2019

#1      

KBLEE

Montgomery, IL
The Premier League releases its fixtures for the 2018-2019 season today. Time for a new thread.
 
#2      

KBLEE

Montgomery, IL
Tottenham will play 3 away matches in its first 4 and a single home match at Wembley against newly promoted Fulham. Then, they will open the new stadium on 9/15 against Liverpool.
 
#5      
List of fixtures: https://www.premierleague.com/fixtures

I'll post more about the fixtures in the coming days but the marquee match-up the first weekend will be Manchester City traveling to the Emirates to take on Arsenal. Everton opens traveling to the Wolverhampton Wolves and I gotta say I like the early start that the Toffees have much more than they did last season.
 
#7      

bredhartmann

Centralia, IL
Midfielder Riyad Mahrez going from Leicester City to Manchester City for 60 million pounds, a record for Manchester City.

Huge signing for us. Fantastic player who should thrive under Pep, and helps build depth which will be crucial if we want to repeat as Prem champs and make a serious UCL run.
 
#9      
Chelsea have sacked Antonio Conte, paving the way for Napoli manager Maurizio Sarri to take the helm. Conte had previously refused to leave Stamford Bridge unless the final year of his contract was paid in full.
 
#10      

bredhartmann

Centralia, IL
Who's place will he take in the starting XI?

I’m not sure he’ll be in the starting XI (at least at the start of the year). He’ll rotate on the wing with Sane and Sterling. I’d also imagine Bernardo will spend less time on the wing and more time centrally as Silva will likely get rested more often this year.
 
#11      

wettsten

Chicago
Chelsea have sacked Antonio Conte, paving the way for Napoli manager Maurizio Sarri to take the helm. Conte had previously refused to leave Stamford Bridge unless the final year of his contract was paid in full.

what is going on with chelsea?? leaving it late since the english window closes in less than a month
 
#12      
I’m not sure he’ll be in the starting XI (at least at the start of the year). He’ll rotate on the wing with Sane and Sterling. I’d also imagine Bernardo will spend less time on the wing and more time centrally as Silva will likely get rested more often this year.
Helluva sum of money for a backup.
 
#13      

wettsten

Chicago
looks like everton has been making a lot of signings with tottenham yet to make even one!
 
#15      
So with the World Cup and other stuff going on I haven't had a chance to do this so the next few posts are going to be regarding the fixtures including my thoughts on Everton's opening schedule.
 
#16      
Here's when the different derbies/rivalry matches will take place this upcoming season:

-August 18: Arsenal-Chelsea (Stamford Bridge)
-September 29: Liverpool-Chelsea (Stamford Bridge)
-October 20: New Forest Derby (Vitality Stadium); Manchester United-Chelsea (Stamford Bridge)
-November 10: Manchester Derby (Etihad Stadium)
-November 24: Chelsea-Spurs (Tottenham Hotspur Stadium)
-December 1: North London Derby (Emirates Stadium); West London Derby (Stamford Bridge); Merseyside Derby (Anfield)
-December 4: Arsenal-Manchester United (Old Trafford); M23 Derby (Amex Stadium)
-December 15: North West Derby (Anfield)
-January 19: Arsenal-Chelsea (Emirates Stadium)
-February 23: North West Derby (Old Trafford)
-February 27: Chelsea-Spurs (Stamford Bridge)
-March 2: North London Derby (Tottenham Hotspur Stadium); West London Derby (Craven Cottage); Merseyside Derby (Goodison Park)
-March 9: Arsenal-Manchester United (Emirates Stadium); M23 Derby (Selhurst Park)
-March 16: Manchester Derby (Old Trafford)
-April 13: Liverpool-Chelsea (Anfield)
-April 27: New Forest Derby (St. Mary's Stadium); Manchester United-Chelsea (Old Trafford)
 
#17      
As far as the fixtures overall, Wolverhampton Wolves has the toughest opening draw as 5 of their first 6 matches (in no particular order they have home matches vs. Everton, Manchester City and Burnley, and are away to Leicester and Manchester United) are against teams that finished in the top half of the table last season. The only one in the first 6 they face that didn't finish in the top half of the table will be at West Ham.

Newcastle United, Cardiff City, and Fulham got some pretty tough early draws as well.

On the opposite side, Manchester City got the easiest of the draws to start out, even with the match at the Emirates against Arsenal to open the season. 4 of their next 5 matches are against each of the newly promoted sides plus Huddersfield Town who just narrowly escaped relegation last season. The only other match in that first 6 is against Newcastle United who was 10th in the table last season.

Everton (who I'll get into with my next post) as well as Burnley got some fairly easy draws to start out.
 
#18      
Now on to Everton's fixtures, the opening draw they have is a very conducive one to rack up some points early. Their first 6 matches look like this:

-away to Wolverhampton Wolves
-vs. Southampton
-away to Bournemouth
-vs. Huddersfield Town
-vs. West Ham
-away to Arsenal

Aside from that last match at Arsenal, they face a newly promoted side and 4 teams that had the highest finisher of Bournemouth at 12th.

Toughest stretch in the schedule appears to be between December 15th and December 26th when they'll play away to Manchester City, host Spurs, and travel to Burnley.
 
#20      

bredhartmann

Centralia, IL
Now on to Everton's fixtures, the opening draw they have is a very conducive one to rack up some points early. Their first 6 matches look like this:

-away to Wolverhampton Wolves
-vs. Southampton
-away to Bournemouth
-vs. Huddersfield Town
-vs. West Ham
-away to Arsenal

Aside from that last match at Arsenal, they face a newly promoted side and 4 teams that had the highest finisher of Bournemouth at 12th.

Toughest stretch in the schedule appears to be between December 15th and December 26th when they'll play away to Manchester City, host Spurs, and travel to Burnley.

Wolves aren’t just any newly promoted side though. They ran away with the Championship last year and have added a bunch of nice pieces. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them finish 7-8th this season.
 
#23      

KBLEE

Montgomery, IL
Wolves aren’t just any newly promoted side though. They ran away with the Championship last year and have added a bunch of nice pieces. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them finish 7-8th this season.

I'll be very surprised if they finish in the top half of the table.
 
#25      
With the season starting the day after tomorrow, it's prediction time...

Who will finish Top 4? Bottom 3? Will Wolverhampton Wolves, Cardiff City, and Fulham all stay up in the Premier League like Newcastle United, Brighton & Hove Albion, and Huddersfield Town did last season or will the three newly promoted sides all head back to the EFL Championship?